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INTRODUCTION
By now it is a truism that The first casualty of war is truth.
How is anyone to know what is going on? Which news source to believe:
Al Jazeera? Fox? CNN? Both the New York Times and Washington Post
recently apologized to their readers for the inadequacy of their pre-invasion
period coverage.
US and other foreign journalists were embedded with American
and British troops. Few were able to explore the Iraqi side of things.
Now it is unsafe for US journalists to walk the streets in much of
Iraq. Few speak Arabic. In many situations reporting is prohibitively
dangerous and difficult.
The Daylight Community Arts Foundation, a group committed to new forms
of documentary, had the idea of providing Iraqi civilians with disposable
cameras to get another, perhaps more tenable point of view. Why not
ask the subjects what is going on, instead of making them the objects
of a foreigners camera?
These pictures are a result of that experiment. They are glimpses
from the inside. Ten people were given cameras in April and May. They
were told: This is an opportunity to show the American public
what you want them to see.
No one has found weapons of mass destruction. But in these pictures
taken from only ten rolls of film - there may be glimmers of
another, more formidable weapon: understanding. |
-- Fred Ritchin
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