The view from Iraq

The above photo, which I have published before, is by Chris Hondros of Getty Pictures. It's part of a heartbreaking, horrifying photo essay "A shooting after nightfall" on crisispictures.org (note: image deleted 11/27/07 at the request of Getty Images Legal).

The incident pictured, in which this little girl's parents were killed by an American patrol in Tal Afar, happened in January.

Googling images from the current U.S. engagement in Tal Afar turned up nothing recent.

From Baghdad Burning:

E. looked at me wide-eyed that day and asked the inevitable question, “How long do you think before they bomb us?”

“But it wasn’t us. It can’t be us…” I rationalized.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s all they need.”

... It has been four years today. How does it feel four years later?

For the 3,000 victims in America, more than 100,000 have died in Iraq. Tens of thousands of others are being detained for interrogation and torture. Our homes have been raided, our cities are constantly being bombed and Iraq has fallen back decades, and for several years to come we will suffer under the influence of the extremism we didn't know prior to the war.

As I write this, Tel Afar, a small place north of Mosul, is being bombed. Dozens of people are going to be buried under their homes in the dead of the night. Their water and electricity have been cut off for days. It doesn’t seem to matter much though because they don’t live in a wonderful skyscraper in a glamorous city. They are, quite simply, farmers and herders not worth a second thought.

Four years later and the War on Terror (or is it the War of Terror?) has been won:

Score:
Al-Qaeda – 3,000
America – 100,000+

Congratulations.