The picture was perfect. It provided a moving portrait, an image that journalists called “iconic.” It was true to the moment. Yet the photograph was deceiving in a way that media images often are — showing us what’s more apparent than real.
One day, during the second week of November 2004, millions of Americans saw the photo. Blake Miller’s face was grimy, but his eyes were clearly visible. He seemed resolute, unflappable. Wisps of smoke appeared to be rising from the long cigarette that dangled from his lips.
At the time, Marines were fighting their way into Fallujah, and American news outlets went gaga for the picture. At age 20, Miller suddenly became a famous archetype.
The day after the photo was snapped, “CBS Evening News” anchor Dan Rather told viewers: “The picture. Did you see it? The best war photograph of recent years is in many newspapers today, front page in some. Taken by Luis Sinco of the Los Angeles Times, it is this close-up of a U.S. Marine on the front lines of Fallujah. He is tired, dirty and bloodied, dragging on that cigarette, eyes narrowed and alert. Not with the thousand-yard stare of a dazed infantryman so familiar to all who have seen combat firsthand, up close. No. This is a warrior with his eyes on the far horizon, scanning for danger.”
And the news anchor urged Americans to take the photo to heart…
On the third day of 2006, when the man in the iconic photo returned to the CBS airwaves on “The Early Show,” this time the mood was more somber…
Read the full column.
Another story on Blake Miller