US blindsided by fall of Mosul

Outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey admits in a new interview that the U.S. military had done no contingency planning to prepare for the fall of Mosul when Daesh terrorists swept into Iraq’s second-largest city last June and seized control.

“Well, no, there were not,” Dempsey replies in the interview P B S when asked if there were any contingency plans inside the Pentagon for how to respond if Mosul were to fall to terrorists from Daesh (or ISIL, as the group is sometimes called.)

“So, look, there were several things that surprised us about ISIL,” Dempsey adds. “The degree to which they were able to form their own coalition, both inside of Syria — and inside of northwestern Iraq; the military capability that they exhibited — the collapse of the Iraq Security Forces. Yeah, in those initial days, there were a few surprises.”

Dempsey’s frank comments would appear to raise fresh questions about the performance of U.S. intelligence agencies in tracking the rise of IS as well the state of planning inside the Obama administration as it continues to grapple with a war against the Daesh terrorists.
Source: MENA