Bloody Image from Iraq Hits the Front Page

By: E&P Staff Since the beginning of the Iraq war, newspapers in the U.S. have often been criticized for not showing what the carnage in the conflict "is really like" for American soldiers -- by carrying few photos of dead or badly wounded soldiers. With that carnage only escalating in recent weeks -- and being in the right place at the right time -- The New York Times ran a graphic you-are-there series of images today, including one at the top of the front page.

Times reporter C. J. Chivers and contract photographer Joao Silva were traveling with a Marine unit in the Anbar town of Karma on Tueday when Lance Cpt. Juan Valdez-Castillo was struck by a sniper's bullet in the arm and torso. The front page photo shows Sgt. Jesse E. Leach assisting the prone and bloodied soldier.

The article, on the growing danger of sniper fire in Iraq, describes how Leach treated the "bubbling" wound while directing his unit and calling for help.

The four inside photos catch the moment just after the soldier, who was kneeling against a wall, was struck -- an Iraqi soldier looks back at him. Then we see Leach dragging the wounded man to safety, and after that, applying pressure to his wounds as he shouts orders.

In the final image, he carries Valdez-Castillo to a Humvee.

The article reveals that the wounded man was a radio operator -- a preferred target. He would survive, and the sniper was not caught.

Earlier this week, the Times carried several images of funerals at Arlington Cemetery for soldiers recently killed in Iraq.