Terror hits Iraq

A new wave of terror is rolling through Iraq. More than 150 people have been killed since last weekend, and more than a thousand have been wounded. In the city of Ramadi, in the western province of Anbar, the university was stormed and students were taken hostage. It was hours before the army managed to free them. Meanwhile bombs continue to explode in the eastern province of Diyala and in the capital Baghdad.

Since Tuesday (10.06.2014), the terrorists have set their sights on Iraq's second biggest city, Mosul. The governor's residence was stormed and some 2,400 prisoners were freed from prisons. While the governor was able to save himself at the last minute, 70 percent of the city is said to be in the hands of terrorists. The government has, to all intents and purposes, lost control of Mosul.

ISIL widens operations

The audacious operation was the work of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a group that emerged from al Qaeda and has been waging its war in both countries for at least the past six months. After Fallujah, Mosul is the second Iraqi city that ISIL has been able to take over.

"We have a security disaster," said Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, adding that the country's security forces have "collapsed." Mutlaq is from Fallujah, mainly populated by Sunnis, where ISIL has now established itself and was even able to conduct bomb attacks in the Bagdad suburb of Abu Ghraib.

At the parliamentary election on April 30, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki promised a military operation to liberate Anbar province. But nothing happened. Instead, ISIL has expanded its base of operations. That now appears to include the northern province of Ninevah, where Mosul is located, 350 kilometers north of Baghdad.

Mosul was seen as the al Qaeda's last stronghold, but the alliance of tribal leaders known as Sahwa, convened by the Americans, pacified the area until US troops left at the end of 2011. Now Baghdad has said the region is in utter chaos. ISIL is apparently aiming to take over the entire north of Iraq. Maliki's call - made on state TV - to convene the newly elected parliament and impose a state of emergency in the area almost sounds like an admission of defeat.

"You have to imagine, the army has 1.5 million soldiers, and they can't provide calm and order?" said Mutlaq.

Maliki, the commander in chief of the armed forces, failed to appoint a defense or an interior minister during his previous tenure.

Deserting soldiers

When US diplomat Paul Bremer, who governed Iraq following the US-led invasion 11 years ago, dissolved the Iraqi army overnight, the Americans were forced to recreate the country's security forces. All of Iraq's minorities were to be represented - a goal that was achieved, and until three years ago the Iraqi army had an exceptional reputation for neutrally protecting the nation's interests.

That has all changed now. Soldiers are deserting in droves. Entire battalions have laid down their weapons. The Kurds in particular almost entirely withdrew from the army after Maliki picked a fight with the regional Kurdish government in Erbil over Kirkuk and control of Iraq's oil resources.

In Mosul, dozens of mostly Sunni soldiers are said to have demonstratively taken off their uniforms and deserted their posts when ISIL moved in.

Deputy mediator

Maliki and the Sunni Mutlaq also have their differences. Two and a half years ago Mutlaq described Maliki as a "failed dictator" and was suspended from his job. Maliki revoked all of Mutlaq's licenses and permissions and curtailed his right to travel.

Then Maliki found that he needed Mutlaq as a mediator in his hometown of Fallujah. The Sunni demonstrations that began there in December 2012 did not abate, and the protestors demanded more of a say - more participation in the political process, more positions in the army and police.

Mutlaq claims that his intervention prevented a civil war back then, but when he visited Abu Ghraib in April this year to talk to ISIL representatives he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. It wasn't the terrorists that shot at him, so he said, but members of the Iraqi army - and now he said he is not so sure a civil war can be prevented.