The painting by Gros, a neoclassical artist, called Napoleon visiting the Plague House of Jaffa reminded me of the war in Iraq and the alleged "weapons of mass destruction". Although they are not directly related, the paintings context seemed to be similar to the lies that surrounded the alleged weapons. The paiting depicts Napoleon visting troops in the Middle East who have become very sick. As a transitional piece between Neoclassism and Romanticism, Gros' painting does not idealized the bodies and we see the sickness that has overwhelmed them. Although Napoleon is shown as somewhat Christ-like in his illumination and body position (glove free hand, touching the sick soldier), in reality he was anything but that. He, in fact, lied and instead of saving the soldiers as it seems he was doing, he ordered that they be killed. This painting deceived Napoleon's people into thinking he was a savior when he had actually ordered the killing of some of their brothers, fathers, and sons.

Napoleon's lies to his soldiers reminded me of the President Bush administration's fervent claim of "weapons of mass destruction". After invasion, no weapons were ever found. Instead of finding and destroying the weapons and freeing the Iraqi people, our soldiers went in with a false objective because of the lies that the government told the American people. President Bush misled the American people and soldiers just as Napoleon did his soldiers.