Mosul was the scene of IS's greatest victory, as the group swept to power in only four days, landing a huge blow on the Iraqi government. When Basheer asks Mosul residents about IS's victory, he is surprised by what he hears. "We thought the government would change, we would have better opportunities and jobs. So we were optimistic", says his childhood friend, Kareem. However, optimism soon faded as the patchwork revolutionary group ossified into the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Kareem's brother was killed and he feared for his own life. Others tell a similar story of terror. "IS used everything to torture me", says one of Basheer's former neighbours, "I have many stitches on my body". As Iraqi forces painstakingly retake the city, the army must try not to reignite the sectarian tensions that had played into Mosul's initial capture. Field Marshall Riadh Jalal admits to some past mistakes: "What happened in Mosul was a series of serious errors that we, the armed forces, take partial responsibility for". However, he insists that the army has reformed: "the army doesn't have any hidden interests, political or sectarian. The army is a mixture of all society".