Posted on 12/19/2004 9:07:11 PM PST by Former Military Chick
WASHINGTON — Even though thousands of pictures have been taken during the U.S. occupation in Iraq, Maj. Benjamin Busch doesn’t think many Americans have really seen the country.
The Marine took hundreds of photos of his own during his 13-month tour following the invasion of Iraq, and will be displaying 100 of them at University of Maryland University College in College Park, Md., next month. He thinks they show an unfiltered look at everyday Iraqis, and their reaction to the war.
“This exhibit does not insist that the war was a mistake or that it was necessary; those positions have lost their relevance,” he said. “It simply states that it is a war and that we have a duty to understand our situation now that that distant country is a part of our lives.”
Busch, 36, an actor who has performed in a number of television shows including “The West Wing” and “The Wire,” has been an amateur photographer since graduating from college. He also served as the commanding officer of Delta Company, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, which arrived in eastern Iraq in April 2003.
The pictures in the exhibit were all taken in the following six months, as his unit moved along the Iranian border.
“It was very difficult to take this series of photographs during my first deployment,” he said. “I was the provisional military authority for a large piece of territory … I could not allow myself or my Marines to be considered vulnerable tourists.
“There are thousands of images that I had to walk or drive past simply because the moment had not been appropriate to pause.”
What he did record is a series of faces and emotions of Iraqi citizens watching their country undergo dramatic changes. A number of his photos were put on display at Vassar College in New York earlier this year, and Busch was impressed with how well the audience could separate controversy surrounding the war from the pictures themselves.
“Intelligent viewers appreciated the messages in the exhibit for what they were,” he said. “[The photos] were taken by a Marine with an unlikely combination of both a military and an artistic perspective in a combat zone.”
Busch is scheduled to return to Iraq next month, shortly after his exhibit, “The Art of War,” opens. He said he isn’t sure what to expect on the return trip.
“When I took most of the photographs in this show, I was able to make and, to a certain extent, control the first impression that the Iraqi people had of American occupation,” he said. “This time I will be operating in an area corrupted by our armed response to an increasingly popular insurgency.
“But I will bring my camera. I don’t go there to take pictures, I take pictures because I am there.”
Photo by Major Benjamin B. Busch, USMC Res. "Disappeared," was taken by Benjamin Busch in May 2003 near Badrah, a village 75 miles east of Baghdad near the Iranian border. Locals gathered to exhume a mass grave outside the town, and brought photographs of their loved ones to identify the remains by the bits of clothing left behind.
Photo by Major Benjamin B. Busch, USMC Res
"Ice Man," was taken by Benjamin Busch in April 2003 outside of al-Kut, in southeast Iraq. This man was a manager of a ice factory and actually lived in his store after the invasion began because the demand for ice to keep food from spoiling had attracted looters.
Photo by Major Benjamin B. Busch, USMC Res.
.This photo, titled "Gathered In Holy Cloth," was taken by Benjamin Busch in May 2003 near Badrah, a village 75 miles east of Baghdad near the Iranian border. The bones were exhumed from a mass grave outside the town and given a proper Islamic burial by their relatives, some of whom had waited more than a decade to search for the remains out of fear.
We are occupying Iraq? Does Ayad Allawi know about this?
"Increasingly popular insurgency"
Yep, I'm sure glad this guy is displaying the pictures without bias.
I'm sure the Iraqis are just thrilled to death (a very appropriate term) to know that insurgents could even possibly return the nation to the types of repression the likes of which Hussein was famous for.
Its Maryland what would you expect. We own a home there, and lets just say, well I will say it, we were the only republicans on our street.
Shocking, just shocking when they voted a repub in for Gov.
I hate to say this, but honestly, how can any upright humanoid fall for the left's drivel any longer? Those folks hate this nation with a passion. They can barely contain their delight at the insurgency's relative success in Iraq. Is this something you'd be proud to be a part of? It just defies explanation that someone who could afford to purchase a home and provide for themselves, could be that everlovin' stupid.
Do you think he is a victim of the MSM since he has been back?
The guy just seems to say things that reveal what his innermost thoughts are, even though he professes to present his photos in a neutral light.
"This exhibit does not insist that the war was a mistake or that it was necessary; those positions have lost their relevance," he said. Lost their relevence? It no longer matters that over 500,000 Iraqis died brutal deaths as a result of Saddam's treachery?
"This time I will be operating in an area corrupted by our armed response to an increasingly popular insurgency." Corrupted by an armed response to terrorism? Yikes.
These are the comments of a man that just does not get it.
This is a caption under one of his photos.
"This photo, titled 'Gathered In Holy Cloth,' was taken by Benjamin Busch in May 2003 near Badrah, a village 75 miles east of Baghdad near the Iranian border. The bones were exhumed from a mass grave outside the town and given a proper Islamic burial by their relatives, some of whom had waited more than a decade to search for the remains out of fear." This is the populace he thinks is now loving the insurgency more each day. This the same insurgency that is killing and maiming literally thousands of Iraqis month after month.
I think this guy should go back to acting, something he may or may not be proficient at. He certainly doesn't have his head screwed on very sqarely from my perspective.
Having said that, take a look at how MD voted by county. You'll see that MoCo, Baltimore County and Baltimore city are keeping MD blue.
Ahem. Your house is undoubtedly in the DC suburbs of Monty or PG counties. . .maybe Howard Co. Alas, these are the bluest of the blue.
OTOH, the shores of the mighty Chesapeake Bay permits the Eastern Shore counties to remain the reddest of the red.
Sigh. We always get painted with the liberal brush.
Yeah. Amazing how some counties can ruin this beautiful state.
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