Zoriah: Embed Termination - Statement About My Situation in Iraq

A few hours after posting my story on the suicide bombing in Anbar Province, I was woken up by a young marine who took me to receive a phone call.  A high ranking Public Affairs Officer told me that they were requesting that I remove my blog post immediately.  I asked on what grounds, as media rules state that wounded and killed soldiers may be portrayed in images as long as their name tags and identifiable features are not shown.  I made very sure my images followed those guidelines, and questioned a large number of soldiers on base to see if they could find anything at all that would identify the dead.  I did this primarily out of respect for the families.

© Zoriah/www.zoriah.com : blog use permitted : use credit : link to zoriah.com : permalink to this post

After the post was online, I was told that the Marine Corps would not allow even the pants or shoes of a injured or killed Marine to be depicted in images. This was a rule I had never been told or even heard of.  I refused to remove the blog post.  It seemed insane to me that the Marines would embed a war photographer and then be upset when photographs were taken of war.

A few minutes later my embed was terminated and a convoy was arranged, despite a fierce sand storm, to bring me to Camp Fallujah where I would wait for the first flight out of the Marines area of operation and into the Green Zone.

I still wait for my flight out one day later.  Apparently they fear that someone is angry enough to do me harm, as I now must go to the chow hall with two armed escorts.  However, I have had five or more Marines approach me on base and tell me that the images were the best and most powerful, real photographs of war they had ever seen, and that they supported my choices 100%.

© Zoriah/www.zoriah.com : blog use permitted : use credit : link to zoriah.com : permalink to this post

I truly labored with the decision to post these images and I still do.  But in my heart of hearts I know that people need to see and feel the reality of this horrible situation.  How can things change if all that comes out of Iraq are sanitized, white-washed images of war designed for mainstream media outlets who focus on making money, not on the quality and truth in what they report?

To the families of the Marines, the interpreters, the Iraqi police, and the civilians killed in the attack: you have my deepest condolences.  These men were attending a city council meeting and working together to better their community.  Something terrible happened to them when they were in the midst of doing a good thing.

I have done everything I can to post images of Marines that are not in any way identifiable.  I photographed to the best of my ability -- hoping to capture images that speak the truth yet capture the horror and senselessness of these kinds of attacks in a dignified, emotional, and artistic way. I have made sure there are ample warnings that the post is very graphic and very disturbing.  I put it on a separate page that contains even more warnings and buffer text and images before the graphic content is displayed to avoid anyone stumbling on it by accident.

If despite my safeguards these images end up hurting people, I offer you my sincerest apologies.  Please know that my intent is to show the true nature of the abominations of war in hopes that this will deter others from committing or accepting senseless acts of violence.

EDIT: The Multi National Force Iraq (MNF-I) upholds my rights to keep my credentials, minus the ability to document U.S. Marine operations. I would like to thank all of these senior officials for refusing to make decisions based on unsubstantiated claims. Click here to read my July 7th post.

Comments

[Keenon]

Zoriah, we appreciate your dedication and integrity to journalism and truth.
All of our support,

-NMMI Journalist Club

[Reader]

Whom could we write to to protest against this decision? And would that be something you would like your readers to do?

[T. Adams]

How ironic... our fallen countrymen died, in part, while protecting our freedom of speech and the freedom of the press. The Iraqis died for attempting to secure these rights for their nation. My condolences to their families.

[Mikasi]

Here's to hoping you are well. Be safe.

Mikasi

[Jes]

Just sending prayers and thanks to you for your work. Please let us know if there is anything you need or anything we can do.

Much Love!

[amintorres]

wow dude!
this is heavy stuff!

Images of war are unsettling, but the situations that lead to injured or dead servicemembers and civilians are unsettling as well. To think that there are people out there who have no problems planning and carrying out cowardly attacks against those that are attempting to bring some sort of stability to an extremely messy and chaotic area that is Iraq, is sad and depressing.

War is horrible. When our servicemembers are killed it hits home, and images of those servicemembers in their final, tragic states, immediately stops us, pushing our breath from our lungs and forces us to think about their, and our place in this world. But as journalists and reporters do we turn our heads and eyes from tragedy at the risk of upsetting someone else? As Servicemembers do we exclude "The Fourth Estate" from publishing the horrors of what we see and experience on a daily basis because it might offend? What about our responsibility to the American people? How do we explain through words and pictures what we are up against? How do we tell the story of a horrific attack on on our Servicemembers and civilians we are protecting if we do not show the aftermath of what our enemy has wreaked in a havoc attack?

Publishing gruesome photos for sensationalism is wrong. Publishing tasteless photos of violence and destruction for political, or whatever reason, is unethical. But there is nothing wrong with a reporter taking great pain to remove identifiable features of Servicemembers who were killed, and publishing those photos when they describe the aftermath of a terrible attack.

We are doing great things in areas across Iraq. After three combat tours in Mosul, Tikrit and Baghdad, I have seen real progress. I have seen young Soldiers act as counselors, policemen, ambassadors and warriors. I have seen the Iraqi people hug our soldiers and thank them for their service. But I have also seen violence. We kid ourselves to think that we can or should protect the American people from seeing the violence that is perpetrated against our Soldiers and the Iraqi people. We are involved in a War. A real conflict that pits several forces against each other and takes lives. It's real, and it is painful. Instead of going out of our way to choose what information we disseminate to the American people, we owe it to our citizens to give them an accurate reflection of what we are up against. the success and horrors of what we are facing. As reporters and photographers, American Journalists are an important check and balance against misinformation on the part of corrupt officials. If that responsibility is abused, then guilty reporters should be punished accordingly. But journalists should not be threatened or punished for reporting. For doing their jobs in informing the American people. I don't know what it is with this generation of leaders in our military. I don't know what they are afraid of. Maybe sensationalist press has taken their words or images out of context too many times. Maybe politically minded people have twisted certain photos and quotes to fit an agenda one too many times. Maybe so. I see many irresponsible networks and news publications taking field reporters photos and words out of context as well. I guess we need to figure it out.

Whatever the case, we have a responsibility to report what is happening in this conflict. Soldiers are dying. Civilians are dying. If reporters are responsible, which I think was the case with Zoriah's latest images, and report and document what they see, we shouldn't persecute them. Why ask reporters to come and cover a war, and then persecute them when they show the war? But somewhere down the line, we all have to get it right. Journalism should never be used to fit a political agenda, whether for or against a certain situation. This war has produced death and destruction. But our Soldiers are also doing great things to help the people they serve in Iraq.

[Jason]

I support you and your decision 100%.

[berkeleyhoward]

Heartbreaking. Your fine work deserves much broader exposure.

[Dave]

I only came across your work today. Whilst I found the suicide bombing images disturbing, I sincerely applaud you for posting them. I will follow your progress and wish you all the very best.

[paurullan]

I hope you keep on with your work. Telling the truth through your camera is very important.

[Major Neal V Fisher, USMC]

I am a Marine, and if I die in this fucked up place, the only thing I want my wife and sons to know about my last moments is that I died doing what Marines do. I do not want the image of my dead mangled body to replace the last image my family has of me smiling and talking to them via our webcams. I could give less than a fuck about the rest of America or the world seeing exactly how I died.

So no I don't support you putting those images out there, and I would be willing to bet one of my deployed paychecks that the Marines you claim support you are fucking FOBBITS who have never and will never leave the safety of their air conditioned office.

I don't understand how you can be embedded with Marines and not understand the family and brotherhood that exists not only amongst our ranks but also extends to our families. But then again, you are not a Marine, so I guess I do understand.

[Carroll]

One has to wonder if Maj. Fisher remains employed in the capacity of Public Affairs Officer, as he was in February of this year. Congratulations, sir, on your recent promotion to Major.

http://www.29palms.usmc.mil/dirs/pao/op/2008/OP%2002-06-2008.pdf

[laminarflow]

I guess this article was about Zoriah's embed termination.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/90480/

[WENDY]

THERE SHOULD BE NO SECRETS ABOUT THIS WAR.IF PEOPLE SAW THE IMAGES,LIKE DURING THE VIETNAM WAR,[EVERY NIGHT ON THE EVENING NEWS],THIS FARCE WOULD STOP PRETTY QUICKLY. BUT THAT WAS BEFORE NEWS WAS CENSORED.

[Michael Bilton]

I've thought about this issue of censorship a greater deal in the past 24 hrs since first looking at the photographs. I can see right on both sides. There is no question the photos deserve to be published and seen around the world. It's a question of timing. Having worked closely with the US Marine Corps many years ago while making a documentary about the bombing of the Beiruit barracks in which several hundred marines were slaughtered, I think I understand their sensitivity. Frankly the photos were published too soon after the event. So soon if fact that it would be very easy for the families of those dead marines to know that one of these men were their son, brother, cousin, uncle etc. I realise every effort had been made to make them anonymous but the fact they were put on the net so soon after the event means they are identifiable. Had some time been allowed to elapse they would still have retained their very great power - but the individual dead marines would have retained some anonimity. We have a duty to be sensitive if we are given privileged access as photographers/film makers. I do not say we should act as censors, the images had to be shown to the world and I imagine even the most senior generals in the USMC understand that. It would be best if they lifted their ban. It takes great courage to be a photographer in these dangerous places. I cannot believe the families of these brave marines would encourage the kind of state fascism/censorship that went on in Hitler's Germany or Soviet Russia. That said, photographers need to think about the timing of when their images are published.

[Sean Crowley]

This is a real 4th of July message Americans need to see and hear. Your courage in sticking to your principles is what Americans need to be reminded of, it's what makes us a great nation. We don not have a monopoly on courage and principles though in spite of what Bushists might want to claim. Thanks for standing up.

[Lily Casura]

Well, as ol' Abe Lincoln said, I guess you can't please all of the people, all of the time (obviously). I hope it works out well for you, I can't believe people can't get that even many of the Marines applaud your work for its accurate nature, but whatever. Thinking comes painfully to some. Hope you endure your trials and tribulations with grace and fortitude; and I seriously hope you get the Pulitzer Prize for your work. Not all the greats are appreciated in their own time; many are frankly vilified. Cold comfort, I know, but hey...it's the truth. Thanks for sharing it with us, at whatever great personal (and yes, I do believe that) cost...

[Vested Interest]

I want to point out that only three Marines were killed in this attack....only three. Doesn't that narrow down the identity choices significantly? There is no anonymity. If he could have respected these men that he was with, one was the commander of the unit and I am sure someone Zoriah dealt with on a daily basis, for 6 or 9 months, then I could see the merit, but he didn't even give the family time to get the bodies back. It just smacks of sentationlism and yellow journalism. Frankly, I think that the only reason anyone in the general public gives a crap is because they feel like your rights have been trampled on, they don't give a crap about those Marines and their families and I doubt any of them are shocked by the images....they see this on TV and video games and have become callused against the violence. So what you have achieved is notoriety for yourself and pain for the families. I hope to God the last image I have of my husband won't be of his half-blown off face. You went to push an agenda and your blogs prove that out and that has no place in journalism.

[Pope Ratzo]

Let's at least be honest about why the military brass didn't want these pictures shown: It has nothing to do with "respect for the families" or for the dead marines and everything to do with their phony public relations campaign to try to make us believe that we are "winning" in Iraq and that the "surge" is a "great success".

I can understand a marine being uncomfortable with the idea that his family might see his mangled body in the extremely unlikely scenario that in the middle of their greiving they're going to be reading some obscure (sorry) blog and see these photos. But soldier, I'm sorry, we're the ones paying for this ugly little adventure in Iraq and we have every right to know what we're getting for our tens of billions of dollars every month. I don't know how it works in Iraq, or how it works in the Marines, but HERE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA we have a first amendment and the freedom of the press is one of the most important concepts that our Founding Fathers held. And since those freedoms are supposed to be the very point of this silly exercise in the desert, our right to see what's happening over there trumps your family's expectation that you will have died a peaceful death in that suicide bombing. You might not like it (if in fact the poster really is a marine, which is doubtful) but it's the way things work here in the USA. You might want to have another look at the oath you took when you signed up.

[Laurel Havir Porter]

When I published the post about the Al Qaeda attack in Garma/Karmah for Zoriah on June 30th, his relatively new blog was read by about 175 people a day, most of whom were family, friends, and fans of his photography. Zoriah began his career in disaster response. To show the scene he encountered and to describe his reaction was natural. He has witnessed both death and the PTSD that affects the survivors of horrific natural and man made disasters countless times.

I hear Americans from both parties ask to see more of the Iraq War. My father is a veteran, and also a Republican who voted for Bush twice, and intends to vote for McCain. He thinks America needs to see war for what it is. My parents are shocked at what Zoriah and I have experienced after posting Zoriah's blog diary about the attack.

Why are people in our United States military allowed to express hate or make violent threats against their own citizens without anyone stepping in to stop them?

When Al Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center, and photojournalists documented Americans dead and dying, did we vilify the journalists? How many members of the police force, firefighters, and military threatened journalists and tried to ruin their reputations because they had their cameras out and documented American deaths?