Chapter 24: Victory in Mosul?

1 Except where otherwise specified, the account of the assault on Objective Crescent Lake is drawn from an interview with a Task Force North source.

2 … somehow escaped the Rangers’ cordon … JSOC called insurgents who tried to flee “squirters.”

3 … a major … Because command of Ranger platoons, companies, and battalions is limited to officers who have already commanded at that level in a conventional infantry unit, Ranger commanders often hold a higher rank than would be the norm for officers holding the same job in a conventional outfit.

4 “I’m tired … doing this.” A briefing shown to the author.

5 The result … twenty-seven to eleven. A briefing shown to the author.

6 Numbers … declare victory. “Winning Isn’t News,” Investor’s Business Daily, July 7, 2008; “Al Qaeda Is Driven from Mosul Bastion After Bloody Last Stand,” by Marie Colvin, The Sunday Times (London), July 6, 2008.

7 McRaven was … levels of government. McRaven’s official Navy biography, accessed at: http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio.asp?bioID=401; Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice, by William H. McRaven (New York: Ballantine, 1996), p. 2.

8 … drove his subordinates slightly harder … A TF Brown source.

9 … flatten and broaden … Admiral Bill McRaven speech, National Defense Industrial Association Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict symposium, January 29, 2013, in Washington, D.C., attended by the author.

10 But JSOC’s … to Afghanistan. A retired Special Forces officer.

11 The task force was now … foreign leader. The Endgame, p. 519; “In Maliki’s Hometown, Grief and Questions After Deadly U.S. Raid,” by Qassim Zein and Hannah Allam, McClatchy Newspapers, June 29, 2008, accessed at: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/06/29/42641/in-malikis-hometown-grief-and.html.

12 … status of forces agreement … The agreement’s full name was “The Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq on the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the Organization of Their Activities During Their Temporary Presence in Iraq.”

13 The agreement’s requirement … provided one. “Spec Ops Catches, Iraq Releases,” by Sean D. Naylor, Army Times, April 19, 2010.

14 By early 2010 … Salahuddin provinces. The Endgame, p. 623.

15 By the first … control of Fallujah. “Al-Qaeda-Linked Force Captures Fallujah Amid Rise in Violence in Iraq,” by Liz Sly, The Washington Post, January 3, 2014, accessed at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/al-qaeda-force-captures-fallujah-amid-rise-in-violence-in-iraq/2014/01/03/8abaeb2a-74aa-11e3-8def-a33011492df2_story.html.