Mosul (2005)

A Navy Black Hawk helicopter was shot down by insurgents over Mosul.

The smoking wreckage, shown here being lifted by crane, also speaks to

the destructive nature and waste, physically and spiritually, of the war.

(click for larger image)

Fallujah (2004)

This gaunt, burnt out building on the outskirts

of Fallujah was briefly occupied by

US forces early in the war, besieged by

local insurgents and then finally abandoned.

The battle scarred facade, with gaping windows

and partly erased graffiti seems an

appropriately battered monument to the cost

of American and Iraqi hopes in the region.

(click for larger image)