Sisku,
Thanks for the welcome.
I really don't dispute that GREEN HAT is not the character he claims to be. I've been looking over Hajj's photos and so many of them are obviously staged. I would tend to believe at this point that both Hajj and his GREEN HAT actor are applying for unemployment.
On your points:
1) the building collapse
A couple years ago a local building collapsed here from the 3rd floor during a wedding reception. Hundreds of guests were seriously injured and several died. Rescue workers went through the night trying to pull out the survivors while they were still "survivors".
It's very difficult to analyze how the rubble sits after such an event - it really depends on where the collapse began (from the walls, the ceiling or the floor). If the collapse was from the center - the amount of rubble beneath the victims would indeed be much less than the amount above. And all the victims would end up at the lowest possible level of the building.
I really do believe that a building collapsed and that victims were caught inside.
Using them for "staging" though is unethical and untenable. Reviewing all Hajj's shots from this day clearly show "staging". Many of the children's corpses were used over and over in photo shoots throughout the day. No doubt the greatly exaggerated numbers also originated from the "stagers"
2) the "Binkie" - another staging give-away. Yes - way too clean and obviously NOT part of the childs original attire.
Oversights like this are very common among Palestinian "staging" photographers. It is what it is.
I personally think the real problem lies with News agencies - who will always pay top dollar for the most dramatized - attention gaining pic or headline. They are partly responsible for the creation of men like Hajj.