“Iraq’s Tal Afar: Symbol of US Failure”
James Hider, The Times correspondent in Baghdad, says “Tal Afar is quickly becoming a symbol of the failure of US policy in Iraq.”
(To read my earlier story on the horrific revenge killings in Iraq please click here…)
“The Americans have been in there twice before as part of two huge operations. They pacified the situation, but each time they handed it over to the Iraqi security forces the problems started again.
“There are a number of reasons for this.
“Tal Afar is a very sensitive place. It is ethnically very mixed and it is also a big smuggling route from Syria towards Mosul. In Mosul there is a very large Sunni population with links to Saddam Hussein. He did much of his recruiting there, and many of the current Sunni residents of the area were his officers until the Americans sacked them. This has created a pool of resentment and an excellent recruiting ground of Sunni anger in the area.
“In addition, the fact that off-duty police officers were involved in today’s shooting implies that the Shia militias, in particular the Mahdi Army, are having no difficulty in recruiting members of the local police to their cause.
“These are the very police that the Americans were counting on to ensure calm and order to the town when US troops left…
