IRAQ. Mosul. 2006. American soldiers on a foot patrol noticed that two young men were eying them and fidgeting.
Anticipating violence, they stormed their house. During the search the soldiers teased a young
medic about his virginity. The soldiers had already searched hundreds of houses during their
deployment, and the banter was casual as they swept the family’s possessions onto the floor.
In the next room they were questioning a boy. “Have there been any new faces around the house
lately?” “Are your brothers coming and going at strange hours?” The boy muttered noncommittal
answers and stared at the ground. They found no contraband in the house, but the hands of
the young men came up with a faint residue of explosives. The lieutenant in charge of the
platoon decided to detain them, though he thought they were innocent. The explosives tests
were notoriously unreliable. They were blindfolded, and their hands bound with zip ties. The rest
of the family began screaming and beating their chests. The soldiers locked them in a room and
pushed the two stumbling men toward the Stryker.