War in Iraq
In December 2003 I was assigned to travel to Iraq for the Seattle Times newspaper. Myself and Time’s reporter, Hal Bernton, would spend a month imbedded with various units based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wa.
While I was excited to get the opportunity to travel and work in Iraq, the expectation from editors back in Seattle was that my images would directly reflect the subject matter and subjects specific to Hal’s stories.
What is reflected in my final work from Iraq is a disjointed mash of images pulled from the various stories from the five or six we worked on in the four weeks we were in-country.
A US Army soldier leads the Stryker he commands through dense fog as his unit departs their forwarding operating base on a mission to intercept insurgents. ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times
A US Army soldier stands watch as his unit sets up a spot-check roadblock to intercept insurgents transporting weapons and bomb-making equipment north of Baghdad. ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Two Iraqi men are pulled from their truck after failing to stop at a US Army checkpoint being conducted by a Stryker unit based in Ballad, Iraq, north of Baghdad. ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
An Iraqi man is arrested after failing to stop at a US Army checkpoint. ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
A US Army fire-team get into position as their unit prepares to make entry of a compound belonging to a possible insurgent. ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)
Iraq - ©Thomas James Hurst/The Seattle Times (2003-2004)