Trump is the Bizzaro Bagdad Bob, telling us that t

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"Donald Trump is testing lots of what we thought we knew about American politics, including that no one gets elected running against the troops," said Kori Schake, a former senior Bush official, who has endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016.

Schake, who was one of the 50 Republican national security officials that penned an open-letter slamming Trump earlier this year, argued that the Republican nominee's comments on Mosul were undercutting morale.

"The particular way he's done it is bad for morale of American forces as well as the allies bearing the brunt of the fight," she told CNN.

Clinton has been quick to knock Trump for his criticism of the Mosul campaign.

Following his tweet labelling the assault "a disaster," Clinton told a rally in New Hampshire last week, "He's basically declaring defeat before the battle has even started. He's proving to the world what it means to have an unqualified commander-in-chief. It's not only wrong, it's dangerous."

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Chief among Trump's criticisms has been the absence of secrecy from the fight, though most analysts believe that given its size and scope, total secrecy and surprise in an operation like Mosul would be impossible.

Pentagon officials have also noted that because the Iraqis were leading the operation, the timeline and discussion of the assault was determined by the government in Baghdad.

Military officials also pointed out that many aspects of the final attack were indeed kept under wraps.

The former dean of the Army War College, retired Army Col. Jeff McCausland, told The New York Times that the candidate's assessment was off the mark.

"What this shows is Trump doesn't know a damn thing about military strategy," he said.

Trump fired back Wednesday when asked about McCausland's remarks on ABC.

"You can tell your military expert that I'll sit down and I'll teach him a couple of things," he said.

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