From Jihad Watch:

Egyptian military ruler told Jimmy Carter video of soldiers stomping on woman was fake

That's the handy thing about conspiracy paranoia: it doesn't have to make sense. Never mind multiple, corroborating sources of the images. The incident occurs around 30 seconds into the video. "Egypt’s Military Ruler Told Carter Video of Soldiers Stomping on Woman Was Fake," by Robert Mackey for the New York Times, January 19:

During a conversation with former President Jimmy Carter last week, Egypt’s current head of state, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, claimed that widely circulated video images of soldiers beating, stripping and kicking a female protester on the pavement of Tahrir Square last month were entirely fake.

The abuse of the woman, whose black cloak was pulled back to reveal her blue bra as soldiers used force to disperse protesters on Dec. 17, was captured in raw video that was broadcast by a private Egyptian television channel.

Within hours, more video of the attack on the woman was posted online by activists, who edited the images to highlight the abuse of the woman.

A Reuters photograph of one soldier stomping on the woman’s chest, which was printed on the front page on an Egyptian newspaper, has become an icon of the struggle for an end to military rule in Egypt. Outraged by the incident, thousands of Egyptian women took to the streets of Cairo three days later, waving images of the attack on the woman.

As the Moroccan-American journalist Issandr El Amrani points out on his blog, The Arabist, Mr. Carter described the general’s apparently unsubstantiated claim in a report on his recent trip to Egypt published online this week.

In a section of his report detailing “a thorough discussion” with Field Marshal Tantawi, the head of Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Mr. Carter wrote:

Since the overthrow of King Farouk in 1953, Egypt has been governed by military leaders, who have accumulated and maintained full political and military power and substantial control over economic and commercial affairs. Despite the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, the military has retained an overwhelming portion of its historic authority. Only pressure from the revolutionary forces on the streets has resulted in grudging concessions.

I was received with a friendly welcome as I congratulated the military leaders for what seemed to be a successful election, and then asked a number of questions. It seemed that the SCAF had full confidence that there would be accommodation to their demands by the Muslim Brotherhood and their coalition partners as the new government is formed. Instead of the reported 12,000 mostly political prisoners being held for trials in military courts, the Field Marshal stated that there were no more than 3,000, all of whom were guilty of criminal acts and being tried in civilian courts. He stated that the widely promulgated videos showing military attacks on demonstrators and a woman “with the blue brassiere” were all falsified. He said the soldiers were actually helping the woman re-clothe herself with what was provocative attire.....

Posted by Marisol on January 19, 2012 9:30