Unembedded: Four Independent Photojournalists
on the War in Iraq by Thorne Anderson,
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Kael Alford, Rita Leistner (New York: Chelsea
Green Publishing, 2005). $50 hardcover; $29.95
paperback. 176 pages.
Four photojournalists use the truth-telling lens of the camera
to bring us closer to a conflict that has largely been reported
from a distance. Unembedded virtually transports us into Iraqi
hospitals, neighborhoods and homes. The topics range from tragic
to mundane to alarming and brutal. The overall effect provides
precious insight into the Iraqi experience and the U.S. soldiers
who occupy their land. Unembedded is honest and rightfully upsetting.
The following is a sampling of Unembedded’s stunning
images.—K.A.M.
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Shoala, March 28, 2003
A father and his brothers mourn an eight-year-old girl killed
when a U.S. missile landed in a busy market in a Shiite neighborhood
north of Baghdad. The U.S. bombing lasted twenty-one days, making
way for the U.S.-led coalition invasion.
Photo by Kael Alford. Courtesy
of Chelsea Green Publishing
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|
Rashad
Psychiatric Hospital, Baghdad, April 15, 2004
Patients had few activities to occupy them.
One was watching television, which included the Coalition Provisional
Authority’s daily live broadcasts and updates to the press.
On this day, General Richard Myers, the Chairman of the U.S. Joint
Chiefs of Staff, was fielding questions on how he proposed to address
the rising insurgency, especially Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi
Army. Myers underplayed the threat of the insurgents. A few months
later the hospital grounds would shake from nearby bombs, and mortars
would land in its courtyard as coalition forces fought the Mahdi
Army right outside the hospital gates.
Photo by Rita Leistner. Courtesy
of Chelsea Green Publishing |
Sadr City, Baghdad, August
7, 2004.
Members of Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army take to the streets
in rebellion against the interim Iraqi government and American
military occupation.
Photo by Rita Leistner. Courtesy of Chelsea Green Publishing |
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