Dear Garden Friends:

Although the hate mongers have not invaded our site with their
propaganda on the above matter, you might have friends on other NGs,
or friends not on-line, who bought into it.

The below would be helpful in debunking shameless media and Internet
false accusations.




////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Hate to rain on the haters' parade, but the truth will out:

+++++++++++++++++
More truth is emerging about the "murder" of the "peace activist,"
shown on our Front Page -- http://www.jewishworldreview.com/ --
burning a mock U.S. flag during a rally in the southern Gaza Strip on
Feb. 15, 2003. Now that Reuters, a supposed "objective" news service,
has been caught, will it make an effort to correct its damage?

http://jewishworldreview.com/0303/corrie.html

+++++++


Jewish World Review March 24, 2003/ 21 Adar II, 5763

David Bedein

GOTCHA! How Reuters transformed
an accidental death into homicide

On March 16th, college friends Joe Smith and Rachel Corrie came to
Gaza to protest against

(Polar comment: (...what they called...)

terrorist home demolitions as part of the former's activity with the
International Solidarity Movement.

Both Joe and Rachel had studied at Evergreen College in Olympia,
Washington.

Joe witnessed Rachel's tragic death late that afternoon, and described
what he saw to my colleague. He recounted that

Rachel "was sitting on a mound of earth in front of the
bulldozer. The earth started to move under her when the
bulldozer digs in. You have a couple of options you can roll
aside --- you have to be very quick to get out of the way.
You can fall back, but she leaned forward to try to climb up on
top. She got pulled down, and the bulldozer lost sight
of her …Then, without lifting the blade, he reversed and she was
underneath the blade."

Joe Smith did not sound accusatory nor vindictive against the Israel
Defense Forces bulldozer driver.

So why did the world have a different impression of what had happened?

Well, a picture is worth a thousand words.

The picture distributed by the Reuters News Agency
showed Rachel Corrie standing in front of the bulldozer with a
megaphone. That is the picture that appeared on page three of the New
York Times on March 17, 2003.

The Reuters caption stated what the picture said
that this picture was taken before Rachel Corrie was crushed by
this bulldozer, giving the reader the distinct impression that Rachel
Corrie had been standing with a megaphone in clear sight of the
bulldozer.

That would have made this act some kind of homicide.

The next photo distributed by Reuters showed Rachel lying in front of
the bulldozer.

And then I began to notice something.

*********The lighting of the Gaza sky was different in both pictures
of what were supposed to be sequential shots.. The landscape in each
picture was different. **************

I checked with Reuters to find out about the discrepancy of the
picture sequence.

The Reuters photo editor said, however, that these were NOT their
pictures. They were sent by the International Solidarity Movement.
Indeed, these pictures did appear on the ISM web site at
www.palsolidarity.org. The Reuters photo editor assured me, however,
that the pix were clearly labeled as ISM pictures. A check with the
Reuters web site showed that they were labeled as Reuters pix.

A call back to Joe Smith about the sequence of the pix revealed
another unknown fact. Smith said that no one was on the spot with a
camera before Rachel Corrie was mauled by the bulldozer, and that the
picture of Rachel with the megaphone had been taken many hours
earlier..

I placed a call to Tim Heritage, bureau chief of Reuters, and asked
him about Reuters policy in using pictures from political groups that
might manipulate the media..

I gave him a heads up about the fact that Reuters had issued the photo
of Rachel Corrie standing alongside the bulldozer with a megaphone.

Heritage said that he would look into the matter and asked for a call
back.

I called back an hour later. Heritage was not available. However, all
of the Rachel Corrie/bulldozer pix had been wiped off of the Reuters
web site.

Yet the damage was done.

The indelible image of a mauled "peace activist standing with a
megaphone" will not leave people's minds for many years to come.

To forward this article, PLEASE cut and paste this link:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0303/corrie.html

JWR contributor David Bedein heads the Israel Resource News Agency,
Jerusalem, Israel and the Center for Near
East Policy Research, Wellesley, Mass.

+++++++++



--
Polar

"Polar" wrote in message
...
Dear Garden Friends:

SNIP

Joe witnessed Rachel's tragic death late that afternoon, and described
what he saw to my colleague. He recounted that

Rachel "was sitting on a mound of earth in front of the
bulldozer. The earth started to move under her when the
bulldozer digs in. You have a couple of options you can roll
aside --- you have to be very quick to get out of the way.
You can fall back, but she leaned forward to try to climb up on
top. She got pulled down, and the bulldozer lost sight
of her .Then, without lifting the blade, he reversed and she was
underneath the blade."

What kind of bulldozer operator is going to even _move_ the dozer knowing
someone is under the blade.......let alone put the dozer in reverse? Any
other operator would have got off the dozer to see what he had to do.

On Mon, 24 Mar 2003 21:17:18 GMT, "volts500"
wrote:


"Polar" wrote in message
.. .
Dear Garden Friends:

SNIP

Joe witnessed Rachel's tragic death late that afternoon, and described
what he saw to my colleague. He recounted that

Rachel "was sitting on a mound of earth in front of the
bulldozer. The earth started to move under her when the
bulldozer digs in. You have a couple of options you can roll
aside --- you have to be very quick to get out of the way.
You can fall back, but she leaned forward to try to climb up on
top. She got pulled down, and the bulldozer lost sight
of her .Then, without lifting the blade, he reversed and she was
underneath the blade."

What kind of bulldozer operator is going to even _move_ the dozer knowing
someone is under the blade.......let alone put the dozer in reverse? Any
other operator would have got off the dozer to see what he had to do.

You're assuming he knew she was under the blade?




--
Polar

"Polar" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 24 Mar 2003 21:17:18 GMT, "volts500"
wrote:


"Polar" wrote in message
.. .
Dear Garden Friends:

SNIP

Joe witnessed Rachel's tragic death late that afternoon, and described
what he saw to my colleague. He recounted that

Rachel "was sitting on a mound of earth in front of the
bulldozer. The earth started to move under her when the
bulldozer digs in. You have a couple of options you can roll
aside --- you have to be very quick to get out of the way.
You can fall back, but she leaned forward to try to climb up on
top. She got pulled down, and the bulldozer lost sight
of her .Then, without lifting the blade, he reversed and she was
underneath the blade."

What kind of bulldozer operator is going to even _move_ the dozer knowing
someone is under the blade.......let alone put the dozer in reverse? Any
other operator would have got off the dozer to see what he had to do.

You're assuming he knew she was under the blade?




--
Polar

No, I'm saying an equipment operator doesn't continue to operate the
equipment when s/he loses sight of people standing close to the
machine.........._especially_ the business end of it.
The eyewitness stated: ".....and the bulldozer lost sight of her." Can one
not assume from this statement that the operator had visual contact with the
victim before s/he "lost sight of her" ? What equipment operator continues
to operate heavy machinery when someone standing close to the equipment
suddenly becomes unseen?
Does one continue backing a car out of a driveway if one loses sight of
children playing close by?