Bloody Aprils

Here's a fair rendering of recent events in Iraq, I think, in my own adjusted-for-effect prose:

The US army insists that its devastating invasion of Fallujah earlier this month was intended to root out the infrastructure of the Iraqi insurgents, particularly the authors of a vicious attack on American contractors. It now says the dead were mostly fighters. And, as always – although its daily behavior in occupied Iraq contradicts this claim – it insists that it did everything possible to protect civilians.

But Al Jazeera has unearthed a different story. It has found that, while the US operation clearly dealt a devastating blow to the resistance – in the short term, at least – more than half of the Iraqi dead who have been identified so far were civilians, including women, children and the elderly. They died amid a ruthless and brutal American operation, in which many individual atrocities occurred, and which the CPA is seeking to hide by launching a massive propaganda drive.

The assault on Fallujah by the US forces began early on 5 April. One week earlier, four US contractors escorting a food convoy into the city were killed and mutilated by a mob of angry residents. This horrific slaughter reverberated in media around the world, making it the most vivid image of the violence facing the occupational authorities in Iraq, a singularly evil moment even by the standards of the bloody insurgency countered by US forces since the fall of Baghdad.

Ok, now compare and contrast with what appeared in the Independent on April 25, 2002:

The Israeli army insists that its devastating invasion of the refugee camp in Jenin earlier this month was intended to root out the infrastructure of the Palestinian militias, particularly the authors of an increasingly vicious series of suicide attacks on Israelis. It now says the dead were mostly fighters. And, as always – although its daily behavior in the occupied territories contradicts this claim – it insists that it did everything possible to protect civilians.

But The lndependent has unearthed a different story. We have found that, while the Israeli operation clearly dealt a devastating blow to the militant organizations – in the short term, at least – nearly half of the Palestinian dead who have been identified so far were civilians, including women, children and the elderly. They died amid a ruthless and brutal Israeli operation, in which many individual atrocities occurred, and which Israel is seeking to hide by launching a massive propaganda drive.

The assault on Jenin refugee camp by Israel's armed forces began early on 3 April. One week earlier, 30 miles to the west in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya, a Hamas suicide bomber had walked into a hotel and blown up a roomful of people as they were sitting down to celebrate the Passover feast. This horrific slaughter on one of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar killed 28 people, young and old, making it the worst Palestinian attack of the intifada, a singularly evil moment even by the standards of the long conflict between the two peoples.

Some will think this is an unfair comparison, or a stretch that isn't completely tenable. Obviously, I don't think that's the case. The US announced it would be "exporting Jenin to Iraq," in Nigel Parry's foreboding words, and it looks to be doing precisely that.