Category: War

Remembering D-Day, 66 years ago – The Big Picture

Remembering D-Day, 66 years ago

Yesterday was June 6th, the 66th anniversary of the successful 1944 Allied invasion of France. Several operations were combined to carry out the largest amphibious invasion in history – over 160,000 troops landed on June 6th, assisted by over 5,000 ships,

via Boston.com: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/remembering_d-day_66_years_ago.html

Yesterday was June 6th, the 66th anniversary of the successful 1944 Allied invasion of France. Several operations were combined to carry out the largest amphibious invasion in history – over 160,000 troops landed on June 6th, assisted by over 5,000 ships, aerial bombardment, gliders and paratroopers. Thousands of soldiers lost their lives on those beaches on that day – many thousands more would follow as the invasion succeeded and troops began to push German forces eastward, eventually leading to the Allied victory in 1945. Collected here are some photographs of the preparation, execution and immediate aftermath of the 1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy, and a few images from 2010. (42 photos total)

June 7, 2010
Pentagon tries to steer media coverage on Iraq

Pentagon tries to steer media coverage on Iraq

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/24/AR2010052403839.html?wprss=rss_world

Before interviews with USF-I commanders or spokesmen, the contractor will have the task of talking with reporters (“pre-engagement with media outlets to determine the nature of the interview and the questions that will be asked by the media during the interview . . . to ensure that USF-I spokesman has maximum situation awareness prior to the interview”).

May 25, 2010
Knowing Where to Step, Gingerly, in Iraq – Lens

Patrick Baz:

It was pure luck. I had to get the right fixer. I speak Arabic and I knew how to make my way through. The thing with dictators or with dictatorships is that they make you believe that you are not allowed to. You start self-censoring. It is amazing because nobody would stop you from going to take pictures of the Republican Guards. I realized that when the fixer took me to the Ministry of Defense and the guys from the Ministry of Defense said: “Why don’t you come to us and why are you the only one? We want to show that we are defending our country.”

Link: Knowing Where to Step, Gingerly, in Iraq – Lens Blog – NYTimes.com

May 24, 2010
Book Review – War – By Sebastian Junger – NYTimes.com

‘Nothing to Do but Kill and Wait’

The author of “The Perfect Storm” spent months with American soldiers in a lethal corner of Afghanistan and details their intense lives in this original account.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/books/review/Filkins-t.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

The best way to describe Junger’s book is to say what it is not. “War” does not attempt to explain the strategy behind the American war in Afghanistan, or the politics of Afghanistan, or even the people of the Korangal Valley. As the action unfolds, Junger makes no attempt to connect it to anything else happening inside the country.

Instead, he uses the platoon (the second of Battle Company, part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade) as a kind of laboratory to examine the human condition as it evolved under the extraordinary circumstances in which these soldiers fought and lived. And what a laboratory it is. The men of Second Platoon are young, heavily armed and crammed together inside a tiny mountain outpost supplied by helicopter and surrounded by enemies determined to get inside. Indeed, there aren’t many places on earth where such intense and bizarre circumstances could be duplicated.

May 17, 2010
Advice for first-time embeds to Afghanistan

Over the past year I have been emailed frequently by photographers inquiring the “how to’s” of embedding to Afghanistan, especially those who are first-timers. I wrote very similar emails like this to very experienced colleagues (such as Alan Chin, John Moore, and Teru Kuwayama, to name a few) before I embedded for the first time in 2009. To save us all a lot of trouble (those asking the questions and those having to repeat the advice) I decided to compile a document entailing a list and series of frequently asked “Q and A’s”, as well as information given to me from these colleagues in the field; without their help my embed would have been much more difficult.

Link: Advice for first-time embeds to Afghanistan | Lightstalkers

May 15, 2010
Krista Wortendyke: (re): media series – new work

(re): media series – new work

Here are the images that are currently part of (re): media at Packer Schopf Gallery (re): media-untitled_021 (re): media-untitled_020 (…

Link: http://kwortendyke.blogspot.com/2009/07/re-media.html

Although most of us have never experienced war, we are surrounded by its imagery. This project is an exploration of the way that imagery and information from movies, videogames, the newspaper, and the Internet come together to form our perception of what war is.

May 4, 2010
David Finkel on The Good Soldiers: “I’m not obligated to these men, but I do want to tell a story that they recognize” – Nieman Storyboard – A project of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard

Nieman Storyboard

Tests & Reviews

via Nieman Storyboard: http://niemanstoryboard.us/2010/05/03/david-finkel-on-the-good-soldiers-the-obligation-is-to-the-story/

Tomorrow, Washington Post national enterprise editor David Finkel will receive the 2010 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize for The Good Soldiers, a bruising account of a U.S. Army battalion’s service in Iraq during 2007 and 2008. The $10,000 prize, announced by the Nieman Foundation and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, is given for excellence in nonfiction writing that exemplifies literary grace and commitment to serious research. We wanted to take advantage of the moment to talk with Finkel about his ideas on writing and the narrative approach he chose for his story.

May 4, 2010
The Consequences of War – VII The Magazine

In a very personal interview with VII The Magazine, photographer Ashley Gilbertson, opens up about the effects of war on soldiers and their families, himself, and the country.

Link: VII The Magazine

April 16, 2010
Soldier from "Collateral Murder" company speaks out – Boing Boing

Soldier from “Collateral Murder” company speaks out

“A lot of my friends are in that video. After watching the video, I would definitely say that that is, nine times out of ten, the way things ended up. Killing was following military protocol.…

via Boing Boing: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/09/soldier-from-collate.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

If these videos shock and revolt you, they show the reality of what war is like. If you don’t like what you see in them, it means we should be working harder towards alternatives to war

April 9, 2010
Reaction on Military Blogs to the Wikileaks Video – At War

As much as in the general public, military blogs have reacted with passion to the released Wikileaks video of a 2007 Apache attack in Iraq. With more expertise than most viewers — as well as more empathy, even among those who felt the pilots acted improperly — they explored a range of issues: Were the people in the video carrying weapons? Is Wikileaks a security risk? Did the military fail in not explaining the video more fully to the media? Should journalists operate so closely to insurgents?

Link: Reaction on Military Blogs to the Wikileaks Video – At War Blog – NYTimes.com

April 7, 2010
See No Evil – At War

Iraq’s elections were a photographer’s dream. Millions of people turning out to vote, long lines at the ballot boxes, and everywhere photogenically purple fingers being held aloft for camera and television lenses.

Then something bad happens, and you see the real Iraq. Or, rather, you don’t.

Link: See No Evil – At War Blog – NYTimes.com

April 7, 2010
War, PTSD, Soldiers and Prisons « Prison Photography

War, PTSD, Soldiers and Prisons

WAR In many ways I am surprised it has taken so long for a reel of film to make such an immediate impact on American audiences. The wikileaked military footage Collateral Murder shows us exactly wh…

via Prison Photography: http://prisonphotography.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/war-ptsd-soldiers-and-prisons/

In many ways I am surprised it has taken so long for a reel of film to make such an immediate impact on American audiences. The wikileaked military footage Collateral Murder shows us exactly what war is; war is the erasure of doubt, benefit of doubt in the face of procedure. The procedure of war is to kill.

April 6, 2010
Wikileaks: More background material on Iraq massacre leak – Boing Boing

Wikileaks: More background material on Iraq massacre leak

Update, 9pm PT: The US military has issued a statement on the massacre investigation (6.52MB PDF). An update on that video released earlier today by Wikileaks, which shows US occupying forces shoot…

via Boing Boing: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/05/wikileaks-more-backg.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

An update on that video released earlier today by Wikileaks, which shows US occupying forces shooting and killing civilians—including two Reuters journalists in Baghdad. Wikileaks has released additional photographs and video that provide more background.

April 5, 2010
WikiLeaks Releases Video Showing Death of Reuters Staff : CJR

I’d like to warn you that this footage has a relatively tight field of vision, and is quite a bit more graphic than some bombs-bursting style aerial attack video you may have seen before. Also seems worth noting that the pilots, if WikiLeaks’s annotations are correct, confused the camera held by Namir Noor-Eldeen, the 22-year-old photographer killed that day, for an rocket propelled grenade.

Link: WikiLeaks Releases Video Showing Death of Reuters Staff : CJR

April 5, 2010
PDNPulse: Stylized Photojournalism: Where to Draw the Line?

Shot with his iPhone using a Polaroid film filter app, the images simulate the classic look and feel of Polaroids. The washed out colors and soft focus lend the series a dreamy, remembrance-of-things-past feel that makes the images compelling, and in some cases, beautiful. Which raised the question: is this a case of style and form obscuring content?

Link: PDNPulse: Stylized Photojournalism: Where to Draw the Line?

March 24, 2010
Marja Embed: Six Weeks in Helmand Province – At War

Marja Embed: Six Weeks in Helmand Province

The first in a series of reports by C.J. Chivers on the early days of Operation Moshtarak, the major offensive launched in Marja, Afghanistan, in late February.

via At War Blog: http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/marja-embed-six-weeks-in-helmand-province/

After spending more than six weeks with the Marines and Afghan National Army in Helmand Province, Tyler Hicks and I left Afghanistan in early March. We plan to return a few times this year. Meanwhile, our colleagues will follow developments there, as Rod Nordland just did. But even as the conversation pitches forward, there are items from the opening of the Marja offensive that merit more attention. The limits of space in the newspaper, as well the shortages of electricity and time while on the ground, meant that material worth sharing at the outset never found an outlet.

March 22, 2010
War Memorials With Neatly Made Beds – Lens

War Memorials With Neatly Made Beds

Ashley Gilbertson is covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from the homes of those who died in combat, Miki Meek reports.

via Lens Blog: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/showcase-140/

Since 2007, Ashley Gilbertson has been recording the bedrooms to which young American service members will never return. “You walk into these rooms,” he said, “and you feel like these are the kids you used to hang out with.”

“I’ve been covering conflict and war for more than 10 years, but this is the first time that I’ve really felt like a war photographer,” said Mr. Gilbertson, who is based in New York.

March 19, 2010
22 Days – Foto8

These images, taken from news footage from across all networks demonstrate the lack of clear detail or understanding of what is actually being shown. The fragments of information are subtly suggestive but offer no clear verifiable or objective fact.

Link: 22 Days – Foto8

March 18, 2010
Video: War wounds – Don McCullin on photography

Video: War wounds – Don McCullin on photography

Don McCullin speaks about his ‘accidental career’ in war photography, and how shooting landscapes has granted him a sense of peace

via the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/video/2010/mar/10/don-mccullin-photography

The acclaimed frontline photojournalist speaks about the horrors of conflict, struggling with ‘this terrible name, war photographer’, and why shooting landscapes instead of battle zones has finally granted him a sense of peace.

March 11, 2010
On Assignment: A Perilous Route to Marja – Lens

Moises Saman, a freelance photographer for The New York Times, arrived there just after United States Marines had secured the district center. Traveling with Taimoor Shah, a Times correspondent and translator who is based in Kandahar, Mr. Saman was working independently from the military, unembedded, seeking to document conditions since the offensive.

Link: On Assignment: A Perilous Route to Marja – Lens Blog – NYTimes.com

March 8, 2010