Iraq’s Political Parties Prepping to Cheat In November Election

Iraq’s parliamentary elections are a month away and already the media is full of stories of the political parties cheating as happens every time votes are cast.

US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 9 The Surge Culminates, Summer 2008

Chapter 9 of the U.S. Army’s second volume on the Iraq War focuses upon Iraqi security operations that were launched in the summer of 2008. Instead of being a sign of a new national leadership by the Maliki government the offensives highlighted the continued divisions within the country and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s first moves towards becoming an autocrat.

Review A Stranger in Your Own City, Travels in the Middle East’s Long War

Abdul-Ahad, Ghaith, A Stranger in Your Own City, Travels in the Middle East’s Long War, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2023

 

A Stranger in Your Own City, Travels in the Middle East’s Long War by journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad is an engaging story about him growing up in Baghdad and then experiencing the aftermath of the U.S. invasion. It’s a tale of a nation beset by problems from the 1990s sanctions that impoverished most to the exiles that created a new ethnosectarian political system that was then used it to justify violence. The new elite ended up killing its youth in the street for protesting against corruption. It’s an important addition to the cannon because it not only includes his own recollections of this period but also many Iraqi civilians, soldiers and officials when most books are by and about Westerners.

Review Mosul Under ISIS, Eyewitness Accounts Of Life In The Caliphate

Review Aarseth, Mathilde Becker, Mosul Under ISIS, Eyewitness Accounts Of Life In The Caliphate, London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi, Sydney: I.B. Tauris, 2021

 

Mosul Under ISIS, Eyewitness Accounts Of Life In The Caliphate by Mathilde Becker Aarseth is a short read on how the Islamic State ran Mosul and Ninewa province after it seized the area in 2014. It covers law and order, education and health under the militants. Each chapter starts with some theoretical discussion on how armed groups like IS were supposed to use these services, what IS claimed it did, what others thought about its actions, and then what the author found in her interviews and research. Aarseth disagrees with much of what IS said and Western analysts thought about its governance style. The book argues that the rebels were corrupt, unpredictable, opportunistic and discriminatory in how they ruled which undermined their legitimacy.

Review Turkey, the US and Iraq

Hale, William, Turkey, the US and Iraq, London, Berkeley, Beirut: SAQI, 2007

 

Turkey, the US and Iraq by William Hale is a history of Turkish-Iraq relations and the role of the United States from the foundation of Iraq in 1920 to the start of the U.S. occupation. Hale believes the relations between Turkey and Iraq went through three main phases. First, Turkey laid claim to northern Iraq after World War I. Then the Kurds became a major issue in the 1980s. Finally the U.S. began demanding that Turkey help it with its conflict with Iraq starting with the Gulf War and then the 2003 invasion. In the process Turkey completely changed its policy towards Iraq, which is the main point of the book.

Review Netflix’s Mosul

Netflix’s Mosul is an ode to the men of the Ninewa SWAT. The movie follows a squad from that unit who are in the midst of the end of the battle for the city. They are on a special mission which is not revealed until the very end which proves to be very moving. It shows their sacrifices, their fighting prowess and their souls in the midst of a bloody fight.

Review The Rise of Islamic State, ISIS and the New Sunni Revolution

Cockburn, Patrick, The Rise of Islamic State, ISIS and the New Sunni Revolution, London, New York: Verso, 2015

 

The Rise of Islamic State, ISIS and the New Sunni Revolution was written by reporter Patrick Cockburn. He said he wanted to explain what led to the 2014 fall of Mosul and its aftermath, but that was misleading. What he wrote instead was a series of personal reflections upon the Mideast. Each chapter was like its own short essay and unrelated to the others. That meant there wasn’t a coherent story to the book. Not only that but as it progressed each chapter got more off track.

Review They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate

Review Verini, James, They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2019

Seizing Mosul was what marked the rise of the Islamic State in the summer of 2014. It had been rebuilding for years, but taking a major city in Iraq was a shock to the world. The loss of the city to the Iraqi forces backed up by the international coalition three years later, was its biggest defeat. It was inevitable that this would eventually be put into a book, and James Verini a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine and National Geographic was the first to do so in They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate. The author does a good job weaving together his time with the Iraqi forces, speaking to displaced families from Mosul, and plenty of history of Iraq, the Islamic State, and Mosul.

Postwar Situation In West Mosul - Many Unresolved Issues

Old City West Mosul (Al Jazeera)

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the main group working with Iraq’s displaced population (IDPs). In June 2019 it released the results of survey work it did in West Mosul, the most war damaged area in Iraq. It talked with people that stayed in the city during the Islamic State occupation, those the fled and have now returned, and those that are still displaced. The IOM found that there are still major unresolved issues for the district including a lack of rebuilding, services, schools and jobs, along with distrust and resentment.

Review Mosul Before Iraq, Like Bees Making Five-Sided Cells

Review Shields, Sarah, Mosul Before Iraq, Like Bees Making Five-Sided Cells, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000

Professor Sarah Shields’ aim in Mosul Before Iraq, Like Bees Making Five-Sided Cells was to challenge traditional analysis of Ottoman provinces like Mosul that simply focused upon Europe’s either positive or negative effects. Before researchers would talk about how trade with Europe was supposed to help places like Mosul modernize. Then it switched to how Europe underdeveloped these areas and created a situation of dependency. Shields hoped to move away from both models and emphasize how a province like Mosul played a role in a regional economy within the Ottoman Empire as well as its connections with Europe. Her work goes through how different groups in the province like merchants, peasants, and tribes were connected to production, trade, and taxes in the last century of the empire. While there are some interesting points, after a while the book becomes rather monotonous.

Postwar Business Situation In Mosul

(Mosul Eye)

Mosul was one of the most heavily damaged cities in Iraq after it was liberated in 2017. The business sector is trying to revive itself but facing major difficulties. That includes the aftermath of the fighting, spotty services, high costs, the lack of credit, and trying to rebuild markets.

Glimpse At Some Of The Liberated Areas Of Iraq

Aid groups are really the only ones consistently reporting on the liberated areas of Iraq. Many of these places are rural and the government isn’t even that present. The United Nations’ Migration Agency, Returns Working Group, and Social Inquiry released a paper on the displaced returning home that contained information on the Ramadi district in Anbar, Sadiya and Jalawla in Diyala, Abbasi in Kirkuk, west Mosul, Sinjar, and Tal Afar in Ninewa, and Baiji and Tuz Kharmato in Salahaddin. All were considered hotspots due to local tensions, the lack of housing and services, and other issues they are encountering since they were freed from the Islamic State.

Iraq’s Former PM Abadi Claimed Only 8 Civilians Killed In Mosul Battle

Fmr PM Abadi talking with journalist Jane Arraf at 2019 Sulamani Forum (Twitter)

At the recent Sulamani Forum held in March 2019 former Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi claimed that there were only 8 civilian casualties in the Battle of Mosul. He told journalist Jane Arraf only eight women and children lost their lives during the fighting. Arraf challenged him on that and Abadi replied that he went to Mosul and checked the figures. He said, “Yes… Less than ten. Eight … Probably the number eight has increased a bit, and that was at one stage. … I was there! Looking in the streets, looking who is going where, who is going around, I made sure that there were no civilians, only combatants.” He went on to claim that he had gone to multiple sources and they confirmed his figures.

Iraq Has No Reconstruction Plan For War Torn Areas

Rubble in Mosul (AFP/Getty Images)

The war against the Islamic State ended two years ago and some areas were liberated five years ago, yet the Iraqi government has not come up with a reconstruction plan. This is delaying foreign assistance as many countries and groups are waiting for Baghdad to take the lead, but it has not stepped forward.

Security In Iraq Apr 15-21, 2018

April has been different from previous months during the year. Each week the number of security incidents has gone up and down. The two main trends during the third week of April was the ongoing fighting between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Turkey in northern Kurdistan and more attacks upon candidates and political parties before next month’s parliamentary elections.

Still Pulling Bodies From Wreckage Of Mosul

On January 12, 2018, the Civil Defense Department announced that it had finished recovering bodies from the rubble of Mosul. It said that roughly 2,500 people had been found, and any other remains were Islamic State members. Voice of America reported on January 26 however, that municipal workers were still pulling people out of the Old City in west Mosul. The day the VOA journalist was in the city for example, a 10-year-old girl was discovered. Much of the Old City remains a disaster area, so Civil Defense was probably premature to say that its work was done.

Christians Celebrate Mass In Mosul For First Time In 3 Years

The Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad Luis Sako led church services at the Church of St. Paul in Mosul. This was the first time Christians had gathered in the city to celebrate Christmas since the Islamic State seized Mosul in 2014. Back in July 2014, the militants distributed flyers telling Christians they had to convert, pay a tax or be killed. The next day insurgents marked Christians houses in the city. The day after that, a second leaflet was issued telling them they had to obey the first order or leave. That led to the majority of the population fleeing. Since the Mosul campaign was completed the future of the community has been up in the air. Some are afraid to return to their homes, many want to stay in their new locations or leave Iraq overall. Still others are attempting to rebuild, which was seen in the service held in Mosul.

(Baghdad Today)

(Baghdad Today)

(Baghdad Today)

SOURCES

Agence France Presse, “In ruins of Iraq Christian town, fires a sign of rebirth,” 5/6/17

Baghdad Today, “Pictures of the first mass in Mosul after Daesh,” 12/24/17

Bassem, Wassim, “As Mosul battle nears end, Iraqi Christians wary of return,” Al Monitor, 6/30/17

- “Iraq’s Christians demand reconstruction of religious sites,” Al Monitor, 5/21/17

Coles, Isabel, “Insight – Purge of minorities re-draws Iraq map,” Reuters, 7/24/14

Harding, Luke and Hawramy, Fazel, “Isis accused of ethnic cleansing as story of Shia prison massacre emerges,” Guardian, 8/25/14

Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Human Rights Office, “ Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Iraq: 6 July – 10 September 2014,” 10/2/14

Battle Of Mosul Casualties Updated

There were recently two reports released in November 2017, which proved that there were still many unaccounted for casualties from the Mosul campaign. First, the United Nations released a study on the battle that included over 1,000 dead and wounded not reported before. Than the New York Times did an in depth study of Coalition air strikes during the Mosul operation, which found that there were many more incidents of civilian deaths than the Coalition acknowledged, and that it was using a flawed system to assess whether it caused any casualties.

Security In Iraq, Nov 8-14, 2017

The greatly improved security environment continued for another week in Iraq. From Nov 8-14, there were less than 100 incidents, but the number of dead was very high due to another mass grave being discovered.

Human Cost Of The Mosul Campaign

The Mosul campaign, which lasted from October 2016 to July 2017 was the largest and most important battle against the Islamic State in Iraq. The fighting was some of the most intense the world had seen in decades, and broke the back of the militants as a conventional force that held territory in the country. The human toll was tremendous as well, and likely never to be fully accounted for due to Iraqi government censorship on casualties. Based upon daily media coverage from over 40 sources, along with human rights and United Nations reports a rough total can be estimated.