Pictures from Iraq
April 24, 2004 9:44 PM   Subscribe

Pictures from Iraq Allegedly from someone who served in Iraq.
posted by turbanhead (35 comments total)
 
A warning: there are some definitely NSFW pictures in there (a severed leg, for example).

Some incredible pictures. Why do you say "allegedly", turbanhead?
posted by armage at 9:48 PM on April 24, 2004


"allegedly" because it is on what looks like a personal site on RR. Not sure if these were all taken by a soldier who served in Iraq or also culled from wire services. They DO look like they are all from Iraq.
posted by turbanhead at 9:51 PM on April 24, 2004


I wonder of the source. The pictures are incredible, indeed -- I wanted to even say beautiful, but for all the horror they entail. The lighting and composition is truly stunning on many of them. Very emotional.

I wish pictures like these mattered to people as much as flag-draped coffin images do. It's a shame that if it's not our boys it doesn't matter so much to the general public. But such is war I suppose.

Great post. Thanks for sharing.

(Note to the squeamish: if you're really interested in seeing these pictures [it's worth it], just skip page 2. They are all graphic, but aside from page 2 it's not much worse than you'll see in many newspapers.)
posted by rafter at 9:56 PM on April 24, 2004


If in fact these are from someone who served in Iraq I do hope he/she plans to pursue a career in photojournalism. Some very well done, if sad, work here.
posted by arse_hat at 10:03 PM on April 24, 2004


Wow. Reminds me of a post, only using comics. (via LJ)
posted by jmd82 at 10:10 PM on April 24, 2004


Jesus.
posted by Hildago at 10:12 PM on April 24, 2004


Powerful Pictures...

On the other hand, This is just hours of browsing fun!
posted by stew560 at 10:19 PM on April 24, 2004


Picture number 7 on page 3 is upside down.
What looks like a plane just being missed by a missile fired from the ground is in fact a plane just after dropping a flare.
posted by spazzm at 10:19 PM on April 24, 2004


If you look at the shadow of the photographer, you can see he's wearing a helmut; along with the fact that none of the soldiers being photographed has that look of "Hey! Get the hell out of here!" I think it's a safe assumption to make that these were, in fact, taken by a soldier over in Iraq.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:25 PM on April 24, 2004


Nice spot, CD, but it still might likely be a mishmash (or, what arse_hat said).
posted by rafter at 10:44 PM on April 24, 2004


Amazing. Beautiful. Tragic.
Anyone who might be making a fim set during this war should take a long look at these.
posted by Dukebloo at 10:47 PM on April 24, 2004


pictures can be so powerful, it's really a shame that i had never seen pictures like that before from Iraq. Great link.
posted by cell divide at 10:53 PM on April 24, 2004


Thanks for the link, jmd82.
posted by bitpart at 10:56 PM on April 24, 2004


Gonna be hard to get those out of my mind for a while.
posted by inksyndicate at 10:58 PM on April 24, 2004


What are we seeing in the 4th picture from the bottom on page 4? Something terrible seems to have happened to that child's face, but the effects are bizzare. I would expect explosive to burn the skin... chemicals could discolor it. But what in the world could cause those strange variations in discoloration?
posted by gsteff at 11:02 PM on April 24, 2004


Powerful, yet horrible.
posted by punkrockrat at 11:20 PM on April 24, 2004


Discoleration is most likey from the chemburns and heatburns from an explosive device, thay bruise, burn and blister just like that. (Ours or theirs, who can saw, if ours then maybe fLashbangs, if thiers, then likely I.E.Ds)
posted by Elim at 11:21 PM on April 24, 2004


Picture number 7 on page 3 is upside down.

That, or the plane is rolling over before doing a split-s.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:24 PM on April 24, 2004


Jesus... what a mess.
posted by wfrgms at 11:26 PM on April 24, 2004


Why do we (humanity) do this to each other? It is 2004 for christ's sake.

We are exactly the way we were in 1942, 942, and 1942 BC. We just have much more efficient weapons. In the last 4000 years we've really not progressed very much as humans at all. We just have much more lethal sticks to hit each other with now.

The killing and maiming, on both sides, is inexcusable, and should not even exist in a global society of our supposed sophistication.

I am so profoundly depressed at this moment it is almost unbearable.
posted by Ynoxas at 11:50 PM on April 24, 2004


We are a doomed species.
posted by moonbiter at 11:57 PM on April 24, 2004


stew560,

What the hell does your link to a giant list of bullshit links have to do with these profound photos?
posted by wsg at 12:12 AM on April 25, 2004


The photography is impressive. Vivid color, striking composition, arresting subject matter. The person who took these pictures has a good eye, and impressive presence of mind.

It gets harder to notice the photos as the toll of death and ruin rolls on. There are some gruesome sights here, but I am glad that they are documented. It does us no good to pretend.
posted by Mars Saxman at 12:16 AM on April 25, 2004


wsg, stew560 was just pointing out what one gets if they go up a directory from davef's address.

Speaking of documenting, save local copies. As it's a personal homepage on a cable provider, who know how long itll be before the bandwidth limit kicks in(or the images are otherwise taken down).
posted by Driph at 12:30 AM on April 25, 2004


If you look at the shadow of the photographer, you can see he's wearing a helmut;

OK but it's not that news photographers -- or journalists -- can't wear helmets. almost all of them do in war zones, unless they have a death wish
but I agree, the other soldiers look to be totally OK with their pic being taken, that indicates that the photographer is a fellow GI
posted by matteo at 2:57 AM on April 25, 2004


That's a good point, matteo. Most embedded journo's do wear helmuts.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:53 AM on April 25, 2004


Argh. Helmets.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:54 AM on April 25, 2004


Let the armchair generals go collect severed limbs and burned bodies, let them fight the wars they send some other to fight.
posted by elpapacito at 7:25 AM on April 25, 2004


"The Artist does not create for himself, he creates for the people, and it shall be seen that the people are called forth to judge his art."
-Adolf Hitler

pretty fucking ugly picture your painting over there dubya...
posted by Dreamghost at 8:03 AM on April 25, 2004


Winning hearts and minds!
posted by MaxVonCretin at 10:27 AM on April 25, 2004


Thanks for sharing these, this is stuff everyone should take a look at, to help at least make a dent in understanding the true horror of war.
posted by beth at 11:09 AM on April 25, 2004


The person's web site had no contact info, but I'm assuming he wouldn't mind if I mirrored the pictures:

Mirror is here


I'm hoping this is an exception to the self-linking rule.
posted by sixdifferentways at 1:48 PM on April 25, 2004


stew560 was just pointing out what one gets if they go up a directory from davef's address.

Thanks for clearing that up, Driph. Sorry for the snark, stew560.
posted by wsg at 10:14 AM on April 26, 2004


I saw on a photographer's forum that at least one of the photos is stolen from a pro. The 7th one down, with the mother cradling the kids, is by a Dallas Morning News photographer. Last one in the 2nd row at Corbis.
posted by smackfu at 2:17 PM on April 28, 2004


Link is now 404. I wonder why?
posted by interrobang at 1:07 AM on May 10, 2004


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