War Of Images

For weeks, the dominant image of the gulf battle was a grainy video clip, cross hairs bouncing slightly as a tiny bomb headed for a tiny building and (slight pause) a tiny puff of smoke exploded across the screen. The pictures made the war seem remote and bloodless. But last week Saddam Hussein discovered the power of images. Photographers were allowed access to the tragedy that resulted when the allies bombed a building in Baghdad where hundreds had taken refuge. Those pictures -- and the ones on these pages from elsewhere in Baghdad and from Basra -- put the human impact of the war into focus. But they cannot tell the whole story. They do not show Saddam's destruction of Kuwait, where no photographers can go. And they do not show the large areas of Baghdad (like the mosque at left) that have remained untouched throughout the carefully targeted air campaign.