FOB Marez, Mosul __ There have been a lot of insurgent attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is supposed to end over the next few days, but Fort Lewis officers tell me the exact date depends on which cleric you are talking to.
I’ve written in the paper about the two recent Ramadan attacks in Mosul. The first was on Oct. 12th and began with a mortar attack on Forward Operating Base Diamondback, which is across the road from this base, FOB Marez.
Fort Lewis soldiers broke up the mortar attack but Iraqi army and police did most of the fighting that night. Then, on Thursday, there were a half dozen suicide bomb attacks in Mosul. The largest of them targeted a major police station and ended up killing 10 Iraqi civilians and an Iraqi policeman.
Police at the scene told me they had no idea why they are being targeted, other than the fact insurgents don’t like them. Fort Lewis commanders told me the night of the attack that Mosul insurgents were trying to make a big splash with the multiple bombings in order to get money from their financiers.
Col. Steve Townsend, 3rd Brigade commander from Fort Lewis, tells me he now thinks the police station was chosen as one of the targets out of revenge.
The insurgents apparently thought they had reached a deal with the police and army to step aside while they attacked Americans, according to an unclassified intelligence briefing I received last night. The insurgents felt the arrest of many of their fighters after the Oct. 12th attack was a breach of that supposed agreement, according to the briefing.
-- Sean Cockerham