Blogger R.G. Combs wonders why the wire services treat the fighting at Nahr el-Bared is so radically different from Israel’s war in Lebanon last year:
The Lebanese army is fighting jihadists holed up in civilian neighborhoods, just as the Israelis did last year, and the Lebanese artillery and tank attacks seem much less restrained and precise. Why is the coverage so different?….
Why are the AP and Reuters not even bothering to provide an accurate count of the reported civilian casualties, much less an estimate of actual civilian casualties?
Why are civilian casualties barely worth noticing this summer? Last July, when Israel’s precision strikes against Hezbollah occasionally produced civilian casualties, AP and Reuters cranked out an endless series of breathless stories and photos documenting every last corpse and grieving woman.
Even if it isn’t possible to independently report an accurate casualty count now, this doesn’t mean questions about the Lebanese army’s “disproportionate” response are any less valid. Some possible answers come to mind:
* Arab stringers working for Western news services follow their own agendas, which may not include sympathy for Fatah-al-Islam.
* When it comes to playing to the media, Hezbollah has more experience.
* Why would anyone risk his or her life to report from the refugee camp? The Lebanese army won’t lose sleep over dead journalists. Read more about this point here.
(Hat tip: Solomonia)
