David Frum Axes Evil (or So He Thought)

UPDATE Saturday:  Once again, in lengthy new post, Frum attempts to temper his apology (the whole affair is just a "dust-up" after all) with a response to James Fallows and Gawker that continues to claim that what he did was understandable given some past cases of photo manipulation by Israel's foes. And he continues to largely back the wacky Zombietime site.  AND attacks Ali Abunimah again. Most telling:  Frum focuses on scattered examples of photo faking in past--usually not involving dead bodies--while he has not said one word against the undisputed death of over 1000 Gaza civilians in past three weeks.  Then there's the issue of Frum as a leading proponent of the propaganda that goes us into Iraq.

UPDATE  Frum finally says he's sorry.  But then devotes nearly all the space to saying his skepticism was warranted--so much media manipulation of images that make poor Israel look bad.  Links to site Zombietime that covered this in past--filled with a few clear cases of photoshopped or staged images but also with much more claims as wacky as they one he cited last week. I followed that rightwing site, and ones like it, very closely years ago at E&P.

Earlier:  As I noted elsewhere, Michael Shaw's always-excellent BagNewsNotes today took apart David Frum's multiple claims--eight times, I think--that the NYT and Reuters had faked photos showing some severe suffering in Gaza.  Frum now says he is looking into, and sure to apologize any minute.  I pointed out earlier that Frum's source was same clown I exposed a few days back for claiming that the viral video showing a young Gaza man shot by a sniper was totally faked.  The young man's father had claimed his body at the morgue.  Now read this piece based on an interview with the perp.  Almost feel sorry for him, he is a kind of tragic figure.  Almost.

When I was editor of E&P from 2002-2009 I went through this a lot.  There were always these idiot rightwingers who were doing "photo analysis" to prove atrocity photos from Iraq or wherever the Israelis were bombing (Lebanon, Gaza) were fake.  Almost always they were clearly real.  They went came up with charges that there was a virtual movie lot in some of these places where the scenes were played out.  Toxic stuff and also so revealing.  They can't handle the truth, to coin a phrase.