After liberation of Mosul, time to rebuild and regroup

The statement announcing the liberation of Mosul thrilled us all. We have not witnessed such a statement in decades. It is the best statement ever as it announced return to dignity for every single Iraqi who loves and cherishes his country and its people.

We are thrilled that our dignities have been restored. We lost our dignity in such a terrible manner due to a bunch of corrupt politicians who enabled outlawed gangs to defy order and end our freedom and rights.

We rejoice, yes, but we never forget. We will not forget that the great victory announced by the statement of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Haidar al-Abadi on Sunday night was achieved by Iraqi soldiers and officers, the federal police members, the counter terrorism force, Peshmerga and volunteers from the popular army and tribes. We will not forget that we paid a high price for this great victory. Thousands of heroes defied death, terrorist organization ISIS and defied politicians who hoped this victory will never be achieved.

We will not forget, we cannot forget, and we must not forget that the losses of property, deaths and the horrific pain which millions of Iraqis lived through were due to those who committed crimes, one after the another until one third of the country fell under the tyrannical rule of ISIS, which is one of the most brutal and regressive groups history has known.

Time for accountability

We will not, we cannot and we must not forget that one of the main duties after liberating Mosul is to begin the phase of accountability to punish anyone who has been directly or indirectly responsible for this ordeal. We do not seek vengeance but the martyrs, their families, the wounded, the captives and the millions of displaced Iraqis have the right to see those who inflicted pain for political reasons.

We will also not forget that it is one of the state’s major duties is to rebuild Mosul and all the destroyed cities and towns as of today, the day after the statement announcing victory was made.

We are thrilled that Mosul has been liberated, but we will not forget that there are other Iraqi cities that are still controlled by ISIS and that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis still live under its oppressive rule.

We will not forget that the influential political segment that holds on to power despite the people’s will must give up dishonest practices which led to all the events in the past three years in Mosul, Tikrit, Ramadi, Fallujah and dozens of other towns, cities and villages.

We are thrilled by this statement but this joy will be incomplete until we have what we aspire – an Iraq that does not resemble the Iraq before Mosul was liberated and before it was occupied. We want an Iraq where there is no ISIS and that does not fear the emergence of a new ISIS.

This article is also available in Arabic.
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Adnan Hussein is the executive editor-in-chief of Al-Mada newspaper and head of the National Union of Iraqi journalists. Previously, he has held the position of Managing Editor in Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. He tweets under the handle @adnanhussein.