“These civilians are living in increasingly worsening situation of penury and panic because they are surrounded by fighting.”

If, in fact, Mosul civivians have become "human shields," for the terrorists holed up there, it's because they allowed themselves to become just that.  Harsh?  Incorrect?  Buried in this story is the reason I make the comment: "About 800,000 people...of the northern Iraqi city, have already fled..."  Good for them--but just a little over 1/3 the total population. That's all.  And EVERY Mosul civilian had ample warning (weeks at least) that the city was going to be a "ground-zero" combat zone. Fear leads to paralysis: nobody makes any decisions. It's human nature.  Very similar, in some cases, to Jews in 1930s Germany. 


Caen, Brest, Le Havre and Cherbourg. St. Lo look pretty bright and shiny today.  They were destroyed after D-day. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed. Little warning for many on the coast. D-day was secret. Battle of Mosul wasn't.