Thursday, April 10, 2003

Zooming for propaganda

Take a look at this picture. It is a slightly blurry wide shot of the public square just after the statue of Sadaam Hussein was toppled. Where are the "throngs" of cheering Iraqis? In a city of five million people you would think there would be more people there to celebrate this symbolic action. Instead, it looks to me like there are maybe 200-300 men close in around the statue, several tanks blocking each of the intersections, and larger crowds of cars and people being held back by said tanks. I am not saying that there aren't happy people in Baghdad right now. Indeed, I'm certain that the overwhelming majority of Baghdad residents are very happy to see Sadaam go. Many of them may still feel to intimidated to go out in the streets and celebrate. Either because of lingering fear of Sadaam's enforcers, or because the streets are full of looters and American soldiers with itchy trigger fingers. Hell, I wouldn't go outside in a situation like that! However, the picture above presents a somewhat less subdued image then is being pushed by the establishment media. I report, you decide. Kynn of Shock&Awe comments on this here. There is more on this here at the NYC IndyMedia Center.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home