Inside The New Terror Capital Of Iraq

(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