Journal of the mental environment
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
Thousands of stills taken of Khmer Rouge victims at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison collectively document the systematic torture and killing of an estimated 1.7 million men, women and children. Looking into these victims’ eyes by examining the morbid, meticulous portraits taken before each and every one was murdered, is probably the most direct connection we will ever have to Cambodia’s mass killings between 1975 and 1979.
The head photographer behind these portraits, Nhem Ein, says he shot each individual within hearing range of the prison’s torture chambers. The victims were sometimes delivered by the truckload. One by one, he removed their blindfolds and posed them for the camera, forbidden to speak with them or answer their questions about why they had been rounded up or what was about to happen to them.
Today, hundreds of Nhem Ein’s photographs line the walls of the former torture house, which is now the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide. The majority of these portraits have since been lost or destroyed, as have the identities of many who were photographed, but about 6,000 of the remaining negatives are held in the museum.
And although the collection is incomplete, the photos captured details of Pol Pot’s victims – the full lips of a young girl, the sloping shoulders of a thin boy, the fearful, wide-eyed stare of an old man – that add up to some of the most terrifying evidence this world has ever seen.
At the close of many American news programs, we regularly witness some of the most poignant moments provided by television today: the ongoing Honor Roll, which flashes slowly through an unornamented display of portraits showing US soldiers who have fallen in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“And here, in silence, are 18 more,” we hear the news anchor solemnly announce.
The fresh, mostly young, mostly proud faces of men and women who’ve lost their lives march silently into our homes. Some appear upright and in uniform while others are shown in smiling snapshots. Names, ages and hometowns are consistently noted.
And yet these portraits only document one side of the story. The other side – the faces of Iraq’s dead – remains invisible. We see images of chaos and bloodshed but very few portraits of fallen Iraqis. We see grainy mug shots of terrorists on the news but no posed stills of the shopkeeper killed by a car bomb or the mother who fell under an errant American missile.
Imagine if every week a televised roll call memorialized Iraq’s civilian casualties with individual portraits. If this were possible, we would witness, in full, the staggering human costs of Iraq’s occupation on a personal level. The politics of history dictate who is remembered and who is not, and most countries prefer to honor only their own dead. Perhaps, if we were confronted with those we’ve killed, face-by-face, we could better question the notion of “us and them” and address the abstraction of death that skews our understanding of war.
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This is the 2nd article I've read where someone is more concerned with the deaths of Iraqi's than that of our soldiers. I mean everyone is aware that innocent people die over there but innocent people died here too! Do you think Iraq gave a elevised roll call of every person we lost in the 9/11 attacks?! Our soldiers are doing the job that everyone else does not or will not do...they deserve our respect!
Heather, I don't think you understand that no one is disrespecting American soldiers anywhere in this article. It merely points out the fact that it is far easier to care about the lives of American's rather than the people of Iraq, that seem so strange and foreign to us. Also, the people of Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. Saddam Hussein did not have Sunday brunches with Osama discussing their plans for terrorism. If you still believe this, please stop watching fox news and pick up a book like The Assault on Reason.
Absolutely dead on. A point the mainstream media does not make. Thank you so much for saying it.
Its hard to believe that people still believe the war in Iraq is justified. I just checked the numbers, and on 9/11, just under 3,000 innocent American's were killed. But since the beginning of the Iraq war, there has been between 80-90,000 documented civilian deaths. Now I support my American troops fully and respect them greatly for putting there lives on the line for mine. But they make that decision, innocent victims do not. I believe it's not a matter of being more concerned with Iraqi's dying, but a matter of being humane, caring for your fellow human.
To those who say this is anti-American. Think for a moment if we lost close to millions of our own countrymen and those on the other side lost only thousands. We would have nuked them or got the hell out. The fact of the matter is war kills everything, it comes down to who has the best resources. The soldiers who die are the same as the civilians. We are all human and if we learn to stand as a people we would then have a chance to obtain the peace we all have dreamed about. And not let government officials send our people to the slaughter house.
This is the most anti-american thing i have read in a long time although this will not be posted because the mod will not allow anything other than full support of the article. How dare you compare the lives of the fallen American soldiers to the wrong doings of pol pot.
I think brad pitt's charecter achilles in the TROY movie said it best imainge a king that fights his own wars, that would be a sight. Have we given a role call for every iraqi murdered for the past 20 years or so thanks to our foreign policies? as a matter of fact have we given a role call for any other country our foreign policy is FU## over
I thought so. You know we are told that this country could not be so powerfull if we didnt have this poeple to excploit and some of you belive that.
Yes... civilians in Iraq are caught in the middle and some are killed.... but how does the current civilian rate of death compare to the rate of death during the era of Saddam? I have no idea but assume that with the current government and US assistance the death rate of civilians has decreased. America must be commended for offering its sons to keep tyrants like Saddam out of power.
Imagine if every week a televised roll call memorialized Iraqs civilians killed by a still in place Saddam regime because we did nothing with individual portraits. If this were possible, we would witness, in full, the staggering human costs of Iraqs continued state of tyranny and genocide on a personal level. And know the costs of nonintervention. Imagine that all the soldiers that have given their lives so you could exist in comfortable safety could come back from the dead and haunt your dreams. It would shame you, if, indeed, you had any shame at all within you rather than just another colonized mind.
Leaders don't CARE that people die in war. Especially nowadays when we're not REALLY fighting to keep our country free. We're just all players in their little power games and we're fulfilling their personal/business agendas.
Wow, thats a powerful little essay. Amen to that...
I am Scottish and on the news the other day they were sadly recounting the new total of soldiers that had died fighting in Iraq. It amounted to something along the lines of 19. Obviously parents would favour their children. The loss for them hurts more than the death of any Iraqi civilian could. However, I can't help but feel bitter hearing this without the caveat... and 90,000 Iraqi civilians died. Not out of disrespect for the soldiers, but to ever get past these unecessary wars we need to shift our consciousness a little and recognise that there is a greater picture. During the Second World War, war was a reality faced by every citizen everyday. Modern TV wars negates the responsibilty for our own actions. To recognise the other side is part of confronting this reality and making our decision of when and how to go to war much stronger.
How do you value one life over another? How can you say that being born in a certain place or in a certain race makes you better or worse? Nations are created by men and upheld by drones who believe everything they are told. You better check yourself or just plug back in.....
Great article. I think what a lot of people may forget is the news channels are just showing us what the vast majority of people want/pay to see. In order to give the Iraquis in this casethe same consideration as the fallen American soldiers, the mindset of everyone would have to change.
How is it anti-American to suggest looking at the consequences of American policy realistically? Winter does not suggest denying American deaths. She merely asks that we consider the whole picture. If that happens to reflect poorly on us then we can only conclude that REALITY is antiAmerican. god damn reality, always making the US look like the instigators. doesn't it know we're the victims? BTW There is no connection between 9/11 and Iraq. And if there were, does that make their civilians less important than our civilians? you know, our 3,000 4,000 in the towers are more valuable than their 80,000 1.2 million and lets not forget the victims of US sanctions before the war, before 9/11. Those victims were not Saddam's friends, they were the voiceless masses. Saddam never went hungry from our sanctions.
I think that those who state this piece is anti-American are missing the point entirely. Nobody is saying we don't recognise and honour the allied soldiers who have lost their lives, just that we also consider the innocents from the other side too and just because the 'other side' didn't televise a roll call for all the innocents lost on the 11th of September does not mean the west should adpot a 'titfor'tat' response. Why not lead by example for a change instead of being far too gungho and over zealous, assuming anyone caught up in it all from over there is the enemy.
Why wait for the mainstream media to do it? Why not up a section on your home page that links to a page where pictures of civilian victims are kept with their stories?
Leaders often forget that people die in wars... leaders rarely do.
I think you make a very good point, and the numbers of Iraqi civilians that have been killed is numbing. Even if there was real acknowledgment, not even memorialization of these deaths. Heck more acknowledgment of our own soldiers that have died. We would all be able to see the real cost of this war.
Yes... civilians in Iraq are caught in the middle and some are killed.... but how does the current civilian rate of death compare to the rate of death during the era of Saddam? I have no idea but assume that with the current government and US assistance the death rate of civilians has decreased. America must be commended for offering its sons to keep tyrants like Saddam out of power.
The discussion about whose lives are worth more and what this imposed value of life means to geopolitics OUR people died and YOUR people died is actually an insult to humanity. Please stop this. One must take a broader perspective about the value of one county's people and another. There is a poem which has been reinterpreted as a performance piece by Restless Natives and features 9 'breaths' or segments, each a movementbased piece, combining South Asian and other movement styles with narrative and some percussion/music. Moment of Silence is the 5th of these, and, if you'd like, you can view any or all segments online here: http://www.spiritplays.org/nava5.htm
Check it out.
Miguel
Heather, what did Iraq have to do with 9/11 again? Oh yeah... nothing.
It is easier to believe the war is 'right' when the dead are faceless.
In response to the comment bellow. Iraq, as a nation, was not responsible for the attack of 9/11. We, however, are responsible for the violence there now.
This is not an antiamerican essay. I don't understand how one could think that it is, perhaps someone could enlighten me?
Great article. The life of an American soldier is no more valuable than that of an Iraqi civilian, or those murdered by Pol Pot. Each death is tragic, each life is equal. If anyone thinks it's Anti-American to say such a thing, they have a vastly overinflated sense of their own worth.