WEBVTT 00:02.033 --> 00:03.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% HARI SREENIVASAN: But first: The de facto capital of the Islamic State, Raqqa, in Syria 00:03.833 --> 00:06.300 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% fell yesterday to U.S.-backed forces. 00:06.300 --> 00:11.000 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% However, the largest city the militants once held was Mosul in Iraq. 00:11.000 --> 00:16.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% They were ousted from it in July after a brutal 10-month-long fight that killed thousands. 00:18.000 --> 00:21.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Now a new major task: finding and destroying the ISIS mines, booby-traps and bombs that 00:21.966 --> 00:23.433 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% litter the city. 00:23.433 --> 00:26.033 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Special correspondent Marcia Biggs reports from Iraq. 00:26.033 --> 00:31.000 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% MARCIA BIGGS: It was once a center of learning for over 6,000 students of technology, agriculture, 00:33.266 --> 00:35.366 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% and medicine. 00:35.366 --> 00:39.700 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% Today, Mosul Technical Institute's classrooms are burnt to the ground, laboratories reduced 00:40.900 --> 00:43.866 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% to rubble, and books charred and shredded. 00:43.866 --> 00:48.633 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% It's one of the city's five universities ravaged by the Islamic State and the battle to oust 00:48.633 --> 00:50.766 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% it. 00:50.766 --> 00:54.633 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Now that the battle is over, a new danger looms, the trail of land mines and booby-traps 00:55.400 --> 00:56.933 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% left by ISIS. 00:56.933 --> 01:00.333 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% So this is the wire, and this is where it was buried. 01:00.333 --> 01:04.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% CHRISTIAN, Janus Global: Yes, they would cut the asphalt, and then they lay the wire in 01:04.233 --> 01:06.366 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% and put the main charge here. 01:06.366 --> 01:10.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MARCIA BIGGS: We spent the day with Christian, a team leader from Janus Global, a security 01:10.200 --> 01:15.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% and risk management firm hired by the U.S. government to sweep and clear major areas 01:16.300 --> 01:18.300 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% of unexploded ordnance and mines. 01:18.300 --> 01:22.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% He's not allowed to show his face or use his last name, for security reasons. 01:22.433 --> 01:26.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% CHRISTIAN: There's actually two more on that road before we get to the target building 01:26.666 --> 01:29.700 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% that have to be excavated and/or rendered safe. 01:29.700 --> 01:34.700 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MARCIA BIGGS: So, the first building you have to clear, you have got to get rid of the IEDs 01:35.566 --> 01:36.233 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% on the road to that building? 01:36.233 --> 01:37.466 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% CHRISTIAN: Yes. 01:37.466 --> 01:38.966 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% MARCIA BIGGS: It's a long process. 01:38.966 --> 01:41.466 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% CHRISTIAN: It is, but that's what makes it interesting. 01:41.466 --> 01:46.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MARCIA BIGGS: The United States has sunk $30 million this year into clearing former ISIS 01:46.433 --> 01:48.866 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% territories all over Northern Iraq. 01:48.866 --> 01:53.866 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Under this program, Janus has already cleared 727 buildings, removing 3,000 IEDs, which 01:56.300 --> 02:01.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% they say ISIS was producing on assembly lines at an industrial scale. 02:03.333 --> 02:06.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But State Department officials and experts say the number of unexploded ordnance in Mosul 02:06.133 --> 02:09.266 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% itself is unprecedented. 02:09.266 --> 02:11.866 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% What's your first line of attack, in terms of trying to clear Mosul? 02:11.866 --> 02:16.866 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% CHRISTIAN: Our priority is more the community, rather than the individual, you know, infrastructure. 02:18.866 --> 02:22.733 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% You have got schools, power, sewer, water, so that the area can accept people back into 02:26.400 --> 02:28.566 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% it. 02:28.566 --> 02:31.933 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% And then, once this stabilization phase is over, we can move into the individual homes, 02:31.933 --> 02:34.166 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% so that they can be safer. 02:34.166 --> 02:39.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MARCIA BIGGS: Clearing Mosul is a process that they say could take years, even decades. 02:39.066 --> 02:44.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% So Janus is training local Iraqis to do the job, sending them out as a front-line search 02:45.900 --> 02:48.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% team, then investigating and removing any suspicious items themselves. 02:48.400 --> 02:53.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% CHRISTIAN: We're not going to be here the whole time, so when we -- it's our time to 02:55.400 --> 02:58.900 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% leave, they will have the capacity built from us, and the mentoring we have done, so that 02:58.900 --> 03:00.233 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% they can do it on their own. 03:00.233 --> 03:02.133 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% MARCIA BIGGS: How are they doing? 03:02.133 --> 03:05.566 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% CHRISTIAN: They're -- a lot of them are very apt to learn. 03:05.566 --> 03:06.566 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% They're quick. 03:06.566 --> 03:08.533 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% They're smart. 03:08.533 --> 03:11.866 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MARCIA BIGGS: Fawzi al-Nabdi is the team leader for the Iraqi local partner. 03:11.866 --> 03:15.533 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% He's cleared mines all over Iraq for the last six years. 03:15.533 --> 03:17.933 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% CHRISTIAN: What you got? 03:17.933 --> 03:21.733 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% FAWZI AL-NABDI, Team Leader (through translator): We are ready for this, because it's my job 03:21.733 --> 03:23.433 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% and I love it. 03:23.433 --> 03:26.266 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% The Americans are here to complete our work and to help us. 03:26.266 --> 03:28.433 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% They have greater experience than we do. 03:28.433 --> 03:32.500 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% If we find any mines, we have to stop and they will investigate it and make a plan to 03:32.500 --> 03:34.533 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% remove it. 03:34.533 --> 03:38.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MARCIA BIGGS: But he says Mosul is the biggest project he has ever seen, and we're told it 03:38.433 --> 03:42.533 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% could take at least a month to just get the campus cleared of mines. 03:42.533 --> 03:47.433 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% Only then can they start cleaning it up, so that students can resume classes, this itself 03:47.433 --> 03:50.633 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% a huge task. 03:50.633 --> 03:55.633 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% ISIS fighters closed the university back in 2014, and used it as a military base. 03:57.666 --> 04:01.700 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% As coalition forces pounded ISIS targets, this seat of higher learning became a battleground. 04:02.866 --> 04:05.633 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Ghassan Alubaidy is the institute's dean. 04:05.633 --> 04:08.966 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% GHASSAN ALUBAIDY, Dean, Mosul Technical Institute (through translator): ISIS used our university 04:08.966 --> 04:11.166 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% to manufacture mines and bombs. 04:11.166 --> 04:14.166 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% For this reason, it was the target of airstrikes in the beginning. 04:14.166 --> 04:18.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% They struck the institute nine times, and they struck our workshops, too. 04:18.033 --> 04:20.533 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% Now we can't use them. 04:20.533 --> 04:24.166 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% MARCIA BIGGS: The former commander of coalition forces in Iraq, Lieutenant General Stephen 04:24.166 --> 04:29.166 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% Townsend, recently listed 81 locations where bombs were dropped, but had not yet exploded. 04:31.033 --> 04:35.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Facilities used to make weapons were often on the list of high-value targets for the 04:35.400 --> 04:37.033 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% coalition. 04:37.033 --> 04:40.466 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% So now those places are twice as likely to contain dangerous items. 04:40.466 --> 04:44.166 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% So, this was once a workshop for electrical engineering students. 04:44.166 --> 04:46.300 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% You can still see the lab tables here. 04:46.300 --> 04:48.833 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% It was hit by an airstrike in 2015. 04:48.833 --> 04:53.833 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% Afterwards, members of the university staff found bomb-making instructions among the rubble. 04:55.866 --> 04:58.866 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% This was likely an ISIS bomb-making factory, and judging by the crater, a high-value target. 05:01.000 --> 05:04.100 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% Despite the damage, Dean Alubaidy says he will hold classes this fall in alternate buildings, 05:04.966 --> 05:07.400 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% until the campus is ready. 05:07.400 --> 05:11.433 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% He's expecting registration to be in the thousands, students who lost three years of education 05:12.833 --> 05:15.066 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% during the fighting and don't want to lose another one. 05:15.066 --> 05:20.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% GHASSAN ALUBAIDY (through translator): On our Facebook pages, we found a great number 05:21.900 --> 05:23.900 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% of students posting that they were full of encouragement to come back. 05:23.900 --> 05:26.033 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% For us, it was unbelievable. 05:26.033 --> 05:29.500 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% We couldn't imagine it, to see how many students wanted to start again, how they were dreaming 05:29.500 --> 05:33.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% of the first day of classes, when they could sit in front of teachers again and start to 05:33.300 --> 05:34.966 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% live their lives again. 05:34.966 --> 05:39.633 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% MARCIA BIGGS: Next door, Mosul University has already started classes. 05:41.066 --> 05:43.033 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Students even volunteered to help in the cleanup. 05:43.033 --> 05:47.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But across the river, West Mosul was the site of ISIS' last stand and bore the brunt of 05:48.533 --> 05:50.600 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% the battle. 05:50.600 --> 05:54.100 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It's densely packed Old City, with its flattened buildings, is a challenge for mine-sweeping. 05:54.100 --> 05:57.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% FAWZI AL-NABDI (through translator): Most of the homes here were full of mines. 05:57.966 --> 06:02.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And just here in front of us, a man with two kids came back to his home, and when he opened 06:04.066 --> 06:06.100 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% the door, the bomb killed him and his kids. 06:06.100 --> 06:10.633 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MARCIA BIGGS: Ahmed Younes fled back in early July with only the clothes on his back. 06:12.666 --> 06:14.766 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Residents have been virtually banned from returning to his neighborhood on the outskirts 06:14.766 --> 06:19.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% of the Old City, but Ahmed said he got special permission, in order to retrieve some personal 06:19.666 --> 06:21.566 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% items. 06:21.566 --> 06:24.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% AHMED YOUNES, Local Resident (through translator): We came on our own. 06:24.533 --> 06:29.266 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% We got permission to come, but they are not responsible if anything happens to us. 06:29.266 --> 06:34.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MARCIA BIGGS: Right now, there is no plan to begin clearing the Old City or even to 06:34.200 --> 06:36.700 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% determine how many mines there are. 06:36.700 --> 06:40.533 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% It is still out of bounds to anyone but the Iraqi security forces. 06:40.533 --> 06:45.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% So the Janus team is focusing on progress in the rest of the city, building by building, 06:46.133 --> 06:47.600 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% bomb by bomb. 06:47.600 --> 06:51.333 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% CHRISTIAN: Whoever made this device had a set goal. 06:51.333 --> 06:54.266 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And to allow him to win, people get hurt. 06:54.266 --> 06:58.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% So you kind of compete against him to be better than him to take it out before it can do any 06:58.333 --> 07:00.100 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% harm. 07:00.100 --> 07:01.333 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% MARCIA BIGGS: So, you feel like you're winning the battle against ISIS? 07:01.333 --> 07:03.333 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% CHRISTIAN: Yes, one IED at a time. 07:03.333 --> 07:07.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% MARCIA BIGGS: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Marcia Biggs in Mosul, Iraq. 07:07.033 --> 07:09.300 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% HARI SREENIVASAN: Tune in later. 07:09.300 --> 07:14.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% "Frontline"'s latest film, "Mosul," was on the ground filming the fight as it unfolded 07:14.166 --> 07:16.600 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% street by street and house by house. 07:16.600 --> 07:18.200 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% That's tonight on PBS.