ISIS’s Ghostly Presence Can Still Be Felt In Mosul (HBO)

Iraq’s incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was hoping the country’s recent defeat of ISIS would be enough to secure his grip on power for another term. But frustration over Iran’s increasing influence in the country — and accusations of widespread political corruption — ultimately sunk his reelection bid. He was unseated by a coalition led by Muqtada al-Sadr, an anti-American Shia cleric who once oversaw uprisings against U.S. troops. Al-Sadr’s coalition ran on a fiercely nationalist campaign that promised to crack down on corruption and disentangle Iraq from decades of foreign influence, specifically from the U.S. and Iran. But al-Sadr's newly empowered coalition will face the same pressing test that plagued his predecessor: securing and stabilizing the country months after ISIS’s defeat. The diminished terror group isn’t going to make it easy. ISIS continues to threaten civilians, most recently releasing an audio message, declaring all who voted to be infidels and promising to carry out attacks on polling day. VICE News visited the eastern half of Mosul to see how the city was coping with the lingering ISIS threat amid Iraq’s high stakes election season. Subscribe to VICE News here: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE-News Check out VICE News for more: http://vicenews.com Follow VICE News here: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vicenews Twitter: https://twitter.com/vicenews Tumblr: http://vicenews.tumblr.com/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/vicenews More videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideo