Young Prisoner (Suspected Insurrgent), Ar Ramadi, Iraq
This prisoner (estimated to be about 16 years old), hooded and bound with twist-ties, was captured with two Iraqi adults at a U.S. Army checkpoint in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. A search of the vehicle discovered one grenade, an AK-47 and a small stack of Iranian rials (paper money). The assumption was that the men were insurgents, and they were being held for questioning at Hurricane Base, headquarters for the U.S. Army’s 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Ar Ramadi.
I asked a non-commissioned officer if anything else had been found in the vehicle. He said, “Yes, terrorist propaganda.”
I asked to see it. He handed me a copy of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, an engineering textbook, and a homework assignment, partly filled in, on basic English grammar.