After months of fighting, Iraqi Security Forces have finally regained control of the eastern half of Mosul, the last urban stronghold of Islamic State in Iraq. They are now advancing on the city’s west. The recapture of the northern Iraqi city will be a strategic victory for Iraq and its international partners. But did it ever have to come to this? Violent opposition has gone up like a mushroom cloud in Iraq since the early years of US occupation. The US military believed that buying people’s he...