A Magic Path to Truth?

Errol Morris, in his article "Will the Real Hooded Man Please Stand Up," reflects upon the power of our beliefs to shape what we see, regardless if it is true or not, through the misidentification in a New York Times article of the Hooded Man tortured at Abu Ghraib Prison.  After it was made clear that Qaissi was in fact not the Hooded Man in the photograph, but just a hooded man... Many felt that that invalidated the photograph. However, individuals such as Susan Burke, the attorney who represents many of the torture victims, argued that it made no difference whether Qaissi was really the Hooded Man, as it makes his testimony no less valid. 

Morris states that although Qaissi was most likely subjected to abuse; however, whatever happened to him, it's not the same as being the man in the picture. Thus, the photograph of Qaissi holding the Hooded Man photograph serves as a constant reminder of how we, as the viewers, can make false inferences from a photograph. I liked that Morris mentioned that "photography presents things and at the same time hides things from view"; the quote reminded me of Sontag's "to photograph is to exclude" quote.  We imagine that photographs contain truth, even embody it, but that is not always the case; Morris argues that believing is seeing.