Iraq Regains Territory in Mosul

Iraqi special forces liberate Mosul University

Erin Worley
January 16, 2017

The brutal fight between Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service and the Islamic State isn't over. The Washington Post reports that Iraqi special forces regained Mosul University from IS control, along with three of the five bridges along the Tigris River.

According to a CNN report, spokesman for Iraqi counterterrorism, Sabah all Numan reported that the Islamic State was using campus laboratories to make chemical weapons and bombs.
   
This means that regaining the university was crucial to weakening IS control of the city. The New York Daily News claims that regaining the university was a huge step for Iraqi forces in their attempt to liberate all of Mosul from IS rule.

This is yet another major loss in the Islamic State's downward-spiral. Since 2013, ISIS has lost more than half of the land it once controlled and has remained too weak to regain any of its lost territory.

In addition to losing territory, the Islamic state is losing its fighters and its vision. It's no longer calling fighters to the caliphate, but instead urging them to stay where they are and carry out terrorist attacks from home.

According to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, the Islamic State has been responsible for more than 33,000 deaths since its inception in 2002.

While I believe the downward slope of this terrorist organization is crucial for a policy to create peace in the Middle East, I do not think we should celebrate too much too soon. For one, the group started to gain power and vision after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Extremist factions come out of the rubble of chaos, and IS is sure to leave some rubble on their way out.

Furthermore, as history has taught us, underestimated leaders or groups are not a force to be reckoned with. For example, purely as a result of being underestimated by combatants, Israeli forces were able to capture the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights (from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria, respectively) in the Six-Day War of 1967.

Additionally, Harry S. Truman, 33rd president to the United States, was greatly underestimated by the American people. Due to President Roosevelt's sudden death, Truman unexpectedly took office after only 82 days of serving as vice president. The American public thought he was too weak and unprepared to be a successful leader of this great nation, yet he went on to make great strides in office. During his presidency, this underestimated man went on to drop the atomic bomb that forced Japanese surrender in WWII, help found the United Nations, formed the National Security Council, passed the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after WWII, and created the Truman Doctrine to combat the spread of communism.

As the saying goes, history repeats itself. I therefore believe that the Islamic State should continue to be treated as a real, viable threat and that it is not yet time to celebrate any real defeat.