Exploitative Viral PR Photos Of Military Invaders With Afghan Kids

Mainstream news and social media cannot get enough photos of imperial invaders posing for photographs with small children in Afghanistan.

pic.twitter.com/9TSheCsLK4

— Barbara Starr (@barbarastarrcnn) August 23, 2021

Mass media narrative managers and military agencies alike have been spamming these images everywhere, as quickly and enthusiastically as possible.

.@USMC Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and @USNavy Corpsmen with @spmagtf_cr_cc provide fresh water to children at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. #HKIA pic.twitter.com/44Drj1I5rL

— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) August 20, 2021

That’s right. Invade a nation, kill hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants, stay for decades, accomplish nothing besides making war profiteers wealthy, drop everything and leave, then have your armed goon squad take PR photos with local infants so everyone thinks your military is awesome.

The coverage this photo is getting is understandable. But my team has spent months facing rejected FOI requests from the MOD regarding data on Afghan children killed during British military engagement; so there’s another story to be told, too. https://t.co/bueSJoC456

— Iain Overton (@iainoverton) August 23, 2021

Ooh everyone look at this picture of a sweet kindly US stormtrooper cuddling one of the Afghan infants his coworkers happen to have not murdered yet.

Viral footage of US Marine aiding baby captures Kabul chaos https://t.co/oaWOlhTeVz via @FRANCE24

— Jon Najarian (@jonnajarian) August 22, 2021

The UN found that at least 26,025 children were killed or maimed in the fighting in Afghanistan just between the years 2005 and 2019.

NEW: via @alanacbs photos of a flight that left HKIA, landed in Tblisi and then continued on to Norway.

The flight contained a large number of kids… from babies to teens… traveling alone.

This is a Norwegian soldier, cradling an infant en route. @NorwayMFA #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/vm5BHEfJgF

— Ruffini (@EenaRuffini) August 21, 2021

And what exactly is going on in this video here? Why is he bottle feeding those kids like koalas after an Australian bushfire? Those are people. If they’ve been out there for two days you’ve had time to get water bottles. Hand the people water bottles.

American service member gives water to #Afghan children while they wait to be allowed to enter the base. It’s baking hot and many people have been outside for a day or two. No bathrooms, and the entire area reeks of urine and rotting garbage. #afghanistan #AfghanistanCrisis pic.twitter.com/sOeEhKgH4f

— Jane Ferguson (@JaneFerguson5) August 22, 2021

Also how crazy is it that they spent trillions of dollars supposedly “nation building” in Afghanistan and basic water and plumbing needs are still an issue. It’s like, hey, stop doing photo ops with babies and go dig some wells or something.

Thank you to @NineLineApparel for posting these.

To my brothers and sisters in arms: you inspire me once more.
Semper Fi. pic.twitter.com/h29C9jEOp0

— Bree A Dail (@breeadail) August 20, 2021

Just imagine if all this media firepower had gone into criticizing all the lies and devastation that went into creating this mess in the first place.

“A collection of lost young boys, separated from their parents at the gates, are being cared for by the U.S. military.” https://t.co/fjJpIeqTLD

— Andrea Stricker (@StrickerNonpro) August 24, 2021

Not everyone is impressed by these photos.

There's so much competition, but the images of Western soldiers with Afghan babies & Western journalists proclaiming their humanity & compassion is really up there with the most offensive, cynical & clearly coordinated imperialist propaganda spectacles I can remember in awhile.

— Louis Allday (@Louis_Allday) August 23, 2021

Not impressed at all.

Really not impressed with photographs of GIs holding babies.

You think we’re going to forget about Bush and Blair’s lies, Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, the drone strikes, the kidnapping and rendition, the executions, troves of $$ to the arms dealers?

Save your corny photo ops.

— Richard Medhurst 🇸🇾🇵🇸 (@richimedhurst) August 24, 2021

I mean I get it. The military and the mass media are two arms of the same empire, and creating a positive image for the imperial war machine is essential to its continued operation. If people began awakening to just how horrific the US-centralized empire’s mass murder operations really are, they would lose trust in the giant propaganda engine which manipulates the way they think, act and vote. You can’t stop the killing, since killing is the glue which holds the unipolar world order in place, so you have your grunts take pictures with the babies of the nations you invaded instead.

It’s just gross is all. Really, really gross.

https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/exploitative-viral-pr-photos-of-military