What's the alternative to snopes, anyone? I'm trying to

[babylonsister]

find out anything about this pic/text. :eyes: Call me cynical, but I have reservations. Anyway, I seem to recall there's another source that checks out internet myths and truths.
Also, for any knowledgeable photoshoppers out there, do you think this pic is legit?
Thanks!




> The boy knows who will "NOT" kill him.
> The kid took shelter behind a hero.
> The boy knows who will not kill him but will save him.
> An amazing and touching set of photos! Look at the soldier standing
> upright and alert while everyone else runs!
> Some news photos are so rich in symbolism they're almost like
> Renaissance paintings in how much they communicate.
>
> Such a photo appeared on the front page of the New York Times's national
> edition, a picture of the scene after a bombing in Baghdad yesterday.
> Adding to the chaos of the bombing which killed at least 21 people and
> injured at least 66 was a shooter, maybe targeting people in the crowd.
> Amid all the Iraqis who are running from the gunfire was a U.S. soldier,
> standing tall, perhaps looking in the direction of the gunshots, not
> apparently looking for cover.
> An Iraqi boy seeks shelter behind the soldier, a member of the 82nd
> Airborne Division.
> The first picture shows it all. The kid's face shows he is scared to
> death, and he's running to the safest spot he can find: this soldier
> who stands between him and danger.
>
> It would be difficult to stage a picture that provides a more potent
> metaphor for the role played by United States in this wretched world.
>
> That kid just did a virtual essay on "What America Means To Me".


EDIT TO ADD THIS PIC WHICH ALSO ACCOMPANIED E-MAIL: :shrug:

[blogslut]

1. maybe factcheck.org

Cecil Adams of the The Straight Dope doesn't really do this sort of stuff or I'd refer you to his site.

[bryant69]

2. What do you think is phoney?

The picture or the story?

The story is hard to disprove, I suppose. Did the picture appear in the New York Times?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[babylonsister]

7. RE: NYT, I don't even know the answer to that. I get

stuff like this sent to me, and always try to verify but lately have been having a hard time doing so.
I don't even know when this stuff was written, and that info is thoughtfully not provided.
Color me curious...

[bryant69]

15. Well it's just a picture and a fictional story about the picture

The text can be happily discounted/ignored. The question is whether or not you find the picture plausible, or so implausible that it could only happen with photoshop.

I find the picture plausible; but I realize some see US troops as such monsters it's hard to imagine kids seeking cover from them (not to mention it's entirely possible we don't know exactly what the kid is doing).

Bryant

[babylonsister]

16. No, I don't see troops as monsters at all; I defend them at every

opportunity. :) I was just curious as to whether this was an actual photo, because there are so many out there that are photoshopped. That, coupled with the text, and considering who sent this (sigh, a r/w family member) made me question the whole package.

[meegbear]

3. www.breakthechain.org

[babylonsister]

11. That's the site I was thinking of; thank you! nt

[Az]

4. This is just someones subjective opinion about a picture

I see no evidence that the boy was interviewed. I see no evidence that hiding was what the child was up to. Looks to me like he was bugging out of there and the soldier was in the way so he ran around him. My opinion is just as valid as this letters.

[ThomCat]

5. Geez. What a load of bull.

The picture doesn't say any of that shit.

Most of the people in that picture don't seem to be upset or terrified of anything. They're looking to see what's going on, just like the soldier.

[Hissyspit]

6. You can't tell what that kid is up to. He could just be running past the soldier

to get the hell out of the street.

Why is he the only one running to him if he is running for protection?

You can't come up with a better visual metaphor for the role played by the U.S.? Ridiculous. Where in the photo does it say that we started the mess in the first place? Maybe he's running to the soldier because the kid knows he's the only one with a gun nearby?

Silly glurgy text.

[Az]

8. The main thing I see in this pic is the inaction of the soldier

I mean it just looks like he is strolling through the area while chaos ensues.

[jobycom]

9. Weird interpretation of the photo

Kid looks like he's running away, and was just photographed as he passed the soldier. Also interesting that only two people in that photo seem to be running, so it isn't just the soldier standing resolutely. One could make an argument, based only on the picture, that the soldier felt safer behind the dozens of Iraqis in front of him.

Still, I guess that proves that the hundreds of thousands of dead, imprisoned, tortured, raped, and maimed Iraqis was worth the invasion, because some kid runs behind a soldier after some vague event that others are looking at, yet interestingly not running from.

Republicans are evil, sick, weird people with no souls.

[MADem]

10. Took shelter? That kid looks like he's running full tilt, past the guy, and maybe towards

a relative near the photographer.

If they were gonna photoshop it, they'd make it look more like the story ginned up to go with it.

[TlalocW]

12. Other than the kid

I only see three instances of "fast" movement in the photo - the kid who looks like he's shuffling sideways like he's about to throw a football, the kid further up and to the left that looks like he's jumping over something, and another kid behind the kid "ducking" behind the soldier. Everyone else seems to be either standing around or strolling leisurely.

It looks like there may be something interesting off to the left and further up, but if the kid is responding more quickly to an element of danger than the soldier who's just walking, there's something wrong. If I looked at the photo, I would just say that kid and the kid behind him were playing tag, and he's running around the soldier to keep from being "it."

TlalocW

[karlrschneider]

14. Playing tag...was the very first thing I thought of when I saw the pic.

...

[karlrschneider]

13. Horse

shit.

:puke:

[parasim]

17. Interesting take on that photo at this site:

http://pierretristam.com/Bobst/07/cn053007.htm

Evidently the boy is taking shelter behind the soldier, as shown in this shot (which was taken a couple of seconds before the other)...



on edit: oops, i see you added that one already...

[babylonsister]

18. You DOLL! Thank you for that link! That's perfect! nt

[alphafemale]

19. The kid did run to the soldier and crouch behind him.

At least for the few seconds it took to take a couple of photos.

But I'd imagine he personally knew this particular soldier, and the soldier knew him.

And the soldier knew it was a child he'd had contact with before who was behind him.

I can't imagine a soldier, not reacting to someone putting their hands on him from behind if he didn't know who was back there.

Knowing that the occupation of Iraq is a bad thing doesn't negate the fact that there are likely some "Good" Americans over there.

[sinkingfeeling]

20. The picture is real; I remember seeing it in the paper. The story below is

'made-up'.

[Make7]

21. Story with that photo from the Boston Globe:

Car bomb kills at least 21 in Baghdad

A young boy seeks shelter behind a soldier with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne division after gunshots rang out at the scene where just a few minutes earlier a suicide car bomber blew himself up in a busy commercial district in central Baghdad on Monday, May 28, 2007, killing at least 21 people and wounding 66, police and hospital officials said. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

By Ravi Nessman, Associated Press Writer   |   May 28, 2007

BAGHDAD --A suicide car bomber struck a busy Baghdad commercial district Monday, killing at least 21 people, setting vehicles on fire and damaging a nearby Sunni shrine, police and hospital officials said.

The blast went off at 2 p.m. in the Sinak market area on the east side of the Tigris River, just as U.S. and Iranian diplomats were wrapping up a historic meeting aimed at ending the violence wracking the country.

.... more


http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/05/28/car_bomb_kills_at_least_21_in_baghdad/

- Make7

[babylonsister]

22. Thank you! nt