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I do keep looking at this picture and thinking it's faked. just little things here and there that make it seem unreal.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Fri Oct 26th, 2007 at 08:07:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]
FWIW, this photo was on the cover of Tariq Ali's Bush in Babylon.

We have met the enemy, and it is us — Pogo
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Oct 26th, 2007 at 09:14:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]
ok, either the photographer was extremely lucky and causgt theliquid just as it hit the helmet, orwhere is the splash of impact? youd expect at least some splashes of light from the droplets as they bounced from the helmets surface.

Secondlygo out and spray liquid in an arc like that, and you'll see that it breaks up into globules very quickly after leaving the  nozzle, the smaller the flow the larger the gap between the packets of fluid too, yet the liquid seems to be describing a complete arc.

the kids shorts/penis/elbow are mighty suspicious too.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Fri Oct 26th, 2007 at 09:25:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I'll have to look for a copy of the book in a bookshop and look at the cover photo credits.

We have met the enemy, and it is us — Pogo
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Oct 26th, 2007 at 09:57:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]
It's hard to tell on a low-res copy - usually you can blow up the image and look for fringing around the joins.

What makes me think it's at least plausible is that there are no obvious fringes around the kid's hair - cutting and pasting hair is always interesting in Photoshop - and the light looks believable. Often when you try to montage two scenes they're lit from completely different angles, and which doesn't seem to be true here.

Then again you're right about the splashes, and the aim is possibly a little too perfect.

So I'd say it's open - could be either.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Fri Oct 26th, 2007 at 12:46:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I was thinking that the kid and the soldier were part of the original photo, which would cut the hair fringing problems out, just the penis and urine would have been added.

The sheer accuracy of hitting  the centre of the helmet is a bit dubious though I agree

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Fri Oct 26th, 2007 at 12:51:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
would also think he'd have to pull his pants down just a bit further... but at any rate, how long would it take for the soldier to notice that it was raining on a very limited area?
by borkitekt on Fri Oct 26th, 2007 at 03:14:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You know it's very possible to do hair and make it  look good in Photoshop, especially at this level of resolution, but I agree that the boy may have been there all along. The penis and stream look faked. I can't see the soldier sitting there so calmly. I say this was faked without any real intent to deceive. The point was made and that's what it's all about.

I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. _ Blood Sweat & Tears
by Gringo (stargazing camel at aoldotcom) on Fri Oct 26th, 2007 at 10:18:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I say this was faked without any real intent to deceive. The point was made and that's what it's all about.

Thank got someone gets it. It just does not matter.

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.

by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Sat Oct 27th, 2007 at 04:26:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
OK, first of all, neither the uniform nor the weapon are consistent with anything that US troops have worn in Iraq.

Second, as others have mentioned, there's no splash on the helmet-top.

Third, look at how the kid is standing; the boy's feet are placed at such an angle that it's highly improbable that he'd be able to pee outward at the angle that the stream would have to take in order to hit the soldier's head.  He'd have to be peeing sideways.

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Fri Oct 26th, 2007 at 10:34:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
What a strange collection of responses.
This is an image with a message, and if it was techically assembled in one way or another, --what difference does it make? Can no one let go of the urge to piss in it technically long enough to laugh?
It was clearly intended to be a laugh-- a guffaw from the heart, to know that others view mechanized slaughter with the contempt it deserves.
It was a gift to me from, a kind man in Denmark, ---who got it, and knew I would too.

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.
by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Sat Oct 27th, 2007 at 04:24:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I seem to remember a thorough exposure of the fake, but can't find it now. Only this Italian page claiming the soldier in the photo-montage is Finnish.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sat Oct 27th, 2007 at 05:01:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]
lookin at the kit the soldier is holding, I think He's Israeli

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Oct 27th, 2007 at 06:19:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]
But neither the arm insignia, nor the helmet, nor the gun looks like Israeli to me. That said, the gun doesn't look like that Finnish weapon, either.

At any rate, now I found that the image first spread on the web during April 2003, the earliest I found so far is 6 April 2003 in What Really Happened.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Sat Oct 27th, 2007 at 10:30:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I have this picture stored on my pc, dated 1992.
Can't remember where it came from but it was in my map with Palestinian struggle documentation.
The weapon is a Galil AR 7.62mm, an Israëli weapon from the 70's-80's based on the Finnish concept of the Valmet Rk.62 on his turn a licenced version of the AK-47 ( incredible this weapon-stories).

Of course the hole point of the picture is obvious
No matter what weapon, nationality or composed image: this picture expresses what a lot of people think about war.

The struggle of man against tyranny is the struggle of memory against forgetting.(Kundera)

by Elco B (elcob at scarlet dot be) on Sat Oct 27th, 2007 at 11:30:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That looks like it. And these IDF soldiers appear to sport the same helmet which looked unfamiliar to me (must be an earlier model). But the shoulder tags don't resemble any of these.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sat Oct 27th, 2007 at 12:31:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Of course the hole point of the picture is obvious

If I was looking for  a point of the picture, I'd say it was far more likely to be a piece of pro-intifada propaganda from the 90's

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Oct 27th, 2007 at 05:22:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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