Change and conflict

Thursday, September 30, 2010

MILFORD – In 2006, Nathan Webster was at a crossroads. He already had been a soldier, a photojournalist and a salesman, but as an adjunct professor of English at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, he felt as though he needed a new direction in life.

That direction took him to Iraq, where spent three summers embedded as a photojournalist with various companies of troops during some of the darkest days of the war.

On Sept. 15, he visited the Wadleigh Library in Milford to tell his tale through photos of his experiences in Iraq and excerpts from his book, “Can’t Give This War Away: Three Iraqi Summers of Change & Conflict.”

The title came from what Webster explained as a common theme throughout the war spanning from the Iraqis who had trouble taking responsibility for the war to low-level U.S. soldiers, who didn’t want to lose the war, to higher-ranking military officials who couldn’t get the American public interested in learning more about the war after the initial invasion in 2003.

Webster’s presentation was followed by a question-and-answer period with a crowd of local residents curious to hear his input on the topic.

“I think you always get good questions when the audience is motivated like they were, nobody accidentally stumbles into these presentations,” Webster said. “You come because you’re interested in learning more and adding a little bit more to your own knowledge, so you’re going to be motivated whether you’re just aggravated with the way the country’s going or if you have a family member that’s going overseas, so you want that information, you’re trying to get that information and the crowd reflected that.”

There was a general consensus from those in attendance that they left with a greater understanding of what the war was actually like on the ground.

“Someone who’s been there can make it real instead of me just reading about it or seeing it in a magazine,” Kris Costantino of Milford said. “I didn’t have any expectations, I just came to listen and hear his perspective.”

Others in the crowd who had been to Iraq before, such as Mozammel Husainy of Amherst, also were impressed with Webster’s level of knowledge on the subject, and the fact that the topic was being discussed in Milford.

“(The presentation) was excellent, it was very nice, it was refreshing,” said Husainy, who originally emigrated from Bangladesh and spent time in Iraq during the early 1980s before the U.S. embargo on the country. “I’ve had opportunities to spend time sitting in on talks about Iraq at major universities like Boston University, but it’s very encouraging to see small towns take an interest like this on this topic.”

Webster, who initially opposed the war and is still unsure if it was a good idea, but thinks America should stay until the job is completed, believes that the complicated nature of the situation in Iraq has limited public interest in the story, and harmed media coverage in the war.

“It isn’t simple, there needs to be an outlet to take the time to present an honest context without automatically defaulting to conflict,” said Webster, who also took umbrage with the belief that the war is over given the 50,000 U.S. soldiers still remaining in Iraq.

“With the media today, if you can’t have an argument about it, you can’t talk about it. Everything’s black and white.”

The presentation was part of the Wadleigh Library’s participation in the “September Project,” a nationwide effort to encourage community discourse on topics of democracy, citizenship and patriotism.

More information on the September Project can be found at www.theseptember project.org.