Official Tin Foil

by digby

Atrios points out that this “Qana was staged” conspiracy theory is not just a blog phenomenon. Indeed it isn’t. Rush is touting it daily on his show, as I mentioned here. This is a Republican Noise Machine Special. They don’t do this stuff on their own.

The WaPo article to which Atrios links effectively debunks the theory and then asks this question:

Who killed the Hashems and Shalhoubs, if it wasn’t an Israel bomb? Korvet and the other bloggers don’t offer any theories.

Rush certainly has one:

You know who really killed those people are the Hezbos. Hezbollah killed those people. Hezbollah put those people in that building and brought the rocket launchers in close by, knowing full well that the launcher would be targeted. That building didn’t fall for eight hours after it was hit. What do you bet that the Hezbos finished the job that the Israeli bomb did not actually complete? What do you bet they killed their own people for the PR aspect? These people cannot compete militarily with any industrialized nation, so they have to fight the PR and the spin war. And it is amazing to me to see how easily the duped US and world media is.

It’s quite clever really because it comports quite nicely with the official line that Hezbollah is not only the cause of Lebanese suffering but that they are doing everything for PR effect:

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: It’s very obvious what the strategy of terrorism is, and of the actions that Hezbollah took. Their strategy is to commit an outrage that provokes a reaction, and then on the back of the reaction, to mobilize extreme elements, and then try and create a situation which even moderate people feel drawn to their case. That’s the strategy

There are plenty of dittoheads out there who are more than ready to take the next leap and believe that Hezbollah is actually staging the atrocities.

This is not a blog phenomenon and it’s not even a talk radio phenomenon. This is a RWNM phenomenon and that means it’s sanctioned by the Party.

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