Combat Surgeon "No Atrocity They Won't Do"

"I suspect Iraq has run out of post-Saddam supporters and religious zealots. They are visiting Allah. No society has an endless supply of people like that anyway, political pundits notwithstanding. I see IEDs (improvised explosive devices) but no suicide bombers. My headline would read: US Army fighting Syrian funded Mafia-like organization in Mosul.' If something makes no sense follow the money. Many claim they need the money to support their families, as if killing and mutilating is an OK way to pay your bills."

'No atrocity they won't do'

Only about 10 percent of the patients were Americans. The Iraqi Army and police are doing more of the fighting than people realize, Percival said. They made up more than half of the patients. The balance was made up of civilians and enemy forces labeled as suspected insurgents.

Percival expected the enemy to be driven by religion and politics. He didn't see that. Instead, he saw young men with cell phones, gang tattoos and crisp $100 bills that he was told came as payment for planting bombs or sniping soldiers. They shot Americans and Iraqis. They shot women and children.

"These people will do anything. There's no atrocity they won't do," he said, concluding the war, at least in Mosul, was being driven not by fundamentalist Islam but by money. "I met people who appeared to be part of an organized crime cartel, were paid for what they did and there were no lines they wouldn't cross."

Read "Surgeon In Combat"