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Mosul a complex picture of hope, despair

Dec-13-2005 » Filed Under: Iraq News

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MARIAM FAM and SINDBAD AHMED, Associated Press

MOSUL, Iraq - Power outages and gunfire are daily fixtures in this northern city. But so are election posters, talk of this week's vote and a new freedom to criticize authorities.

Across Mosul, one of two Iraqi cities President Bush cited last week as improving, residents paint a complex picture of life and violent death, progress and decline, hope and despair.

Major attacks and car bombs seem to have tapered off in this city of some 1.7 million residents about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. But security fears keep most people inside after dark.

Hamza Hassan, a 34-year-old carpenter, said security is a constant worry. Just getting to work took two hours on one day last week because clashes prompted troops to seal off roads. His daughters hardly ever leave home, and his sons sometimes skip school because of violence.

"The security situation is hopeless. There has been no progress," Hassan said. But he admits he feels safer than late last year, when police all but disappeared after militants launched a bloody uprising.

The U.S. military said Mosul had come a long way since then.

"The population shifted their support to the government and the Iraqi security forces that patrol their streets - once the people realized that the terrorists offered nothing but fear, violence and death," the military said in written comments to The Associated Press.

"Attacks in the city are nearly 60 percent lower now than a year ago and attacks are generally less organized."

Hassan can see glimmers of hope in other areas - he is now free to criticize authorities openly, something that would have been unthinkable during Saddam Hussein's regime.

With its diverse ethnic, sectarian and religious makeup, some see Mosul - Iraq's third-largest city - as a bellwether for the rest of the country. [...]


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