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Notebook

Pistols, airstrikes and smuggled cows: a letter from Islamic State border country

While the Commons voted to bomb, we were getting over the razor wire

4 October 2014

9:00 AM

4 October 2014

9:00 AM

 Turkey, Syria

It is the early hours of the day that Parliament votes on whether to bomb the so-called ‘Islamic State’ — and we are sitting cross-legged on the floor of a Kurdish smuggler’s house. He has a picture of Mecca on his wall, a gold watch on his wrist, and an open bottle of whisky by his side.

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Paul Wood is a BBC correspondent.

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