"I'm checking in from West Africa, where I've been working with women in three neighboring
countries, all recently torn apart by civil wars: Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Côte d'Ivoire.
The Iraq debacle has monopolized attention and obscured these "lesser" wars -- now officially
"over" -- but millions of West African women are struggling to recover. For them, the war
isn't really over at all, not by a long shot. This is the war story that's never truly told."
"Digital cameras are the tool. I arrive with them and lend them to women, most of whom have
never seen a camera before. I teach them to point and shoot -- only that -- and then I turn
them loose to snap what they will. I ask them to bring me some photos of their problems and
their blessings. They work in teams, two or three women sharing a camera and very nervous at
first. (Some women actually shake.) It takes the whole team to snap the first photos: one
holds the camera, another points, another shoots."
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The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (paperback edition)
By Jeremy Scahill
On September 16, 2007, Blackwater Worldwide mercenaries opened fire in Baghdad's Nisour Square, killing 17 Iraqi civilians, among them women and children. In this fully revised and updated paperback, award-winning investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill reveals the explosive story of the company that has become the new face of the U.S. war machine.
