A Staged Car Bomb In Iraq? [Say Anything]

One blogger believes a recent car bomb in Iraq may have been staged.

The key and blindingly obvious point: there are at least three photojournalists from different outfits there exactly at the time it goes off! This is not a lucky coincidence. The pictures are clearly taken less than a minute after the original explosion and less than a minute apart. Also: all of the photographers are stringers, not regular staff photographers.

Interpretation: One, this was staged, the particulars of the bomb ensure it will be ineffective and safe from the distance from which it was photographed, but visually spectacular. The people running are most likely also staged. Two, the reporters were invited to see it. Three, they knew it was staged.

I've long been suspicious of the media coverage in Iraq, and so has Sec. Rumsfeld.

One of the chief complaints we've heard from a lot of soldiers these days is how the media coverage of Iraq has tended to paint a much more sinister picture than the soldiers themselves feel really exists. If the media are using staged events to depict a more negative situation in Iraq than actually exists it would explain a lot of the duality between what is shown us on television and what is seen by the soldiers on the ground.

Its common knowledge that the media slants its coverage of Iraq, it does not take much of a leap in faith to imagine the less reputable outlets using staged events to achieve that agenda.

(via Instapundit)

[Cross-posted at Say Anything]

posted by Ace at 11:24 AM

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