Israelis nuke Lebanon by R. Fisk.

In the Independent (where else?), intrepid reporter Robert Fisk (who else?) asks,

Did Israel use a secret new uranium-based weapon in southern Lebanon this summer in the 34-day assault that cost more than 1,300 Lebanese lives, most of them civilians?

Given Fisk's evidence, or rather lack of it, the answer is almost certainly, they did not. Perhaps he is confusing the IDF with SMERSH. Actually, the real story is that a British scientist detected higher than normal radiation levels in material sent to him from a Lebanese bomb crater and inferred that depleted uranium shells might have been used. From that vague finding, Fisk set his imagination to work and came up with the secret atom bomb theory. As yet nobody has been able to confirm the Indy's conclusions. What a surprise!

In case such vacuity proves insufficient to prove the evil of the Israelis to Indy readers, Fisk excites them further by claiming that he had previously seen

...two dead babies who, when taken from a mortuary drawer in West Beirut during the Israeli siege of the city, suddenly burst back into flames.

In this context, previously means 14 years earlier. Fisk finishes off with a few hundred words on the health hazards of radioactivity - it's the isotopes, stupid - and how the bad guys from Israel murderously attacked the innocent Lebanese.

As propaganda goes, it is a good basic idea, but the storyline needs more work. Perhaps the Israelis should be placed in alliance with the Goa'uld. It would be more believable.

Tags: Israel, Lebanon