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Michael Yon's "Battle for Mosul: Progress Report"

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  • Michael Yon's "Battle for Mosul: Progress Report"

    Friday, September 09, 2005
    Battle for Mosul: Progress Report

    “Bad timing," explained LTC Erik Kurilla, lying in his hospital bed at the Madigan Army Hospital in Fort Lewis, Washington, recovering from gunshot wounds suffered in combat in Mosul on 19 Aug, 2005. Titanium replaces part of his shattered femur, while the wounds in his other leg and arm are healing quickly. Kurilla, whose warrior stature on the battlefield is fast becoming legendary, is expected to make a full recovery with no limitations. He will return to his command of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment (better known as "Deuce Four") when they return from Iraq in late September. "I wanted to be there with my soldiers until the end, keeping our boot on the enemy's neck and pushing his back up against a wall, right until the very last minute," Kurilla said.

    Kurilla worries that a premature military withdrawal from places like Mosul could give the enemy a chance to regroup. "Without a strong Coalition military presence in the near term, all our gains would be eroded," Kurilla predicted, "Worse, we'd be consigning our Iraqi allies, who have become increasingly effective fighting side by side with us, to a brutal civil war against an enemy that is savagely intent on clinging to a power they should never have possessed."

    The Deuce Four is a Stryker infantry battalion comprised of about 700 soldiers, and has lost 12 men and earned over 150 purple hearts in some of the most intense urban combat of this war. When the battalion arrived in Mosul, the mostly-Sunni city had already devolved into an insurgent stronghold. When the home-base for organized kidnap and beheading squads swelled with the steady stream of fighters fleeing the crackdown in Falluja, the local police simply abandoned their stations. Mortar rounds and rockets fell by the hundreds, scores of car bombs attacked Deuce Four, the ISF, and later crowds of people, and IEDs made the roads literal minefields. In December, a terrorist slipped into the dining facility on FOB Marez and detonated his explosives vest during a crowded meal, killing 22 people.

    Kurilla’s aggressive battle plan brought the fight to the enemy. Every new evolution in terrorist tactics was met with a ferocious counter blow that not only destroyed the immediate target, but also signaled frightened civilians that the US Army meant business in Mosul. Equally important civil affairs projects generated electricity virtually around the clock, built schools and parks, and brought top medical care to civilians. Within months, increasingly desperate to maintain control over the population, terrorists began launching attacks straight through groups of children, leaving many horribly burned. Their savagery further alienated civilians who were beginning to see the benefits of change. When top insurgent leaders were killed and captured, largely based on tips from Iraqi citizens, enemy attacks fell precipitously.

    As the Deuce Four heads home this week, they leave behind a Mosul that, while not yet in the clear, is much closer to security and prosperity than anyone would have considered possible eight months ago. In between the daily secret reports Kurilla has brought to his hospital room so he can track his battalion, the Commander watches television news, increasingly frustrated by what he sees as a clear, and inaccurate, negative bias. “When you get the news back here in the states, it’s all doom and body counts. I only wish the American public could see the incredible progress that is being made every day in Iraq, particularly in places like Mosul.”



    posted by Michael Yon @ 7:40 PM
    We're winning. We will win.

  • #2
    A few days ago, we shwacked the aQ commander in Mosul.

    Sumbytch was in a house with four of his @ssh0le buddies, and now, they're all room temperature.

    Enjoy your virgins, losers.

    Comment


    • #3
      Oh, yeah, last thing:

      The people of Mosul demanded something from the Iraqi government after they'd been liberated. Guess what it was?

      Money to fix their houses? No, not many have been damaged.

      All Coalition forces removed from the province? No, they are demanding MORE security augmentation to keep the defeated jihadis from coming back in.

      A pony? No, they don't have any place to keep a pony.

      What they REALLY want is...
















      Wait for it...

















      wait...















      ...they wanted more time to register people for the plebiscite on the Constitution in November. Military ops had interfered with the registration effort, and they wanted to catch up before the vote.

      I freaking LOVE it. They want to participate in the country's political life. They are rejecting the terrorists completely. They are not intimidated by them. Even Sunnis are joining in in greater numbers every day.

      All good news.

      Comment


      • #4
        Blue,
        Keep on posting on the thread. Someone will respond with "Bush lied" eventually.
        "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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        • #5
          Bush Lied!

          Comment


          • #6
            The chasm between reality in Iraq and what the MSM creates for its audience yawns ever wider...

            -dale

            Comment


            • #7
              And upon that point, dalem, I reproduce this from PowerLine:

              The excellent Gateway Pundit has updates on the successful--in fact, utterly one-sided--Tal Afar battle, as well as President Talabani's visit to the White House today. President Talabani said:

              (Quote)In the name of Iraqi people, I say to you, Mr. President, and to the glorious American people, thank you, thank you. Thank you, because you liberated us from the worst kind of dictatorship. Our people suffered too much from this worst kind of dictatorship... Thank you, and thanks to the United States, there are now 15 [sic] million Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq liberated by your courageous leadership and decision to liberate us, Mr. President.
              We agree with Mr. President Bush that democracy is the solution to the problems of the Middle East. Mr. President, you are a visionary, great statesman. We salute you. We are grateful to you. We will never forget what you have done for our people.

              PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir.

              PRESIDENT TALABANI: We have had a good discussion with Mr. President. We are partners. We are proud to say openly and to repeat it that we are partners of the United States of America in fighting against tyranny, terrorism, and for democracy. It is something we are not shy to say and will repeat it everywhere, here and in Iraq, and the United Nations and everywhere.

              Iraq is America's ally in the war against terrorism. Our soldiers are now fighting side-by-side with your brave soldiers, now and every day. We have captured many senior elements of al Qaeda. We killed many of them, and we have also many of them in our prisons.(end quote)


              The only problem, Mr. President, is that no matter how proud you may be to repeat your thanks to the United States and proclaim your country's partnership with us, the American people will never hear about it--not if they rely on the mainstream media, anyway.

              Meanwhile, it's back to school time here in the U.S., and in Iraq as well. Our friend Haider Ajina has translated a headline and article from the September 13 edition of the Iraqi Arab newspaper “Alrafidayn”:



              (Quote)Iraqi Schools start without Saddam’s picture and Baathist Ideology

              Iraqi children have returned to a new school year to find their curriculum containing every thing except Saddam Hussein. After two years of negotiations the education ministry finalized new Iraqi school curriculum to replace the Baathist vision of history.

              Examples are that history books no longer call Iraq the victor in the Iran Iraq war. Nor do the books call for fighting the Zionist enemy. Nor do elementary school children learn how to read by reading sentences that read, “I love Saddam Hussein”.(end quote)


              Perfection? No. Progress? Yes. Haider writes:

              (Quote)Over the last two months, I have noticed a substantially more up beat mood in Iraqi newspaper, radio, TV news and commentary as well as from speaking to my family in Iraq. I sense an enthusiasm in their voices. An enthusiasm about the future, an enthusiasm you hear from people who have a stake in their future and feel that they have some control over how to shape it.
              Sunni mosques & political leaders are calling on their followers to get out and register to vote. They tell their followers that it is their religious duty and their duty as loyal Iraqis to register and vote. This is a far cry from what these same mosques told Sunnis to do for the January election. Then they discouraged them from voting and called voting unislamic.

              Shiite mosques and political leaders do not have to work as hard and they are reminding their followers to be sure to vote. Women specially have a lot at stake. Women’s organizations are working overtime, to educate Iraqi women about the proposed constitution and their rights.

              It is very heartening and encouraging, especially when I remember that only 30 months ago my family could not speak freely for fear for their lives and had little hope in their voices.

              Once again, a thank you to this great country of ours from the Ajinas in Iraq and us in Mckinleyville for bringing hope, freedom and optimism to Iraq, a land which desperately needed it.(end quote)


              No doubt all of this will appear in the New York Times tomorrow.
              Highlights are mine.

              Comment


              • #8
                Sigh.

                Just goes to show you: never get too high or too low. Seems a car bomb in B-dad just killed 73 Iraqi construction workers.

                But in a perverse way, it is a hopeful sign, too. THIS is all the Bad Guys have left: killing their fellow Muslims. US troops aren't dieing in numbers big enough to make us quit, and the President (whom they have taken the measure of, and have a greater appreciation for his staying power than most Americans) isn't the type of guy to quit, so they have to KILL their co-religionists instead of enlisting them to fight us.

                If they thought the vote was going to break their way, they'd allow it to take place, free of any violence, and then seize power legally, and throw us out of the country. But they know which way Iraq is headed, and they're desperate to stop it from slipping away.

                They'll do this a few more times, but we're getting better at killing them, and they're getting worse at finding anybody willing to join them.

                Comment


                • #9
                  If I were President Bush I would schedule a special press announcement for 9am EST today.

                  At 8:59am I would stride out to my podium in the Rose Garden, stare out at the press-creatures and say

                  "Ladies and gentlemen of the press, let's get in the Magic Way-Back Machine and set the dial for September 14th 2001.

                  The rubble was still burning at Ground Zero and teams were still searching for survivors. People all over this planet watched and wondered what our answer was going to be.

                  And now, four years later, we have the fairly elected president of Iraq shaking my hand and thanking America, and saying, and I quote "Iraq is America's ally in the war against terrorism. Our soldiers are now fighting side-by-side with your brave soldiers, now and every day. We have captured many senior elements of al Qaeda. We killed many of them, and we have also many of them in our prisons."

                  -pause-

                  And if more than 5 percent of you dimitted vipers holding a microphone, camera, or notepad has the mental capacity to understand the sheer significance of that quote I will tattoo your name on my a$$.

                  F*ck you very much."

                  And then I'd go back into the White House. Which is why I will never be President.

                  -dale

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Bluesman
                    They'll do this a few more times, but we're getting better at killing them, and they're getting worse at finding anybody willing to join them.
                    Yeah. The political process will bury them.

                    -dale

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Bluesman
                      We're winning. We will win.
                      It's all Bushs fault.
                      In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                      Leibniz

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Because he lied.

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                        • #13
                          Oh, and because he's Hitler, too.

                          Almost forgot that part.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Bluesman
                            Oh, and because he's Hitler, too.

                            Almost forgot that part.
                            You also forgot...his mother dresses him funny! ;)
                            When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow. - Anais Nin

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by dalem
                              The chasm between reality in Iraq and what the MSM creates for its audience yawns ever wider...

                              -dale
                              Yeah the picture of Iraq that the liberal media paints, makes it look like real life in the flesh US Soldiers are dieing in greater droves than the Starcraft Battlenet armies & bases Snipe, Horrido, and myself used to command.

                              ...and our WMD debacles were arguing over who's base has an enemy nuke about to fall on it.

                              Comment

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