Tuesday 18 March 2008

Fifth year

From A UH-1N Huey helicopter, Corporal Andy Vistrand, scans the countryside of Anbar province from behind a .50-caliber machine gun. Image by Ed Darack

It's five years this week since the start of the debacle in Iraq. The debate still rages about the success of the past five years; both sides of the political spectrum pressing the same old arguments but neither, it seems, with any resolve or answers, to actually sort out any of the issues. Is it any better in Iraq now? The answer depends on who you ask, what you watch and who you listen to.

The Reuters news agency has posted a rather good 5 minute film (along with fifteen others in the timeline section) featuring some of the images captured over the last five years of conflict. Be warned that some of these images capture the true horrific nature of the insurgency in Iraq. Many of the photgraphs were taken by freelance Iraqi photographers who operate in areas deemed too dangerous for the western media - often at great risk to their own personal safety.

Click HERE to view the Reuters/MediaStorm multimedia site, with profiles on three of their Iraq based journalists and to view the other various videos, maps and features on offer.

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