Israel's Peres questions Lebanon's casualty toll

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19340116.htm

Israel's Peres questions Lebanon's casualty toll

More WASHINGTON, July 19 (Reuters) - Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres on Wednesday questioned the reported casualty count in Lebanon after days of pounding by Israeli warplanes.

...

"The numbers of the victims (in Lebanon) are not acceptable. We think that information coming from Lebanon is totally unreliable," Peres said in an interview on CNN.

...

He said the Israeli military was taking steps to make sure "no civilian life will be hit, that no civilian infrastructure will be destroyed."

Peres also dismissed criticism from Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of the relentless Israeli bombing campaign.

"Why doesn't he stop the Hizbollah?" Peres asked. "Israel didn't start the war. Israel didn't attack anybody.

[Kagemusha]

1. Netanyahu's more honest.

I found this at: http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/7/19/222844/131

"ZAHN: The Lebanese prime minister today basically accused Israel of holding his country hostage. He fiercely attacked Israel, saying, so far, that 300 people have been killed, most of them civilians, 1,000 have been wounded, and a half million people displaced. Is there at any point in this process of trying to wipe out Hezbollah's rocket arsenal that the price is simply too high a price to pay?

NETANYAHU: I have a real problem with body counts. On the basis of body counts, who's had more civilian deaths, the Nazis were right and the allies were wrong. Because the number of German civilian casualties in World War II far exceeded American and British casualties. The rocketing of London precipitated very powerful responses. I wouldn't call Churchill a war criminal or Britain in the wrong when it responded to the V-2 rockets that reigned on London. So this whole notion is a bogus notion. In fact, if we're going to have any possibility, any sense of right and wrong in international affairs and international law, then I think the blame should be placed squarely where it belongs, right on the heads of Hezbollah and their Syrian and Iranian sponsors."

And why doesn't Siniora stop Hezbollah?

BECAUSE HE CAN'T. And let's see Israel succeed in his place. This time.

[Purveyor]

9. Honest and Netanyahu in the same sentence...LOL!!! n/t

[barb162]

18. He's a lot more honest than the Lebanese government

[IndianaGreen]

21. I suppose CNN has doctored the video of civilian casualties

War in Lebanon has overwhelmed hospitals with casualties. CNN's Karl Penhaul reports (July 19)

http://www.cnn.com/video/world/2006/07/19/penhaul.lebanon.tyre.hospital.cnn/content.html

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/19/mideast/index.html

[Erika]

2. We're seeing the pictures of the dead Lebanese

Israel sought to destroy Lebanon, not the Hizbollah.

Innocent or not.

[still_one]

5. This will be my last post on DU for a long time.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-lewis/nofault-genocide_b_25135.html

[ShortnFiery]

10. "some loss of civilian life"

It's amazing how many people are now showing their true colors.

Startling ... I will have to be more careful EXACTLY who I choose to believe in the future. :thumbsdown:

[everythingsxen]

11. Very nice article

Beautifully said.

[barb162]

22. yep

[IndianaGreen]

15. "The Israelis are terrorists like Ahmadinejad"

Here is but one example of what Israel is really accomplishing in Lebanon, in a Christian neighborhood no less:

Carole Haddad, who owns a pharmacy near the 'Abc' department store, said: "I hate Nasrallah (the leader of the Shiite guerrille Hesbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran) and his warmongers, I hate Iran, but I am also Lebanese and cannot stand that my country is destroyed. The Israelis are terrorists like Ahmadinejad."

MIDDLE EAST: ISRAELIS TARGET CHRISTIAN PART OF BEIRUT

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.322578407&par#

[Warren Stupidity]

3. The numbers of the victims (in Lebanon) are not acceptable.

Well he got that part right. And so the bullshit begins. What would Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora know about the destruction in his own country?

[barb162]

20. I wonder how many of the "victims" are Hezbollah militants

and I wonder about the real overall numbers. I think that government is more controlled by Hez than a lot of people would like to admit, including their Foreign Ministry office.

[IndianaGreen]

23. Why don't you ask this little girl if she is a Hezbollah terrorist?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2400659#2400746

[everythingsxen]

4. If only this were true...

I have seen the light though from so many of my fellow DUers....

Everything Israel says is a lie, therefore this must be just another lie tactic by Israel. After all they have an incredibly robust and advanced military machine, so clearly they are targeting civilians because Israel is an evil abomination that must be destroyed.... :eyes: :sarcasm:

Seriously though, I have been personally questioning the casualty counts from Lebanon as well. I really cannot see why Israel would bother attacking purely civilian targets. They have a very advanced military and should be able to have good intelligence. I have seen many a DUer this week talk about how Israel is intentionally targeting civilians and I have to ask "Why would the bother?" What gain is their for Israel in attack civilians. They would alienate their few allies and *really* piss off the world.

However, Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have ample reason to lie about civilian death tolls, purely to gain leverage against Israel.

[ShortnFiery]

6. Feel free to go to YouTube and watch some of the videos?

The estimates IMO are NOT exaggerated. Further, since so much of this is being sent to us via home videos, Israeli government will NOT be able to spin and downplay all the carnage. It sickens me ... the killing must stop on both sides. :(

[Tom Joad]

7. 500,000 Displaced! One-half million people. Hurricane Olmert!

How many homes destroyed? Of the one thousand wounded, how many limbs lost? How many gone blind? How many pianists who have lost their hands? How many painters without eyes? How many roads destroyed? How many businesses destroyed? There might be numbers for these things.

How much grief and despair given to so many people? Can we count that? Is there some calculus that makes that measurable? Or will we only be able to see that when the violence continues without end?

[barb162]

16. Maybe Hez should stop the rocket-firing on Israel, huh?

oh, and return the Israeli soldiers. That is, if hez cares about Lebanon.

And I think your numbers are way , way overstated

[azurnoir]

25. Yeah I'm sure

The Lebanese PM is lying to pit the world against Israel, that worked so swimmingly well for them in '82. There is an article in Salon tonight, that would explain. You see anything that could be conceivably used by Hezbollah is fair game, this is not limited to items or places that could be used to directly wage war. The list includes but is certainly not limited to, food or food production, farms ect, medical facilities, and housing to name only some if it. There is also a rational explanation as to why another posters Canadian death ratio doesn't add up.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/07/20/lebanon/

[daleo]

8. Well, the 8 Canadians were definitely killed

I saw the pictures of those little girls and read the interviews with the relatives.

Let's do a little rough math. There are an estimated 40,000 or so Canadians in Lebanon, vs an overall population of about 4 million. That makes the proportion of the population holding Canadian passports about 1%. If we assume that the probability of a Canadian being killed is about the same as a non-Canadian (i.e. Israeli shells are not selecting for Canadian passports), then that would imply about 800 non-Canadian civilian deaths.

I am aware that this methodology is very crude, but it shows that the claim of civilian deaths in the order of several hundreds is not at all unrealistic. Mr Peres may not believe these civilian death numbers, but he should.

[IndianaGreen]

12. First we had Labour Leader and Defence Minister Amir Peretz boasting

about destroying Lebanon. Now we have former Labour Leader and current Kadima Vice Premier Shimon Peres sounding like Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly in casting doubt on casualty figures without any evidence to support their claims.

What's next for Israel? A Hannah Coulter perhaps?

[madrchsod]

14. cnn had nancy grace weighing in on the war last night..

she`s pretty close to annie...

[IndianaGreen]

17. Nancy Grace is nuts, but she is not as bad as Wendy Murphy

who is really psycho. She lost a lot of credibility when it came out she had embellished her story of her boyfriend's murder. He was not killed by a career criminal, but by a former co-worker.

[Endangered Specie]

13. Whatever drugs this guy is on...

its either too much or not enough.

"no civilian life will be hit, that no civilian infrastructure will be destroyed."

[AlamoDemoc]

19. speaking of Israeli politicians including Mr. Pares

I always wondered why so handful Israeli politician are in a position to come back to the premiership position, repeatedly. Is it because the position pays a lot of money, or is it that these men are the only smart men left for Israel? I concluded that they all have one thing in common...they are wanted by the same people that lobby for Israel in the United States Congress. They are part deceit that influences the American policy in the Middle East. These politicians know Washington corridors, they know our politicians, and our lobby system, and they have great support from major lobbyist groups who have their own interest in our foreign policy. That's why they keep popping up.

[lumpy]

24. Graphic pics Lebanon destruction/deaths.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14069.htm

[IndianaGreen]

26. The child lies like a rag doll - a symbol of the latest Lebanon war

The child lies like a rag doll - a symbol of the latest Lebanon war

By Robert Fisk in Beirut
Published: 20 July 2006

How soon must we use the words "war crime"? How many children must be scattered in the rubble of Israeli air attacks before we reject the obscene phrase "collateral damage" and start talking about prosecution for crimes against humanity?

The child whose dead body lies like a rag doll beside the cars which were supposedly taking her and her family to safety is a symbol of the latest Lebanon war; she was hurled from the vehicle in which she and her family were travelling in southern Lebanon as they fled their village - on Israel's own instructions. Because her parents were apparently killed in the same Israeli air attack, her name is still unknown. Not an unknown warrior, but an unknown child.

Article Length: 1406 words (approx.)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article1187004.ece

CommonDreams is known to republish Robert Fisk's articles. One has to be a subscriber to read them on The Independent.