The Setting

Wolfpack escort to MOH
Truck at Spinal Cord Injury hospital next to Canal hotel
Al Rashiid hotel rocket attack
a Kimadia warehouse
Ross and kids
A friend of mine who came to Baghdad from Holland. A member of Doctors without Borders.
XMAS at the CPA DF copy
A group of Marines who guarded the CPA Palace. Carlin Charleston is the Marine in Civilian clothes, he was a member of the CPA MOH team.
pass it back copy
Map planning
Future is so bright... gotta wear shades
Donation to a hospital during a Congressional Delegation visit
Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein when we were friends. President Reagan's emissary to Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld, shakes Saddam Hussein's hand sometime during Iraq's war against Iran. The United States, perhaps because of its sudden ill fortunes with Iran and the Ayatollah Khomeini, was the first major power to recognize Saddam's legitimacy as the ruler of Iraq.

The United States helped legitimize Saddam as the legitimate ruler of Iraq

Only weeks after the Shah of Iran sought medical treatment in the United States and the Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran and declared himself the Supreme Leader, Saddam Hussein killed many of his political opponents and declared himself ruler of Iraq.  

After the Americans refused to return the Shah to Iran to face charges, the Iranians stormed the US Embassy and took American hostages.

 The long friendship between the United States and Iran seemed over.

Perhaps Saddam saw the shift in relations between the US and its large rival to its east as an opportunity to obtain the the internal and international status, weapons and wealth he desired.   

During the war between Iraq and Iran, the United States vetoed the international effort to punish Iraq for the illegal use of chemical weapons, and the US Navy mistakenly shot down an Iranian airliner that strayed too closely to the American fleet.

A MONUMENT OF DEATH. Iranian helmets on display at the famous Swords of Qadisiyah at the War Victory monument in Baghdad

War against Iraq

The Qadisiyah Saddam, the war against Iran, was an eight-year-long awful, bloody stalemate that killed more than a million people.  Fought with traditional weapons, buzz bombs against civilian populations and chemical weapons, the US supported Saddam’s Iraq by treating Saddam as the legitimate ruler of the country, and selling him weapons to be used against their new enemy.

MOH. The Ministry of Health, Baghdad, OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Life under the dictator

Saddam initially supported the population by investing a significant amount of the country’s oil wealth in services and infrastructure.  At the same time, Saddam mercilessly controlled the Iraq’s population in every way.  Until after his defeat in the Kuwait War, the standard of living within the country improved for those who accepted his harsh, unforgiving rule, but was hell for those who did not.  After the war, the infrastructure quickly crumbled as Saddam responded to the UN Sanctions by all but completely ceasing to invest in public services.

SADDAM WAS A CRUEL, VICIOUS DICTATOR. A picture of the prison at Abu Ghraib after the Americans moved in. This is only one of the prisons where Saddam held political prisoners.
STRATEGIC BOMBING in 2003 at the beginning of the second coalition war against Iraq. "Shock and Awe" demonstrated America's ability to strike hard and accurately from hundreds of miles away. The carefully targeted air strikes early in the war convinced many Baghdad residents that this time, war against the Americans may be different than the first.
ON PATROL American soldiers patrol a neighborhood. Beginning in 2003, unlike in the earlier "Gulf War" or "Kuwait War" American patrols became common sites in many Iraqi cities and towns.
AMBASSADOR BREMMER AND SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL. Paul Bremmer, the "Viceroy" of the Coalition Provisional Authority led a hard working and idealistic staff in a spirited experiment in occupational governance. Personally, I doubt that successfully rebuilding the infrastructure and installing a democratic government was ever the true goal of President Bush's administration and the US Government. However, if I am correct, it is very possible even Bremmer (maybe even Powell) did not know the administration's true goals.
THE IRAQI PEOPLE MUST CARRY ON. A man awaiting healthcare for his family outside a hospital in Baghdad
THE WAR BECOMES AN OCCUPATION. This soldier guards an Iraqi bank in Baghdad in late 2003.
THE CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE Though children will cope, children growing up in a war environment are deeply impacted-forever. Often kids would approach us and shout, "George Bush number one!" or "USA."
THE COALITION. Not all the soldiers in Iraq were American or Iraqi... The Coalition partners also contributed blood, sweat and tears.
THE INSURGENCY. The insurgency gains strength. This was Iraq's only Spinal Cord hospital. It sat adjacent to the Canal Hotel in Baghdad. This photo was taken the day after a a car bomb interrupted a UN Conference in August 2003. Shortly after another car bomb blew up at the International Red Cross offices. Both the UN and Red Cross moved their operations to Amman, Jordan.
SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS CAUGHT "LIKE A RAT IN A HOLE." A newspaper headline shouted that "Saddam Hussein was caught like a rat in a hole." This observation was not lost on the Iraqi people.
"GO USA" By 2004, this probably was not a sign of support for the initially popular Americans.