Re the OP: Political minefield, this.

I will tiptoe this far: the bad engineering on the Mosul dam from the get-go (incompatible substrate) has been long documented. The administration that built it spent fortunes on grouting patches to keep it from failing. The shift to a new administration did not change the problem -- they kept patching vigorously, for the reasons noted by the OP. The ongoing political/military instability in this area caused the patching to cease; it was too unsafe for workers to continue. And here we are, hoping for the best and fearing the worst for the civilians downstream.

How's that? Did I step around the boom-booms?

Must be a slow news month as the Mosul Dam problems are nothing new.

I read about this back in April of this year.

A decade ago our team was pressure grouting the dam around the clock. It was not comforting thought that if it failed our POS would be inundated. Fortunately the mortars and rockets kept our mind off of such ponderings most of the time.

That's #3 on my list of "43,000 Reasons to not live in or near Mosul"