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459 Posts
Notes Photo February 21, 2010

And on the Seventh Day, They Rested

U.S. service men celebrate mass in Afghanistan. Just hope pictures like these don't hinder the hearts-and-minds campaign.

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Notes Photo February 13, 2010

Afghanistan Offensive: Save the Children

Given U.S. emphasis on counter-insurgency, a brilliant piece of Afghan war propaganda.

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Notes Photo

The Largest Assault of the Afghan War (as Far as Anyone Can See)

This shot by Tyler Hicks demonstrates the profound ambiguity of the much ballyhooed "new style" offensive in Marjah in Helmand province.

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Notes Photo January 10, 2010

McChrystal Doing Stand Up

That McChystal really is a piece of work.

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Notes Photo January 9, 2010

Beyond the Rah-Rah (For a Change)

It's actually unusual to see a media picture of a soldier and his family going to pieces before shipping out.

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Notes Photo January 8, 2010

Alan Chin, Afghanistan

With America's surge underway, BAG contributor Alan Chin's photo of Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan, taken in 2001, is not only a stunning image but documents the early days of a battle stretching out now almost a decade.

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Notes Photo January 7, 2010

Your Daily Moment of Spin (10/7/10)

Your Daily Moment of Spin: People Magazine lustily photographs a Marine before he gets gets swept up in the military's Afghan surge.

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Notes Photo January 5, 2010

American ADD

Crotch bombers! scanner! underwear! Yemen! Yemen! Yemen! ...Oops sorry, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, America's got a serious problem with ADD.

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Notes Photo December 29, 2009

(A Photo-Activist Take on the) ’09 Photos of the Year: Afghanistan in our Skivvies

Touted at the time as the iconic photo of the Afghan war, this picture from early May -- of Spc. Zachary Boyd of Fort Worth, Texas fighting the Taliban in his pink "I love NY" boxer shorts -- now stands as a classic example of distraction and denial.

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Notes Photo December 21, 2009

Best of the Bag Decade: BAG Looks at the Iraq War

(The Best of the Bag Decade is our end of the year, end of the decade look at some of the best BAGnews posts and analysis.) The Iraq War has been (and still is) a frequent subject on BAGnews and, frankly, such a topic of government and media spin...

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Notes Photo December 13, 2009

Cover Shot for the Surge Scrapbook

On first pass, the photo speaks to American gains in the battle for hearts and minds. Looking further, though, the enthusiasm of the locals could as much be that drill they go through when the Westerners hit the hamlet.

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Notes Photo

Home Field Advantage

Defense Secretary Gates -- finally home from a dismal "surge kick-off trip" to Afghanistan and Iraq -- made up for it yesterday with a huge testosterone blast, conducting the coin toss at the annual Army-Navy game.

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Notes Photo December 10, 2009

Early Report on the Afghan Police Mentoring Program

With the surge now a fact, word is spreading fast about the Afghan police -- and how they're playing us for suckers.

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Notes Photo December 9, 2009

TODAY in Afghanistan

Before Defense honcho Bob Gates had his first press conference with Karzai after the surge announcement, we see Gates kicking off his week "in country" with Today Show's smiley face Matt Lauer, surely a dose of comfort for the uncertain American audience.

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Notes Photo December 8, 2009

Having McChrystal (and Eikenberry) Well In Hand, Right?

With all the buzz lately about Obama caving in to the military, is this White House photo supposed to capture Obama with McChrystal's little head in a vice?

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Notes Photo December 7, 2009

Rolled By the Generals?

Did Obama linger on this painting before giving his surge speech at West Point because he knows at some level, as a student of Lincoln and the Civil War, that his Generals don't have his back?

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Notes Photo December 6, 2009

Baby You Can Sign My Car

At this point, I can almost imagine "Rummy" becoming the trivia answer to "who was the Defense Secretary before Robert Gates?"

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Notes Photo December 2, 2009

The New Yorker’s Platon Layout: Obama Pre-AfPak

If you read through the discussion thread, you know I was guilty of assuming the photo shoot Platon did at the U.N. -- involving 110 world leaders taken in the Green Room just off the General Assembly hall over 5 days in September, the photographer working around the clock...

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