Chris Hedges: The Pictures of War You Aren’t Supposed to See

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by

Trent
in

The Pictures of War You Aren’t Supposed to See

War is brutal and impersonal. It mocks the fantasy of individual heroism and the absurdity of utopian goals like democracy. In an instant, industrial warfa

via Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_pictures_of_war_you_arent_supposed_to_see_20100104/

In Peter van Agtmael’s “2nd Tour Hope I don’t Die” and Lori Grinker’s “Afterwar: Veterans From a World in Conflict,” two haunting books of war photographs, we see pictures of war which are almost always hidden from public view. These pictures are shadows, for only those who go to and suffer from war can fully confront the visceral horror of it, but they are at least an attempt to unmask war’s savagery.