Samar Hassan

Samar Hassan

She had roses on her dress
And roses at her toes;
He held his gun as if to bless
The blowing of each rose.

She had roses on her dress,
A blood-rose on her cheek:
Her parents' blood, and not her own,
Her cry was shrill and bleak.

What did the thugs in khaki think
Who shot into her car?
That they could fire, eliminate
And never leave a scar?

Our taxes pay for blood and loss,
For war knows no recession.
We pay, and let the children scream
And never learn our lesson.

Poem by Giles Watson, 2010. The song and the painting are my crude initial responses to a photograph of a grieving and terrified child. Samar Hassan's parents, Hussein and Camila, were both shot by U.S. troops in Tal Afar in January 2005. Soldiers shot into their car because they failed to stop at a checkpoint. A photograph of Samar Hassan in the moments after the shooting has just been published in the Guardian newspaper. Her case is by no means unique. The original press photograph, by Chris Hondros, can be seen here: http://bop.nppa.org/2006/thumbnails/512/00010547-INS-63710/124345.jpg

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Iraq
• War

[GilesConradWatson]

The car in which she was travelling failed to stop at a checkpoint. This may sound suspicious, but in fact there have been large numbers of deaths of this type: people get frightened when they see guns being waved at them, and when it happens in the dark, as in this case, there is also the possibility that the roadblock was put there by insurgents, and not by the Americans or the British.

[GilesConradWatson]

...Even sadder now that Chris Hondros, the photographer whose picture provoked me to write this song and paint this picture, was killed during Gaddafi's bombardment of Misrata on Wednesday: a brave man whose photographs showed the world what war is really like.

[GilesConradWatson]

...Even sadder now that Chris Hondros, the photographer whose picture provoked me to write this song and paint this picture, was killed during Gaddafi's bombardment of Misrata on Wednesday: a brave man whose photographs showed the war what war is really like.

[TheOnerepublic1fan]

This was really a sad story 

Poor girl.. 

Why the hell did the american soldiors sboot her parents ?! 

(P.s: Im American)

[andretscott]

Great work. Farout, both you and Hondros, RIP.

Un abrazo.

[BredaFerris]

Great work Giles. It is so sad that man cannot stop war. I suppose it's the evil streak in all of us that leads us to fight each other even to death.

[patfromlogan]

too sad...