The Augean Stables and The Second Draft

This blog takes its name from the Fifth Labor of Herakles, to clean the stables of Augeas, where thousands of cattle had left so much un-cleaned dung that the whole Peloponnesus smelled of it. At Second Draft, our discovery of both Pallywood and the Al-Durah Affair have led us to realize that — at least where the Arab-Israeli conflict is concerned — our MSM represent a veritable Augean Stables of accumulated misreporting. We dedicate this weblog to exploring the many aspects of our MSM’s problem, not only those concerned with the Middle East problem, but more broadly with the many ways in which our media’s errors and our media’s extraordinary resistance to admitting their errors, have contributed and continue to contribute to the serious problems that plague our globe in this young 21st century.

February 9, 2010

Anthony Lawson on Gaza: Comments please

Filed under: Arab-Israeli Conflict, Demopaths and Dupes, operation cast lead — Richard Landes @ 3:05 pm — Print This Post

I just received the link to this piece from someone on my Class of ‘71 Listserv. She presents herself to everyone as a lover of peace, but she apparently is drawn to some of the worst war-mongering propaganda around. I don’t have time to tackle this right now. I welcome your comments both on the film itself (and its two authors Joe Mowrey, scriptwriter, and Anthony Lawson), and the way in which such a piece of work can appeal to people who think they are in the peace camp.

February 2, 2010

Enderlin hits bottom, keeps digging

Filed under: al Durah Affair — Richard Landes @ 3:33 pm — Print This Post

Enderlin has responded to an article by Reuven Pedatzur which attacked his coverage of the Al Durah story. It’s not online, but here’s a PDF of the “deadwood” version (HT/Barry Nimat) and below a transcript (HT/CAMERA)

Regarding “Mohammed is not dead,” January 24, by Reuven Pedatzur

The claim that there was not a drop of blood at the scene [where Mohammed al-Dura allegedly was killed in 2000] is erroneous. Blood is clearly visible in the videos, and is mentioned in the reports prepared by the hospital that treated Jamal al-Dura, Mohammed’s father.

This is most interesting phrasing. Blood is clearly not visible in the videos. There’s a vague red spot where the boy was allegedly shot in the stomach, but that could (and probably is) a red rag that was previously on his thigh where he was allegedly first hit, and which “blood” in the later scene has miraculously vanished. For a gaping stomach wound from which the boy allegedly bled to death, the absence of blood at the scene is quite striking… even necessitating the adding of blood the next day. (All this evidence is discussed here.)

But what can this possibly mean:

[blood] is mentioned in the reports prepared by the hospital that treated Jamal al-Dura, Mohammed’s father.”

How can the hospital know what blood was at the site? But more pointedly, note that Enderlin refers to the doctors who treated Jamal, not Muhammad. Could this be caution on his part, since in Shapira’s movie the facial recognition expert makes it clear that the boy in the hospital is not Muhammad al Durah?


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