Jacob Silberberg

Iraqi Army Sgt. Bushra Jabar, Baghdad

Jacob Silberberg is a freelance photojournalist represented by Panos Pictures. From 2003 through 2005 he lived in Nigeria and photographed stories including the genocide in Darfur, oil and insurgency in the Niger Delta, and the Liberian civil war. His work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and London’s Sunday Telegraph. Originally from New Hampshire, he graduated from Tufts University with a degree in International Relations.

About the Photograph:

Pounding her Baghdad beat, wrapped in a bullet-proof vest and brandishing a pistol, Sgt. Bushra Jabar definitely stands out in the new Iraq. She’s the only woman in the Iraqi Army unit patrolling the Kharkh district in the heart of the Iraqi capital. “Sometimes women on the street think I’m a man, from my uniform and gun,” says Jabar, 34. “The other soldiers use a man’s version of my name to call me.” Her day starts with a ride to her base in the back of a military pickup truck. Occasionally she waves her pistol at other vehicles to get out of the way.