Army Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Sorton, left, and Army Command Sgt. Maj. Herbert Kirkover organize school supplies at the Al Kays and Al Yasameen elementary school, one of two schools to receive goods during a distribution drive in Oubaidy, Iraq, Feb. 19, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Alex Licea From International Herald Tribune:
MOSUL, Iraq: Captain John Bradley, the patrol leader of a U.S. field-artillery unit, sat with Colonel Mohammed, an Iraqi Army officer, sharing tea and ambitions to wipe out rebels.
Mohammed explained how they would raid a roadside-bomb factory together in Mosul. Bradley offered computer discs of city maps to help.
It was a military love-in a long time coming. After the United States led an invasion of Iraq in 2003, American administrators disbanded Saddam Hussein's troops as an incorrigible remnant of dictatorship. Now, Mohammed, a Saddam-era vet who asked that only his first name be used for security, was planning forays with a solicitous American counterpart. "We're here to back you up," Bradley said.
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