Obviously we’ve been gearing up for the Mosul offensive for months now, soldiers trained, plans drawn up, intelligence gathered. However, I’ve been surprised by the physical reaction I’ve had to it, two days in.
Yesterday I had a knot in my gut, trying to suppress the professional jealousy I felt, not being out in the field, but instead behind a desk. Today, I’ve been close to tears, thinking about the good and the bad – unexpected unity between Arab Sunni & Shia and Kurdish forces, together in the cause against ISIS and the knowledge that so many innocents won’t get through the next month.
Outside of the local population, I’m extremely concerned about the attitude of a few reporters out here. Freelancers, especially young inexperienced ones keen to make a name for themselves, have been descending on Erbil in recent weeks.
Some of them, during the evening boasts around tables in beer gardens, clearly don’t have the temperament for this work. People have already been injured after heading out with unreliable units – the access to the front is way too porous – and some are coming back talking about the ‘best day of my life’.
Barely out of college in the secure West, unused to action, and surviving under harsh circumstances, they grow an attitude of immortality.
Sadly, I’m almost certain at least one Western journalist will lose their life in this phase of the battle against ISIS.