“The real question is, given all the death and destruction that you see on television in the United States, what’s the real deal out here? The fact is in 85 percent of the country, it’s calm, it’s stable, it’s moving forward. You find a lot of places like Horia [sp?], where we were today, and Kadame [sp] where they actually like or even love Americans.”
We rid the Iraqis of a vicious tyrant.

Unidentified officer: “It’s been a tough couple weeks when you really look at it.”
Arnot: “On the front lines, light infantry soldiers make up Strike Force. This is something that you may not have seen very often. That is a dismounted patrol. Colonel Joe Anderson is the commanding officer of the Second Brigade of the 101st Airborne. It looks pretty dicey out here.”
Col. Joe Anderson, U.S. Army: “It, it potentially can be, because you don’t know, you don’t know friend from foe. So it’s a lot of people and their primary focus is buying their stuff and getting on with business. But it’s certainly an environment where anybody can get in there and do what they want to. It would be a hard thing to react to.”
Arnot: “These patrols help keep the 101st engaged with the local population, a critical source of intelligence. Now, you have a lot of local support here. People turning in the bad guys. Why is that?”
Col. Anderson: “I think, I think people want to, they see progress; they’re getting a pretty good taste of what democracy, freedom is all about. Their quality of life has gone up. I think people like that. And I think they like not being oppressed. So the average person will cooperate. It’s just those that are still die-hards, which I think are the clear minority. But then again, they are resourced, and that makes, that can have an impact.”
Arnot: “During our patrol, Colonel Anderson stops multiple times to consult with his commanders, who have grim reports from other parts of the city....Then the colonel learns there’s a plan to assassinate him today. Later, inspecting the jail, he reluctantly agrees to discuss it.”
Colonel Anderson: “I think I’d be a target for being kind of associated with a lot of the progress here based on our guys. So I’m the guy that commands the outfit, but a very public figure in terms of television, radio, papers, public forums, etc.”
Arnot: “Unfazed, the colonel and his strike force continue to patrol Mosul’s markets, on foot and far from help. What’s the real deal? What’s the real reality here in Iraq?”
Col. Anderson: “I think you just gave the real deal. I think the real deal is the people’s quality of life here is better than it ever was. And they’re enjoying it, and there’s progress being made every day.”

Arnot: “Well, they have a lot of help. They have been able to take 75 percent of the terrorists off the street in Mosul. What they’re finding, especially after some of the big bombings like the RCIC, a lot more people are coming forward. They’re like their 9/11 there. They really hate a lot of these guys. You have a number of different elements. At the very top, you have the old regime. They took two generals off the street in Fallujah the other day. Tens of millions of dollars to spend. The ominous thing is that they’re finding the really bad neighborhoods have a combination of the Islamists, Wahhabis, Ansar al-Islam and the old regime. That’s where you have the strange collusion that’s sort of morphing into a quasi-Islamic revolution here. And at the bottom, just a bunch of bad guys.

I talked to a General Dempsey the other day. He says right here in Baghdad, you only have about 10 or 12 bad cells. Each of those cells may have 10 to 20 people in it. But you have probably 2,000 bad guys at the bottom that are the real mobsters. I met last night with some of the top commanders here in the 101st Airborne. They are bound and determined to get these guys. They’re getting a lot of good information. They’re getting them on the street. A lot of smart moves. Abu Gray, where they have little Mogadishu, where they shoot down on U.S. forces with rocket propelled grenades, put improvised explosive devices by the side of the road, they actually had the locals take down the local marketplace. And they gave them new money to build that in a safer area.

Chris, these commanders are absolutely in the fight of their lives. They’re using every last bit of brainpower they have. It’s a smart fight out here. It’s an insurgency that there’s no real sort of command and control that they can see at this point. Lots of different people coming at them. They’re trying to win hearts and minds on the one hand. On the other hand, at night they’re fighting these bad guys. Compound is not very far from here, Chris. These guys have eight to 10 mortars that come in every single night. They say it’s the toughest, most complicated battle that the U.S. military has fought in generations.”

Arnot: “I don’t really think so. I think the bottom line is you want to get more and more Iraqis out on the front. You’re gonna see it in a couple days a great story here I did with the 17th Field Artillery. What they did is they went out and they hired ex-Republican Guards. They put them into a private security company. They play the national anthem. They have Iraqi colonels back out there. They have a great deal of pride in it. The more Iraqis you get out there in front of American soldiers, the better, whether it’s the civilian defense corps or the police, they’re training them. That’s the real solution, is to get more out there and have terrific intelligence....”

Arnot: “You know, a lot of people don’t know that. I met last night one of the chief ayatollahs, one of the chief Shiah clerics here in the country and he said, ’Look, there are three different groups here we’re concerned about. The Wahhabi, he basically believes there’s command and control from Saudi Arabia. You have the ex-regime power brokers, as they call them right now. You have this sort of new Islamist morphing here, a very, very sort of fundamentalist movement....

But by and large, in neighborhoods here, they see somebody strange, they don’t know who they are. They’re starting to report them. The bottom line is, get the Iraqi police and civil defense forces out there, because they know who the bad guys are. They recognize them. And they can turn them in faster than American forces can find him. But a huge, concerted effort here. Met with five colonels last night at their FOB, their forward operating base. And they are planning hard and fast to try and make this Bremer prediction not come true by getting these guys off the street.”