Mosul: Winning the Battle and the War

By General Jack Keane

General Keane, a four-star general, retired after 37 years of service which culminated in his appointment as acting Chief of Staff and Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army.  General Keane is president of GSI Consulting and serves as chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, and a former and recent member of the Secretary of Defense Policy Board.  In 2018, General Keane was the first military leader to be honored with the Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Award and in 2020, he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Trump at the White House.

The Trump Administration has inherited a complex set of problems in Iraq. Most pressing among them is the ongoing campaign to recapture Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from ISIS. The operation to liberate Mosul has met fierce resistance, but Iraqi forces – with coalition aid – control the eastern half of the city and have now begun their final assault on the last pocket of ISIS forces in the west. Helping those forces liberate the western half of Mosul is one of the first challenges that President Trump and his administration face in Iraq. However, perhaps more important will be the political race for influence in the city – and much of northern Iraq – by the region’s power players. The Cipher Brief’s Fritz Lodge spoke with former Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General Jack Keane, to see where the battle for Mosul stands, and what the Trump Administration will need to do to secure the city afterward.

The Cipher Brief: Where does the battle for Mosul currently stand?

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