This Is What A Dead Insurgent Looks Like
This photo was taken by my good friend Rafal Gerszak on Jan 16, 2009, in the Bermel district of Paktika province, Afghanistan. This insurgent was shot multiple times by security contractors working for the US military.
I didn’t post this photo for of shock value, or to garner sympathy for and humanize insurgents. Rather, I feel that it is vital to show the total cost of war in the most direct way possible. I don’t think that we see nearly enough pictures of the dead and maimed bodies that this war, or any war, creates.
I don’t know what effect it would have if the average person in the western world really understood the bloody mess created by the wars we start. Maybe it wouldn’t change a thing. Maybe we would still fling our young men and women into the teeth of death and disfigurment for reasons of politics or vain ideology.
But I think that everyone who has seen war, from journalists to generals, owes it to the people at home to show the realities of conflict in the nakedest terms possible.
Plato said that only the dead have seen the end of war. I believe that in the United States, despite nearly nine years of conflict on two fronts, most people have not even seen its beginning.
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Reality can be very ugly. But to have any glimmer of understanding – people need to see this. Thanks P.J.
Of all the Afghan blogs I follow, your is my fav. My son is there. My husband will probably be there on a CCAT mission before too long, too.
Thanks so much Holly, that is very kind of you. I hope your son and husband have easy deployments and come home safe and sound. If you ever need an update about what is going on where they are, just hit me up on the “email me tips” button on the right. I can make some calls.
This is what a dead criminal looks like. This guys was not killed by American Forces, he was killed by a man named Adam Khan from Nkhal, Bermel District. I was one of 3 US personnel in the DC when this picture was taken. He is a thug that showed up with 9 of his friends the night before this picture was taken to kill Adam Khan over a tribal beef. You can verify that with Raf. He will know how to get in touch with me. Whether a war was going on there caused by someone in the west, this is the everyday reality of life in Afghanistan. Make sure you put the right slant on this, i.e. the truth.