Here is the URL to this wonderful series of essays and paintings at Art Net. artnet.com;
The Art of War
Command Post blog
Artnet Magazine has had a reporter and artist, Steve Mumford, in Iraq for nearly 2 years.
His Baghdad Journal is a must read. From the latest of 16 articles :
This was the last tragic patrol that I accompanied in Baghdad. I’d spent three weeks with two battalions of the 1st Cav’s 3rd Brigade, which has patrolled Baghdad since April. Although they’re past their halfway mark, most soldiers I spoke to expected to have their tours extended as the security situation in Baghdad heats up before the elections.
Not every neighborhood in 3rd Brigade’s area of operations is so grim. The brigade has spent some $300 million on projects throughout their area, upgrading sewer systems, electrical grids, schools, trash collection and roads, and working very closely with the ubiquitous neighborhood advisory councils, Iraq’s big experiment in grass-roots democracy. The projects are often substantial and appreciated. In one neighborhood I saw many of the residents standing around a backhoe that was excavating a trench for the new sewer main. Around us were lakes of wastewater, and they were obviously happy and excited for the new system.
[…]
Lt. Brian Suits with Platoon
Lt. Brian Suits’ platoon is picking up Iraqi National Guardsmen for a mission.
In civilian life, Suits is a conservative radio talk show host in Seattle.
He has a wry sense of humor which cracks up the soldiers but usually leaves the Iraqis mystified.
A dark-skinned, burly man argues with Ford.
“When I go outside my house the Americans tell me I can’t leave — just like the terrorists.”
Ford replies, “Am I telling you to go inside your house now? Of course three days ago I convinced my boss that I could sit right over there at that tea house and have chai. I was there for maybe two minutes when two grenades landed right here. . . . You know I hate the fact that I have to go knocking on peoples’ doors, asking for IDs. What I envisioned was that my men and you would be picking up shovels, working on projects.”
It’s impossible to tell if Ford’s words have had any effect, but his open demeanor and quick humor seem to have endeared him to some of the men and boys.
“It’s like 20 minutes of foreplay to get past all the initial blocks to conversation, the conspiracies and all that. Then you can start to talk,” he says.
As an artist, he’s excellent, recording the war better than a mere camera could. As a reporter using words, there’s none better, and few his equal.
command-post.org |
