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By Tom Ricks's Inbox

Sunday, January 14, 2007

This is a note from Army Reserve Capt. Phillip Carter, a lawyer in Los Angeles who recently returned from a year of training and advising Iraqi police in the city of Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad:

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Does anyone else see an echo of Eddie Adams' famous photo (http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm12.html) of an execution from the Tet Offensive in the images of Saddam's execution?

I know that Iraq-Vietnam comparisons are a bit cliche, so I generally try to avoid them. But I think the comparison here may be appropriate. Like the Adams photo, the Saddam video shows the barbarism of the current conflict, the corruption of the local govt, and I think it will have a similar effect by turning more Americans against the war (or at least against the Iraqi govt).

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Tom Ricks is The Post's military correspondent. This feature aims to give readers a snapshot of the conversations about Iraq, Afghanistan and other matters that play out in Ricks's e-mail inbox. Have an interesting document or story? Send it to TheInbox@washpost.com.