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What happened to the pictures? Exhibit A, Exhibit B
Will they ever come back? Yes and no

The definition of tolerance

Brian C. Ledbetter · Sunday, August 27. 2006 20:58
Ok, for starters, "Tolerance" doesn't generally involve depicting someone you don't like as a bloodthirsty vampire. For some reason, this motif seems to appear quite often in the Arab world, though. Check out this poster of Condoleeza Rice. It's not her best pose, I'd say.

But what really strikes me as odd with this photograph, is that it purports to be an ambulance. Are there many ambulances in the Middle East which are the front-end of a Mercedes Benz grafted to what appears to be the back of a Land Rover? I haven't seen any of these models in the Red Cross inventory... While it's possible that this is some private medical company's ambulance, it's more likely that the car has been placed there, poster and all, as a shameless propaganda stunt. (Correction: This ambulance is totally normal. I'm the one that needs to be examined here, as I seem to have Sillius Gooseitis. All in a day's work here at Rancho Kooko!)

They could've at least gotten a picture of Condoleeza smiling.

UPDATE 28-AUG-2006 14:23 EST: Apparently, our little Condi poster is a travelling road show. It seems to have made an appearance in Beirut shortly after Kofi Annan walked through. I'm sure he stopped by and autographed it at some point, the terrorist lover he is. One thing that is interesting about the poster—So far, it's only showing up in FAUXtographs taken by the Associated Press' Matt Dunham. Coincidence? I doubt it. I'm sure ol' Matt has plenty of copies of that poster in his personal luggage to hand out to all of the Hezzies that want it.

Does this make the gentleman with the flip-flop (yes, the tired old Arab insult—I'm sure Condi is totally offended over here) on her face a "Hezbian?"

I can keep the puns a-comin' all day here, folks.

UPDATE 29-AUG-2006 09:19 EST: It seems that CounterTerrorism Blog has found some information that illustrates how orchestrated the "spontaneous" pro-Hezbullah demonstrations were when Kofi came through Beirut. I'm shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you.

UPDATE 22:03 EST: Reader Anna from Myrtus notes that I'm totally incorrect on the ambulance, and informs us that this is a known Mercedes-Benz model. This goes to show why you, the Reader, are so important to me. I've barely got two legs to stand on my own with, what with my credibility in tatters and all. Thanks for keeping me honest there, Anna!

Curses, foiled again!
A Hezbollah protest banner depicting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice holding two dead children with the words 'the terrorist' written in Arabic, is seen placed on the windscreen of a damaged ambulance beside the rubble of a building in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which was damaged by an attack from Israeli forces during the 34-day Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006. The densely populated residential area was bombed repeatedly by Israeli forces during the conflict. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)


Zooming out, we see our mongrel vehicle. I doubt this thing was ever really in service as an ambulance... Notice that the poster has been moved, though! We're no longer able to see the windscreen in this photograph, which was uncovered in the previous one, as the poster was hanging off the side of the vehicle! As I don't see anyone else around, I can only imagine that it's Matt Dunham himself that moved the poster, presumably to get a better shot.

I thought photographers were above staging photos, Matt!

A Hezbollah protest banner depicting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice holding two dead children with the words 'the terrorist' written in Arabic, is seen placed on the windscreen of a damaged ambulance beside the rubble of a building in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which was damaged by an attack from Israeli forces during the 34-day Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006. The densely populated residential area was bombed repeatedly by Israeli forces during the conflict. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)


Notice that our poster is now a travelling road show. Also notice that this photograph was taken by the same FAUXtographer as before. I wonder if he carries it around in a bag, to pass out to anyone who wants to hold it up?

A Lebanese man holds a flip-flop shoe beside a Hezbollah protest banner depicting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice holding two dead children with the words 'the terrorist' written in Arabic, immediately after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited the area in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which was repeatedly attacked by Israeli forces during the 34-day Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, Monday, Aug. 28, 2006. On the first day of his two-day visit to Lebanon, Annan on Monday demanded that Hezbollah release two captured Israeli soldiers to the international Red Cross, pressing both sides to fulfill their commitments to solidify the two-week-old cease-fire in Lebanon. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
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Here is what a handful of random people think about this article. But first, the fine print:
The opinions expressed here, even where approved for display, do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this website, the management, or any other entity or organization, with the exception of the Vast Zionist Conspiracy. Those opinions we represent in style, yo. Please keep the language in these comments clean, as this is intended to be a family-friendly, work-friendly website. Comments not compliant with this policy will be edited for content where necessary. Abusive or otherwise illegal comments will be reported to the proper authorities, up to and including the aforementioned Vast Zionist Conspiracy. The Management cannot and will not be held responsible for commenters making a spectacle of themselves, even if The Management are the said commenters in question. In other words, don't take yourself so seriously, folks. We're all here to discuss the news, and more importantly, to have fun. Now go get yourself into some OCD treatment program—you obviously need it if you actually read all of this mess.

Anna puna on 2006-08-30 00:04 #1
*Hey Brian, you are welcome. I await with trepidation when you find me in error. Oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth will be Biblical. Get out the sack-cloth! :-)
Reply  
Harvey on 2006-09-01 13:28 #2
*Well, now that these terrorist scumbags know that our Secretary of State is a baby-eating monster, maybe they'll behave themselves lest we let her off her chain :-)
Reply  
desiree on 2007-04-10 15:13 #3
*lokk ok
Reply  
AS on 2007-07-12 10:07 #4
*I know this photographer. I know he did not make, move, realign or otherwise tamper with the poster. I've asked him and he's given me his word and that's good enough for me ... and will be for you!
Reply  
Brian C. Ledbetter on 2007-07-12 11:33 #5
*AS,

Thank you for sharing. My comments were somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I guess that didn't exactly translate into electrons when I posted this.

I'd love it if you'd continue checking in here and keeping an eye on me, though—I always love hearing commentary on my observations from inside the industry, especially when they shed light on areas in which I am mistaken. You can always contact me directly if you wish to communicate in private, of course.

Regards,
Brian
Reply  
G on 2008-02-06 13:20 #6
*How ludicrous. That's a highly regarded photojournalist you're writing about and you have no evidence to back up these assertions. Not even hearsay, just random conjecture based on the fact that the same poster was seen nearby by the same guy. Could be the exact same poster (so what?) or more than one print (again so what?). Why the big conspiracy? "FAUXtographs"? What crap. And what an imagination you have. Very impressive.
Reply  
Brian C. Ledbetter on 2008-02-06 13:31 #7
*G,

You're absolutely right. No "highly regarded" reporter of any stripe has ever staged anything before.

http://www.snappedshot.com/uploads/Parody/slowpoke-pokemon.gif
A slowpoke for your efforts.


And yeah, I will openly admit that this article is totally conjecture, and is not supported by any shred of evidence. 'Course, it was written a year and a half ago—less than a month into this blog's life—so perhaps a bit of rampant conjecture would be understandable?

I have since that time actually started meeting people "in" the industry, and have learned quite a lot about photojournalism since then.

But hey, if you want to pick bones with this site, you're more than welcome to. I always enjoy reading feedback on some of the stuff I throw up here. But please, do feel free to start with something a touch more recent.

Regards,
Brian
Reply  

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