Louis Amis

The surrealism of war against Isis

At every break in the fighting in Mosul in 2016, out came the phones — for selfies, texting, calling mother or watching execution videos

issue 16 November 2019

  • They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate

    James Verini

    One World, pp. 354, £18

The campaign against Isis was pretty big news for most of 2016. But by the time the final showdown got under way in Mosul, it was late October. Western journalism was already departing on a bold new chapter, with great new villains much closer to home. For news consumers, one tableau of confusion and anxiety cross-dissolved into the next.

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