NPR on Mosul
William Schulz
April 26, 2005
NPR correspondents Philip Reeves and Ivan Watson have filed first-rate on-the-scene reports from Mosul, which was abandonded by US forces late last year and since been re-taken. But the insurgency is by no means over.
Reeves, embedded with US forces, conducts insightful interviews with an enthusiasatic private, a seasoned staff sergeant and a veteran lieutenant colonel. The situation remains highly dangerous -- eight suicide bombings against US forces in ten days (no US fatalities) -- but Reeves reports that "Mosul is significantly calmer than five months ago." Then, we learn, insurgents decapitated more than 200 Iraqis.
Reeves conducts his interviews and delivers his report while very much in harm's way; the sounds of urban warfare can be heard in the background. The situation, while more stable than late last year, is hardly placid. More "foreign fighters" are reported crossing the nearby Syrian border and making their way to Mosul. In recent weeks, US troops have killed Jordanians, Algerians and Saudis, who had joined the guerrilla war.
In his report from another section of Mosul, NPR's Watson reports that Kurdish militiamen are playing an increasing role in the efforts to secure the city from the insurgents. Watson is described as "under the protection" of the Kurdish forces but, like colleague Reeves, is always a potential target in a city that was Sunni Arab and Baathist stronghold during Saddam Hussein's reign.
A leader of the Kurdish forces offers interesting criticism of US strategy in the period following Saddam's fall, when Sunni Arabs of dubious loyalties were placed in top security positions. With the Kurds playing a larger role in securing Mosul, Watson reports that insurgent groups are being infiltrated by Kurdish agents and valuable intelligence turned over to the CIA.
One minor caveat: Reeves does not initially identify the sort of US troops with whom he is embedded: Army, Marines, regulars, National Guard, reserves. Subsequently there is a reference to "soldiers," indicating probably that they are regular Army, but the identification should have been made at the top.
In all, two excellent reports.
