The War on Terror | Images of Reality

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis

Thursday August 07, 2008 23:41

by Mark C - 1 of indymedia.ie

oscailt at indymedia dot ie

If Those Who Support The War Saw These

The mainstream media continues to broadcast sanitised images from embedded reporters that have passed through the official channels in order to lessen the effects of the brutality of the so-called "War on Terror". Below is a collection of images gleaned from the web that show the reality of the "War on Terror", the human cost.

This article is an attempt to show the reality of the "War on Terror" - a reality as it plays out for those affected by it, rather than the simulation of war that is so often presented by the mainstream media (MSM). I'm choosing to use images rather than words, in my hope that ten images will be worth at least ten thousand words.

The images of war that are presented to us are coming mostly from reporters that are embedded. Although it may be argued that embedding reporters allows greater access to information for them, the truth is that embedding is a form of censorship. All reporters have to sign consent forms accepting certain terms and conditions and what they can report on is closely monitored. When Lt. Col. Rick Long of the U.S. Marine Corps was asked about this his reply was: "Frankly, our job is to win the war. Part of that is information warfare. So we are going to attempt to dominate the information environment."

With these thoughts in mind let's see how the "War on Terror" is affecting people.

This image on the right is from the blog The Last Minute Blog (dot com). It shows an image of George Bush's face made up of the faces of dead American soldiers. (All the dead here have died in Iraq.) The post for this entry on The Last Minute Blog is about the moment the American death toll hit 3,000 - December 2006 (which of course does not take into account those who have died since the war from injuries sustained during it).
The image on the right was taken by Zoriah. It shows a dead American soldier lying on a floor in Fallujah, Iraq from a suicide attack. Zoriah posted this image on his blog and was ordered to remove it by the US Army. After he refused, his "embed" status was taken away from him and he had to leave Iraq. Introducing the series of images on his blog, Zoriah wrote:“What I saw was abhorrently graphic, yet far too important for the world to ignore. I present images that provide an uncensored view of a terrible event, and some small measure of dignity to those who lost their lives.”
I'm not sure where I cam across this image first. I know it had something to do with a Robert Fisk website and I published it on a blog I used to keep (and often mean to get back to). It shows a baby killed during the bombing of Iraq in March 2003. Shock and Awe? Certainly shocking and awful. SHAME on the killer. The image also features on Empire Burlesque. As Howard Zinn said: "Whatever is told to you about war and how we must go to war, and whatever the threat is or whatever the goal is—a democracy or liberty—it will always be a war against children. They’re the ones who will die in large numbers."
On the right is an image of the head of a man beheaded in Iraq. No amount of oil, ideology, or Islam justifies such horror - and no further comment is needed to describe the image (and if it is, words fail me). I came across the image on the site Please Stop War, which is a man's simple plea: ""WAKE UP" and STOP KILLING EACH OTHER!"
The image on the right shows a soldier from the Northern Alliance standing amongst the bodies of dead Taliban. It comes from the site Constitution Club and the post A breakdown of US and enemy casualties in Iraq. It's interesting to note that more bombs were dropped on Afghanistan in the first six months of 2008 than in the whole of 2006 and most of 2007 combined, according to John Pilger.
The dead Iraqi on the right was taken from the blog of John Mitchell (Letters Nobody Will Print), who in turn took it and some more from The Nausea. Scroll down to the entry for Saturday June 16th 2006 for more images.
Ali Ismaeel Abbas, the boy on the right, is a victim of cluster bombs dropped on Baghdad. The image is taken from Jefooi. Human Rights Watch said it was appalled the U.S. military could have dropped cluster bombs in civilian areas of Baghdad, an act it described as a possible violation of international law.
This image (right) is a still from the Film "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib" by Rory Kennedy. It is taken from an interview with the filmaker, showing a man shackled to his prison cell bars. Is this what western "justice" has amounted to for Iraqis?
If you turn to the right you will see the aftermath of victims of a White Phosphorous Chemical Weapons attack in Fallujah, Iraq. The images were taken from Mindprod. If this, and the other images from the linked page, became the normalised images of war, I believe the war could stop overnight and we'd go a long way towards ensuring that war is, as Albert Einstein called for, "abolished".
Michael Greenwell writes in his blog: 'I am listening to Blair’s last Prime Minister’s Questions and most of the MPs are falling over themselves to congratulate him. Let’s not forget that according to the UN the waging of an aggressive war is “essentially an evil thing…to initiate a war of aggression…is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”' The image on the right accompanies this blog entry.
This image is taken from the No World Systems blog under the headline: Marines Ordered To Execute Civilians In Nazi-Like Slaughter Steven Watson writes: "With evidence having emerged that marines were ordered by superiors to massacre women and children in Haditha in Iraq two years ago, combined with scores of other testimonies and reports of such barbaric demands being forced upon American troops daily, it is clear that organised execution and ritual slaughter is the set policy of the architects of aggression in the middle east."

Having seen these images start/continue agitating against the war. Keep blogging, keep writing, keep protesting, keep educating, keep on keeping on.

As Howard Zinn says: "Everything we do is important. Every little thing we do, every picket line we walk on, every letter we write, every act of civil disobedience we engage in, any recruiter that we talk to, any parent that we talk to, any GI that we talk to, any young person that we talk to, anything we do in class, outside of class, everything we do in the direction of a different world is important, even though at the moment they seem futile, because that’s how change comes about. Change comes about when millions of people do little things, which at certain points in history come together, and then something good and something important happens."

________________

Mark Conroy, August 2008.

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Comments (10 of 10)

Response to Mark Conroy

by Historian - Justice and Peace

Mon Jul 27, 2009 18:23

I totally agree with the above postings. I find your links very interesting indeed.

I go back to the Village magazine of 2008:

Vincent Browne wrote that Ireland can be expelled from Europe if they vote no.
A Lie

There can be a two speed Europe without Ireland
A Lie

The Irish No Vote has caused a European Crisis
A Lie

Ireland can be left behind by Europe
A Lie

I recommend that people read the 2008 Village (month of July). Also I recommend in the same magazine that people read the article by Chekov Feeney on Lisbon and the Press

Jarring pictures, but necessary.

by Nick Folley

Wed Jul 08, 2009 17:52

Madam K, I disagree.

When World War One broke out, the public -especially in Britain - were raving for it, delighted to be at war and never thinking for a moment about what horror they were about to commit on their fellow human beings. Such was their enthusiasm that a new word even came into the language to express it - 'jingoism' - from the belligerent slogan 'by jing, if they want war, they've got it!'

It was only when the death lists began to grow and soldiers home on leave began to recount the real horror that public enthusiasm for war began to dry up. Despite the best efforts of newspapers, graphic images slipped through to the public. A documentary I saw on C4 last November talked of the 'hidden injured' - those not killed, but severely mutilated by war. While the public is encouraged to commemorate the 'heroic dead' (and thus maintain enthusiasm for war, through glorifying it) they are less often shown those who survive, but mutilated - faces burned to a crisp, amputees, jaws missing and so on. These rather jarring images might dampen public ardour.

Somthing similar happened during the Vietnam war as shocking images helped turn public support in the USA against the war. Who can forget the iconic image of the napalmed girl crying and waling down the road away from her burning house? This is what war will mean for most of those who have to experience it. Such was the damaging effect of these images that the USA and Britain came up with the concept of 'embedded reporters' for their current invasion of another country. These carefully vetted reporters are expected to write favourably and in return are given privileged access to the action.

These images are shocking, no doubt about it. But our kids are the policy-makers of the future. Perhaps if our kids grow up realizing this is what war really means - not some glorified notions of 'spreading democracy' maybe by the time they become the policy makers of the future, they'll have a second think.

The Islamic-American conflict.........

by Jeffersonian

Sat Aug 16, 2008 14:23

.........goes much further back in time than the last quarter of the 20th century and has nothing whatsoever to do with oil or the state of Israel.. See link below.

Re: Stad

by Mark C

Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:20

Stad,

I agree with what you say, and I hope, honestly, that you will add some images of what you are talking about, and give a brief mention of where they came from and why you are including them.

I don't agree with your "nothing could be further from the truth' piece though. I think it is a fair claim to make to say that America has been responsible for war and terror (on mass scales) throughout its history. This is not to excuse the crimes (vast as they were) of Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, or other actors.

Mark.

Two sides to every story

by Stad

Sat Aug 16, 2008 11:44

I have always been opposed to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and much of what is happening in Afghanistan as well. But according to the images above and the text accompanying them the false impression is given that the U.S. brought war and terror to otherwise peaceful nations. Nothing could be further from the truth . And out of fairness images of dead Kurdish civilians murdered by Sadam's henchmen and pics of gay men who have been brutally tortured to death by Taliban fanatics should be added to this thread as well.. There are two sides to every story and among all the anti-American hype crimes committed by followers of Islamo-Fascism are all too often forgotten or have been deliberately swept under the carpet.

War porn

by Madam k

Fri Aug 15, 2008 23:10

These images are widely available on the net (and somewhat historic) , I can't see the purpose of displaying then here
as a 'News Story'. This is not a site with an age restriction and as a documentary maker and mother who is encouraging
her child to publish under her name as 'Mega-Girl', I am disgusted at the lack of discretion in re-publishing these
images here on indymedia.ie .

It reminds me of walking up Grafton Street hand in hand with my daughter to be confronted with images of alleged
abortions by agressive groups of pro-lifers who reacted violently to my comments that early morning public street
was no place for these images..,

Abu Gharib

by 1 Dissident

Mon Aug 11, 2008 18:38

A little background info on the Abu Gharib pictures.

Caption: Video Id: Ru0bxSqWMdo Type: Youtube Video
Embedded video Youtube Video

Abu Ghraib Abuse Photos (more than you saw in the papers)

Mon Aug 11, 2008 14:42

I hadn't come across this collection before (although I had seen some of them individually).

http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=8560

Addition photo record-Iraqi children

by Bob K

Sun Aug 10, 2008 12:07

If the photo record will help restore sanity and peace, please give these very heartbreaking and extremely graphic photos a wide distribution.

http://www.garynullforum.com/Iraq_1/index.htm

INNOCENT IRAQI CHILDREN - VICTIMS OF WAR & SANCTIONS IN IRAQ 1 - View Photo Gallery
WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES

http://www.garynullforum.com/Iraq_2/index.htm

INNOCENT IRAQI CHILDREN - VICTIMS OF WAR & SANCTIONS IN IRAQ 2 - View Photo Gallery
WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES

War on terror hype

by Banjax - Human Race

Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:30

And who would have guessed in 2001, when the hype was being generated to "justify" the invasion of Iraq, that a good ole American boy was a part of it...

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The War on Terror | Images of Reality

Comments (10 of 10)