BETTER THREE YEARS LATE THAN NEVER, I SUPPOSE: ISIS Now Has ‘Too Many Problems for Them to Solve’

“We’re not gonna give the exact timing of the effort to seize the city, but we do believe that excellent progress is being made and we’ll continue to pressure the enemy on multiple fronts,” he said.

“…They’re completely surrounded in Mosul. So what we see is the enemy being overwhelmed anywhere that they are. It’s too many problems for them to solve at any given time.”

On America’s role, Dorrian said the coalition has trained “more than 70,000 forces of various types — army, police, tribal fighters, popular mobilization fighters — that we can vet and work with.”

“And we continue to do all of that as Mosul is liberated,” he said. “Because ultimately, when we talk about dealing ISIL a lasting defeat, it’s all these forces that go in behind our forces and the Iraqi security forces that are going to make sure that ISIL is not able to re-infiltrated; they’re not able to get any traction on any type of insurgency effort.”

Faster is better. The longer ISIS is seen “bravely resisting,” the longer and more effective their recruiting goes.