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March 29, 2006

Photo of downtown Baghdad a rightwing fraud?

The picture above is causing quite a little stir in the internets.

Conservative GOP candidate Howard Kooligan is claiming this photo was taken on a recent trip Kooligan took to Iraq. Kooligan has been claiming that Iraq is much more peaceful than the media is portraying.

This caption accompanied the photo:

We took this photo of dowtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq. Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it - in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism.

I've never been to Iraq or anywhere near that region, so I can't speak to the photos authenticity. But others who are more well traveled than I am are taking some pretty good swipes at it.

So what do you think?

Incidentally, when I tried to lift the picture from Kooligan's website this morning, I couldn't get it to load. I copied and pasted it into a file and its now on PK's host.

Is Kooligan's staff trying to erase evidence now that they're possibly caught?

Update: Kooligan's opponent, Francine Busby..is running up the polling charts with a bullet:

In a Special Primary for the U.S. House of Representatives in California's 50th Congressional District today, 3/28/06, Democrat Francine Busby tops a crowded field of Republicans, but falls just short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff June 6th. With 2 weeks to the 4/11 Primary, Busby is at 45%, trailed by Republican Eric Roach at 14%, Republican Howard Kaloogian at 12%, and Republican Brian Bilbray at 10%. Busby is supported by 85% of Democrats, half of Independents, and 10% of Republicans. Kaloogian and Roach are each supported by 23% of Republicans. The district is heavily Republican and whichever Republican survives the Primary would be favored in a runoff, but the Democrats have a chance to capture the seat if Busby can top 50% in the Primary. Busby gets 53% among female voters. The larger the turnout among women, the better Busby's chances to avoid a runoff. The 50th Congressional seat is vacant; Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned on 11/28/2005.

Update II (7:00 PM Pacific): Kooligan is now apologizing for the photo. But even more interesting..his website seems to be a bit of a sham:

As we now know, the key photograph, purportedly showing a "more calm and stable" Baghdad, is actually of a streetcorner in Istanbul. Funny story: Kaloogian didn't actually take that picture. (His Web page caption read "We took this photo".) In fact, he didn't go to Istanbul; his return trip went through Athens. "Everybody in the group, we all shared pictures," Kaloogian told me. "I'm sorry, I don't know who took it."

What's more, Kaloogian didn't write the caption, either. That was written by the same staffer who chose the snapshot for the Web site, Kaloogian told me in an earlier interview. But the error will be fixed, he said: his campaign plans on replacing the photo with one which was definitely taken in Baghdad.

"You're being really picky on this stuff," Kaloogian told me. "It's not that big a deal. It was a mistake. I'm sorry."

Picky? If you're going to put up a photo to prove that Baghdad is all about peace and the press is rapping it for no good reason--you'd better be sure you've got the goods. Otherwise anything you say against the press for "not reporting the good stuff" is just picky, too. What's going on in Iraq either matters or it doesn't.

Posted by Carla at March 29, 2006 07:49 PM