David P. Gilkey - Window on Iraq

Since David Gilkey is leaving the Detroit Free Press, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to show a series of his from 2004 that was a personal favorite of mine. And you may remember, he was part of the team at the Free Press who won a national News and Documentary Emmy this past September for a different series, Band of Brothers, about National Guard Soldiers from Michigan. See the story at freep.com - Columbia Journalism Review also had a nice piece here.

Story and Photos - David P. Gilkey, Detroit Free Press. September 2004.

BAGHDAD - This neighborhood is divided into two worlds: the one Iraqis live in and the one U. S. soldiers drive through.

The people in both understand the dangers of interacting with each other. Iraqis seen talking with the Americans could be killed by their neighbors. Soldiers must regard all Iraqis as potential armed enemies.

The troops with the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, Apache Company 1-12 Cavalry from Fort Hood, Texas, make daily patrols through the Al Tamar and Al Oubaidy sections of Sadr City. Everyday scenes are framed through the bulletproof windows of their armored Humvee -- from men gathered in front of posters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric who has led a bloody resistance to the Americans in Iraq, to the gentle site of his-and-hers comforters hanging on a line to dry.





As the soldiers pass, the Iraqis signal their feelings in an instant, from disgust to excitement, from curiosity to indifference. The only constants on this tour are the walls, steel and glass that separate the two worlds.

Free Press staff photographer David P. Gilkey has spent more than six months in Iraq since covering the initial U.S. invasion with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division.




David is off to Washington to shoot video for National Public Radio, where they are making serious efforts at producing high quality video content for the web. Best of luck, David.