I've been reading about Green Helmet Guy a lot, but it occurs to me I haven't blogged about him.
Here's the deal. After the Israeli attack on Qana, which killed a number of civilians, some children, some blogger began to notice that the same rescue worker was showing up in a lot of the photography from the shot, often displaying dead children, seemingly parading them in front of the cameras.
EU Referendum blogged on Qana: The Directors' Cut: (read the whole thing. It's disgusting.)
I have called this post, "the director's cut", as that is what it is. The narrative here is of how the combination of Hezbollah's media management and modern photo-journalism has turned the recording of a tragic event into theatre, in the best tradition of Michael Moore.
As best we can, we have pieced together the jumble of evidence which surrounded the production of the iconic photographs which were published around the world, and put them in perspective. Many of the photographs have been used before, some are new to this site and others are video "grabs". But it is not the pictures, per se, that tell the story, so much as their ordering and analysis. Make of this what you will, but I can assure you that you are not supposed to see them in this light.
EU Ref also finds that Green Helmet guy was on the scene of a similar tragedy in Qana 10 years ago (scroll down, after more detail on this Qana production).
Later, Dan Riehl dissected this video, which looks to show that Green Helmet was actively coordinating with other "rescue workers" to get the photographers a good, theatrical shot.
Now, there's this video from a German news service that shows conclusively that Green Helmet is directing the scene. You've gotta watch this one:
An AP story reported in early August that agencies were standing by the Qana photos, and EU Referendum slapped down the reporter's defense, here.
Little Green Footballs found Green Helmet being interviewed and identified in this video.
Watch in the background at around the 1:20 mark, as rescue workers carrying a stretcher pause and set it on the ground, to allow photographers to get in position and take pictures.
And, here's Green Helmet Guy in Tyre, directing the positioning of dead bodies, once again.
And here.
Of course, this being the fair-and-balanced blogosphere, we wouldn't want Green Helmet Guy to miss out on giving his side of the story, so here's his blog.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member