More On The Hooding Controversy: What Did He Draw, And When Did He Draw It?

In his piece last weekend, Frank Rich discusses how the hooding of Iraqi detainees, although periodically reported in the press in 2003, remained largely insignificant until the Abu Ghraib images surfaced. For example, Rich points out that the footage Michael Moore used in his film, showing U.S. troops making fun of hooded prisoners, was shot by independent filmmakers in December of 2003.

Going back to the Baghdad Journal, a running series of battlefield drawings and personal recollections by artist Steve Mumford (seen here at artnet), it’s clear the practice of hooding caught his attention as well (image 1, image 2). In the go-back-and-connect-the-dots instinct spawned by these kinds of revelations, Mumford’s documentation from Tikrit and Sammara was there to be seen and not seen as of last October.