For someone who says he wants to “bomb the shit” out of ISIS, Donald Trump sure does seem to be cheering for their team. The coalition of Kurds, Iraqi military, other militia groups, and US advisers is steadily working toward the heart of the city.
Pentagon officials said Monday that the campaign to reclaim Mosul was proceeding as planned and that so far anti-ISIS forces in Iraq are succeeding in their fight against the terror group.
But one man is acting as al-Baghdadi Bob, downplaying progress and doing his best to un-support the troops.
For weeks, Trump has lambasted the coalition effort to re-capture the city of Mosul from ISIS, calling the undertaking a "total disaster" and saying the US and its allies were "bogged-down" there even as defense officials say they are encouraged by the progress being made.
The reality of forces winning on the ground can’t be accepted by Trump, because Trump predicted a disaster. Trump knows more than all the generals, and stands ready to teach the military experts a couple of things. Maybe Trump could come by the Mosul state television station, which coalition forces captured just a few hours ago, let the soldiers know they’re part of a “disaster.”
On Monday night, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi gave the estimated 5,000 ISIS militants holed up in the city a chilling warning as troops approached the city's doorstep.
"There is no way to escape, either surrender or die," he told a reporter for state-run Iraqiya TV at the Qayyara airbase south of the city.
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Trump’s approach to Mosul appears to be no approach at all. Other than talking repeatedly about waging a sneak attack with 90,000 troops surrounding a fortified desert city, Trump’s primary strategy toward ISIS is the same as his strategy toward everything else—support Russia.
The Republican nominee, who has called for a rapprochement with Russia in order to jointly combat ISIS, argued that his Democratic rival's calls for taking a more aggressive posture in Syria to bring the conflict there to an end and combat ISIS will only draw the US into a larger war.
Russia hasn’t shown much interest in going after ISIS, but I’m sure if we bring Russia into Mosul, Putin will step right out when the fighting is done. Or not.