Army releases doctored photos of dead soldiers.»

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/19/doctored-army-photos/

Army releases doctored photos of dead soldiers.»

The Kicker reports that “the Associated Press retracted two government-issued photographs last night after a photographer in Texas alerted the agency that the photos in question appeared to be doctored.” The photos depicted two U.S. soldiers, Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson and Sgt. Wesley R. Durbin, who both died in Iraq on September 14. Between the two photos, only the name, rank, and face of each soldier changes:



Bob Owen of the San Antonio Express-News, who first discovered the photos had been digitally altered, commented, “I’d like to think that the media holds itself pretty accountable and we try really hard to keep high standards. … Obviously the army, and the government, doesn’t see anything wrong with that {photo altering} at all.”

Edit to add: AP confirms images were photoshopped:

http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/army_alters_photographs_issues.php

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Bizarre... and sad

[madaboutharry]

What reason would there be for this?

What am I missing here?

[Oregone]

5. Perhaps no picture of them in fatigues with a flag behind them.

Maybe they only had head shots.

Very odd.

Why'd they play with the tint of the film!?!? Its actually a very terrible job all in all.

[ColbertWatcher]

9. But, don't they take photos for identification purposes?

Or were these kids shuttled into battle so quickly a photographer couldn't take their picture?

[Oregone]

13. But do they take patriotic camo/flag pictures?

maybe they couldn't find the flag at the time.

[ColbertWatcher]

15. It's photoshopped, they could have used a dress uniform. n/t

[Oregone]

16. Who knows. Maybe their other pics looked like ass or were lost

[ColbertWatcher]

17. If that's true, they need to stop outsourcing their photography. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Hmmm sorry to say this, but that looks like the stock

background used in many army and other branches of service functions, like the Navy PX photography department.

[madaboutharry]

3. It isn't just the background.

Look at the bodies of the soldiers, the bend of the arm, the angle of the uniform.

[Contrary1]

8. The wrinkles are in exactly the same place...

the only difference in the camos is the shade of green and the name tag.

[babylonsister]

4. Here's the explanation; images were photoshopped...

http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/army_alters_photographs_issues.php

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Ok WHY? There is no reason that makes any sense to do this

[babylonsister]

10. I don't know-from the comments:

i heard one of these young gentlemens mother on the talk radio show today and it was truly sad. she said this was her sons 3rd tour of duty. she said she found out about his death from the news media and the government isn't giving her any answers on what really happened to her son. this is our government at its' worst and this is a dam shame how they are treating this young mans family. just like the johnson case the family was told she committed suicide and to find out she was actually married and now congress is getting involved. we the people and mostly the families need the straight dam truth.

---------

These two are the ones killed by one of their own soldiers ala vietnam era "fragging"


From VetVoice:

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1910

Soldier in Iraq Kills Squad Leader and Fellow Team Leader
by: Brandon Friedman
Wed Sep 17, 2008 at 23:47:30 PM EDT

When the two deaths in Iraq were announced late Sunday, something didn't sound right. It wasn't combat, there was no mention of a vehicle accident, and with two dead, it clearly wasn't a suicide. Now we know why:

A U.S. soldier was detained in Iraq after he allegedly opened fire on a superior and another unit member, killing them both, the U.S. Army said Wednesday.

The soldier was subdued by other troops, and medics tried unsuccessfully to save the wounded soldiers, said Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, commanding general at Fort Stewart in southern Georgia, where the soldiers' unit is based.

An Army spokesman said the shooting happened Sunday in Tunnis, Iraq. The alleged shooter's name was not released.

The Army identified the slain soldiers as Staff Sgt. Darris J. Dawson, 24, and Sgt. Wesley R. Durbin, 26.

The soldier--a team leader whose name hasn't been released yet--had apparently been in a meeting with his squad leader and the other team leader about his performance.

When the AP says the shooter was then "subdued by other troops," my hope is that this included multiple buttstrokes.

[Oregone]

14. There is a reason or they would not of done it...

I suspect it has something to do with the flag. Who knows though. Maybe those are copy and pasted mug shots.

Are those new army fatigues? Maybe these guys died before they were issued (maybe years ago), and were pasted in the new ones? Who the hell knows. There is probably some story here.

[Oregone]

11. Not at all....

If you gray scale the pictures, invert one image, align it on top, and apply a dodge blending between layers, it shows you what the difference is between them (anything non-white)

The ONLY non white pixels are the head and name tag on the left. Everything else cancels each other out.

I mean, the Camo is literally white from doing this...a complete pixel by pixel match.

[DS1]

7. Photoshop's Difference Layer mode highlights the changes

[Oregone]

12. Mine is a bit different

I did a composite of two grayscales, with one inverted in order to cancel out the differences:



Only to darker pixels show a difference between the images. That being: name tag, head area, and the hue of the flag stripes on one caused a significant difference.

Even the camo matches spot on.

[qwlauren35]

18. Funny, this seems like quite a molehill

compared to most of the mountains we're up against.

If it's the right face, the right name and the right rank, isn't that all that really matters?

Unless the family is complaining, I think this is a non-issue.