Gideon Levy in a Fog of His Own
Press Secretary Jay Carney addressing reporters
Good journalists keep their mouths shut when they don’t have a clue. In contrast, Gideon Levy‘s weak grasp of the facts has never quieted him before. Today is no exception. In his column today about the killing of Osama Bin Laden (“Rambo V”), he writes:
As it is wont to do, the United States cloaked the details of the operation with the fog of war. Was bin Laden armed? Was there a woman in the compound? Were shots fired? Nobody asks. Why spoil the best party in the world?
But these questions were asked, and answered — at the higest level: the White House press briefing with press secretary Jay Carney two days ago, Tuesday, May 3. Gideon Levy sits in a fog of his own.
At Tuesday’s briefing, one questioner addressed exactly the questions that Levy claims “nobody asks”:
So Brennan in his briefing yesterday made a couple of I guess misstatements or statements that later appeared to be somewhat incorrect, such as that the wife was shielding bin Laden and it turned out it wasn’t the wife and there may not have been a shield and it wasn’t clear whether or not bin Laden had a gun. Are you guys in a fog of war in this, or what gives?
To which Carney answers, in part:
On the first floor of bin Laden’s building, two al Qaeda couriers were killed, along with a woman who was killed in crossfire. Bin Laden and his family were found on the second and third floor of the building. There was concern that bin Laden would oppose the capture operation — operation rather, and, indeed, he did resist.
In the room with bin Laden, a woman — bin Laden’s — a woman, rather, bin Laden’s wife, rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed. Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed.
But why bother with the facts if it means passing up a chance to smear “the leader of modern imperialism”?
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