IRAQ. Mosul. 2006. Each male family member of a suspected insurgent was interrogated after a midnight raid. They were
separated and individually brought into a dark, windowless room. A high-powered flashlight was directed
at their eyes as they were questioned about the whereabouts of a brother. They said they hadn’t seen him
in months, that maybe he was in Baghdad or Jordan or Syria. Intelligence had indicated there would be a
torture chamber in the basement, but a search turned up only dank and broken furniture. The family was
deferential, apologetic and conciliatory. The informant stood outside the house, scrawny and hunched in an
ill-fitting flak jacket. He wore a carefully wrapped scarf and sunglasses to conceal his identity. Despite the
failed search, he claimed to have seen the suspect at the house that morning. To induce the suspect to turn
himself in, the commander detained one of his brothers.