Stardate 20030410.2354

(On Screen): There's been less attention paid to the northern part of the war, but in many ways it's been even more remarkable than the southern part. After the failure of talks with the Turks, the US invoked "Plan B" (which the Turks apparently didn't think existed) and instead of trying to use US troops in that area, we allied with the Kurdish peshmerga. They're somewhat irregular forces, with little in the way of what we'd think of as training, but they're a lot more motivated than the soldiers of the Iraqi military, and morale has been excellent.

And the Kurdish leaders have seen their opportunity to steal a major diplomatic march on the Turks after the Turkish diplomatic fiasco with the US. So instead of trying for any kind of power play (e.g. grab Mosul and hold it as a post-war bargaining chip) they've essentially placed their force under American command. A handful of Americans special forces guys, a small detachment of men from 1st Infantry, and about a brigade of the 101st are working with the peshmerga and they've been getting a lot done, mostly out of the limelight. They smashed a major terrorist group in the mountains and captured its camp, and they've now taken Mosul and Kirkuk. Compared to other operations in Iraq, they have little in the way of heavy weapons, but they can call on air strikes, and that's made all the difference.

Folks, that leaves Tikrit as the last remaining hostile holdout. The last remaining Republican Guard division is there, and right now it's target #1 for our air power, in preparation for later ground operations in that area.

The good news is that it's a lot smaller than most of the other cities we've been dealing with. The bad news is that it's the one town where we can reasonably expect that the civilians won't greet us enthusiastically, or in any way help us to find any remaining militants. Tikrit is Saddam's home town, and was his biggest pocket of support.

But once it's taken, then the war is over.