Operation Good Hope – fresh hope for Mosul residents?

NINEWA / IraqiNews.com: A security official in the city of Mosul expected Operation Good Hope, launched last week, to offer a safe environment that would help the new local council to do its job and launch reconstruction efforts in the province. “The operation, which aims to arrest wanted persons in Ninewa, differs from the previous ones. We now have lists of names of wanted persons to seek and capture,” Brig. Saed Ahmed al-Juburi, the Ninewa Operations Command (NOC) information director, told IraqiNews.com news agency. Atheel al-Nejeifi, whose al-Hadbaa list obtained more than half the seats in the Ninewa provincial council during the recent elections, said Operation Good Hope “would not be much”. “It’s just a final attempt by the U.S. forces to help Iraqi troops wield power bearing in mind that the Americans will be out of Mosul by June 2009,” Nejeifi said. Local residents in Ninewa were of varied opinions over the plan as some were optimistic while others views that it will not end in any change. Juburi pointed out that the army as well as the local and national police formations under the command of the NOC are taking part in the operation, adding the U.S. forces will be escorting the Iraqi troops but would not undertake any search raids or detentions. “The Iraqi forces will reinforce their presence in most areas, whether inside the neighborhoods in the city or inside villages and also in places where they have no foothold,” Juburi explained. A source within the Ninewa police department had said that army and police forces have launched a new operation codenamed Good Hope to track down gunmen members of organizations affiliated to al-Qaeda network, noting the operation is planned to continue for three months. The forces had captured 30 wanted men in search raids in the western Mosul areas of Tal Zalat and Tal Abta. Umm al-Rabiain I, started in May 2008, was the first security operation orchestrated by the NOC, followed by Umm al-Rabiain II on October 14, 2008 after escalated threats against and forced relocation of Christian citizens in the city. Nejeifi elaborated that the Americans want to do something to strengthen Iraqi security agencies’ power before they leave the city in June 2009. “The success of the new operation hinges on changing the political reality,” he said, adding “I don’t want to rely much on this plan”. The NOC was formed in late 2007 as part of the central government’s plan to impose law and order in hotspots that witnessed acts of violence. Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 km north of Baghdad. AmR (I) 1