BAGnewsNotes

Iraq Civil War #10 - Day 44

Like this image posted back on March 27th (two days after Maliki declared war on the al-Sadr and the Mahdi), what lends poignancy to a situation we have otherwise grown numb to are pictures that are this elemental.

In the latest evolution of the Shiite civil war, American forces -- with the support of troops from the U.S.-installed, pro-Iranian government  -- have so traumatized Sadr City that a mass exodus would surely take place (similar to the previous migration out of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities) if only the people, now trapped and starving, could get out.

This woman's hands gripping onto a truck while waiting for food supplies to be distributed not only powerfully reflect the circumstance in Sadr City, their expression and adornment offer an anguished and detailed personal portrait as well.

accompanying article: Aid Officials Urge Relief For Baghdad Slum (Reuters via NYT)
BNN Iraq Civil War thread
NYT Pictures of the Day, May 8 (nytimes.com)

(Photo: Petr David Josek/AP. May 2008. Sadr City. via nytimes.com)

Blowing Up The Surge

When it's all said and done (sometime within the next hundred years), the most redundant image of the Iraq occupation could well turn out to be the razed car carcass.  At this point, however, what could possibly distinguish one more crippled hulk from another?

In the former case (besides the fact it's an ambulance that took the hit), the method of infliction is worth noting.  The roof of the car is caved in because it was damaged from the air by one of three U.S. Hellfire missiles.  The specific view, however, is actually peripheral to the main target which Iraqis identify as a mosque and the American military described as a “criminal element command and control center.”

What everybody does agree on, however, is that the building next-door was a hospital, which made it that much more convenient to treat the twenty-eight people injured, including a group of kids who were collecting cans to salvage.

American Bombing Of Sadr City: Like Qana, But Without The Attention?

Now that the U.S. -- desperate to protect the Green Zone, and avoid a Saigon-style evacuation -- is actively bombing Sadr City, what is the difference between what the Americans are doing, and what the Israeli's did in Qana during the '06 Lebanon war?

Above is yesterday's photo of two-year-old Ali Hussein, pulled from the bombed rubble of his home, who died shortly after in the hospital.  It's the shot which could have, would have and otherwise should have woken up all the sheep and cast a fiery and pin-pointed attention on the urban carnage inflicted on an overcrowded, poverty-stricken, urban Baghdad slum by U.S. fighter bombers.

So I ask, what is the difference -- in morality, shock effect and potential political fallout -- between the shot from Sadr City above, and the near-identical scene below that rocked the world, shamed the Israelis, and burned Qana into the world's consciousness ... besides the lack of media access and attention?

About a photo, about Iraq (Kansas City Star)
Several believed dead in US air raids in Baghdad (AFP)

(image 1: Karim Kadim/AP.  April 29, 2008. Sadr City, Baghdad.  via Kansas City Star.  image 2: ©Tim Fadek.  July 30, 2006.  Qana, Lebanon.  Used by permission.  Please seek permission before republication.)

Green Zone Fireworks

Dramatic shot, yes?

This image, from yesterday's newswire, was taken over the embattled Green Zone in Iraq.  I offer the photo less as documentation of battle, however, than as evidence of how the MSM, in small ways as well as large, continues to censor itself in collusion with the government.

What am I talking about?  Well, can you tell what's happening just from looking at this image?  From WAPO's caption in its April 29th "Day In Pictures" slide show, you can get some of the meaning:

April 28: A U.S. Army medevac helicopter flies over rising smoke in the heavily-fortified Green Zone in Baghdad. At least 38 died in some of the most violent clashes in the capital in weeks.

Still, isn't it curious why WAPO fails to describe, let alone even mention, those projectiles below the helicopter?  Is it enemy fire (the news of which would potentially stir people up, seeing the nerve center of our Iraq mission -- as well as the HQ of our installed government -- subject to such dramatic bombardment)?  Is it coalition fire?  Are they flares?

Well, I went searching for the original caption that AP distributed with the photo, and it reads as follows:

A U.S. Army medevac helicopter flies over rising smoke in the heavily-fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, April 28, 2008. Shiite extremists lobbed rockets or mortar shells at the U.S. protected Green Zone on Monday, as U.S. and Iraqi troops engaged militants in the most violent clashes in weeks in Baghdad, killing at least 38.

Funny what the presence or absence of a few words can do.  What the WAPO caption does, in this case, is relegate the image to a visual genre the Administration established in Iraq from Day One.  You can file it under fireworks show.

Friday's MSNBC piece is a must read:  New U.S. embassy complex in Green Zone lacks adequate housing. Hundreds of U.S. workers living in unprotected trailers.  More than a dozen killed in latest series of attacks. New U.S. embassy in Iraq short on housing. (msnbc.msn.com)
2 US Troops Killed, 21 Wounded; 37 Iraqis Killed in Baghdad Clashes (Juan Cole)

(image: Khalid Mohammed - AP.  April 28, 2008.  Baghdad. via WAPO)

Please, Let's Not Sleep

Well, I lost.

I had a bet with myself, dating back over a year now, that I wouldn't come across a scrap of visual evidence of American bombing in Iraq.  On a roll, I was doubly-convinced about this since the Falloujah-inspired military recently trained its cross-hairs on Sadr City. (By the way, credit to the kid for protecting himself from having his head cut off by either our folks, or the Maliki brigades.)

And while I'm on the subject (vent alert), I should add that I'm disappointed with myself for having paid such short shrift to Iraq over the past couple weeks.  Even though The BAG has maintained a consistent eye on the war for at least the past four years, I have to confess that Iraq fatigue -- having, yes, permeated down to the netroots -- has lately sapped my motivation for tracking this blasphemy.  The omission is more noteworthy given the way the war has devolved, over this past month, into a desperately ugly post-surge phase, with the U.S. military fully engaged in a Shiite civil war, while laying siege to a large swath of poverty-stricken, civilian Baghdad under a steady stream of increasingly flimsy rationalizations and propaganda.

For all that, I recommend the Digby Post (Bring It On II) from yesterday noting how the thoroughly inept Condi Rice showed up in Baghdad with the remarkable capacity to make a bad situation that much worse.  I also direct you to Bob Hariman's piece, or, more accurately, an Iraqi citizen's appeal ("Have You No Sense of Decency?"), yesterday at No Caption Needed.  And, as a way to back-fill a little bit, I also refer you two revealing images over the past few weeks.  The first -- showing Maliki as the two-bit puppet dictator he's turned out to be -- is paired with an article ("Secret Iraqi Deal Shows Problems in Arms Orders") detailing how the Iraq government threw away billions on a secret, no-bid arms deal with Bosnia.  And, following that, take a look at the photo-documentation of Iraqi military ("Desertions in Sadr City") refusing to fight in Sadr City, leaving the battle to Americans and more hard-core military factions loyal to the Shiite powers that be.

Please, let's not sleep.

(image: Ahmad al-Rubaye/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images.  caption: In Baghdad, an Iraqi held the remains of an American bomb dropped during an overnight airstrike on the Sadr City neighborhood. At least 328 people have been killed in the fighting that has rocked Sadr City since late March, when Prime Minister Maliki ordered his forces to disarm Shiite militiamen. nytimes.com)

Iraq Civil War - #5 (Day 13): The Reality Barrier

A smart way to figure out what's going on in Iraq is to simply follow photographer Michael Kamber.  You'll never get the message between the eyes, because Mike's too smart for that.  But, between the image and the caption, you'll get it between the lines.  In this case, I thought I'd juxtapose one of Michael's shots from Sadr City yesterday with a shot of events, same day, in the parallel universe occupied by Crock-er and Pet-raeus.  (Both images, as well as a few more of Kamber's photos, appeared in yesterday's NYT Pictures of the Day.)

Although the uprising that took place two weeks ago in Basra has been soft-peddled by the media, the Administration and even Clinton and Obama -- or simply attributed to trouble making by Iran by way of the evil Mr. al-Sadr (even though it was Iran that pulled the parties apart two weeks ago, and Maliki is closer to Iran than al-Sadr is) -- it's looking pretty clear that the violent fracturing of the Shiite factions constitutes a real (shh! shh!) civil war.

But then, who has the audacity to say so, let alone acknowledge that the fighting that broke out in Basra never really ended, but rather shifted to Baghdad where U.S and pro-Maliki Shiites forces, under the banner of the Iraqi Army, are now in a tense, and escalating standoff with the Mahdi faction in Sadr City, a confrontation that is also actively threatening the Green Zone.

Like I said, follow Kamber like a pointer.  His caption:

A boy hid from sniper fire in Sadr City near an area of machine gun and artillery fire, and an occasional stray round from snipers hissed through the air. American armored Stryker vehicles and about 30 Iraqi Army vehicles were blocking the street nearby.

U.S.-Iraqi joint operations in inter-Shiite conflict.  Build up of heavy armor.  Retaliation by sniper.  Duck and cover.  How sad the only way we can we can jump the news barrier (unless you're reading McClatchy) is by inference.

As Petraeus testifies, Baghdad teeters on edge of erupting (Mcclatchydc.com)
Pictures of the Day, April 8 (NYT Slide Show)
Iraq Civil War series (Charts last 13 days of Iraq's civil war - BAGnewsNotes)

(image 1: Doug Mills/The New York Times.  Washington. April 8, 2008.  nytimes.com.  image 2: Michael Kamber for The New York Times.  Sadr City.  April 8, 2008.  nytimes.com)

Iraq Civil War - #5: And, Not To Mention The Green Zone

3/23/08

3/27/08

Even for the shortest of trips within the secured zone, such as those to meet with Iraqi members of parliament, the American security agents order armored personnel carriers. Each trip becomes a small convoy, with one vehicle driving ahead and another following behind as "back-up." The entire convoy stops whenever there is an alarm. Passengers who try to get out are immediately pulled back into the vehicle.

Errant projectiles that land outside the restricted area, in the Red Zone, offer the only evidence of where the missiles strike and how much damage they cause. By late Friday evening, the Shiite attacks had already claimed the lives of close to 60 Iraqis. But when it comes to losses in the Green Zone, detailed information is rarely provided. So far the deaths of only two US citizens have been confirmed. Nevertheless, the heavy clouds of smoke above Baghdad's high-security tract suggest that there must have been more direct hits. It's as if the insurgents wanted to transform the district into a black zone.

-- Dieter Bednarz, Spiegel

I try to document what I see. But there is less to see. First the hospitals and morgues became off limits for journalists, then the car bomb scenes, next the wounded Americans, then the Iraqi detainees, then memorials for the U.S. dead, U.S. equipment damaged in battle. The visual evidence of war shrinks.

-- Photographer Michael Kamber, in Iraq for The New York Times

I find it telling that the bombardment of the Green Zone has not only drawn little media attention during the recent siege, but has mostly been depicted from long distance, typically very long distance.  You can make an argument that the scene, given the large plumes of smoke, could be best represented from miles away.  I'm sure the military would insist that a closer view threatened security.

On the other hand, could you imagine the freakout here at home if Western photojournalists were actually allowed to shoot inside and had even indirectly documented the deaths of the American civilians that took place there in the past few days?

Baghdad's Green Zone Under Attack (Spiegel)
Inside the Green Zone  (historical piece from TIME)
Missing ‘the Big Story,’ but Not the Story (Michael Kamber/NYT - Baghdad Bureau blog)

The BAG's Iraq Civil War posts in one place

(image 1:  Randy Fabi/Reuters. U.S. embassy compound/Green Zone. Baghdad. March 27, 2008. image 2 Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud/Reuters. Same. March 23, 2008. via Yahoo News)

Iraq Civil War - #4 (Day 4): The Mighty U.S. Trained And Supported Iraqi Army

If the U.S. general public was tuning in at all to the current goings-on in Iraq, this image alone could blow a major hole in the Administration's rationale for being there.

After $22 billion spent training the Iraqi army, how does Team Petraeus justify the sight of Iraqi Security forces -- within days of launching an all-out attack on the Mahdi -- turning over their weapons to officials of Muqtada al-Sadr in exchange for Korans and olive branches?

And by the way, even if few Americans ever see the picture of these forty soldiers giving it up, you can bet (if you notice the guy getting it all down on video) that the Iraqi public is getting an eye full.

After years of effort, Iraqi army still can't 'stand up' (Star-Telegram/AP)
Cleric Suspends Battle in Basra by Shiite Militia (NYT)
The BAG's Iraq Civil War posts in one place

(image: Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images. Sadr City.  March 30, 2008.  nytimes.com)

Iraq Civil War - #3 (Day 4): Ganging Up

Notice how Saturday's large and dramatic LAT front page photo frames Mahdi Army fighters (and, by way of the caption, "Muqtada Sadr") as gloating, oncoming, renegade antagonists to Prime Minister Maliki and the Iraqi government.

So the story line is set, although the factions aligned under the rubric of the Iraqi government (which are filled with like agents) actually instigated the hostilities.  Emphasizing the fighters as "parading," the weaponry and the hoods/masks play on stereotypical gang associations (including what reads like an intentional hand gesture by the guy on the left) to frame the Mahdi as the "gansta-terrorists" in this fight.

Look for the Administration to vigorously cover-up the Iraqi Government's power play and (rhetorically, as well as literally) attempt to nail the Mahdi, although more for face-saving purposes than anything else.  (It's an unfortunately thing, too, as the Mahdi cease-fire had been holding steady, with the faction apparently training its eye on the next round of elections.)

In a destabilizing assault that the U.S. wasn't informed of and never saw coming, another thing to watch for is the extent to which traditional media gets out in front in the visually enabling.

(image: Khaldoon Zubeir/Getty Images.  Basra, Iraq.  April 2008.  via Los Angeles Times)

Iraq Civil War - #2 (Day 3): Two Georges Up In Flames

Finally, a news photo that illuminates the politics of the current Iraqi firestorm rather than the wrenching, but mostly non-explanatory wailing and corpse images.

As opposed to the propaganda coming out of Washington that "the Iraqi government" is cracking down on "criminals" (feel free to substitute the name "Moqtada al-Sadr" right there), the picture tells another story.  What we see are demonstrators in Sadr City burning a photo of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim chumming it up with Junior in the White House.

In this case, because al-Sadr boycotted the last round of elections and Maliki and al-Hakim stand to lose ground in the October vote, it appears Maliki, using government police and military, teamed with al-Hakim's Badr Brigade, are trying to wipe out the Mahdi in Basra while it has the chance.  In an act of exploitation that John McCain probably couldn't figure out in 100 years, Maliki has actually lured the U.S. into launching air strikes on behalf of his psuedo-governmental faction.

As regards the picture-in-the-picture, here's the original image of GDub (while thick in his George Washington phase) meeting al-Hakim in the Oval Office -- a meeting which took place a month before the U.S. military embarrassed itself by trying to bust al-Hakim's son for visiting Iran.  (And then, who aren't we backing that isn't tied up with Iran?)

The tragedy of this shot is not that Bush is going to burn for getting played in a deadly factional game he doesn't understand.  It's that, in wearing George Washington like a halo, the symbol core of our democracy is going to burn with him.

Teetering (TPM)
And then, George Washington at Bush's back seems to resonate strongly with the recent: Before I Could Explain (BAGnewsNotes)

(image: Kareem Raheem/Reuters. March 27, 2008.  Sadr City.  via YahooNews)