### Step 1: Literal Narrative
The battle for Mosul, Iraq, the Islamic State’s largest former urban stronghold, concluded in July after a ten-month conflict that resulted in thousands of casualties. The current primary challenge is the extensive presence of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), booby traps, and unexploded ordnance left by ISIS. Marcia Biggs reports from Mosul, highlighting the devastation at the Mosul Technical Institute, once an educational center, now reduced to rubble.
Biggs accompanies Christian, a team leader from Janus Global Operations, a firm contracted by the U.S. government to clear explosive hazards. Christian explains the meticulous process of locating and disarming IEDs, noting that multiple devices often litter roads leading to key buildings. The U.S. has invested $30 million this year in clearing former ISIS territories in Northern Iraq, with Janus having cleared 727 buildings and removed 3,000 IEDs, which they state were produced at an industrial scale. State Department officials and experts consider the volume of unexploded ordnance in Mosul to be unprecedented.
Janus Global’s strategy prioritizes clearing infrastructure essential for community return, such as schools, power, sewer, and water systems, before addressing individual homes. This extensive clearing operation is projected to take years, possibly decades. To expedite the process, Janus is training local Iraqis to form front-line search teams, with Janus personnel providing oversight and expertise for removal. Christian expresses confidence in the Iraqi trainees’ aptitude and intelligence.
Fawzi al Nabdi, a team leader for Al Fahad Company, the Iraqi local partner, confirms his team’s readiness and commitment to the work, acknowledging the Americans’ greater experience. He states that if mines are found, they will halt operations for investigation and planning by the U.S. team. Al Nabdi describes Mosul as the largest project he has encountered, estimating a month to clear just the university campus. ISIS had occupied the university as a military base, using it for mine manufacturing, which made it a target for coalition airstrikes. Dean Ghassan Alubaidy of the Mosul Technical Institute confirms that nine airstrikes hit the institute and its workshops.
Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend previously identified 81 locations with unexploded bombs. Facilities used for weapons manufacturing were often high-value targets. The Mosul Technical Institute’s electrical engineering workshop, hit in 2015, was likely an ISIS bomb-making factory. Despite the damage, Dean Alubaidy plans to hold classes in alternate buildings this fall, anticipating thousands of students eager to resume their education after three years of disruption. Mosul University has already resumed classes, with students volunteering for cleanup efforts.
West Mosul, particularly the densely populated Old City, suffered the most intense fighting and presents significant challenges for mine-clearing due to flattened buildings. Fawzi al Nabdi recounts a tragic incident where a man and his two children were killed by a bomb upon entering their home. Residents are largely prohibited from returning to neighborhoods like Ahmed Younes’, who received special permission to retrieve personal items, acknowledging the inherent risks. Currently, there is no plan to clear the Old City or assess the extent of its mine contamination, which remains off-limits except to Iraqi security forces. The Janus team continues its methodical approach, focusing on clearing the rest of the city. Christian views the work as a competition against the perpetrators of the IEDs, aiming to neutralize them before they can cause harm, and feels they are winning “one IED at a time.” The report concludes by mentioning Frontline’s film “Mosul,” which documented the battle.
### Step 2: Alternative Narrative
The aftermath of the battle for Mosul reveals a city not merely scarred by physical destruction, but deeply entangled in a protracted, invisible war against the remnants of ISIS’s strategic infrastructure. Beyond the immediate devastation, a more insidious threat persists: the pervasive network of mines and booby traps meticulously laid by the departing militants. This narrative focuses on the human element and the long-term implications of this hidden danger, particularly for the city’s future and its inhabitants’ ability to reclaim their lives.
The Mosul Technical Institute, once a beacon of knowledge, now stands as a stark symbol of this enduring conflict. Its ruined classrooms and laboratories are not just casualties of war, but potential repositories of deadly traps. The work of teams like Janus Global Operations, represented by Christian, is a critical, yet often unseen, effort to dismantle this legacy. Their methodical clearing of IEDs, described as being produced on an “industrial scale,” suggests a deliberate, systematic effort by ISIS to cripple the city’s recovery. The $30 million investment by the U.S. underscores the magnitude of this challenge, a financial commitment to undoing the damage inflicted by a non-state actor.
The strategy of prioritizing essential infrastructure over individual homes, as articulated by Christian, highlights a pragmatic approach to enabling a return to normalcy. However, it also implies a phased, potentially slow, process for many residents seeking to reclaim their personal spaces. The reliance on training local Iraqis, while essential for long-term sustainability, also points to the limitations of external support and the inherent risks faced by those on the front lines of this dangerous endeavor. Fawzi al Nabdi’s dedication, while commendable, also underscores the immense scale of the task and the reliance on external expertise for complex disarming operations.
The university’s dual role as a former ISIS weapons factory and a target of coalition airstrikes illustrates the complex interplay of destruction and the subsequent dangers left behind. Dean Alubaidy’s determination to reopen the institute, despite the lingering threats, speaks to a profound resilience and a desperate yearning for normalcy among students who have lost years of education. This resilience is mirrored in the voluntary efforts of students at Mosul University, suggesting a community actively seeking to rebuild.
However, the situation in West Mosul’s Old City presents a more daunting picture. The lack of immediate plans for clearing this densely populated area, coupled with tragic incidents like the one described by Fawzi al Nabdi, where a family was killed by a home-based IED, underscores the profound vulnerability of returning residents. Ahmed Younes’ risky return to his neighborhood, despite official prohibitions, illustrates the desperate measures individuals may take to reclaim what little they can from their former lives, even at great personal peril. The ongoing work of the Janus team, described as “one IED at a time,” suggests a slow, incremental victory against a pervasive enemy, a battle fought not just for territory, but for the very possibility of a future free from fear.
### Step 3: Meta-Analysis
The two narratives, while derived from the same source material, exhibit distinct framing and emphasis, shaping the reader’s perception of the situation in Mosul.
The **Literal Narrative** adopts a more objective, reportorial stance. Its primary function is to convey factual information as presented in the original article. The emphasis is on detailing the events, the key players (Marcia Biggs, Christian, Fawzi al Nabdi, Dean Alubaidy), the scale of the problem (number of IEDs, financial investment), and the operational strategies employed by Janus Global. The tone is informative and direct, aiming to provide a comprehensive overview of the post-battle challenges. Omissions are minimal, as it largely adheres to the explicit statements and descriptions within the source.
The **Alternative Narrative**, conversely, adopts a more interpretive and thematic approach. It shifts the focus from a chronological recounting of facts to an exploration of the underlying human dimensions and long-term implications. The framing emphasizes the “invisible war” and the “insidious threat,” positioning the IEDs not just as physical obstacles but as a deliberate strategy to cripple recovery. This narrative highlights the resilience of the Iraqi people and the profound vulnerability of returning residents, particularly in areas like the Old City. It implicitly questions the pace and comprehensiveness of the clearing efforts by focusing on the risks faced by individuals and the lack of immediate plans for certain areas. The emphasis is on the emotional and psychological impact of the lingering danger, the desperation of residents, and the slow, arduous nature of rebuilding lives. While it draws on the same facts, it prioritizes those that support its thematic focus on human struggle and enduring threat.
In essence, the Literal Narrative serves as a factual repository, while the Alternative Narrative functions as an analytical lens, drawing out specific implications and emotional resonance from the presented facts. The differences in framing are evident in the choice of vocabulary (e.g., “insidious threat” vs. “unexploded ordnance”), the prioritization of certain details (e.g., tragic incidents in the alternative narrative), and the overall tone, which moves from informative to more evocative in the alternative version.
### Step 4: Background Note
The conflict in Iraq, particularly the fight against ISIS, has had profound and lasting consequences for the country’s infrastructure and population. The Islamic State, or ISIS, emerged as a militant group that seized significant territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014, establishing a self-proclaimed caliphate. Their brutal tactics included widespread use of terror, including the systematic deployment of explosives as a weapon of war and a tool for intimidation.
The battle for Mosul, which lasted from October 2016 to July 2017, was one of the most intense urban warfare campaigns in recent history. ISIS fighters, entrenched in the city, employed a variety of tactics to defend their stronghold, including the extensive use of IEDs, suicide bombers, and human shields. The liberation of Mosul was a major victory for Iraqi forces and their international partners, but it came at a tremendous cost, leaving large parts of the city devastated.
The challenge of clearing IEDs and unexploded ordnance is a common post-conflict issue, but the scale and sophistication of ISIS’s explosive devices in Mosul were particularly noteworthy. The group was known to produce these weapons on an industrial scale, utilizing makeshift factories and readily available materials. This widespread contamination poses a significant long-term threat to civilians, hindering reconstruction efforts, preventing the return of displaced populations, and continuing to cause casualties long after the fighting has ceased.
The U.S. government’s involvement, as indicated by the funding for Janus Global Operations, reflects a broader international effort to support Iraq in its post-conflict recovery. However, the sheer magnitude of the problem, as highlighted by the projection that clearing Mosul could take decades, underscores the immense difficulty and the long road ahead for the city and its people. The training of local Iraqi teams is a crucial component of building sustainable capacity for dealing with these threats, aiming to empower Iraqis to reclaim their country from the lingering dangers of war. The mention of Frontline’s film “Mosul” also points to the significant media attention and documentation of this critical period in Iraq’s recent history.
