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?