This is blatant anti-troop propaganda.
You say the "gun and hand were lowered" -- maybe I'd say in the combined version it looks like the soldier is less likely pointing his gun at a civilian. Plus the faces of more people -- including the soldier -- are visible in the altered version.
I am not for altering photographs for publication, but I don't see how this is "anti-troop"?
It was rather sloppy to actually have people appear twice in the photo, but I think all that happened was the piece of military equipment (Bradley?) in the lower left was replaced by more people.
It does make one wonder how often photo alterations occur.