Sterk story fra Mosul. Domingo Ruiz fra Company C bruker sine erfaringer bandekriger i Brooklyn til å knuse opprørerne. Opprørerne fremstilles i europeiske medier med et lite gys. Så farlige! Men Ruiz & Co er helt på høyden.

From inside a vacant building, Sgt. 1st Class Domingo Ruiz watched through a rifle scope as three cars stopped on the other side of the road. A man carrying a machine gun got out and began to transfer weapons into the trunk of one of the cars.

«Take him down,» Ruiz told a sniper.

The sniper fired his powerful M-14 rifle and the man’s head exploded, several American soldiers recalled. As he fell, more soldiers opened fire, killing at least one other insurgent. After the ambush, the Americans scooped up a piece of skull and took it back to their base as evidence of the successful mission.

Insurgent attacks in this northern Iraqi city, which numbered more than 100 a week in mid-November, have declined by almost half, according to the military. Indirect attacks — generally involving mortars or rockets — on U.S. bases fell from more than 200 a month in December to fewer than 10 in March. Although figures vary from region to region, attacks also have declined precipitously in other parts of Iraq, creating a growing belief among U.S. commanders that the insurgency is losing potency.

In Mosul, a Battle ‘Beyond Ruthless’
Onetime Gang Member Applies Rules of Street