The Washington Post ran an article written by Abby Phillip,
making the same mistake – if not a more serious one – than the mistake
apparently made by an Egyptian television anchor. The title of the Post's
article is: “Egyptian TV anchor mistakes video game footage for Russian
airstrikes in Syria ,”
published on October 12, 2015.
Like the title says, the Egyptian anchor ran a video clip
without verifying its origin which, to be fair is something that happens once
in a while … and can happen to anyone. Just ask Dan Rather who lost his hide,
or the late Tony Snow who would have run a footage showing the disappearance of
the Universe if a Jew had told him it's something that happened yesterday.
As to what the Egyptian anchor has shown, apparently without
verification, the Washington Post has written about without verification either
– except that the Post quoted another Egyptian publication (a website called
Egyptian Streets) which said that the footage was from the Russian video game
Apache Air Assault.
I am puzzled as to why the Russians would develop a video
game, call it “Apache” which is an American made helicopter, and include in the
clip voices that speak in perfect American accent. I am also puzzled as to why
the Egyptian anchor might have thought it was authentic footage of the Russian
operation that is now ongoing in Syria .
I must attribute the mistake made by the Egyptian anchor to
his hyped emotion regarding the damage that terrorism has caused Egypt . And I must
attribute the mistake that was made by the Washington Post to the hyped emotion
of its writers and editors when they learned that the anchor had used the
footage to glorify the Russian military … perhaps at the expense of the
Americans.
Well, I may have what could be construed as good news for
the ego of the people at the Washington Post. I begin with the caveat that I
say what I'm about to say, going from memory only and without verification
since I have neither the time nor the resources to do so.
Here it is: I believe that the footage of the clip is not
from a video game, whether developed by the Russians or someone else. It is
authentic footage of an operation that was conducted by the Americans nearly a
quarter of a century ago with technology as old as that – something that the
Egyptian anchor thought was recent, was Russian and was superior to what the
Americans have. Cheer up all of you at the Post.
That operation was called Desert Storm, and came about when
Saddam Hussein of Iraq
invaded Kuwait .
The Arab nations, led by Saudi
Arabia , called on the Americans (Bush 41) to
come and get him out of there since they were the ones that supported him and
strengthened him while he was fighting the Iranians. The Americans responded to
the Arab call by stationing something like half a million troops in Saudi Arabia , and started the assault by
pounding Iraq
from the air.
Eventually Saddam couldn't take it anymore, and started
withdrawing his troops from Kuwait .
That's when columns after columns of tanks, armored vehicles and everything
that had wheels was commandeered to get out of Kuwait ,
and head back to Iraq .
The exodus happened at night since the Iraqis thought it would be the best time
to do it. What they did not count on was the fact that the Americans had AWACS
planes that can “see” at night and direct the attacking warplanes and
helicopters to their targets … themselves equipped with night vision.
I remember seeing some of the footage at the time, and it
looked very much like the footage being shown now and described as Russian
operations or Russian video game … neither of which, in my view, is correct.
But I could be wrong, and if so proven, I would be the first to admit it.