U.S. needs hand to get city back on feet

By STEPHAN FARIS
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
Monday, April 21st, 2003

MOSUL, Iraq - As they struggle to bring this oil-rich city under control, American soldiers are turning to the former regime - including people who were trying to kill them only days ago.

"I need somebody who can flip the switches, pull the levers and make things work," said Lt. Col. Robert Waltemeyer, the U.S. military's top man in Mosul. "I need somebody who will roll his sleeves up and give me a hand."

To find those able to do the work, the U.S. military seized a television station from one of the major local tribes and aired a plea to those who used to run the city to come back to work.

The key to setting up a government quickly is to sign up the people who know how to make the bureaucracy work.

"If you don't, you'd be starting all over, and it would be a very lengthy period before you got the city running again," said retired Gen Bruce Moore, head of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance.

Deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's 5th Army Corps was fighting U.S. troops until just before the city fell a week ago. It was their sudden retreat that left the Americans stumbling into a power vacuum.

A chaotic week of looting and burning followed, during which at least 17 Iraqi civilians were killed by American bullets as U.S. soldiers came under fire and shot into crowded streets.

In the hours of the city's conquest, U.S. soldiers here numbered fewer than 30. Now there are more than 1,000, but that is still not enough to maintain control - though thousands of reinforcements are on the way.

In the meantime, Waltemeyer is hoping some of the dozens of ex-Iraqi Army officers who have surrendered will reveal Saddam's hidden weapons stocks. On Saturday, U.S. troops found two surface-to-air missiles and two Iraqi spy cars, one of them disguised as an ambulance.