(Revised: 11/11/05. 1:28 pm PST) It’s no surprise the group image the White House posted on its website from the Mar del Plata summit (top) looks left-to-right. The alternative (bottom) would have placed Bush in the same frame as White House adversary, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (top left). (By...
Continue ReadingHow much of an impression is the U.S. military really making on the situation in Iraq? According to an innocuous story this week inside the L.A. Times (Troops Have a Nervous Ride to Nighttime Raid – link), hidden bombs in Iraq have become so abundant and powerful, the military...
Continue Reading(click image for larger version) In the course of commenting yesterday on the use of military photos to accompany U.S. press accounts of the Iraq war (Pentagon Pictures, Tall Afar Tales – link), I mentioned how the NYT was one of the few news entities with photographers in Husayba...
Continue ReadingJudging from the thoughtful discussion here regarding Saturday’s Mazar-i-Sharif photo, I realize that I’ve been way too tentative in taking on the French rioting/rebellion. I’ve been looking at images of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy for about a four or five days now, but beyond that, I’ve been sitting on...
Continue ReadingThe more I thought about it though, the more I, too, have to conclude this photo (supposedly depicting the decision to launch a pre-emptive strike on Saddam) was staged.
Continue ReadingSomething bothering me lately is the recent practice by the LA Times to accompany news stories from Iraq with photos taken by the American military.
Continue ReadingIt was an exquisite image on the front of the NYT yesterday marking the end of Ramadan. The photo was taken in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. What I couldn’t understand — and found quite ironic — however, is why the Times shied away from one of the most dramatic and troubling...
Continue Reading(click image for larger version) I’m still not sure how to handle these situations. Yesterday, I linked to a piece I did for HuffPo analyzing this White House photo taken during the invasion-eve meeting in which Bush, Cheney, Tenet, etc. decided to launch a pre-emptive strike on Saddam Hussein. ...
Continue ReadingFor how ballyhooed the Iraqi constitution was, it’s referendum couldn’t have been more ignored. Like the White House, the press seemed to consider the outcome a non-issue (or a foregone conclusion?) almost before the polls had even closed. This October 22nd Economist cover — dated a week following the...
Continue Reading”It was, of course, a heinous and dishonest thing to do. And I was totally schizoid about the entire matter. By day, I was little Billy Frist, the boy who lived on Bowling Avenue in Nashville and had decided to become a doctor because of his gentle father and...
Continue ReadingLike all frustrated and long-suffering progressives, I, too, was proud, inspired and relieved to see Harry Reid call a halt (at least for a few hours) to business-as-usual. Whereas photos of Senators making comments in the Capitol — halo or not — are typically forgettable, yesterday’s shots of Reid...
Continue ReadingIt's beginning to look like yesterday's SCOTUS announcement marked the beginning of a Rovian counteroffensive. If the most obvious first strike involved the base-rallying nomination of Sam Alito, a less noticeable action that got underway involves the undermining of Joseph Wilson. If the cabal couldn't discredit Wilson before, it...
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