THE WORLD AND MY PAST UNRAVEL around me. Gaga is a stranger, our life together an illusion. All my efforts to recover my lost friend's honor failed.

What if the majority of Gaga's actions during the war were tolerable, what we might call normal? How should that be measured against the terror he unleashed on his neighbors or the people he targeted with his sniper's rifle? How do we measure morality in war?

Was Gaga killing civilians?

No one dared to answer the question. His brother, Misha, told me Gaga bragged of killing 50 people. But he insisted they were fighters. At the same time, Misha admitted he had lectured Gaga against killing women and children, a clear indication that he, too, believed Gaga was out of control.

Next: Ozrenska Street