meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The John Batchelor Show

S8 Ep763: The Battle for Mosul in 2017 was a grueling, house-to-house urban war inflicting massive psychological trauma on a new generation of Iraqis. ISIS was revealed as a "melange" of local villagers and international volunteers who alienated the population thro

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

News, Arts, Books, Society & Culture

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 19 April 2026

⏱️ 7 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Battle for Mosul in 2017 was a grueling, house-to-house urban war inflicting massive psychological trauma on a new generation of Iraqis. ISIS was revealed as a "melange" of local villagers and international volunteers who alienated the population through extreme brutality. Although the caliphate was militarily defeated, thousands remain radicalized in desert camps, and Mosul's recovery is hindered by systemic corruption and militia control, leading to tragedies like the 2019 ferry disaster. (7)
1959 BAGHDAD

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This CBSI in the world with Haith Abdulahad.

0:09.0

A stranger in your own city travels in the Middle East long war.

0:13.0

It is halfway between Baghdad and Mosul is a city called Ramadi.

0:19.6

We heard about it much in the Sunni awakening of 2007. Well,

0:23.1

it's back, except one witticism that we learn in the telling of this story is that I believe when

0:30.6

the women want to, the women of the Sunni women want to make certain that you're going to have a bad

0:36.4

time. They say something like,

0:38.3

may you have many sheiks in your clan or your tribe? What does that mean, Haith? Why do they say that?

0:44.1

It's not only the Sunnis, but it's in every tribal society in Iraq, if women want to curse a woman from another tribe,

0:51.6

they say, may Allah increase the, you Allah increase the tribal elders in your society?

0:56.1

Because the more sheikhs, the more tribal elders you have in a tribe, the more infighting

1:01.8

you have. And every one of them will try to use outside powers to increase their influence.

1:10.1

And this is exactly what's happened at Ramadi, which is to the west.

1:13.5

Baghdad is here, Mosul is there.

1:15.4

Ramadi is to the west.

1:17.7

And, you know, different to me politicians, tribal elders, forces to, you know, some use the

1:27.0

power of Maliki to fight others.

1:29.6

Some kind of use the power of the jihadis, allied themselves,

1:32.5

align themselves to the Americans.

1:34.5

And this internal infighting between the Sunnis,

1:37.7

I mean, sometimes I call what's been happening in Iraq in the past 20 years,

1:41.3

I mean, until ISIS is the tragedy of the Sunnis.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John Batchelor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of John Batchelor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.