The saddest picture.......

[Are_grits_groceries]

This is a picture of a little Iraqi boy in an orphanage, he drew a picture of his mother on the floor and slept on her arm.
(from Twitter)

Sigh.....Just sigh....
Out of tears right now.

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[dipsydoodle]

2. du rec. nt

words defy me.

[BeHereNow]

3. No, No, No. I can't cry anymore.

No decent person wants this for these children.
So some one PLEASE tell me how we rid our selves of
a Congress, State Department and MIC run DOD, that gives us no voice or choice in these matters.

Someone tell me NOW, why this child has resorted to sleeping in
the "Chalk Embrace" of his mother's arms, while the masters of war
sleep comfortably, protected by their ill-gotten wealth and their war profits that
benefit ONLY them, on OUR tax dollars, while THEIR children suffer not.

WHY do we, as tax payers continue to allow them to force us to pay
for this misery and injustice?

This child is less precious than their children, or our hungry children, because???????


Livid.

BHN

[MrMickeysMom]

4. With you...

Decent persons need to keep seeing this... until enough decent persons demand change driven by true representation.

[Dustlawyer]

29. I'll tell you how

Let's get Bush and Tricky Dick II tried for war crimes and all their other crimes!!! That this idea of holding the top of our government accountable if they break the law is revolutionary is a sign of the times.

[sabrina 1]

65. We are supposed to ignore the suffering of these beautiful, innocent children caused by policies

too many Americans refused to speak out against. And now, we are asked to ignore them again, because 'an election is coming up'. And so the cycle continues, one side becomes apologists when their party is in power, the other when it is theirs. And the PTBs know this and encourage it. They know they will always have enough people willing to remain silent no matter who is in power, and that is all they need to continue these reprehensible policies that have destroyed so many human lives around the world and here in the US.

When people stop catering to this system that is now set in stone, apparently, maybe those we elect will finally do so also.

We can only blame our government for so much. At some point, the American people have to accept the blood on their hands also.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

66. with you

out of tears myself

[truedelphi]

81. So very well stated. And so sad. n/t

[Auntie Bush]

95. Send that picture to Cheney, Bush and all the war mongers you can think of.

[Marie Marie]

97. Cheney gets a new heart yet there is medical procedure to undo the damage his

old heart (or lack there of) has caused thousands. This is heartbreaking.

[Control-Z]

5. Oh, dear gawd.

I know that pain. Horrible. Poor little child. It will never really be ok for that child. Not really. He/she will pretend but it will never really get better.

[Little Star]

6. omg. That's heartbreaking. War. What is it good for. k&r

[NoMoreWarNow]

12. war is good for killing lots of people, making a lot of people suffer...

and lining the pockets of the elites. Every evil fuck who promoted war in Iraq and Afghanistan needs to rot in jail.

[lastlib]

34. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

(That song needed to be resurrected a decade ago!)

[Little Star]

56. Bingo

[progressoid]

7. Rec.

[cin63]

8. Tears

I instantly cried, poor babies, I hate war.

[malaise]

9. Way too sad

[lunatica]

10. Who took that picture? Someone tall enough to be above the stark light bulb?

It's a compelling photo, but really. Who took it and why? One should never forget the fact that when there's a photo there's also a photographer taking it. My first thought is that it's manufactured.

[unblock]

11. i hereby relinquish my crown, i am no longer king of all cynics.

so some devious, agenda-laden photog built an elaborate studio with some genius way of viewing down, from the impossible distance of roughly one story, give or take, then said, DAMN, where are we going to find an orphan in iraq! and then get him to SLEEP!

well i say even if it's staged, one must admired the technical brilliance! how on earth could he have gotten a camera all the way up there! they must have built an entire balcony or second floor above the first floor or maybe imported some kind of "ladder" device or i don't know.

maybe they brought in consultants from nasa. OOH that's it! it's a satellite photo with super zoom!

[dr.strangelove]

14. Does it matter

My first thought was that it was touching and sad, my second was that it was a wonderful photographer. Neither of these things is in any way connected with it being staged. Some of the most powerful photos I have ever seen are staged. I just went to a wonderful show at the Clamp Gallery in NY where a photographer named Frank Yamrus had a series of self portraits displayed showing major events in his life recreated. It was incredibly moving and the man is a gifted artist. I rarely buy work at such shows, but I found myself compelled to buy his book and a print because it was so moving. Yet they were all staged. His decision on whether to father a child and a shot of his witnessing the death of a friend were some of the best work I have ever seen. A great photographer staging a shot has nothing whatsoever to do with the power and emotion such shots invoke. If this orphan shot was staged, does it make the terror that a young orphan that lost his mother to war any less real? Does it change your feelings on the tragedy of such a young orphan?
I have no idea if this was a staged shot or not. But staged or not, the sadness and passion the photo invokes is real and the tragedy it depicts is real. If its a created work of art meant to convey these feelings, I commend the artist for doing such an amazing job. If its a unscripted and candid photo, I commend the photographer for capturing reality so well and moving me with an impromptu photo. But in either event, its not an insult to anyone to suggest this was set up by a wonderful artist to show a tragedy. Why attack someone who suggested the photo was set up by an artist. It certainly might have been, just as it might not have been. Who really cares? It depicts reality, where set up or not. Lets not take away from the sad reality that results from war by arguing over this.

[Wait Wut]

18. Whether or not it is staged...

...it is a powerful image that reminds us of the spoils of war. A wake of tragedy, orphans, widows and widowers. I've heard enough stories from my son, a retired Marine, and his friends, to know that there are far worse images that we'll never see that aren't staged.

If it is staged, I thank the photographer for having the compassion that it would take to imagine such an image and use it to remind us that a war never truly ends. If it isn't, it's one of those times I hope there is a God that will someday wake up and fix things so children never have to sleep with chalk images on a wooden floor.

I've cried watching movies that aren't real. I guess I should blame the writers, producers and actors. I've been moved by works of art. I should call the artist a liar.

[shahkar]

101. Read many replies to this....

I've read many replies to this picture... some down right insensitive, most appropriately compassionate but I like your reply the best.

Thanks...

[hrmjustin]

102. Welcome to DU my friend!

[lunatica]

21. A simple ladder does the trick you know

But jump off the cliff screaming if you must.

[Papagoose]

51. It is powerful, staged or not

I do want to know if it is real though...I feel compelled to share this picture, but need to know the context before I stick my foot in my mouth. I'd be interested if anyone knows.

[lunatica]

72. I agree it's very compelling

I simply questioned it. I wasn't trashing it.

[NoMoreWarNow]

13. yeah, it's all staged... just propaganda to make us think Iraqi children are real humans who suffer

Right?

/sarcasm

[lunatica]

22. I've seen plenty of non staged photographs that are much worse than that

Of dead Iraqi toddlers with their brains blown out. You're sarcasm is stupid and a waste of time.

[polly7]

30. Staged ...... as in, seeing something that moves you and getting in the

best position to take a picture that turns out well?

I've done that dozens / hundreds of times. Probably 90% of photos taken in that case would be 'staged'.

[Are_grits_groceries]

16. Guess what?

I.DON'T.CARE.HOW.IT.WAS.TAKEN!

MY first thought was about all the children who don't have safe havens with their parents whether because of war or other circumstances.

Meh!

[lunatica]

23. I think reality is a far better method of showing the vileness of war

Why make something up when there are literally millions of stories about what the Iraqi people have gone through? I've seen photographs of toddlers with their brains blown out of their skulls. Real scenes. Real and unstaged photographs.

[Are_grits_groceries]

25. First of all,

you don't know it's staged. Second of all, even if it is, you better believe that many kids sleep trying to hold on to some image of their mama..
AND most importantly, a photo doesn't have to show brains that are blown out to portray the horrible effects of war.

You will probably post horrible images or spend your time googling and trying to prove it was staged.
GO AWAY and quit shoving your view on people. You have made your point, such as it is.

Meh!

[lunatica]

26. OK

bye

[freshwest]

48. AGG, any excuse not to care will do. It's a defense mechanism to isolate oneself. It's okay.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

73. You know nothing about photography. Nothing.

Stop while you're just a little behind, please.

[Oilwellian]

24. "But really, who took it and why?"

What a stunningly cold and disconnected comment. I don't know what is more upsetting, the photo or your response to it.

[lunatica]

27. I never said it isn't a compelling photo

Staged photos are fine with me. I just don't happen to believe a child cuddles up to the cold floor for comfort. I think children cuddle up to soft things when they want comfort, but I guess you don't.

[Oilwellian]

31. You keep saying it's staged, yet offer no proof other than...

your belief that if there's no blood and brains in a photo taken in Iraq, it must be staged. You say Iraqi orphanages are full of soft, cuddly blankets the children can find comfort in, and this particular orphan can't possibly be longing for the comfort of his mother's arms, because gee, he has a soft, cuddly blanket to take her place. You imply this photo is staged because an orphan can't possibly be longing for his mother and would never sleep on a floor with her chalk figure because hey, there's that soft, cuddly blanket he can turn to for security now.

When I put a soft, cuddly blanket over my own grandchildren, I can see the pure pleasure in their faces and the sense of security that ritual brings. The question is what gives them the greatest comfort, the blanket, or knowing their grandmother and grandfather are there to protect them while they sleep?

My belief is an orphan will choose their parent any day over a soft, cuddly blanket and this photo is a reflection of that fact.

[lunatica]

70. I said I wonder if it was staged

Jeez. Can you read?

I'm not even denying that it's quite compelling.

[FarLeftFist]

33. Surveillance video screen capture.

[lunatica]

71. That's one explanation

But if it is then is the kid arrested or in some kind of holding cell?

See, for some of us there are questions that come up.

[JDPriestly]

42. Pictures like this take some thought about composition too:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002533348

[The Wielding Truth]

83. If the poor little thing drew it he would sleep by it. I would take a picture of him and his mom.

[Enrique]

86. it was my response too

I don't know why it would be upsetting. Someone found out that in fact it is from a public service announcement. I don't know why it's upsetting to want to know the truth.

[66 dmhlt]

36. Quick - check behind the Curtain & ask the Wizard ...

If he's got a SPARE HEART - because you are sure as hell in need of one!

[XemaSab]

38. I'm skeptical too

How old is this kid supposed to be?

Something about the drawing doesn't look like a kid drew it.

The shading is too even, and the facial features and proportions seem too perfect.

It doesn't really pass the sniff test.

[polly7]

41. I don't think it unreasonable to believe the child may have had help

with the picture by others, but what does it have to do with the message of the picture?

[XemaSab]

43. But if someone helped him draw it

then the entire "story" of the picture is false.

[polly7]

44. I was just looking at it again ...... it doesn't seem impossible at all that

the child drew it alone. The head outline looks like an object may have been used to trace around ....... the rest is very simple. The shading makes me sad, because it obviously took a long time to do.

[haele]

45. Stand on a nearby chair or a table - there's your angle.

Wouldn't even wake the poor child up to take a flash picture if you needed too. Even an amateur photographer understands enough about angles to figure out how to get the entire composition at the right perspective. If "composition" and "perspective" means manufactured to you, then any photograph where the person with the camera is moving around the subject for the best shot - a picture that isn't a spontaneous stop, point, click, then move on - is "manufactured".

As for this picture, it doesn't seem like too difficult a shot to me; all the photographer here needed was a stable chair or bed frame to get him or her up to the height and perspective to get the entire chalk drawing.

Haele

[progressoid]

49. Actually, you're right.

It is manufactured for some sort of Iraqi PSA. I wish I knew what they were saying.

[bluesbassman]

61. It just looks like perspective. Turn your head 90° to the right. That's how the shot was taken.

From video too.

[awoke_in_2003]

67. Who took this picture?...

probably the same type of person who took this picture when Bush was the CIC:

THIS is what our country does in OUR name, and BOTH parties are guilty

on edit: my mother died when I was 13. I lived with pain for a long time. If an entity, like another country, had caused her death you can bet your bottom dollar that I would do anything to make them pay- even if it was just a little bit, they would pay.

[lunatica]

74. I know I would feel the same way.

I would hate the killers with every fiber of my being.

[awoke_in_2003]

85. It is sad to think...

of how many lives our country has devastated, both at home and abroad.

[Rex]

75. Seriously? Why did they take the picture? REALLY?

THAT is your question? Okay I will answer it then, even though I did not take it - it was taken to illustrate a point. Now do you get the point or do I have to explain it as well?

[lunatica]

76. Get over yourself

[Rex]

78. Right back atcha.

nt.

[The Wielding Truth]

82. Seems like it could have been taken from a bunkbed.Orphanage, right?

[AnneD]

15. I here...

Dick Cheney's new heart is working well. Let's give it a real workout and put his ass along with every other war criminal in the Bush Admin on trial. There is more than enough documentation of their war crime to put them away for a long time.

Until these bastards are tried and convicted, they will never understand their crimes to humanity.

This should never happen to another country, another parent, another child.

[spanone]

17. too sad

[nclib]

19. Heartbreaking

just too much.

[Chorophyll]

20. It's so easy to get people excited about war.

Here's the reality of war.

Everyone knows this, but they manage to forget every damn time.

[sinkingfeeling]

28. Heart wrenching.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

32. Good grief. We're a terrible nation.

Meanwhile Bush and Cheney live lavishly.

[lastlib]

35. Is there any way we can send this to George Bush and Dick Cheney???

[tech_smythe]

40. Perhaps his new heart will make him feel some shame and humanity

shrub... he's just living in some bottle.
he knows what a waste of life he is... thats WHY he drinks.

[Uncle Joe]

37. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, grits.

[yardwork]

39. Poor little kid. k&r

[SunSeeker]

46. There's nothing sadder than a motherless child.

Sometimes it's because the mother died of illness or accident. But when it is because of war, and it's a war that had NO reason, it's too tragic to take.

And for the cynics up the thread who can only think about whether the photo was staged or if the kid really drew the chalk picture, do you really doubt that the pain this picture captures is real?

I mean, does ANYONE doubt that a little boy like this (he looks about 5) would not be wishing he was sleeping in his mother's arms?!

If you have a child, don't you see your child in this picture? And doesn't it make your heart break thinking how your child would undoubtedly react if you were taken from his life?

[progressoid]

47. So, I did a little research. This is a still from an Iraqi PSA

[Poll_Blind]

53. Excellent catch! It looked like it was a screen cap of video but I couldn't dig up any more.

I did do a lot of searching for "iraq orphans" in Google images and while I did not find an image as artistic, the photographs were a hundred times as stark- real photographs from Iraqi orphanages.

Others may want to steel themselves before doing the same.

Anyway, thanks for the info!

PB

[Uncle Joe]

54. How can you tell a screen cap of video from a still pic,

what do you look for?

UJ

[Poll_Blind]

58. Grainy. Color bleed. Soft edges.

Much tougher to tell back in the early days of digital cameras. A picture taken with a Sony Digital Mavica MVC-FD5 (1997) would have some of the same problems. There's two main video formats, NTSC and PAL. NTSC is used mainly in the US and some other places. Anyway, both of those formats are pretty terrible (generally) for preserving an image and so artifacts are introduced.

It also appeared that the image had been blown up in some way (it turned out that it was cropped) and so that made it look odd. For instance, if you do that grim Google Image search for Iraqi Orphans you're going to see a good example of what modern (last 7-10 years) digital camera stills will look like- which is much sharper.

The color bleed and soft edges is a big one too. There's not a lot of contrast and so things appear darker, generally. There's a yellow overcast to the whole thing but I've seen red overcasts and sometimes blue. Just not a lot of dynamic range in the image.

PB

[Uncle Joe]

60. Thanks for the info, Poll_Blind.

UJ

[progressoid]

55. Yeah, searching for anything with Iraqi children is pretty depressing.

Good way to ruin your day.

[marshall gaines]

50. sad

Heartbreaking I'd be willing to bet, shrub and darth caused this

[young_at_heart]

52. Please send this photo to Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld

I know it won't have any effect on them, but maybe some of their family members will notice!

[Throckmorton]

57. They will masturbate to it,

They all have no soul.

[Beacool]

59. Oh, my............

That has to be one of the most poignant photos I've ever seen.

The poor tyke!! I wish I could give him a hug.

[yurbud]

62. he looks like he could be any American's kid.

[Beacool]

63. True........

[yurbud]

64. We rightly mourn the loss of a kid like Trayvon Martin...imagine that story hundreds of thousands of

times over, sometimes with the child killed, sometimes the parent, sometimes the whole family.

Bush and Cheney are Zimmerman a million times over, but at least he might have been acting out of paranoia--they were acting out of pure greed.

[Blue_In_AK]

68. Oh, my god, that breaks my heart.

[Botany]

69. Thank You to:

William Rehnquist ·Sandra Day O'Connor . Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas

This would never of happened if bush v Gore had not gone down.

I wish I could adopt that little boy.

[Rex]

79. Depressing.

Very depressing to say the least.

I hope the child can mentally heal one day and move on, but I don't know if I could.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

80. wow..wish I hadn't clicked on this post !!! That will stay in my head forever. why

would you post this.

[Initech]

84. It's not a war on terror - it's a war of terror.

Caused by the profit hungry greedy fucking bastards in our nation's military industrial complex. They are the worst human beings alive. I hope there's a special place in hell for them.

[krispos42]

87. That is incredibly sad.

[joeybee12]

88. KNR

[WillyT]

90. K & R !!!

[Honeycombe8]

91. Oh, my. :( Life can be cruel. Maybe he'll get adopted after this pic gets exposure. nt

[MMJjestic]

92. DAMN THOSE PEOPLE WHO STARTED THE WAR!

DAMN THOSE WHO SUPPORTED THE WAR!!! DAMN THOSE PEOPLE WHO OPPOSED AND REFUSED TO SPEAK OUT!!! DAMN THOSE PROFITED FROM WAR!!!! IF GOD/KARMA/FATE EXISTS, MAY THIS NATION PAY FOR THIS SPADES!!!

[Arctic Dave]

93. Why do you hate the troops?

Maybe one of them can give him a picture of her posing with her dead body.

[Auntie Bush]

94. God! That is soooo sad...no pathetic!

[Historic NY]

96. We will never win with scenes like this..........fix it .

What a shame "Suffer the little children".

[midnight]

98. I blame this on the one percent and their Greed....

[unkachuck]

100. this hurts....

....remember as you grow older, dear child, remember....