IRAQ. Outside Mosul. 2006.
Soldiers raided a hamlet on the outskirts of Mosul after midnight on a winter weekend. Iraqi
soldiers guarded the perimeter while a line of American soldiers moved up silently outside each
house. A soldier kicked in the door and stood aside. The others entered with weapons raised,
scanning the room rapidly with their flashlights and yelling commands in English and broken
Arabic. A young family had been sleeping, and the dirt floor was a tangle of blankets and thin
mattresses. A soldier grabbed the Iraqi closest to the door and shoved him against the wall,
forcing his arms behind his back. As he held his prisoner there, the soldier complained that the
scene was bound to be misrepresented by a photograph taken out of context. A second Iraqi
awoke with a start and fumbled for something under the blanket. Hawk, the unit’s Kurdish
interpreter, took several long steps and punched him sharply in the face, dazing him. Another
soldier slammed him to the ground. A search of the compound turned up a cache of weapons
and explosive materials. Three men were detained.