Peter van Agtmael's Journey Through War
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Soldiers search the Mosul house of two young men they felt were "eyeing them and fidgeting." The soldiers had already searched hundreds of houses during their deployment in Iraq, van Agtmael writes, "and they bantered casually as they swept the family's possessions onto the floor, teasing a young medic about his virginity." In the end, "nothing suspicious was found in the house, but the hands of the young men came up with a faint residue of explosives. The lieutenant in charge decided to detain them, though he thought they were innocent. They were blindfolded, and their hands were bound with zip ties. The rest of the family began screaming, beating their chests and waving their arms. The soldiers locked them in a room. They had seen the same desperation hundreds of times. Glassy-eyed, they pushed the two stumbling men outside."