Mosul Offensive Illustrates Troops' Challenges In Iraq

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
February 11, 2008
Pg. 8
By Charles Levinson, USA Today
MOSUL, Iraq -- About 800 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers launched a massive push into an al-Qaeda stronghold over the weekend and discovered the frustrating challenges when two military forces try to work together.
The Army had picked up indications that the operation had been leaked to the enemy, according to Lt. Will Denn, leader of 4th Platoon. Denn was among a handful of officers who suspected the leak had come from within the ranks of the 300 Iraqi soldiers working with the Army on almost every mission.
"Empty houses. That's a sign these guys (al-Qaeda insurgents) were tipped off," Denn said.
This push 225 miles north of Baghdad in southeastern Mosul -- where five U.S. soldiers died Jan. 28 after an improvised explosive device tore through their Humvee -- didn't find the fight it had hoped for. The 53 al-Qaeda cell leaders and IED makers the troops had targeted were nowhere to be found.
The mission highlights the challenges of wresting control of Mosul from an enemy that has mastered dissolving into the population and fighting on its own terms. It also shows the frustrations as U.S. soldiers increasingly rely on the Iraqi army.
U.S. and Iraqi soldiers came into the offensive -- the first since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last month promised a showdown with al-Qaeda in Mosul -- spoiling for a fight to avenge the earlier deaths.
"It's time for a little payback," Spc. Charles Stein said ahead of the multiday mission to round up the al-Qaeda cell leaders and establish a combat outpost in the heart of Mosul. "When the terrorists come out to play, the 120s are gonna fly," he said, referring to the shells fired by M1 Abrams tanks.
There were indications that al-Qaeda in Iraq was readying for a showdown. IED activity spiked in recent days. Before the mission kicked off, U.S. soldiers unearthed anti-personnel and anti-tank mines on the routes they planned to use. Yet during the mission, which started Friday, the hours wound on with no enemy in sight. The quiet started to eat at the soldiers, who spent 24 hours straight confined to their tanks and armored vehicles.
"People think the second you're out of the base it's like a car-bomb derby," said Spc. Steve Mead, 34, of Indianapolis. "They'd be amazed how boring war is sometimes."
The soldiers talked about their wives, debated whether lemon drops or lemon balls were better and cracked lewd jokes.
The infantrymen, who charged into dozens of homes of suspected IED makers and cell leaders, expressed disappointment afterward. "There wasn't anybody around. They knew we were coming," said Sgt. Dustyn Mitchell, 23, of San Diego.
Working with a foreign army that is trained to different standards and speaks another language presents difficulties, Lt. Michael Smith said. Bad translators hampered coordination. Iraqi soldiers warned off civilians by firing their rifles into the air, which made already-jumpy U.S. infantrymen duck for cover and curse.
To work without the Iraqis might increase the chance that an individual mission succeeds, but it would hurt long-term chances of success in Iraq, said Capt. David Sandoval of Alpha Company.
Not until the Iraqi army can secure cities such as Mosul on its own will the U.S. military be able to withdraw. "We have to include the Iraqi army, and we gotta bring them into the plan," Sandoval said. "To train the Iraqis so they can do this on their own -- that's why we're here."
Despite the frustrations, the chief objective was realized. U.S. soldiers established a command outpost in an al-Qaeda-controlled neighborhood -- a building block of the counterinsurgency strategy.
"It's the key to success," said the battalion's commander, Lt. Col. Christopher Johnson. "We won't have to commute to the battlefield anymore."
 
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