Down to Earth: Return to Mosul Our World

More news at the top of the hour. Now, it is Our World.

Mosul, a city at the centre of the battle fought Iraq. The world looks

on powerless as a new force takes control of Iraq's second city. And

an Islamic state is declared. Last year, I visited the city to

tell the story of four members of a flying club. Ordinary citizens

determined to keep their dreams alive in the face of war. Today,

those dreams seem shattered. TRANSLATION: I don't even know

whether the new rulers will allow us to fly. Flying is my life, but now

my priority is the lives of my children. I have been back to the

region, and obtained rarely seen footage of the impact of the

extraordinary rise of ISIS. Last year, I came to this hill on

the outskirts of Mosul to tell the story of four people who escaped

from life in one of the world's most dangerous cities, to learn to

paraglide. I met four extraordinary Iraqis. There was the leader of the

group... TRANSLATION: Even if I lived in a modern, beautiful city

with big buildings and lots of greenery, it still doesn't compare

to living amongst my people and my family. His daredevil son...

TRANSLATION: I would only live in Iraq, the best country. A devout

Christian and devoted flyer... TRANSLATION: I love flying. My love

for flying runs in my blood now. And new member, a 42`year`old recently

divorced woman, up for a challenge... TRANSLATION: Up their

everything sad, everything violent, it is gone, all of your mind is on

flying. He feel that you are free. For this aviation club, the Friday

outings offered respite from the horrors of daily life in Mosul. The

city was gripped by fear, a frustrated Sunni population was

protesting against the wall of Baghdad's Shi'ite dominated

government and army. Al Qaeda had made the city its base, frequently

detonating car bombs with devastating effect. Five weeks ago,

it got even worse. The world was stunned when Mosul unexpectedly fell

to a rampaging army of Sunni militants. As the defeated Iraqi

army fled Mosul and the citizens stoned their escaping tanks, the new

force was quick to flaunt its brutality. ISIS is a grouping of

some of the world's most violent Sunni militants, so extreme they

have been disowned by Al Qaeda. In less than a week, their army took

Mosul and threatened Baghdad. Their goal is to establish an

ultraconservative state across the Middle East, based on Sharia law. A

caliphate. I couldn't imagine how the friends I had made here could

live under this regime. I wanted to see if I could find some of the

members of the flying club that I had met last year. As Western

journalist, how close can you get to Mosul today? I began my journey by

flying into Irbil before driving into the city. To begin with, the

checkpoints under control of Kurdish soldiers are friendly. BBC. BBC? We

are approaching the second last checkpoint before reaching Mosul,

still under Kurdish control. As you get closer to Mosul, the situation

at the checkpoints becomes more tense. Hello. BBC. They have warned

us that beyond this point there is only one more checkpoint and then

they no longer control this area. Suddenly, our driver stops the car.

He has been waived down by the Kurdish soldiers. I jumped out to

take a closer look. We have just arrived at the last checkpoint

before we reach ISIS territory. 500 metres down that road is where the

insurgents are. That sign over their says, warning, do not go beyond this

point. So, we are staying right here. Then a group of soldiers, led

by a brigadier, comes marching towards me. The Kurdish soldiers who

guard this checkpoint are concerned about their fragile truce with ISIS.

It is a gentleman is agreement, he tells me. But if it breaks, they

will use it to assert independence. Does it worry your men that ISIS is

just 500 metres away? There to tell us how time is up, we

need to leave this place. There may not be any fighting going on, but it

is an uneasy calm `` Peshmerga. The difficulty of moving around the

outskirts of Mosul made me think of this woman. Even last year, as a

woman in the city, she faced many restrictions. The flying club was

one place she could escape. When I first met her, she was a strong,

positive and determined woman. Flying had given her life purpose.

Just as I could not get into her city, she couldn't get out. From the

relative safety of Irbil, I did manage to speak to her on the phone.

Are you safe now? There is little electricity or fuel in the city.

Despite this, she will not leave her home town. What are your dreams

now, for yourself and for your country?

Even last year, the people in Mosul worked as denied peace, caught in a

violent struggle between Sawley militia in the predominantly Shia

army. Nonetheless, I did manage to go to Mosul at the invitation of the

Saudi government. The encounter turned out to be hugely prophetic.

It was clear that the government's sympathies lay with the Sony

citizens, angry with the discrimination they felt they

received from the mainly Shi'ite government in Baghdad. `` Sunni.

The Governor has now fled Mosul. Today, the black flag of ISIS flies

over his office in the city. These rarely seen shots from inside Mosul

are taken from a local contact, and they show the city under ISIS

control. They are keen to show that control, with near daily parades.

For them, it is not just about taking over the city. They want to

show they can run it as well, getting the city back to work. That

is not enough for thousands of people, who have fled. Some have

been taken in by friends and family, others using their savings for a

place to stay. But, for those with nowhere else to go, this refugee

camp halfway between Mosul and Irbil, has become home. I assumed

most people here would be of ISIS, but intent after tent, that is not

the story I heard. This man, a Sunni, fled his village on the

outskirts of Mosul with his wife and two daughters. TRANSLATION:

Insurgents are not foreigners, they are members of tribes. They are here

to end the regime of Nouri al`Maliki. They are my countrymen,

and I defend them with my soul. If it wasn't for my family, I would be

the first to go and fight with them. They are our brothers. This is

a revolution of the Iraqi people, it is not ISIS. This is the Iraqi

people's revolution. In another tent, I met a soldier who had

defected. He recounted the moment when ISIS came to his base.

TRANSLATION: I thought, I am a dead man. I am talking to you but I am

still in shock. I can't believe I am still alive. I am surprised by the

insurgents. If you surrender, you give up your weapon, they just take

your weapon and leave you alone. The reason I left was because of the

bombing. We don't want to go through the same experience that Fallujah

went through, with Nouri al`Maliki. While we are in the camp, a

prominent politician turned up. He is a former darling of the West, but

now sees himself as a serious contender to replace Nouri

al`Maliki. Courting the world's media, he offered sympathy to the

refugees. They are very frustrated,

downtrodden, they have suffered and I believe they should be restored to

their homes. A lot of the people here say that

they are so concerned about ISIS, they are worried about the military

and any potential attacks by the military and ISIS isn't harming

civilians. My answer to that on ISIS, this is

the beginning. Let them wait and see. But I hope that we can recover

the territories lost, especially the city of Mosul. Are you confident

al`Maliki can do that? I am confident the government can do

that. All this talk of leadership made me talk of the Falcon aviation

club's fearless leader. He and his beloved family had decided to stay

on in Mosul and it seemed nearly impossible be would meet again. But

nothing stops the captain. He and his son had queued for three days

for petrol and braved the cheque points to drive out and meet me.

Despite this, he was still smiling. `` checkpoints. Hallow! Higher. Nice

to see you. `` hello! Hi. We met for a pre` Ramadan meal. Since the fall

of Saddam Hussein, he has seen leaders come and go. I wondered what

he made of the recent events. TRANSLATION: When the dust settles

everything will return to normal. At the end of the day, we are Iraqi and

we are staying put, no matter what the circumstances. Look, there are

30 million Iraqis. There might be one or 2000 politicians and the

politicians, either the new ones or the old ones, will eventually

realise this. But I was worried about his son, who seemed more

effective than his father by what had happened to his city. He was

eager to show me a video of his last flight, before the ISIS takeover.

When we saw him last `` last year, he had seemed carefree. Even cocky.

But now his passion for flying gave him a particular reason to fear a

city ruled by ISIS. TRANSLATION: Look, I'm studying aviation. Do what

the new rulers will think about that. It might not be supported by

them. It might be considered by them as breaking their new laws. And if

you never fly a gain? TRANSLATION: No, I do know what will happen. Then

you ask this question to someone who is addicted to a certain hobby, I

can't imagine my reaction if I was told I could never fly again. Is

this what is upsetting you most? TRANSLATION: Not only that, I'm more

upset because of the current of Mosul. The city, its people, what

they've been through. Don't deserve this. Personally, when I walk along

the roads, the dust and houses and everything that Mosul is, I feel

like crying now. That's what makes me sad. But as a young man in Mosul

the end of the Army curfews has made his life easier in some respects.

TRANSLATION: The army used to arrest young people unfairly. I have been

arrested at 2am and the reason given to me was that I was wearing

trainers. They hit me on both my back and my head with all types of

weapons. I had to stay in bed for a week, being visited by a doctor.

Now, nothing like that happens here. Will you leave Mosul? A fish dies

outside the water. How could I leave Mosul? We said goodbye with promises

to try and think again. Thank you very much. Take care. But I wondered

if the next time we met it really would be in Mosul. Or even a united

Iraq. Iraq has long been divided between

Sunni and sheer Mac. Now the Sunni tribes have joined forces with the

ISIS militants. `` Shia. I meant one of the most prominent Sunni leaders.

This is a violent uprising and a violent insurgency. What's caused

it? TRANSLATION: No, this is a revolution of the tribes. It is the

Sunnis revolution against oppression and injustice. Unfortunately there

are some who claim it is an ISIS revolution, a terrorist revolution

but it's not. It's revolution against injustice against the

legitimate demands of Sunnis. The political process has led to

significant arming of Sunnis right. Are you finding the insurgents? ``

funding. These are tribesmen, not terrorists. The issue isn't funding.

These are already organised and armed militia and most of them are

former army officials and security officials or policemen, or fighters

from Sunni tribes. But he is clear that his alliance with the Islamist

of ISIS is merely a marriage of convenience. `` Islamists. Fighting

ISIS isn't on the agenda at the moment. But after we resolve our

conflict with the government, then we will fight ISIS, just as we

previously fought terrorism in 2006 and 2007. After that, we will have

our rights to spec `` respected but we will never fight ISIS on behalf

of Nouri al`Maliki. You believe Iraq can remain one country? `` do you

believe. The country will be divided. Iraq has no escape from

this division. For many, the dream of a united Iraq

has already ended. One of the members of the club I met last year

was a Christian. Targeted by extremists, the doctor has now fled

to Jordan with her family. The physical education teacher who

trained young women at Mosul University, she was the first female

hand glider in the Arab world. But that life and that world has gone.

TRANSLATION: I think Iraq is going to be divided. When this happens,

minorities like us will have no place in Iraq. I had to leave my

mother behind. She is ill and could leave with me. That's my biggest

loss. `` couldn't leave. Siblings are left behind as well. I don't

know if I'll see them again. I've lost my friends, my job, my life.

All she wants now is to be safe. TRANSLATION: My dream now is finding

a new home. Somewhere to be in with my children and husband, to start a

new life from scratch with my children and let them finish their

studies. Last year, when I first met the

members of the aviation club, they were living in Iraq's most dangerous

city. But they still had so much hope that there was a brighter

future ahead for it Iraq as one country. To meet them only one year

later and see them grounded, simply focused on daily survival, rather

than their dreams, gave me a small insight into the lives of millions

of Iraqis. For all of them, the hope of a peaceful homeland is becoming

more and more distant dream. `` a distant dream. Do you think you'll

leave Mosul? TRANSLATION: I'm not a politician. I

never worked for the government and I never will. My only passion is for

flying. This keeps me away from getting involved in politics.

TRANSLATION: Flying is my life but now my priority is the lives of my

children and myself. I'll always miss flying but now I'll only do it

when my circumstances allow. TRANSLATION: My dream is to continue

my studies and to become a civil pilot. I want one day to look at the

shoulder and see the four gold stripes there, which shows the world

I am a pilot.