How much the novel had become normal was evidenced when a reconstituted Iraqi army swept back into Mosul in 2016, two years after #AllEyesOnISIS had chased it away. This time it came equipped for the new battlefield that extended far beyond Mosul’s battered streets. Eighteen-wheel trucks lumbered after tanks and armored personnel carriers, dragging portable cellphone towers to ensure bandwidth for its own messaging. The Iraqi military issued a rapid-fire stream of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter updates both practical (the status of the operation) and bizarre (grinning selfies of Iraqi soldiers
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