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US troop presence in Iraq

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The BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse accompanies US troops on a mission in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The mission is unusual, since American soldiers withdrew from Iraqi cities last month.

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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins, and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH in Boston.  On June 30th the Iraq war entered a new phase, that’s the day American troops pulled out of Iraqi cities in keeping with a security agreement between the US and Iraq. Most of those US forces are still in the country, and they’re still on duty. The BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse accompanied some of them last week as they entered the last major urban stronghold of the group, al-Qaeda in Iraq.

GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: It’s nearly a month now since US forces completed their withdrawal from urban centers in Iraq, and yet here we are, sitting in an American armored Humvee, driving into the city of Mosul.

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GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: We’re in a convoy of five vehicles, three Americans and two Iraqis.  One at the front, one at the back, our escort.

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GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: Out of the windows you can see quite a lot of destruction still, some buildings completely reduced to rubble, others still bearing the pock marks from bullets.

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GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: Lieutenant Gerald Brown is the platoon leaders and this is his first trip back into Mosul since June the 30th. The last time he was here, he and his men came under attack from one of the side streets to the right here.

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GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: Today we can see that there’s a very much beefed up Iraqi security force presence.  Sand bags, checkpoints, watchtowers on every corner.

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GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: We’re just getting out of cars now to visit what is basically a scrap yard.

GERALD BROWN: And what we’re trying to do is get all of this wrecked vehicles, trash, get that all moved out of here. Help stimulate the economy as well as accomplish a major project here on the west side of Mosul.

GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: But Lieutenant Brown and the other 130-thousand troops that are still stationed in Iraq are much more than just heavily armed garbage men. Mosul and its surrounding area is by the American military’s own reckoning, the most dangerous place in Iraq today. And the threat of violence is never far off.

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GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: No one was injured in that shooting incident but the Americans were getting increasing and unfriendly looking attention from the locals.  So they got back into their Humvees and headed back to base. Reconstruction patrols like this one are an opportunity for the Americans to get their boots, eyes and ears back on the ground. But there are new rules in place since the handover, they have to ask for permission and an escort from the local Iraqi security forces.

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GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: Cooperation isn’t always smooth and the Iraqis are keen to show who’s now in charge.

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GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: But just 10 kilometers or so from Mosul in the smaller towns and villages outside you find a rather different story. When the Americans come to patrol here, you get curious and friendly faces. Now most of the problems that people talk about here are not so much problems of security but everyday issues like dirty water, bad roads and unemployment.

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GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: Here an old man sitting outside his home says the Americans invaded our country so they should be responsible for everything, these problems too, not just for security. The thing is, soon the Americans want to be responsible for none of it.

BRIAN PENERO: The Iraqi police have come a long way since the beginning of our deployment here.

GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: Captain Brian Penero is the commanding officer in charge of this area just south of Mosul.

BRIAN PENERO: Their proficiency and their ability to get the job done is going to work me out of job, which is good.

GABRIEL GATEHOUSE: Many of the soldiers stationed outside Mosul are effectively out of a job already, confined to barracks. Joint patrols, like the one we went on are relatively rare compared to what they were before the 30th of June. If the pentagon has its way, they’ll soon cease altogether. As the Americans shift their attentions increasingly towards Afghanistan, they’re hoping that the security gains they’ve achieved here in Iraq will hold once they do finally pack up and leave. For The World, I’m Gabriel Gatehouse, in Mosul, Northern Iraq.

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