 The first time I saw his photo, it instantly
reminded me of the world-famous photo by Nick Ut, and the story of Kim
Phuc, the 9 year old Vietnamese war victim fleeing naked, having been napalmed.
-
- Today, I was deeply disturbed to see on AOL''s opening
page, the photo and accompanying Associated Press article concerning the
severe injuries of the 12 year old Iraqi boy, Ali Ismaeel Abbas. He has
lost both arms, suffered extensive burns, and lost 16 members of his family.
-
- The first time I saw his photo, it instantly reminded
me of the world-famous photo by Nick Ut, and the story of Kim Phuc, the
9 year old Vietnamese war victim fleeing naked, having been napalmed. That
photo was taken on June 8, 1972 and quickly made front page news world-wide,
with LIFE magazine giving it full cover page exposure.
-
- Twenty-four years later, in 1996, Kim Phuc spoke at the
Veteran's Day ceremonies in front of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in Washington
D.C.
-
- She said:
-
- "As you know, I am the little girl who was running
to escape from the napalm fire. I do not want to talk about the war because
I cannot change history. I only want you to remember a tragedy of war in
order to do things to stop fighting and killing around the world."
-
- Kim Phuc''s hopes (not surprisingly) remain unfulfilled,
as Ali and the thousands of Iraqi war victims bear testimony to this.
-
- But what has horrified me most about the presentation
of this, is the ''sanitised'' head-shot photo of Ali, and the fact that
the mainstream media has managed to keep this out of the limelight - until
now.
-
- What is not mentioned is that Ali has been lying in (in
his own words) "Pain for 24 hours a day, which a mountain could not
bear." And this has been for some three weeks. However, his story
and uncensored photos have been widely known of, as is proven by the fact
that I saw them first, almost two weeks ago, on a website called March
for Justice, www.marchforjustice.com
- Specifically, one can find the first one (of several
over a number of days) under their link ''April 3.''
-
- And I would urge readers to see the uncropped photos
revealing the full extent of his injuries. After all, we were not simply
''treated'' to a nicely cropped head-shot photo of Kim Phuc in her full
agony and horror!
-
- I had also seen uncensored news footage on a foreign
(Arabic) TV news report by satellite TV (Channel LINK TV) where Ali spoke,
asking "What sort of liberation is this?"
-
 I wait
with bated breath for the first appearances of Ali on Western TV, no doubt
appearing in a tidy sanitised Kuwait hospital where he has finally been
take to, courtesy of the US military.
-
- The Associated Press reporter concludes his article (as
appeared on AOL) with a Kuwaiti hospital doctor stating that, "four
other Iraqi children are being treated at the hospital with war-related
injuries such as a lost eye and a gunshot wound in the lung."
-
- My question is, and what of the hundreds and hundreds
of other children (and all other civilians), again many disclosed in uncensored
photos on March for Justice''s website? When will they be taken from a
situation where there is no painkillers, no anesthaesia, no medicine, no
water?
-
- My other question is, when (if at all) will Ali receive
the same unsanitised exposure world-wide, as was the case for Kim Phuc?
-
- Copyright 2003, David Taub
- UKpoet@aol.com
-
- David Taub is a member of :
- The British organisation ''''National Union of Journalists''''
(NUJ);
- Columnist for the UK magazine ''''Poetry Now'''';
- Freelance writer for various UK and USA magazines;
- Co-author of Language of Souls (listed on amazon.com)
- Florida Writers Association''''s Royal Palm Best Book of the year, 2002
award.
- Website: www.ukpoet.cjb.net
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