Afghanistan Offensive: Save the Children

I’m not sure how well even the first picture works as pro-US occupation propaganda. Kids don’t belong in combat. It’s the kid’s home country – it is the soldier, not the child, who is out of place. Who are the soldiers protecting the child from? In the previous post you pointed out that the vast majority of fighters are Afghan locals. This child’s father, uncles, brothers, etc.
If anything, the child seems a human shield. The local fighters might hesitate to fire at the US soldiers if they’re sitting next to a child, particularly one they know.

ooh. this seems terrible.
how intense does it need to get? Two super-militarized dudes inches from your body (and/or your sons or father’s body) protecting you from… ??
One of the soldiers isn’t even spotted easily, even though he’s closest to the camera and is in full view and focus. But then in the second picture, there is more chaos and the invisible main character from the first shot is now even less identifiable. Is that him or a high tech duffel bag blending into the desert? Where did he go.? These pictures are confusing.. and I can’t even imagine being the child who’s living through this.
That poor child doesn’t seem phased in either shot.. but I’m guessing he’s more checked out than mellow. Look at everybody else around him – sh*t.

Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves.
- Eric Hoffer

Madness comes through on the face of the soldier. I see only humanity in the faces of the man and a boy! These machine carrying invaders do not protect the population, they are the menace. How ironic coming from the land of “freedom!”

I saw this picture on the same day I read that an errant U.S. missile had killed 12 Afghan civilians by mistake. I like to imagine what would happen if pictures illustrating stories were switched. Here’s a game, Mike. Post two photos, plus the precis of two stories. Invite your readers to say which photo was printed which story and why.

I think this piece points to the truth of the conflict in Afghanistsn: the Tslibsn hide behind children and the US stands in front of them.

Fighting !!

The purpose of this photo is not to draw attention to policy, but to the fact the U.S. Servicemen and women are not mindless killers skipping gleefully in a foreign land, ignoring the populace, shooting blindly. If all of those whose comments are critical of the Marines pictured, thought just for a moment, what are these men thinking about as they intentionally place themselves between danger and the innocent. While policy may be wrong or misguided, never doubt that these men and women are here for evil, secret government sponsored plots as you imagine.