Embedded With the Enemy?

Campus Report ^ | October 25, 2007 | Bethany Stotts

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Embedded With the Enemy?

by: Bethany Stotts, October 25, 2007

The new art exhibit, “Unembedded”—a photojournalists’ account of the Iraq War—has been featured at several prestigious universities amid widespread applause as to its self-described “nuanced view of the civilian instability and increased violence in Iraq that has followed the US-led invasion in 2003.” A very popular University-sponsored exhibit since its January 2006 New York debut, the collection has been displayed at the University of Northern Arizona, Orange County Community College, Yale University's Institute of Sacred Music, Wayne State University, Philander Smith College, the College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas, Lewis & Clark College, and, currently, Messiah College.

Predicated on the assumption that freelance, unembedded journalists have greater access to the uncensored truth about the Iraq war than their military-escorted news counterparts, Americans may be more likely to trust the works of Canadian Rita Leistner, Iraqi Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, and Americans Thorne Anderson and Kael Alford than the politicized mainstream media. “I almost value an outsider’s perspective more than an insider’s perspective. I’m more concerned about what’s going on with the people,” fine arts photography major Rebecca Maxwell told the Lake Oswego Review after viewing the Lewis & Clark College “Unembedded” exhibit this January.

If the Lewis & Clark exhibit was the same as the one featured in Messiah College’s Aughinbaugh Gallery this October, it is unlikely that Maxwell got the complete story about the war in Iraq. Upon entering the Aughinbaugh Gallery, viewers are confronted with a large sign proclaiming “War is Violent” and some scenes herein are unsuitable for children. The display was partially funded by the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation (BJF), as well as supported by the pacifist Messiah College Sider Institute.

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Mrs. James Carville?