Lee Craker

One Thousand Days in Iraq: the Warriors Lee Craker

Photographer Lee Craker spent three years in Baghdad as the lead photographer for The United States Forces - Iraq Public Affairs Office. Lee was the official photographer for such historic events as President Barack Obama's surprise visit to the troops, Vice President Biden's timely visits, the transition to Operation New Dawn and many others. His lens captured rock stars, ordinary American soldiers, television icons and average citizens, with insight and passion, giving us a unique look at the Iraq experience. - The Warrior Project began on May 20th, 2009 at 9:38 PM. A single light from doorway illuminated the side of a soldiers face creating a dramatic profile. From that one photograph the project was born. The intention of these photographs was to give them as gifts to the soldiers and to create a personal project, a visual record of some of the men and woman who served in Iraq. Hundreds of images were made. In 2013 I was asked by the Imperial War Museum in London to display a selection of these images, and in doing so became the first American photographer to have work displayed in the IWM. I offer these images not as a record of war, but rather as individual portraits of soldiers that reveal how the soldiers saw themselves, as Warriors.