From Bill Putnam: On the surface, these two photos aren't anything special or probably newsworthy. They are photos of a sectarian massacre though. Insurgents stopped two busses carrying employees home from work at the Bayji Oil Refinery thermal plant the afternoon of March 31. They pulled nine men off -- six Shia and three Sunnis -- and shot them. All of the Shia and two Sunni died; one Sunni man lived and at last word is still in hospital. The circumstances behind this are obviously a little murky. Penetrating that murkiness is proving a little difficult for the 1st of the 187th Infantry. An official from the Iraqi Ministry of Oil arrived at the refinery the afternoon these photos were made. His drive up from Baghdad was faster than his investigation. No sooner than he arrived at the scene did he surmise it was the "work of insurgents" and concluded it. The next day 17 Shia families started an exodus out of Bayji that continues today. Staff Sgt. Jeremy Shields, 1st Lt. Dave Elliott and Alex the Terp, look at the scene April 2, 2006. A bullet casing from an AK-47 the insurgents used to execute the men. This third photo isn't related directly anyway to the massacre photos. Someone parked a car bomb on Highway 1, the country's main north-south highway which also runs through Bayji. The target was an Iraqi army Security Infrastructure Battalion convoy. The bomb wasn't the suicide version (no body parts found in the debris field) and the SIB didn't take any casualties.

Technorati Tags: iraq, iraq army, military, massacre

From Bill Putnam: I'm back in Bayji, Iraq, and re-embedded with Abu Co., 1st of the 187th Infantry. I was last with the unit in November and December. It's been the best embed I've had in Iraq, period.
The battalion is now partnered up with an Iraqi army battalion recently sent down to the violatile town of Bayji. A grimy city of about 60,000 people in Saluhiddin province, Bayji is also home of Iraq's largest oil refinery. The insurgency is active here because of their funding from the refinery.
Cracking the insurgency here will be a difficult mission. Photographing those efforts has been fairly successful so far.
These photographs were made on my first patrol back. It was also Abu's first time back in to Bayji in almost two months. Almost all patrols and missions here are now joint with the IA battalion."

Sgt. 1st Class Tim Shuler pointing to grafitti that says "Long Live Saddam!" in Arabic.

A junedi from the battalion during the patrol.

A lady doing what Iraqis do best: look directly at cameras.

Technorati Tags: daily life, iraq, iraq army, bayji, junedi, putnam

From Timothy Floyd: I had the privilege of serving during the initial phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom as an orthopedic surgeon in U. S. Army's 934th Forward Surgical Team. We traveled at the front with various brigades treating, not only wounded coalition forces, but Iraqi civilians, soldiers, Republican and Special Republican Guard, as well as Fedayeen terrorists. Initially, we treated the wounded in our canvas surgical tent. As the war progressed, we made unescorted humanitarian missions to homes, villages, hospitals, and camps, including a "black mission" to treat wounded Iranian MEK soldiers. My photographs tell the story of what I saw and felt, and the uncommon empathy, courage and humanity I witnessed. My experience was much different that what is usually portrayed in the American media, but is consistent with most accounts of men and women who have been to Iraq or who are there now. The Iraqi people are just like anyone else worldwide; most of them only want a peaceful life and the freedom to work, study, play and raise a family. (More of Dr. Floyd's photographs can be found here.)

CPT. Bryan Moore attends a post-op wounded Iraqi woman.

A boy wounded near Baghdad by a grenade his brother set off.

CPT Charlotte Lee attends a wounded Iraqi Republican Guard soldier.

An Iraqi man brings a sick child to an American Army doctor near Balad

Zuma Press photographer Bill Putnam has filed new photos in his gallery from Operation Swarmer, a combined US/Iraqi military sweep in the Sunni-dominated areas north of Baghdad. Recent news stories can be found here, here and here. From Putnam: "The operation -- billed as the largest air assault since the March 2003 invasion -- lifted 1,500 Americans and Iraqi soldiers in to extremes of barren desert and lush farm lands. Whatever the terrain, they looked for weapons caches and insurgents. Sometimes, they found them. More often than not, they didn't. While this operation was a sign of the (almost glacially) slow growth of the Iraqi army, it was also a sign the insurgency is still active and will take some time to crack."

Technorati Tags: iraq, iraq army, putnam, swarmer

Bill Putnam has loaded two series recently dealing with insurgent attacks on Iraqi forces. I'm posting them both below. And when he get's a chance, I'd like to get Bill's view of what's happening on the ground.

A gas tanker burns while an American soldier from 1st of the 71st Cavalry, mans a Humvee blocking traffic on a highway in Baghdad Jan. 22, 2006. Insurgents are attacking the country's oil and gas infrastructure, like the gas tankers, to stop money from the lucrative industry reaching the government.

Spc. Chris Schwarz, a medic in 1st of the 71st Cavalry, directs traffic away from gas tankers set on fire by insurgents in Baghdad Jan. 26, 2006. Insurgents are attacking the country's oil and gas infrastructure, like the gas tankers, to stop money from the lucrative industry reaching the government.

An Iraqi policeman winces in pain as Spc. Chris Schwarz, a medic in 1st of the 71st Cavalry, treats him for a gun shot wound to the upper thigh along a freeway in Baghdad Jan. 26, 2006. The IP was hit during a drive-by shooting by insugents in a black BMW. The IP claims they shot the insurgent were backed up an hour later when a black BMW with bullet holes and a dead man were found a couple of kilometers away.

The wounded Iraqi policeman is loaded into a polic vehicle for evacuation to a local hospital. The IP was hit during a drive-by shooting by insugents in a black BMW. The IP claims they shot the insurgent were backed up an hour later when a black BMW with bullet holes and a dead man were found a couple of kilometers away.

Iraqi army soldiers help a wounded soldier into the Abu Ghraib council hall parking lot after he was shot in the mouth by an insurgent sniper Jan. 22, 2006. The bullet hit him in the mouth and exited at the base of his neck. American medics said it missed his larynx, carotid and jugular veins and brain stem by milimeters.

An Iraqi soldier runs back into the Abu Ghraib council hall parking lot after another IA was shot in the mouth by an insurgent sniper Jan. 22, 2006. The bullet hit him in the mouth and exited at the base of his neck. American medics said it missed his larynx, carotid and jugular veins and brain stem by milimeters.

An American soldier puts a bandage on a wounded Iraqi soldier after he was shot in the mouth by an insurgent sniper Jan. 22, 2006. The bullet hit him in the mouth and exited at the base of his neck. American medics said it missed his larynx, carotid and jugular veins and brain stem by milimeters.

An American soldier puts a bandage on a wounded Iraqi soldier after he was shot in the mouth by an insurgent sniper Jan. 22, 2006. The bullet hit him in the mouth and exited at the base of his neck. American medics said it missed his larynx, carotid and jugular veins and brain stem by milimeters.

 

 

A wounded Iraqi soldier spits up blood after he was shot in the mouth by an insurgent sniper Jan. 22, 2006. The bullet hit him in the mouth and exited at the base of his neck. American medics said it missed his larynx, carotid and jugular veins and brain stem by milimeters.

An American medic treats an Iraqi soldier after he was shot in the mouth by an insurgent sniper Jan. 22, 2006. The bullet hit him in the mouth and exited at the base of his neck. American medics said it missed his larynx, carotid and jugular veins and brain stem by milimeters.

Alerting everyone to photojournalist Maya Alleruzzo's good works. Her story  -- outlining the trials and tribulations of an Iraqi officer badly injured  during a Christmas Day ambush -- has produced some results. Perhaps just a drop in the bucket, but a drop nonetheless. Here's a link to the full update. The lede is below.