Not too long ago reports surfaced about Iranian Photoshop capabilities. Unfortunately, the situation appears to be even worse than previously imagined. Whereas Photoshop is very expensive, placing it out of reach for the government of Iran, another almost-as-insidious program, MS Paint, comes bundled on every Microsoft system for free. This didn't used to worry people, because Paint is terrible. Here is an attempt to add a missile to a photo using Paint:
Even a cursory glance quickly reveals that this photo has been manipulated. Unfortunately, Paint does have hidden stamp-making capabilities. Although far short of the standard set by Will's mom, it does have chilling possibilities. For example, consider this menacing photo of Ahmadinejad from the BBC:
With minimal Paint effort, it can be spelled out to demonstrate a pro-American propaganda message that clearly undermines the untiring Bush/McCain efforts to create pointless animosity between our nations:
Even worse, Ahmadinejad could exploit Paint as a means of demonstrating his omnipresence and totalitarian might:
I think it may be time for us to Get Serious about our foreign policy with Iran. We must fight them over there so we don't have to keep inventing ways over here in which they are fighting us over here from over there.
