John Cole goes after a controversial image of an American soldier photographed alongside two Iraqi children, one of who was holding a sign that says Lcpl Boudreaux killed my dad then he knocked up my sister. This one has been doing the rounds online and now a new one has surfaced, one, saying that Lcpl Boudreaux saved my dad then he rescued my sister.

Which witch is which? John’s link exposing the hoax is experiencing server problems. Let me indulge in an appeal to authority by saying that I’ll take John’s word for it that he knows what he’s saying. I’m reading the comments to John’s post, and I’m seeing a few possible resolutions to this mystery:

1. The bad one is doctored; the good one is real.
2. The good one is doctored; the bad one is real.
3. Neither are real, and the original is floating around somewhere.
4. The bad photo is real, and so is the message on the sign.
5. The bad photo is real, but the message was meant as some sick joke.

I know what to believe. I’ll bank on the first possibility.

If the bad photo is a work of image manipulation, it really is a vile piece of work, the damage done by which will be difficult to repair. It will be like the Art Bell hoax. In fact, in the times we live in I’d like to see someone push this issue to the point of absurdity by creating an “image generator” widget wherein all one has to do is fill in a name, two victims, and two crimes, and it would output that photo with the message on it. Let’s give it a try. Sgt Fuckwit buggered my dad then he mutilated my sister. Or better yet. Lcpl Dumbass ate all my candy then he stole my hair color.

Any one of those absurd messages (yes, the ones I just wrote) would be eaten up as red meat by those who drool at any chance to demean us. [Even about the candy? --- Ed. The theme of the day is absurdity, mister. --- J]. Not that our troops are blameless, of course, but I’m optimistically banking on the first scenario, but pessimistically, the fifth one would still be remotely acceptable to me.

Of course the first one absolves the soldier of any fault; I would like to see the head of the guy who doctored that image on a silver platter. Preferably with a side of lemon.