A good read from Nancy Letourneau in Washington Monthly:

washingtonmonthly.com

‘…since the election, Trump has gone completely silent about what is happening with ISIS in Mosul. Yesterday we got another report that probably explains that silence.

‘Islamic State fighters are in disarray and struggling to fend off a rapid offensive by Iraqi forces to recapture Mosul and expel the militants from their last major stronghold in the country, a top U.S. military official said.

“They’re lacking purpose motivation and direction,” Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin said in a phone interview from Baghdad. “I’ve never seen them so disorganized.”

The pace of the battle reflects dramatic improvements in Iraq’s military and its ability to coordinate operations with a U.S.-led air campaign, which is pounding the militants at a record pace.

“You’re watching ISIS be annihilated,” Martin said of the militant group.

‘In other words, everything Trump said about ISIS in Iraq and the battle to re-take Mosul was wrong.’