February 23, 2006

DRUDGE PHOTO

Drudge is a carrying a photo of a child standing in front of a red and white flag, wearing camo paint, and wearing a toy rifle with the caption "Mosque Attack Iraq" referring to yesterday's bombing of the Shia Golden Dome Mosque in Iraq. The photo looks misplaced. The flag has a green tree on it, making it Lebanese, not Iraqi, and certainly not the flag of the any of the various factions jockeying for power in Iraq. The toy rifle is a mockup of an American M16/203, hardly the weapon of any Middle Eastern resisistence movement.

MORE YIPS: Our faithful readers in the comments point to a more accurate description of the photo in Yahoo News indicating it was taken in Beirut which explains the flag. The child's weapon is an M4/203, the M16 variant with the shorter stock that is standard issue these days. My command sergeant major would bust my chops if he knew I missed that one.

Posted by LMC at February 23, 2006 04:17 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Yeah, but ... uh ... HALLIBURTON!!!

Posted by: Sobek at February 23, 2006 04:55 PM

I thought the mini M16/203 combo was pretty cool, though.


Posted by: The Colossus at February 23, 2006 05:53 PM

Is it supposed to be an M16 or an M4? Look at the stock.

Posted by: Brian B at February 23, 2006 06:05 PM

Quite right. M4.

Posted by: The Colossus at February 23, 2006 06:17 PM

The caption on the photo at Yahoo! reads "A Lebanese Shiite Muslim child shouts slogans while wearing a military uniform and holding a toy machine gun, in front of the Lebanese flag, during a protest against the bombing of one of the Shiite sacred shrines in Iraq, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2006. Tens of thousands of Lebanese Shiite Muslims, many of them denouncing the United States, rallied Thursday to protest the bombing of one of their sacred shrines in Iraq, beating their chests in traditional mourning. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)"

Found here: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/iraq/082701iraqplane;_ylt=AjZilrTW26S3Ozerkmb383ys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Posted by: Hal Duston at February 23, 2006 06:31 PM