Michael Moore Angers War Photographer

The New York Post's Page Six is claiming that Michael Yon, a former Special Forces fighter, is planning to sue Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore for misuse of his photo showing a bloody Iraqi child carried by an American soldier.

According to the report, Mr. Yon, now known for his pro-soldier blog reports from wartime Iraq and Afghanistan, takes great pains to ensure the integrity of his images and "goes out of his way to make sure they aren't used for demagogic diatribes."

Mr. Moore's Web site, which also goes by the name Demagogic Diatribes "R" Us, used the dramatic image in a posting last year to show his disgust with the Iraq war, the George W. Bush Administration, and possibly Carl's Jr. For nearly seven months, Yon tried to contact Moore to discuss the issue, but he never heard back.

Page Six spoke with Yon's lawyer, who said, "The implication on Moore's Web site was that our soldiers were somehow responsible for that kid being wounded... That is absolutely not true." Yon also weighed in, saying, "I've never sued anyone in my life. It looks like Mr. Moore might be the first."

The image (see below), which was selected by TIME.com viewers as 2005's best photo, shows Army Maj. Mark Bieger carrying an Iraqi girl fatally wounded by a car-bomb.



B. Brandon Barker can also be found here.