The man sitting next to him said he had also fled the violence. "We escaped because we were scared," he said. "We came here."
As the men sat, some with their heads tipping forward, others looking around, a soldier yelled, "Get The Source."
The Source, still wearing the borrowed uniform and black ski mask, came forward. He was asked to point out the terrorists in the group. He walked down the rows of detainees, putting his hand on the head of one man here, another there. As he did, a soldier would pick up the fingered detainee and separate him from the group.
"All of the village, they are terrorists," The Source told two journalists after he finished.
Asked how he knew, he said: "I have one guy here, and he passed along the information to me."
Asked how he could be sure, he said: "Yes, they are terrorists. They all have the long beard. They had the beard, but some of them they shaved."
The Source declined to give his name. He then asked: "Is the commander going to pay me any money? If you are an informant, they are supposed to give you money."
The detainees whom The Source had patted on the head were loaded into the Strykers, flex-cuffed and blindfolded. By the end of Tuesday, 49 men were in custody, said Army Capt. Nathan Terra. "This was the most we've ever had, by far," he said. The detainees were so numerous that the soldiers ran out of flex cuffs and blindfolds.
U.S. military officials said the detainees would be held at a detention center inside Forward Operating Base Sykes, outside Tall Afar. Most would be held no more than 48 hours for interrogation, they said, then released.
