Justic (sic) Iranian-style -- anti Iran atrocity propaganda

Remember the hate-mongering slanderous photos sent worldwide by email supposedly  showing a "Starving boy whose arm was crushed for stealing bread in Iran"??? That one is STILL floating out there, getting passed along by credulous and stupid people who don't make the slightest effort to check the truth of the story -- for example by doing a simple Google search and reading sites such as Snopes.com which long ago debunked that myth.

And now, I have received a new photo (below) allegedly showing "Iranian justic" (sic) consisting of a "dissident student demonstrator" about to be executed by receiving a bullet to the back of the head. It is obvious to me from that this photo isn't from Iran, based on the uniform of the "Republican Guard" (actually, Iranians have "Revolutionary Guards" and Iraq had Republican Guards) and the general dress of the crowd shown in the photo, and bunch of other details (the accompanying email text claimed that the "student demonstrator" being executed was one "Hussein-Ali AbuBakr" which was worth a giggle.) I am willing, in fact, to bet US$1000 that this occurred in an Arab country that has great relations with the US, and has embassies and trade representatives in Washington DC and buys US arms. (If you lose the bet, you're honor bound to send me cash using my paypal donation button on the upper left.) So go on, prove me wrong. Post your views and information about this photo in the comments section below.

   This sort of thing should remind everyone that perceptions matter -- and there are forces and people out there who are deliberately intent on shaping your perceptions of Iran by lying and manipulating your emotions. Many years ago I remember reading an article about how the MEK cooperated with Saddam Hussein in making movies supposedly showing Iranians torturing Iraqi POWs -- except that the same "dead" Iraqi POW was seen in later sequences of the movie dressed as an Iranian soldier. The producer of the movie was an Italian, if I remember right, and there was even a law suit.

This is known as atrocity propaganda. It is pretty common:

During WWI, the British falsely accused the Germans of manufacturing commemorative medallions to celebrate the sinking of the Lusitania (which the Brits had themselves placed in danger by using the ship to smuggle weapons from the US.) I recommend reading an interesting little book entitled "Falsehoods in Wartime" about atrocity propaganda of WWI , and "The First Casualty" --both classics. Then there was the whole "dead babies torn from incubators" lie. As John MacArthur, author of The Second Front, has documented, during the build-up of the first Persian Gulf War in 1990, the US falsely accused the Iraqis of Kuwaiti pulling babies out of hospital incubators and leaving them to die on the floor. They even brought the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador, who was posing as "Nurse Nayireh", to testify before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus as a eyewitness to the alleged atrocity. Her teary testimony on TV figured prominently in the pro-war rhetoric at the time, but the whole thing was actually a stunt manufactured by the PR firm of Hill & Knowlton, hired by the Kuwaitis and acting with the connivance of Congressmen Lantos and Porter who were the "chairmen" of the Caucus. Not a single US reporter bothered to check out her claims, and when exposed, neither she nor H&K were prosecuted for the crime of lying to Congress because the Congressional Human Rights Caucus is technically NOT really part of the US congress (it is simply a front -- an association of politicians, which holds meetings made to resemble official Congressional inquiries.) Nayireh was therefore not testifying under oath -- all these facts were of course lost on most people who were outraged by her false testimony about dead babies, and never mentioned in the US press at the time.  (PS: ever wonder who created, printed-up and distributed all those "We Support Our Troops" bumper-stickers and lapel pins?)

So in short: Yes, you will be lied to. No, you can't trust your own eyes. Use your brains before you believe anything, question motives and agendas.

Comments

[Mrtn Mlnvsk]

This is from YEMEN

[mahdi]

fuck ahmadinejad mother

[mahdi]

yeah I am a iranian boy . the basig in iran is very bad
iran not a good place.

[mahdi]

i am a aranian body من آزادی ندارم من یک جوان 17ساله ام نمی تونم راحت زندگی کنم

[hoshi]

it is very clear that this photo in NOT taken in iran, these people are arabs not persians (iranians) what a big lay

[Alireza]

Come on Guys
shame on u

[Mohsen]

300$ sounds like peanuts compared to the 18 billions found in a neighboring country! - which might qualify as International affairs btw.
Anyhow, I don't mean to offend, it is a just unusual for me to see any ordinary Iranian silent on what's happening to these kids.
This put aside, I always enjoy reading your blog.

[Layla B]

This picture is from Yemen, I remember reading about it in the British press- it was the public execution of a man who had abused a young boy.

[Pirouz]

I should point out one more flaw of this propaganda piece. That is that Iran does not execute its condemned criminals in such a clumsy manner. Rather, they publicly execute by means of hanging from a construction crane.

[Pirouz]

Good eye, Cyrus.

Yes, the uniform is clearly not that of the IRGC, it's too light in color, it features a brown belt, and the Guard do not wear blue berets.

So it's from Yemen. It sure appears to be a clumsy method of execution.

This propaganda is really sloppy. All we know for sure is that the originator doesn't have a firm grasp of the english language, doesn't have accurate knowledge of the IRGC and is definitely anti-Shia.

[MoonofA]

Yemen wins the great price!

Man Get Exucuted in Public (w/ Pictures)

A barber has been publicly executed in Yemen after he was found guilty of raping and killing an 11-year-old boy who came to his shop for a haircut.

Pictures of the execution Monday in the capital of San'a showed hundreds of people gathered around as Yehya Hussein was killed.
...

also here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1197900/Justice-Yemen-style-Paedophile-raped-boy-11-shot-head-hundreds-spectators.html

July 7th, 2009

[Nice catch MofA!]

[andrew]

That 'Shiite' underlined looks like a fingertip about the author of that...

[Ralph]

This looks like an Iraqi Republican Guard uniform.

[Mohsen]

Jenab-e Safdari
Not one word, in your blog, of Kahrizak, not one word of Karroubi's bravery or what's going on in Iran.
This is also "propaganda".

{Like I told previous commentors: note the title of this blog -- it deals with INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS. There are plenty of other very good blogs about Kahrizak, the prison closed in Iran for abuses. Karroubi's "bravery" was in taking $300,000 payments then complaining about not being elected.}