Projects: The Anonymous Wounded of Iraq

Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the country has been the theater of frequent, indiscriminate and deadly attacks on the civilian population. The extreme insecurity in Iraq has drastically limited the work of journalists and humanitarian organizations in recent years. As a consequence, the repetitive statistics of dead and wounded emanating from the country following each significant attack have become meaningless and abstract. The end of American military presence in Iraq and the closure of a painful chapter in the country’s history has left behind a social and political landscape rife with sectarian tension and violence. This project is an attempt to put a human face on the thousands of Iraqi men, women and children whose lives have been destroyed in complete anonymity by the rampant violence and insecurity that have become part of daily life in Iraq. The subjects are being treated in a Médecins Sans Frontières program that helps victims of violence who can not receive the medical attention they require in their own country due to years of embargo, war and the flight into exile of qualified medical personnel.