7 December 2007
The surge, for the time being, has worked in Baghdad but like squeezing a balloon, the insurgents are moving into northern Iraq trying to make Mosul their headquarters. Americans and Iraqis have tried to cut off insurgent financing and peruse insurgent leaders. The rate of attacks in Mosul, has held steady over the past year. American officers hope to send two Iraqi battalions from Baghdad to establish outposts in violent areas of Mosul. Fortunately no American troops have been requested for that area.
Under the surge plan, Mosul was never scheduled to receive American reinforcements. The mission of the American troops there was to prevent the city from falling into the insurgents’ hands as it did in 2004, and to work with Iraqi forces, while the main surge effort was to stabilize Baghdad. As a result, Mosul is secured by about 6,500 Iraqi soldiers and policemen and a much smaller American contingent of about 1,000. The relatively small group of American forces in the area, has attracted insurgents. Mosul is also close to Syria, which has been a entry channel for foreign fighters. Fraudulent skimming of funds from many enterprises is financing the insurgents. At this time Mosul is a center for the insurgency and also it’s financial center.
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