Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Photo fakery at the New York Times
The American Thinker ^ | 1/16/2006 | Thomas Lifson

Posted on 01/16/2006 5:19:53 AM PST by saveliberty



Photo fakery at the New York Times
January 16th, 2006

 

 

Is a fake staged photo fit to print? What if it staged in a way that makes the US forces fighting the War on Terror look cruel and ineffective? The evidence argues that yes, it can run, and in a prominent position - at least in the case of the New York Times website.

It appears that the Times, once-upon-a-time regarded as the last word in reliability when it comes to checking before publishing (which makes them so much better than blogs, of course), has run a fake photo on the home page of its website. The photo has since been removed from the home page, but still can be seen here

The picture shows a sad little boy, with a turbaned man next to him, a little bit further from the camera, amid the ruins of a house.  Other men and boys peer in from the background. The photo  is captioned

“Pakistani men with the remains of a missile fired at a house in the Bajur tribal zone near the Afghan border.”

The story it accompanies is about the apparently failed attempt to take out al Qaeda’s #2 man al Zawahiri, with a missile attack from a Predator drone.

“How sad!” readers are encouraged to think. “These poor people are on the receiving end of awful weapons used by the clumsy minions of Bush. And all to no avail. Isn’t it terrible? Why must America do such horrible misdeeds? Bush must go!”

The only problem is that the long cylindrical item with a conical tip pictured with the boy and the man is not a missile at all. It is an old artillery shell. Not something that would have been fired from a Predator. Indeed, something that must have been found elsewhere and posed with the ruins and the little boy as a means at pulling of the heartstrings of the gullible readers of the New York Times.

Others have noticed the fakery, too. 

Ned Barnett is an expert on military technology, and frequently serves as a contributor to The History Channel on mil-tech issues. He has plenty of experience researching military ordnance. He told me:

“Based on my extensive experience in researching military technology, I can verify that this is a 152mm or 155mm artillery shell – unfired – and by the looks of it, fairly old.  It also looks like it has a fuse in it, suggesting that the guys in the photo are either ditch-water dumb or have a death-wish. 

“At a glance, it’s hard to tell the exact caliber – 152mm or 155mm (they’re so close) but the Soviets tended to favor 152 (going back to WW-II) while we and the Brits, the French and most of the rest of the non-Soviet world (including, oddly, the PRC) preferred the 155. For all intents and purposes, they were functionally identical (but were not interchangeable).  In caliber, this is also virtually identical to Naval 6” rounds (routinely used by the Brits, the Imperial Japanese Navy and the USN), but of course, it’s unlikely that the Pakistanis would unearth a Naval round not widely used since Vietnam (much more common in WW-I and WW-II) hundreds of miles from the nearest salt water.

“These shells could fire high explosive (HP), chemical white smoke (white phosphorous – aka “Willie Pete” – a smoke-producing shell that’s also hideous if you get the WP on you, as it burns on contact with air and nothing much will put it out), armor-piercing and semi-armor piercing – even poison gas (there’s much evidence that Saddam used French 155 shells for poison gas purposes against the Kurds, and possibly the Iranians).  They are very common, and have been so since WW-I.  They remain common throughout the world as one of the “standard” artillery sizes.  To me, this looks like a HP shell, but the proof would come in interpreting the markings (that yellow band, plus stenciling).

“Small-caliber artillery comes in a casing with the propellant and shell in the same package – like a very large rifle bullet – but larger artillery has the shell (seen in the photo) packed separately from the propellant charge (which is generally in silk bags or other combustible containers).  Rockets of all calibers also have integral propellant. The pictured shell does not have integral propellant, so it couldn’t possibly be a rocket (by the way, the standard ex-Soviet rocket caliber was 122mm – noticeably smaller than this puppy).

(A “decent basic primer” on artillery shells can be found here.)

“Just as this one does, all artillery shells have markings (usually colored bands) which show the cannon-cockers at a glance what kind of shell they’re loading (blue for practice, other colors for different types of “live” shells). Somewhere I have an old standard reference on Soviet markings (and another on standard US markings), but they’re buried in my library, so I can’t immediately ID who made this shell. 

“The make, however, is immaterial.  The 152/155mm artillery shell has been in common, world-wide distribution since at least 1918. While it doesn’t look old enough to be of even WW-II vintage, that’s no guarantee.  When it comes to artillery shells, most countries are pack-rats.  At the time of their fall, the Soviets still had stockpiles of WW-II era shells, and they worked. (In Vietnam, most of the bombs we dropped from airplanes had been manufactured in ‘41-’45.) They don’t wear out, and as long as the fuses are live, most of the shells will be, too. 

“Bottom line: the “provenance” of this shell, given it’s location in the world, could be Soviet (or ex-Soviet), [PRC] Chinese, British, French, American, NATO, Yugoslavian, Warsaw Pact (Czech, most likely, if WarPac), or as a long shot, potentially (though unlikely) even Imperial Japanese.  In short, absent a manual on color-bands and a close look at stenciling, there’s no way to tell who made the damned thing. Nor is it important.

“The New York Times claim that it was the remains of a rocket is nonsense.  Rockets are frail, light-weight, flimsy things (for obvious reasons). Artillery shells are robust, mostly cast steel (the explosive weight is really rather small considering the overall weight of the shell), again for obvious reasons.  Take a look yourself.  In addition, artillery shells have bands that grab onto the rifling of the cannon barrel – this is obvious (the lower segmented brass-over-white-paint band) on the shell in this photo.  Rockets do not have this, as they use fins or directional exhaust nozzles to spin-stabilize themselves.” 

So the formerly authoritative New York Times has published a picture distributed around the world on the home page of its website, using a prop which must have been artfully placed to create a false dramatic impression of cruel incompetence on the part of US forces. Not only did the editors lack the basic knowledge necessary to detect the fake, they didn’t bother to run the photo past anyone with such knowledge before exposing the world to it.

There is an old saying in journalism about stories which editors really want to run: “too good to check.” It is plainly clear that the New York Times thought this story was too good to check. Their standard of “good” is painfully obvious to all.

Without the internet and blogosphere, probably they would have gotten away with it.

Thomas Lifson is the editor and publisher of The American Thinker.

 

Thomas Lifson


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: agitprop; aidandcomfort; airstrikes; bushhassers; enemypropaganda; fakebutaccurate; hbm; iraq; iraqwar; mediabias; medialies; mindcontrolbydummies; nyslimes; nyt; nytimesbias; oldgreydrunklady; pajamapeoplerule; pakistan; proterrorist; pwned; revisionisthistory; thebiglie; treason; usefulidiots; waronerror; whywefight
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 221-238 next last
To: icwhatudo

FYI ping.


61 posted on 01/16/2006 5:58:37 AM PST by andyandval
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #62 Removed by Moderator

To: Blood of Tyrants

I will take your word for it.


63 posted on 01/16/2006 5:58:58 AM PST by saveliberty (Proud to be Head Snowflake, Bushbot and a new member of Sam's Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: TADSLOS

:-) Thanks! Sorry for my confusion.


64 posted on 01/16/2006 5:59:34 AM PST by saveliberty (Proud to be Head Snowflake, Bushbot and a new member of Sam's Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Hillarys Gate Cult; Vaquero; rahbert; Rebelbase

Thanks for the information! I was thinking if the shells didn't have grooves pre-cut on them, they'd jam inside the barrel. Silly me.


65 posted on 01/16/2006 5:59:51 AM PST by CarrotAndStick (The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: ChildOfThe60s

At least it hurts their circulation


66 posted on 01/16/2006 6:00:14 AM PST by saveliberty (Proud to be Head Snowflake, Bushbot and a new member of Sam's Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: saveliberty

67 posted on 01/16/2006 6:02:01 AM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bray

Prayers up


68 posted on 01/16/2006 6:02:18 AM PST by saveliberty (Proud to be Head Snowflake, Bushbot and a new member of Sam's Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: saveliberty
Why would a so called Paki photo's URL contain a "afghan" reference?

Here's the photo url:

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/01/14/international/worldspecial/14cnd-afghan.ready.html

69 posted on 01/16/2006 6:02:19 AM PST by ASA Vet (Those who know don't talk, those who talk don't know.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: OXENinFLA

Uhh, yea, I think they did.


67


70 posted on 01/16/2006 6:02:48 AM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: prairiebreeze

Nope, they are their own undoing and long may it be so


71 posted on 01/16/2006 6:02:53 AM PST by saveliberty (Proud to be Head Snowflake, Bushbot and a new member of Sam's Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: InvisibleChurch
Speaking of photo hoaxes....

The break in Peter's silence ends two months of rampant speculation over the identity of the man in a black cap and eyeglasses who has become the latest Web craze.

Shortly after Sept. 11, Peter pasted a plane into a photo of himself taken on the observation deck of the World Trade Center on Nov. 28, 1997. Amused, he e-mailed it to a few friends for a laugh.

The doctored photograph spread worldwide on the Net. Then his face started cropping up all over the place. Web surfers quickly turned Peter into the Forrest Gump of the Internet, placing him at the scene of major, minor and just plain inane events in history.

Source.

72 posted on 01/16/2006 6:04:42 AM PST by Quilla
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: saveliberty

Stick a fork in the Slimes, they're way overcooked.

Don't try to save it, just throw it in the trash.


73 posted on 01/16/2006 6:05:14 AM PST by TheForceOfOne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RedBloodedAmerican

Fake, but "I wish it were accurate"...../snicker


74 posted on 01/16/2006 6:10:20 AM PST by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s......you weren't really there.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: ASA Vet

someone failed geography?


75 posted on 01/16/2006 6:11:13 AM PST by saveliberty (Proud to be Head Snowflake, Bushbot and a new member of Sam's Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 69 | View Replies]

To: TheForceOfOne

At some point, they will become the unfunny Onion.


76 posted on 01/16/2006 6:11:47 AM PST by saveliberty (Proud to be Head Snowflake, Bushbot and a new member of Sam's Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: 17th Miss Regt
"If the round was unfired, the rifling bands would not have rifling marks cut into them. Look at the copper band near the base of the round."

I agree. I don't know much about foreign artillery rounds, but having rifling marks on an unfired rotating band would defeat the purpose.

77 posted on 01/16/2006 6:12:38 AM PST by OldEagle (May you live long enough to hear the legends of your own adventures.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: ChildOfThe60s
It's true, I tell ya!
78 posted on 01/16/2006 6:12:57 AM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: Ditter

That's odd. One of my tenants started getting bills through the mail from/for the NYT--out of the blue. No subscription, no paper. Just bills. This guy had never heard of the NYT.


79 posted on 01/16/2006 6:13:29 AM PST by zebra 2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Bloody Sam Roberts

The filename for the photograph also seems to suggest that this is a scene from Afghanistan.


80 posted on 01/16/2006 6:14:19 AM PST by Riley ("What color is the boathouse at Hereford?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 221-238 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson