Iran 'smuggled arms' to Hezbollah on ambulances

[Big Don]

Iran 'smuggled arms' to Hezbollah on ambulances
(AFP/Google News EXCERPT:) – 1 day ago
BEIRUT — Iran used Red Crescent ambulances to smuggle weapons and agents into Lebanon during Hezbollah's 2006 war with Israel, a leaked US diplomatic cable showed on Monday.
The 2008 classified cable which originated in Dubai quotes an Iranian source as saying the Iranian Red Crescent was used as a cover by members of the elite Revolutionary Guard to enter Lebanon during the conflict.
"IRC shipments of medical supplies served also to facilitate weapons shipments," said the cable that appeared on the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.
It added Red Crescent staff had seen "missiles in the planes destined for Lebanon when delivering medical supplies to the plane.
"The plane was allegedly half full prior to the arrival of any medical supplies," the cable said.
The Iranian source also said an IRC hospital in Lebanon was handed over to the control of Hezbollah at the request of Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of the Shiite party.
END EXCERPT
OK, here we have a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions. Where is the US political left screaming for the heads of Hezbollah's leadership?

 

[CoryKS]

I'm still baffled by the "scandal" of the WikiLeaks documents. Everything they've revealed has been well-documented. Rantburg.com has been talking about stuff like this for years.

 

[Empty Hands]

I'm still baffled by the "scandal" of the WikiLeaks documents. Everything they've revealed has been well-documented. Rantburg.com has been talking about stuff like this for years.

It became undeniable and un-ignorable. Look at the torture scandal. We'd "known" about it for years, it was fairly well documented, but everyone in power ignored it and pretended it didn't exist, and the media let them get away with it. But then suddenly a flood of pictures was released, giving the media one big story they can't be attacked for reporting, people suddenly start paying attention, and the ones in power can't ignore it anymore. Then suddenly it becomes a big scandal and a big problem. This isn't limited to politics either. Why did the baseball doping scandal suddenly blow up at one particular time when we'd known about it for years? I'm sure there are plenty of other examples.

 

[CanuckMA]

OK, here we have a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions. Where is the US political left screaming for the heads of Hezbollah's leadership?

Because one may not be critical of Israel's ennemies. Ambulances have been used to carry explosive into Israel, yet there is no condemnation. After all, it's justified if it's to defeat the big bad oppressor. :barf:

 

[WC_lun]

This isn't exactly new news. The right isn't saying much about it either. I think it is a case of there just isn't much we can do about it, and focusing on it might take the focus off other things, like Iran trying to build nuclear weapons.

 

[CoryKS]

It became undeniable and un-ignorable. Look at the torture scandal. We'd "known" about it for years, it was fairly well documented, but everyone in power ignored it and pretended it didn't exist, and the media let them get away with it. But then suddenly a flood of pictures was released, giving the media one big story they can't be attacked for reporting, people suddenly start paying attention, and the ones in power can't ignore it anymore. Then suddenly it becomes a big scandal and a big problem. This isn't limited to politics either. Why did the baseball doping scandal suddenly blow up at one particular time when we'd known about it for years? I'm sure there are plenty of other examples.

But the thing is, all these examples were reported in the media. To use the example of Rantburg, their threads are links to news articles (along with user-provided commentary and snark), so the stories were out there. Maybe not splashed across the front page of USA Today, but we're still talking about legitimate news agencies, not the Weekly World News. I didn't get the shock of the "torture" photos either, because every US news source had been reporting about it. Perhaps the photos provided visual confirmation of the event, but again, if you accept the legitimacy of the source of the reporting, you already knew it was going on. And FWIW, my problem with the MSM is not that I think they lie or make up stories; it's that I believe they omit or downplay stories that don't conform to their left-leaning biases. They reported as fully as they could on the "torture" story because it did fit their narrative. The photos were a small part of that.

This whole WikiLeaks thing reeks of high-school politics. "Girl, did you hear what Hillary said about Vladimir Putin?" "Oh, no, she di'n't!"

 

[billc]

This can't be. The Iranians would have to know that if this were ever discovered there is a strong possibility, that someone in the united nations might possibly write a very strong and pointed letter of condemnation that, if approved by a majority of the voting members, could very well be submitted to the government of Iran. And wouldn't that just teach them what for? I mean, imagine when the Iranian ambassador recieved that letter. Wow.