A top Pentagon official said Tuesday it is extremely unlikely the U.S. military and its allies will attempt to wrest control of the major Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State this year, a departure from rosier estimates last year. Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee the situation in parts of Iraq is too unstable for the U.S. and Iraqi forces to conduct such a mission. “I’m less optimistic in the near-term about Mosul,” Gen. Stewart said in response to a question from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.). “I think there’s lots of work to be done yet out in the western part” of Iraq. In January 2015, Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of the military’s Central Command, told The Wall Street Journal the U.S. and Iraq had begun preparations to retake Mosul , one of Iraq’s largest cities and […]