Afghanistan: The Big Picture

Afghanistan, September, 2009

Today's entry is the first of a new regular feature on the Big Picture: a monthly focus on Afghanistan. From now on, I will post such an entry at least once every month as long as necessary. Violence in Afghanistan has reached its most intense of the eight-year-old war despite record levels of U.S. and NATO troops being sent to fight the Taliban. July and August were the two deadliest months to date for coalition forces, and September is already the 3rd-deadliest, with 38 U.S. deaths - 68 total including all coalition members. With an apparently resurgent Taliban and over 120,000 foreign troops on the ground, and a recent push for the U.S. to consider sending 40,000 more {beyond the additional 21,000 troops still committed but yet undeployed}, the situation in Afghanistan could possibly become even more intense in the near future. Collected here is a one-month collection of photos related to Afghanistan for September, 2009. {Past entries in category Afghanistan} {43 photos total}

These are some Outstanding Photo's, but must warn those with dialup or slow connections, they are not small photo's each is rather large on a long scroll page, so it might take time to download so you can view.

April 28, 2004: Abu Ghraib

The first photos of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal were shown on CBS's ''60 Minutes II.'' The photos had been taken by U.S. military personnel responsible for detaining and interrogating Iraqi prisoners arrested following the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Article by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, Torture at Abu Ghraib
American soldiers brutalized Iraqis. How far up does the responsibility go?, who helped break the story.

About Standard Operating Procedure, a new documentary by Erroll Morris on Abu Ghraib

A transcript follows.

Morris directed the Oscar-winning "The Fog of War," " Fast, Cheap and Out of Control," "The Thin Blue Line" and other noted documentaries.

About Standard Procedure - Trailer


Mary Mapes: Looking Back at Abu Ghraib 5 Years Later

We had gathered interviews, anecdotes and documents that indicated American soldiers there were regularly committing acts that violated military law, international treaties and moral boundaries. More ominously, there were signs that these men and women were acting on orders from higher ups.

All we needed to prove the story were the awful pictures we'd heard so much about.

Atrocities In Theaters of Occupations get your brothers and sisters killed, long before the outside world learns of them!!