2 photos. Same planet. Different worlds.

[Philosoraptor]

172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldiers greet a young Iraqi boy in central Baghdad's Karradah district, in this Oct. 27, 2006, file photo. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed/FILE)


Relatives mourn near the bodies of children, reportedly killed in a U.S. raid, as they arrive in a hospital in Tikrit, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, in this March 15, 2006, file photo. Eleven people, most of them women and children were killed when a house was bombed during a U.S. raid north of Baghdad, police and relatives said. The U.S. military acknowledged four deaths in the raid that they said netted an insurgent suspect in the rural Isahaqi area, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the capital. (AP Photo/Bassim Daham/FILE)

[babylonsister]

1. So, four children for one insurgent? Is that A-OK with the

US military? I really don't blame the Iraqis if they hate us after seeing an image like this.

[baldguy]

2. The top is propaganda, the bottom is news.

Guess which one the corporate media broadcasts?

[iamjoy]

3. They Are Both True

That is the horrible irony of our presence in Iraq.

I like to believe most of our soldiers are good people, and how can you not smile at that cute kid? OTOH, when you bomb a house, you just have to be convinced there are no cute kids in it, only evil terrorists.

And, some of our soldiers (just like in any other group of people) are probably rotten and have the same attitudes about Iraqis that many in nineteenth century America had towards (American) Indians.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. And, they are both lies ...

I doubt if either one is a candid shot. Probably staged and shot and reshot by a media photographer, arranged for maximum effect. I have no idea how the children died or who the mourners are. I don't really expect "truth" to come out of that area, just propaganda from all sides.

I'd guess when you bomb a house, you have no concept of what's in it. You have a mission and a target. Somebody may be "painting" the house with a laser to guide the bomb. Nobody is asking for your value judgement, they just expect the mission to be done.

And I agree, our soldiers' attitudes range from "want to help" to "want to massacre". It's up to their immediate leaders, sergeants and lieutenants, to keep them from going berserk.