This is a fairly long post. I hope you find it worthwhile.
I’m a big fan of Errol Morris, the terrific documentarian whose latest film, Standard Operating Procedure, is a devastating dissection of what happened at Abu Ghraib and how it reflects an Administration unconcerned with the Constitution, morality, or America’s standing in the world.
But liking Morris’s work doesn’t mean that I always agree with him. Take his oped in today’s NYT, which concerns the recent (largely online) kerfuffle over doctored photos of an Iranian missile test. To understand how wrong Morris is, we need to take a look at the photos in question.
But first, for those who aren’t aware of the controversy, a quick recap: last Wednesday (July 10), Iran conducted a missile test. Initial media coverage made it sound like Iran had significantly expanded its capacity to attack Israel and the United States:
Iran demonstrated its military force with the test-flight of nine long and medium-range missiles in the strategic Strait of Hormouz…. Tehran said the exercise was in retaliation to threats from the US and Israel over its disputed nuclear projects, which it claims are civilian.
Then people started taking a closer look at the photos released by the Iranians in conjunction with the test. Let’s start with the one distributed by the Associated Press, among others:
Now here’s the version distributed by Agence France Presse (AFP):
Whoopsie! One of these things is not like the other.
As reported on The Lede, a NYT blog, AFP subsequently withdrew their shot because it was “digitally altered.” AFP said it got its version from Sepah News, the press arm of the Iranian Revolutionary National Guard, those paragons of truth, accuracy, and good reporting.
Now let’s return to what Morris had to say about the controversy:
[W]hat is the purpose of these Iranian missile photographs? They are clearly altered. The question remains: Why, and to what end?
The government of Iran could not have created a more self-serving controversy. It has focused our attention on Iranian military might more than ever. What will we remember — the digital manipulation of this photograph or the missiles streaking into the sky with their contrails of smoke? Will we ask about essential details — the range or the payload of these weapons? All we are left with is a threat in visual form.
The photographs tell us little about the real threat of Iran. The danger here is not in three missiles versus four. We do not understand the intentions behind the photograph — real or digitally manipulated. Is it a threat? A warning? Or a bluff? All we really know about the photograph is that the government of Iran wanted to get the attention of the world, and it succeeded.
Morris is a brilliant filmmaker and, from what I’ve heard, an equally talented photographer. But he totally misses the point here. Iran is less ominous and scary as a result of this, not more. At best they’re bumblers; at worst, they’re complete idiots.
Think I’m mistaken? Just take a look at posts on sites like Boing Boing (”Iran: You Suck at Photoshop”), and Wired’s Danger Room (”Attack of the Photoshopped Missiles”). Netizens are having a field day not only mocking the Iranians but creating their own versions of the photo. In fact, we should give Ahmadinejad credit here. For one brief shining moment, liberal and conservative bloggers came together to abuse Iran.
The results are priceless. Here are a few of my favorites (and yes, I know there are quite a few, but hey, it’s my blog):
Are We Lumberjacks:
Cowicide on Flickr:
Fark:
Snapped Shot:
The Mini Blog:
Are We Lumberjacks again (this is my personal favorite):
PolitiComix:
Fark, again:
And again:
And last but not least, Giant Ideas:
So in sum, the Iranians managed to take something that should have been deadly serious and turned it into one big SNL skit. As “Farmer Dave,” a commenter on Boing Boing put it, “You know, if you’re going to play at the planet’s ‘adult table,’ you really, really, need to make sure you don’t have idiots in your propaganda office.”
But even that isn’t even the complete story: there’s a very real possibility that the whole “crisis” is much ado about nothing. Arms Control Wonk:
Yes, Iran has claimed that it is working on a longer, possibly two-stage [missle], with a 2,000 km range — but that ain’t what Iran launched.
Our intern — a clever kid from MIT named Nick Calluzzo — points out that the external dimensions of the tested Shahab-3 are identical to previously tested missiles. Which means the missiles are probably identical.
[Calluzzo:] “Based on analysis of the available launch footage, it is apparent that the missile launched yesterday is, in fact, an older, shorter range version [of the ] Shahab-3A…. [T]he missile launched today is just the same 1,200 km range Nodong-1 knockoff the Iranians have had functional since as early as 1998.”
So in other words, the Iranians just tested a missile that they’ve had in their arsenal for ten years. Despite this, one of the four missiles “tested” didn’t fire properly. So to cover up the fact that a decade-old system really wasn’t working properly, they decided to photoshop the results.
And guess what? It worked. Set aside the photoshopping issue for a moment and realize that the media ran with a story that wasn’t news.
Furthermore, reports of a second missile test on Thursday also were overblown. Apparently the only missile tested was the one that didn’t fire on Wednesday — the one sitting on the ground in the AP version and photoshopped into the AFP version.
Now let’s put the cherry on this hot fudge sundae: the Bush Administration has responded to this with their usual display of calm and thoughtful deliberation complete hysteria:
[T]he US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said the [Iranian] “war games” justified America’s defence plans with bases in eastern Europe. She said the tests were “evidence that the missile threat is not an imaginary one…. Those who say there is no Iranian missile threat against which we should build a missile defence system perhaps ought to talk to the Iranians about their claims.”
Okay, let me think about this for a minute. We are justifying a set of insanely dangerous policies as a result of a test of some missiles that Iran has had for ten freaking years. A test where not all of missiles fired properly. A test that demonstrated only that the Iranians’ photoshopping skills have progressed at a faster rate than their missile-building skills.
To be clear, I do think that Iran obtaining the bomb is a genuine national security threat. But it does not even remotely help that argument when you start portraying a partially successful test of an old system as a clear and present danger. Let’s keep our eye on the ball, people. And Mr. Morris, please try to see the bigger picture here.
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