Andy Nelson, Photojournalist

Iraq - In the Beginning

  • A pair of boots sit on the edge of the highway, abandoned by a deserting Iraqi soldier.
  • A soldier hurries back to his amphibous assault vehicle during a dust storm that paralyzed the U.S. military's surge north.
  • American soldiers process Iraqi military POWs.
  • U.S. Marines pray during a Sunday Mass at a field chapel on the way north to Baghdad during the initial invasion into Iraq in 2003. While many in the military are devoted to their faith, the chaplain says the numbers going to services soars when in a combat zone.
  • A U.S. Marine raises his arms in triumph as he passes under the first sign for Baghdad on the road north from Kuwait.
  • An image of Saddam Hussein is riddled with bullets and scrawled with graffiti on the side of a building past which hundreds of US military vehicles passed.
  • A group of Iraq men wave as U.S. Marine armor heads into Baghdad.
  • A painting of Saddam Hussein is set alight after being pulled from a military post on the outskirts of Baghdad.
  • Boys watch as attempts are made to pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein as looted burnings burn. Looting was widespread throughout Iraq after the collapse of the regime.
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  • A hospital orderly guards the entrance to a medical facility in Baghdad as looters targeted every type of business and building in the capital. Looting was widespread throughout Iraq after the collapse of the regime.
  • U.S. military personnel point to the area from which they thought a shot had been fired through a vehicle striking a boy in the neck.
  • A boy lies wounded on the ground after being shot by a shopowner for attempting the loot the business. The wounds were treated and the boy transported to a U.S. military hospital.
  • Iraqi men gather in Sadr City for the first Friday prayers after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. The prayers were banned in the area under Hussein's rule.
  • More than 20,000 Iraqi men gather in Sadr City for the first Friday prayers after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. The prayers were banned in the area under Hussein's rule.
  • U.S. Marines look through a facility on the outskirts of Baghdad loaded with materials to make improvised explosive devices. The Marines said it was the first definitive terrorist training site they had discovered.
  • A girl glances back as she lives a Christian Good Friday service in Baghdad. With the weight of Saddam Hussein's regime lifted, the Christian minority is concerned about the future in the predominantly Muslim country.
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Andy Nelson and The Christian Science Monitor. Site design © 2010-2025 Neon Sky Creative Media