Greetings from the French Hill: Qana

As an addition to what I wrote, "You Were Told to Leave... What Happened?", I am writing some new updates and developments. As I mentioned, at tonight's daily IDF and IAF briefing, the IAF Commander mentioned that fact that there is at least a 7 hour discrepency between when the IAF attacked near the house in Kfar Qana and when the building was actually destroyed and collapsed. The collapse, and not the bomb, is what killed the people inside. (We will be posting the video that was shown tonight as soon as the IDF puts it up on its web-site.) He also showed video that showed, despite Hezbollah's and the Lebanese government's claims, Hezbollah launching rockets from within the village. He also showed video of the Hezbollah car driving from the launch site to the house that was hit and going into the house. Furthermore, the tape of the bombing showed that the IAF attack did NOT actually hit the house directly. The tape also shows that NO significant damage was done to the hosue after the hit. Certainly not the damage that was shown all over the world news this morning. The discrepency is also key. The house was bombed at around 1:00 AM last night. Eye wittnesses and all media reported that the house was destroyed and collapse between 7:00 and 7:30 AM this morning.

The IAF Commander, and as I noted in my post and news updates, mentioned that they found houses in the neighborhood, one not even 5 kilometers from where this house was located, that have been rigged with explosives and booby traps. He also mentioned the fact that several houses are being used in every southern Lebanse town to store rockets, weapons, and munitions. The IAF Commander said that it is a possibility, and it is being investigated, that the IAF was NOT responsible for the deaths in Kfar Qana. He brought the possibility that Hezbollah themselves may have blown up the house or that explosives being stored in the house could have some-how gone off.

In any case, the fact that any sort of discrepencies have come up at all puts into question the motives of all harsh condemnations coming from foreign leaders, especially the head of the United Nations, Kofi Anan. You would think that the guy would have learned his lesson last Thursday after accusing Israel of deliberately targeting a UN outpost only to have it come out almost immediately after these words that the UNIFIL members at the outpost repeatedly reported to the UN back in New York that Hezbollah was firing from around its positions. Well, Anan seems to be putting his foot back in his mouth again. Was that Yoggi Berra talking?

Anyways, here's an e-mail that I got that asks the questions that need to be asked:

1. Tonight, an IDF spokesman showed aerial photos of rockets
> being fired from residential areas in Qana. It showed the
> portable rocket launchers
> being parked beneath residential buildings. The spokesman
> said that the bombs dropped on Qana were dropped at 1 a.m.
> The reports of
> the building collapse took place at 7 a.m. Also, no bombs
> actually hit the building. So, who was responsible for the
> collapse of that building? Could Hezbollah weapons have
> exploded, destroying the building? Was it deliberate, a
> way to pressure Israel into a ceasefire the same way they
> did last time, in exactly the same spot? And why
> is no one in the media picking up on this time gap and
> asking questions?
>
> 2. The number of those injured is being supplied by
> Lebanese sources, and being quoted by all the news stations.
> So far, only 26 bodies have
> been recovered. But news reports are saying the number was
> twice that, and half are children. That too is supplied by
> unknown sources and repeated
> by the major media.
>
> 3. At 7 a.m. a barrage of Hezbollah rockets hit the shopping
> center and buildings of Kiryat Shmona, unlike anything else
> the town has experienced.
> Altogether 1500 kilograms of bombs have hit the area's
>approximately 25,000 residents remaining in their homes.
>Where is the outrage over that?