Incredible, gripping photo from Iraq

[gatorboy]

I'm sure people here have seen it but I just happen to come across it. It really unnerves me seeing stuff like this...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4261858

"The photo was taken during a rare moment of humanity in a war zone, Bouju said, when a father who had been taken prisoner by American troops was allowed to hold his 4-year-old son. The boy also was taken when the man was arrested."

[Catch22Dem]

1. That's just heartwerenching!

Wonder where the two of them are now?

[liberalmuse]

2. Disgusting!

How nice of 'the liberators' to allow a father time with his child while imprisoned within barbed wire. The child can't even see his father's face. We should have wiped this kind of shit off of the face of the earth after Hitler. This is barbaric. FUCK Bush!

[Obamarama]

3. THIS is the mission Bush accomplished......

What a pathetic, patholigical LOSER.

[liberalmuse]

8. This picture is supposed to be touching?

I experienced immediate revulsion and a very violent reaction to it. I hate this picture! It is indeed a powerful image--heartwrenching, as posted above, but also a testament to Bush's pre-emptive atrocity against mankind.

Seeing this picture, I'd like to know what this man/father/human being did to deserve detainment. I'd like to know if he was stripped naked and humiliated by physically repulsive soldiers with beer guts, after so 'benevolently' given time with his son. A child, who if only 10 years older, would likely be detained and sodomized in front of his father. I guess this picture dredges up all of my deep grief and hatred about this war. Powerful.

[jdj]

4. The boy wasn't "taken", the boy was ARRESTED.

I blanched at the spin the first time I saw this. They've admitted to holding adolescents, so why don't they just tell the truth.

[AlCzervik]

5. That photo won an award

for photo of the year, the photographer is from AP i think. Could they have possibly showed less humanity to this man and his child? I bet he was picked up in a sweep and went to abu garib and he's probably guilty of nothing more than being an Iraqi.

[Dem2theMax]

6. Heartbreaking.

Oh yeah *, you've done a real fine job. How I despise that man.

[Literate Tar Heel]

7. it's ok, but not that great

the sentiment and the shock value of course are huge, but World Press Photo of the Year? aesthetically it looks like a tourist's snapshot ... I'm not looking to get flamed, as I agree wholeheartedly about how wrong it is that this picture would ever even be available to be taken ... but still, as a photography buff, I've seen much better that convey the same message

[shraby]

9. No one is looking at the aesthetics,

it's the power of the image..and it's heartbreaking.

[Literate Tar Heel]

11. of course it's heartbreaking, but still

there are millions of photos taken all over the world in a year ... I'm just saying that aesthetically this particular photo is a mess ... it's at the wrong aperture and it doesn't frame well ... the point that comes through in the photo is, of course, very strong ... I just can't believe there wasn't one that captured a scene just as heartbreaking, but more powerfully in a visual sense ... of course, that could be due to the lack of access the media have over there too

[LibertyorDeath]

14. You may not be looking to

but Blow it out your ASS

The winning photo, taken on March 31 in the holy city of Najaf, was selected from more than 63,000 images by 4,176 photographers from 124 countries.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4261858

"it's ok, but not that great" :crazy:

[Literate Tar Heel]

18. I'm sorry, I thought this was America

and that I was entitled to my opinion ... evidently not ... I suppose you'll be voting for Bush

[yardwork]

19. I disagree. This is the single most upsetting Iraq photo I have seen.

I remember the first time I saw it I burst into tears at the keyboard.

This photo carries a visceral message - a punch to the gut - to everyone who has ever been a father or mother. I can't explain it. You just have to feel it to know it.

It deserves the award. The photographer nailed the entire travesty in this one photo.

[milkyway]

10. Thanks. This is the worst torture photo of them all. I can't imagine

having my child see me like that. Every 4-yr-old boy thinks of his father as a great, strong man, someone to look up to. To have your son see you reduced to this has to be far worse than any physical torture.

[Nevernose]

12. Not to detract, but similar circumstances happened to me

In 2001, the police found a stolen car with stolen plates in front of my house. There were four heroin users inside, illegal immigrants. I had fallen asleep on the couch with my then-five year old daughter. We'd been watching "Gandhi." No shit.

The cops kicked open the door and flooded in with sub-machine guns pointing in every direction. Raided the whole house looking for more smack -- kicked in bathroom doors, air vents, and walls. Now, to be fair, I used to take a lot of drugs, but not in YEARS -- and certainly not heroin.

At any rate, I was forced to sit in handcuffs for three hours (4-7 am) in the driveway. The neighbors drove by. Pointed, honked, laughed. My daughter (remember she was only five) was eventually allowed to sit in my lap by the social service people while I explained to the cops that I was neither an illegal immigrant (I was born in Dallas, have red hair, and the only foreign accent I have is a Southern one), nor was I a heroin dealer. I was living in a nice house in a nice suburb, and had never been in trouble with the law before. The poor kid was screaming at the top of her lungs, scared out of her mond, and attmpted to flee, almost succeeding, when they tried to round her up. The kid has been afraid of the police ever since, no matter what I say or tell her.

I only know little what this poor bastard went through, but only a little. For all I know, he's still in custidy, if he's alive at all. The humiliation he must have gone through, even if he really was an insurgent, is gut-wrenching to me. Mere words cannot describe how angry pictures like that make me. I love this country, God knows, but someimes America just pissed me off.
:nuke: :argh: :nuke: :argh: :nuke: :argh: :nuke: :argh:

[gatorboy]

13. I have to admit, I don't know how to post pictures yet

So if someone would like to paste it into the thread, please do.

[DavidFL]

16. Postings pics...

If you're using Windows (I don't know if it's different for Macs), right click on the photo and then from the menu that pops up, click on 'Properties'. From there a box will pop up and on that look for the subheading 'Address'. On DU, all you have to do is cut and paste the URL listed into the message field on here and viola...the pic you wanna show will display.

[gatorboy]

20. Thank you for the tutorial, David n/t

[Eric J in MN]

15. moment of humanity? Wouldn't it have been humane to take

off the hood?

[Eric J in MN]

17. the photo

img src=""