Monday, June 14, 2010

'Witness' On A Speaking Tour About What Happened Aboard Mavi Marmar Admits She Was On A Different Ship

This is still online on the Code Pink site:
Dear Friend,

I just returned from the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and started my speaking tour last night in NYC to share what I witnessed aboard the flotilla, and what people can do to end the siege.

I witnessed the Israeli attack that killed 9 persons and wounded 50 on the Gaza Flotilla - the six unarmed civilian passenger and cargo ships that were taking humanitarian aid to the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza to break the over three year Israeli siege of Gaza.
It is the beginning of a message from Ann Wright, United States Army Colonel (Ret.) announcing her speaking tour and requesting donations.

It is all very well and good for Wright to spread the good word--it would be even nicer if what she was spreading was the truth.

The fact of the matter is that although Wright clearly claims "I witnessed the Israeli attack that killed 9 persons and wounded 50 on the Gaza Flotilla"--Wright (and Code Pink by maintaining this page) are being very misleading.

The truth came out during an interview with Dr. Aaron Lerner, that Ann "I witnessed the Israeli attack that killed 9 persons and wounded 50 on the Gaza Flotilla" Wright was not on board the Mavi Marmara at all:

Lerner: "You haven't seen the YouTube that shows the rods that had been cut
and prepared and the piles of hatchets that were ready?"

Wright: "No, I haven't. I'm still in the process of catching up with all the
stuff that's out there."

[She also claims that "the video" (apparently the same video that she said
she did not see - ed.) stops at a certain point and does not show that "the
captain of the ship and the director of the IHH came out of the wheelhouse
and told the guys that were on top 'stop beating these soldiers up.'"]

Lerner: Col. Wright I just want to make sure again - so you actually were on
a different boat and did not witness the attack firsthand.

Wright: That's correct.

Lerner: So your witnessing is based on the information that you are getting
from the other folks who were there.

Wright: My witness will be specifically what happened on our ship, the
Challenger. And then I can comment on what happened in the very first three
or four minutes as the Israeli commandos were trying to board the ship. We
saw that from the stern of the ship. But after that that's when my
witnessing from my own eyes of what happened on that ship would end.
So, although Ann Wright claims to be a witness to what happened
1. Ann Wright admits she was not aboard the Mavi Marmar--she was actually aboard the Challenger
2. The Challenger was sailing about 150 yards from the Mavi Marmara
3. The confrontation took place between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m., in the dark of night (IDF footage of the raid was carried out with night vision equipment).
I don't know about you, but I don't think the people Wright is getting donations from are getting their money's worth.

Technorati Tag: and .

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would say that most Auschwitz inmates were Holocaust witnesses. Yet most Auschwitz inmates were not living near the crematoria and gas chambers. And there's no contradiction.

Daled Amos said...

I would say that most Auschwitz inmates were Holocaust witnesses. Yet most Auschwitz inmates were not living near the crematoria and gas chambers. And there's no contradiction.

When dealing with the Holocaust survivors we are talking about eyewitnesses that lost members of their family, of people forced to clean up the dead bodies, who smelled the stench that came out of the chimneys--all of this first hand.

Your comparison emphasizes the enormous difference and the fact that Wright is not an eyewitness or a witness of any standing.

And the fact that she, and Code Pink, continue to mislead speaks volumes.