The Rape of Mosul

The streets of Mosul have been empty and deathly silent, since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a tyrant quickly gaining a reputation for brutality and atrocity as bad or worse than Saddam Hussein, marched into the city at the head of an Iraqi Army, backed up by another army in reserve, of battle hardened, American forces and the armor, snipers and air power, capable of unimaginable mass destruction, that they bring with them. Public spaces, shops and mosques are deserted. People cower in their dwellings, utilities having been cut off, food and water running low.

The Iraqi troopers go from house to house, neighborhood by neighborhood, searching houses seemingly at random. Anyone who questions, even politely, the actions of the troopers is beaten senseless on the spot and arrested as a suspected al-Qaeda. Over a thousand have disappeared into custody already. No one is being released after questioning. Authorities seem eerily unconcerned that they will accumulate unmanageable numbers of detainees, who reportedly include women and youths as young as their early teens. No episodes of armed Resistance have been reported. No casualty numbers have been released. This is a Sunni City. There are rumors of torture and rape rooms. That is the way things are done in the Sunni culture.


The commander of the Iraqi Army invading Mosul and several of his brigade commanders expressed concern at the levels of purely punitive brutality directed against a completely passive populace. He and his brigade commanders were promptly relieved of command and replaced by Abdallah Abdul Sattar, an apparently less sensitive Iraqi general. Formal charges against them are pending.

The rape of Mosul continues. The American forces look on. No one knows what will happen next.