The truth is always, it seems, an early casualty of war, and competing versions of the truth have been on offer for Israel’s invasion of Lebanon as they were when the British were driving the Argentinians out of the Falklands. On all counts, however, the Misinformation purveyed by the Argentine junta was amateurish stuff, mainly damaging to its own side, compared with the professional disinformation of Israel’s enemies.
The discrepancies have been so huge as to strain credibility at either end of the spectrum. Unfortunately for Israel her enemies got in first. So we read of ten thousand dead in the early bombardment of Beirut, and 600,000 homeless in the area of military action. Those were the figures reluctantly accepted at face value in high quarters in Washington when I was there the other day.
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