Example of Writing Report Essays

<h1>Example of Writing Report Essays</h1><p>You can discover numerous instances of composing report papers on the web. In any case, you must be cautious while picking which model will be compelling for your motivation. All things considered, you might need to make the central matters of your report the subject of your article, however you despite everything need it to mirror your character and feeling of style.</p><p></p><p>For this explanation, you should invest some energy finding out about the reason for composing a report and pick a proper model that will suit your motivation. In the first place, choose what the subject of your report will be. It might be about a moving book or article, something that will improve your insight about a specific subject or a solitary proclamation regarding your matter. Whatever your motivation, you will discover a great deal of instances of composing report essays.</p><p></p><p>Anoth er significant thing you ought to do before picking a model is to make sense of what sort of paper you need to compose. An example of composing report expositions with a scholarly nature will be altogether different from one that is made in view of an inventive viewpoint. A few instances of composing report expositions for amusement purposes may likewise be altogether different from those models for business or scholastic purposes.</p><p></p><p>When you have a thought of the kind of paper you need to compose, the following significant part is to search for a genuine model. Before you can pick a case of composing report expositions, you have to discover one that will satisfy your needs.</p><p></p><p>If you are not sure about your needs, you may utilize the instances of composing report articles that you discovered somewhere else to settle on a choice. Before you start your pursuit, investigate a few instances of composing report papers online to get a thought of how your model ought to be introduced. Check if your model has a clear structure and to what point it is to be covered.</p><p></p><p>Next, you ought to ask yourself a significant inquiry. This inquiry may sound odd however it is extremely significant. On the off chance that you don't have an away from of what your article is about, it will be hard to communicate it in an unmistakable and compact manner.</p><p></p><p>The most significant inquiry you should pose to yourself is what is the most ideal approach to introduce it? At the end of the day, how does the thought fit into your subject of conversation? This implies it is essential to know the general tone of your essay.</p><p></p><p>Finally, you should ensure that your exposition is straightforward and clear. Such a large number of thoughts packed in your mind won't make your article intriguing. A decent author realizes that there is consistently space for improvement.</p>

Religious Challenges to Constructing a Democratic Iraq Essay Sample free essay sample

Islam has been Iraq’s prevailing confidence for quite a long time. The confidence plays an of import divide in each aspect of Iraq’s society. to incorporate its specialists. A vote based system offers opportunity to a nation’s people. enveloping the numerous highlights of Christianity. It tends to be contended that Islam is. furthermore, will proceed to be a premise of any experts in Iraq. Similarly. Christianity will be a premise of numerous popularity based states. The test is to examine the relationship of a majority rules system in Iraq. what's more, regardless of whether the relationship will work sing the common Islam confidence. The Challenge of Establishing a Democracy in Iraq It has been seven mature ages since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. furthermore, the remotion of Saddam Hussein’s government. One away from since the beginning of the war was to transfuse a specialists where all residents could luxuriate similar opportunities of other vote based states. Notwithstanding. transfusing popular government in a Muslim society can be huge obstacle to improve of. The agent attributes of a vote based specialists may non needfully aline with the profound. standards of a Muslim society. To determine an anxiety of the balance of a vote based system in Iraq. the history and winning confidence must be painstakingly dismembered. The history and related confidence. alongside the doctrines of popular government. must be painstakingly unwound to pull a looking at between the two. Just so would one be able to decide if a vote based system can blast in Iraq. History of Iraq Ordinarily known as the spot of birth of the universe. or then again Mesopotamia. to be accurate. the nation between the Tigris and Euphrates waterways is viewed as the conceivable area of the Garden of Eden. Iraq has been a condition of battle and attack all the way back to the fourth century BC. at the point when the vanquisher. Alexander the Great. crushed the nation ( Boyd. 2003. p. 4 ) . The Sumerians were the primary significant swayers. in a matter of seconds to be trailed by Sargon I. the Akkadians. what's more, in the end. the Emmalites ( Boyd. 2003. p. 4 ) . Muhammad’s cut in 610 AD. denoted an extremely of import point in Iraq’s history. During this clasp. Islam would appear. The introduction of Islam would pass on harmony and rivalry. dominantly showed among Muslims and Abbasid calif. Hundreds of years thusly. what's more, the start of WW I. English military work forces would involve the part and uphold their capacity. Not long after the war. the League of Nations gave Britain. Syria. furthermore, France approval over the state. In spite of the fact that the state would go autonomous in 1932. it would again fall under British control to prevent a genius Nazi topple ( Boyd. 2003. p. 4 ) . In 1947. Iraq in the long run picked up its independency. Autonomy would pass on around a few decennaries of military pioneers rule with an end goal to shape the specialists. These endeavors would at long last disregard. until 1968. This would be the twelvemonth. the Ba’ath gathering would take power ( William. 2000. p. 91 ) . One grown-up male would quickly mount to the top. because of much quarreling among party positions. This grown-up male. Saddam Hussein. would at long last rise as president and pioneer of the gathering until April of 2003. Iraq’s history saw a lot of battle and misfortune all through. be that as it may, there was one high spot †the introduction of Islam. To more readily com prehend the essential confidence of Iraq. it’s best to take an articulation at its history. History of Islam Blending to author. Spencer William ( 2000 ) . in his book. Irak: Old Land. New Nation in Conflict. he takes note of that Iraq is the â€Å"world place for Islam† ( S. William. 2000. p. 31 ) To determine a superior comprehension about the individuals of Iraq. it is of import to take an articulation at the historical backdrop of its central confidence. Islam follows its underlying foundations back to the prophesier. Muhammad ibn Abdallah ( 570-632 AD ) . Muslims accept that Muhammad adhered to God’s guidelines through revelations from the Archangel Gabriel. Muhammad approached the individuals to concede a religion in Allah ( Gregorian. 2003. p. 5 ) . Allah was the Arabic word for God. what's more, accepted to be the God of Abraham. Moses. Jesus. also, Muhammad ( Gregorian. 2003. p. 5 ) . Disclosures came to Muhammad. get bringing down in 610 during the ninth lunar month. or on the other hand Ramadan. until his perish in 632. These exposures were interpreted in the Qurâ⠂¬â„¢an. Creator Gregorian ( 2003 ) noticed the expressions of the Qur’an: â€Å"It is faction of your male parent. Abraham. He was the 1 who named you Muslims† ( Gregorian. V. 2003. p. 6 ) . â€Å"Muslims† would go the name for the individuals who follow the Islam religion. Islam is like Judaism and Christianity in that it is a prophetic confidence. This implies the gathering of God’s messages to mankind through Prophetss. The core adages of Islam are Towhid. the respectability of God ; Nowbowat. faith in the prophetic strategic Muhammad ; and Ma’ad. faith in the twenty-four hours of judgment and Resurrection ( Gregorian. 2003. p. 7 ) . Moreover. there are five creeds considered the Pillars of Faith that each Muslim must recognize as follows: bear genuine religion in God. furthermore, that confidence in Muhammad as his prophesier ; to implore multiple times a twenty-four hours towards Mecca. give a piece of their pay as an income improvement. what's more, one fifth of their pay to the hapless ; quick during the twenty-four hours. the entire month of Ramadan ; and do at any rate one pioneers excursion to Mecca. in the event that capable. The early spread of Islam was somewhat solitary. Pretty much all the people of Arabia had changed over to Islam in 632. upon Muhammad’s perish. Very nearly a century after the beliefs birth. the Muslim people group would transform into one of the biggest known to man ( Gregorian. 2003. p. 11 ) . The Qur’an notes coexiststance with Jews and Christians. what's more, recognizes them as â€Å"People of the Book† ( Gregorian. 2003. p. 9 ) . Muslims trust it was Abraham and his kid Ishmael who remade the Kaaba in Mecca. which is accepted to be the most established monotheistic sanctuary. Alongside Abraham. Muslims believe Moses and Jesus to be incredible Prophetss. Like Christians. Muslims acknowledge the New Testament. Anyway ; dissimilar to Christians. Islam did non draw out a concentrated association. ( Gregorian. 2003. p. 14 ) . The decentalisation of Islam would follow into two boss strict requests ; the Sunni and Shia. Through the revelations got by Muhammad. furthermore, divisions of the confidence there is as yet basic authoritative opinions. To comprehend the confidence entirely. a perusing of the guidelines and highlights is all together. Authoritative opinions of Islam Islam is a religious on pluralism. It is accepted that the nonappearance of profound experts in the confidence prompted development of a few diverse strict requests. which rehearsed the religion in any case. This verifiably. furthermore, regular twenty-four hours. has prompted challenge and rivalry among these distinctive strict requests ( Omer. 2003. p. 122 ) . It appears the credit Islam request is that each bookman understand the Qur’an in congruity with their verifiable foundation. This will take to a useful anxiety of the confidence. One of import perception about the confidence and its relationship with specialists is expressed by the taking bookman. Omer ( 2003 ) . â€Å"Islamic holiness does non consolidate a thorough rundown of orders about the hypothesis of political organization. The Qur’an solitary references a figure of good guidelines. which are applicable to political organization. also, non about its cardinal principles and authoritative structure† ( Omer. 2003. p. 108 ) . It has been noticed that the Qur’an implies past social orders and swayers. in any case, centers primarily around how these swayers gave justness rather how they organized the development of political relations. Somewhat like convictions of Christianity and Judaism. portions of the Qur’an distinguish Acts of the Apostless of evildoing submitted by previous social orders/rulers as confirmations for pulverization by God. The individuals who were just swayers and obeyed God’s orders. were supported. Blending to Omer ( 2003 ) . â€Å"Prophets like David and Solomon. who other than filled in as male rulers. were the kind of swayers who are lauded in the Qur’an for moving appropriately and pityingly towards their people† ( Omer. 2003 p. 108 ) . As commended previously. the Qur’an is centered around the ethical conduct of social orders rather the configuration of political relations. With this being said how might it partner to a majority rule gover nment? To discover any connection. the historical backdrop of popular government ought to be analyzed for similarity. History of Democracy Popular government originates from the Grecian word demokratia. meaning â€Å"the individuals. † and kratein. expecting â€Å"to rule† ( Strauss. 1994. p. 32 ) . The Grecian arrangement of specialists was truly close to being a genuine popular government. or on the other hand guideline by the individuals. than some other state ever. Each male Athenian resident was allowed a chance to play at any rate a little bit in self-assurance ( Strauss. 1994. p. 33 ) . Roman popular government was like that of Greece. however, non to same degree. The Roman specialists was an agent majority rule government. which had chosen functionaries ( justices ), for example, tribunes. the pretors. the emissaries. the professional delegates. and so forth. These people represented Rome. be that as it may, did as such on the counsel of the Senate ( North. 1994. p. 39 ) . In 1215 AD. the Magna Carta made the way for a progressively just framework in England. Despite the fact that its improvement w asn’t needfully proposed to be a hypothetical record for a popularity based specialists. it had the inside functions to make a vote based specialists by. Made through a demonstration of resistance. the papers was answer for medieval organization. The Magna Carta contained some muscular provisos that in wining hundreds of years developed into stay rules of fair specialists and human rights ( Sharp. 2006. p. 28 ) . In 1628. England’s Petition of Rights specified that the King could no longer income upgrade without parliament’s authorization and the 1689

Proffessional Athletes Are Overpaid Essays - Sports Business

Proffessional Athletes Are Overpaid Matt Kelley Talk Discourse #2 Proficient Athletes are Overpaid Each small kid who has ever been associated with games has longed for being an expert in that sport. For what reason do you feel that everybody needs to be a genius competitor. Sure it is on the grounds that they get the opportunity to play professionally. Yet in addition they get oodles of cash. For what reason would an individual not have any desire to get paid a huge number of dollars just to play a game. Numerous expert competitors are exceptionally overpaid however. At the point when they sign these 20 and 30 million dollar contracts they are getting paid multiple times in excess of a teacher or even a police officer or fire fighter. This is silly. They are giving us only diversion. They are giving us nothing that could help us later on. At the point when a player sign s a major multi million dollar contract, it appears that it generally has a defeat to it. At the point when this occurs there is a fantastic measure of weight put on the competitor. When they are paid truckloads o f money they are intantly changed from manual diligent employees to overpaid moguls. The players probably won't have changed by any stretch of the imagination, however everyones view of them has. They are presently expected to make each handle, get a basehit without fail and make each hop shot. Nobody can do this no make a difference how much cash rhey are getting paid. In the event that players were not being paid such a lot of cash, at that point associations would not need to charge such staggeringly significant expenses for passes to the games and for concessions. This can likewise cause strife in the group. In the event that a player is making the a huge number of dollars and not playing out the way that he ought to be, at that point the player close to him who is performing at a more significant level is figuring for what reason can I not get this huge cash. How greddy are these players when they request more cash when they are getting paid 2 million dollars every year. 90 per cent of the individuals in this world would offer anything to be paid 2 million dollars every year. Numerous individuals appear to overlook that these competitors are accomplishing work that Is a game that individuals played for recreaion when they were more youthful. Sure anybody respects a man who can hit a baseball 500 feet or can toss a foot ball 75 yards with unimaginable exactness, however should these individuals get paid a great many dollars for this. Here is a case of how much a few players are getting paid nowadays. Michael Jordan will make up to $300,000 a game and $10,000 dollars a moment expecting he plays 30 minutes a game. He will likewise make $52,000 consistently he rests for 7 hours. Likewise consider the $40 million dollars that he makes in supports every year. He will make $170,000 every day. That is somewhat foolish wouldn't you say. Pro athletics have gotten close to a human closeout where men are purchased and sold like lifeless things. Try not to misunderstan d me I love wrong I love elite athletics and right up 'til today despite everything have the fantasy of one day playing them, however lets be not kidding these folks are definitely overpaid and a portion of the there cash ought to be setting off to the dedicated each day individuals. Not to state that these folks have not worked there whole life for where they are presently and they ought to be recognized for it, however not by paying them a large number of dollars for playing a game. Sports and Games Essays

English School Bullet Point Essay Samples - Find Great English School Essay Examples to Use!

<h1>English School Bullet Point Essay Samples - Find Great English School Essay Examples to Use!</h1><p>English school visual cue exposition tests can be discovered everywhere throughout the web, yet numerous individuals will in general ignore this and go straight for a full-length paper on their school coursework. On the off chance that you are taking an English degree course it is significant that you get a great deal of training recorded as a hard copy the exposition and figuring out how to address essential inquiries like what do you study, for what reason do you study and what do you want to accomplish with your degree.</p><p></p><p>For some explanation when individuals compose papers they imagine that utilizing visual cue article tests will assist them with picking up trust in the subject or style they are expounding on. This couldn't possibly be more off-base as article authors will in general have an extremely elevated level of certai nty, and can normally determine what their crowd thinks without requiring any kind of advice.</p><p></p><p>However, when composing a school paper you need to recollect that each exposition is not the same as others and you have to utilize various sorts of procedures and approaches. Since there are such a significant number of various article styles, it is significant that you get one rapidly with the goal that you don't take too long to even think about figuring out the correct method to address each address. This article will give you some unique sort of English school visual cue expositions tests that you can use to compose a viable paper on practically any topic.</p><p></p><p>The first thing you have to know is what kind of author you are, would you say you are a thoughtful person or social butterfly? A few people appreciate composing for other people, while others want to compose for themselves. Contemplative people are incredible at composing for others as they will in general compose more in the principal individual and spotlight on others' responses to their exposition as opposed to telling a story.</p><p></p><p>An uncommon enthusiasm in the subject you pick additionally goes far towards helping you with the style of keeping in touch with you need to utilize. Numerous individuals who are centered around a specific theme will as a rule center around how they feel about the subject, and by including how they feel, you are drawing out their inventiveness. Utilizing individual stories is frequently utilized by the individuals who are incredible at composing on a particular subject since it lets them express how they feel about a specific point and permits them to voice their opinion.</p><p></p><p>All altogether, composing a great exposition isn't a simple errand. There are a wide range of things you have to find out about in the event that you truly need to be an incredible article author. It might take you for some time to see precisely how everything functions, except once you have done it a couple of times it turns out to be second nature.</p><p></p><p>You ought to likewise attempt to discover exposition tests in magazines, papers and even web crawlers on the off chance that you don't care for composing articles for yourself. You will show signs of improvement feel for what you need to utilize and what the style ought to be. There are additionally exposition layouts you can download which you can use to make a decent diagram for your essay.</p><p></p><p>Use these English school visual cue paper tests and ensure that they tell you precisely the best way to compose an article that is both agreeable and intriguing. At the point when you can compose a decent article on almost any subject, you will be en route to a strong scholarly career.</p>

Chorus In Medea - 1892 Words

Who is your character and what is your status? My character in the Euripides play Medea is the chorus. This means I speak along with 3 others as a part of the chorus. This is a feature of Greek theatre and is used in all forms of it. The chorus in Greek theatre is used to represent the feelings of the society that surrounds the character in the play and offers an opinion that may relate to the thoughts of the audience. Traditionally in Greek theatre there are between 5 and 50 members of the chorus (all male). The chorus in Greek theatre also traditionally did songs and dances in unison as they represented on body of people. How will you make clear the time and period of the play? We made the time and period of which the play is set in†¦show more content†¦The classical masks with their extremely exaggerated features did this effectively and meant that the emotion of the character was easily understood from a distance. What is the situation in the scene? And How might the audience and/or the chorus respond to the order of events or the action in the scene? In the scene we have chosen, the situation is that Medea has just sent her sons to Kreusa (the woman Medea’s Husband is marrying) daughter of Kreon (the King of Corinth) with a cape (that is poisoned) disguised as a wedding gift as a way to ask that the sons may not be exiled from corinth as what Medea has done is not of their doing and they should not be punished for Medea s actions. The part we begin with is with the chorus explaining that the fact that Medea has sent her sons to Kreusa with this gift shows that she has quashed any hope the people had that she might not go through with murdering her sons. Then we move on to hear from the Attendant that the gift was received in grace by Kreusa and that Medea s sons have been freed from exile. Medea although she expected this news is not happy with the fact that it went as planned and fe els sick within herself that she should do such a thing. Then Medea sends the Attendant away and as the nurse comes out, before she has a chance to speak, Medea sends the nurse into the house to bathe her boys. Medea then does a gruelling monologue fighting with herself on whether or not she should go throughShow MoreRelatedThe Role of Chorus in Euripides Medea638 Words   |  3 Pages The Role of Chorus in Medea nbsp; In section 18 of the Poetics Aristotle criticizes Euripides for not allowing the chorus to be one of the actors and to be a part of the whole and to share in the dramatic action, . . . as in Sophocles. Aristotle may be thinking of the embolima of Euripides later plays (satirized also by Aristophanes), but he is certainly wrong about the Medea. Its choral odes are not only all intimately related to the action but are also essential for the meaning of theRead MoreWhat Is the Role of the Chorus in Medea? Essay680 Words   |  3 PagesIn Medea an essential character is the chorus of Corinthian women. They help obtain Euripides truly genius paradox of achieving empathy from the readers for a mother who sheds her own childrens blood. One of the major turning points in the play is when Medea asks for the chorus of womens silence as she contrives an evil plot to gain revenge. They agree immediately and are henceforth wrapped up in the play and the malicious plot. This I promise. You a re right, Medea, / In paying your husbandRead MoreMedea: Discuss the Role of the Chorus Essay1210 Words   |  5 Pagesthat the Chorus plays in Euripedes Medea. br brThe Chorus is very much an important part of Euripedes Medea, and indeed many other works written in the ancient Greek style. In this play, it follows the journey Medea makes, and not only narrates, but commentates on what is happening. Euripedes uses the Chorus as a literary device to raise certain issues, and to influence where the sympathies of the audience lie. br brIn the list of characters at the beginning of the play, the Chorus is statedRead MoreEssay about chorus role in medea782 Words   |  4 Pages The Chorus influences our response to Medea and her actions in both a positive and negative manner. The Chorus, a body of approximately fifteen Corinthian women who associate the audience with the actors, is able to persuade and govern us indirectly through sympathy for what has been done to Medea, a princess of Colchis and the victim of her husband’s betrayal of love for another woman. The Chorus also lead us to through sympathy for Medea to accept her decision of taking revenge on princess GlauceRead More The Importance of the Role That the Chorus Plays in Euripedes’ Medea1142 Words   |  5 PagesRole That the Chorus Plays in Euripedes’ Medea The Chorus is very much an important part of Euripedes’ Medea, and indeed many other works written in the ancient Greek style. In this play, it follows the journey Medea makes, and not only narrates, but commentates on what is happening. Euripedes uses the Chorus as a literary device to raise certain issues, and to influence where the sympathies of the audience lie. In the list of characters at the beginning of the play, the Chorus is stated toRead MoreThe Chorus as a Homonym 1168 Words   |  5 Pages In Jean Anouilh’s Antigone and in Euripides’s Medea the Chorus is both a tool for characterization and representation of theme; however, the ways they function in their respective plays are noticeably different. The differences in the way the Choruses function in each respective play make the name of the character â€Å"the Chorus† a homonym, same name different meaning. The Chorus in Antigone functions to incorporate the technique of metatheatre. The purpose of metatheatre is to provide a separationRead MoreEssay on The Role of the Chorus in Ancient Greek Tragedies1157 Words   |  5 Pagesjustice works differently in Euripides’ Medea and Aeschylus’ The Libation Bearers. In both The Libation Bearers and Medea, the driving force of vengeance links the chorus to each of the play’s protagonists. For both plays, the choruses begin with a strong support of their heroes with a belief that the course of action that those characters are pursuing for the sake of avenging the wrongs done to them or their families is just and right. The chorus of Medea, however, moves away from that originalRead MoreEssay about The Role of Minor Characters in Medea by Euripides1260 Words   |  6 Pagesone of him most famous plays, Medea. This play is a fascinating classic centered on the Greek goddess Medea. Despite its recent fame, during his time, Euripides was unpopular since he used what would be considered a ‘modern’ view where he would focus on women, slaves and persons from the lower classes. In the play, Medea commits filicide, which initially appears extremely horrendous, but as the audience is guided through the play, they develop sympathy towards Medea. In order to achieve this empathyRead MoreA Formal Comparison of Euripides Medea and Senecas Medea Essay1589 Words   |  7 PagesEuripides’ Medea and Seneca’s Medea are the two surviving ancient tragedies of Medea. Both versions are drastically different and contrast in several aspects. Euripides portrays Medea as more human. She is the epitome of the oppressed housewife and only after her suffering is she capable of the crimes she committed. Seneca’s Medea is even more vengeful than Euripides’ and she is angry from the very beginning. Seneca’s version also portrays Medea as a vengeful sorceress whereas in Euripides ’ versionRead More Euripides was accused by his contempories of being a woman hater. Why1711 Words   |  7 Pagesmen; they were not even considered citizens of their region. This is obvious in the chorus where in the Electra, Medea and Hippolytus there is a chorus of women. This was unheard of in the time when the plays were written. A chorus is typically made up of wise men of Athens, therefore making it up of women would in that age, be very controversial. In Medea the chorus side with her and Medea makes the chorus swear to silence. Therefore she can confide in them without having to put a face on

Us Soldiers Imaging the Iraq War Free Essays

string(179) " with the advent of citizen journalism is that it bypasses the established forms of news production and representation and even challenges the professional status of journalists\." Popular Communication, 7: 17–27, 2009 Copyright  © Taylor Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1540-5702 print / 1540-5710 online DOI: 10. 1080/15405700802584304 Popular Communication, 1540-5710 1540-5702 HPPC Communication Vol. 7, No. We will write a custom essay sample on Us Soldiers Imaging the Iraq War or any similar topic only for you Order Now 1, Nov 2008: pp. 0–0 US Soldiers Imaging the Iraq War on YouTube Kari Anden-Papadopoulos Stockholm University Anden-Papadopoulos US Soldiers Imaging the Iraq War on YouTube This article examines the homemade videos uploaded to YouTube by coalition soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. I interrogate how perceptions of war, and the conventions of war reporting, change as new media technologies allow soldiers to log on to the Web and upload personal views from the frontlines. The Iraqi conflict is emerging as the first YouTube war, where homemade soldiers’ videos throw into sharp relief the reportorial conventions of the mainstream news coverage. I take into consideration the format, meanings and communicative functions of these amateur videos, and the distinctive ways in which they reconfigure professional standards of ethics and authenticity. The firsthand testimonials by soldiers offer the public uncensored insights into the experience of warfare and may provide the basis for a questioning of the authority and activity of U. S. foreign policy. INTRODUCTION This article considers the specific challenges that the online proliferation of alternative imagery of violent international conflict raises for traditional journalism and its standards of ethics and credibility. I examine how modern communication technologies that allow active duty soldiers to log on to the Web from Afghanistan and Iraq, and upload personal and at times shockingly brutal views from the frontlines, can alter our perception of war and the conventions of war reporting. The most graphic images show the gruesome aftermath of suicide bombings and fierce gunfights between coalition forces and insurgents. Sites such as MySpace, YouTube, Google Video, LiveLeak, and military. com abound with violent videos and stills from combat soldiers, some set to heavy metal or rap music, and include troops using obscene language. My article examines the homemade videos uploaded to YouTube by coalition soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. These personal, poignant and sometimes shockingly brutal video testimonies clearly diverge from, and subvert traditional forms and standards for war reporting. I take into consideration the format, meanings, and communicative functions of these amateur videos, and the distinctive ways in which they reconfigure professional standards of ethics and authenticity. The soldiers’ firsthand accounts of the war have introduced new and sometimes highly controversial perspectives into the documentation of warfare that military and media elites are struggling to contain. The most contentious imagery uploaded to YouTube is undoubtedly Correspondence should be addressed to Kari Anden-Papadopoulos, Department of Journalism, Media, and Communication, Stockholm University, Karlavagen 104, P. O. Box 27 861, 115 93 Stockholm. E-mail: anden@ jmk. su. se 18 ANDEN-PAPADOPOULOS he live recordings of violent confrontations, in which U. S. troops can be seen taking part in aggressive and seemingly indiscriminate killings of Iraqi citizens. However, some of the soldier videos that have caused most public outrage are shot behind the scenes of combat, showing troops entertaining themselves by demeaning Iraqi children or abusing pet animals. Also, the recurrent video tributes to fallen soldiers foreground a controversial and highly emotional subject: the prema ture and violent deaths of young U. S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. My analysis suggests that these audiovisual productions by active duty soldiers can provide us with the kind of critical perspectives needed for a more open democratic questioning of U. S. foreign policy and the conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. IMAGE WARS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY During almost all major wars in modern times, governments have made systematic efforts to shape the visual experience of the citizenry (Brothers, 1997; Campbell, 2003; Griffin, 1999, 2004; Moeller, 1989; Roeder, 1993; Taylor, 1991, 1998; Zelizer, 1998, 2004). In recent years, increasingly professional government media management strategies have strengthened the dominance of official perspectives in the U. S. and UK mainstream news media (Robinson, 2004). The media tend to support the government course of action during military operations and privilege the official version of events (Allan Zelizer, 2004; Thussu Freedman, 2003; Tumber Palmer, 2004). Central to the manufacture of this version is the representation of warfare as clinical and even compassionate. What is most striking about traditional war coverage in the Anglo-American news media is that the images are relatively bloodless and seldom hint at the capacity of modern warfare machinery to injure the human body. However, cable and satellite television, as well as new media technology, have made it more difficult for nation states to control the information crossing their borders (Webster, 2003). The information front is no longer confined to traditional mass media but extended to an increasingly porous and fast global communication space (Taylor, 2003). Alternative imagery of violent international conflict that has not been created or disseminated by mainstream media is exploding onto these new nonfiltered public spheres, and often finds its way to conventional news outlets. It includes stills and videos created by active duty soldiers and imagery produced by civilians in the war zone. Iraqi insurgent imagery is also prevalent, showing the bloody work of sectarian death squads, and U. S. soldiers being shot and blown up (Johnson, 2007). The insurgent videos, set to inspiring religious soundtracks or chanting, are not only aimed at drawing new recruits and donations but also at terrorizing of the enemy with the violent spectacle. Increasingly, these spectacles of terror are staged primarily to generate footage to be circulated in the media and thereby subject potential mass audiences to the shocking displays of destruction. The proliferation of vernacular imagery of international conflict has become a key issue of concern for both military and media elites (Kennedy, 2008). The military is uneasy with the threat such communications pose to operational security and also with their potential to subvert the understandings of war and foreign policy so powerfully framed by government and military powers. For the media, the main concern with the advent of citizen journalism is that it bypasses the established forms of news production and representation and even challenges the professional status of journalists. You read "Us Soldiers Imaging the Iraq War" in category "Essay examples" The popularity of internet communications in war zones has led the US SOLDIERS IMAGING THE IRAQ WAR ON YOUTUBE 19 Pentagon to begin closely monitoring what its troops post online, with special attention being paid to images that show the aftermath of combat (Greene, 2006). A policy instituted in the spring of 2005, however, requires all military bloggers inside Iraq to register with their units. It gives unit commanders the authority to review blogs and other communications before they are sent to make sure there are no violations of operational security. The internet has become a key battleground of information and image warfare, a territory long dominated by Islamist extremist groups that have demonstrated greater sophistication than the U. S. Army in their use of Web 2. 0 tools. They utilize the net for â€Å"fundraising and recruitment, training and instruction, and propaganda and psychological warfare, and for gathering open-source information with which to plan attacks† (Weimann, 2006, p. x). The online response from official U. S. military sources has been fairly subdued, characterized by an unwillingness to exploit new media to get their message out. However, in March 2007, the U. S. Defense Department made a significant move into the cyberspace battleground with the launch of its own channel on YouTube, called Multi-National Force – Iraq. The videos uploaded to the site adhere to traditional norms of propaganda, showing American soldiers succeeding in â€Å"clinical† combat and aiding local Iraqi citizens (Christensen, 2008). The channel is a direct attempt by the U. S. Defense Department to counteract the prolific posting of damaging video clips by its own troops, an attempt at online visual management accompanied by what appears to be a concerted effort to suppress online publications by troops in the field. In May 2007, the U. S. military announced that it had blocked troops from accessing popular video-sharing sites, including YouTube and MySpace, on military computers. Shortly after, YouTube removed dozens of soldiers’ videos from its archives and suspended the accounts of some users who had posted them. The U. S. Army is facing a dilemma over how to manage internet access by its troops. On the one hand, online communication clearly serves to boost battlefield performance and morale. Soldiers and their families visit social networking sites to exchange notes, swap images, and share recorded messages – a form of instant communication that, together with e-mail, has largely replaced the mail call. Moreover, a large majority of military bloggers in the war zone express unabashed support for the operations in Iraq and elsewhere and, most importantly, lend them a human face, which provides invaluable PR for the military. On the other hand, the Pentagon knows that enemies are proficient at mining the Web to collect intelligence on potential targets. In addition, the occasional posting of gruesome battle photographs and videos by serving soldiers not only jeopardizes operational security but also contradicts the carefully crafted image of modern warfare as clean, rational, and even humanitarian. THE â€Å"YOUTUBE WAR† A new digital generation of soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq is turning to the internet in a strongly felt urge to communicate and come to terms with the realities of experiencing a war up close. Today’s soldiers are equipped with the same digital tools and technology as the media, which enable them to share their experiences with potentially vast audiences. The omnipresence of digital cameras and camcorders among serving soldiers means that they â€Å"exist in a new relationship to their experience of war, they are now potential witnesses and sources within the 1 http://youtube. com/profile? user=MNFIRAQ 20 ANDEN-PAPADOPOULOS documentation of events† (Kennedy, 2008 p. 4; see also Mortensen, 2007). This also means that the boundaries between those who are fighting and those who are documenting the war are becoming more and more blurred. In the age of digital media, the waging and representing of war are enmeshed almost to the point of being inseparable. Much of the imagery that coalition soldiers produce of their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan is shared primarily with close family and friends, and within their units, via e-mail or burned to CDs. Still, a large amount of the imagery is made available to the public via a wide range of internet venues, in particular through the rapidly growing subculture of â€Å"milbloggers† – firstperson online diaries by serving troops. Since their first appearance in 2003, the number of milblogs has increased rapidly. Today it is estimated there are more than 2,500 milblogs (Kennedy, 2008). More recently, video-sharing platforms such as YouTube have become popular outlets for soldiers to publicize their audiovisual productions. YouTube has become one of the fastest-growing Web sites in the world – in January 2008 alone almost 79 million users watched more than 3 billion videos on the site. 2 By offering users the unprecedented ability to share their experiences inexpensively and instantly with a potential mass audience, YouTube has turned video sharing into one of the most significant features of contemporary internet culture. The Web site’s community guidelines forbid the uploading of material likely to be perceived as inappropriate or offensive, such as videos containing pornography or sexually explicit content, animal abuse, bomb making, graphic or gratuitous violence, or dead bodies. 3 Still, the enforcement of these guidelines is relatively weak, and videos that clearly violate YouTube’s terms of use are proliferating on the website (Gimeno, 2008). 4 The video clips uploaded by U. S. oldiers on YouTube cover a range of settings, activities, and emotions: combat action, routine patrolling, colloquial interaction with Iraqi civilians, recreation in the barracks, and tributes to fallen comrades. 5 It is often the case that several or all of these five general thematic categories can be found in individual video clips. The videos contain not only private footage created by the troops themselves but also imagery appropriated from other sources such as official military recordings, news broadc asts, music videos, and so forth. There is a significant degree of visual redundancy in these videos in the sense that certain stills and moving images tend to reappear time and again. This is also to say that the question of authorship and authenticity is difficult to decide when it comes to this type of image production. The Iraq war is being fought by what has been called the first Playstation generation, raised on Hollywood war films, graphic video games, and internet porn. When this generation of soldiers now documents and tries to communicate their experiences of actual warfare, they fall back on contemporary popular culture and its broad repertoire of war as entertainment. The video clips follow an MTV style of format, with a montage of stills and live footage cut rapidly to music. The more violent scenes are typically edited to heavy metal or rap music, while the recurrent themes of brotherhood, mourning, and loss are set to power ballads. In creating, posing http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Youtube http://www. youtube. om/t/community_guidelines 4 Thousands of videos on the website are for example explicitly tagged with human rights violation terms such as â€Å"execution,† â€Å"torture,† â€Å"rape and sexual abuse,† and â€Å"mass killings† (Gimeno, 2008). 5 A sixth type of content is the dissenting soldier testimony: Iraq war veterans bearing public witness to dark war experiences, such as killing unarmed civilians with the consent of their superiors. Since this is a specific genre that does not entail images that document the controversial aspects of warfare, I will not consider it further in this article. 2 US SOLDIERS IMAGING THE IRAQ WAR ON YOUTUBE 21 for, and uploading these videos the American soldiers also follow the trend in contemporary â€Å"confessional† media culture to employ digital technologies as tools for exposing and exhibiting the self on the internet or other media venues. They are part of the recent explosion of (until now) private discourses in public spaces, such as swapping intimate details about your life via MySpace and Facebook. The troops can and do post footage on personal Web sites, but the networking sites and video-sharing platforms rovide a more public arena where the videos become open to global audiences who can communicate directly with the soldiers and give feedback on their audiovisual productions. COMBAT ACTION Since the Vietnam War, news organizations and media scholars have debated the question of whether, and how, explicit images of the violence and carnage of war should be broadcast. For the soldiers serving in Iraq, however, this is not an issue. They are clearly not impartial or external observers of the war, who abide by the dictate to serve the so-called â€Å"public interest. † They are combatants documenting the war as they wage and experience it. Many combat videos focus on the physical actions of the U. S. troops, shooting or blowing up targets that are in the distance. Most of them are edited to music, but some present live action footage with original sound, showing troops engaged in intense street battles and gunfights. Young soldiers often take what appears to be a near-sexual pleasure in the violent fighting – you hear them breathe heavily, moan, and make excited comments. One example is an entry on YouTube titled â€Å"Iraq Witness War Crimes U. S. Soldiers Murder Unarmed Civilians. †6 The clip shows a group of U. S. oldiers open fire on unidentified targets across the street from a rooftop in Ramadi. The troops cheer and laugh loudly as they fire on two cars that apparently by chance drive into the line of fire. The unarmed passengers leave the cars running in an attempt to seek protection in the nearby buildings but are summarily gunned down by the soldiers. The boasting comments made by different soldi ers on the video make the scene of what appears to be unprovoked aggression even more disturbing: â€Å"See that car, I lit that fucker up! He got 30 rounds in that bitch! † â€Å"Oooh, my bitch is fucking done dude! â€Å"Dude, look at it! We fucked those people all to shit down there! † The edited to music combat videos are typically made in a fragmented style with a rapid succession of various battle scenarios. They are often set to hard rock music – a symbolic expression of the adrenaline rush felt by soldiers going into a fight. In some cases, these videos seem to glorify violence and promote a kind of adolescent machismo with soldiers taking keen delight in shooting or blowing up targets. Other combat videos however clearly distance themselves from such a pro-war sensibility and militaristic celebration of power. One example is a video titled â€Å"U. S. Army, Marines-Iraq War-Kill Insurgents (4th video Battle). † Set to the heavy metal song â€Å"Eyes of the Insane† by Slayer, it is a montage of stills and moving images that shows U. S. troops engaged in various spectacular combat scenes. The lyrics of the song are the guiding principle 6 http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=JWYNn1pTwPM Added February 22, 2008, by â€Å"Slavesrevolt. † Accessed June 15, 2008. 22 ANDEN-PAPADOPOULOS for the set up of the video, taking the point of view of a soldier who suffers from the traumatic effects of war. He testifies to the â€Å"devastating insanity† of war which he keeps re-experiencing in the form of intrusive images: â€Å"I keep seeing mutilated faces/Even in my dreams/Distorted images/Flashing rapidly /Psychotically abusing me/Devouring my brain. † The video starts with an extreme close-up of an eye, in which the reflection of a soldier can be seen. This visual effect emphasizes that the rapid flashes of violent battle imagery in the video represent horrific war experiences as they are reflected – and compulsively replayed – in the eyes and mind of a traumatized soldier. One scene shows what appears to be an unarmed Iraqi civilian driving a motorcycle being gunned down from across the street by U. S. troops. Another shows two unidentified men running for their lives down a dusty Iraqi street before they are killed by U. S. troops in a Humvee. Yet another shows three marines on a balcony as they are hit by shrapnel blasting back at high speed from a distant exploding building. The video documents and expresses the maker’s own experience of the insanity of war – the chaos, panic, vulnerability, and kill-or-get-killed logic that compels soldiers to use sometimes indiscriminate violence. It presents warfare as a traumatizing experience that leaves the soldier full of questions and disturbing memories. In many cases, the videos contain imagery that originates from military surveillance devices such as night vision cameras and aerial surveillance technologies. Here, the representation of war becomes one with the waging of war itself. One example is a clip titled â€Å"Apache Kills in Iraq,† which consists of guncam footage taken at night from an Apache helicopter. 7 The video shows a U. S. ttack aircraft using high power ammunition to eliminate three suspected weapon smugglers on the ground. The clip is disturbing not only because the Iraqi men apparently are gunned down without a confirmed identification, but also because it visualizes the devastating impact of high power artillery when used against humans. The thermal imaging system used at night shows the glowing presence of the warm human body against the dark surroundings, making the effect of impact shocki ngly apparent: When the 30mm rounds hit the Iraqi men, you literally see warm viscera scattering in all directions. As one of the three victims lies helpless and wounded on the ground, the Apache pilots take aim and kill him with a second salvo, an action that would seem to qualify as a war crime. â€Å"OPERATION IRAQI BOREDOM† Soldiers have privileged access to the frontline of war and also to its back stage. They can go behind the scenes and document the more private settings, activities, and feelings that professional photographers cannot access and would not necessarily attribute news value to. The soldiers perform not only in front of the camera, but apparently even for the camera, often in playful, intimate, and humorous ways that clearly defy the more formal and distancing conventions of professional journalism. They often film themselves and their comrades goofing off for the camera, playing pranks such as capturing and overtaking a port-a-John housing a soldier dressed mockingly as a terrorist. 8 Frat-style humor is a key feature not only of these recurrent http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=LoFq9jYB2wo. Added July 24, 2006, by â€Å"acdclights. Accessed June 19, 2008. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=XvMLREePkyYNR=1. Added June 16, 2007, by â€Å"Sensicane. † Accessed June 29, 2008. 8 7 US SOLDIERS IMAGING THE IRAQ WAR ON YOUTUBE 23 â€Å"toilet action† clips, but of many of the videos that show troops in downtime activities. The soldiers waste time in measured nonsensical performances such as taping a comrade to the front of a Humvee, dancing poorly in their underwear, drinking maple syrup, or pouring canned air – which boils at room temperature – into the palm of their hand and watching as it burns the skin. These videos testify to the boredom that soldiers feel when not in action. Making videos is a way to offset the monotony, and also to release stress and frustration. Some of them are rather creative and witty, such as the celebrated rap song spoof about Ramadi titled â€Å"Lazy Ramadi. †9 This is a battle zone parody of the widely popular Saturday Night Live’s â€Å"Lazy Sunday,† created by and starring two National Guard staff sergeants who rap jokily about insurgents, body armor, Jell-O, and their hometown Muncie, Indiana. The clip evidently struck a pop-cultural chord. It became an overnight internet sensation that has been viewed millions of times on different internet venues. Ramadi is considered to be the most dangerous city in Iraq. The rap skit makes light of a hazardous and high stress situation, providing comic relief for both soldiers and the home front. â€Å"Lazy Ramadi† has many imitators on YouTube, with music video parodies that mock the grim conditions of war. There are also more controversial examples of activities that soldiers resort to in order to entertain themselves and their YouTube audiences. A clip posted in March of 2008 shows a U. S. Marine, David Motari, throwing a puppy off a cliff while on patrol in Iraq. 10 The 17-second clip generated international attention and sparked outrage from animal right groups around the world when it came to light. In the video, Motari smiles and jokes with his comrades before he hurls the puppy over a cliff as it yelps. An unknown person operating the video camera is heard laughing and another voice saying, â€Å"That’s mean. That’s mean, Motari. † The video clip caused the Marine Corps to expel David Motari and to take disciplinary measures against a second Marine involved. TRIBUTES TO THE FALLEN US SOLDIERS Tribute videos foreground a controversial and highly emotional topic: the deaths of U. S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are made as specific tributes to individual soldiers or as a generic homage to the U. S. troops serving and dying overseas. The former are typically created by close family members or friends and show private recordings from the funeral ceremonies interspersed with snapshots from family albums. The latter often present melancholic meditations on the ordeals U. S. troops face in Iraq, highlighting the harsh conditions and consequences of their mission. These memorial videos almost obsessively parade images of coffins draped in the American flag, a motif that inevitably conjures up the ghosts of Vietnam. In contrast to much official imagery, they also show seriously wounded American soldiers, soldiers being hit, and soldiers breaking down and crying. The Pentagon and the Bush administration have gone to great length to avoid images of U. S. casualties being broadcast or published in the U. S. media and have enforced a ban on pictures of the flag-draped coffins returning home from Iraq and 9 http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=5k3L-_Snu7k. Added May 15, 2006 by SSG Matt Wright and SSG Josh Dobbs. Accessed June 30, 2008. See also Lazy Ramadi’s official site at http://lazyramadi. com 10 The video was viewed tens of thousands of times before YouTube took it down because of a violation of the site’s terms of use. The clip is still widely available on the internet, however. 24 ANDEN-PAPADOPOULOS Afghanistan. Military and governmental officials always have been careful to prevent images that show their own troops dead or seriously wounded, since such sights might arouse fears about war’s personal and social consequences and undermine faith in the cause. What makes these images so contentious is not only the disturbing sight – actual or symbolic – of dead bodies, but the repressed question that they might evoke: Is the war worth the cost? Hence, official narratives have persistently sought to put depictions of American death in a meaningful context. Blood is sacrifice, spilled for sovereignty and freedom. Corpses are swiftly transformed into martyrs, whose surrender warrants our redemption. Mortality is relied on to project immortality, impregnability, and a reinvigorated sense of national purpose. In contrast, soldier tribute videos present more mixed messages. The themes of bravery, camaraderie, and patriotic pride are counterbalanced or even nullified by distressing expressions of pain, vulnerability, and irretrievable personal loss. One example is an entry on YouTube titled â€Å"Final Salute: American Soldiers in Iraq. †11 The clip starts with footage taken from a moving military vehicle, shot through the front windshield. After a couple of seconds, a roadside bomb explodes and shatters the windshield right before our eyes, as smoke and fire fill the screen. The spectacular scene positions the viewer with the vulnerable soldiers, making palpable the experience of lethal danger. This is followed by a slide show with images of soldiers crying, embracing, and paying tribute to fallen comrades. A recurring motif is the ritual shrines assembled of the dead soldier’s military gear. These memorials symbolically resurrect the dead soldier, with the rifle as a body placed in the boots, crowned by the helmet and dog tag. Sometimes they also include a formal portrait of the deceased. Images of flag-draped coffins are also repeatedly shown in the video, as are photographs of wounded U. S. soldiers. Some of the latter are extremely graphic, such as a close-up of the remains of a soldier’s blown-off feet. The overall theme of many tribute videos is the anguish and grief that the casualties of war cause for the U. S. soldiers and their families. They ask us to remember and fully appreciate the sacrifice of the young men and women serving overseas. Where the military and government elites attempt to spin American death into a political weapon, used to reinforce loyalty to the nation and to the military effort, tribute videos lament the loss of young lives in their own right. They insist that we recognize and recall the fallen American soldiers as persons, as unique individuals, whose sacrifice can only truly be measured through the consideration of what they meant to those who knew and loved them. INTERACTION WITH IRAQI CIVILIANS A great number of the soldier videos contain images of Iraqi children, the epitome of innocence and hope for the future. Many clips clearly attempt to cultivate the image of a good relationship between U. S. forces and local civilians, showing troops in amiable exchanges with Iraqi children and families. 2 The soldiers hand out candy, toys, and books to happy children, play with them, and give them medical care. The Iraqi children laugh, give a â€Å"thumbs up,† and wave 11 http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=WIw-BP4zfW4. Added August 27, 2006, by â€Å"prezjackie. † Accessed June 27, 2008. 12 â€Å"Iraq War: The Soldiers,† at http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=FUm05_I8xJ4. Accessed July 16, 2008. Iraq video â €Å"Why† at http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=hPVPqERfTM4. Accessed July 16, 2008. US SOLDIERS IMAGING THE IRAQ WAR ON YOUTUBE 25 small American flags, and are often seen embracing and even kissing the troops. These clips are obviously intended to project an image of the U. S. and coalition soldiers as humane and compassionate. They reflect and reinforce the official U. S. framing of the Iraq conflict as a â€Å"war of liberation† – the troops appear as the longed-for saviors of an undeveloped nation in need of paternal guidance. Other clips, however, employ the symbolic power of the innocent child to communicate strong anti-war messages. 13 Here, the Iraqi children are foregrounded as defenseless victims who cry out for us to take a critical stand on a conflict that deprives even infants of their tender life and limb. These videos contain graphic depictions of children seriously wounded, bleeding, screaming, and crying – often with a direct address to the camera, imploring us to act upon their unjust suffering. Such imagery evidently reflects negatively on the military effort in Iraq. By implication, if not explicitly, the U. S. forces are portrayed as cruel assaulters – rather than fatherly protectors – of the people of Iraq, bringing injury, death, and destruction to the country. In contrast to the feel good visuals of smiling Iraqi children, these depictions present the war as immoral and misguided. Apart from the clips that implicate U. S. soldiers in physical cruelties, there are also videos that document troops abusing Iraqi children in a more psychological sense. A notorious clip, â€Å"Iraqi Kids Run for Water,† shows U. S. soldiers dangle bottles of clean water over the back of a truck. 14 Much to the amusement of the soldiers, the trick makes Iraqi children run after the truck for a long period in a vain attempt to reach the bottles. Another clip shows U. S. soldiers entertaining themselves by teaching a group of Iraqi children (who apparently do not understand English) to say â€Å"Fuck Iraq. 15 In another video, a U. S. soldier dupes a clueless Iraqi boy to admit that he has â€Å"fucked donkey. †16 Needless to say, the humanitarian halo fades in the light of such stark enactments of patronizing, neo-colonial arrogance. CONCLUSIONS The frames of media and military elites no doubt remain powerful controls on the public understanding of international affair s. Still, the explosion of vernacular imagery of international conflict is becoming an increasingly important factor in the representation and shaping of the news and the newsworthy, and in mediating perceptions of war and foreign policy. The Iraqi conflict is emerging as the first YouTube war, where homemade soldiers’ videos throw into sharp relief the reportorial conventions of mainstream news coverage. Contrary to the myths of national glory, macho heroism, and clinical warfare manufactured by military and media elites, the firsthand testimonials by soldiers actually living the war offer the public uncensored insights into the mundane, violent, and even depraved faces of warfare. They challenge traditional 13 â€Å"War in Iraq† at http://www. youtube. com/watch? =4Gu7pswE43Ymode=relatedsearch=. Accessed July 16, 2008. â€Å"Iraq anti war video† at http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=3wKG9T1xPwY. Accessed July 16, 2008. 14 http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=L71Y1galpyA. Accessed July 2007, 2008. This clip has been submitted to YouTube numerous times by different users. 15 http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=eBGi8jr_CBEfeature=related. Added December 18, 2006, by â€Å"tmacdagreat. † Accessed J uly 27, 2008. 16 http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=kpHWaUSfYj8feature=related. Added February 7, 2007, by â€Å"666stunts666. Accessed July 27, 2008. 26 ANDEN-PAPADOPOULOS journalism’s claim to authenticity and credibility precisely by showing that which the mainstream news will not show and thus rendering dubious the professional practices of selection, framing, and editing. The authenticity of the soldiers’ experience lends a heightened sense of veracity and immediacy to their representations of war. The â€Å"reality effect† is further underscored by the soldiers’ personal points of view and the often raw emotionalism and poor technical quality of their amateur videos. Many of the soldier videos not only conflict with the official message that the military mission in Iraq is about rebuilding and peace but also with the persistent marketing – and popular perception – of â€Å"our† troops as fair, courageous, and caring. They show aggressive fighting by U. S. and coalition troops that at times revel in violently destroying the enemy. Other recordings contradict the image of a benign American presence in Iraq by showing troops unscrupulously abusing Iraqi children and pets – the embodiment of a degenerate abuse of power. The soldier videos also challenge the mainstream news convention of hiding the disturbing sight of dead and badly injured bodies from public view. They display gruesome images of dead and mutilated Iraqi insurgents and civilians, and also of U. S. casualties. The many memorial videos also defy the mainstream practice of transforming dead soldiers into generic symbols of national purpose and rectitude. Instead, they urge us to remember the fallen soldier as a specific individual whose death has devastating consequences for the loved ones left behind. This highlighting of war’s personal and social consequences undermines the official attempts at concealing these costs of war. Another sight not often found in official imagery, but frequently so in the soldier videos, is of troops crying. Here, the soldiers openly express their vulnerability when faced with the fatalities of war. If such a display of emotions contradicts the ideal of macho heroism, this is even true of some of the mundane imagery showing troops killing time in the barracks. Their playful performances for the camera abound with obscenities and adolescent humor, showing an unruly, even silly side of the troops that works against the official image of the regimented U. S. soldier. Yet they serve to put a human face on the U. S. military. For better and worse, many of the soldier videos bring us closer to the troops as real people, as opposed to prescribed images of dutiful soldiers who place their lives at risk in order to restore security to the sacred homeland. The homemade soldier videos represent a way of dealing with the stress, agony, and boredom of experiencing a war first-hand. Making these videos, though often a form of entertainment, can be seen as a coping mechanism, helping the soldiers to make sense of and communicate about a war that has gotten more and more complicated since Saddam’s statue fell. These new sources allow for more diverse points of view that complement, and at times disrupt the traditional framings of war. As my analysis of the soldier videos makes apparent, these nonprofessional contributions can provide us with critical insights into the complex, painful realities of experiencing a war directly, thereby offering the basis for a more open and democratic questioning of the authority and activity of U. S. foreign policy. It may be that these dispatches lack a coherent explanation for why the bombs are going off, and that it is often difficult to ascertain what is going on in each video, when and where it was shot and who shot it. Still, it is precisely the lack of prescribed framings and official narratives that make the soldier videos valuable, in that they provide raw, often unfiltered views that resist an all too neat packaging of war by those who direct it. The soldiers, as war insiders, can record, synthesize, and disseminate information that circumvents official channels of discourse. Their productions include the messy, visceral, chaotic, mundane, and emotional aspects of war often left out in the sanitized reports available on the network news. These, along with videos from insurgents, are transforming YouTube and US SOLDIERS IMAGING THE IRAQ WAR ON YOUTUBE 27 other video-sharing sites into alternative news networks. This multiplying of perspectives, accessible on the World Wide Web, empowers internet users to go beyond the one-way broadcasts directed at them and to actively seek out other points of view on the tangled realities of war and its policies. REFERENCES Allan, S. , Zelizer, B. (Eds. ). 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