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While deployed to Iraq one troop took amazing photos that represent some of the war. Balad Air Force Base is a tent city with a hospital that treats friend and foe. WARNING: Some photos are not for the faint of heart or children.
WAR! HUH! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Unfortunately it is a inevitable action that humanity will never move past because while there are those that instigate there are others that will not go quietly into that good night. Until every human reaches the stage of enlightenment that moves past blame, that is above the actions of the past, that looks at the now and hopes for the future, war will be the only resolution of political conflict. War takes the best of people and renders their hearts into angry festering sores that wish to blame and accuse everyone and anyone for the pain. It makes people victims and takes control away from every individual from the person who lives on the battle field to the wife at home waiting for her warrior to return. It encourages hate and retaliation, and it causes people to revel in the pain of others.
That is war, that is what it does to humanity. We see it everyday, but what we as people who sit behind our computer screens do not see is the real effects on the people. The pictures on the news are tame representations of the pain, of the suffering, and of the trials faced by the victims of war. Lastly we hardly ever see the one thing that keeps us all going, the one thing that those involved in the war hold on to with all of their hearts, hope.
So while you are sitting there, blaming, debating, and discussing whatever "truth" it is your think you know, people are living in desperation. Do we know what causes war? No, not one person on this planet can tell you the real cause of any war. All we know is the propaganda we are shown on whatever side we happen to live on or identify with. Somewhere in between the finger pointing, the frustration, the anger, and the vehement and passionate beliefs is a small disappointing truth of the war. The infinitesimal misunderstanding fueled by differences in culture and morality that was blown so far out of proportion that someone had to die to prove a point.
Here are the faces of the war in Iraq. No matter if you are looking at an ally, a foe, or a civilian, you are looking at a Victim of War.
I wonder if this person will ever get use of their arm again
Update: They did have full use of their arm
A woman whose jaw was blown off by a mortar
They did a pretty good job patching her up, but she will never be the same...
 This swollen appendage has been saved, I wonder what could have split the skin so far apart.
The bowels of a person that have fallen out of their body.
Another jaw injury.
 A child named Brutus by the men who took care of him. He lost his parents and was eventually claimed by an uncle.
Hope. A family reunited.
All of these photos came from my husband while he was over in Iraq. His ward had a 98% survival rate, most of the remaining 2% were DOA (dead on arrival). He took care of many insurgents whose photos he was not allowed to take for the safety of the person. He told me one of the most heartbreaking circumstances is when he would treat an Iraqi who was not of the same "faction" as the hospital they would be sent to for civilian care. He said they would beg him to stay for fear the other "faction" would kill them. He took care of many children who were also victims of insurgent attacks. On a daily basis he was exposed to horrors. Yes even the troops are victims, those images, the fear, the danger, it will never leave their memory. It is forever in their minds, in their dreams, in their hearts.
I doubt many of us here on DJ could identify with what is happening to people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, all the places that are war ravaged in our world. So put away the swords of words that all arm chair warriors brandish and embrace that there is nothing you can do. There is nothing anyone can do. Not unless we all agree at once to be peaceful and mean it to the very depths of our hearts. And that is the hope we must cling to.
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Good post Amaranth, this is the reality of war, they manage it day in and day out, suffering like this and with devastating injuries. It is not who started it it matters, how to end it peacefully it, so they can live a simple life. I hope there is an answer soon.
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I admit, I shuddered and cringed as soon as I saw those photos. And I think that's a good thing. We often don't see this side of war, especially on the ever-censored network TV stations, and it's a powerful reminder of how impactful this war has been to the soldiers fighting on the ground.
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Thank you both for the comments. Every time I open up that folder I try not to cry. What my husband has seen, and what the people of Iraq have been through just pains me. Those were not the worst of the injuries he described to me, but like I said in the article there were some pictures he was not allowed to take. Actually I don't think he even had a camera, those were taken on other peoples cameras.
He described one kid, about 15 that decided he wanted to launch an RPG. Well, he blew out his stomach, I am not sure if those bowls were his or not. I know they had to stuff them back in. Just a kid...
The baby left at the gate with the bomb, I know I told people before, well he/she had to be treated for severe dehydration.
Some of the men who were treated in the hospital were given simple items like toothbrushes, new t-shirts, deodorant. I think my husband said they were Kurds, well I guess they were just grinning from ear to ear. They were so happy to be treated so well and to receive these items. Something that we take for granted, they were grateful for and even excited to receive.
I want to catalogue all the stories from my husband, and hopefully my father who just returned from Iraq, and my brother who just returned from Afghanistan.
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The photos are one more reminder of why we need to stop believing that war is necessary. war causes the violence in the first place. Blow up someone's family and you create a soldier or a terrorist it all depends upon who gets to do the labelling.
War is a violent cycle that we have made necessary because we, many years back used up all our natural resources, and had to move on to take lands that belonged to someone else.
War is not natural but a human made construct that began when we forgot how to live in harmony with Nature and decided to usurp her role as provider.
We may have made war inevitable but not necessary.
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You are right, I stand corrected. not necessary, inevitable. Poor choice of wording on my part, I will fix it.
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@ Samantha A. Torrence:
You are right, I stand corrected. not necessary, inevitable. Poor choice of wording on my part, I will fix it.
BTW a very good article. -
Terrible destruction dances and the world’s days darken.
Rumi
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. I couldn’t see the screen through my tears. I am normally filled with wrath and contempt when I hear those who have never been to war talk knowingly of its “necessity” or its “justice” or other such nonsense but your article has robed me of anger and filled me with compassion and sadness. There in NEVER a necessity for war and NO war is just, some are only a little less unjust.
The US Army War College, people who know a thing or two about the subject, have come up with a definition for knowing when you have “won” a war. It is “When the state of the peace after the war is better than it would have been if you had never fought in the first place, then you have won. ALL other outcomes are to be considered a loss.”
I don’t think anyone could argue that the state of the peace in the region is ever going to be better than the cost of the war so no matter what we do or who “scores” we, and they, and humanity, have lost. The only thing that hasn’t been dirtied and debased is the courage and self-sacrifice of those, like your husband, who willingly go into harms way to bring help and compassion for all side.
Every race and religion on the planet knows the answer. They may say it differently but the message is the same.
The Buddhists tell us: Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." Udana-Varga 5:18
Native Americans said: All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves. All is really One."
Confucius said: "Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you" Analects 15:23
The Yorba of Nigeria tell us: "One going to take a pointed stick to pinch a baby bird should first try it on himself to feel how it hurts.
Socrates taught "Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you."
And Rabi Hilill, in the century before Jesus said for Jews and Christians and the whole world: “Do not do to others that which you do not want others to do to you. That is the whole of the law. Everything else is just commentary.
The lamps are different but all the light is the same.
Rumi
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great article. Very graphic photos.
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I seen these pictures and cringed as well. My husband is a medic also with the military and seen many things he just does not like to talk about now.
He has told me some horror stories as well.
This is a very well written article and I think very much needed. A side of the war that is never shown on television.
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Firstly, I would like to say that Am this article is very well written.
Secondly, I would like to state something about the war in general. Many people don't realize what it feels like to go through war. Many people watch TV and hear these kinds of stories, say "Poor world" and continue with their life. Not until their families are affected do they realize what war can do to a person, how it affects a person and how it changes them forever.
I went through war. I've never seen things like these images show in a war, but I went through it. And it changed me. It changed how I look at life and I look at it very differently than others (surprisingly, many people don't understand my points of view because of this). I would never, ever want a child to go through the same thing I went through. What is going on in Iraq is terrible. Since I am preparing to go to Africa next year, I have come in contact with one of the nurses who volunteers in Kenya but she also volunteered in Iraq. She said that at one point, bodies were just piling up, people were coming to the hospital and they didn't have anything to work with. She said it was true desperation. In the end, they ended up pin-pointing who is going to die next because they were so desperate. She also said that I wouldn't believe how many children died and how many she couldn't save. She also stated that, for the first time in her life, she felt hopeless. She was staring at the death, right in its eyes, and couldn't do anything to beat it. She just stood there and all she could do is cry and hope that it will end.
My friend and I were talking the other day while reading a Metro. We discussed something rather interesting. Every day we read or hear that thousands of Iraqis die. Before, this used to be a shock and now it has just become a number. Many people do not realize what 1000 means, how many people is that. And that is a sad part of all of this. Some people turn a blind eye on these kinds of issues. They say "It is not happening to me and therefore, it doesn't matter." But it does. If it is happening around the world, the time will come when our peace will also be shattered (God forbid) unless we do something about it and make it stop.
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We must first decide that we can prevent wars, before we attempt too.
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Perma- thank you for the compliment.
Lensman- your contribution is always appreciated, well thought out, I am glad the article touched you.
Brandigal- God Bless your husband. Being a medic is a hard job. I try to encourage my husband to tell me his stories. My father is going to be harder to coax into it because he wants to protect me from that type of horror. I feel it is my duty to be exposed to it even if it is just stories.
Franklin- Thank You SOOOO much for sharing that with us. It is great that people can share their personal stories and add to the discussion. I read your response to my husband and he said that there were rotations that did have many problems like your nurse friend described. Love and positive thoughts are going to her right now. I feel bad that she has to live with those memories for the rest of her life. I don't think I share your optimism that there is something we can do to end war. I think there is nothing we can do till humans evolve passed their aggressiveness.
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Phree you are right.
I just made a few updates to the picture commentary.
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Hey, Amaranth, great post. I believe it is so very important to get the perspective of conflict from those who are actually involved in it. We see the ten to twenty second clips on the TV news and pictures in the paper and in magazines and we can never truly understand.
Thanks very much to you husband for sharing his experiences. It must have been a huge strain on him to work so diligently and desparately to save so many lives. What a tremendous strain. I am so glad that he served his tour and made it back, relatively unscathed.
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Good post but a terrible truth.
We all need to face it though.
Thanks for the reality check.
MDee
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Hey that looks familiar...lol.
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Opinion: War's Reality Check
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