The Picture ***GRAPHIC***

[arcadian]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24891.htm



March 01, 2010 "Salon" -- Feb. 25, 2010 -- I want you to look very closely at this picture and try and keep it in your minds eye. This was a perfectly healthy twenty two-year-old young man who in the service of his country got half of his head blown off. I think that’s important, I think that’s newsworthy. Let me tell you how newsworthy I think it is. I think that it’s more important than chocolate cake recipes and far more important than comic book reviews. It is more important than who fell and whose swell at the winter Olympic games.

It is far more important than any self-serving load of crap banged out by Pseudo doctor Amy. It is more important than American Idol or Lost or any other mindless goat droppings the public chooses to chew on. This is some American mother’s son, her little boy, he may be gay or straight or transgender but his life is fucked forever.

How did this come to happen to this poor mother’s son? It came to happen because the people in the media who are supposed to foster a public debate on such public issues as war instead used their franchise to promote articles about chocolate cake and comic book reviews. They see their free press as free to choose not to look when bad thinks happen. They feel no need to explain to his parents or to anyone that the war that blew off half of this poor boys head was based on out and out lies.

more

[FiveGoodMen]

1. K&R

[Captain Hilts]

2. The Iraq War is not the media's fault. It's the Bush Administration's fault. nt

[jtrockville]

3. The media was complicit.

No one challenged George "slam dunk" Tenet.
No one challenged Donald "I know where the WMD are" Rumsfeld.
No one challenged Dick "Saddam Hussein is responsible for 911" Cheney.

The public was led to believe these people spoke the truth.
The media never challenged any of these assertions.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Yes, they were. But the Bush Admin would have invaded Iraq no matter what. nt

[arcadian]

12. They could not have done it with out the media.

[Captain Hilts]

27. Oh yes they could have. And would have. nt

[arcadian]

30. That's not a very compelling argument.

[Enthusiast]

78. That argument doesn't

convince me. The media still stinks to high heaven. We monitor it every day. I am appalled at the bias and misinformation that continues. They are still trying to convince us that the Iraq War was good for us.

[AlbertCat]

94. That's not a very compelling argument.

It's also not the point.


I seem to remember huge anti-war protests.... not covered by the MSM.

Now any time 3 or more Teabaggers get together it's on all the networks.... for days.

[RaleighNCDUer]

93. Yep. The only difference would have been, they'd have declared war

on the media as well as Iraq. Which, of course, they actually did - does nobody remember the campaign against the media IN Iraq? The murders of journalists, the shelling of the Al Jazeera offices?

They appreciated the assistance, but they'd brook no opposition in any case.

[roguevalley]

38. if the media had shown coffins coming back and this poor kid and

his exhausted mom, it would have been over. remember viet nam? That's how it ended too.

[SpankMe]

86. You're missing the point of the story.

If the public was more informed about the ramifications of the war, there would be a more properly formed consensus about how to conduct or conclude the war in order mitigate these gut-wrenching tragedies.

In the absence of information or context, the public cannot be informed sufficiently enough to decide if and how they wish to proceed with the war. This vacuum of information makes it impossible for the public to execute their civic responsibilities.

Ultimately, the people of the United States decide who we go to war with and why. Bush got us into it with the consent of a misled congress. But, properly informed, we (the citizens) can make modifications too the approach - if we have correct information. Remember that public opinion still runs in the low 60-percent range opposed to BOTH wars.

Are you saying that because Bush got us into the war, and not the press, that we should resign ourselves to the misguided course of the war - letting it go where it will - and not demand more prompt and thorough information from our journalistic institutions?

[Mike K]

100. That is a popular assumption -

- but if the media had done its job the Congress would never have authorized the Iraq invasion. And if Bush had gone ahead with it anyway, and the media continued to do its job, Bush would be sitting in prison today.

The media is indeed largely responsible for the Iraq invasion -- as well as a lot more of the Bush Administration's many crimes. But in the final analysis all of it is the fault of the general public for permitting the media to be what it's become.

[Ecumenist]

85. Amen, JTrockville. Had the Media revealed the truth and

corrected the lies that were being promulgated by the war criminals, things wold be so different now.

[Plucketeer]

88. I agree with what you say.

The media were willing severs of the food. They never allowed themselves to see if what they were serving was poisoned! :puke:

[GCP]

5. The media could have done their job

They're called the Fourth Estate for a reason.
The only ones who questioned the lies were from the Gannet newspaper group, and they were roundly ignored.

[Captain Hilts]

8. It wasn't Gannet it was....M???? Yes, but the Bush Admin would have invaded Iraq no matter what. nt

[LuckyLib]

79. McClatchy -- the Washington bureau.

[avaistheone1]

54. +100

[BonnieJW]

71. There are no more Woodwards and Bernsteins.

The corporate media has no interest in investigative reporting since they may find out things that would threaten their corporate owners. The main stream media is a lot of bland mashed potatoes. I get all my info on the internet and I wager most of you do, too.

[Echo In Light]

9. True, although our govt can't sell mass deception sans a massive propaganda apparatus

[G_j]

10. they spread the lies

and buried opposing views.

They are guilty of criminal complicity in war crimes.

[HillbillyBob]

20. Thats true some of us were saying even before (*) even

dribbled for office that this would happen.

We were called unpatriotic, unAmerican and much worse.

it makes me sick and angry and wish that I could see (*) in front of the Hague or some angry parent with a paring knife and (*) tied up.

[arcadian]

11. Holy crap. Ever heard of Michael Kelly? Judith Miller?

:eyes:

[Captain Hilts]

28. Yes, but there were reporters reporting on what a bad idea it was. A couple actually

wrote for the Wash Post. The WP actually had great writing on page A17 in the lead up to the war.

Don't let the Bush Admin off lightly. They decided and they invaded.

[arcadian]

31. Where did I "let the Bush admin off lightly"?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. Let us not forget the craven Democratic senators who voted for the IWR.

[Captain Hilts]

29. And even David Letterman supported it. nt

[Taverner]

15. The MSM cheerleaded the war

Go team!

[ThatsMyBarack]

40. USA! USA! USA!

To this day, I have a lot of trouble hearing that at the Olympics.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

33. The Illegal invasion of Iraq

is ALL of our fault...

[Marr]

35. Blaming the Bush Administration for Iraq is like blaming Ronald McDonald for heart disease.

The people who really brought you the invasion of Iraq are the same people who brought you the bank bailouts and this bullshit "healthcare reform". Big money, corporate interests that control the agenda for a tiny number of incredibly wealthy people.

They own all the mass media, and they made the Bush Administration's ridiculously bad sales pitch work just well enough to cram their agenda through.

[nyc 4 Biden]

73. very well put. n/t

[NoSheep]

43. oh wow. can we just call them "partners" then?

[liberation]

51. The Nuremberg Trials; Read about them, learn about them, love them....

next...

[Jax]

57. And Maria Fucking Cantwell's fault

She voted YES.

[20score]

58. There are degrees of culpability. Bush administration #1, congress #2 and the media #3.

Any one of them didn't betray the country, and the war would not have happened.

[Orsino]

59. It was the fault of the media, too, and ultimately our fault, n/t

[proReality]

60. Yes, but...

...they had loads of help from people like Judith Miller and other neo-con writers.

[ShortnFiery]

70. The Corporate Whores in our media keep us distracted with bunk - Bread and Circuses.

They are working in concert with the ruling elites of this Nation.

When the only truths are gleaned from the philosophy of the late George Carlin and liberal radio host, Mike Malloy, we should all KNOW that we are IN A WORLD OF HURT.

I weep for the future of our nation.

[nyc 4 Biden]

72. I have to disagree.

Thomas Jefferson:

"Information is the currency of democracy."

Without the backing of our misguided/misinformed citizens there would never have been the support for the invasion.

I blame the MSM as much as any of the crooked politicians/businessmen who are bleeding us dry.

[guyton]

75. how many in congress would have voted for this ...

... if the media had pointed out -- before hand -- that preemptive wars are illegal and the fools that vote for it should be held accountable.

But the media didn't, and congress did, and now we have the situation where obvious war-crimes must be ignored since so many of the sitting representatives are equally guilty and belong in jail.

[cliffordu]

80. If you drive a car it's YOUR fault.

Let's just reflect for a moment what the war that would "pay for itself" was really all about.

Fuck me.

And for the record, I now have a car after 9 years of doing without one. I'm reminded of kids like that every time I start the fucker up.

[swilton]

83. And the invertebrates in the Democrotic Party

[renate]

4. I just read "The Good Soldiers" by David Finkel

An AMAZING book, absolutely amazing. I usually don't click with books about war (not because I'm such a sensitive soul but because the parts about battles and strategy and so on are hard for me to visualize and understand) but this was such an up close and personal view of the human beings and their experience. When I saw this picture I instantly wondered whether it was one of the sergeants (I won't name him in case anybody wants to read the book for themselves... part of its to-the-heart effectiveness is not knowing what's in the future for each of the men when we first meet them, just like how when they go out on a mission they know that something could happen to them at any time but they don't know what). It's very well written and absolutely non-put-downable, even for someone like me who isn't into military history. This book is purely about human beings.

The suffering--the NEEDLESS SUFFERING--caused by this POINTLESS war is so vivid when you read that book and see photographs like this one. There are no words for how WRONG it is. The life of that mother's little boy, his only life, changed so terribly... :cry:

[GCP]

6. Bush and Cheney will go to their graves never regretting a single thing

I'm an atheist and sometimes I wish there was a special place in hell for these scum.

[liberalhistorian]

14. Well, I'm a Christian, and I assure you that there is, indeed,

a special hot spot in hell for them.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. I wish I WERE a Christain just so I could really really believe in hell

so I could pray that is where they end up.

[yorgatron]

18. K&R

:kick:

[driver8]

19. I'm with you.

This photo makes me so sad, and so, so angry!

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. I am incapable of understanding how any mother could acquiesce to her child

being used as cannon fodder.

I simply cannot comprehend the idea.
It is quite literally beyond me.

I have 2 sons, and from the minute they were born I was seriously willing to fight an elephant with a hatpin to protect them.
The fact they are now in their 40's has not changed that feeling.

You do not fuck with my children. Period.

[liberation]

53. Education and family stability tend to give people a very strong sense of self worth...

... and educated population with actual prospects is very hard to coax into entering wars of choice.

It is no coincidence that conservatives have targeted education and economic stability since day 1. They need their cannon fodder to fight their wars of choice for their kids, you know?

[Soylent Brice]

17. FYI

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7827619#7827756

this story was posted yesterday (and locked) and was also originally from another site, one that is a big Ron Paul site, apparently.

head's up.

[Junkdrawer]

21. The original article was on Salon...

http://open.salon.com/blog/david_cox/2010/02/25/the_picture

[Soylent Brice]

23. that's a relief.

yesterday it had appeared to be posted by some unsavory character, from an unsavory source.

thank you for the link.

[inna]

24. FYI

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x520944

(original DU post, by the author AFAIK)

[Soylent Brice]

26. what the...

:crazy:

[inna]

36. If I remember/understand correctly,

"Daveparts still" is David Glenn Cox. In any case, Mr. Cox is a very talented writer, I always like to see his threads on DU.


Edited to add: BTW, Antiwar is not "an unsavory source" or "a big Ron Paul site". It's most certainly not a teabagger site, contrary to the claim made in the post you linked to.

[DemReadingDU]

63. delete, original link already posted

[Soylent Brice]

69. i think there's a misunderstanding here.

i was merely posting something i had seen earlier where another DUer had stated the info was being linked from a Ron Paul site. if it's not obvious enough that i'm anti-war, i'm not sure what else i could do to express that.

my post "what the.." was merely expressing my confusion how this story had gone from here, to a Ron Paul site, to the clearing house link, back to here. just thought it was a bit odd at the moment.

all apologies.

[dixiegrrrrl]

74. You are correct...he moved, had to sign up again on DU

so chose Daveparts still.

[wordpix]

25. very sad - and my town in CT is having a little war over putting yellow ribbons on the Green

a public space. I wrote into a news blog where people were screeching about it that the ribbons were reminders of BushCo's wars, lest I ever forget.

[L0oniX]

32. Take a good look at that picture before you join the military.

[femrap]

34. Please stop enlisting

into this military-industrial complex. If they started a war and no one showed up to fight for the wealthy white boyz, the Planet would be a good place to live.

I believe it's that simple.

[amyrose2712]

67. "Two little kings playing their game, they gave a war an nobody came."...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFuRLOFrxmA

[femrap]

81. Thanks for the

link. I loved it.

I'll be singing that all day.

[amyrose2712]

101. Glad I could be of service.

:toast:

[amborin]

37. so tragic, so unnecessary; just heartbreaking

[AzDar]

39. K & R

[northofdenali]

41. arcadian, I still question the picture.

I'd like proof it is authentic. I have friends recently returned (Stryker Brigade) from Iraq and friends with TBI from this conflict.

I seriously question this photograph. Not the sentiments behind the post, as I agree with them 150%; not the opposition to the "war", I was against this illegal bunch of bullshit well before we first went in.

But this photo?

I question it.

[NoSheep]

What is TBI and can you tell us more about why you question this?

Just wanting more info. Thanks.

[Maru Kitteh]

45. Traumatic Brain Injury

I question the photo myself because it isn't sourced or credited and it is very easy to "enhance" a photo and achieve this result.

[pasto76]

49. well get your happy ass down to Walter reed

and you will see for yourself. The soldier in this picture is not the only one to have this kind of head injury. TBI is like a super giant concussion on steroids. This is not TBI, this is extreme head trauma. This is actually much more severe than the other pictures of troops Ive seen over the years. So, if you've been paying attention, this would not be the first time you've seen this.

OP, thanks for the warning this time.

SGT PASTO

[Maru Kitteh]

105. I know what a TBI is, I was answering the questions presented. I have no opinion about the validity

of the photo. I was merely answering the question concerning how this photograph, as it is used, opens itself to question. I myself neither accept nor deny the photo. I have no cause for either.

The sentiment is another matter entirely. That I agree with 1000%.


So. You can stand down now.

[northofdenali]

48. TBI = Traumatic Brain Injury.

I question the photo because there is so much GONE. My friend has TBI from Iraq, lost part of her scalp and a small portion of her brain. So much damage that many, many nerves/muscles/bodily functions just don't work.

I question the picture because I've seen no shred of authentication that anyone with this type injury could even live, let alone stand or walk. I'm sorry, I just don't have enough belief in "photos" any more - they are much too easily manipulated.

I mean NO disparagement on the OP or the sentiment and belief behind it. I am totally antiwar and have been since Viet Nam. I've marched, yelled, written, cried, petitioned, voted and believed since 1967.

I just question the photo. The shock value is a little much, when I've seen (personally) returning Strykers from Iraq and Afghanistan with less injury and more personal trauma.

[RagAss]

104. I agree with you.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

97. I have seen reality medical shows --

where there has been that much brain loss due to accident or disease and the person survived. "Survived" being their body continued to function, sometimes there was still a personality. Note the man in the picture is not using his arms to embrace the woman -- he may be biologially alive but not much else. :(

On edit:

Meet this youmg man who survived a gunshot wound to the head and now lives with only half a brain.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/205285/amazing_kid_with_only_half_a_brain/

[tomp]

42. politicians on both sides of the aisle are responsible for this. nt

[democracy1st]

44. K & R

[upi402]

46. Investigate BushCo! ---->wake up please, Team Obama

AAAAAAARRRRRGGGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really hope the IS a hell for all BushCo, P-NAC neocons.

[Ken Burch]

47. How could that wound even be survivable?

Wouldn't that have destroyed the kid's entire cerebellum?

[sce56]

50. The Miracles of modern war medicine! Lots of the wounded would have never made it out of theater in

WWII or VietNam for that matter

[Ken Burch]

52. Living like the kid in that picture does is a MIRACLE?

There's no way there's anything left of him as a person.

And there's nothing any other country could ever have done to us that could justify what that mother's being put through.

NO MORE FUCKING WARS. NONE OF THEM CAN EVER BE JUST AGAIN. NOTHING CAN EVER BE WORTH THINGS LIKE THIS.

[sce56]

102. Johnny got his gun!

I agree when I was in we were told the idea was to make the other guy to afraid to start anything with us deterrence to avoid wars but that was not profitable enough once the cold war was over!

[4lbs]

66. There are many cases of surgeries where doctors have actually had to remove half a person's brain

for non-war related medical issues.

Look up "hemispherectomy"

Here's a TIME article about it (from 1966!):

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,836175,00.html


Then there's this more recent Scientific American article from 2007:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-true-when-half-brain-better-than-whole

[Ken Burch]

103. Have all the people in the photographs at the bottom of your post had hemispherectomies?

That would explain a lot.

[wial]

55. war propagandists are revolting

and don't deserve to live. People like Thomas Friedman are tolerated in our society when they should be torn limb from limb, run out of town tarred and feathered, spit on, crushed under heavy machinery, slowly.

So many good people are silenced, ignored, when these horrific, smug ideologues are allowed to control the public debate. This truly is a dark age and it is our collective moral failing it is tolerated at all. People like Christopher Hitchens should be running for their lives, hiding under hay bales, praying we don't catch them and give them the retribution they richly deserve for all the untold suffering they have caused to our own countrypeople and far worse, the people of other countries they had no business falsely judging in furtherance of their foetid, corrupt, completely inexcusable carriers.

Anyone who loves good, and truth, and peace, and justice should shudder and scream bloody murder these utter appalling insane brainrotted clowns are allowed anywhere near our airwaves.

They are incompetent, silly, completely inadequate for the task, horrific, disgusting, inhuman, beyond any standard of civilized decency. Get rid of them. Get rid of them.

They are monsters.

[fascisthunter]

84. monsters run the show... and their talking heads have no conscience

[anonymous171]

56. Fuck it all

:grr: This is so infuriating. People are dying and being horribly maimed all for the financial parasites' bottom line. This has got to stop.

[RubyDuby in GA]

61. oops, forgot

to log my wife out.

[BEZERKO]

62. A few years ago,

I saw a picture of a beautiful young girl from Georgia, my state, in the obits. The flag near her picture caught my eye, so I looked to see the details of her death. She was killed durring the occupation of Iraq. I had ignored any story in print or on the tv till that time, but that one story made me so mad, I was livid. I knew that if I paid attention to what was happening there, it would just make me mad because I was against the thing from day one, and sure enough...

[leeroysphitz]

64. kicked for peace and to wake people up.

[TheUnspeakable]

65. k&r

[Hubert Flottz]

68. Bush's "Family Values" don't look good from that angle.

But Hey...Halliburton and Blackwater are doing okay.

[grahamhgreen]

76. End the madness of Obama's war!

[KansDem]

77. Republicans and media: a very toxic mix.

Ruining countless lives for generations...

[david_vincent]

82. For more pictures of the true cost of war, get the book War Against War

by Ernst Friedrich. It contains pictures more graphic than this of some of the victims of WWI. When the Nazis came to power, Friedrich's small pacifist museum / bookshop was one of their first targets of destruction.

[Turbineguy]

87. Some of the many lives ruined

by George W. Bush.

At least they are not ignored or trivialized here.

[demigoddess]

89. I recently replied on DU to something with the price paid by members of the service and

some guy said I was too much of a downer. The thing I wish I could have said back was that I saw this in Korean vets in the 50s and Nam vets in the 70s. Now we see it in the present wars and people like me are told to shut up. I cry for that mother and the ones like them. I said it was a damn, dumb stupid war before it began because I knew these things would happen and you don't do that unless it is to save your own country not to give another country our form of government. Real democracy is allowing people to pick their own form of government, even if you don't like it, as long as it stays in their borders. Let them have their own revolutions, let them rise up against their own tyrants and earn their own democracy so that no one can take it away from them.

When the heck will people listen???

[samsingh]

90. wow. k&r

[Goldstein1984]

91. It isn't just Bush, and it isn't just Republicans

There are plenty of Democrats, including some on DU, who consider these wars to be "necessary."

They aren't Bush's wars; they aren't Obama's wars; they aren't the wars of the media; they are our wars as long as we permit them to be fought.

In a government of, by and for the people, "We the People" are ultimately responsible for what we allow our government to do.

When we go to the polls and accept the lesser of two evils, we accept evil nonetheless.

[deaniac21]

92. Unfortunately, it's always the lesser of two evils.

[AlbertCat]

96. "We the People" are ultimately responsible for what we allow our government to do.

And how exactly do "we the people" find out what our government is doing?



Thing about it now... it will come to you....
:eyes:

[Goldstein1984]

98. By looking around you

There's plenty going on in front of our faces. Two illegal wars, for example; use of Predator drones to kill noncombatants; 5% of the world's population doing 50% of its military spending; U.S. troops deployed all over the world; support for illegitimate governments in Afghanistan and Honduras...

As a result of following one of the OP's links, I have two pdf documents on my desk in front of me. One deals with the effects of the "War on Terror" on civil liberties; the other discusses the petroleum-related motivations of the war in Afghanistan in more detail that the platitudes typically coming from pundits and pseudo-journalists. Now, all I have to do is take the time to read them to understand what is going on generally, if not always specifically, and to influence other people with knowledge not obtainable from the mainstream media.

[pecwae]

99. Damn right.

[howard112211]

95. This thread has 200+ recommendations. I posted some graphic stuff the other day about a dead Iraqi.

Got about 15+ recs. That is the bottom line of why we continue to see such pictures.

[Maru Kitteh]

106. This just might not actually be about *you.* Mkay?

[fortyfeetunder]

107. Makes me want to cry for this young man

:cry: