By Raed Asad Ahmed
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Top military commanders assured Mosul Governor Athil al-Nujaifi that Iraqi forces were securing the province hours before they fled along with thousands of troops, leaving Mosul in the hands of tribes and extremists.
Speaking to Rudaw in Erbil, Nujaifi said the commander of Iraq's ground forces, General Ali Ghaidan, and the deputy army chief, Lieutenant General Abboud Qanbar, “told me that the Iraqi army was in control and that we should not worry. But the next morning they fled without even telling me.”
He said he was “shocked” at how quickly the Iraqi Army collapsed in Mosul.
“I felt cheated,” Nujaifi added. “They betrayed me and all the of people Iraq.”
Nujaifi, who said he hid in three different locations before fleeing to Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital, Erbil, claimed both the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and armed local tribes are now running the province.
“Mosul isn’t only controlled by ISIS, but by a mixture of armed groups,” he said. “We aren’t afraid of the local armed groups because they are Iraqi citizens and their families are living among us. We are more afraid of the foreign armed groups who came from abroad.”
The United Nations reported that militants were carrying out summary executions of civilians in Mosul, but that the Iraqi army also may have been responsible for dozens of deaths because of shelling in civilian areas. Mosul residents also told Rudaw the Iraqi army was shelling indiscriminately, forcing them to flee.
“The armed groups acted more professionally than the Iraqi army,” Nujaifi claimed. “They began by respecting the people, which the Iraqi army did not. Of course we try will to continue helping the people of Mosul who are still there. Even though Mosul is not under our control, we will try to continue providing them with water and electricity.”
Iraqis and the rest of the world were stunned at the army’s humiliating defeat in Mosul, where armed groups seized weapons left by soldiers who fled the battlefield, even shedding their uniforms.
Most of the wounded Iraqi soldiers who fled Mosul were taken to the emergency hospital in Duhok. One sergeant from the Iraqi army’s 3rd brigade, who asked to remain anonymous, described a battle.
“We were around 150 soldiers in our base. Armed groups supported by the local militias surrounded us and began shelling us with mortars. They were carrying mortars on the back of their trucks and had anti-aircraft artilleries, which we didn’t have. We were able to destroy three of their vehicles but we were out numbered. Some of us got killed and we weren’t getting any support. We fought back for two days, then our commanders ordered us to retreat.”
The sergeant, who is from Diwaniyah, said many soldiers had gone home but others are “stranded here and need help.”
Mosul residents and Nujaifi claimed rampant corruption and sectarian policies in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government also created an undisciplined military that paved the way for the province falling to extremists. While the Iraqi government has beefed up its military and security spending, setting aside 23.2 trillion Iraqi dinars ($20 billion) for defense and security in its 2014 budget, it has allocated far less funds for services and economic growth.
In March, the United States supplied the Iraqi army with around 100 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles and surveillance drones. Iraq also signed a multi-billion dollar deal with the US to purchase 36 F-16 fighter jets, and struck a $4.1 billion deal with Russia for 30 Mi-28 assault helicopters — 13 of which were delivered in January — as well as 42 Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems.
Despite state-of-the-art weaponry and years of US military training, the defeat in Mosul was indicative of a lack of morale in the military, which is widely seen as a corrupt and sectarian institution under Maliki’s Shia-dominated government.
Under the scorching sun at a Kurdish checkpoint in Khazir, the crossing point between Nineveh province and Iraqi Kurdistan, Mosul’s largely Sunni Arab refugees said they had lost all confidence in the government.
Mahmoud, a resident of Mosul and retired government employee, said, “We didn’t leave our homes because of fear from the armed groups; we left because we are afraid that Maliki’s army will drop explosive barrels indiscriminately on the residential areas as he did in Anbar and Fallujah. Some civilians were killed because of the Iraqi army’s indiscriminate shelling. They began bombing the residential neighborhoods indiscriminately when they were clashing with the armed groups.”
Mahmoud, who like most residents did not give his last name, held Maliki fully responsible for Mosul’s collapse. “His failed policies and sectarian rule brought us to this day. The prisons are filled with innocent Sunni Iraqi men and women.”
Imad, a resident of Mosul and employee in the Ministry of Water and Sewage, said, “The people of Mosul were fed up with the treatment they were getting from the Iraqi army. There was no justice. The soldiers were insulting anyone they wanted to, regardless of their ages. Some Iraqi army commanders were extorting money from business owners in Mosul. People who owned car parks had to pay $10,000 to the Iraqi army commanders every month. People aren’t afraid of the armed groups. They did not hurt the civilians. They told us to remain at home and that we would be safe.”
The fighting forced about 300,000 people to flee to Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR. Hundreds of cars waited to pass through the checkpoint, as winds kicked up dust and sirens from ambulances blared.
Amina, a grand mother and originally a resident of Baghdad, sat crying in a yellow cab parked on the side of the road with her daughter in law and grandson. “I am a refugee from Baghdad. I fled from Baghdad to Mosul because of the sectarian fighting. Now I became a refugee for the second time.”
She described Mosul the night before it fell. “We could hear shooting from afar. It stopped and we thought it was over. But the fighting suddenly erupted again in the city and continued throughout the night. In the morning we saw smoke rising from burning buildings and checkpoints. We decided to leave because we were afraid.”
Amid the chaos and sadness, however, there was a touching scene as dozens of Erbil residents welcomed Mosul’s refugees with sandwiches, cold water and even home-cooked meals at the checkpoint.
