Ethnic Cleansing Stops Iraqi Violence
I have no idea how reputable this is but it seemed worth posting.
“By the launch of the surge, many of the targets of conflict had either been killed or fled the country, and they turned off the lights when they left,” geography professor John Agnew of the University of California Los Angeles, who led the study, said in a statement.
“Essentially, our interpretation is that violence has declined in Baghdad because of intercommunal violence that reached a climax as the surge was beginning,” said Agnew, who studies ethnic conflict.
Reuters Published Fake Propaganda Photos
It is interesting to note that the boy’s supposedly injured right leg, “bleeding” profusely from the thigh, seems to be supporting itself. The soldier on the right also appears on many of the photos below in various capacities.
A very similar situation to the Iranian photoshops. Now I’m waiting (hoping) for the Errol Morris analysis.
Believing is Seeing
Errol Morris in the New York Times’ photo-op:
I have asked myself how this controversy over a photograph became international news. Clearly, there are many reasons. But at the center of them all is this question: Are we on the brink of another war? I remind myself that the war in Iraq started with bellicose posturing and photographs. At the United Nations, Colin Powell displayed several photographs of Iraqi sites showing incontrovertible evidence of weapons of mass destruction. Of course, we now know that this incontrovertible visual evidence was false. We don’t need advanced digital tools to mislead, to misdirect or to confuse. All we need is a willingness to uncritically believe.
Bush Backs Israeli Attack On Iran
If it ever comes to that, I think a serious war crimes prosecution is in order.