Unembedded

It has been a while since I have had the luxury and time for a lazy Sunday morning tea. Read something. Watch something.

I am very familiar with embedded journalism in general and embedded journalism in Iraq in particular. I was immediately hooked when I saw four independent photojournalists talking about their work, "Unembedded". A book that documents and reveals the unembedded side of the war in Iraq. Going behind siege lines in Najaf and elsewhere under constant threat of being kidnapped or killed. Photographing daily lives of people there. People trying to cope with the kidnappings and lack of security, sectarian violence and the looming threat of civil war.

One image in particular probably sums up daily life there. The picture was taken during the shooting of a Iraqi television serial. A road side bomb blast and its aftermath was the scene being shot. Road side bomb blasts, the maiming and killing of civilians have become part of the everyday culture!

While I haven't read the book, I get the feeling it is quite powerful. Listening to the photographers and seeing some of the images and stories just reinforces my belief that there is a side of the war that the main stream media is just not telling us. Maybe they are not willing to tell us. Or maybe it is the people who are not interested in listening.

http://www.unembedded.net

Quote of the day
" We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter."~Denis Diderot (via quotegarden.com)