A Philadelphia police officer watches a block of houses burn.: photo by George Widman/AP, 13 May 1985
Joseph Ceravolo: Narrative Night
May 15, 1985 O night of dreams
your melancholy heart redeems
all the daytime debris that makes
violence a part of catastrophe.
A bomb was thrown on a row house
to break an opening in the roof
in order to pour tear gas
and other chemicals
to squeeze out members of
a back to nature cult
in Philadelphia, who had automatic weapons.
The bomb caught fire
and flames spread to sixty houses
destroying all, destroying all. Ten bodies, charred, were found.
The back to nature cult
is gone from the debris.
The hundreds of homeless lost everything.
The police justify the bomb.
Why is there not greater lamentation?
Why not the clawing of hair
and tears flowing
even though most have their lives
and can hold each other and children,
and the dead don't lament.
There's an old lady emerging from ruins
holding a little boy crying.
There are men thrown in alleys.
Joseph Ceravolo (1934-1988): Narrative Night (May 15, 1985), from Collected Poems, 2012
'We tried to get our children, our animals, ourselves out of that blazing inferno. And as the cops saw us coming out, they opened fire.' Ramona Africa, bombing survivor: photo by AP, 13 May 1985
Dozens of houses continue to smolder the day after the bombing.: photo by Bettmann/CORBIS. 14 May 1985
A man flees for safety with a child while police assault the MOVE headquarters. photo by Peter Morgan/AP, 13 May 1985
Workers remove the remains of a body from the rubble: photo by J. Scott Applewhite/AP, 14 May 1985
Why is there not greater lamentation?
SYRIA - Wounded children wait to receive treatment following a reported air strike on the rebel-controlled town of Hammuriyeh. Photo @abdfree2: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 25March 2017
SYRIA - A man carries two injured children after a reported air strike in the rebel-held area of Hamouria near Damascus. Photo @amer_almohibany: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 25March 2017
SYRIA - The White Helmets rescue a survivor following air-strikes on the rebel-held town of Hamouria near Damascus. Photo Msallam Abdalbaset #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 25March 2017
@SyriaCivilDef volunteer evacuates his injured colleague following an air strike on Hammuriyeh, Syria, March 25, 2017. Photo @abdfree2 @AFPphoto: image via L'Instant-ParisMatch @instantmatch, 25 March 2017
SYRIA - Smoke rises from buildings following a reported air strike by government forces in Jobar, a rebel-held district. Photo @SameerAlDoumy: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 25March 2017
SYRIA - A Syrian opposition fighter from the Failaq al-Rahman brigade stands inside a heavily damaged building in Jobar. Photo @SameerAlDoumy: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 25March 2017
SYRIA - @AFP - Dialysis supplies dwindle for besieged Syrians Photo by @SameerAlDoumy: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 25March 2017
SYRIA - @AFP - Dialysis supplies dwindle for besieged Syrians Photo by @SameerAlDoumy: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 25March 2017
SYRIA - @AFP - Dialysis supplies dwindle for besieged Syrians Photo by @SameerAlDoumy: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 25March 2017
SYRIA - At least 16 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in an air strike on a rebel-held area outside Damascus. Photo @amer_almohibany: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 25March 2017
IRAQ - Snipers from the Iraqi forces man their post at the frontline of the Old City of Mosul during #MosulOffensive. Photo Ahmad Al-Rubaye #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 25March 2017
#Iraq People gather at a destroyed building while waiting at the Hamam al-Alil camp for internally-displaced people #Mosul By @ArisMessinis: image via Photojournalism @photojournalink, 25 March 2017
#Iraq. Residents of #mosul carry on carts bodies of their relatives that were killed by airstrike as they flee the city. #MosulOffensive: image via ArisMessinis@ArisMessinis, 18 March 2017
#Iraq. Residents of #mosul carry on carts bodies of their relatives that were killed by airstrike as they flee the city. #MosulOffensive: image via ArisMessinis@ArisMessinis, 18 March 2017
#Iraq. Residents of #mosul carry on carts bodies of their relatives that were killed by airstrike as they flee the city. #MosulOffensive: image via ArisMessinis@ArisMessinis, 18 March 2017
#Iraq. Residents of #mosul carry on carts bodies of their relatives that were killed by airstrike as they flee the city. #MosulOffensive: image via ArisMessinis@ArisMessinis, 18 March 2017
image via Battle Analytics @BattleAnalytics, 25 March 2017
Men load the bodies of people recovered from the rubble of a house in western Mosul: photo by Cengiz Yar via The Guardian, 25 March 2017
Mosul's children were shouting beneath the rubble. Nobody came: Coalition bombs buried more than a hundred people in the ruins of three houses and raised fresh questions about US rules of engagement: Martin Chulov, The Guardian, 25 March 2017
By the time rescuers finally arrived no one was left alive. For almost a week desperate neighbours had scraped through the rubble, searching for as many as 150 people who lay buried after three homes in a west Mosul suburb were destroyed by coalition airstrikes.
The full picture of the carnage continued to emerge on Friday, when at least 20 bodies were recovered. Dozens more are thought to remain buried in what could turn out to be the single most deadly incident for civilians in the war against Islamic State (Isis).
Rescuers at the scene in the suburb of Mosul Jadida said they had driven the 250 miles from Baghdad but had not been able to enter the area until Wednesday, five days after airstrikes hit the houses where local residents had been sheltering from fierce fighting between Iraqi forces and Isis.
Neighbours said at least 80 bodies had been recovered from one house alone, where people had been encouraged by local elders to take shelter. Rescuers were continuing to dig through the ruins, and the remains of two other houses nearby, which had also been pulverised in attacks that were described as “relentless and horrifying”.
The US military said it was launching an investigation. Colonel Joseph Scrocca, from the US-led command in Baghdad, said “the coalition has opened a formal civilian casualty credibility assessment on this allegation” from Mosul.
The destruction took place in a district that was last week a frontline in the battle for Mosul. Locals said militants had positioned a sniper on the roof of the home that had sheltered the largest number of people. It has raised fresh questions about rules of engagement in the war against the terror group, after two recent US airstrikes in Syria resulted in at least 90 casualties, nearly all of them thought to be civilian.
Residents in Mosul Jadida say no Isis members were hiding among the civilians, although dozens of militants had been attempting to defend the area from an attack by Iraqi special forces.
Members of an Iraqi rescue crew dig through the rubble of a house in western Mosul: photo by Cengiz Yar via The Guardian, 25 March 2017
“We all know each other, and most of us are related,” said Majid al-Najim, 65, as he stood next to the corpse of his nephew in a local cemetery. Gravediggers prepared the man’s grave as people wept around him. “And all of the families were in one of three houses. We are from the Jabour, Dulaim and Tai families. On that day, the airstrikes started around 8am. We originally hid in that house, but we left before the planes came back. There was three hours between us and death.”
“The days after were horrible. There were children shouting under the rubble. Nobody came to help them. The police told us yesterday that there was nothing they could do.”
Another man, Thanom Hander, who sat watching a digger scrape through twisted piles of masonry and metal, said his son and daughter-in-law had been the only two survivors locals had been able to rescue. The couple’s two children died in the attack, and his daughter-in-law had lost both her legs.
“They thought the basement was safe,” he said. “That morning, I heard the bombing, and I ran to the house. There were civilians shouting. There was nothing I could do.”
Speaking from the clinic where he was being treated, the man’s son Ali Hander said: “There was a lot of bombing above us, and then I started to feel everything collapse around us. We were buried for 10 hours until the neighbours dug us out. I lost my children.”
Isis has been widely accused of using civilians as human shields by positioning guns and fighters on top of houses. Most residents at the scene said that while the group’s members were indeed on the roof of at least one of the homes, those who took shelter below did so willingly.
Mustafa Alwan, a local shopkeeper disagreed. “My cousin and my sister went to that house,” he said, pointing at hulking ruins being methodically probed by diggers. “Isis forced them to go there. They pointed guns at them and made them enter. I lost them both.”
Another man, Subhan Ismail Ibrahim, said his wife and three children had been killed in the same house. “One child was four, the other one year old and the third less than three months. Speaking with a stony calm, he added: “I have lost them all, and the world must know what happened to them.”
Iraqi officers have been largely responsible for requesting airstrikes, which are then coordinated with US-run operations centres after approval from senior commanders. Coalition air spotters often guide the bombs to designated targets.
Men in the street as excavators dig through the rubble of a house in western Mosul: photo by Cengiz Yar via The Guardian, 25 March 2017
Donald Trump earlier this year ordered a review of rules of engagement set by his predecessor, which had insisted on “near certainty” that there be no civilian casualties before airstrikes could be sanctioned. While it has not yet been completed, there are mounting concerns that the very fact a review has been ordered may have already led to the threshold being lowered.
In response to an earlier query about the reported mass-casualty airstrike on Raqqa this week, the US military command in Iraq denied any “recent changes in operational procedures for approving airstrikes under the past or current administration”. But it said that in December, the war’s commander, Lt Gen Stephen Townsend, “delegated approval authority for certain strikes to battlefield commanders” in order to accelerate aid to Iraqi forces facing a grueling battle in Mosul. Those strikes “were still subject to the same scrutiny and due diligence,” the command said.
At the graveyard, Majid al-Najim said: “Is an Isis sniper being on a roof enough of a reason to send a plane with a large bomb to destroy a house? They hit it many times. They wanted to destroy everything inside.
“Then after that, we needed equipment to rescue the people. Just one bulldozer. Anything. The corrupt government officials could not help us, and would not if they could. This is an enormous crime.”
In a nearby Iraqi base, a special forces major shifted uncomfortably when details of the disaster were relayed to him. “This is not in our area and we know nothing about it,” he said. “We have lost people too, around 20 colleagues fighting an enemy of all the people.” After a while, he shrugged and said: “What can we do? It’s war.”
#Iraq Burials of air-strikes victims were carried out in large Mass graves in West Mosul: image via Battle Analytics @BattleAnalytics, 25 March 2017
ويكليكس الشرق الأوسط
ويكليكس الشرق الأوسط@WikileaksMENA
صور من الموصل الاحصائيات تشير ان اكثر من 2000 جثة لازالت تحت الانقاض بعد استخراج اليوم 600 جثة، جميعهم Battle Analytics Retweeted ويكليكس الشرق الأوسط Battle Analytics added, Wikileaks: Mosul statistics indicate that more than 2000 bodies still under rubble after extracting today 600 corpses. All women, children, old
image via Battle Analytics @BattleAnalytics, 25 March 2017
ويكليكس الشرق الأوسط
ويكليكس الشرق الأوسط@WikileaksMENA
صور من الموصل الاحصائيات تشير ان اكثر من 2000 جثة لازالت تحت الانقاض بعد استخراج اليوم 600 جثة، جميعهم Battle Analytics Retweeted ويكليكس الشرق الأوسط Battle Analytics added, Wikileaks: Mosul statistics indicate that more than 2000 bodies still under rubble after extracting today 600 corpses. All women, children, old image via Battle Analytics @BattleAnalytics, 25 March 2017
ويكليكس الشرق الأوسط
ويكليكس الشرق الأوسط@WikileaksMENA
صور من الموصل الاحصائيات تشير ان اكثر من 2000 جثة لازالت تحت الانقاض بعد استخراج اليوم 600 جثة، جميعهم Battle Analytics Retweeted ويكليكس الشرق الأوسط Battle Analytics added, Wikileaks: Mosul statistics indicate that more than 2000 bodies still under rubble after extracting today 600 corpses. All women, children, old image via Battle Analytics @BattleAnalytics, 25 March 2017
ويكليكس الشرق الأوسط
ويكليكس الشرق الأوسط@WikileaksMENA
صور من الموصل الاحصائيات تشير ان اكثر من 2000 جثة لازالت تحت الانقاض بعد استخراج اليوم 600 جثة، جميعهم Battle Analytics Retweeted ويكليكس الشرق الأوسط Battle Analytics added, Wikileaks: Mosul statistics indicate that more than 2000 bodies still under rubble after extracting today 600 corpses. All women, children, old
image via Battle Analytics @BattleAnalytics, 25 March 2017
Airwars@airwars Basma Basim, the head of Mosul Provincial Council, says 500 died after New Mosul airstrike according to local report https://www.facebook.com/MOSULMNN/posts/1343894622316114…
Head of Mosul Provincial Council said she went to site of airstrikes in Mosul Jadeed, She said number of killed on that day is 500 Souls. tweet via Battle Analytics @BattleAnalytics, 25 March 2017
PERU - A local resident pushes his cart through the mud after the flooding caused by recent rains, in Piura. Photo Ernesto Benavides #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 25March 2017
CHINA - An elderly woman crosses a road in the Kowloon district of Hong Kong. Photo @AntAFP #dailylife: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 25March 2017
IRAQ - An Iraqi Kurdish shepherd herds his sheep in the Kurdish town of Akra. Photo @safinphoto #AFP: image via Frédériue Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 22 March 2017
Under the Rule of the Fleshapods
A protester is pushed back and slugged with what appear to be brass knuckles by the Make America Great Again March participants at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday. The march was in support of President Donald Trump.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
A protester is pushed back and slugged with what appear to be brass knuckles by the Make America Great Again March participants at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday. The march was in support of President Donald Trump.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
A protester is pulled by the Make America Great Again March crowd at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday. The march was in support of President Donald Trump.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
A protester is pulled by the Make America Great Again March crowd at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday. The march was in support of President Donald Trump.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Doves are released at the start of the Make America Great Again March at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Doves are released at the start of the Make America Great Again March at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
White doves are released by Legion of Drumpf fleshapods at the start of the Make America Great Again march in Huntington Beach.: photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
A large crowd came out for the Make America Great Again March at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday. The march was in support of President Donald Trump.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
A large crowd came out for the Make America Great Again March at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday. The march was in support of President Donald Trump.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Marchers carried a variety of flags at the Make America Great Again March at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Trish Rizzo of Corona wore her Donald Trump socks to the Make America Great Again March at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Some marchers wore shirts and hats in support of President Trump and carried U.S. flags at the Make America Great Again March at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Theresa Melconian of Long Beach brought her own sign to the Make America Great Again March at Bolsa Chica State Beach on Saturday.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Organizer Jennifer Sterling spoke at the Make America Great Again March at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Jack Biehl, 17, second from right, and Chris Gonzalez, 18, right, both from Rancho Santa Margarita, participated in the Make America Great Again March at Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach on Saturday. The march was in support of President Donald Trump.: photo by Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Legion of Drumpf fleshapods cheer during Make America Great Again march in Huntington Beach.: photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Legion of Drumpf fleshapods cheer during Make America Great Again march in Huntington Beach.: photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Violence erupts at a Make America Great Again rally in Huntington Beach when a protester opposed to FalsePresident Drumpf allegedly douses the organizer of the event with pepper spray and is immediately pummelled by a group of Legion of Drumpf fleshapods.: photo by Cindy Carcamo / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Blows are exchanged during the Make America Great Again march in Huntington Beach.: photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Blows are exchanged during the Make America Great Again march in Huntington Beach.: photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Deanne Payn cheers during the Make America Great Again march in Huntington Beach.: photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Tensions run high between Legion of Drumpf fleshapods and protesting humans at the Make America Great Again march in Huntington Beach.: photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Tensions run high between Legion of Drumpf fleshapods and protesting humans at the Make America Great Again march in Huntington Beach.: photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
An anti-FalsePresident Drumpf protestor hits the sand at the Make America Great Again march in Huntington Beach.: photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
An anti-FalsePresident Drumpf protestor hits the sand at the Make America Great Again march in Huntington Beach.: photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
A scuffle breaks out at the Make America Great Again march in Huntington Beach.: photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
A scuffle breaks out at the Make America Great Again march in Huntington Beach.: photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times, 25 March 2017
Can the Emission-Standard-Busting, Dirty-Air-Loving, Tailpipe-Guzzling Lord of the Fleshapods Make American Aerosols Great Again?
Southern California has been fighting against smog for decades. Will Trump get in the way?: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes, 25 March 2017
Smog, 1990. Aug. 30, 1990: An aerial view of the downtown Los Angeles skyline.: photo by Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times, 30 August 1990
Southern California has been fighting against smog for decades. Will Trump get in the way?: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes, 25 March 2017
This was our air in 1990. State legislators are ready to go to war with Trump to stop this from happening again: image via Los Angeles Times, @latimes, 25 March 2017
Sept. 13, 1955: Buildings in Los Angeles Civic Center are barely visible in a picture looking east at 1st and Olive streets.: photo by John Malmin / Los Angeles Times, 13 September 1955
Southern California has been fighting against smog for decades. Will Trump get in the way?: image via Los Angeles Times @latimes, 25 March 2017
Arrival (Fat's in the fire)
Untitled: photo by Gabi Ben avraham, 17 March 2017
Untitled. New Orleans, LA.: photo by Skyid Wang, 24 March 2017
Untitled. New Orleans, LA.: photo by Skyid Wang, 24 March 2017
Untitled. New Orleans, LA.: photo by Skyid Wang, 24 March 2017
DSC02016-2: photo by NATTAPHOP NGAMTHAWORNWONG, 23 March 2017
DSC02016-2: photo by NATTAPHOP NGAMTHAWORNWONG, 23 March 2017
DSC02016-2: photo by NATTAPHOP NGAMTHAWORNWONG, 23 March 2017
Arrival: photo by Kanrapee Chokpaiboon, 16 March 2017
Arrival: photo by Kanrapee Chokpaiboon, 16 March 2017
Arrival: photo by Kanrapee Chokpaiboon, 16 March 2017
DSC0027: photo by Kanrapee Chokpaiboon, 16 March 2017
[DSC0027]: photo by Kanrapee Chokpaiboon, 16 March 2017
[DSC0027]: photo by Kanrapee Chokpaiboon, 16 March 2017
DSC00351: photo by noppadol maitreechit, 20 March 2017
DSC00351: photo by noppadol maitreechit, 20 March 2017
DSC00351: photo by noppadol maitreechit, 20 March 2017
Untitled [Thailand]: photo by Larry H., 2 March 2017
DSC00596-3: photo by noppadol maitreechit, 21 March 2017
DSC00596-3: photo by noppadol maitreechit, 21 March 2017
DSC00596-3: photo by noppadol maitreechit, 21 March 2017
Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, March 2017
Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, March 2017
Albuquerque, New Mexico: photo by Jorge Guadalupe Lizárraga, March 2017
Raetihi [NZ]: photo by bobsan 88, 24 March 2017
Industrial details [Larvik]: photo by astrid westvang, 14 March 2017
2017-75. Berkeley, CA.: photo by biosfear, March 2017
2017-60. Berkeley, CA.: photo by biosfear, 6 March 2017
2017-51. Oakland, CA.: photo by biosfear, February 2017
Fat's in the fire [Pennsylvania]: photo by Andrew Murr, 24 March 2017
Can't Find My Way Home #2. Lumberyard on Roosevelt and 99th (Four Corners) in Eugene, after a storm: photo by Rose Nunez Smith, 21 March 2017
Can't Find My Way Home #2. Lumberyard on Roosevelt and 99th (Four Corners) in Eugene, after a storm: photo by Rose Nunez Smith, 21 March 2017
Can't Find My Way Home #2. Lumberyard on Roosevelt and 99th (Four Corners) in Eugene, after a storm: photo by Rose Nunez Smith, 21 March 2017
