Triage

- Hey, lad. - Hey.

- Is that me? - Yeah.

You'd turn up late for your own funeral, wouldn't ya?

Couldn't find my passport. Better late tonight than tomorrow.

- Good to see you, man. - Where's the girls?

In the toilet. You packed? You all set?

Yeah. You nervous?

- No. - Good.

- To Kurdistan. - To Kurdistan. Slainte.

Hey, love. How are you?

- You packed? Yeah? - Ready to go.

How's it going?

- Any action? - God, I hope not.

Running out of time.

- Seat's in the corner. Let's get it. - Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

How are you?

It's not my fault.

I'm not pointing a finger.

So, quiet tonight?

Yeah. Think so.

- Think it's sad. - Sad?

- Yeah, you're going. - Geez, the guilt.

Ladle it on.

Anyway, we've decided some names.

- Yeah? - Mm-hmm.

If it's a girl, she'll be Morna.

- Morna. - It means "beloved".

- It's nice. - Yeah.

And if it's a boy?

Well, it was a tough one, but we finally agreed on Mark.

- You're joking. - Nope.

- Really? - Yeah, really.

Curse the child!

- Yeah. - Wow, thank you.

Thank you.

You all right?

Yeah.

All right, come on.

- Dr. Talzani. - Mr. Walsh.

- How are you? - Busy. Go.

David!

Jesus.

- The smell? - Yeah.

I thought you guys are used to this kind of thing.

How can anyone get used to this?

Well, considering we have no ventilation, no running water,

and no medicine, I'd say we are doing pretty good.

Dr. Talzani, this is my friend David.

Nice to meet you.

- All right, you know the rules. - No flash.

Keep out of your way.

- What happened to you? - Just needed some fresh air.

- Feeling better now? - Yeah.

All right. You do look like shit.

I think you're getting too old for this gig.

Now, that's funny.

I'm going home, Mark.

Yeah, me too. Soon.

I want to go now.

Tomorrow.

I've had enough. And Diane's due in two weeks.

If I'm not back in time...

I know. What about the offensive?

What about it?

Well, it looks like they're finally gonna go.

They've been saying that ever since we got here.

These people have been launching offensives for, what, two centuries?

Two centuries from now, they'll still be launching them.

We miss this one, we catch the next.

That simple, huh?

Ah, shite, here we go.

Blue tags.

- You all right for this? - Mm, yep.

All right. Let's go get some shots.

Come on.

Do you have an extra cigarette?

Beautiful, isn't it?

This place is beautiful.

You know...

In my lifetime alone, we had eight wars.

Two with the Turks, three with Iranians,

and three with Iraqis.

And if I go back to when my father was alive,

or my father's father,

each time we've been beaten.

That's what we Kurds do best, get beaten.

So why do you stay?

Where am I to go, Mr. Walsh?

They talk of free will,

but we are all just homing pigeons in the end.

You should leave soon, you and your friend.

The offensive starts in two days,

and when it happens, it will be very hard to leave.

Well, we don't want to leave.

That's why we're here, Doctor.

Can you get us a place on board?

Do you ever stop?

I must go. I'll see if I can do something.

Thank you.

There's an Iraqi outpost there,

and the only way to re-supply it is by convoy through this valley.

So they'll be sitting ducks for an ambush.

Talzani found us two places on the truck.

- Has he? - Yeah.

So we go along for that, and then come back here,

jump in a Jeep to the border, we'll be in Turkey by that night.

- What do you think? - That's cutting it too close.

How? We'll be home by Tuesday, Wednesday night at the latest.

That's a week and a half before the baby's due.

Oh, come on, Mark, what the hell does that mean?

Babies are born early all the time.

- So what if the Iraqis hit back hard? - That's not gonna happen.

It'll be days, it'll be weeks

probably before the Iraqis come back into the mountains.

How do you know that?

Because Saddam doesn't give a fuck about the Kurds.

They'll come back into the mountains just to prove a point.

Massacre them.

He doesn't fucking care about them, though he cares about the flats.

Oil fields.

First order of business, reclaim the oil fields...

Reclaim the oil fields? The Kurd's haven't even taken them yet.

What if they don't? What then?

Jesus Christ, man, you're making it hard.

Look, we've been here what, nearly a month at this stage?

Yeah.

And what have we got? Some shots of Dr. Talzani and the triage.

We've got some schoolchildren saluting the rebel flag.

Got some fucking Pesh Merga running drills?

It's all good stuff.

It's all good stuff, man, but it's not why I came here.

We haven't got the story.

Look, if this offensive goes off,

Kurdistan will be hitting the headlines

just about the time we get home.

And we're the only two photographers here.

There's no reason why we don't get those shots.

Fucking hell.

I can see it now.

Boys, welcome back. How was it?

It was grand!

So what shots have you got?

Shots of what, the offensive? Fuck the offensive.

Look, we've got schoolchildren. They're very cute.

Okay, Mark, I get the picture.

Two more days, man.

- You know what the worst of this is? - What?

The food. The fucking food. I mean, take a look at these beans.

Why do war zones always have such miserable food?

And you being a Scotsman, you'd know about cuisine, would you?

Oh, here we go.

Your entire menu looks like it was made in a fucking war zone.

And by the way, that's what your kid's...

gonna be eating for the rest of his life...

if we don't bring back some decent pictures.

You're worse than a pit bull. Do you know that?

Has anyone ever managed to say no to you?

Let's say we hope for a war in France.

Nice food, close to home.

The only thing is, knowing the French it'd be over in less than a week.

After this, I switch to fashion photography.

Two more days, then. But no more.

And if they come back tomorrow and say "Just another"...

Then we go. No questions asked. Absolutely.

Okay.

Good man, fair play.

I cannot believe I've been talked into it again.

Mark!

Where the fuck are you going?

Cease fire!

What's happened?

- We go! - Go base?

No base. No, we're going Iraq.

- Iraqi fort? - Yes. We go.

You all right?

What was all that about?!

I can't do this anymore, man.

There's been a change in plans.

They're not going back to base, they're going to hit the Iraqi fort.

What?

They're gonna go up there in the truck.

- The Iraqis'll think it's a convoy... - What, we going? No, no, no.

Look, David! We've no choice, man! We're along for the ride, remember?

Along for the fucking ride?! What are you saying?

Listen to yourself!

It's another day, then another day, then another day,

and I can't do it!

I'm going home, man!

David.

What the fuck are you gonna do, walk home?!

It's 20 fucking miles back to base!

Just don't get it, do you?

I don't care.

- David! - I'm going home.

Fuck! David!

Mr. Walsh, are you coming?

Mr. Walsh?

They found you down by the river. Do you remember that?

He says you can't walk. Is that so?