6 Photographs by Teun Voeten in Iraq, the Gaza Strip and Liberia

1 Iraq, November 2003: In the west of Iraq, close to the border with Syria, U.S. troops were conducting a huge operation to stop infiltrating terrorists and organized resistance. These tanks were rolling down a completely empty stretch of desert. No enemy to be seen, only sand and dust.

2 Iraq, November 2003: U.S. troops were searching and raiding houses in a village. This house was besieged by 40 soldiers, two helicopters hovering overhead and five tanks circling around. When the troops stormed the house, all they found were these terrified women in tears.

3 Gaza City, September 8: Three times this month Israeli jets rocketed houses of suspected Hamas members. About 10 Palestinians were killed. The cycle of hate and revenge is one of the most depressing things I ever have seen. The whole strip looks like a prison camp. The only thing kids can dream about is of becoming a martyr, too.

4 Khan Yunus, 30 km south of Gaza City, September 9: All over Gaza you’ll find these murals depicting and glorifying attacks and suicide bombings. Some of the images are pretty graphic and disturbing, actually quite sick. At one point, after complaints from the Israelis, the Palestinian Authority whitewashed them. Now they are back.

5 Ganta, Liberia, June 23: Most of President Charles Taylor’s government militia members were thugs and drugged child-soldiers. I love the delicate yet fierce look on the faces of these girls, one with a T-shirt from the London School of Music.

6 Monrovia, Liberia, June 25: Thousands of people were hiding from the fighting in the center of the capital. Some mortar rounds landed in a packed compound. Nearly 10 people were killed, a hundred wounded. This man had just been brought into a clinic, his wife and son in tears.