Coming Upon The Cage

(click for full size)

I found Michael Kamber's image, documenting the bombing in the Baghdad pet market last Friday, to be particularly moving.  (It is that much more poignant when compared to Joao Silva's image in the same setting just a few days prior.)  Reporter Stephen Farrell's story embodies the tempered sadness and disappointment of a reporter-narrator who had also just been there when the place was bustling.

(I'm sorry, too, that my post last Wednesday, questioning the media's -- and Farrell's -- impulse to trumpet Baghdad's normalcy, proved prophetic.  In light of the shattered tanks in this square, using fish to make the point also seems twisted.)

So what is Baghdad coming to?  (Perhaps the photo begs the question, as two contrasting figures seem to be staring at, and converging upon the same point.)  If the man in all-black conveys an all-too-familiar depression and jadedness, the young girl's expression and "carriage" suggests something lighter.  She gazes at that damaged cage as if whatever creature occupied it might somehow reappear if she were only to blink, then look again.

(revised 9:05 am PST)

(image: Michael Kamber for The New York Times.  Baghdad.  November 23, 2007.  nytimes.com)

Comments

[Blake Incarnate]

This attack was gut wrenching, despicable, cowardly.... and all of these consequences were exactly what was intended by the perpetrators.

It is important to hold on to these incidents in memory and analysis for more than just a moment. Why can't I do that anymore. Are we becoming conditioned from this image saturated environment to view the disaster and reflect on it with intention to act for change, ... but then, the thought just sinks into the collective unconscious. I read about this on Sunday and had forgotten about it by Tuesday until I saw this picture.

Like the panther who focuses on the child standing at his cage. For a moment, his eyes dialate and his adreniline surges and his muscles tighten ... but the feeling just as quickly subsides, as he remembers his hopeless situation.

That is how I feel about Iraq. Am I angry or just ashamed?

[tina]

It's a good picture for Americans to see because the little hamster cage with the plastic bottom is a familiar object in American homes. Who has children who does not have one (or several) of these ubiquitous plastic cages around? Having had a few of these in my own youth, it really brings the war home. The girl is definitely looking at or for something, bringing in the "lost pet" theme...something also common to our experience.

Americans and Brits are animal lovers to the extent that you can often get more response more with pictures of dead puppies than dead humans. The pet market has been bombed many times. Maybe we should see more of that to get it through our thick heads?

The livestock market has also been a frequent target, and the flocks of dead sheep and goats being loaded onto carts represent a crushing financial loss to farmers who venture into the city. The pictures of these bombings are also very sad. Targeting the livestock assets of a population (and on a related note, destroying orchards and crops) is an old war tactic.

There's a reason that even the animals are being targeted. It's a bad situation when even the parakeets are not safe.

.

[gasho]

This little girl has spent the better part of her life (and certainly the part she remembers best) as a resident in a war zone. Sounds of bombs and gunfire must be commonplace. She's looking at the scattered pieces of cages and pet supplies with the eyes of a bargain hunter - what could she do with that cage, or plastic tray? There could be some useful things scattered about.

Can you imagine your "baseline" reality being so violent that you can actually see opportunity in this kind of chaos?

The old man, on the other hand, has lived through many more years - some during a flourishing culture, some under Saddam, and now life in an occupied city that is grinding itself to bits as different factions struggle for supremacy. He's not looking for hamster wheels, he's watching his daughter (granddaughter?) grow up in a war zone. Of course he's distraught.

A more depressing reading would have them owning and running the now blown-to-bits pet shop itself.

May all beings be free from suffering. May we embody wisdom and compassion so that killing each other, and poisoning our home planet becomes unthinkable.

[tina]

Interesting reading, Gasho. The article mentioned that after the bomb went off and the blood was hosed away, the animal vendors and the customers both went back to their business.

But the puppies were growling after that. Wonder why?

[jtfromBC]

The young girl reminds me of a photograph I purchased forty years ago at an auction. It included a popular poster of that era. Wishing this NGO good luck in its endeavors in French and English were Paul Newman and Joann Woodward jointly holding it
The photo is long gone but the poster is an indelible memory. www.crosbycpr.com/content/features/news/anotherMotherForPeace.html

[jtfromBC]

I don't know why the above link is not working, please try

WAR IS UNHEALTHY
In 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War....

[gasho]

jtfromBC - here is your link. You need to add some html code to make it active.

WAR IS UNHEALTHY

Too bad you don't still have that original poster - it's a classic (and very appropriate for this scene, I agree).

[The BAG]

War Is Not Healthy

[rchsod]

pets are one of the few things left that the iraqi`s can openly talk to..they are one of the few things left that provide companionship. this is why this outrage is at a different level.the thugs are saying
..."no matter what you do we are going to strip you of your humanity"...