Fighting Ghosts and Chasing the Wind

To most Americans terrorism is an abstract threat. The attacks such as those on 9/11 have deeply scarred America, but although terrorism, whether foreign or domestic, casts a shadow over the country, for the most part it doesn't figure prominently our daily lives. At least not for most of us. For others it is woven into the fabric of their lives, all that they have known. This book is about terrorism, but it also is about war and resolution. It is not a sensational account with blood and gore and guts, but an honest account from the unique perspective of an Iraqi general officer as told to an American colleague and friend. Also unique is that this Iraqi general officer served simultaneously as mayor and police chief in the al Qaeda-controlled city of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border, and he became a close friend and ally of American officers who once were the enemy. It is unique in that Najim and his American allies worked in close coordination to vanquish al Qaeda and their collaborators who long held Tal Afar captive. The "clear, hold, and build" paradigm that rooted al Qaeda out of Tal Afar was repeated in Anbar Province and across Iraq.In 2004, President George W. Bush called Najim Abed al Jubouri "a courageous Iraqi man." In the same year, U.S ambassador Cameron Munter called him "a rare and brave leader, and a hero to the people of Tal Afar and Iraq." At this writing, in 2019, he is again in Iraq, leading the battle against DAESH, or ISIS, in Nineveh province.