Zoriah- Photojournalist Portfolio

Zariah Disembedded from photojournalism assignment after posting pictures of Anwar Province suicide bombing

"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.

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%.

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."

Anwar Province Suicide Bombing Eyewitness Account

Pictures of Iraq and other countries are in his portfolios.

http://www.zoriah.com/portfolio

The link to the story 'Trash Life'  includes pictures of the families in the Phillipines who live on the mountain of trash and make their living there.

http://zoriahphoto.com/Stories/trashlife.html

© Zoriah/www.zoriah.com : blog use permitted : use credit : link to zoriah.com : permalink to this post A U.S. Army medic plays with a stray cat while on patrol in Sadr City, Iraq.