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Deployment of Kurdish Troops in Mosul Alarms Arabs

Nov-21-2004 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

A couple 1-25 SBCT commanders are quoted in the following article.

Link to Full Article
By Luke Baker

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - As U.S. forces try to regain control of Iraq's third largest city, they are turning to their old allies the Kurds to keep the peace in Mosul.

That has caused resentment among some Arabs and Kurdish troops have been killed in at least one incident -- three Kurds were found shot dead in the mainly Arab city on Sunday.

In the 10 days since Sunni Arab insurgents overran parts of Mosul, looting, burning and in several cases blowing up police stations, reinforcements have been sent in from across the nearby northern Kurdish region, especially Dohuk and Arbil.

A battalion of Iraq's paramilitary National Guard has been sent in from both those towns and another could soon join them, raising the total to around 1,800 men, U.S. commanders say.

While now in National Guard uniform and answerable to the Iraqi Defence Ministry in Baghdad, most of the Kurds were until recently "peshmerga" fighters, a well-organised and feared force set up by Kurdish leaders in the mountains who, with U.S. help, fought Saddam Hussein's army to a standstill after the Gulf War. [...]

For the U.S. military, the public suspicions about the Kurdish National Guard units have created a conundrum.

For well over a decade, the Kurds have been Washington's strongest ally in Iraq against Saddam. Now, with Mosul threatening to turn to chaos after most of the city's 4,000 police deserted, the Kurds are again proving staunch allies.

"They're well-organised, fierce and get the job done," said Captain Robert Lackey, a company commander with the U.S. Stryker Brigade, which is responsible for northern Iraq.

"They understand how we operate and what we need to do, so it's great to have them working with us."

Out on the streets of Mosul, the Kurdish National Guards are far more effective than Arab peers, U.S. commanders say. Many Arab Guards are simply not turning up to work, partly out of fear of reprisals by insurgents against them or their families.

"For the Kurds, this isn't their neighbourhood, this isn't their town, so they have nothing to fear," said Lieutenant Noel Rodriguez, a Stryker Brigade platoon commander.


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