How will new fighting in Iraq affect Trump v Clinton? Probably not much

In any other election year, a massive battle involving US force to seize a city of hundreds of thousands from the Islamic State might affect how voters choose their next president. But 2016, defense analysts and political advisers observing the mid-October campaign for Mosul point out, is no normal election year.

 

Two years after senior US officers described the fight for Mosul as “decisive” – something experts have become wary of predicting in Iraq – the frequently delayed battle for Iraq’s second city is under way. Should Iraqi ground forces and US warplanes prove successful, Isis will lose its final stronghold in the country.

 

Read More: How will new fighting in Iraq affect Trump v Clinton? Probably not much | World news | The Guardian