CECILIA CLARK P HOTOGRAPHY

In Mosul, we stayed at the Al-Barone Hotel. After Daesh was defeated in Mosul, the hotel was renovated and has been open for 2-3 years. The backside of the hotel is scar free but the abutting building is still gutted and bears the scars of the battles. Al-Barone Hotel is just 2-3 blocks from the bazaar. Because we weren't leaving for Erbil until late morning, Dan and I walked over to the fish market and bazaar to take a last look. The fish market was already beginning to bust

The Police Escort to Fallujah The drive to Fallujah is about 1.5 hours but also dependent upon how many times our mini bus is stopped at checkpoints. Along the way we passed the notorious (during Saddam's time and later when in 2003 the US Army and CIA took over) Abu Ghraib prison. At the Anbar Province checkpoint in western Iraq we picked up a police escort, with red lights flashing and occasional sirens, that stayed with us throughout our visit to Fallujah. Additional polic