Tal Afar Offensive Not As Offensive To Iraqis

By George, I think they've got it!

OK, it's a Prof. Higgins moment here as CNN reports that the US Cavalry and a few hundred Iraqi troops have launched an offensive aimed at rooting out the insurgency from the city of Tal Afar, a town with a population of around 200,000 not far from the Syrian border.

The report cites senior CNN reporter Jane Affar, imbedded with the 3rd ACR:

"Dozens of tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Apache helicopters have moved in to a neighborhood in the town which is thought to be a stronghold of insurgents."

Local tribal leaders had recently called for military intervention but the offensive, according to US military sources, had been planned for some time before the tribal meeting.

So why the Higginsish cry of optimism?

Well, you have to look at the accompanying CNN report by Arwa Damon, which gives more of the background to the operation.

The city is so dangerous U.S. troops move around only in 30-ton Bradley fighting vehicles and tanks. In recent weeks the U.S. military has increased the number of troops in the region to about 4,000.

Most people rarely venture from their homes. Streets are deserted. Vehicle traffic is almost nonexistent. Storefronts are shut. For those who knew Tal Afar before, it is a painful memory.

"It pains me to visit this area and hear the news of terror and killing and kidnapping," says Khosro Goran, the provincial deputy governor, who has survived four assassination attempts.

"I remember a year ago when we walked in the streets of Tal Afar with perfect ease and freedom, without fear and without spite."

Yet in spite of the local tribal leaders calling for a Fallujah style operation to level whole districts of the town, the Cavalry are taking a more surgical, and dare I say British, approach.

U.S. officials are working with the Iraqi army to encourage people to provide information to root out insurgents one by one so they won't have to resort to a major military action.

"The preferred solution is for the people to tell us where the terrorists are, and for us to go after the terrorists. We've been getting quite a bit of information, and that's want we want to do," says Lt. Col. Christopher Hickey, commander of the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

"When they say a military solution, they are referring to Falluja. Whereas if you take a military force in here, unfortunately that could result in a lot of destruction to the city," Hickey says.

"And we want to solve this in a more precise way where we don't end up destroying the city."

This is exactly what the Brits have been doing in the South from word one and exactly what I have advocated the U.S. military should be doing. It takes the fight to the insurgents while still winning important hearts and minds in the area. It's the scalpel not the grenade.

More of this kind of thing is exactly what is needed. It gives a positive impression of caring for the townspeople and their town which will have an effect way beyond the immediate benefits of the operation. If only the U.S. had done it in Fallujah and elsewhere from the very beginning.