Telegraphing to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] that the battle for Mosul has begun, Iraq’s 64-year-old Shiite President Haider al-Abadi told residents of Mosul that their liberation is near. “These forces are liberating you today, they have one goal in Mosul which is to get rid of Daesh [Arab term for ISIS] and to secure your dignity. They are there for your sake,” said al-Abadi, referring to Iraqi and coalition forces seeking to liberate Iraq’s second largest city. Mosul fell to ISIS June 4, 2014, only weeks before ISIS Supreme Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghadi declared June 30, 2014 a new Islamic Caliphate after ISIS’s blitzkrieg seized some 30% of Iraq and Syria. ISIS has been digging trenches around Mosul for weeks preparing for the eventual battle, now looking just days or weeks away. Whatever residents haven’t managed to escape, Mosul can expect a bloodbath of epic proportions.
Since President Barack Obama ordered U.S. forces out of Iraq Dec. 15, 2011, Iraq’s military lacked the resources to withstand the coup by remnants of Saddam Hussein’s Revolutionary Guards, driven from Iraq when the U.S. military toppled Baghdad April 10, 2003. Eight years-later, Obama couldn’t secure a status-of-troops agreement wit former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malki, permitting U.S. troops to stay-and-protect Iraq from the terrorist takeover since the fall of Saddam. Whatever progress the U.S. military made in Iraq, it was lost when Obama pulled the plug in 2011. Saddam’s former dead-enders combined with other terrorist groups to form ISIS, eventually stealing some 30% of Iraq and Syria. With some 5,000 Special Forces and support troops in Iraq, al-Abadi counts on his American friends to liberate Mosul and other ISIS towns and villages.
Expected to cause heavy collateral damage, civilians in Mosul will get caught in the crossfire when Iraq, U.S. and Kurdish forces attempt to seize back the oil-rich city. Calling the liberation of Mosul “a decisive moment in the campaign” to deliver as lasting defeat to ISIS, U.S. Defense Minister Ash Carter pledges support to Iraq. U.S. forces expect to play only a minor role in Mosul’s liberation, fearful that any casualties before the Nov. 8 election could change the outcome. Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton dreads U.S. casualties, despite backing the fight against ISIS, especially the Saudi proxy war against Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. Former Russian Premier Mikhail Gorbachev worries about military confrontation between the U.S. Russia, now that relations between Russia and the U.S. are at the lowest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Carter wants the U.S. to play a support role with Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters leading the war to liberate Mosul. Once it becomes clear that ISIS cannot hang on to Mosul, its leaders and fighters will bolt the city. U.S. forces are to “stand ready to support Iraqi Security Forces, Peshmerga fighters and the people of Iraq in the difficult fight ahead,” said Carter, drawing limits to U.S. forces getting caught in the battle to retake Mosul. Carter mentions nothing about Turkey’s disdain for the Kurds, despite doing the heavy lifting in the battle against ISIS. Turkish forces have gone after Kurdistan Workers Party and Peoples Protect Units [YPG], often shelling and bombing Peshmerga fighters in Iraq and Syria. White House officials and Carter say nothing about the Turk’s brutal treatment of Kurds. U.S. officials walk a razor’s edge trying to placate the Turks without selling out the Kurds.
Showing that U.S. backs Iraqi and Kurdish forces, U.S. Iraq envoy Brett McGurk acknowledged al-Abadi’s hope to liberate Mosul. “Godspeed to the heroic Iraqi forces, Kurdish Peshmerga and volunteers. We are proud to stand with you in this historic operation,” said McGurk, yet not committing U.S. ground troops to the operation. Al-Abadi hopes to use Shiite militias to help liberate what Iraq calls Nineveh, a primarily Sunni province. Al-Abadi represents Iraq’s Shiite majority, despite strong Sunni presence in Mosul. Judging by the sectarian conflict in Syria waged by Saudi-backed Wahhabi insurgents against the Shiite regime of Bashar al-Assad, there’s no excuse for sectarian warfare. It’s difficult for Iraq’s Sunni Arabs to fight to liberate Mosul against their Sunni brothers in ISIS. U.S. officials find themselves playing all sides against the Kurds.
Al-Abadi’s announcement about the battle of Mosul hopes to get ISIS to cut-and-un, reducing casualties, especially for civilians. Whatever fight ISIS puts up, they’re sure to scatter into Iraq’s landscape, just like Saddam’s Revolutionary Guards did after the 2003 battle of Baghdad. Al-Abadi isn’t happy about Turkey’s incursion into Iraq’s territory, despite expecting the Peshmerga to spill its blood to help liberate Mosul. With Turks, Syrians and Iraqis showing no love to the Kurds, the U.S. needs to remind its allies that the Kurds play a vital role in defeating ISIS. It’s easy for McGurk to say “Godspeed” to the boots-on-the-ground battling ISIS, it’s another not to recognize the Kurds’ role in defeating ISIS. McGurk knows that the Turks have little tolerance for the Kurds, whether in Iraq of Syria. With the Kurds playing a key role in battling ISIS, it’s time for the White House to acknowledge it.
