« Hamas Claims Victory As Palestinian Premier Resigns - So What's Next? | Main | On Chirac, the bomb and terrorism - A Call For Action »

January 26, 2006

How Are Things In Mosul?

Topics: Iraq

For the answer to this question, you need look no further than to Buck Sargent, who serves on active duty as an infantry team leader and noncommissioned officer in the United States Army.

"Buck" was deployed to Afghanistan from 2003-2004 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and is currently serving in Mosul, Iraq on a yearlong combat tour. He is a University of Texas alumnus, a firebreathing conservative, and a diehard patriot.

Mosul, the second or third largest city in Iraq (depending on whom you ask), is an immense urban sprawl of nearly 2 million people. The largest part of our platoon’s area of responsibility is a residential section of the city called Palestine.

This area has made an amazing turnaround in the past 15 months. This time last year, nearly the entire police force fled their posts en masse after being relentlessly hammered by insurgent attacks, ceding the city to the enemy in a no contest bout. (Some may even argue it was a thrown fight).

Mosul’s proximity to the Syrian border, coupled with the American assault on Fallujah in November ‘04, sent hordes of foreign jihadists and homegrown insurgents in search of friendlier territory, and many settled here to regroup and reassert their dominance over the local populace. The Iraqi citizens of Mosul were left virtually defenseless as roaming gangs and thugs routinely left shattered bodies and headless corpses littering the streets and alleyways.
What a difference a year makes. Coalition forces have since taken back the streets, putting the fear of Allah back in the enemy and placing them on the defensive and on the run where they belong -- or placing them six feet under. That works too.

Read much more at American Citizen Soldier ...

I highly recommend this milblog site.

Hat tip - Wizbang

Posted by Richard at January 26, 2006 11:24 AM

Articles Related to Iraq:

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:

Comments

Post a comment

Log in (or Register - it's easy) view ;