A SINGLE SQUARE MILE

Two interesting articles have appeared in the LA Times in the context of the media and the war in Lebanon. Both are well worth reading.

In War, the Small Screen, and the Big Picture Frida Ghitis writes:

"In 1942, the British Royal Air Force, later joined by the U.S., began a massive campaign of carpet-bombing German cities to keep the Nazis from winning the war. Live images would have sent chills through TV audiences. Civilians died by the tens of thousands. If today's technology had existed then, would the populations of Britain and the U.S. have demanded an end to the bombing? Would TV have helped Hitler win the war?

"And what if we had seen pictures of the bombing of Berlin, Cologne and Dresden, but not of Auschwitz?"

Also in the LA Times, Kim Murphy quotes Lebanese officials who confirm that Israel's bombing in Lebanon during its recent war with Hizbullah focused on Shiite areas of Southern Lebanon and the Beirut suburbs:

"Although roads and bridges have been hit all over the capital, most of the damage in Beirut has been limited to a single square mile of the southern suburbs: The neighborhoods of Bir Abed and Hrat Hreik. An almost daily barrage of missiles, bombs and gunship artillery has systematically removed Hezbollah's headquarters, its schools, clinics, sports centers and homes, along with the homes of thousands of civilians who live nearby."

Read the whole story here

If we believe the narrative that Murphy provides in this article, then perhaps it's true that Israel was really targetting Hizbullah strongholds rather than indiscriminately destroying the whole of Lebanon - which was the message many media reports from the region were sending.

Apart from the few courageous voices that were always prepared to speak out and provide a different narrative.

"Beirut, all the rest of Beirut, 95% of Beirut, lives and breathes better than a fortnight ago. All those who have not sided with terrorism know they have strictly nothing to fear from the Israeli planes, on the contrary! One example: last night the restaurant where I went to eat was jammed full and I had to wait until 9:30 pm to get a table. Everyone was smiling, relaxed, but no one filmed them: a strange destruction of Beirut, is it not?"

This is the narrative that Hizbullah and its friends didn't want the world to know about so they hid it away on the blank pages - read it here now.