Qana Investigation Spurred by Blogs

The Jerusalem Post reports that the International Red Cross and the Israeli Defense Force will investigate questions raised by bloggers regarding the deaths of civilians allegedly caused by an Israeli airstrike:

The IDF is looking into allegations raised over the past few days by several pro-Israel, Jewish and conservative Weblogs that Hizbullah may have staged aspects of the Kana tragedy on Sunday, in which some 60 Lebanese bodies were removed from a building that collapsed seven hours after being hit in an Israel Air Force strike.

The dead were mainly children, women and elderly people.

The International Committee of the Red Cross Mission in Israel said Tuesday that it would inform its Swiss headquarters about the allegations and seek to clarify the questions raised.

The scene was apparently controlled by Hizballah members and blogs have raised questions concerning conflicting timelines, the condition of bodies removed, and the actions of the "rescuers".

The latest discrepancy is in the number of dead. Human Rights Watch reports that 28 people died in the attack, 22 escaped, and 13 are missing. But the hospital in nearby Tyre reports that 56 bodies were brought in. Both sources may be telling the truth.

Many of the bodies displayed for journalists appeared to have been dead longer than a few hours, with some showing what appeared to be advanced rigor mortis. Certainly Hizballah terrorists would not be above "salting" the ruins with extra bodies to increase the propaganda value of the event.

The mainstream press has evidently abdicated its traditional concerns, and simply reported the event as described to them by Hizballah terrorists.

Via The Jawa Report, this post links to other Jawa Report Qana posts.