Mosul Seethes With Anger and Danger

Unsure who, if anyone, was in charge of their city Saturday, Mosul residents armed themselves with assault rifles and wooden clubs to guard against looters and Kurdish fighters whom many here see as invaders.

A day after Iraqi forces surrendered Mosul, few U.S. soldiers had ventured into the city to try to stop a struggle between competing factions that has forced ordinary Iraqis to form vigilante groups to defend their neighborhoods.

Fighters from two Kurdish factions are patrolling different parts of this city of 1.7 million and coming under attack by gunmen who are apparently supporters of Saddam Hussein.

Meanwhile, two Iraqi opposition leaders, one of them Hussein’s former military intelligence chief, are trying to form an administration in the city. But so far they haven’t drawn much support from the streets, where people are distracted by the fight against looters and the breakdown of basic services such as electricity and water.

Saboteurs may have been planning to make matters much worse Saturday by attempting to blow up the Mosul dam. Three men were shot dead as they tried to destroy the structure, an important power supply, according to Gen. Babakir Zebaru, commander of Kurdistan Democratic Party fighters in the nearby city of Dohuk.

Mosul is a mostly Arab city, dominated by members of Iraq’s Sunni Muslim minority, who prospered under Hussein’s regime. So the sight of Kurdish fighters cruising the city’s streets and stopping cars for searches angers many here.

The two main Kurdish factions, which were shooting at each other in the mid-1990s, are now trying to restore order in Mosul. But they aren’t getting enough support from their U.S. allies, complained Col. Mahdi Doski, commander of 300 Patriotic Union of Kurdistan fighters in Mosul.

Gunmen suspected of being Hussein loyalists killed two PUK fighters and wounded three others in an ambush in Mosul on Friday, Doski said.

By Saturday, only a small group of U.S. troops had come into central Mosul, where they were helping guard a hospital against looters, he said.

“Since yesterday, they have said they were coming and until now we have seen nothing,” Doski said. “There are some at the airport, but very few. They only say they are coming.

“We want them to be here to take control and provide security,” he said. “If they do not act quickly, I’m sure there will be several problems. The situation now is bad, but it will get worse.”

As four U.S. soldiers watched over the Ibn Sina Teaching Hospital on Saturday afternoon, automatic rifle fire rattled a few blocks away in one of three areas of the city where Doski said Hussein loyalists were regrouping to launch hit-and-run attacks.

Stretched thin in northern Iraq, U.S. forces are still bringing in tanks and other armored vehicles and doing what they can while awaiting reinforcements. For now, they must improvise to maximize the effect of what they have.

American soldiers in two pickup trucks raced through Mosul on Saturday with a large U.S. flag flapping in the wind and a loudspeaker broadcasting the news that they had arrived to provide security.

The Stars and Stripes only stirred the animosity among many Arabs in Mosul, a city bombed heavily during three weeks of airstrikes and which now has no electricity, an irregular water supply and a faulty sewage system.

The American troops “are here only as spectators,” scoffed Mullah Abdullah Rabho at Akram Saed Hameed Mosque. “What we need is security.”

Friday’s frenzied looting dropped off sharply Saturday. The tougher security came mainly from neighborhood committees that have set up roadblocks throughout the city.

For five consecutive blocks through the Ban Sinjar bazaar, young men armed with Kalashnikov rifles stopped cars. At each roadblock, a new neighborhood defense committee searched for plundered goods, sending cleared cars off with a smile.

But less civic-minded people are seeking to launch revenge attacks against Hussein’s enemies, Doski said.

“We have received information that some mullahs urged people to attack others under the pretext of preventing looting,” he said.

Two members of the opposition that tried unsuccessfully in the past to get rid of Hussein are now attempting to set up a new administration in Mosul.

One is Wafiq Samarrai, Hussein’s former head of military intelligence. Samarrai defected with the help of Democratic Party of Kurdistan fighters in 1994 when he got wind that Hussein was plotting to have him killed.

Samarrai came to Mosul to meet with Mishaan Juburi, leader of a prominent local clan.

“Personally, I think they didn’t get a positive response from the citizens,” Doski said.

Most of Mosul’s people will welcome help from anyone who can make the city safe, and soon, said Muzahim Saed Hameed, a resident.

“We don’t care who takes control, just that they be fair -- and as long as there are no foreign forces in Iraq,” Hameed said.