On the outskirts of Fallujah, the commander of the Fallujah liberation operations, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, stood smiling and surrounded by troops from the Counterterrorism Service. He talked to them about the city, long touted as impregnable to any outside force. His men laughed heartily and shared stories of the storming of the city.

He exchanged bits of conversation with them, agreeing with some and disagreeing with others. He joked with them all, as they stood by him taking pictures. Since the Fallujah offensive was launched, social networking sites have been awash with smiling selfies showing Iraqi army soldiers and members of the Federal Police and Counterterrorism Service standing next to Saadi.

Saadi was in a positive mood this day as he patted his soldiers on the back, praised their efforts in the battle to liberate Fallujah and spoke to them about the importance of maintaining absolute readiness to fight the battle for Mosul in a few days.

As he stood on the outskirts of Fallujah, Saadi told his troops, “Iraq is more important than anything else, and your role in combating terrorism must rise to the level of your, and our, great responsibility toward this country and its need to banish terrorism.”