A ‘caliphate’ no more

The pictures out of Mosul defy imagination — at least, the imagination of those who live in safety and for whom conflict lines may have blurred. The occupiers have been driven from the city. Civilian survivors of the eight-month battle to wrest Mosul from the clutches of ISIS have emerged from the dark places, their bodies reduced to skin and bones. On Friday, after liberation of the city was mostly assured, there were also images of Iraqi soldiers beating and killing suspected ISIS members; the Iraqi government insists those incidents are isolated and the perpetrators are being dealt with. ISIS left the city booby-trapped.

This is what is left of this ancient city along the Tigris, which three years ago fell to ISIS so quickly, so suddenly — and so hard. The terror group declared it the heart of its caliphate. As the forces of liberation closed in, ISIS reduced the mosque where that declaration was made to rubble.

But there are heartening images, too. Amid the smoking ruins, students at Mosul University who had been forced to abandon their studies once ISIS came to town have been working along with their professors to restore what was once a renowned center of learning. Iraqi security forces, which had fallen so easily as ISIS drove into the city in 2014, acquitted themselves admirably in the brutal battle to retake Mosul, albeit with essential training and support from the United States and its partners in the region.

Mosul at the moment is not much more than an expansive field of concrete and dust. Securing the city is the first task; it will take decades to rebuild. And ISIS is clinging to power in other parts of Iraq and Syria, meaning American forces bolstering the liberation effort won’t be boarding a transport home anytime soon.

But if not joy, there is at least relief in the liberation of this city and the suffering people who call it home.