Iraq: Out of the desert into Mosul (closed)

[JWing]

This article by The Daily Beast while good on why ISIS is winning brings up an interesting comment that might clash with many "positive" views of the "success of the surge".

Namely there is in the article a comment indicating that just maybe the surge did not remove ISIS at all from Mosul.

If that was then in fact an accurate comment then just what did the surge achieve against originally QRJB, then AQI, and now ISIS?

That is in itself an interesting thought as it would go totally against the COIN narrative.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...verything.html

Mosul was the only urban center where the insurgents and ISIS were not kicked out of during the Surge. ISIS ran the place like a mafia extorting money from businesses, charging taxes on imports into Ninewa, kidnapping people for ransom. In early 2014 it was discovered that ISIS was even able to steal most of the salaries from the Iraqi police in Ninewa.

Article on insurgent financing in Mosul

http://musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/20...qs-ninewa.html