What is this photo of a wounded person in Iraq? (warning graphic)

[Eric J in MN]

I know this is a photo of a wounded Iraqi, but what exactly is it showing?

[LittleApple81]

1. Please put a warning in your heading. This is very traumatic to look at.

And I know it is a badly burned body, but have no idea what your question is directed at.

[NMDemDist2]

2. ahhh you need to put an alert on that, i just almost lost my dinner

and it is the burnt off arm of a human :puke:

[not systems]

3. I look like little Ali before the amputations...

disgusting and tragic.

[Twillig]

19. Yes, it's Ali

Ali Abbas.

From the New Yorker:


http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/030414fa_fact1


"One of Dr. Saleh’s assistants, a young woman, had pulled some images up on a computer screen in his office. Dr. Saleh invited me to look at them with him. The first image the assistant showed us was of a boy lying naked in the emergency operating theatre. A catheter and tube was attached to his penis. The child’s legs were smooth, but his entire torso was black, and his arms were horribly burned. At about the biceps, the flesh of both arms became charred, black grotesqueries. One of his hands was a twisted, melted claw. His other arm had apparently been burned off at the elbow, and two long bones were sticking out of it. It looked like something that might be found in a barbecue pit.

The child’s face was covered by an anesthesia mask. “This is Ali,” Dr. Saleh said. “He is twelve. He was wounded in a rocket attack the night before last in the southeastern part of Baghdad, about fifteen minutes from here. Ali lost his mother, his father, and his six brothers and sisters. Four homes were destroyed; in one of them, the whole family was killed, eight people.”

It was hard to imagine that the person in the photograph could be alive, but Dr. Saleh said that Ali was still conscious. “I don’t think he will survive, though,” he said in a flat tone. “These burned people have complications after three or four days; in the first week they usually get septicemia.” His assistant was pulling up new images on her monitor. They showed Ali again, on the same bed and in the same position as before, but this time without his charred appendages. Both arms had been amputated, and the stumps were wrapped in white bandages. His torso was covered in some kind of clear grease. The mask had been removed from his face, and he appeared to be sleeping. He had a beautiful head, with the feminine features of a prepubescent boy. In another picture, Ali was awake, staring at the camera with large, expressionless eyes.

Dr. Saleh’s assistant breathed in sharply and put one hand over her mouth. Then she brought up some images of Ali’s family just after the bodies had arrived at the hospital’s morgue. It was difficult to make out what had once been human beings. Cloth stuck to the bodies, bits of bold red-and-green fabric with flower designs. There seemed to be some straw mixed in, and I asked Dr. Saleh if they had been farming people. He said yes, and pointed out Ali’s mother. Her face had been cut in half, as if by a giant cleaver, and her mouth was yawning open. In other pictures, which Dr. Saleh said were of Ali’s father and a younger sister, all I could see was a macabre collection of charred body parts and some red flesh. The body of his brother was all there, it seemed, but from the nose up his head was gone, simply sheared off, like the head of a rubber doll. His mouth, like that of his mother, was open, as if he were screaming."


Let us not forget this gem from Kyra Phillips:

"Doctor, does he understand why this war took place? Has he talked about Operation Iraqi Freedom and the meaning? Does he understand it?"--Kyra Phillips, CNN

[hippywife]

21. Photos of Ali

as he is now and toward the bottom the older ones from where he has come.

http://www.aliabbas.net/Photos.html






Disarm Iraq? Mission Accomplished!

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[greatauntoftriplets]

4. Please put a warning in your subject line that the image is graphic.

It is of a left arm that has been blown and burned off.

Please edit. People need warnings of the horror.

Thanks. ;)

[qanda]

5. Very hard to look at

Makes me sad to say the least.

[silverweb]

6. Charred left arm, for one thing.

You're looking down towards the body from the above the left shoulder. Note the radius and the ulna protruding from the lower part of the arm, and that the hand is missing. The torso is bloodied and possibly charred on the lower right, as well.

[Eric J in MN]

thank you (nt)

nt

[silverweb]

11. You're welcome.

The horrors that humans commit against one another will never cease to appall me. This poor soul once lived, laughed, cried, and loved. How many other lives will the lust for profit and power destroy?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

13. Where to send it.

The horrors that humans commit against one another will never cease to appall me. This poor soul once lived, laughed, cried, and loved. How many other lives will the lust for profit and power destroy?<<

Email it to the whitehouse... many many times.

E-Mail

President George W. Bush: [e-mail]
Vice President Richard Cheney: [e-mail]

[silverweb]

20. For all the good it would do?

I understand what you're saying and do appreciate the sentiment. However, Bush & Cheney would never see my emails, since we know all correspondence is screened by staff, while only stats and stellar praise are actually presented to the potus & veep -- who, by the way, don't give half a flying fuck about ordinary Americans, let alone destroyed Iraqi or other non-American lives.

No, I'm not going to email my laments to those arrogant sons of bitches. Instead, I'll direct my energies to where they may actually have some effect: Helping to reclaim America's lost soul by evicting said sons of bitches and all their hangers-on.

Grief and anger are potent forces. I will not waste that power by screaming futilely into the wind, but will attempt to direct it productively.

We have to Take the Power Back!

(With an appreciative nod to Rage Against the Machine lyrics)

[Zynx]

7. Burnt off left arm like everyone else said

But I can't believe this guy would actually still be alive. You sure this is wounded and not dead?

[Eric J in MN]

8. I don't know (nt)

nt

[PfcHammer]

9. Radius & ulna maybe. n/t

[7th_Sephiroth]

10. looks like a bomb went off in his hand

prolly a grenade

[Unperson 309]

12. Torso, Human, poss Male...

young adult. Charring and postmortem positional lividity evident on ventral aspect. Left arm severely burnt with grade III - IV tissue destruction, charring. Distal aspect of arm including entire hand missing, possibly burnt or degloved during fatal incident. Radius and ulna exposed and charred with distal end of radial bone missing. Arm evidences postmortem contraction consistent with burn severity. Ventral aspect of upper left arm shows tissue damage and splitting of dermal layers, exposing subcutaneous fat consistent with burn severity.

Abdomen and thoracic areas burned or evidencing postmortem lividity (unable to ascertain from photograph) with smooth shiny aspect to areas of damage. Some charring evident on left upper thoracic/shoulder area. No rupture evident of thorax or abdomen. Mesentery probably intact within abdominal cavity.

Unable to visualize head, right arm, lower limbs or genitalia of subject. Unable to specify exact cause of death.

Cause of death possibly burn injury, but since head cannot be seen, gunshot or blunt trauma also possible.

Examiner strongly suggests that body be taken to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, USA, and dropped into the soup tureen during current Chief Executive's state dinner! Secondary course would consist of taking malfeasant Chief Executive by the dorsal aspect of his cervical vertebrae and placing the cartilaginous aspect of his florid proboscis directly into contact with the ventral aspect of the remains of the deceased victim! During this action, a rolled up newspaper should be employed in a downward arc against the President's bared buttocks whole voicing the words "NO! BAD President! NO Second Term!" in a loud voice and firm tone.

Dr. 309 Hyde

[Bonobo]

17. I loved that brilliant and entertaining post, doc.

You're a briliant and cynical son (or daughter)-of-a-bitch! ;-)

[LittleApple81]

18. THIS WAS SUCH A TRAUMATIC POST...Your post just made me

laugh... it was a release. THANKS.
Yes we should send all the bodies to BUSHCO...ASSHOLE CRIMINALS. KILLERS. VIOLENT VERMIN. NOT DIGNIFIED ENOUGH TO EVEN VISIT THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!

[spooked]

14. Where did you get this photo?

At first I thought the whole thing was an arm. Thank you UnPerson 309 for the medical description, now I see the entire upper torso.
How tragic.

Is this an American soldier?

[Eric J in MN]

16. The photo is from

http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm

I think it's an Iraqi child in the photo.

[onecitizen]

15. this is the upper anterior torso........

in other words, person with camera is standing on the patients' left side, towards pt.s head while patient lying on his back. That's Pts. left shoulder and what's left of his left arm.