101st Airborne getting it right in Mosul

[Jon_in_london]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3282119.stm


Mosul could have become a very bad place to be. The northern city, Iraq's third largest, was a Sunni Muslim stronghold.

{snip}

The street markets are full; the produce is clean and fresh-looking. And there is clearly money in the city; the gold market, a covered area in the heart of the city, is bustling.

Men sit behind the tills or re-arrange the window displays; women peek through shop windows, commenting to their friends.

There is hardly a word to be heard here against the Americans who run the city. The comparative calm in Mosul has not come about by accident. The Screaming Eagles may be a devastating fighting force. But their commander, Major General David Patraeus, confounds every cliché about an American military man.

{snip}

"Everything is about hearts and minds," he says, as the engines and rotors of his helicopter roar deafeningly overhead.

"Not just tonight's activities, but everything that we do is hearts and minds.

"Even when you're taking down bad guys you've got to do it in a way that does not create more bad guys than you're taking off the street.

"There's actually a sign in our command post," he adds, "that says 'We're in a race to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. What have you done today?"


Well, Im glad someone in the US military has seen the light. They should replace Bush with this guy!

[Garrette]

I am familiar with the myriad cliches about the American military. While there are grains of truth, they are usually wide of the mark.

Mosul is having more success than most, but you will find that the military in Baghdad is also seen well by the populace, for the most part, though not as well as the 101st. The same for the military in other parts, too.

Mosul is more successful for a couple of reasons (at least):

MG Petraeus truly is remarkable (I've met him once).

While not under the protection of the no-fly zone, Mosul benefits by being relatively distant from the seat of Saddam's power and from having an already relatively liberal and flourishing economy, partly due to its proximity to Turkey and the Kurdish provinces, allowing trade, even if not entirely legal, during the sanctions.

In Mosul is a place called Dreamland. It has an amusement park which by US standards is very small, but is incredibly clean and well-functioning. Just outside Dreamland is a wonder of wonders that they talk about even here in Baghdad. It is a department/grocery store that--get this--has bar code readers at the checkout! It's the only one in the country. By US standards, it rates as a small combination of a mediocre Krogers (or Food Lion or Shaws or whatever) plus a really mediocre Wal Mart.

This was in place before the war (not much there in the way of starving children due to sanctions). Petraeus is smart enough not to screw with it.

[Zep]

Garrette, sounds like this should be a good example that could be repeated elsewhere in Iraq? A bustling market in a town with reduced need for US forces to patrol in force should be the biggest deterrent to insurgency, shouldn't it? I imagine no-one, least of all the Iraqis, wants to foul up a working system that everyone likes.

Petraeus certainly seems to be smart enough to know which rules to bend to allow this sort of recovery to operate. I agree - his smart thinking should be used as a good example elsewhere if it is actually producing the desired results.

[Garrette]

Aaagh. Embarassing correction. Dreamland and the marketplace are in Dohuk, even closer to the Turkish border than Mosul. The bit abou Petraeus stands.

Sorry. Faulty memory and all that. I blame bin Laden.