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U.S. general visits site of clashes

Sep-17-2004 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

[Link to Full Article]
BY RICK JERVIS
Chicago Tribune

TAL AFAR, Iraq - (KRT) - The top U.S. commander in northwest Iraq on Thursday traveled to the center of Tal Afar, a city besieged recently by clashes between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi troops.

About a dozen Stryker assault vehicles escorted Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, commander of about 7,500 Army troops in northwestern Iraq, to the door of the Tal Afar police station. Perched on an Ottoman-era castle overlooking Tal Afar, the police station was the site of fierce fighting a week ago between resistance fighters and Iraqi and U.S. forces, mostly from the Army's 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, or Stryker Brigade.

Accompanying Ham on Thursday were the newly appointed mayor, Mohammed Rashid Hamid, and the new police chief, Col. Ishmael Mohammed Shua'yb.

"Tal Afar will once again be a great city," Ham said. "And I don't think it will take very long." Tal Afar, a city of 250,000 mostly Turkmen 30 miles west of Mosul, was quiet and seemingly still desolate, apart from a few curious stares from doorways.

The scene was far different a week ago.

Armed insurgents overran the city, sparking clashes with U.S.-led troops that forced an estimated 150,000 residents to flee, killed 55 civilians and 70 insurgents and wounded 150 civilians. Stryker Brigade troops reclaimed the city early Sunday. Residents began returning to their homes in long lines through checkpoints Tuesday.

The high-level visit Thursday was aimed at appeasing Turkish officials, who have complained since the beginning of clashes that Tal Afar was being unnecessarily battered by U.S. troops. Flanking the general were two Turkish liaison officers based in Mosul.

At one point, one Turkish officer turned to his American counterpart and said he was surprised at how little damage had been done to the city.

Coming to the police station was significant because police played a major role in the taking of Tal Afar. U.S. officials arrested a local police chief last month for having suspected ties to the insurgency.

And earlier this month, only 83 officers from a force of 600 stayed to fight the armed militants. Many were believed to have turned their guns on U.S. troops, officials said.

Tal Afar Police Col. Elias Keder said police officials have hired 400 new cadets, from Tal Afar, Mosul and surrounding towns. He then took reporters to the rear of the station to show them a cache of weapons captured from insurgents: five RPG-7 grenade launchers, more than 30 mortar shells, two AK-47 assault rifles, an anti-aircraft gun, a black mask and a 12-inch Bowie knife similar to the ones used in recent beheadings by militants loyal to wanted Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.


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