For Mosul's SWAT team, battle against ISIS personal: photojournalist
The battle for Mosul rages on — while the city's eastern half has been freed from ISIS, Iraqi forces have just launched an attack on the occupied western side.
The Nineveh province police SWAT team has been one of many groups on the front lines. The men are all from Mosul.
And among the criteria to join the team: having been personally affected by ISIS — either having been injured themselves or having a family member killed — and a desire for revenge.
Photojournalist Victor Blue spent six weeks with the SWAT team this fall, and has just published his pictures in The New Yorker.
"[The SWAT team] were quite literally fighting back into the city to rescue their family members," Blue tells The Current's guest host Laura Lynch.
"They wanted to free their city from this two-year nightmare."
But the fierce, street-by-street battle took its toll on on the small, badly-equipped team.
"One of the worst days that we were with them," Blue says, "was a day that they were hit by two suicide car bombs in one day, one of which killed two of their soldiers."
Related: A Photographer's View of a Battle to Destroy ISIS
The battles surrounding those suicide bombings had left half of the team injured.
"Everybody of course was refusing to go to the hospital, and their leaders were having to force them," Blue says.
In amongst that chaos, Blue noticed — and photographed — one of the SWAT team members acting as a human crutch for his injured friend.
It was a moment that affected him profoundly.
Related: The Desperate Battle to Destroy ISIS
"To be present for an experience that was creating the bond that these guys were gonna maintain long after I'm gone," says Blue.
"It's a privilege to be able to be there to witness it."
Listen to the full segment at the top of this web post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Karin Marley.