Breaking: Questions Being Raised About Photos Of Wednesday’s Iranian Multi-Missile Launch
Caption to the above picture on Getty Images - AFP: 16 hours ago: In a handout picture released on the news website of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, four long and medium range missiles rise into the air after being test-fired at an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert on July 9, 2008. Iran today test-fired a missile it said is capable of reaching Israel, angering the United States amid growing fears that the standoff over the contested Iranian nuclear drive could lead to war.
LGF is reporting: At least one of the photographs released today by Iran and published by an unquestioning Western media has been Photoshopped …
Iran said today …
… that it had test-fired a long-range missile, capable of reaching Israel and US troops in the region. This, according to the Washington Post was “promptly condemned by the Bush administration” as heightening tensions over the country’s suspected nuclear weapons programme.
Interestingly, a number of agencies and media sources have carried photographs of the claimed firing, which took place within a salvo of nine missiles fired simultaneously. Yet, the photograph looks remarkably similar to that taken last November (top of pair) when Iran claimed to have undertaken a similar exercise. If the media are simply re-cycling stock photographs, though, none of them seem to have pointed this out.
Anyhow, while the US has been forthright in its condemnation of this piece of sabre-rattling, not so the EU which, so far, has been silent, despite it triggering a new spike in oil prices and a further weakening of the dollar.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Wednesday’s tests “evidence that the missile threat is not an imaginary one,” adding, “Those who say that there is no Iranian missile threat against which we should build a missile defense system perhaps ought to talk to the Iranians about their claims.”
This, of course, follows the signing on Tuesday by Rice and Czech counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg of a deal allowing the US to base a missile defence shield in the Czech Republic, so there may be some self-serving rhetoric here. The US Department of Defense, on the other hand, said it was studying the test to determine exactly what was launched and what it shows about Tehran’s missile capabilities.
That actually makes a serious point about the EU. While it has its pretensions about being a major player on the world stage, every time there is an incident like this, the “colleagues” are caught flat-footed. They have to go away to consult with each other in order to establish a “common position” and gauge their responses so as not to offend any of the member states.
Short of the EU acquiring supreme power in the foreign affairs field, it will always be thus – a reflection of the way the organisation is structured, making it uniquely incapable of responding quickly to event. This is an absolute affirmation of why the EU cannot be allowed further (or any) powers over foreign affairs.
As to the headline news from the EU, one of the lead topics is on how the EU parliament has approved a law to force airlines posting advertisements for cheap flights to show the full price, including charges and taxes, at the start of the booking process. That way, we don’t have to go all the way through the process, in order to find out the real price.
For sure, this is an irritation when booking cheap deals, but one wonders whether this is really an issue for the full weight of the criminal law, creating yet another offence to add to the many thousands already created this year.
More to the point, in the absence of the EU’s ability to involve itself in the serious events of the day – and long may that remain the case - this is what we are reduced to … a piffling bit of legislation to resolve what, at its most serious, is a very, very minor problem.
It really is no wonder that so many people take so very little interest in the EU, to the extent that the most powerful force most likely to bring it down is boredom. People simply struggle to see the point of an organisation which expends so much of its energies on so little, when there are so many more important things going on.
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what is it about these idiots that makes them think that they can get away with this? Even someone who is not versed in Photoshop can see the identical smoke plumes on the ground. The funny thing is that they’re picking the worst thing in the picture to clone. Smoke is dynamic, and patterns don’t exist in it unless they were put there. It’s a dead giveaway every time. Making convincing smoke in photoshop is not impossible by any means, but you’ll never get it right doing it this way.
That and the recycled photo lead me to believe these assholes might be a little bit full of shit.
July 9th, 2008 at 7:56 pmBomb Iran now, Destroy Hizbollah now, Attack and destroy Hamas now. End of discussion…. Do it to them before they do it to us and Israel.
July 9th, 2008 at 8:17 pmSomething that bugged me, its not a big deal to get the rocket off of the pad without a payload. Its another thing to get it down range, with a full load, on target.
July 9th, 2008 at 8:32 pmLet’s suspend reality for a moment and say the photos were real…
All it proved ( to me anyways )is that Iran… had…had…a missile that WOULD be shot down over Israel!
July 9th, 2008 at 9:57 pmThese missiles are upgraded SCUDS. They are about as accurate as a V-2. The warhead is about the same size.
We and this Israelis have improved our anti-missile capabilities far beyond what they were in Gulf War I.
While some missiles may get through, most will not. That is, unless we destroy his launch sites in a premptive strike before the apostates can launch anything.
And launching anti0ship missiles in the Straits of Hormuz would result in a whole lot of dead piggies.
The Mahdi may yet rise again. But in this world. He’ll rise on judgement day to be thrown into prison in the lake of fire.
In the maentime the devil-worshippers in Tehran will continue their insane quest to: 1. Force the Mahdi’s return and 2. Destroy Israel.
Someone needs to make a declaration on Iran, similar to the declaration JFK and others made about Europe in the Cold War. In that an attack on Israel by Iran will be considered an attack on the US; and will be met with a full retaliatory response.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:11 amYep, the lineage is SCUDs to NoDong to Iran Shahab-3.
Photoshop missiles are much easier to shoot down with photoshopped interceptors
Why does the drive by medai fall for this fakery, because they want it to be true.
July 10th, 2008 at 3:49 amIranian missiles would be great clay pigeons for our Navy’s guided missile cruisers and destroyers in the gulf.
The Navy could set up a little friendly competition between ships or battle groups, with prizes for the most confirmed kills. Good for morale!
Great PR for the region too, especially for the Iranian population who must be shitting down their pants legs already.
July 10th, 2008 at 4:58 amapparently another launch. wonder if it’s fake too
July 10th, 2008 at 6:11 am[…] Iranian missiles in an image distributed by Agence France-Press. See also: Kamangir, Blackfive, Pat Dollard, EU Referendum, Ace, Jim Hoft, Suitably […]
July 10th, 2008 at 7:01 am[…] Iranian missiles in an image distributed by Agence France-Press. See also: Kamangir, Blackfive, Pat Dollard, EU Referendum, Ace, Jim Hoft, Suitably […]
July 10th, 2008 at 12:46 pm[…] Iranian missiles in an image distributed by Agence France-Press. See also: Kamangir, Blackfive, Pat Dollard, EU Referendum, Ace, Jim Hoft, Suitably […]
July 10th, 2008 at 5:19 pmMore fauxtography in 2008…
Little Green Footballs writes about the digitally enhanced Iranian missiles, and how some press sources bought into it…
July 11th, 2008 at 5:43 am[…] Iranian missiles in an image distributed by Agence France-Press. See also: Kamangir, Blackfive, Pat Dollard, EU Referendum, Ace, Jim Hoft, Suitably […]
July 11th, 2008 at 6:47 pmThe Baby Boomers played Pong, PacMan and Missile Command back in the infancy of video games. And you might think that they left those games behind along with the keg parties, tie dye shirts and bell bottoms. Think again, especially as
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:42 am