TIKRIT, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein once called this city north of Baghdad home, and the monolithic palaces that line the Tigris River were showplaces of the Iraqi president's power. Two enormous golden statues of Hussein on horseback stood atop a gate to the palace compound. He protected and coddled the largely Sunni Muslim city and made it the political capital of the province.
For nearly two years after U.S. troops entered Tikrit, the city that loved Hussein became progressively calmer, until it was one of the most peaceful and orderly cities in Iraq. The grand palaces of the ousted president were converted into barracks for U.S. soldiers, and the horseback sculptures were melted down to form monuments to the American dead.
Tikrit, Hussein's ancestral home, became a city that U.S. commanders held out as an example of how peace in this nation could be modeled.
But Tuesday, insurgents launched a wave of attacks against Iraqi forces on the outskirts of the city, breaking months of relative peace that soldiers admitted was almost too quiet. The attacks underscored that no city in Iraq is immune from sudden and deadly resistance.
The relative tranquility had lasted since July. It was built, U.S. commanders here say, on community involvement, expansion of business, cooperation with tribal leaders, and an agreement to keep tanks and armored Bradley Fighting Vehicles outside city limits.
U.S. military officers in Tikrit said an attack Tuesday on an Iraqi national police station that killed several officers appeared to be an isolated incident in which the officers were simply caught off guard.
"This is one of the places where we had IEDs about every other day for six months," Lt. Col. Jeffrey Sinclair said by e-mail, using the abbreviation for improvised explosive device, the military's term for a roadside bomb. "I have not had an IED there now for over 2 1/2 months." Sinclair commands the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment in the city.
Maj. Neal O'Brien, spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division, said the Tuesday attacks appeared to be coordinated and aimed at sites insurgents believed would be used in national elections Jan. 30. "The Iraqi security forces in Tikrit have performed well, and the stronger they get, the more control over the local security situation they exercise," O'Brien said. "The former regime elements have watched Tikrit . . . slip away from their grasp over a period of time to the point where they have minimal influence over the local situation. They are desperate."
During a correspondent's visit two days before the attacks, U.S. soldiers were riding around in open Humvees, the main roads were filled with local people, trash was cleaned from the streets, and Iraqi police officers decked out in crisp, new uniforms waved traffic along.
The scenes were part of what Sinclair called his "secret war," a mix of aggressive combat tactics, community building and psychological operations that he said were used to marginalize the insurgency. Before Tuesday, insurgent attacks against Iraqi forces were rare. Only one U.S. soldier has been wounded in action in Tikrit in the past month; in other cities, that's the minimum toll every day.
"The enemy wants something dramatic, they want things to blow up, and I won't allow that," Sinclair said in an interview in his office Sunday. "We created a climate where the people won't allow the insurgency to build, and we denied the enemy sanctuary from day one."
Sinclair said the city of 130,000 has shown little resistance to U.S. policies because the residents understand that the foreign forces are keeping them safe.
Soldiers have quietly monitored the people of Tikrit, implementing operations with such names as Orange Crush and Blues Clues to identify, photograph and tag all taxicabs and their drivers and all local Iraqi police vehicles. Those steps are aimed at securing the vehicles against use by insurgents. Operation Stock Market has logged all businesses in the city.
Sinclair has developed a relationship with the local sheiks, meets regularly with government councils, speaks to Tikrit University students and hosts a call-in radio show to answer questions. He walks the streets to encourage the sharing of information, and he has disbursed money to local stores to create jobs.
