The Middle East has always fascinated me. I lived in Iran in the 1970's and traveled throughout the area. The people and the countryside are among the most beautiful in the world. The Iranian Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War and then the Gulf War seemed to put that part of the world off-limits for years. In 1991 the Gulf War had been over for 6 months and the UN Sanctions had been in place for over a year. Travel to Iraq by US citizens was forbidden by United States State Department to all but pre-approved groups of journalists.

The Iraqi Businessmen's Association of Washington, D.C., hoping to bring publicity to the plight of the Iraqi people, commissioned a group of seven photographers to go to Baghdad and photograph what effect the UN Sanctions were having on the people of Iraq. The group made it as far as Amman, Jordan, where we were to pick up our visas for Iraq. The Iraqi embassy knew nothing about our arrangements and refused to give us visas. We stayed in Amman for two weeks, repeatedly appealing for the visas which were finally granted to only two of us. The rest of the group returned to the US and the other photographer and I rented a taxi and traveled through the desert to Baghdad.

Once we arrived, we were required to stay in Al Rashid Hotel. Whenever we left the hotel, we had to have a government minder with us. We were allowed to photograph anything we requested as long as we gave our minder a list before we left the hotel. We were not allowed to change our minds or photograph anything spontaneously. I was mainly interested in the children and requested permission to photograph children at work, in school, in hospitals. My government minder also wanted to show me all of the bombed buildings, bridges, and homes.

The people were very willing to be photographed and asked me to tell the people of America that they needed help. The hospitals had no food, no medicines, and no electricity. The water treatment plant had been bombed and many children were sick with dysentery. Every bed in every hospital I visited was full. I saw children who were dying of leukemia because the chemicals used to treat leukemia could also be used for chemical warfare and were not allowed in by sanctions. I photographed children with kwashiorkor, a protein deficiency disease never before seen in Iraq. I saw badly burned children and children who had appendectomies with no anesthesia. Some medicines were being kept from the hospitals even though they were allowed in by the sanctions.

At times I was crying so hard I could not focus the camera. The temperature in the hospitals was over 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Mothers had to stay in the wards with their children to bring them food and care for them.

Whenever I asked anyone what they thought about Saddam Hussein, they would pretend that I had not even asked the question and would not look at me. Even the government minder seemed very nervous and motioned for me not to mention Saddam Hussein's name.

I visited a Koran school in a mosque and I photographed boys working in the streets to support their families. The photographs have been used by many organizations to inform people about the conditions in Iraq.

I don't have any answers to the situation in Iraq, but I hope when you look at the photographs you will feel like you know the people of Iraq and know that we are all more alike than we are different.

Tina Manley, ASMP
www.tinamanley.com