Sunday 13 April 2008

Inside Guantanamo: Louie Palu

Photograph © Louie Palu-All Rights Reserved

Frank Rich of the New York Times authored an insightful Op-Ed today, which he titled The Petraeus-Crocker Show Gets the Hook . It's an extremely well-written and well-thought out opinion piece, especially when he writes: "Most Americans don’t want to hear, see or feel anything about Iraq, whether they support the war or oppose it. They want to look away, period, and have been doing so for some time."

Coincidentally, I found The Atlantic Monthly's Inside Guatanamo, a Soundslides feature by photojournalist Louie Palu, who visited the facility where the U.S. government is holding some 340 “enemy combatants”.

From the accompanying article, we read that "fewer than 20 percent of Guantánamo inmates have been members of al-Qaeda, a National Journal study suggested. The same survey concluded that a high percentage, perhaps the majority, of inmates were not captured on any battlefield, but were handed over by Afghan warlords or Pakistanis in return for rewards."

The slideshow is narrated by Palu, who could only photograph what the authorities allowed him to.

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