Monday, October 27, 2003

Images from Iraq: 10-27-03  

Click on thumbnails for full-size images.

BELOW: These boys came out to watch a raid in their neighborhood in downtown Samarra (45 minutes south of Tikrit) by U.S. Military Police Battalion 720. The boys were very friendly and threw out a few words of English like, "hey mista, hey mista." They also threw out a few hand gestures (in fun of course), like the nose holder and the universal up yours sign, typical pre-adolescent goofing. They loved seeing their digital images right after I snapped them and all politely thanked me before I jumped back in my hummer and rolled out of town.













































BELOW: The MP's of the 720 hoped to find lots of cash, diamonds and weapons in this raid. Sources said the people who lived there were financial backers of the resistance. They were disappointed. They found two pistols, two shotguns and a rifle, but no cash. Each Iraqi household is allowed to have one gun according to new restrictions place by the U.S. military. They detained one person.












BELOW: When I go on a raid with the military, I'm always struck by the mundane aspects of the household's daily life--what they were cooking before the raid or watching on tv or what is hanging on their clothesline. Their seats often still warm from where they had just been sitting.







BELOW: I often end up taking more pictures of men and boys in Muslim nations because women here are conditioned in modesty and don't like to be photographed. But it creates a dilemma for me--for while I want to respect their cultural boundaries, I also don't want to document a society devoid of half it's population. On a recent night raid in a Tikrit neighborhood I shot this photo of the household's women and children. They are usually moved into the courtyard while soldiers search the house. The women covered their faces when i raised my camera, but I took the shot anyway. I felt a bit like a hypocrite when on a raid a few days later, I stopped one of my colleagues from photographing a woman who objected.









BELOW: During a night raid, while her brothers and sisters were crying this little girl was virtual stoic. He mother covered here face while the little girl peered right into my lens. I almost felt as if she was recording my image in her mind, just as I was getting hers on a memory stick.







BELOW: The Army usually goes in fairly heavy on raids--especially at night. On this particular raid they had about twelve vehicles and thirty soldiers. Most arrive in armor-plated hummers with 50 caliber machine guns mounted on top.













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Kevin 4:25 AM