CNN.com: Soviet-style propaganda for Bush

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

This amazing image appears with the current story about a joint US-Iraqi raid north of Baghdad:



At first I was stunned, thinking this was being passed off as a combat shot. I was reminded of the famous posed Soviet propaganda photo from World War II, which became a lasting icon of the Red Army (still number one in a google image search for "soviet soldier"):



Then I read the fine print--the "illustration" was from a joint training exercise near Kirkuk, hence the immaculate uniforms and sunny, pleasant, open environment. (Although it couldn't have been MUCH of a training in such circumstances!) I feel like there is more to it than this--complicity on the part of both soldiers and the photographer. They could almost be action figures.

One more subtle way the media continues to sell the war. I'm sick of this piece about x number of insurgents getting killed in a "stronghold" running every few months. I always wonder if it was really a cafe or something.

[aintitfunny]

1. God, I am an idiot

I actually went to CNN.com happily believing that they were actually reporting on the Bush administration putting out Soviet like propaganda. Don't know, must have been a senior moment to think CNN would actually do something right and honorable.