"We almost died there and I cannot overemphasize that enough."

Los Angeles Times photojournalist Luis Sinco recounted his "near-death experiences" as an embedded journalist in Iraq, particularly during the 2004 assault of Fallouja.

Speaking at a special convocation at Foundation University last Friday, the Dumaguete-born Sinco gave members of the media, students, teachers, and members of the Dumaguete community a front-row seat to the US-led war.

"I'm not a war correspondent. This was just another assignment," he told his audience.

An hour-long slideshow of his photographs gave his audience a deeper insight into what really happens in a war zone, and its impact on people long after they have gone back to their workplaces if they do get home alive.

"We did a good job of destroying Iraq," Sinco said, as he showed photos of bombed houses, bombed mosques, bombed bodies. The United States has since promised to rebuild Iraq.

Sinco gave the world photographs that have provoked passionate discussions, and received acclaim -- or criticism -- from people on various sides of the political divide.

A controversial photo that Sinco took had evoked so much outrage among Muslims, as it showed American soldiers -- in their muddy boots -- sleeping on prayer rugs inside Fallouja's Janabi mosque, which he described as the "Vatican" of Iraq.

"I got emails from people who asked, "Why did you have to publish that photo?" And I would tell them, "It's not up to me; I just take photographs," Sinco recalled.

Among his most famous photographs was the photo of a young Marine from Kentucky -- with a cigaret dangling from his lips, a bloodied nose, and soiled face that was featured in the front pages of almost every major daily newspaper in the United States. The photo was soon referred to as the "Marlboro Man".

The second son of educators Leandro and Mira Sinco, Luis spent his first eight years in Dumaguete until their family moved to the United States in 1968. After obtaining his Bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Washington, Sinco worked as a freelance photographer, a staff photographer for Copley Los Angeles Newspapers, and an associate editor for the Philippine American News, before joining the LA Times in 1997.

In 2004, Sinco was part of the LA Times' team of journalists who won the Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the California wildfires.

While Sinco may not have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder like many of the soldiers who became his subjects, memories of war-torn Iraq continue to haunt him. "I don't want to go back there again, and I promise you, this is the last time I'll ever talk about Iraq," Sinco said.*AP

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