The relief after the fall of Saddam Hussein

Thomas Dworzak spent time in Iraq before and after the fall of Saddam Hussein. In this video, the seventh in Culture’s Through the Lens series, he describes taking photos that capture a sense of fear, celebration – and short-lived relief.

27 October 2017
“I would have never thought I would get into Abu Ghraib – I don’t think anybody even asked, because it was so off-limits,” says Thomas Dworzak in this video, the seventh of Culture’s Through the Lens series marking the 70th anniversary of Magnum Photos. “It was a place where, when you passed it on the highway, your minder would look sheepishly at the ground.”
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Dworzak was in Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule – and in the months falling his overthrow. He witnessed prisoners being released from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, and looters being arrested in Baghdad. In this video, he reveals what it was like to be there before the fall of Saddam – and the way in which celebrations afterwards took the form of vandalising statues and mosaics.
Those first weeks were filled with relief, says Dworzak. “It didn’t last.”