Military Mythmaking

In the context of our class discussions,I was reminded of an article from the New Yorker a few weeks ago.

This article discusses that famous photograph from the beginning of the Iraq war, of Iraqi citizen cheering while a statue of Saddam Hussein is toppled. Even at the time, it was suspected that the celebratory moment being celebrated in the picture may have actually been staged by the military and the news corps specifically for the purpose of taking the photo. It turns out that pretty much every detail of that iconic photo seems to have been set up very deliberately by a troop of Marines in order to convey a certain message about the reception of the American troops. However, the author of this article, Peter Maass, who was actually there at the time, says that the event wasn't simply staged; nor was it completely organic, but something between the two.

It's kind of like when you go out with friends and are actually pretty bored and not too excited, but then someone pulls out a camera and everyone poses like they are having the time of their lives. We all know that people act differently when there is a camera around--so I think we should take into account that people who are being filmed for TV know that they are and aren't necessarily acting the way they were a moment before the TV crews showed up.

As the article says, "Propaganda has been a staple of warfare for ages, but the notion of creating events on the battlefield, as opposed to repackaging real ones after the fact, is a modern development."