Inside The New Terror Capital Of Iraq

CBS News: Exclusive Video Of A Firefight At The New Frontline Of The War On Terror

(CBS)  On any corner of Mosul, chaos can come any second, CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports. In video, a U.S. patrol is attacked, in a city that's under fire.

Video of the firefight, obtained exclusively by CBS News, was recorded by a camera mounted on a U.S. soldier's helmet.

American big guns arrive. Attack helicopters and Bradley fighting vehicles.

Mosul has become "insurgent central" in Iraq - al-Qaeda's base of money and foreign fighters.

In recent weeks, much of Iraq - especially Baghdad - is quieter, safer. Insurgents have cut and run.

Not in Mosul. Five-thousand U.S. troops sweep a scared city of almost 2 million scared people. And five U.S. troops were killed in the area within recent days.

Cptn. Hunter Bowers's Lightning Troop patrols the city's West Side. Its worst side.

"This city is just so unpredictable now," Strassmann said.

"Yes, sir," Bowers said. "It's very unpredictable. One area can be fine one day. And the next it can be the worst area you've ever been in."

Fighting could last for months.

Bowers and this Iraqi Army commander now see them surfacing here.

"So right now, it is a capital for terrorists right now. So I think there will be a final battle very soon," a soldier told Strassmann.

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Read more about Mosul at the Couric & Co. blog.

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So U.S. soldiers are always looking. They have to. Looking for wires, weapons, anything.

The potential threat could be anywhere

"They'll put a machine gun in here, flip the back seat around and fire out the back," TK said.

One U.S. soldier said, in Mosul, there are no good areas. Only degrees of bad.

[prinzowhales]

j-whitman--It looks like the surge is going to be permanent. The only thing that keeps the Iraqi Army together is the paycheck...and if the Washington Regime ever makes the mistake of attacking Iran, they are going to turn on the Occupation...as ROBERT313122 notes, the Quislings and US forces are thoroughly compromised from an intelligence prospective...when you have virtually the entire population hating your guts, your options are severely limited.

The Propaganda Apparatus will coo to Americans about helping one or two children...to bring a tear to the eye of the fat ladies in the church choir...the same empty heads who supported the Contra terrorists and drug dealers...but they won''t talk about the million dead from sanctions and the destruction of the civilian infrastructure...they won''t talk about the huge increase of birth defects and cancer...that doesn''t make the empty heads feel good about themselves...

[robert313122]

well I am one who live in Mosul city , and guys I can tell you it is wors than what you can think about it.
the insurgents who roal the city not the goverment and the.from what I know that Mr.Maior is the "insurgents" contact of what the Americans are Iraqi army .in another way he is with his"assistants" who give the insurgents the informations.this guy is one of the most cowards people I have ever know.
I know that the Amircan soldiers sometimes get ambushed because the insurgents have so may people who are working with them by get informations from inside Americans bases, and thies people are interpretres or cleaning workers or someone like that.
so it is easy for the insurgents to hunt the soldiers.

[Con Mohrat]

"Our objective in the coming year is to sustain and build on the gains we made in 2007" said the War Coward who still knows nothing about war.

Indeed! 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, and 2003 when the Mission was Accomplished.
Was he pacifying the military and their families with that 936th lie?

[j-whitman]

Prinzowhales,,, How long will it take for Baghdad to be secured ???

From Bush''s speech on Iraq last night :

"Our objective in the coming year is to sustain and build on the gains we made in 2007 ... American troops are shifting from leading operations to partnering with Iraqi forces, and eventually to a protective overwatch mission."

Analysis:
The real question is, as American surge troops draw down, will the Iraqi forces be able to pick up the slack? Most of the gains in 2007 were the result of 30,000 more American troops. And as far as that shift, it will take many years. Maj. Gen. James Dubik, the top American trainer of Iraqi forces, told Congress that the Iraqi defense minister had estimated when the Iraqis could reach that "overwatch" phase where Americans would be in a supervisory role. The minister estimated that the Iraqis could take control of internal security sometime between 2009 and 2012, and external security sometime between 2018 and 2020.

[prinzowhales]

The Chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Israel calls for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza...He wants to move them into the Sinai desert...This pig, Metzger, suggests that the West should pay for the creation of this desert ''ell.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19221.htm

There is also a video interview at the informationclearinghouse site.

At least it is an admission that the Palestinians exist--as if the presence of ancient mosques were not enough...

[prinzowhales]

How many more years will it take for Baghdad to be secured? The quislings are rushing troops south and now Mosul is becoming problematic for the occupation.

Its time for the troops to come home. We have no business being in Iraq...there is no ''victory'' to be achieved, only the conquest of oil lands...a conquest that has already increased the price of oil x3 and engorged the profits of the oil companies...massive thefts by Halliburton and like ilk...the betrayal of our CIA officers by Zio-Nazi members of the Washinton Regime and the massive dossier of lies used to provide a rationale for this wanton act of aggression. If a restoration of democracy is needed anywhere in the world, it is in the United States.

[gordon411]

For all those interested in some of the stories about these guys, and what they''re up to now that they''ve come home, I''d check out the Stop-Loss movie SoundOff page.

It''s really interesting. You can ask questions directly to the soldiers, etc. There''s a sniper who was in Mosul. What do you think?

www.stoplossmovie.com/SoundOff

[gordon411]

For all those interested in some of the stories about these guys, and what they''re up to now that they''ve come home, I''d check out the Stop-Loss movie SoundOff page.

It''s really interesting. You can ask questions directly to the soldiers, etc. There''s a sniper who was in Mosul. What do you think?

www.stoplossmovie.com/SoundOff

[gordon411]

For all those interested in some of the stories about these guys, and what they''re up to now that they''ve come home, I''d check out the Stop-Loss movie SoundOff page.

It''s really interesting. You can ask questions directly to the soldiers, etc. There''s a sniper who was in Mosul. What do you think?

www.stoplossmovie.com/SoundOff

[gordon411]

For all those interested in some of the stories about these guys, and what they''re up to now that they''ve come home, I''d check out the Stop-Loss movie SoundOff page.

It''s really interesting. You can ask questions directly to the soldiers, etc. There''s a sniper who was in Mosul. What do you think?

www.stoplossmovie.com/SoundOff

[gordon411]

For all those interested in some of the stories about these guys, and what they''re up to now that they''ve come home, I''d check out the Stop-Loss movie SoundOff page.

It''s really interesting. You can ask questions directly to the soldiers, etc. There''s a sniper who was in Mosul. What do you think?

www.stoplossmovie.com/SoundOff

[gordon411]

For all those interested in some of the stories about these guys, and what they''re up to now that they''ve come home, I''d check out the Stop-Loss movie SoundOff page.

It''s really interesting. You can ask questions directly to the soldiers, etc. There''s a sniper who was in Mosul. What do you think?

www.stoplossmovie.com/SoundOff

[sevenveils]

Torture, rape, maiming, murder, mayhem, and misery, and humiliation. This is what "our troops" have brought to the people of Iraq. It is little wonder they are fighting back. - Feelfree1

You insinuate that US troops are raping and murdering millions of Iraqis. Where do you come up with such fiction? If it isn''t fiction, where do you get your "facts"?

[Con Mohrat]

Once, it was Fallujah.

Now, it is Mosul.

There are many other towns in Iraq.

Which one''s next?

ALL OF THEM, ONE BY ONE, until all foreign invaders and occupiers go, or are decimated. If not, let''s wait and see who lasts the longest.

The Viet Nam War Wimp wanted regime change. That is surely coming. Himself, in January 2009.

[tslarri]

is a man who pulles another man from a burning truck a hero in your eyes?

tslarri wrote:

"The man told him that he lives his life knowing that oneday he will be murdered, but not by americans! by his own people."

And I''ve seen footage of innocent Iraqi civilians killed by American troops.

Regardless of who fires the bullet, the result is the same.

[feelfree1]

tslarri,

Most of the guys that I knew when I was in the Army, were petty nice guys.

I hope that your husband makes it home safely from Iraq, and soon.

I did what I could to prevent him from going there in the first place.

Good night, and good luck.

[tslarri]

I dont know your age, but common sence would answer that question for you. And, if you are so up on why so many soldiers are doing harm to themselves maybe you should walk a mile in there boots. If you are living in a world where good and evil never meet than you truly are in a world of you own. The same "people" that kill our service men and women would not think twice about killing you or your children. I world in Iraq is not what you see on tv. It is the children living in dirt huts, ridding on donkeys and waving and chasing the military soldiers down on the streets for a piece of candy. It is the Iraqi man who lookes at my husband with out a word and says thank you for giving him a box of poptarts. Iraq is the beautiful people who want a second chance at making a good life for there family. It is the people who walk down the streets to celebrate a holiday, knowing full well that they maynot make it home. We here in the us see only the bad. the loss, my husband stood sided by side with the leader of the iraqi troops. The man told him that he lives his life knowing that oneday he will be murdered, but not by americans! by his own people.

[feelfree1]

"It''s not individual atrocity," Specialist Garett Reppenhagen, a sniper from the 263rd Armour Battalion, said. "It''s the fact that the entire war is an atrocity."

[feelfree1]

tslarri,

Some one million excess violent deaths so far, and counting, as a result of the lie-based and disgraceful war of aggression against Iraq. I suspect that this is why our military is suffering such a high suicide rate today. Some of our soldiers just can''t cope with what they have done over there.

Torture, rape, maiming, murder, mayhem, and misery, and humiliation. This is what "our troops" have brought to the people of Iraq. It is little wonder they are fighting back.

The Iraqis certainly have the right to defend themselves.

You failed to answer my question, though.

Was your husband drafted or otherwise involuntarily extended since the beginning of the invasion(s), or did he volunteer?