Gotta do a little DT horn-tootin here.
Youll remember the post we put up on Monday exposing the flub by the folks at Boeing who didnt pay close enough attention to a full-page newspaper advertisement the company sponsored that day.
The ad — which promoted a PBS documentary running that day about the experienced of U.S. troops in Iraq (the documentary was excellent, by the way) — shows what appears to be an Iraqi soldier in place of what clearly should have been an American. Anyone with even basic knowledge of the military should have recognized the AK-47 crooked in the soldiers arm. Not a U.S. weapon, and I dont care how many people perpetuate the myth that American troops carry AKs in Iraq, its extremely rare.
Putting a soldier with an AK in his arm on the full-page ad wasnt what the promoters were going for, Im sure.
Well, after four days of teeth-gnashing, the Washington Post (my local paper) published an article in its In the Loop section pointing out the error and attempting to make some sort of explanation for it. We rest our case, gang
“It could turn out to be that that is an Iraqi soldier,” said Richard Robbins, who directed the film. “We are trying to get to the bottom of it.” But Robbins said Jacob Bailey, the award-winning Air Force photographer who took the picture, “thinks it probably was an Iraqi soldier, as do we.”
A big shout-out should go to all our readers for engaging in the discussion on this one. Im pretty confident we were the only ones on the net to catch this error and our coverage helped move the Post and maybe others to print their story.
Good work folks!
Why can’t it be a US sepcial ops guy with an AK?
Jay,
Doubtful a spec ops guy. First, the helmet has no comm gear on it, no NOD bracket, the vest comes too far out on the upper shoulders (looks like an old-school flak jacket), no hip holster and…no HK 416 with optical devices attached.
Just to name a few…
I’m telling you it’s a myth that special operators carry AKs. Maybe an OGA guy who has no log chain will carry native weapons, but spec ops guys care a lot about accuracy. AK isn’t too accurate.
Oh, and the photographer said it wasn’t a spec ops guy…
Christian,
Spot on. The profile of the body armor looks exactly like one a number of our jundi wore. It has a large, high collar, easy to distinguish from IBA. Everything about the guy in the picture, from his gear to his weapons carriage, screams Iraqi Army.