Iconic photo that changed America.

[TexasProgresive]

Yesterday the image of Kim Phuc, the little Vietnamese girl who is running naked with her fellow villagers from a napalm attack their village. I think that this image more then any other is the icon that was burned into the psyche of America and turned the tide of any supporters of that war.

Kim's agony and obvious innocences made that impression. Soon something similar will come out of Iraq that will do the same. The photo didn't do the job by itself but it came with perfect timing to an audience prepped to receive it.

[HereSince1628]

1. I thought the video of the pistol shot into the head of a prisoner

and the resulting fountain of blood was also pretty effective in showing just what the US was being asked to prop up in Vietnam.

[peacetalksforall]

2. I think it already came out (for me) - it was a post bombing from one of

our attacks with a young girl (of a similarly aged girl or a little younger) who is looking down at her dead father (if I remember the text correctly) and with her bloody hands hanging down in defeat and shock on her face. Her hair is all messed up. It must have been winter, I think I remember heavy clothing. It was very, very moving and I remember thinking this is the photo they will use for this massacre called a war.

[acmejack]

3. This was a defining shot for sure.

As was the execution photo.

[Yollam]

4. Sadly, decades of violence in media have made us callous/numb as a nation.

There have been all kinds or horrific photos of maimed little girls coming out of Iraq, and none made a dent in the minds of Dumbya's lemmings. It affects them as deeply as an episode of the Sopranos or a Freddy Krueger film.

[oldgrowth]

5. I can still pull that pic up in my mind to this day

A little about Kim now!!!
http://www.kimfoundation.com/en/index.htm

[Ian_rd]

6. *** This is the image of the Iraq War you are looking for, but ...

... it has yet to have an effect. The apologists of this war simply brush off such events with, "Hey, if you want to make an omelette, you gotta break some eggs."



During the Vietnam War, the public was controlled by censoring information, which is why the photo you posted had such a strong effect when finally seen. These days, the public is controlled with brainwashing to consider all human beings beyond our borders to be the enemy and inferior, whose suffering causes as much compassion as seeing a mouse dead in a trap.

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. Unfortunately, you are correct.

There are plenty of iconic images out there already.

Differences between now and then abound. Biggest is that media was more independent and less monolithtic then. Now they seem to literally follow directions of the regime currently in power.

Second biggest is that people are dumber ( and more callous) than they were then. That's ongoing, inevitable and irreversible, I fear.

[silverojo]

8. Another reason people feel differently about this war

Der Fear-er has convinced them that this war is about protecting us from another 9/11. So the overall attitude is, "either they get killed or we get killed". Plus, the Vietnamese (AFAIK) never staged terrorist attacks in other nations as Arabs have, so that makes people far less sympathetic to them. I'm NOT saying this is the RIGHT attitude, lumping all those people into one category...I'm just saying, this is why so many Americans just plain don't care about seeing photos of wounded/killed Arabs. Not even the children. Because to them, an Arab child is a future threat to American "security".

That's what war does to people...sad, but true.

[XemaSab]

12. Lumping them together as "Arabs" is the first mistake

AFAIK the Iraqis last attacked another country in 1991 when they invaded Kuwait, and the Taliban were assholes, but they were more concerned with repressing their own people than attacking others.

How many of the hijackers were Iraqi? None.

How many were Afghans? None.

It's like saying that in the 1940's, Japanese, Indians, Filipinos, and Koreans were all Asian so that justifies us in randomly attacking different countries to retaliate for Pearl Harbor.

[raccoon]

9. For me, the iconic photo was of Ali Ismael Abbas, lying smeared

with some white ointment and with both his arms gone.

[sam sarrha]

11. here are some links to Ali... he was denied assistance, LINKs>..

http://www.aliabbas.net/ali_abbas_news_links_m.htm

http://www.islamonline.net/english/news/2003-04/08/article06.shtml

http://www.shianews.com/low/europe/news_id/0000434.php

[dipsydoodle]

10. It wasn't only in the USA

that those pictures had such a profound effect. Was so in the UK and the rest of the world too.

[applegrove]

13. She's a mom and living in Canada now. She could be a grandmother..

I don't know.