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Mosul struggles with ethnic divides,
insurgency
25.7.2010
By Leila Fadel |
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July
25, 2010
MOSUL, Northwest Iraq,— In Iraq's
third-largest city, buildings are bombed out and
scarred by thousands of bullet holes. But unlike in
many parts of Iraq that have calmed significantly in
recent years, much of the damage is recent.
Mosul and the surrounding province of Nineveh are a
microcosm of Iraq's most explosive and unresolved
conflicts as the United States prepares to draw down
to 50,000 troops by Sept. 1. Kurdish and Sunni Arab
leaders battle over disputed lands, provincial and
central government officials wrestle for control,
and Sunni insurgents continue to slip back and forth
across the porous borders with Turkey and Syria.
"We will remain a thorn in the chest of the
Americans," reads a graffiti tag on one Mosul
building.
It's a prediction that U.S. officials are working
hard to avoid. They are focusing their attention
here so they don't leave behind a time bomb for the
fledgling Iraqi government and for the U.S. troops
who will remain in Iraq before all American forces
are withdrawn by the end of 2011.
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Mosul, capital city of Ninewa province in Iraq, near
the border with Kurdistan region, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. The Yazidis are primarily ethnic Kurds located
near Mosul. Some 350,000 Kurdish Yazidis live in villages
around Mosul near Kurdistan autonomous region
border. |
Attacks have dropped in
Nineveh over the past year, but it is still one of
the most violent places in Iraq. Among Mosul's
approximately 1.8 million residents, there is deep
mistrust of the various Iraqi security forces that
patrol here. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S.
commander, recently suggested that a U.N.
peacekeeper force might be needed to maintain
security in some areas after the United States pulls
out.
Of particular concern are the Sunni insurgent groups
that exploit a Kurd-Arab dispute over land. As other
bastions of the Sunni insurgency calmed in recent
years, Nineveh never truly quieted. Odierno told
reporters last week that although U.S. and Iraqi
forces have had success killing and detaining
al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders within Mosul, the group
remains active in the adjacent deserts.
Over the first six months of the year, 422 people in
Nineveh died as a result of violence, according to
provincial morgue statistics. More than 1,100 were
wounded. The death toll in the province is more than
three times that of Anbar province, once the heart
of the Sunni insurgency.
The security forces here are widely considered to be
part of the problem. The police are believed to be
infiltrated by insurgent groups, and one of the main
Iraqi army commanders for the area, Nasser al-Hiti,
is known for harsh tactics, Odierno said.
Hiti was unpopular with U.S. commanders in Abu
Ghraib, where he previously worked. But he has long
been praised by the defense ministry and is seen as
a favorite of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Calls to the defense ministry were not returned.
Two Iraqi army divisions, a federal police division
and local police operate within the city because no
one force can control it alone. There is little
communication between the forces, Iraqi officials
said.
"The problem is the citizens don't cooperate totally
to give us information," Nineveh Gov. Atheel al-Nujaifi
said. "The trust is still weak between the security
forces and the people. We have five to six
intelligence groups operating here. Each agency is
related to a specific party in Baghdad. There is no
trust between these agencies. Sometimes that results
in a struggle."
Kurds dislike Nujaifi, an Arab nationalist, because
he is seen as anti-Kurdish. But he said he thinks he
should have more control over security in the
province. He cannot travel in Kurdish-controlled
areas and has no authority over federal forces that
report to Baghdad. He and his legal adviser say the
Iraqi army arrests hundreds of people and does not
allow them access to lawyers.
Col. Charles Sexton, a brigade commander in Mosul,
characterized the friction among Iraqi security
force units as a "healthy disagreement." The U.S.
military hopes the 23 checkpoints along the boundary
line of the disputed territory claimed by both Arabs
and Kurds -- 12 in Nineveh alone -- will close the
security gap that allows insurgent groups to
operate,www.ekurd.netsaid
Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo, who commands U.S. forces in
the north. The checkpoints are manned by a
combination of U.S., Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
Both the province and Mosul are majority Sunni Arab,
with a large Kurdish population as well as other
minority communities. The United States has focused
its efforts on defusing tensions as it draws down
and on training the police to the point where they
can take charge of Mosul's security.
The political uncertainty that grips Iraq hasn't
helped. It has been four months since the national
election, but there is still no government in Iraq
because rival factions are deadlocked. Whoever
ultimately takes charge will inherit the challenge
of handling the disputed territories.
Kurds want to annex what they see as Kurdish lands
into their semi-autonomous region; Arabs want to
keep the land under central government control. The
area is often called the "trigger line" because of
its potential to turn violent quickly.
Ghazi Mohammed sees the violence regularly in the
forensic medical center where he works. There are
violent-death cases every day. He also examines
court-referred allegations of torture by security
forces, five to six a week. About 80 percent of
those people have evidence of beatings and burn
marks, he said.
"There are checkpoints everywhere, and the killings
continue," Mohammed said in his office. On the wall
behind him, charts track the ebb and flow of death
in the province. Before the elections,
assassinations rose. They then dropped off, and now
he sees them rising again.
"It's a political issue," he said. "It's more than
just insurgents and resistance."
Mohammed has begged for a transfer so he no longer
has to endure threats from security forces and from
the relatives of dead insurgents, he said. He has
applied for asylum in five Western countries; every
attempt has failed. "There is no trust, and the city
is unstable," he said. "The security forces create
enemies from inside the city every day."
In Mosul's western district of al-Borsa, police
dodge grenades, gunfire from narrow alleyways and
roadside bombs. Lt. Col. Shamel Ahmed Ugla patrolled
the area with his men earlier this month. Police
have become the biggest targets of Sunni insurgents
in the province, but it's hard to tell who is a
threat.
"They try to attack us every minute, but we are
always chasing them," he said. "Mosul gave many
sacrifices. It is tired now. It is sad."
He has arrested scores of people since he took over
the area, but he complains that they often end up
back in the streets.
"The judicial system takes the side of the
terrorists," he said. "It's a revolving door. Some
policeman's blood boils because he lost his cousin
or brother or friend. He might hit [the detainee] in
the face or with a stick, and the terrorist goes to
the judge and says he was beaten."
That morning, his officers had arrested a man they
thought was informing insurgent groups of police
movement. In the man's store, the police said they
found a clock with a list of insurgents' names, a
list of potential victims and a bag of bullets
hidden inside.
As Ugla patrolled the streets, the detainee was
beaten with a stick by police officers back at the
base. The detainee admitted to the police that he
had been paid about $100 a month to help al-Qaeda in
Iraq.
Later, Ugla denied that the man was beaten.
"If he was beaten, to hell with him," he yelled.
"Stop asking these questions."
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author or news agency, washingtonpost com
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