October, 2004. Samarra, Iraq. This infantryman rests in the sitting room of an Iraqi family whose house he has just raided. He, along with hundreds of other soldiers, had just completed a 36-hour sweep of some 1,000 houses across Southern Samarra. The raids were part of a mission to capture or kill insurgents and destroy their weapons, the first phase of an ongoing operation against insurgents in Iraq. The engraved band on the soldier's wrist is worn by many U.S. troops to commemorate friends killed in action.
Photo by Ashley Gilbertson—Aurora

"When I think about these raids I think about the Iraqi families. At one house, soldiers kicked in the door, and there was a wedding party. The family of the bride couldn't go home—they were too scared to go into the street. There they were, at their daughter's wedding, pleading for their lives, pleading to go home." —A.G.