And yet, here we are — more than a decade after Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched — and U.S. and Iraqi soldiers are, once again, battling over control of Mosul.

The battle for Mosul is being met with considerable indifference or nonchalance among many Americans. After all, there are so many more important things to talk about, such as sex scandals. But the fact that U.S. troops are still fighting, killing, and dying in Iraq 13 years after the U.S. invasion of the country (and 26 years after the U.S. government's Persian Gulf intervention) is truly remarkable.

Not surprisingly, the U.S. mainstream press and the U.S. national-security establishment are doing their best to put their best spin on the upcoming battle for Mosul. They are showing how U.S. warplanes are "softening" up the enemy with bombing raids on the city. They are reporting how Iraqi troops, counseled by U.S. military advisers, are readying for their long-awaited attack to liberate the city from ISIS, which is the group that came into existence as a direct consequence of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.