Monday, June 11, 2007

Poor Muslim Woman

The tragic consequence of war. A poor Muslim woman escapes the fighting around the Nahr al Bared camp in northern Lebanon.

Ain't it a great caption for the first picture? But not true at all. Because the old woman walked straight to a nearby field to work on potatoes or whatever crop she is into. So the second picture is much closer to the truth than the first.

I made both pictures, and I just want to show how easy it is to manipulate stuff.

This too explains why there is such an enormous amount of crap being written about Fatah al Islam, the group that is currently surrounded by the Lebanese army inside the Nahr al Bared camp.

Bloggers from all around the world seem to have a true passion for either blaming Syria, or the Lebanese government (and US president Bush of course) for creating Fatah al Islam / Al Qaeda in Lebanon.

My point is this: We have no clue, no evidence for either of theories.

And if you don't live in Lebanon nor visit northern Lebanon or don't have a deep knowledge of radical Islam in the Levant - please don't bore the rest of the world with your second hand theories.

Because like it or not - If I would have published only the first picture, you would have believed that a poor old Muslim woman was escaping the fighting.

Harald Doornbos

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Ware woorden beste Harryzzz. Ook al is alle waarheid natuurlijk een manipulatie van de werkelijkheid.

Riemer Brouwer said...

Well, you could refer to the PM of Lebanon who officially stated that Syria is behind FAI. Also, you could refer to statements from Palestinians themselves who said FAI is sponsored by Syria.

Sure enough all parties have agendas and each party could easily lie about pretty much anything, but to conclude that there is no basis for any statement, is pushing it a bit.

Good to see you read Joris' book btw:-)

Anonymous said...

I guess you are right. Just like I cannot stop thinking these days, that Bush promised his watch to some Albanese people to create an enthusiastic crowd.

inger said...

Point taken Harald, although the first picture did not quite fit your caption - usually people who are on the run seem to do that in groups, and they also carry stuff.
Or am I already too indoctrinated?

Harald Doornbos said...

Hello Inger, sorry for late reply...
After having seen 500.000 croats flee, 1 million bosnians muslims, 1 million serbs, around 1.2 millions kosovars, 100.000 Indian muslims, 100.00 Afghans and around 300.00 lebanese - I can honestly tell you that some refugees travel alone and don't carry anything. cheers, harald

inger said...

Point taken again... take care out there.