Soldier With Fingers Crossed

image Snopes has a listing about a photo that shows a soldier shaking hands with Hillary Clinton while his fingers are crossed. A caption accompanying the photo explains that the soldier was crossing his fingers to signal that he was coerced to shake hands with her. Today Snopes updated this listing to include a link to a Yahoo Personals Page apparently created by the guy in the picture in which he states that he's no fan of Hillary Clinton. Snopes notes that this confirms what the caption says about why he was crossing his fingers. But my question is about the Yahoo Profile. How are we supposed to know that it's real? It could have been created by anyone. There's no name on it, nor any very specific information. And the picture displayed on the page is the very same picture that's spread all over the internet. Didn't the guy have an original, better-quality version of it? If he had included other photos of himself I would totally believe it's him. But the fact that this is the only photo made available seems a little suspicious. Maybe this really is him, but based on what's there, it's impossible to be sure. After all, it's not like people never fake personals. Or am I missing something?

Military Photos

Posted on Sat Mar 26, 2005



Comments

Look what I found...

MSN Profile.

:cheese:
Posted by Rod  on  Sat Mar 26, 2005  at  05:16 PM
...Maybe he's been deformed by war. Or it's a ::crosses fingers:: "Maybe she'll let me go home after this!"
Posted by Maegan  on  Sun Mar 27, 2005  at  04:59 AM
Where's Hillary's other hand? Maybe that's a military signal he's making to say: "Help- she's pinching my rear". Look at her smile. She's a pincher- you can tell
Posted by Raoul  on  Sun Mar 27, 2005  at  05:13 AM
If you hated Hillary so much that you had to cross your fingers when forced to shake her hand, why would you put that photo and only that photo on a web profile for a dating personal service? This is quite obviously fake, if not the original photo then the posting of it on various sites.
Posted by Bill B.  on  Mon Mar 28, 2005  at  01:41 PM
The crossed fingers thing is a signal to his buddies, who have the same training, that he is in the situation under duress.

It was a private joke, and that's it.

Does it matter whether someone made up the Yahoo profile? No.

There is no proof one way or the other. The soldier could have made it. Alex could have made it. I could have. YOU could have.

The point I'm trying to make is that anyone can make a profile anywhere on the net. Anyone includes this soldier, but there is no proof, and I'm not sending Yahoo money just to send an email to the guy when it'll probably never get answered anyway.

I would have to guess that it is fake, but will we ever find out? Most probably NOT.
Posted by Rod  on  Mon Mar 28, 2005  at  01:52 PM
I've never much liked Hillary Clinton, but I must admit, she's very brave to get that close to an American soldier. She's lucky she wasn't raped, tortured, beaten, and shot.

It's pretty insulting that soldier boy there seems to think that Hillary is the more morally objectionable person in the picture. She's not the one that earned her college money by killing babies with an assault rifle, after all.
Posted by Barghest  on  Tue Mar 29, 2005  at  02:03 AM
Well, Barghest, I laughed until I hit the baby killing remark.
Posted by Rod  on  Tue Mar 29, 2005  at  02:39 AM
This would not be the first time that US military personnel have used photo-ops to be cheeky.

Many American GIs in World War 2 were posed into "We are being well-treated" pictures for German propganda newspapers. In a lot of these, the grinning or somewhat happy servicemen are giving the 'digitus impudicus' sign with their hands: This is basically a natural hand pose but with the middle digit raised, like an "accidental" flipping of the bird.

If this is true, then a long-standing tradition continues.
Posted by DFStuckey  on  Thu Mar 31, 2005  at  03:26 AM
The Snopes article is wrong as well. Being in Iraq (Baghdad Internation Airport)during that same period in time that the picture is reported to have been taken, I can tell you 100% that they are not there (Iraq).
Posted by NDTgirl  on  Wed Apr 20, 2005  at  02:57 PM
I have known Snopes to be wrong before.
Posted by X  on  Wed Apr 20, 2005  at  03:09 PM
His profile says he's in Clear Lake City, TX, which is about five miles from me. All I know is, if he really is the guy in the profile and the profile is truthful, I'm gonna keep my eyes open for him. Not only is it awesome what he did, but he's GORGEOUS!

I do agree, though. Why would he use the internet photo with the red circle around his hand as his primary (and only) personals photo? That is suspicious.
Posted by Aimin  on  Tue Jun 14, 2005  at  10:51 AM
This guy is a friend of mine and he did the red circle. You have to understand he is joker and yes he is from TX. He is single and hilarious. He laughs at all the stink'n liberal comments out there and we talk about his fame on the internet. If this is all he did during his elistment, in insulting Hillary right under her nose, that is a fulfilled enlistment to me. By the way the baby killing comments are from people who are clueless in what goes on during war and more than likely stink'n liberals who do not enjoy freedom.
Posted by JF  on  Mon Jun 27, 2005  at  11:37 AM
I am a veteran of 20 years in the military, served during Korea and Vietnam. All of these people who are running down the military cannot seem to accept the fact that one of the primary reasons they are able to voice their opinions is because of the sacrifices of our military ever since the Revolutionary war.

They also seem to forget the fact that the reason we have been fighting wars is to protect the freedoms of the people of the countries in which they were fighting.

Had some of these bleeding hearts expressed such opinions at almost any period in the 20th century, we might have avoided a few wars and lots of bloodshed - about 40 million during World War II alone. If we had faced down Hitler when he began to gobble up territory in Eastern Europe, history probably would have been a little different.

After years of running down the military, Hillary is now trying to get on their good side.

Perhaps he used this photo in his personal dating service to let women out there know that he is a real man and is not afraid of expressing himself in a difficult situation. Had I been in his situation, I would have found some way to show that I was not in favor of this meeting.
Posted by Richard  on  Wed Jul 13, 2005  at  11:25 AM
I'd just like to point out that he has more in his profile and 2 more pics of him now.
Posted by Archibold  on  Thu Aug 11, 2005  at  06:01 PM
JF - yes, the photo is real. The CO knew how much he loathed Hillary. That is why he made him pose with her. His buddies got a big laugh out of it.
Posted by It Is Real  on  Fri Dec 16, 2005  at  03:03 PM
Just a note. I am that soldier's brother and will withhold his name until his enlistment is up. That yahoo personals page is not him, but rather another guy who looks somewhat like him. A close inspection of my brother and that guy from Clearwater will reveal the truth. My brother is also only about 5'11" not 6'1" as that yahoo ad claims.

I'll follow this post with some photos of him out of uniform just to prove I am who I say, but that guy is not him.
Posted by Nate  on  Sat Jan 07, 2006  at  12:27 AM
Not only is he Nate's brother, but both he and Nate are my nephews. I can assure you that the picture is real, and the soldier is proud of it. So am I.
Posted by Chuck  on  Tue Aug 15, 2006  at  02:42 PM
Just to confirm that the yahoo personnals page is a fake- I am married to the soldier in the picture. My husband is NOT looking for any available females. He had this picture taken with Hilary in OIF1, just before we met. So for all you ladies, sorry, he has his hands full as it is!
Posted by Stephanie  on  Tue Sep 26, 2006  at  12:27 PM
I bet if that was a picture of GWB being the sucker, instead of Hillary you doubters wouldn't think it was a fake. You'd think it was real, and hillarious, and you know it!
Posted by Greg  on  Wed Mar 21, 2007  at  08:49 AM
Not only do I completely LOVE this photograph, I also have it as my screen saver on my desktop besides I think he's beautiful too.
Oh, and did I fail to mention that I HATE HITLARY?!
Well...married, or not. He's still incredibly delicious! So THERE!
*smiles* Mindy M.
My MySpace Page
Posted by Mindy Maucelli  on  Fri Nov 30, 2007  at  12:51 AM
There are several things about this photo that don't surprise me at all:
If it's real, that doesn't surprise me. Why shouldn't a soldier semi-forced to pose with a politician -- any politician -- find a way to indicate his disapproval? This seems like a subtle and fairly respectful way to indicate disapproval, or so it seems to me. Military personnel have to be respectful in public to some people whether they approve of them or not, but a random politician, no matter his or her political affiliation, isn't one of them, and anyway, this doesn't even qualify as disrespectful, or so it seems to me.
If it's not real, that wouldn't surprise me either. It's a fairly witty PhotoShop trick, but they've been done before, too.
Whether it's real or not, I can understand why people who actually know the man in the photo would want to explain what's going on.

What does surprise me, although I guess it shouldn't, is the number of people who would go out of their way to lie about knowing this man. And clearly some of them have to be since the stories don't all match. Lies with a purpose I can understand, even if I don't approve of them. But what's the point of saying, "I know this man and this is what's going on here" if you don't know this man and don't know what's going on here? I just don't get it.

People are just weird. Whoever is lying really needs to go out and get himself or herself a life.
Posted by Kathleen  on  Fri Nov 30, 2007  at  06:51 AM
man this thread has more sock puppets than a morning kids show (google sock puppet if you dont know what i mean)

the anti war girlie girl there (so hip by the way) wants to know about war and killing google what did saddam hussein did to the kurds

I bet if it were in style to eat peanuts out of shit these kids would be following people around with spoons

think for yourself
Posted by noah  on  Wed Jan 23, 2008  at  10:26 PM
Well I don't think any of you are real people, least of all the chick in the pic.

As far as I'm concerned, you're all an illusion caused by lack of sleep and googling halfwit websites for hours on end.

Ha, rumbled. I mean, have you actually read yourselves back?!
Posted by hel  on  Mon Sep 29, 2008  at  05:39 PM
I really don't care whether the soldier in the picture likes Hillary Clinton or not. She was a United States Senator at the time and he should have behaved respectfully. And, when he didn't, he should have been discharged. End of story.
Posted by Laura  on  Fri Aug 14, 2009  at  07:09 PM
Here's an update for you: The soldier just finished his 4th tour in Iraq (14 months) and is out of the Army! While he's moved on to bigger and badder things, you chumps are still discussing this lame picture. Hopefully he will bump into Obama and can give you all more to talk about!
Posted by Steph  on  Sat Aug 15, 2009  at  11:48 AM
i was in the same unit and was there when this was taken. It is hilarious to me because the only reason anyone from our government came to see us was a publicity stunt for votes, And him doing this was priceless for us. And as far as the idiots on here who dont appreciate what they have, what we have provided, well obviously theyre too stupid too appreciate it. And goes to show dumbasses have freedom too.And the ppl who don't think this was in Iraq when taken rest assured I was standing there when it was snapped.
Posted by SHAWN  on  Wed Feb 23, 2011  at  05:15 PM
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