Is this American Flag Photoshopped In?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

Something strikes me very suspicious about this photograph - especially since Malkin has been ranting about how the media is not reporting the truth in Iraq.



http://michellemalkin.com/

As an Army convoy prepared to depart after dropping off blankets, an Iraqi boy came out to say goodbye clutching a stuffed toy--and an American flag. Update (from Allahpundit): The subject was backlit in the original photo so I used Photoshop to adjust the lighting and remove a small amount of grain.

[Fierce]

1. Looks OK to me.

Looks like he's holding a cheap made-in-China American flag. I'm sure it happens.

Why "very suspicious"?

[Mugsy]

40. IT'S NOT A PHOTOGRAPH, IT'S A PAINTING!

I blew the image up to analyze it. It's not a photo, it's a painting. LMAO.

[sniffa]

45. that's why it Looks so strange

[Atman]

2. Flag looks real. Kid looks made of plastic.

:hi:

.

[blondeatlast]

17. I thought that too! Seriously, he looks like "My Buddy" (the Iraqi edition). nt

[Atman]

26. LOL! I remember "My Buddy!"

My kids had one. They took magic markers and drew a pecker on him!

Hmmm. Now he carries around an inflatable love doll, "My Friend With Benefits"...maybe buying him a "My Buddy" wasn't such a good idea.

.

[jeff30997]

29. LOL!!!

[wtmusic]

3. Not necessary

American with big bad gun sticks a flag in your hand, takes picture (excuse me if my heart is not warmed).

[Dhalgren]

7. I agree with you. A picture like this means very, very little. I just

hope this poor kid can manage to live through the unholy mess we have made. I also hope that by the time he is old enough, that there are no US soldiers around for him to kill or be killed by...

[YDogg]

4. looks like the stick is incorrect at bottom of hand compared to higher up

it would be easy to have photoshopped the flag into this image, especially given the uniform background and clearly defined borders of the flag.

[Kelly Rupert]

39. The stick is S-curved.

Follow the line of the stick from the top of the flag to his hand. It bends quite a bit.

[patrice]

5. he end of it near his palm is white and somewhat un-aligned

with the rest of the stick above his fingers. Could be an optical illusion triggered by the different color of the end near his palm.

The stars and stripes are that inexpensive stiff fabric that just gets stamped with the colors.

It isn't impossible that such a child might have some positive attitudes toward the U.S.

[rebel with a cause]

18. Also note

the fabric of the flag is unevenly curved much like this / yet the edge is painfully straight. Even cheap stiff fabric would not do this.

[patrice]

20. It's not photoshopped in. n/t

[Laura PourMeADrink]

22. I agree - The flag looks too perfect - like it is held out in a perfect

wind. Also, the light is coming from the right - why is the flag so perfectly backlit - the child isn't.

[dogday]

6. I might question the shading on the side of his face

why is it so bright in just that one area, not the top of his head?

[Little Wing]

8. I fuckin LOVE IT when the self-proclaimed photoshop experts come out

Thank you for posting this, I'll have a good laugh

[Javaman]

33. I assume that by your remark that you are a photoshop wiz?

If so, like you stated below. Prove it. :)

and I'm waiting with baited breath for more of your witty retorts, such as your "fuck off" comment below.

Weeeee!!! Ain't life grand!!!

Have a nice day :)

[Little Wing]

34. The 'fuck off' wasn't mine

And I don't have to prove anything, the burden of proof lies with those claiming it's a fake.

[wtmusic]

41. I love it *even more* when self-proclaimed photoshop experts

come out and dis other self-proclaimed photoshop experts! :silly:

[sniffa]

44. *snort*

:rofl:

[gatorboy]

9. The wingnuts need to make up their pea brains.

Do you want to liberate them or nuke them?

[Benhurst]

10. Just a genuine outpouring of affection.

Remember after we invaded Panama and killed somewhere between five and fifteen thousand civilians and buried them in mass graves, how the streets were lined the following days with Panamanians waving similar little U.S. Flags?

Yes, we are loved all over the world, and billions of people keep their own little Old Glory in the house just in hopes the occasion will arise to rush into the streets waving it in gratitude for being bombed and invaded.

[SmokingJacket]

11. It looks real, but so what? It's a kid! My anti-Bush kid loves flags too.

If someone gave him an Icelandic flag, he'd be playing with that, too.

Dang, that's a cute kid.

[tabasco]

12. Is Michelle over 42 years of age?

If not, she can go down and enlist TODAY !

Such a noble cause and everything.

[walldude]

13. No it looks like propaganda...

This questioning every photo is getting kinda boring.

[jobycom]

14. Famous story about a village in France during WWII

One young officer described how when the Germans withdrew and the Americans marched into the village, he was moved to tears to see all of the German flags on people's houses being taken down, and replaced with American flags. The villagers formed a parade route for the troops, waving American flags and screaming for joy.

A week later the village was given back to the Germans, and as the young officer marched out of the village, he saw all the American flags coming down and Nazi flags going back up. The villagers lined the streets in a parade route, waving Nazi flags and screaming for joy as the Germans marched in.

Victims do what they must to stay alive.

[4morewars]

15. "Please, don't kill me,

please, don't kill anymore of us.

What the fuck is wrong with you people ?"

That's what he's thinking, it's what ALL Iraqis are thinking.

[Little Wing]

19. Wow, mind reading over the internet

You are one talented individual. Please, tell us more.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Little Wing]

25. yay! You can channel Cheney, too

You're special, don't let the vibrations overwhelm you

[Lex]

16. This is all they have left?

A pic of a kid with a flag?



______________________

[jeff30997]

21. Yep! photoshoped!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

23. Maybe he was holding a sign "Impeach, Already !" nt

[Little Wing]

28. Prove it

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

27. No, It Isn't. Anyone Who Says It Is Simply Doesn't Know What They Are Talking About.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

30. why? tell more.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

32. Because It's Obvious That It Isn't, Logical That It Isn't, No Reason To Believe It Is,

and absolutely NOTHING to provide any legitimacy to a notion that it is. That's why.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

35. Here's why

UPDATE, 6:19 PST: Hugh has the transcript up.

HH: All right, yesterday, the President also mentioned that there will be lots of carnage on television screens. Is the administration, and especially the Pentagon, prepared to fight the new media war when that starts to happen, Tony Snow?


TS: We’ve been fighting it. I mean, it’s not that it has started to happen, it’s been going on for some time. What is interesting, Hugh, and you know this as well as anybody else, you’re also starting to see little glimmers of guys like Michael Yon and others who get over there and they basically embed themselves in Iraq, and Michelle Malkin’s over there now.


HH: Bill Roggio, you bet. They go over and do first hand reporting.

The embeds aren't all he's noticed, either:

HH: As we saw during the summer war between Hezbollah and Israel, Tony Snow, Hezbollah went to such lengths as to stage atrocities, buildings blown up, and victims left in there.

TS: Yeah.


HH: Are you, as the head of the White House communications operation, prepared to immediately get out there and quarrel with that and stop those sorts of stories from metastasizing?


TS: Yeah, I am looking forward to meeting Captain Jumil Hussein, but other than that, yes. You’ve seen the latest on that, right?


HH: No, I haven’t. I haven’t read today. Is he back and not existing again?


TS: He’s back to non-existence.


HH: (laughing) But that’s the new media war…


TS: Yeah.

[Kelly Rupert]

38. So your reasoning is.

"Tony Snow says that the White House is going to have to turn the debate in Iraq positive. Also, Michelle Malkin went to Iraq. Therefore, a photograph is photoshopped."

Well, I'm convinced.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

42. Great. Thanks for agreeing with me.

[SoCalDem]

31. No need to photoshop images like these. Children are very easily photographed

holding anything you hand them. The little boy was probably told.. "Here you go..now let me take your picture". Notice that he's not exactly smiling.

No doubt, children all over Iraq are told by their parents to NOT confront the US soldiers...to do what they say (within reason of course). better to hold a little flag and a toy while some soldier takes your picture , than to run away and maybe be shot at..

[sniffa]

36. yep that's a shop job

[Kelly Rupert]

37. Why would we think it is?

I mean, first, children are pretty easy to photograph holding whatever you want. Just give him a flag and say "smile." Secondly, the kid probably came out on his own. An army convoy had just delivered humanitarian aid. Is it so hard to believe a child, who does not understand geopolitics, might feel grateful to the men who had just given him blankets?

It doesn't look photoshopped to me. I see no reason for it to be photoshopped.

There isn't a puppeteer behind every curtain, you know.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

43. Behind every BFEE window, there is....nt

[Kelly Rupert]

46. The DU parallel to Clenis-hunting, I see.