Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, sounds very upbeat these days about the future of Iraq. The last time I left here was in 2004,' Hertling said this week, 'and I remember standing on the roof of Baghdad airport, and a bunch of us were talking and having a cigar and saying, 'We want this more than they do, and that's scary,'' he told ABC News. 'That's not the case at all anymore. The primary word in Iraq right now is hope. They want this.' Hertling said al Qaeda has been defeated in his area of operations. 'Defeat means they're not capable of major offensive operations,' he said. 'We don't think al Qaeda has that anymore. All the cities that we have in the northern part of Iraq, I think have been secured.'
He compared the situation to one of the key turning points in the American Civil War. 'We're literally in the post-Gettysburg phase of this,' he said. 'We have defeated them in the city. They have dispersed to the desert, now we are pursuing them out into their safe havens: small villages and towns.'
The Iraqi army launched major operations in the northern city of Mosul last month, targeting Sunni insurgent groups. Hertling praised Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's role in the crackdown. 'He very rapidly took control of both the strategic and operational guidance to both his military and civilian commanders, and I was impressed,' he said.
'The people who had at one time opposed Maliki suddenly said, 'Hey, this guy's getting it done,' Hertling said. 'So I think he's turned a lot of the Iraqi people.'
The fight in Mosul was an Iraqi-led operation, backed by U.S. forces. 'Iraqi security forces are growing in capability, Iraqis are stepping forward,' Hertling said.
Gen. Riyadh Tawfeeq is the Iraqi commander in charge of the city. His previous job was operations commander for eastern Baghdad during the troop surge in Baghdad in 2007. He told ABC News that he shares Hertling's optimism.