I read about Rachel Corrie's tragic accident in the Middle East. She was an idealistic young woman who would doubtlessly have been an asset to
humanity if she had had a chance. I believe, however, that the Corrie family's anger at Israel and Caterpillar may be misplaced. I have seen some very disturbing things online about the International Solidarity Movement, most specifically the following:

(1)  http://www.standwithus.com/news_post.asp?NPI=85
"Recently, the Director of the Solidarity Movement, George Rishmawi,
explained to the San Francisco Chronicle that the recruitment of American student volunteers is useful to the Palestinian Movement
because "if some of these foreign volunteers get shot or even killed, then the international media will sit up and take notice.""

Is that how Mr. Rishmawi thinks Rachel was "useful" to the Palestinian Movement? The following online source, which is friendly to the Palestinians, reinforces the idea that Rachel was more useful to the Palestinian movement dead than she was alive:
 http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-22-2003-37821.asp

"'Her death serves me more than it served her,' said one activist at a Hamas funeral yesterday. 'Going in front of the tanks was heroic. Her
death will bring more attention than the other 2,000 martyrs.'"

It sounds like this Hamas terrorist-- and Hamas is a Foreign Terrorist Organization as defined by the U.S. State Department-- was actually happy that Rachel was killed and this statement ties in with Mr. Rishmawi's.

(2) Although several ISM members provided detailed eyewitness accounts of Rachel's accident with the bulldozer, I find it very disturbing that not one of them lifted a finger to pull her out of the slowly-moving vehicle's path when it became evident that the driver did not see her.

 http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-22-2003-37821.asp
"Her British friend and fellow activist, Tom Dale, 18, from Lichfield in Staffordshire, said he saw her die. First, he said, there was fear on her face as she realised that her defiant gesture was going wrong. Joe Smith, 21, who went to college with Corrie, said that, although they acknowledged the danger, they saw death as a 'small, unlikely, potential risk'."

That's very interesting. He was close enough to see the fear on her face but he stood there and did nothing to save her when HE realized that her
"defiant gesture was going wrong."

"The activists have compelling photographic evidence to support eyewitness claims that Corrie's death was a deliberate, murderous mowing
down of a unarmed protester."

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE IS FORGED. THERE IS AT LEAST ONE PHOTOMANIPULATION AND IT IS NOT EVEN A GOOD ONE.  http://www.crimesofwar.org/onnews/news-caterpillar.html (a site friendly to the Palestinians and hostile to Caterpillar) shows an ISM picture of Rachel and another ISM activist standing in front of a bulldozer. Take a VERY close look at
 http://www.crimesofwar.org/onnews/pix/caterpillar_pict2.jpg.
(1) The man has no feet. His picture was obviously cut and pasted into the picture, and it wasn't even a good job; I can do a far better
photomanipulation with Corel PhotoPaint.
(2) Rachel is casting a shadow to her left but the much larger bulldozer is casting no shadow whatsoever in that direction. As shown by the
shadow of the hydraulic piston on the back of the bulldozer blade, in fact, the sun is coming from behind the bulldozer.

Back to  http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-22-2003-37821.asp
"Dale watched as she knelt down in front of the bulldozer, perhaps 20 metres away, something the activists had done repeatedly that day as they had in the past. 'The bulldozer went towards her, very slowly, she was fully in clear view, straight in front of them.'"

He himself testifies that the bulldozer was moving very slowly-- plenty of time for him or another man to pull her out of its path when it became clear that (for whatever reason) it was not going to stop. But neither he nor any of the other ISM activists chose to do so.

"A traumatised Smith raised his camera and took photographs: Rachel standing in front of the bulldozer; then her bloodied body being pulled
from the freshly turned soil; being cradled in the arms of her friends."

That's interesting. Why was his highest priority the taking of photographs when his friend, or so she thought herself, was in immediate danger of life and limb??? Remember, this is from the ISM's own testimony as reported on a site friendly to the ISM and not from a
pro-Zionist site.

"'If only they'd had a video camera,' one Palestinian journalist lamented. 'A film of the Israelis killing an American in cold blood would have ended the intifada.'"

This Palestinian and I must agree to disagree on this because my position is, "If only they had pulled Rachel out of the bulldozer's path." The problem with that, of course, is that you can't have a martyrdom without a martyr and pulling Rachel out of the bulldozer's path would have been very inconsistent with the Palestinians' goals. Like the Hamas terrorist said, she was worth far more dead than 2000 Palestinian "martyrs."

Finally, the ISM was probably criminally negligent in allowing or encouraging Rachel to enter an area in which bulldozers were operating without a hard hat (even to participate in civil disobedience). While this would not have saved her from the crushing injuries she allegedly sustained, some accounts of the accident implicate head injuries from debris that were thrown up by the bulldozer blade. (OSHA requires hard hats to be worn near operating construction equipment in the U.S., by the way.) Either way, however, encouraging a young college student to enter a construction zone (or equivalent), especially without head protection, shows the ISM's callous, reckless, and irresponsible disregard for her safety.

As for the ISM's accusation that the Israeli driver deliberately ran over her, the driver's line of sight was limited and it is very doubtful that he saw her. If you stand in front of a tractor-trailer or municipal bus (close enough to its front), the driver might not be able to see you and an armored bulldozer provides its driver with even less visibility. Instead of arguing over this it might, however, be useful-- and perhaps Caterpillar should have thought of this itself-- to have independent witnesses sit in the control cab of a similar vehicle so they can see the driver's range of vision themselves. Then have a man walk in front of its blade so you can see when a person is and is not visible to the driver.

====================

In summary, Rachel's so-called friends in the ISM apparently felt that it was far more important to watch, take pictures, and falsify the photographic evidence (this has been proven) afterward. As I see the matter, the ISM's conduct in persuading or encouraging Rachel to stand in front of a bulldozer, and then standing around and taking pictures while it ran over her was irresponsible and reckless at best, and I can think of far worse things to call it.

There is substantial evidence that ISM was recklessly negligent-- or worse-- with regard to Rachel Corrie's death. In fact, an ISM leader and a Hamas terrorist suggest that it was useful to get a young American college student killed to make propaganda.
 http://www.standwithus.com/news_post.asp?NPI=85 "Recently, the Director of the Solidarity Movement, George Rishmawi, explained to the San Francisco Chronicle that the recruitment of American student volunteers is useful to the Palestinian Movement because "if some of these foreign volunteers get shot or even killed, then the international media will sit up and take notice.""
A Hamas terrorist said openly that Rachel was worth more dead than alive. "'Her death serves me more than it served her,' said one activist at a Hamas funeral yesterday. '...Her death will bring more attention than the other 2,000 martyrs.'" Making of a Martyr by Sandra Jordan, Guardian Newspapers
The ISM posted photomanipulated fake photos in conjunction with Rachel Corrie's death. An example is attached.
Although several of Rachel's "friends" in the ISM testified vigorously about their eyewitness accounts of her death, but not one of them lifted a finger to pull her out of the slowly-moving bulldozer's path. This suggests at best a callous disregard for the young woman's life, and perhaps something even worse.

There is substantial evidence that the ISM itself was criminally negligent (or even worse) with regard to Rachel Corrie's death. In fact, it had a motive for wanting her dead.

 http://www.standwithus.com/news_post.asp?NPI=85 "Recently, the Director of the Solidarity Movement, George Rishmawi, explained to the San Francisco Chronicle that the recruitment of American student volunteers is useful to the Palestinian Movement because "if some of these foreign volunteers get shot or even killed, then the international media will sit up and take notice.""

 http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-22-2003-37821.asp "'Her death serves me more than it served her,' said one activist at a Hamas funeral yesterday. '...Her death will bring more attention than the other 2,000 martyrs.'"

The ISM photos of Rachel confronting an Israeli bulldozers are photomanipulated fakes. One wonders why the ISM posted fake photographs about an incident that ended with an innocent person's death. See for yourself:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:RachelProtest.jpeg

(1) The man next to Rachel has no feet. His picture was cut and pasted into the picture.
(2) Rachel casts a shadow to her left but the much-larger bulldozer casts no shadow whatsoever in that direction. If you look at the back of the bulldozer blade, the hydraulic piston's shadow shows that the sun is coming from behind the bulldozer. Rachel and the man in the white T-shirt should also be casting shadows in the same direction but they are not.

IN A CASE WHERE A HUMAN BEING HAS BEEN KILLED, I WOULD HAVE (to use Han Solo's expression) A VERY BAD FEELING ABOUT SOMEONE WHO LIED ABOUT THE EVENTS- which the ISM did by posting photomanipulated fake pictures like this one. And speaking of photographs, one wonders why Rachel's ISM "friends" found it far more important to stand around taking pictures than to pull her out of the path of the slowly-moving bulldozer whose armored view slits provided the driver with very limited visibility.