Four Abrams tanks roll past grazing cows and sheep on a hunt for insurgents suspected of using an open field to fire mortars at a US army combat outpost nearby. "Make sure you scan those rooftops. That's where all the bad guys are," Sergeant Ronnie Underwood, 33, from the 1st Infantry Division's 2nd Battalion 63rd Armor, tells his companion seated inside the tank. They came up with their platoon 10 days ago to the northern city of Mosul from Baquba, where they are usually based.
They, along with thousands more US and new Iraqi troops, are here to help secure the city ahead of the crucial January 30 elections.
With the extra men and armour in place, US soldiers must juggle the need to flex muscle in the face of the threats looming over the ballot boxes with the importance of keeping an Iraqi face on the operation.
This was complicated by the fact that city's entire police force unraveled in November when stations were ransacked and torched.
One moment soldiers are distributing heaters to schools, patrolling city streets and giving out teddy bears to children and the next they are chasing insurgents who are planting roadside bombs and making truck bombs. US soldiers have to also coach a local army force that has been demoralised and has seen some defections after insurgents killed dozens of Iraqi soldiers and dumped their bodies on the streets at the end of November.
They also need to manage an influx of newly trained and sometimes trigger-happy Iraqi forces sent from Baghdad to help keep the peace. The military says the enemy it faces is a mixture of die-hard former regime elements and some foreign militants waging jihad, or holy war, against the American presence here.
An army intelligence officer says some Syrians and Saudis have recently slipped into northern Iraq over the Syrian border, about 140 kilometres (86 miles) from Mosul.
"We have reports from old town of a lot of people coming in with Syrian and Saudi accents," says Sergeant Christopher Schaeffer, referring to Mosul's old quarters.
Some of the biggest recent attacks against US and Iraqi forces in the city have been claimed by Ansar al-Sunna and the partisans of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, both linked to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The two groups have vowed to derail the elections and target all those who take part in it.
The question now is whether the extra US and Iraqi forces in the city combined with stepped up patrols and raids will be enough to stem the violence leading up to polling day and inspire people to go out and vote.
Hundreds of newly arrived members of the so-called Iraqi Intervention Force hunker down at one of the main police stations on the west side.
Russian-made jeeps, a legacy of the former army, and new white pick-up trucks are parked inside. Colourful blankets are left to air on a balcony on the building's second floor as soldiers mill around > from page 18
snacking on US military ready-to-eat rations.
"We are the cream of the crop of the new Iraqi army," says a moustachioed Samah Nasir, 29, from Baghdad, toting his Bulgarian-made Kalashnikov.
His khaki fatigues are identical to those of the national guard, now folded into the army, except for a burgundy-coloured badge on his arm saying "special forces" and bearing an image of a vulture landing while holding on to a snake.
He said his battalion was trained for six months by US marines and has already seen some action north of Baghdad before coming up to Mosul.
His comrade Mohammed Salman, 42, says they are here to prop up the local Iraqi army and police and "inspire them to stand up against terrorists."
Salman says he has already been greeted by some people on the streets as "a traitor."
Many in this predominantly Sunni Muslim city resent the presence of the new Iraqi forces and perceive them as an extension of the US military.
Some have even accused members of a commando force belonging to the interior ministry that has been in Mosul since November of stealing from homes during raids.
Others say they would welcome a more robust Iraqi force presence on the streets but are not confident they would be able to face the insurgents on their own without US soldiers being around.
"I see Iraqi soldiers whizz down Baghdad Street, but they never stop in our neighbourhood," says Abdul Moti Mahmud, 26, referring to an attack-prone road on the west side.
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