Reconcentrado December 2003

"As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire. In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in. The Americans embarked on their get-tough strategy in early November, goaded by what proved to be the deadliest month yet for American forces in Iraq, with 81 soldiers killed by hostile fire. The response they chose is beginning to echo the Israeli counterinsurgency campaign in the occupied territories. So far, the new approach appears to be succeeding in diminishing the threat to American soldiers. But it appears to be coming at the cost of alienating many of the people the Americans are trying to win over." - quote from Dexter Filkins NYT 12/7/03

A young boy stood amid the rubble of the cooking room of a home last week on the outskirts of Abu Hishma.
A Sunni man in Abu Hishma posed for a photograph last week with the number for his identification card. (Ashley Gilbertson/Aurora, for The New York Times) (12/7/03 NYT)
A Sunni family waited in a line of vehicles last week to leave Abu Hishma through the village checkpoint. (12/7/03 NYT)
An Iraqi civilian showed the identification card he must carry to go in and out of the village.
American soldiers on guard last week along a razor-wire fence that was put up around the Iraqi village of Abu Hishma in response to repeated attacks on troops by insurgents. (12/7/03 NYT)
An Iraqi policeman inspects a freight train which derailed after an explosive device went off on Saturday evening, on the northern outskirts of Samarra, 120 miles north of Baghdad, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
A soldier from the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division talks with an Iraqi boy while on patrol in Saddam Hussein 's hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003. (AP Photo Efrem Lukatsky)
A U.S. tank secures the area of a derailed freight train, foreground, after an explosive device went off on Saturday evening, on the northern outsirts of Samarra, 120 miles north of Baghdad, Sunday Dec 7, 2003. On background is the remain of another train which derailed by an explosion on Nov. 15, 2003. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
US soldiers patrol the streets of Al Hawijah, Iraq, during Operation Bayonet Lightning, a joint operation to locate and question persons of interest in the city(AFP/DoD/Jeffrey A. Wolfe)
US troops extinguish the flames leaving smoke pouring out of the turret of an armored vehicle that ran over a landmine and blew up at a major motorway intersection in Baghdad. Troops threw a cordon around the blackened shell and a dozen vehicles blocked off the Saydiya intersection on the main road heading south from the capital(AFP/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
An US Army soldier from Charlie Company, part of 1-22 Battalion of the 4th Infantry Division (Task Force Ironhorse), looks at anti-US graffiti during a patrol in Tikrit, 180 kms (110 miles) north of Baghdad.(AFP/Mauricio Lima) -Sun Dec 7, 2003
U.S. Army soldiers stand guard as a man rides a bicycle on a street in Kandahar. The US military faced mounting criticism as it began an investigation into the accidental killing of nine children in an attack on an alleged terrorist in Afghanistan. (12/7/03 AFP/Maqsood Ghayal) -Sun Dec 7, 2003
Japanese troops to be sent to Iraq will focus on humanitarian work in the country's south where basic infrastructure had been long neglected during Saddam Hussein's rule, Japan's defense chief said.(AFP/File/Kazuhiro Nogi)
A protester, holds a portrait of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi marked with a peace sign during a rally in downtown Tokyo, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003. About 800 pacifists, the organizer said, opposed dispatch of Japan's Seld-Defense Forces (SDF) to Iraq as local media said that Koizumi's cabinet was expected to approve the basic plan of military mission on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
Protesters march in a street in downtown Tokyo, opposing dispatch of Japanese troops to Iraq Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003 as local media said that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet was expected to approve the basic plan of military mission on Tuesday. About 800 pacifists took part in the demonstration, the organizer said. The sign on right read,' There's no non-combat zone in Iraq!' (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
Officials speak in front of the newly reassembled and restored Enola Gay, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress airplane used to drop the first atomic bomb, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's new Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia(AFP/File/Paul Richards) -Sun Dec 7, 2003
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, left, speaks at a news conference with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, background right, at U.N. headquarters Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) -Sun Dec 7, 2003
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, center right, speaks into a bullhorn while being surrounded by his entourage and supporters upon his arrival to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003. He was scheduled to go to the United Nations later in the day to meet with Secretary General Kofi Annan during a four-day visit to the United States. (AP Photo/Dean Cox) -Sun Dec 7, 2003
Tibetian demonstrator Tseten Lhagya protests near the Waldorf Astoria hotel as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabaol arrived there, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2003. Wen was scheduled to go to the United Nations later in the day to meet with Secretary General Kofi Annan during a four-day visit to the United States. (AP Photo/Dean Cox) -Sun Dec 7, 2003


Iraq war media coverage

revised 12/7/03 by Schoenherr | Songs | Films | Maps