"They never find the sniper"

MOSUL, Iraq - Crack, thump. The British Royal Marines taught what to listen for to know if we were under sniper fire and how far away the gunmen was.

The crack is the bullet breaking the sound barrier, the thump is the actual shot, which you don't hear until it's far too late. I didn't have the time or the wherewithal to do the math, but 'too close' was my rough determination when we heard the shot.

I was at a meeting between a U.S. lieutenant colonel and his Iraqi counterpart at an Iraqi Army outpost in Mosul when we heard a spray of AK fire. I generally monitor the troops reaction as a guide to what to do and they paused and continued with the meeting, so I kept taking notes.

Then more shots, and more. Finally, I asked, "Uh, shouldn't we check that out," and they finally got up to see. Gunmen had opened up on two nearby Iraqi Army checkpoints, wounding one soldier before driving away.

I jumped in a truck with a group of Americans going to investigate back up the Iraqi soldiers. When we got there the Iraqis were kicking in doors seemingly at random near the shooting and picking up just about every male under 60 they came across. I was shooting photos of the scene. All of a sudden a few of them turned on me and, waving their AKs at me, and demanded that I stop taking pictures. It must have been the adrenaline, but I told them 'No' (although I may have used some choicer words) and eventually they backed off.

Then automatic weapons fire started coming from down the street and the soldiers I was following sprinted for cover (their Iraqi counterparts are doing the same in the above photo). That's when the sniper shot hit behind us and we ran for a new spot.

Upon hearing of this, my battle-tested editor said, "They never find the sniper. That’s one thing I’ve learned." And they didn't. Or the other people who were shooting at us.

The best part of the whole thing was, while we were under fire, some of the same Iraqi soldiers who had threatened me tried to get to me to take a posed photo of them. I'm glad they didn't speak much English because if they understood my response they may have shot me.