Hooded Iraqi prisoner comforting a child [2003]

although i am nuetral on the war and not for or against it, a thing best said by an american GI who survived pearl harbor, and met the guy that attacked his boat, the arizona.

the Jappensse man apoligized for killing his friends, and said he was very sorry.
The american forgave him and hugged him, and replied,
“you were not my enemy, japan was my enemy, we were just soliders, we were people just doing what we were told. ”
and have been great friends ever since.

we are fighting the insurgancy of iraq, but the people fighting against us, have raised familys like we have, and have thought what they beleive to be true.

only a father can know how it hurts to see his child in pain.

The Greatest burden in the world is the weight of you childs coffin on your shoulder. Nothing in the universe can be heavier than that.

When I saw this picture for the first time, I was in tears. I have a son about the same age and I was just thinking what would happen to him if he saw his dad with a bag on the head waiting to be tortured and maybe for the last time…

A child will never get over such an experience. Whatever the reasons, war is not a place for kids. Sadly there is not much we can do about it.

It is hard for many to believe that there are people just like us out there. We are all rooted into our own culture and history. Many will believe that how we live is the normal and right way, ethnocentrism. We should all open our eyes and realize that people truly are not created equal. What you are born into is a random occurrence that we do not have control. Everyone has to make due, their life to them is the norm. There is no need to ostracize anyone who is doing what they think is morally rights, all morals are relative. Given that this is easy to say and hard to do, just put yourself in someone else’s shoes. But hey, what do i know I am not even 20 years old
- a college kid

gee, i thought in the middle east only the women were forced to wear veils… be honest with yourselves, all the ridiculousness of the war in iraq aside, we have done no worse to them than what they have already done to themselves. this guy could likely just be getting a taste of his own medicine.

Wow, donegan. What a sad thing for you, you see this photo and all you can think is another mean nasty thought. Do you sleep well at night? Do you ever, just for the experience, try to imagine yourself in other people’s shoes?

Look, we have done no good in Iraq. To start, we should mind our own business and not become the world’s police force. Second, this whole war is completely aimless and stupid; there are no WMD’s in Iraq, and al’qaeda wasn’t there either before we invaded. This picture totally shows the lack of support that we give their people, and the stupidity that went into the war. All that we have done is make the nuclear threat go up in that area, and destablize a fragile reagion.

that is very sad it looks like the dad is going to get shot……….and maby the kid is to
and thats why he is comfortinghim. so sad

What a curious paradox. Something maybe only a camera could capture:
A hooded [inference] Muslim [/inference] clutching his child lovingly. As distinct from a ‘hooded’ Muslim strapping his child with explosives for martyrdom.

What a topsy turvy world we live in! >_>

let me tell ya sad girl…that man is not going to get shot. infact he’s lucky that he’s even allowed to have his possible son with him in a detainie pen. What ever he did to get put in there, he’s being treated a whole lot better than his iraq counter parts have shone to the US soldiers. I mite not like the war but i don’t try to hinder our brothers and sisters trying to make a country safe.

As an Iraqi person and what most people here are ,a HUMAN being with a heart and conscience i feel really sorry for this man and his family. Innocent Iraqi people have had to deal with the messes of other careless people who only think about themselves and no other. People have got to wake up to themselves and start to think ‘What really happens to the families of these people when they are dead??’ ‘Who will take care of this poor innocent boy when his father is dead?’
I guess this will just take a long time for the world to do, because today its every man for himself.

GOD BLESS IRAQ!!

Having spent most of my childhood in the middle east and 3 years of it in Iraq i find it hard to read a lot of these comments. Truth is, that man probably will be shot and if you want to get on the topic of the treatment of prisoners, America does not exactly have a clean track record in that area ie Abu Ghraib. I have never heard of an american soldier being forced into having sex with other male prisoners while their captors held guns to their heads…

What i really think peopel should look at is that this man is never said to be a soldier, and from the way he’s dressed, it’s more likely he was an ordinary citizen who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. While i lived in those countries the only people i ever really ran into problems with were the westerners, for the most part, the middle eastern culture is a very gentle one (when you subtract the radicals - who only have weapons in the firt place becasue the americans armed the iraqi’s to fight the soviets in the 70’s - 80’s) And yes, women are treated as though they are worth less than a man, however, she still has rights, she can go to school, vote and drive. In a lot of ways i’d say the west is the ones who are backwards, the middle east has laws protecting women, they have animal rights, and even abortion is illegal except in medical circumstances. In the west, we recycle milk jugs but throw babies into hospital garbage cans…so who’s more socially advanced?

I’m not saying either side is right, but it seems to me from reading soem of these comments, unless you’ve actually experienced it or at the very least done some research ; you have no idea what you’re talking about.

ian i agree in part with that mans Ideology however this doesn’t apply to this situation. This isnt a war consisting of two armies, this war consist of civilians and an army. Yes many of these civilians actions are questionable but how do you justify killing of another being? Do you say it was in name of father and country, do you say it was in the name of god or do you say its because its human nature to kill and its natural for the weak to fall? Either way you can not say that a man has the right to take the life of anothers regardless of the circumstances

I like the story Ian but in some respects i disagree with the concept in this sense, iraqi civilians aren’t fighting in the name of god, or country or anything else, when you speak with them they are defending their families and in most cases that’s the simple truth of it. You cannot weigh a country like Iraq, already vulnerable from the Gulf War against a country like the USA who should have known better.

It’s not a war about freedom, or terrorism or any other ‘just cause’ it is simply an obsession with power and the west believeing they are the superior race with the god given right to ‘educate’ those who they deem inferior by their own standards. You look at wars like WWI and WWII where the west invaded Germany and the surrounding area with the sole purpose of liberating a people from opression. If you talk to a veteran now, they may respect the army life, but i doubt they would give the war in Iraq the same respect and credability as Pearl Harbour

WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER. It only brings more violence, death and desire for revenge.
The war in IRAQ is not justified by any meaning.
Where are the Weapons of mass destruction?. We should care more about the planet and less about killing each other

How about changing the caption to “present and future terrorist….”