Mosul, a northern city with Sunni, Shiia and Kurdish ethnic groups, was not immune to recent disturbances. On the night of April 9, former regime elements conducted "well-organized and dangerous" attacks against Iraqi government buildings, said Army Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, commander of Task Force Olympia.
....the men of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and the Iraqi police responded. "They stood strong," Ham said. "It was those forces that repelled the attack."
The galvanizing force was the governor of the province and the city, Ham said. "He never left the building, and his personal courage made a big difference," the general noted.
"The Iraqi people in Mosul got the message that here is a strong, democratic leader with a competent security force." Ham said.
