police said it s just an interview and we ll bring him back he s been gone for four months i want to know what happened to him is he alive or dead human rights watch says thousands of children were recruited by us in iraq as the jihadist took over large swathes of the country some were forced to join others did so because they were hungry or felt they had no other choice. i see evacuation from islamic state final enclave continues this report is a timely reminder that up at three child detentions violate international. now with me in the studio i have wenzel mikulski he s the director of human rights watch in germany welcome mr mccoskey the first of all what is the basis of your concerns about these children in iraq well actually it s the fact that they are
its ability to gain sanctuary in syria was helpful but also ability to take advantage of grievances among the sunni populations who identified their government in baghdad was a key component of isis getting into that area. all right. what would be your recommendation to the trump administration about how to handle u.s. forces there? we ve got several thousand that are on the ground there, mostly special forces, advisors, and targeters. but should we negotiate a more permanent presence there? of troops, 10,000 or so, of the kind that president obama refused to do in 2011? yeah, i think there s no question right now the u.s. needs to recognize that iraq does have a strategic importance for the united states. i don t think it requires a large number of u.s. conventional forces. right. but i do think it does require for the u.s. to remain, to remain and have access to iraqi bases, to continue to train iraq s counterterrorism service which was incredibly
some of the key issues that have disenfranchised sunnis have got to be better addressed. that is in part a heavy political effort by the u.s. and u.s. diplomats to push the iraqi government. this is going to put it really at loggerheads with iran to settle some of these sunni disenfranchisement issues and that is a large number of shia militia, more rapid reconstruction in cities like fallujah. now, mosul and ramadi. and then to treat this as a political rather than just a military struggle. so they can t seem to be the baghdad government or with the shiite forces that back iran can t seem to be imposing a new kind of tyranny on those sunni areas of anbar province in iraq. because that s the root, that s the base from which the insurgency grows. that s an important base of support. if one looks at the rise of the islamic state in 2014, certainly
important in the retaking of mosul and will be in the retaking of other cities, including another city in iraq. to continue to train iraqi police forces which will be the bedrock for law enforcement in fallujah and ramadi and other sunni-heavy cities in the future. so those are some of the key issues. and to keep try to push out and then demobilize some of the sh shia militia forces operating in the country right now which is counterproductive for the u.s. forces. counterforce, politically to iranian influence in iraq and i assume a balancing role politically. you have the kurds in the north. you have the shiites in the south and the east. and then you have the sunnis. so there s kind of a political balancing role here too. yeah, i think there is a clear political balancing role. the kurds in the north have generally been pretty effective over the long run in taking care of their own security.
amount of iranian support here and the number of shia militia in iraq is staggering right now. almost 150,000 mobilization wow. that s pretty significant. it actually shows how much influence iran has in iraq right now. all right. now the campaign against islamic state also making progress inside syria, where the fall of the headquarters in syria could also be heading that way. is that victory? that liberation imminent too? probably not imminent. i think if the liberation of mosul tells us anything, it s some of the villages and cities that sit south along the ewe euphrates river valley are going to be brutal, car bombs, children will be used as shields in the fighting. i think it is likely going to be intense. but i think in the end the americans will likely prevail with their local allies and