Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi says the campaign against Daesh in Mosul is going according to plan. 
In an interview with The Associated Press, released on Tuesday, he said: “Mosul is completely encircled by our own armed forces and it is under our control. So, I think the plan is going according to what we have planned before.”
Following are edited excerpts from the interview:
The Mosul campaign is more than six weeks in and just a fraction of the city has been retaken. Are you still confident that the city will be back in government hands by the end of the year, or will this extend into 2017?
This is a battle for the whole of Nineveh governorate, which is much bigger than the city of Mosul. The whole or most of the governorate that we have liberated so far was under the hands of Daesh, for the last 2 ½ years. Now we have liberated probably twice the size of the city of Mosul since the start of the operation. We have liberated many villages, many cities (towns) around Mosul and we are closing in on Mosul. So, Mosul is the last stage of this operation. Liberating the rest of the area was stage number one, which we have accomplished very quickly and very successfully.
Now, Mosul is completely encircled by our own armed forces and it is under our control. So, I think the plan is going according to what we have planned before. In actual fact, in our opinion, it was quicker than we thought it is going to be. Yes, Daesh is a terrorist organization, ideologically motivated, but we have seen the whole organization collapsing in terms of standing in the face of our own armed forces. The success of liberating a huge area indicates that Daesh does not have the gut now or the motivation to fight as they were doing before. So, yes, I think the operation is on track and I am hopeful that we liberate the city before the end of the year.
On the personal front, how do you feel when you see the ruins, the complete devastation of Iraqi cities? What does victory feel or taste like for you when it comes at such high cost? Will you be able to liberate Mosul by the end of the first half of 2017?
I don’t put a timeline on it, but I hope that a major part of the city will be in the hands of the Iraqi security forces this year. It is a cost in terms of buildings, but it is very rewarding when I see displaced people who are living in tents coming back to their homes and living in their homes. What we have done is we have introduced what you call stabilization, which is a very quick reconstruction by providing basic services to populations: Electricity, water, schools and medical care. Of course, before that we have to remove any explosive devises from the area and then the population goes back. This is very rewarding for us. For people to see their homes, to live in their homes, to live in their vicinity and their locals. People prefer to live in their houses even if they are partially damaged than living in a tent in nowhere. So, this is very rewarding for us.

Can you tell us the number of dead and injured so far in the Mosul campaign?
I cannot publish (disclose) numbers. It is there. I see the numbers every month, but it is manageable.

The US has a new President. How do you expect the administration of President-elect Donald Trump to differ from President Obama’s in Iraq and the wider Middle East?
Iraq deals with the United States regardless of who is in the White House. In our belief, we are fighting terrorism. We are here in this area, in the region, there is infighting in this region, there is also competition between regional powers. Iraq is on the fault line of this quarrel or this infighting. Look at Syria: Syria is very much polarized, 10 million people, some of them are internal refugees, another half is outside Syria. There is a whole devastation of Syria. We try to keep away from that, we try to unify our own country. We are defending our own population. We have moved quite far in terms of reaching out to our own population. Our own armed forces which were rejected three years ago by some sectors of our society, or some areas, they called on our military to be withdrawn. Now, they are welcoming our military. They are calling for us to send our military to liberate them. They are very much welcomed in these areas. There is a huge reversal there. Over the last two years, we have seen ups and downs in the support of the US to Iraq. At the beginning I was frustrated and I was in the media saying that we were expecting support but that the support was very slow, very painful, not adequate and later on I think it was developed. I think there was progressive support for our campaign. In my telephone call with President-elect Trump, he assured me that US support will not only continue, but it is going to be increased. So, I think am going to be looking forward to more US support at this time.
Donald Trump said in September that he would “take the oil” from Iraq. He spoke of “reimbursing ourselves” and that he would thus prevent Iran from getting the oil.” What do you think he means by “reimbursement” and did this come up in your discussion?
No, it did not. In actual fact, I don’t judge people by their election statements. People say whatever they want in election statements. When they come to power, to office, I think they will be pragmatic. I think Mr. Trump is a pragmatic man, he is a businessman. He will look at the situation as is. Iraqi oil is sold by Iraq. It is not being taken over by Iran or anybody else and the Iraqi people will not allow any country to take possession of their own resources. These are the resources of the Iraqi people. Nobody should touch it. They should be for the Iraqi people. And I think we will protect it. I think these are only election statements and I am not going to judge the man by his election statements. I am going to judge him by what he does later. 

Under your rule, Shiite militia and tribal fighters have grown in power as they have fought Daesh, but they also continue to be accused of committing abuses against Iraqi civilians. Moving forward, how do you plan to bring these groups under control to ensure the security of the Iraqi people?
We are doing this. If you look carefully at the Mosul operation, I have not received a single claim or complaint against the PMF. I have received some reports in Fallujah and I have started a full investigation into that. I am waiting for the final report on this. Everyone, including the local security forces in Anbar, is taking part in this. I am not revealing a secret if I tell you that many of the PMF members have been sentenced in Iraq for crimes during the war, including some in our own security forces. I give zero tolerance for any excess against human rights or against human rights abuses. I don’t allow it. Any time I hear there is a violation or abuses, I immediately start an investigation. My role is not to cover up for the crimes of others. These PMF members are mainly volunteers, Iraqi nationalists who rise up to defend their own country. They are prepared to sacrifice their own lives, their own families for the defense of Iraq. I was overtaken by a statement by these injured people, and I have been visiting injured people in hospitals, and all that they are telling me is to look after the combatants on the ground. They don’t want anything for themselves. And I have seen families who lost their loved ones and they are ready to sacrifice others of their loved ones to defend the country. So, I think these are very important people for us. We have to look (after) them. But for somebody else, who will enroll themselves in these forces and then taint the reputation of these forces, I am not going to allow this. These people who make human rights abuses must be held accountable and we must cleanse this organization and other security forces. That is why I have a list, I have asked for that list, of people who have been sentenced to death, although probably some countries reject the whole idea of sentencing people to death, but the death sentence in Iraq is still there. So, there are tens of thousands of people from the PMF who have been sentenced to death for crimes they have committed during their work in the PMF (The prime minister’s office later clarified that Al-Abadi meant scores sentenced to death, not tens of thousands) and there are many hundreds who have been sentenced to 15, 20 years in jail because of the abuses. So, I think we are not allowing any abuse of this kind. And the whole performance of the PMF has become better.

You’ve legalized the Popular Mobilization Forces (Shiite militias) and they’re part of the armed forces now. Will you still allow Iranian and Hezbollah advisers to train and guide them on the battlefield? Or will they now fall under Iraqi command?)
In actual fact, we have welcomed all the countries who were willing to help Iraq in our war against Daesh. The Iranians have been forthcoming at the start of the campaign for a simple reason. In this war, Daesh took the war near the Iranian border in Diyala. The Iranians were very much alarmed. Don’t forget this ideology is calling for the slaughter of others who are not like Daesh, including Iranian Shiites and others. So, I think the Iranians were alarmed by this. The Iranians had to come to the forefront of supporting and helping Iraq fight Daesh with advisers, with other help, logistical support for our armed forces and we very much welcomed that. Of course, there were the Americans, the Europeans, the Australians and many other countries who came to our help, including the Jordanians as well. We have very good relations now with Jordan because we have a common enemy, which is Daesh, that is threatening Jordan and Iraq at the same time. So, I hope this will continue. Iraq has the longest border with Iran. If you look at a map of Iraq, the major population centers of Iraq are toward the eastern border which borders Iran, we have a common relationship and a common interest. Iraq is not prepared to become a proxy to settle grievances between countries or competitions between countries. Iraq has suffered enough in the eight years (of war) between Iraq and Iran. Iraq acted as a proxy in that war on behalf of others. We have ruined our country and ruined our economy. Hundreds of thousands of dead soldiers and others injured. We are still suffering from that war. We are not prepared to become a proxy. We want to live in peace with our neighbors, including Iran and that is exactly what we are doing. So, the PMF has become a legal force by the Prime Minister’s decree and now this has been legislated in parliament this week, which I very much welcomed. This will bring the whole force under the control of the Iraqi security forces, under the legal authority of Iraq and anyone who is outside this force will be treated as a militia which is forbidden by the Iraqi constitution.

Source: Arab News