Following the deaths of three Marines in the city of Garma, the Department of Defense (DOD) published a standard killed in action press release.
The release, assigned reference number 545-08, provided the rank, name, age and home of record of the three dead soldiers. The announcement also stated the Marines died June 26 while supporting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
At approximately 11 a.m. the attacker detonated powerful explosives concealed under his clothing. Three Marines, two interpreters and at least 23 civilians were killed in the violent explosion. The Marines were preparing to return responsibility for Anbar's security to the Iraqi government within a few days.
At the moment of the deadly attack, embedded photographer and blogger Zoriah Miller, 32, was patrolling with Marines in the area. After hearing news of the attack, Zoriah ran alongside the Marines towards the scene of the explosion. While running he noticed a severed human ear on the ground.
Within hours of posting the images, the Marines demanded that Zoriah remove the photographs from his blog. He refused. The Marines responded, Zoriah was de-embedded and flown to the Combined Press Information Center (CPIC) in Baghdad.
“The world has no concept of what is going on over here,” said Zoriah, seated behind his laptop computer. “It is important that photographers be allowed to document what is happening on the ground in Iraq.”
