digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

A Chilling Photograph's Hidden History

online.wsj.com — Twenty-six years ago, a picture of an execution in Iran won the Pulitzer Prize. But the man who took it remained anonymous - until now.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • stevegraham, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Holy ish!
    • str3ama, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8It's amazing that he was able to remain so quiet about it for so long.
    • geekchic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16I don't think he really had much choice really
    • AWeeBitInsane, on 10/12/2007, -40/+16Aren't the Iranians doing the same thing in Iraq now? They're arming the Mahdi militia to slaughter the innocent Iraqis. Persians just love to kill.
    • PeaTearGryphon, on 10/12/2007, -9/+20... and Spartans love to kill Persians
    • xsuite, on 10/12/2007, -19/+5And Ohio State loves to kill Spartans.......
    • SavageBlackCat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2He caught the religion of peace at a fine point. What's that taste like Kevin?
    • Scheissen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0***** persians
  • owais, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14those pictures are sickening
    • Prysorra, on 10/12/2007, -2/+35....that's the whole point.
    • MWeather, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25Executions are sickening. They should all be public.
    • kypen, on 10/12/2007, -20/+2Gee Mweather, big brother much?
    • MWeather, on 10/12/2007, -4/+23No, if it was big brother we'd vote on who gets executed.
    • MWeather, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Come on, that was funny.
    • BigBrother84, on 10/12/2007, -6/+11I vote Mweather.
  • jamietie, on 10/12/2007, -21/+5This is 4 months old, and got big play when it first hit.
    What's with the diggs now?
    • CAP811, on 10/12/2007, -15/+5How did this make it to the front page? The left censorship swarm must have been concentrating on something that seemed to possibly be good news from Iraq.
    • chronot150, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13For jamietie:
      Edit: This is 28 years old, and got big play when it first hit...but it's just as important now.

      These are the stories that define our era. Spend more time learning from them instead of criticizing those who do, and maybe history won't repeat itself.
    • ryodoan, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8Maybe because some of us have lives and aren't on digg 24/7/365
    • andyd273, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Hey, just so you know, I'm looking forward to the leap year so I can have my one day off... until then its back to refreshing the main page...
    • jamietie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0For chronot150:
      My point was, why is this just now making it onto Digg? The fact his name was revealed was big news four months ago. Perhaps I don't understand why old news gets such a reaction.
      Didn't anyone notice this back in December? That's when it belonged on here
  • xgkx, on 10/12/2007, -34/+7 AWeeBitInsane: Who loves to kill more than Americans? American Exceptionlism, spreading democracy, or
    Manifest Desitiny. And the hidden history of the CIA that you never read about in the newspapers.
    • antoniojvr, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18I'm sure you know all the secrets of the CIA, yea?
    • Netrilix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@antoniojvr: Nah, it's cool, he saw The Good Shepherd.
  • amirjpl, on 10/12/2007, -18/+21To AWeeBitInsane: "Aren't the Iranians doing the same thing in Iraq now? They're arming the Mahdi militia to slaughter the innocent Iraqis. Persians just love to kill."

    First of all dumb ass don't talk ***** about people you don't know. "Persians love to kill" - what the ***** are you saying. I guess Americans love to make "peace". This is during the revolution, the Persians had gone through enough ***** with the stupid ass Shaw (king). Which by the way was backed by the U.S. Wait there is something wrong here, I thought America liked to create democracies, not monarchies.
    • Prysorra, on 10/12/2007, -10/+14We abandoned you in 1979 too. There is much we have to make up for in Iran.

      I will not forget فاجعه کوی دانشگاه
    • EvilDr.X, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16Aw, c'mon man! I can't read that. Will not forget what?
    • Teaspoon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Iran student riots, July 1999/ 18th of Tir / Kuye Daneshgah Disaster

      tip : its Persian
  • evil-doer, on 10/12/2007, -21/+6By JOSHUA PRAGER
    December 2, 2006

    anti iranian propaganda anyone?
  • mindsnare, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22has anyone got a better series of photos than something 200x300 pixels, that's utterly pathetic
  • notredamegrad, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I've never seen those pictures. That is insane. So they shot the guys in the chest and then another guy went one by one and shot them point blank in the head? I must not know much about executions because what sense does it make to shot the poor guys in the chest and then shoot them in the head?

    Anyway, that is amazing that things like that happen...it makes me sick.
    • roosterjm2k2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Simple.

      Being shot in the head is (presumably, we cant know for sure) instant death and painless. Not much to fear there, you die, yes, but its painless.

      Shooting you and letting you bleed out of a while is most likely excruciatingly painful. Knowing you have that to look forward to is much worse of a punishment. The shot in the head generally comes after you quit moaning or rolling around, to make sure you actually DIE.
  • mmockett, on 10/12/2007, -19/+4The whole Iranian situation is sickening. Iran have been treated like dogs for as long as the West could reach them. The 'hostage crisis' a few weeks ago was completely overblown and biasedly represented in the British media; it even made BBC go all Fox Newsy. Now the soldier who was freed has changed her tune, saying she was coerced all along when in fact the only coercion going on was when she got back to the UK to be greeted by a fat cheque from The Sun Newspaper (a joke) and Trevor McDonald. The timely release of these pictures is just another propaganda effort from America so that, when it does come down to it, a few more Diggers will be immune to the completely power-hungry decisions of the US administration. Cheers.
    • airiox, on 10/12/2007, -6/+11The article is dated Dec. 2, 06... timely release?

      And I honestly don't know how the BBC could be considered to be biased on the hostage coverage, when it was clear that Iran was in the wrong. The only people that believed that the Brits strayed from Iraqi waters were the propaganda fed Iranians and perhaps you...
    • XSforMe, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5Lets not forget that these people were spying on Iran, and that no country takes too kindly being spied upon.
  • sandig, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8It's a bit of a mundane question, but does anyone know where to find bigger/higher quality versions of the photo(s)? I've not seen them before, and the copies on in the slideshow are more like thumbnails.
  • airiox, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4great article, a bit too long, but the half of it I read was awesome. It deserves a Pulitzer itself!
    • saska, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13I agree with half of your comment. The "great article" half.
    • randf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10a bit too long?

      R U 2 bZ 2 read bout man's inhumanity 2 hs fellow mn?
    • airiox, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3lol, if you knew me, you'd know that I can't read more than 3 sentences without losing interest, so for me to get half way through it and enjoy it, is a testament to how well written it truly is.
    • MWeather, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Is inhumanity toward your fellow man UNbuntu?
  • minitrue1984, on 10/12/2007, -16/+10These Photos amply demonstrate the evil of the Ayatollah and his henchmen. I am thankful that I live in the United States - a country where we are protected from such savagery.

    God Bless our Troops.
    • Alchemeron, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5Hilarious!
    • spoiled1, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4God Bless our Troops and CIA and other secret agencies for toppling Democracies around the world (Iran, Pakistan, Vietnam, etc) just so that our generations can do this to other nations all over again.
    • gopher043, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2 mintrue1984 said "I am thankful that I live in the United States - a country where we are protected from such savagery."

      Me to so I can go out with my friends to a bachelor party at a strip club and get shot 50 times by cops.
  • mathewsjw, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Outcome prediction of when the islamo-peace-fascists institute sharia law in the good old USofA.
    • MWeather, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4If they do, it'll be because the majority voted for them. Why do you hate democracy?
  • GomerOfDoom, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4@amirjpl

    You make it sound like some sort of moderate, democratic regime took over from the Shaw. No. The revolutions turned Iran into an extreme, Theocratic, Islamist state.

    Futhermore, the US set up the Shah, but really did nothing to "back" him during the revolution. In fact, many blame the US for the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini, saying more could have been done to prevent his ascendence.

    Those photographs are very Amazing. The article is very good, as well. Dugg.
  • loconet, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7We are ***** animals.
    • spoiled1, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Are you calling Iraqis animals ?
    • thatbox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7People :(
    • raytibbitts, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Where? You must REALLY love animals.




      (Sorry, couldn't help myself.)
  • geronimo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7People always refer to history they have read about the Shah then wax poetically about western imperialism. Ever meet an Iranian and have a serious talk about the Shah? They really liked their malls and freedom. Limited yes, but nothing like right now. It was in fact Iran's religious right who made a big stink about how the west has corrupted Iran, telling the poor Iranians they don't have TVs while the rich do. They built their support among the ignorant poor and look at Iran now. Toward the 60s the Shah had actually re-nationalized oil and felt bad about his autocratic rule, giving up more freedoms and upsetting the west.
    • MWeather, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1They like the Shah now, but that's totally irrelevant to whether installing the Shah lead to the revolution.
    • geronimo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2What lead to the revolution was the growing popularity of the Shah due to his reforms and the religious right seeing that popularity as an obstacle to gaining power, using words like 'western imperialism' to take away that popularity in order to gain power. "Oh you are poor and don't have a TV? That is due to western imperialists."
    • minitrue1984, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I never had much warmth for Dictators, but the Shah was 100X better than the regime they have now. Under the Shah, Iranians were free to travel, get a good education and be free from religiuos persecution. Also, the Shah was friendly to the United States and he didn't support international terror like the current regime does.

      It's a shame that Jimmy Carter betrayed the Shah.
    • geronimo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1It's also a shame that Reagan negotiated with terrorists.
  • Krakn3Dfx, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1My name is Thomas Veil, or at least it was. I'm a photographer, I had it all: a wife, Alyson, friends, a career. And in one moment, it was all taken away, all because of a single photograph. I have it; they want it; and they will do anything to get the negative. I'm keeping this diary as proof that these events are real. I know they are... They... have to be.
  • WindyT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I attended a college back in the late 70s, one that had a significant population of Persian students. We had protests about the shah on campus. Protests from two different groups. One pro-shah, one anti-shah(pro Khomeni). Only the first protest featured unmasked protesters. The rest had masked protesters, mostly makeshift paper masks with holes cut in for eyes/nose/mouth.

    The irony in the protests were that most of the students were sent with money provided for by the govt, which meant that the anti-shah folks were protesting on the shah's dime. After the shah fell, there was no student program, and all the students went home, save for a few that I suspect pled for political asylum. No telling what happened to the "pro-shah" students that did go back to Iran.
  • jibone, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2They are using Digg for propaganda now? Digg sure is getting popular.
  • Endies, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I saw this a few months ago on the front of some newspaper. However, I can't remember what paper it was.
  • chaos7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1executions are the old way of doing things. in the future, modern man will not do them anymore. executing is pathetic. even saddam should not have been executed.
  • pirashkee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Bloodsuckers who are responsible for this kind of brutality and injustice... Whatever, there's no justice in Iran.
    Such shameful acts are happening everyday: Iraq, Egypt, ... Remember Chile???
    ***US is the major human rights abuser hiding behind flags of democracy***
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.