Yesterday's NYT featured an article on pilgrimages in Iraq and the death of five Iraqis, which is considered a relative success. Juan Cole dubbed it a big win for Obama and his attempt to withdraw the bulk of American forces from Iraq in a peaceful fashion. The annoying part is the accompanying photo: a pile of shoes - the continuing obsession we have with Arab shoes. One could say that it represents a mass of people. On the other hand, one could easily comment that it reveals the dearth of understanding of the Arab world (or Muslims, for that matter), ritual purity, as well as a realiance on facile assumptions that sell well.
If American churches were depicted solely by the parking lots (be they filled or empty), people would howl about the misrepresentation. What's wrong with examining the abundance of cars and naked consumerism devoid of any context or links to the issues at hand?In other news, the NYT also ran a brief story on Shabab's troubled finances and their turn to kidnapping in attempt to finance their resistance operations. The US dropped forty tons of weapons and ammunition into the Islamic Courts Union government's hands in June.
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