First, you have the timeline backwards. This item was posted April 10. The link to the wide-angle photo of the statue-toppling was posted three days later, on April 13, after that wide-angle shot began being widely distributed.

Second, you seem to be arguing that this event couldn’t have been both a staged piece of propaganda and something that sent a mixed message via a Marine draping a US flag over Saddam’s head. But I don’t see any problem with that at all. In the real world, even scripted events can send mixed messages. How you interpret the sight of US Marines helping a crowd pull down a statue of Saddam depends very much on your perspective. And that perspective shifts significantly when you see a wider-angle shot of the scene that shows a largely empty square guarded by US tanks, and a close-up that allegedly shows one of the flown-in followers of Ahmed Chalabi among the Iraqis in the “spontaneous” celebration.

I’m not saying the whole thing was a set piece created on a Hollywood sound stage with professional actors. But I think a reasonable person, looking at those images, could well conclude that this event was indeed staged as a propaganda ploy.

Or not. You get to decide for yourself. And if your personal bullshit detector is sensitive enough that you question some or all of the information presented on this site, then I can only say, with complete sincerity, congratu-fucking-lations. You have made me very happy.

In the case of this particular item I happen to incline the other way, but I have a profound respect for your willingness to seek out information and think critically about what it means. I only wish more people were willing to do so.