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April 21, 2006
Whipping Boy
The sound lashed across the desert, chased by the sounds of men yelling. There, a hundred yards away, were two men, swinging whips at two other men.
I grabbed my camera and walked over, joining a group of several dozen Afghan men, all of whom were out here in the middle of the desert building a British military base. As I approached, I made a few photographs, then sat with them in the dust, shutter snapping all the while.
They were wildly dancing to avoid the snap of the lash.
The whips were made of tightly rolled cloth not animal hides so it did not seem to hurt much when the men got hit.
Much…
Finally, as supper time approached, everyone left to their tents before heading to the mess tent.
The War in Afghanistan has truly begun. This will be a long, difficult fight that is set to eclipse anything we’ve seen in Iraq. As 2010 unfolds, my 6th year of war coverage will unfold with it. There is relatively little interest in Afghanistan by comparison to previous interest in Iraq, and so reader interest is low. Afghanistan is serious, very deadly business. Like Iraq, however, it gets pushed around as a political brawling pit while the people fighting the war are mostly forgotten. The arguments at home seem more likely to revolve around a few words from the President than the ground realities of combat here. I can bring the ground realities, but can sustain the coverage only by the graciousness of readers. Please keep that in mind. Please click…
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