ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan — A year after the Islamic State group captured his city, Mosul Governor Atheel Nujaifi says it is time for Iraqi Sunnis to change their attitude. They need to accept the changes that the 2003 American invasion brought and move on, he says, as that is the only way to fight ISIS.
“I know the reason for the fall of Mosul was not only Daesh,” he said, in his office in the Kurdistan region capital Erbil, where he has resided since the fall of Mosul. “Daesh is just a phase, and it will not change everything. We need to learn from mistakes made.”
Daesh is the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
He said Sunnis boycotting elections led them to be left completely outside the power that was theirs until the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. “Sunnis did not understand that it was an international wish to change Iraq, that we as Sunnis cannot prevent that from happening. As we lack that ability, we have to cooperate with the international community, and we need to get its help,” he said.
He added Sunnis should be reinstated into the Iraqi political system that has been dominated by the Shiite majority to help beat ISIS.
It is a difficult issue, as many Shiites consider Sunnis and ISIS as one and the same. The Sunni resistance against the Americans and the Shiite government, and the past and present affiliation of some with radical Muslim groups, has negatively influenced the status of all Iraqi Sunnis.
In hindsight, Nujaifi said, Iraqi society has allowed religious extremists to function for too long, both on the Sunni and Shiite sides. “It might be difficult, but we have to say to some of the scholars that they are wrong,” he said.
He admitted Mosul had been affected by Sunni religious extremists for years before ISIS came. “I knew problems would occur with all these extremists. But it is difficult to stop the extremist Sunnis if the radical Shiites increase their influence,” Nujaifi continued.
Both groups want their own Islamic state, and believe chaos is a way to push their visions forward. Like ISIS, this goes for most of the Shiite militias that presently operate in Iraq with Iranian support. They are highly feared by most Sunnis, after reports of killings and destruction when they retook the Sunni city of Tikrit from ISIS.
“If the Shiite militias come to Mosul, that would in fact help ISIS,” Nujaifi predicted, “because it will then be able convince the extremist Sunnis to stay.”
The Iranian influence in Iraq has given ISIS a case, and support amongst the Sunnis, he added. “Daesh now has two fights to choose from: a sectarian or a religious one. When Shiites go into Sunni areas, they will not only fight ISIS but all Sunnis. Civilians have to get out to protect themselves. In the end it will be the extremists of both sides fighting each other,” he said.
At the same time, he vowed to deal with the ideological base of extremist Sunnis. That is why he organised a meeting last year in Erbil. “I invited scholars from (the Egyptian religious university) Al-Azhar and others, and all spoke out against Daesh,” Nujaifi said. “We set up a council with scholars, to work on it.”
From Erbil, Nujaifi has with limitations continued his work as a governor, even though ISIS appointed its own in his place. Part of the work has been to stimulate resistance against ISIS inside Mosul, and outside the town regroup and retrain police and form an anti-ISIS militia. Around 9,000 men are now being trained by American and Turkish experts.
The government in Baghdad does not like this, Nujaifi said. And when he recently went to Washington to ask for support for his troops, as they do not have any weapons, the Iraqi parliament voted to oust him as a governor.
He said he will appeal the decision, but at the same time he feels he can work more freely now. “We reached a point where Baghdad did not want to give me any authority. I need to work in several ways to reach my goals. Now I can move as a political leader,” he said.
“I will talk about the Sunni case that needs more attention from the world community. This is a difficult fight, but we have to do it before all of Iraq is destroyed at the hands of Daesh. I still believe Mosul can be kept out of it,” he declared. “Because Daesh cannot stay there. It has no economic resources, it cannot provide any real services to the people.”
He called ISIS “temporary,” but said it is up to the international community to determine how long they last. “If the world helps the Sunni society, it will be easy to defeat Daesh. The people inside Mosul will rise up against Daesh within weeks,” Nujaifi claimed. “But they need a vision, they need to know someone will help them, give them safety and humanitarian aid.”
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