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By Monte Morin, Stars and Stripes
TAL AFAR, Iraq — In a region conquered and shaped by a succession of history’s most fearsome armies, this centuries-old city was fast becoming an example of how not to fight a modern- day insurgency.
After a sputtering offensive well over a year ago that left few U.S. troops in place to keep the peace, Tal Afar, in northwestern Iraq, soon emerged as a haven for Muslim extremists and Baath Party loyalists who held sway through a campaign of kidnappings, beheadings and assassinations.
The chaos touched off long-simmering tensions between rival tribes and religious groups, and much of the local police force fled. Those officers who remained degenerated into a sectarian hit squad. Residents feared leaving their homes as insurgents operated with near impunity. Training camps were established to teach bomb construction and guerrilla tactics.
Suicide bombers were dispatched to all areas of northwest Iraq.
“They would order car bombs like it was pizza delivery,” said Maj. Chris Kennedy, executive officer of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. “They’d just pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, we need a car bomb,’ and the car bombers would come in from Syria.”
Today, Tal Afar is a very different and, at least for now, a far more peaceful place. Residents greet U.S. soldiers with smiles and waves, and, in the most significant indication yet of progress here, more than a quarter-million residents in the region turned out for a largely peaceful Dec. 15 parliamentary election.
In the wake of a second, September offensive — the largest such operation conducted in 2005 — Tal Afar is being held up as a model for fighting the insurgency and America’s eventual withdrawal from the war-torn nation. Conducted by the 3rd ACR and the 3rd Iraqi Army Division, Operation Restoring Rights marked the largest example to date of the Bush administration’s “clear, hold and build,” strategy for fighting the insurgency.