A photo with a message

Re “Hundreds die in clash near Iraq holy city,” Jan. 29

I want to praise you for publishing the front-page photograph of an Iraqi schoolgirl stepping past blood on the ground to leave her school. I am sure that you’ll get complaints saying you should not feature such images in a family paper, but I think the American public should not be shielded from news of the carnage our federal tax dollars have brought about. The Iraqi people are certainly not shielded from anything at all.

JORDAN MOORE

Los Angeles

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When I saw the photograph on Monday’s front page, I thought of President Bush’s comment that the Iraqis should thank us for all we have done for them. If the war ended tomorrow, there would be tens of thousands of children traumatized for the rest of their lives by the horrors they face. I doubt that we can even begin to understand the life they lead and the damage done to their psyches day after day.

Parents complain about a lack of parking at their children’s school, or about after-school programs being curtailed. How many of us could deal with our children walking past pools of blood or seeing their classmates blown up before their eyes?

As difficult as it is to look at them, these pictures should be published more often, even though there are those who will complain that they are gruesome and unnecessary, or who will accuse you of undermining the war effort. If this is what the war has wrought, they should have no problem with your paper showing it.

HELENE WEISS

Colorado Springs, Colo.