A Soldier's View of Republican Propaganda

[Sir Craig]

After reading this week's Blog Box and seeing the paragraph about Linda Eddy's Photoshopping of the photo of the soldier holding the child whose parents were either killed or badly wounded by coalition forces, I felt I should look a little deeper.

Below is the Photoshopped image done by Eddy:



Now here is the original, undoctored photo downloaded from the Slovenian News site for which the photographer worked:



Now, before I go on and say what it is I have to say, this is the response Eddy gave to Sheldon of PRWatch:

Do YOU see any story about it? Any dead parents? Any reference to a photographer? Any quotes from the soldier photographed? Any photo credit whatsoever?

Me either.

...

You wrongly assumed I knew all about this photo, the story behind it, and that I knowingly and willfully chose to depict it otherwise.

I didn't.

The anger and disgust I feel for this woman and her flippant claims cannot be adequately described; the original photo (I'm assuming this is the one she found and altered-- the URL she claimed to have downloaded the pic from does not work) conveys nothing of what her "doctoring" suggests, and in facts suggest quite the opposite.

As a soldier, I have seen the look on the face of the corpsman many times: It is the look of exhaustion and frustration, bordering on hopelessness as he holds yet another innocent casualty in this bullshit fiasco of a war. Yet in Eddy's version, not only has the face of the child been replaced to suggest someone looking upon the soldier as a hero, but the soldier's face has been altered to show how glad he is that he was there. Eddy has stripped all the humanity from the picture and what it portrays in an effort to push a Republican agenda.

That she claims to know nothing about the background of the photo is not only egregious on her part, but downright bullshit as well: The background full of coalition sodliers, standing in front of a tank, should have been enough of a clue for this stupid bitch to know that the little girl was not there through a happy set of circumstances, and so deleted the background to hide that little uncomfortable fact.

What Linda Eddy has done, as has been suggested, is nothing more than a small scale version of what the Republicans have been doing to the American public since trying to sell this damn war, and I am sick and tired of my fellow soldiers being used in this way, portrayed to look like we actually want to be there. The truth is, we in the military know that this is not going to end well (simply because it didn't start well), and that ultimately we are going to be pulled out, leaving the region in a chaos worse than the one before, and that somehow we in the military will be blamed for not "winning the war."

Be that as it may, I am all for exposing these spinning bastards whenever and wherever I find them, in an effort to make future efforts on their part seem less attractive. When Gannon/Guckert was outed (along with Williams et al in the punditry-for-profit scandal), it was a small victory for the forces of truth, and with this latest exposure of the duplicity and hypocrisy of Linda Eddy, I'm hoping her fortunes change for the worse as well.

Anyone got any nude pics of her selling her soul for the right wing?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. thanks, having been a medic I have worn that look

and that woman is despicable

I wihs she woudl put the Photoshop down and went down to the recruiters, a tad of reality may be good for her

And by the way I will not blame the military, just the civilains who sent them there

[chicagojoe]

2. Thank You for posting this.

[Erika]

3. I'm sure she will whore herself as well

In the meantime, www.icasualties.org

Our kids dead and maimed. It was a very bad day yesterday, but the Bush suppressed news, won't let anyone know of it.

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

4. This link doesn't work? (nt)

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

12. Got it now...

[ribrepin]

5. I couldn't agree more

The second unphotoshopped picture is much more human. The soldier seems to be protecting that child with his very body. The real second photo makes me wants to cry for the child and the soldiers. I pray for all the victims of Bush's wars.

[alphafemale]

16. Yes. I think he's protecting her from seeing what he'll never forget.

I'd guess that's a "Daddy." And a good one.

[punpirate]

6. Every war...

... has to be sold--and unnecessary wars are the biggest hard-sell of them all. Some politicians are just better at it than others, and the Bushies are among the best.

Someone chided me the other day for suggesting that context is everything--you've just offered a perfect example of why context matters.

Linda Eddy is selling this war in the same way as are her Republican idols.

[The Minus World]

7. Absolutely Disgusting

Take a look at the feet. At first I thought that the photoshop chop-job was intended to change the expression on the child's face, but it seems as though she needed to change the skin color on the girl's lower extremities as well. Not an inch of actual skin on that child.

Surely, Ms. Eddy would never suggest that her intention was to act as a propagandist for this administration, though.

After all, what's wrong with doctoring a few images, and lying to the public in order to get a political point across?

[MJP]

11. I agree...the face in the photoshopped vers...

Looks like she tried to make it more American-like, (or Anglo?).

It's not as ethnic as the real picture. Which the real picture is more human, and...well, real.

Yes, this is disgusting.

[The Minus World]

14. The Abyss Deepens

Of course, when viewed side-by-side, it's painfully obvious which one is the cut-up version. How sick does a person have to be in order to be driven to such inane acts?

Would the editor, had she been on-site, have preferred the child turn and smile for the camera, rather than express the true anguish she is undoubtedly feeling?

[smurfygirl]

8. What eddy doesn't want anyone to know is what war

really looks like. That the people that die are innocent children and women. That our soldiers are having to live with regret and sorrow for the rest of their lives due to incidences like these.

Eddy doesn't care about our soldiers - it seems no Republican does.

You can't be pro-life and pro-war.

[Tsiyu]

9. This so disgusts me, I cannot adequately express the disgust

I had this (undoctored) photo on my vehicle for a while. i chose it because in the original the soldier looks so stricken and in despair over what he has witnessed.

It was once called "The Littlest Terrorist."

The fact that some cruel nutjob has twisted it to look like everybody's having a great time there absolutely SICKENS me.

If there truly is a hell, these fools are going to be rotting in it for all eternity.

[Tsiyu]

10. BTW, the photo originally appeared on Rense

and Whatreallyhappened. It was posted to show the suffering war causes, not to sell war. looking at the OP I see it came from a Slovenian site, but those are the sites where I originally found it. Eddy cannot claim she didn't know the original context. Is every Republican a lying scumbag or just most of them?

PRO-WAR IS NOT PRO-LIFE

[fooj]

13. Remember this: TRUTH IS OUR MOST POWERFUL WEAPON!!!

Peace.

[cornermouse]

15. somehow we in the military will be blamed for not "winning the war."

No. This is Bush's fault.

[ribrepin]

17. Kick for the day folks

[wadestock]

18. The UNDERSTATEMENT of the millenium.....

"and I am sick and tired of my fellow soldiers being used in this way"....

BU$HCO has specifically taken advantage of this highly trained, highly skilled, highly motivated VOLUNTEER Army and USED IT for ITS EVIL DOING.
They sensed its availability, they gaged exactly what they thought were "acceptable casualties"...and they DECIDED....it was IN THEIR BEST INTERESTS to exploit this "business asset".

The fact that a vast majority of Americans are in a mass psychosis about this war...and its absurd connection with 911, or trying to find some form of patriotic thing to hang onto as BU$HCO systematically destroys their country beneath them....does not in any way diminish this astounding fact.

Who would have ever known are country was a sitting duck for some ASSHOLE and co. to come into power and USE this amazing asset for their own business reasons.

WAKE THE FREEK UP AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[seabeyond]

19. i saw the original on another site, and sat with picture for a couple

days. it was so powerful. and i would go into site and just sit with the man. look at the men walking away, yet looking back at the soldier. feel the tired ness and sadness of it all. powerful picture for me

a couple days later i see the made up picture. made me sick too

i am so relieved to see this thread where a soldier, actually shared his thoughts on this. thank you

[Sir Craig]

20. I was tired when I wrote this...

...but even so, I still cannot help but marvel at what shriveled vestige of a soul could look upon that original photo and think to herself, Gosh, this would make a really wonderful poster showing our support for the war, if only they were smiling. I know! I'll just turn those frowns upside down!

I would have had more respect for Eddy if she had done something like this:



I suppose that's why I'm not a Republican tool: because I've seen the horror and don't immediately think, "Opportunity!"

[G_j]

22. I hope she hears this from

many, many Vets.
She seems to be living in a dream world.
Your smiley face rendition is on the money.

[WLKjr]

21. what a damn shame

whores in the WH, propgandist everywhere, .........This whole damn administration and it's followers are nothing but pimps.



hopefully better days will be ahead in another 3 years.