IRAQ. Mosul. 2006. Bullet holes in a wall after a deadly raid. Alpha Company of 1-17, 172nd Stryker Brigade was
on a joint all-night operation to search ten houses. I was down the street with the company
commander when we heard a single burst from a machine gun. There was a pause and then the
air was choked with gunfire. We ran toward the shooting. A soldier, wounded and shivering, was
being carried into a Stryker. The house swirled with American and Iraqi troops. Men and boys
in their pajamas were lined up squatting against the wall, their arms tied behind their backs.