XDA

That's Ms. Corrie in the bright red jacket with the megaphone. You're probably wondering where is the Palestinian house she was supposedly trying to keep from being leveled. Well it turns out that part of the popular account was exaggerated a bit.

In the second picture, only her head and arm are visible behind her cohorts who have come to her aid; but she's toast at that point with a fatal skull fracture as well as a probably fatal crush injury to her chest.

Having seen these photos, it is difficult for me to imagine that the operator didn't know she was around. The question is should he have suspended his brush clearing actions merely because she was trying to get him to stop? I think the answer to that question will largely depend on your political affiliation.

UPDATE: The first photo, as you can tell from the sky and the lighting, was taken hours before the fatal crushing and with a different Caterpillar bulldozer, not seconds before the fatal accident as many lefties have alleged. The second one shows that Ms. Corrie was, much later in the day, down before the Cat D-9. It is very unclear whether the operator saw her at that time, but clear that it was a near suicidal action to duck down in front of that high a blade and hope the operator would see you and stop. Here's her hagiogic website, with the following account: Rachel Corrie, 23, was killed on 16 March when she was run over by an Israeli bulldozer #949-623. Rachel was trying to stop the bulldozer from demolishing the home of a Palestinian physician in the Gaza Strip.

Here's what one of the cohorts says:

"I couldn't believe it. I was sure the bulldozer would stop," said Tom Dale, 18, a member of Rachel Corrie's group.

In a Mother Jones interview Dale said that Corrie was sitting in the bulldozer's path, then...

The bulldozer built up earth in front of it. Its blade was slightly dug into the earth. She began to stand up. The earth was pushed over her feet. She tried to climb on top of the earth, to avoid being overwhelmed. She climbed to the point where her shoulders were above the top lip of the blade. She was standing on this pile of earth. As the bulldozer continued, she lost her footing, and she turned and fell down this pile of earth. Then it seemed like she got her foot caught under the blade. She was helpless, pushed prostrate, and looked absolutely panicked, with her arms out, and the earth was piling itself over her. The bulldozer continued so that the place where she fell down was directly beneath the cockpit. I think she would have been between the treads. The whole [incident] took place in about six or seven seconds.

Here's the other side:

a) The bulldozer was NOT demolishing houses b) The bulldozer was excavating tunnels dug to smuggle arms and explosives to murder innocent people. c) The pictures and the story shown by Reuters ( and regurgitated by The Australian and the SMH) are a scam, they were taken elsewhere, not at the Rafa site, and not before the accident. d) The issue of Rachel Corrie being a hate-filled antisemite is relevant to the incident e) Israel and the IDF have been unfairly and maliciously maligned, and I have both a duty of care, and a right to challenge injustice and present the facts.

You can't help but feel bad for the waste of this young girl's life, but the sympathy I feel for her is about on par with the damage she did the D-9, that is, none at all.

Labels: Rachel Corrie

# posted by Roger Fraley @ 1:38 PM