Word: mosul
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There are two important rules at Combat Outpost Rabiya, a tiny compound recently erected by U.S. troops on the west side of Mosul. First, do not urinate in any of the three wooden outhouses built over a ditch in the back. The waste has to be burned since there is no running water, and that is difficult to do when it's wet. Visitors are politely told to direct fluids into a hose leading downhill to a creek. Second, when going to the toilet--or anywhere away from the shelters of the camp's twin tents--always wear a helmet...
Norris, a 28-year-old Texan, and his men at Rabiya were among nearly 4,000 American troops deployed across northern Iraq late last fall. Those who came to Mosul found themselves in the midst of a battle the U.S. military had supposedly won years ago. This northern Iraqi city of 1.8 million people was thought to have been pacified in 2003, when the 101st Airborne Division under then Major General David Petraeus executed a counterinsurgency strategy that many military analysts regarded as a model approach for the rest of Iraq. But Petraeus' successes largely disappeared soon after the 101st...
...mood is very different in places like Mosul, where things have gotten worse in the past year. Norris, the son of an Army chaplain, spent his previous tour in Diyala, but some of his men have had firsthand experience of Mosul. Fleenor earned a Purple Heart for the injuries he sustained here in 2004, and he lost his best friend, Sergeant Frank Hernandez, to a roadside bomb during the same deployment. As he walks the confines of Rabiya, Fleenor still wears a black metal band on his wrist etched with Hernandez's name. Sergeant Tony Carter, 33, who also served...
...their lives again. Some Iraqis have ventured home from havens found in other countries or elsewhere in Iraq. But those returning to Baghdad, where more than half of the displaced once lived, account for just 3% of those who fled. Meanwhile, ongoing violence in places like Diyala Province and Mosul continues to leave thousands of Iraqis on the move every month. Few of Iraq's internally displaced can hold out hope for aid of any kind. Only a handful of international nongovernmental organizations operate in Iraq because of the dangers. And the Iraqi government's efforts to help the displaced...
Iraqi Defense Minister Abdel Qader Jassim Mohammed recently visited the city recently and expressed concern that Iraqi security forces were disorganized and abandoning the streets at night. U.S. troops continue to work with Iraqi security forces to establish jointly manned checkpoints and outposts in Mosul. U.S. troops are also helping Iraqi army and police to chase down insurgents with regular raids around the city. But few American soldiers feel a major offensive by the Iraqis on Mosul is imminent. Most are preparing for a long campaign that may not bring visible gains until the summer. "This is going to happen...