Word: mosul
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...Rice insisted on visiting Mosul after receiving a report that it may have turned the corner, thanks to a combination of aggressive action by two American brigades posted in the city, a massive build-up of trained Iraqi policemen, who now number 15,000 for a city of around 1.4 million, and Sunni leaders who have been denouncing the insurgency and embracing the political process...
...convinced that Mosul can be a showcase for the "clear-hold-build" strategy that she described to Congress last month. The idea is to drive insurgents out of designated areas and garrison troops there to allow new structures of government to take hold and deliver substantial reconstruction investment, in the hope that this would generate self-sustaining political and economic development that would eventually allow U.S. forces to leave...
...Mosul was a surprise detour on Rice's long-scheduled swing through the Middle East, and it involved trips on a C-17 cargo plane and a Blackhawk helicopter. She went to take a firsthand look at the work of the first of 16 U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Teams to be deployed in Iraq, a program that she has been instrumental in developing. Each team will comprise about 50 State Department officials and the same number of military civil affairs personnel. Their mission will be to funnel money and expertise to grassroots Iraqi political leaders, business people and non-governmental organizations...
...Mosul team is already in business and, says deputy chief Col. Kenny Lee, a National Guardsman from Savannah, Georgia, "We're making a difference." The team, which lives inside Camp Courage, has built sewer, water and electrical systems, and is now helping local government officials establish and manage utilities, tax-collection, clinics and other public services. A reservist who works as a veterinarian back home is helping local herdsmen get their livestock vaccinated, and a farmer-soldier has become something like a county agricultural agent, advising on irrigation and cultivation methods...
...Rice was clearly exhilarated by her first trip to Mosul. She had visited Baghdad twice before, and flew there again after her Mosul stop. But she told reporters aboard her plane she much preferred talking to local pols and hands-on activists from small communities. "It's like the difference between visiting Birmingham and Washington," she said. The Birmingham native didn't leave much doubt about which city she preferred...