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When Mosul’s Cops Return, Will They Seek Reconciliation Or Revenge?

To find Mosul's cops, you drive to a gray dot of a village in an endless desert. The village, Mahana, was retaken from the Islamic State a few months ago and for now it's the police base for cops who left Mosul when ISIS took over more than two years ago. Iraq's army and its […]

Alice Fordham reports for NPR:

To find Mosul's cops, you drive to a gray dot of a village in an endless desert. The village, Mahana, was retaken from the Islamic State a few months ago and for now it's the police base for cops who left Mosul when ISIS took over more than two years ago.

Iraq's army and its allies are now battling their way through rural areas toward the larger prize of retaking Mosul. Helicopters buzz back and forth from the frontlines. Every breath is bitter with smoke from oil wells set alight by ISIS.

Inside the police base, the mood is upbeat. The police are helping the army with logistics. Presiding over a bank of radios and several battlefield maps is police Gen. Abdulkareem al-Jubouri.