This is a farewell kiss, you dog

mlaldrid — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:51:38 +0000

The reporter obviously received an instant beat down and surely has more to come, but I bet he's also an instant national hero in Iraq. He's a minor hero for me, anyway.

I saw the footage of this earlier at the local sports bar, and people there cheered louder at this than any other single football moment.

a photographer's view of Iraq

bartley — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 04:46:07 +0000

The detainee was Ziad Sabah Jasim, and he tested positive for recent exposure to gunpowder. Back at JSS Thrasher a second man, Mustafa Subhi Jassam, had been detained and had also come up positive for explosives. The Iraqi captain conducted his interrogation behind closed doors, interrupted only once by American soldiers who recorded the suspects’ retinas and fingerprints with their new high-tech biometric scanner. The Americans used to just take down detainees’ names and photograph them, which Ziad and Mustafa had surely experienced before. This new contraption seemed to make them even more nervous.
The next day, Ziad and Mustafa were blindfolded, handcuffed, and put under guard on a cot outside the JSS. Ziad, the heavier of the two, was rocking back and forth. He looked as though he was in pain. Mustafa hunched next to him, with bright red lash marks clearly visible at the top of his back. Through an interpreter, I asked an Iraqi what had happened. “He has sensitive skin,” the Iraqi soldier said through a mischievous smile, “and he got a rash.” I lifted Mustafa’s jacket to get a better look. I’m no doctor, but it seemed pretty clear: Mustafa was allergic to being whipped by electric cables. When I tried to photograph Mustafa’s welts, the Iraqi soldier grew angry and stepped in front of my camera

fortsanders.net - iraq

This is a farewell kiss, you dog

a photographer's view of Iraq