New York-I went down a minor Twitter rabbit hole yesterday (still not calling it X) and discovered that some of my fieldwork in Syria & Turkey in 2014 was cited in Conflict with ISIS: Operation INHERENT RESOLVE, June 2014–January 2020 by Mason W. Watson and published in 2021 by the Washington-based Center of Military History.
I’m glad to find out that a) this often poorly understood war has not been already forgotten in light of those happening right now and b) that the risks I took for both my physical and mental health are still worth something. To be a footnote to history is gratifying in a sense as it’s not like I still have the earnings to show anything from the frontline trips of yore. Witnessing the immense sacrifices that Syrians and Iraqis made to save their failing states at the time must be written down and recorded for ignoring these places-the very cradle of civilisation itself -is at our immense peril.
An American air strike on an IS position in Kobane, Syria on 15 October 2014. ©2014 Derek Henry Flood