Iraqi Tableaux
I arrived in the Kurdish city of Suleimaniya, in northern Iraq, the day before the US led coalition invaded. Suleimaniya was the headquarters of one of the main Kurdish groups opposed to Saddam Hussein and it was expected coalition forces would also invade from Kurdish territories, but in the end Turkey would not allow this. For us journalists, in the north, that meant a sort of phony war, which continued until Iraqi forces just melted away in front of us and we finally met US troops in Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit.
After the war was officially over I returned to Iraq and travelled the country shooting stories. By this time it was already clear that the country was falling apart. The coalition had made no plans for post-war government. In the capital, Baghdad, car bombs were starting to become commonplace; different neighbourhoods were building barricades against looters and in the countryside I met people who openly talked of revolt against the US led coalition.
In the north tensions between Arab and Kurd were obvious and in the rest of the country the divide between Shia and Sunni was widening.
In spite of this uncertainty it was a fascinating place to photograph in and in the immediate post-war period I found most people to be warm and welcoming.
Waiting for alms near a clerical office in the holy city of Najaf