Opposing Windows : Missing Targets

You can’t have a war — especially these days — without a propaganda war.  Is it just me, though, or does it seem there has been a real lack of coverage of the coverage?

Given the strong and opposite sympathies surrounding this conflict, The BAG aims to offer a series of posts divided in pairs.  My purpose is less to analyze than to mirror two radically divergent views of reality — especially as expressed through the media filter.  Hopefully this approach can encourage something rare — an examination of the dynamics of the conflict, as opposed to the drumbeats from either side.

So, here’s what we’ve got.

Right wing blogs have been buzzing for days over photos showing Hezbollah operating in a dense civilian neighborhood.  The images reveal fighters in civilian clothes manning a truck equipped with large caliber weapons.  Originally reported in the Sunday Herald Sun, the location is reported as Wadi Chahrour, a Christian area in east Beirut.  The photos are attributed to a “visiting journalist” who reportedly smuggled them out through a friend.

The second shot is from a photo gallery on Syria’s SANA news service.  It was taken about two weeks ago.  I’m guessing it’s Southern Beirut.

Note: For equivalency (if I can use the expression), because the top image came off a scan from a newspaper, I desaturated the second shot and added some noise.  For more images of the Hezbollah truck, check here.)



(image 1: unattributed.  Sunday Herald Sun. July 30, 2006.  Lebanon.  image 2: SANA News Service.  July 26, 2006. Lebanon.)