A TALE OF TWO CITIES

FREDO'S TAL AFAR:

I'm going to tell you the story of a northern Iraqi city called Tal Afar, which was once a key base of operations for al Qaeda and is today a free city that gives reason for hope for a free Iraq. ... After about two weeks of intense activity, coalition and Iraqi forces had killed about 150 terrorists and captured 850 more. ... The Iraqi forces patrolling the cities are effective because they know the people, they know the language and they know the culture. And by turning control of these cities over to capable Iraqi troops and police, we give Iraqis confidence that they can determine their own destiny -- and that frees up coalition forces to hunt the high-value targets like Zarqawi. ... See, if you're a resident of Tal Afar today, this is what you're going to see: ... you see a city that is coming back to life.

The military success against the terrorists helped give the citizens of Tal Afar security, and this allowed them to vote in the elections and begin to rebuild their city. And the economic rebuilding that is beginning to take place is giving Tal Afar residents a real stake in the success of a free Iraq.

THE REAL TAL AFAR:

The large-scale offensive in September, dubbed "Restoring Rights," may have rid Tall Afar of hard-core insurgent cells. But today this ethnically mixed city has become mired in the same sectarian strife and economic problems that afflict much of the rest of the country.

"Violence has increased, mortar attacks have increased, roadside bombs have increased," said Mohammed Taqi, a national legislator from the city who recently wrote to Iraq's interim president and prime minister, requesting that Tall Afar's administrative affairs be handled in Baghdad rather than the provincial capital, Mosul.

To prevent more violence, the streets have been blanketed with troops. Four thousand U.S. troops and 8,000 Iraqi troops as well as about 1,700 police officers are in the city of 200,000 residents, said Col. Sean MacFarland, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division. MacFarland acknowledged that "there's a lot of intimidation going on" in the city, adding that most of the recent violence is between tribes. Many of Tall Afar's residents remain displaced, some waiting for compensation to rebuild their homes, others fearing violence. MacFarland estimated that about a quarter of Tall Afar remained empty, with parts of the city still uninhabitable.

One sheik, Hashim Antar, said rebels were targeting Shiites to incite sectarian violence. These days, he said, Shiites cannot safely visit the city's only hospital. "What is increasing is the targeting of the Shiites by the terrorist groups," he said.

"The situation is bad in Tall Afar," said Mohammed Abdullah, a 52-year-old retired government employee, as he was leaving the Khalil Yas mosque in the Sarai neighborhood Friday. "Every day we hear about the police and the army clashing with armed men [and] random assassinations between the tribes," said Abdullah, a Sunni. "The people can't live their normal lives. The man is afraid of his brother."

In a press tour last week arranged by U.S. officials to highlight advances made in the city, Mayor Najim Abdullah Jubouri said he believed it would take at least three years before Iraqi security forces would be able to secure the city without the help of American forces.

But six months after the U.S.-led operation destroyed parts of the city, the local government has not honored claims from thousands of families whose houses or businesses were ruined. ... The mayor said that processing paperwork for nearly 30,000 families had taken longer than expected and that, eventually, each family would receive 250,000 Iraqi dinars, or about $170.


Tal Afar now is being guarded by 4000 US troops, 8000 Iraqi troops and 1700 Iraqi policemen. This for a city with a current population of at most 150,000. To put this in perspective, to provide the same level of "safety" in Baghdad, pop. 5 million, the US troops alone would number over 133,000.