Reporting from Iraq Mosul, Pearl of the North�

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Kelly toured several areas to acquaint his embedded News-Miner reporter with the landscape. The areas of the town are as varied in socio-economics and ethnicity as they are in the role Kelly’s command plays in the continued fight and rebuilding efforts.

Kelly’s first stop was the Maresh Market, which is perhaps the largest outdoor market in the city. While most of the city’s landscape and architecture is subdued in earth tones, the market offered a palette of vibrancy in the form of fresh produce. There were crates of oranges, in season now in this area, emitting a sweet, acid citrus scent. Pink apples, piles of dates, reddish-yellow potatoes, ripe red tomatoes, bales of deep green parsley, onions, eggplants, and cabbages were piled along the sidewalks in pickup beds.

Beets are in season right now as well, and the dusty bulbs were loaded so high in trucks that the back ends were nearly dragging. Amid trash on the sides of the road, an amber muck of blood was trickling from a butcher’s operation somewhere up the street.

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