Quote: “Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy.” Henry Kissinger, quoted by Bob Woodward in The Final Days, 1976
The Associated Press retracted two government-issued photographs last night after a photographer in Texas alerted the agency that the photos in question appeared to be doctored. Bob Owen, chief photographer of the San Antonio Express-News, notified the AP that the photos of two deceased soldiers, who died in Iraq on Sept. 14, were nearly identical. Upon examining the photos, Owens noticed that everything except for the soldier’s face, name, and rank was the same. The most glaring similarity, Owen told CJR, was that the camouflage patterns of the two uniforms were “perfectly identical.”
After inspecting the photographs, the AP confirmed that the images were, indeed, Photoshopped, and issued eliminations on the two photos.
The elimination reads:
The content of this image has been digitally altered and does not accurately reflect the scene. No other version of the photo is available.
The photos were released by the U.S. Army at Fort Stewart in Georgia. Officials at the base could not be reached for comment.
“I’d like to think that the media holds itself pretty accountable and we try really hard to keep high standards,” Owen said. “Obviously the army, and the government, doesn’t see anything wrong with that [photo altering] at all.”
The only reason I could think of something like this would be to hide some black op? (time to put on your tin foil hat!)
Hmmm. Isn’t that the very definition of UNIFORM?
uni·form (\ˈyü-nə-ˌfȯrm\)
Function:
adjective
1 : having always the same form, manner, or degree : not varying or variable 2 : consistent in conduct or opinion 3 : of the same form with others : conforming to one rule or mode : consonant 4 : presenting an unvaried appearance of surface, pattern, or color
I doubt they’d do that considering they take pictures of every soldier upon enlistment and promotion.
Indifference. Caring for the cannon fodder is effete and liberal.
Don’t forget to support the troops!
its a cardboard cut-out with a hole to stick ur face through, u gotta do it right after finishing the paperwork
“Army Accused of altering Photos of Recent War Casualties”
Ummm, who cares?
The American public to the Bush regime is equivalent to mushrooms. Just feed them shit and keep them in dark. This is just more of the same. It starts from the top.
Never mind this stupid thing. How about an article of Bush wanting to borrow a $700,000,000,000 from China to bail out the mortgage industry speculator? Will this topic be over the heads of those in here? Perhaps some pictures of tits or something to help them along? Come on, guys!
#6. Whats your source on the 700B from China? Provide a link please.
Yes the tin foil hats dudes are surfing your way, but I would surmise the truth is that they couldn’t find an appropriate picture which matched the event, or his current picture with rank….this is not news per-se, just a footnote in history.
None of these poor soldier probably ever got the chance to pose for such a nice photo. The Army saved some dough by not photographing more than their heads and necks. Later, some perfect body model was probably photoed. And after his head was cropped off, the flag was added behind it the uniform. And all the Army had to do then was clip and paste heads to this sample shot. And doctor the name labels, add a shadow where the head covers the flag. Cheaper than photographing a million soldiers, who may not all die.
Of course, with the war’s cost running into the hundreds of billions. This seems a really lame cost cutting move. What did they save? A million or two? Whoopie sh*t.
This was probably done by my friends at the Army Special Operations Command, 4th Psychological Operations Group. This is a fraction of the stuff they do all the time.
It’s sad, but; they they have been told to use their training against the American public, but; that is the Bush government for you.
For all of the money the military has, you think they could get some better Photoshoppers.
#2 – Matt Garrett
You’re a dumb fuck. Look at any two soldiers in Iraq.
#10. “It’s sad, but; they they have been told to use their training against the American public, but; that is the Bush government for you.”
So your friends swore to uphold the Constitution against enemies “foreign and domestic”. If what you say is true. it’s not sad, it’s Treason, and yes I am a Veteran, I took the oath seriously, and still do.
#9, Glen, You’re probably right.
#10 “It’s sad, but; they they have been told to use their training against the American public, but; that is the Bush government for you.”
You are quite full of shit, sonny, and I doubt you know anyone at the POG.
# 15 Springheel,
Wow, hit nerve with the POG did I. Guilty you feel you must? It’s a pretty shitty feeling you and your boys have after being caught.
If anyone is full of shit, it’s the ARMY (Classic Pentagon SyOps and misinformation) for doctoring photos.
As for the rest of of U.S., serving or not we are just cannon fodder for the likes of your ilk.
Originally, this Country served it’s people and did so well. Now post Cold War and with the NeoCons needing to justify itself with it’s war drums, it’s Americans who are supposed forgo their earned bill of rights to serve without question or concern, thereby service Bush and his followers.
The photos in question are DA (Dept of the Army) Photos used on a Soldier’s paperwork. It often happens that many soldiers don’t get their DA Photos during basic training and may end up not having a DA Photo at the time they are KIA. If that happens then the Army has no choice but to use Photoshop to “create” a photo for use in the announcement of the tragic death of the Soldier.
I’m no supporter of our current administration, but I imagine this time there’s little chance this was done subversively.
# 17 A Soldier and a Parent,
Respectfully, I can’t see any justification for photo shopping a picture of a solder, airman or sailor. The Army obviously had original pictures of both solders, since they cut & pasted head shots onto a third image. I have not heard of a family not preferring an un-doctored image to remember there loved ones by.
Most families want the truth about their loved ones, despite Jack Nicholson’s in A Few Good Men emphatically asserting, “You can’t handle the truth!”.
Yes, as American’s who vote, yes we can handle the truth. In fact as American’s, it is our civic duty to want and to understand the truth. That is the only way this country can survive.
It should be a crime when our own government try to subvert American’s learning the truth.
Show the original pictures of the solders that these pictures came from!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Normally speaking altering photos is changing the evidence about something but in this case its more like somebody did a touch up of the sort used to make big shots look good.
I don’t have a reaction.
Show the original pictures of the solders that these pictures came from!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No more controversy, right?
They probably took the photos of the soldiers on the slab, and photoshopped the heads onto non-butchered bodies. It makes sense to me…
Besides, camo is usually pretty uniform.
They had to ensure there was a photoshopped american flag in the back to give you an extra feeling of guilt that yet another soldier died for Bush’s folly.