WP: Cluster Bombs in Lebanon

Image Copyright © Jahi Chikwendiu/WP-All Rights Reserved

Okay...it's Monday and let's get back to some serious posting with this sad story.

Leena Saidi, a Lebanese journalist tells the story of Rasha Zayoun, a 17 year old girl whose foot was mangled beyond repair by an Israeli-dropped cluster bomblet which exploded in her home in South Lebanon.

The arresting photography is by Jahi Chikwendiu, a staff photographer for the Washington Post, and who won Best Portfolio awards from the White House News Photographers' Association and the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar.

From The Washington Post article, we learn that:

Rasha lost her foot after the summer 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the radical Shiite militia. U.N. officials estimate that the Israeli military dropped between 1.2 and 4 million cluster bomblets on southern Lebanon -- 90 percent of them during the last 72 hours of the 33-day conflict. The Israeli military says it aimed only at military targets.

In early December, delegates from more than 80 countries are scheduled to meet in Vienna to work on the text of a new treaty to ban cluster bombs. The United States is not expected to attend.

This is a gut-wrenching photography from an unblinking photojournalist, who does an admirable job in documenting this sad story. You'll have to wait out the obnoxious advertisement ( note to the WP: no one watches these ads) which precedes the multimedia feature, but it's worth it.

The Washington Post's Cluster Bombs In Lebanon

Posted in: Multimedia,Photojournalism