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Mosul: Where Iraq Hovers Between Chaos and Control

Nov-20-2004 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

Correspondents from the major news outlets have arrived in Mosul and are now reporting on events that occurred last week. Thanks to John for the link.

Link to Full Article
By Luke Baker

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - If any indication was needed of how events in Iraq can turn on a dime, switching from order to mayhem in moments, it happened last week in Mosul.

The northern city of two million people went from relative calm to the brink of chaos in the space of a few hours, and then stayed there for the next two days.

Groups of up to 50 armed men staged coordinated attacks around the city, storming and overrunning at least seven police stations, robbing them of weapons and vehicles and then setting some ablaze.

Recounting the events of Nov. 10-11, Brigadier General Carter Ham, the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, said on Thursday he became aware of just how serious the situation was when the insurgents decided to hold their ground and fight, rather than cut and run as they normally do.

"Right then we knew something significant had happened," he said. They came as U.S. forces stormed the rebel bastion of Falluja, near Baghdad, and was in part a reaction to that assault, he added.

"There was a higher level of coordination than we had previously seen, with local command and control," Ham told reporters in Iraq's third biggest city. "It was a very dangerous enemy that we were faced with."

Events began when insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at a convoy of cars carrying security contractors through central Mosul. At least one vehicle was hit and went up in flames. As U.S. forces arrived to help, they too were attacked.

A platoon of U.S. Stryker vehicles -- heavily armored, eight-wheeled troop carriers -- was hit by no less than seven roadside bombs, four RPGs, rifle fire and an anti-aircraft gun in the space of a few minutes as it rushed to help out.

"It was crazy. It felt like we were in the middle of a rainstorm there was so much coming down on us," said Lieutenant Benjamin Pry, 25, the commander of the four-vehicle platoon.

"There must have been 40 to 50 guys in two- or three-man teams on rooftops and along the road just unleashing on us."


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