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Monday, April 26, 2004

Powerful images. I've been thinking about images this morning as I look through hand drawn maps from an archaeology project. Images convey a lot of information efficiently, more so than the written word. Certain images produce an emotional response- good or bad. Politicians are in tune with this, as seen by the recent secrecy over a certain set of images.

Looking for Sam has pondered the issue of the flag draped coffins coming back from Iraq. George Bush and his buddies don't want anyone to see these coffins, which are arriving in ever-increasing numbers. They sneak them in like they were somehow dirty, shameful, or an embarrassment. They claim that they don't want to upset family members. And yet the handling of these coffins is a dignified, carefully choreographed action. The servicemen handling them undergo long training, they move crisply, and handle the caskets with respect. The recently released photos prove this. The photos also reveal the scope of the war. It isn't one or two coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base, it is entire plane loads. This is what the neo-cons don't want people to see.

This is the same batch that kicked off George's re-election campaign with an advertisement featuring a flag-draped body being removed from the World Trade Center site. I wondered at the time if that particular person would have supported George's re-election. Perhaps it was some ardent liberal who was crushed between cascading floors on that horrible day. I guess it would be possible to research that particular photograph, find out which day and which body it was, ask his or her family about the individual's personal beliefs. You might actually find the person was a Bush supporter, lost among the financial advisors, secretaries, cooks, firemen, and delivery people who perished. But would they still want their body used as a campaign tool?

But George et al. are all about image. He strutted across an aircraft carrier positioned so that the twinkling lights of San Diego were invisible, supposedly so far out to sea that he had to jet in, when it was really just offshore, wearing his crotch-enhancing flight suit. As he "speechified," the Mission Accomplished banner suggested a quick, successful war. Instead almost a year later young soldiers are being killed daily. Shouldn't this picture be more appropriate in Bush's campaign ads?


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