The U.S. has been fighting in Iraq since the original invasion of the country in 2003. And though there have been ebbs and flows, the military focus right now seems to be on assisting Iraqi troops in fighting ISIS.

One of the more successful periods of fighting there — though this doesn’t have universal agreement — was when the U.S. implemented what became known as the surge in 2007. Douglas Ollivant was an architect of that plan.

Ollivant was in the Valley as part of ASU’s Center on the Future of War speakers series. His presentation was called "How Iraq Can Rebuild after ISIS and How the U.S. Can Help."

We spoke with Ollivant about ISIS and the Trump administration’s defense team.