The Deceit of Human Rights Watch

This is from an old post but an example of how HRW's researchers gladly accept the most preposterous 'witness' testimony to back their agenda.

HRW Report Link here

29th August 2011 - Media report on a warehouse in Libya where the charred skeletal remains of unidentified humans remain. HRW pin the carnage on the Khamis Brigade, a supposed elite force in the Libyan army.

So what do HRW use to support their claim? The following testimony from a guy who claimed to have escaped during the execution.

Let's analyse the witness statement.

Witness: Four soldiers climbed on the top of the warehouse, and another soldier opened the door. They started shooting at us through the roof. It was made of sheet metal. The guy at the door was throwing in grenades…I saw bullets and heard people saying Allahu Akbar, and that’s all. I saw [eight people] fall down. When [the guards] were refilling their ammunition, I ran out the door and jumped over the wall. I was not wounded, hamdullah. They just shot and killed us…

How does the witness know the precise number of soldiers that had climbed on the sheet metal roof. Has he got special vision?
Why does he need to tell us that the roof was sheet metal? As proof that he was there?
So, a guy was at the door throwing in grenades. I'll admit I'm not an expert on grenades but wouldn't this be shaking the crap off the roof? Wouldn't the explosions also come back on the soldier that was at the door?
The witness claims he escaped while the gunmen were reloading. So all 4 gunmen just happened to be re-loading at the same time. And presumably the guy at the door tossing in grenades also took a break.
He claims he ran out of the door. The same door that the soldier with the grenades was occupying or maybe another back door which they provided so prisoners could leave when they liked?

He's been in a warehouse being shot at by 4 soldiers, grenades being thrown in by a fifth, run out the door, climbed over a wall and miraculously has absolutely no injuries.

Witness: After I escaped, I saw one of the soldiers finish off anyone who was wounded lightly. He would just finish them off. I saw him from far away. He was wearing trouser fatigues and a civilian top. I recognized him. He was one of the ones guarding us. His name was Brahim and he was from Tajoura … After I escaped on August 23, I hid in a house outside the compound for three days, and saw that the guards were still there. 

Ok, he's just escaped from a horrific scene with his life and decides he wants to observe what else is happening there. Like you do. How could he see what was going on in the warehouse from being outside it, let alone from 'far away'.
He continued to observe the compound (for whatever reason) for 3 days to assure us that it was still controlled by Gaddafi's troops. Verifying that the rebels couldn't have done this. That the rebels just turned up as the place was burning. How convenient.
Now, about the fire:
 
Within three days the same warehouse was set on fire but the cause is unknown, Human Rights Watch said.

I can only guess the bodies were set on fire to cover up the crimes. There has to have been an accelerant used as even the bones are charred. Now, if the Khamis Brigade or other Gaddafi troops had done this and then wanted to cover up why would they be spray painting their name all over the building? Does that seem logical?

Here's another possible scenario: Rebels/Special Ops took over the compound, rounded up Gaddafi's troops and/or black Libyans/migrants. Killed (Tortured/mutilated?) and then tried to burn the evidence. Then stuck some graffiti on the walls so people, who think Murder She Wrote is a complicated whodunnit, would pin it on the Khamis Brigade.

If HRW can base a verdict on such testimony then it clearly shows they're either extremely incompetent or have a serious bias.

Please don't take this as an extreme example. Read other HRW reports and you'll see the same absurdities. They back up their agenda with nonsense and then claim to have facts. They know full well that the vast majority of people are never going to scrutinise their 'facts'. In fact it's rare that someone will even visit their website. The majority of their spin is sold through the mainstream media.


Video of some of the black Libyans/migrants who were killed/lynched by the angelic anti-Gaddafi rebel forces NATO supported. Note this is from the same area. Executed even while they were laying in the hospital. The rebels telling the media they were killed by the Libyan army.

So any investigation into these crimes, anyone to be prosecuted? No, the rebels were all given an amnesty from prosecution by the newly installed puppet government. Where are the Amnesia International and HRW campaigns for justice? Nowhere.

Who is Dr Rola in faked Syrian Napalm report?

Dr Rola appearing on BBC Newsnight

Dr Rola has been doing the rounds with the media this week after her fake patients video got banded around, care of the BBC's Panorama team. Pushing for western humanitarian bombs to rain down on Syria and hoping  this new 'attack' would impression the vote in Parliament after a week of chemical weapons claims. For some reason she only wants to be known as Dr Rola in her interviews. In an article done by an associate of hers in The Lancet, she is referred to under the pseudonym of Dr Rola Ahmed.

There's been some confusion over who she is and if she is even a doctor.

She is Dr Rola Hallam. You can check her on the GMC register here. Also known as Dr Rola Al-Kurdi (Alkurdi) - her maiden name. Dr Simon Hallam, her husband, is also involved in Hand in Hand for Syria.

You can read more about her here

Her status is: Registered with a license to practise. She is not on the GP register and not on the Specialist register.

There is also a Dr Mousa Al-Kurdi who is believed to be her father. He played his part in fronting stories for the Chemical attack in Ghouta just the week before. He is referred to as an oncologist or gynaecologist depending on the report you read. Surprise, surprise he is also in the Syrian National Council - the western funded opposition group. But the news articles simply refer to him as a Syrian doctor avoiding his political connections, to make it appear he's some impartial observer.

Update: The GMC appeared to have removed all reference to Alkurdi/Al-Kurdi on their register when checking today (12/09/13). Their site advises that names can be withheld for search.

Other Links on Dr Rola:

http://wikispooks.com/wiki/Dr_Rola

BBC News Panorama - The Dodgy School Napalm Attack

More fakery destroying real lives

29th August 2013 - BBC Panorama Team claim to have a report on the Syrian government using napalm on a school. Killing 10 teenagers.

Link to video report here

Let's study the video:

It starts with amateur footage with the reporter, Ian Pannell, claiming a body is being covered. We see something that could possibly be a corpse but it could be anything. The reporter claims 10 teenagers were killed and that he witnessed the victims. However, it's not made clear if he is referring to the supposed patients in the field hospital or the ten dead.

00:33 -  They go back to visit the 'school'. There are no school signs on the front gate, not a single sign inside the courtyard or at the front of the building. To the left you see a private pool (??) In fact, all indicators show this is a private residence, not a school.

There is an impact of some kind of weapon with charring just around the damage. If this were napalm or any kind of similar accelerant the whole place would be charred black. But you don't see a single example of burning anywhere else at all. That BBC reporters bought this says a lot about them.

00:42 - Pannell reports that the headmaster doesn't want to be identified, eventhough we have clear pictures of the 'school'. So if this school existed it would hardly be difficult for the government to know who the headmaster is. So why doesn't he want to be identified....hmm.

1:02 - This is meant to be a school for teenagers but you can see a small child's swing for 5 year olds in the courtyard. Further proof that this is a private house.

1:46 - 'Patients' are walking in to the 'field hospital' run by a pro-rebel UK charity called Hand in Hand for Syria. It has a very similar resemblance to the dodgy charities that were created over Libya by regime change supporters. (More about Hand in Hand for Syria's Dr Rola here) Who were quoted all over the mainstream media with some of the most ridiculous stories.

The patients look in a bad way - very convincing. The first guy comes in limping like a zombie (remember him for later).

2:02 - We're shown a man on a bed being given oxygen? This seems to be a classic in rebel videos with 'patients'. They just start pumping them with these masks. Rather than worry about the 'patient', who we're supposed to believe can't breathe, they're more interested in showing us his back. Now look closely at the 'burns' - real burns would have made the skin red all over. Instead what you see is like a latex make up which has stretched with movement and left almost circular gapes which show perfectly fine skin underneath.

These are not real burns

2:06 - You hear Dr Rola saying "More coming?" Why would a woman who can speak Arabic be speaking English to a Syrian ambulance worker? All for the camera. We also see a man with a gas mask on (ooh scary) except no one else has bothered.

2:08 - We see footage of the same guy who walked in at 1:46 still getting off the pickup truck.

2:10 - The Medic/Dr decides rather than worry about the 'patients' she needs to speak to the BBC. "I need a pause", she says, because of the chaos. Now watch the Doc's eyes when she says the word 'napalm'. Just as she says it her eyes flick to the camera.

2:39 - A lady who supposedly has burns to her face and is covered in some kind of burns cream still has her head dress on? She is the same lady you see being stretchered in at 2:26 screaming.

2:45 - We're shown Ahmed, the 15 year old. In fact the only teenager. Where are all the others at this school? Again, injuries look convincing. But burn cream seems to have been applied everywhere except his hands? And where is Ahmed now? Will they be interviewing him to show his current injuries? Because they've yet to do so on any other 'patients' the rebels like to show. He would be a poster for intervention propaganda if they did. Note, that Ahmed's injuries look nothing like those of the other 'patients'. Nor do we see any footage of him walking in. Was he already at the hospital as a real patient?

2:55 - So now we've seen the patients, the classic format is followed. A 'witness' screams to the camera (looking down as if reading a script) "Dear United Nations....what kind of peace are you calling for...don't you see this".

3:03 - In the style typical of much rebel propaganda, everyone is thrown together acting like zombies. Watch our friend from 1:46 earlier. Super bad acting as he spots the camera. A man with 'serious burns' is more worried about giving a peace sign as he's supposedly in agony (see this video here of the same - guy does peace sign at 00:30). Then a younger guy starts doing the same. Both these guys wouldn't pass an audition for the Thriller video, but all very convincing for the Panorama team.

According to Ian Panell's tweets they first just happened to be at the hospital when victims started coming in from this incident. They then went to film at the school two days later - because it was a dangerous area. If it was such a dangerous area how come teenagers were happily going to school there? Having checked, it is summer holiday season for all schools in Syria, so they should not even be open. There are so many glaring problems with the story apart from the zombies with their make-up.

Another discrepancy, which isn't uncommon - The rebels have been providing other videos with different patients on youtube for the same attack where it becomes a 'college'. I believe some have said videos for the chemical attack discussed in Parliament were already being posted before the time it was supposed to have happened. I haven't scrutinised the whole timeline on that to verify. But guaranteed our media certainly aren't bothered with doing so.

This from the same Panorama who were supplying propaganda for the Iraq invasion in 2003 - Saddam- A warning from history. Then John Simpson, now Ian Pannell. Lies that really kill people.

HRW's report on this 'incident' by Mary Wareham:

 It is the end of the school day, teenage students gather in the playground before heading home. An aircraft buzzes overhead. A second later, chaos – at least 10 are dead and dozens wounded. Video images of the young victims – the dead, dying and severely wounded - show tell-tale signs of severe burns.

What video images of the dead? What has Ms Wareham even been watching?

That was the gruesome scene reported this week by the BBC of an apparent Syrian government airstrike in northern Syria in which an incendiary bomb was dropped on a school on August 26.  While we have not investigated this incident, we have recorded multiple instances of Syrian government use of air-delivered incendiary bombs since November 2012, including in a previous school attack
You've not investigated it, Ms Wareham? Why not? Oh..but hold on, you have investigated others. That's okay then. Let's have a look at how you investigated those:

A video posted to YouTube by activists from Quseir, Syria shows ZAB 2.5 incendiary submunitions burning in the playground of the Ghaleb Radi school following an airstrike on December 3, 2012.

Sounds like a lot of investigation there.

An activist told Human Rights Watch that four adults, including two Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters, were wounded during an airstrike using incendiary weapons in Maarat al-Numan on November 28. 

According to two local activists and video footage, approximately 20 civilians including women and children were wounded on December 3 by an airstrike on a school and neighboring homes in Quseir that apparently involved incendiary weapons. A home in Daraya also appears to have been hit by incendiary weapons, based on local residents and footage reviewed.

Based on the account of a witness, the first documented use of an incendiary weapon occurred on November 16. An activist in the Damascus suburb of Daraya, which had been heavily bombarded by Syrian forces in recent weeks, told Human Rights Watch that he filmed several videos showing ZAB incendiary submunitions being dropped on Daraya:


In other words your investigations consisted of what activists told you from their media centre. This activist witness claiming he had filmed this ammunition being deployed but only actually providing video of the supposed aftermath. Oh, what a surprise. So what did HRW actually investigate? Absolutely nothing.

Meanwhile Kenneth Roth. Executive Director of HRW, insists he has the facts because he has people on the ground. Of course he makes the statement deliberately ambiguous so we assume he means HRW staff. His interview on RT shows him in true form with a mass of deceit and spin.


Other Links:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/bbc-media-fabrications-on-alleged-incendiary-bomb-attack-in-aleppo-syria/5353099

Some great work by Robert Stuart who has been questioning the BBC over this.  See here