A little girl stood up from the pile, drifting like an apparition from body to body. She stared at each body for a moment with an emotionless hollow face and then moved to the next one. A couple Iraqi soldiers who had now joined us desperately screamed at the children to run across the highway to us. The children glanced in our direction but seemed to be staring a thousand miles past us. They had passed beyond reason. We have to do something. I need to start shooting. Ephraim David screamed at me. He never screamed like that unless something was very wrong. Turning away from those black windows I wanted to be filling with lead. An old man slipped from the table
Ephraim Mattos is the founder of Stronghold Rescue & Relief, a non-profit organization that protects and cares for families in conflict zones.
He is a former Navy SEAL, and the author of “City of Death: Humanitarian Warriors in the Battle of Mosul”.
You can support Stronghold’s mission at www.strongholdrescue.org .
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