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VIDEO -- Iraq Business Improvements Briefing: Maj. Gen. Bergner

A long report on how the Iraqi and coalition are curbing violence and rebuilding businesses.

Tags: coalition, business, iraq, jcc, army, basra, mosul, sada, city, bergner on 2008-07-15 -All Annotations (0) -About

in list: IRAQ Improvements

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Al-Qaeda is driven from Mosul bastion after bloody last stand - Times Online

The hunt began just after dawn. Iraqi armoured personnel carriers surrounded the turbulent Zanjali district in the northern city of Mosul, blocking off roads as police acting on an urgent tip-off swept in and searched from house to house.

Tags: mosul, bastion, al, qaeda, defeat, iraq on 2008-07-06 -All Annotations (0) -About

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Beneath it they found a ceremonial knife in an apparent torture chamber, its
walls spattered with blood. Videos recovered from the chamber showed Iraqi
soldiers and police being executed.
Al-Qaeda suffered perhaps its greatest blow on June 24 when American soldiers
gunned down Abu Khalaf, the “emir of Mosul”. He had been a close associate
of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most notorious leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, who
was killed in an airstrike two years ago.
Al-Qaeda was also bleeding support as allied Iraqi insurgents accepted an
amnesty. It did not apply to Al-Qaeda. “If you are fighting to install
sharia [Islamic law] on this country, you are going to have to be killed,”
said Colonel David Brown, an American adviser to 2nd Division
Nevertheless, the speed of Al-Qaeda’s decline in Iraq – not only in the north
but throughout the country – has taken many military strategists and
observers by surprise.
US and Iraqi forces were then able to retake large swathes of the country and
complete the “clearing” of cities such as Ramadi and Falluja and large areas
of Baghdad. The overall number of attacks in Iraq has fallen by 80% in the
past year alone.
Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, has gone on in recent months to reassert
control over Basra in the south and Baghdad’s Sadr City, the two main
strongholds of the Shi’ite Mahdi Army.
The last word was left to the beleaguered people of Mosul. Sa’ad Aziz, 47,
stood in his shop, with ice-cream in the freezer and fizzy drinks and sweets
on the shelves, watching the search for the Zanjali bomb in virtual darkness
because there was no electricity.

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Iraqis lead final purge of Al-Qaeda - Times Online

A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.

Tags: al, qaeda, maliki, defeat, iraq, mosul, purge, alqaeda on 2008-07-06 -All Annotations (0) -About

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The Battle For Mosul IV

Michael Yon reports as an independent reporter on conditions in Iraq

Tags: mosul, iraq, coalition, war, iran, surge, peace on 2008-05-23 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.michaelyon-online.com

The bad news from Iraq was playing in the background at both funerals. It showed a resourceful and resolved enemy. While the enemy was watching and playing to the media, apparently they were not reading or buying our propaganda. Not intimidated by our jets and steel, they quickly realized the Coalition avoids killing civilians, and this translated as weakness to them. A weakness they planned to exploit.
Falluja had long been an incubator of terrorism for Iraq.
even Saddam had not been able to conquer Falluja, despite that Falluja is merely a short drive from Baghdad.
The growing influence of the increasingly brash insurgents and foreign fighters wasn’t lost on the locals, who paid a high price for resistance. More than two hundred Mosulite bodies—many headless—were tossed out in the streets.
Insurgent leaders must have spent hours watching western television, particularly news broadcasts. They planned attacks that would create dramatic footage for the nightly news, and in many cases, they provided the camera crew and made the footage available for streaming and downloads on the internet. In light of their other recent media victories, the enemy felt ready to take on the Americans in Mosul.
With the encouragement of Deuce Four officers, Iraqi police commanders stepped up to the task, and the morale among their men skyrocketed. As one American officer put it: “They wore those bandages like badges of honor, inspiring respect and loyalty among Iraqi and Coalition troops.”
As they completed training and were deployed, insurgent and terrorist activity kept them busy. Within months the Police could operate largely without Coalition military assistance.
BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber captured before he could blow himself up in a Shiite mosque late last week claimed he was kidnapped, beaten and drugged by insurgents who forced him to take on the mission. The U.S. military on Sunday said its medical tests indicated he was telling the truth.
The writer further described the 19-year-old Saudi man’s plight:

His story was similar to those recounted by other captured militants who claim they were coerced or fooled by insurgent leaders who promised them a role in the holy war.
The people of Mosul, too, have demonstrated newfound trust in their new government; an expectation that sometimes extends to patience with the inevitable glitches that have to be worked out of any new system. In a period of months, they have gone from not talking with the Americans to providing a flood of information that increases in scope and value, resulting in the elimination of terrorists, and the discovery and removal of weapons and bomb-making materials, items they don’t want near their children.