(links from the BBC archive advanced search, with my commentary and additional links)
Because the short-term memories of the American people, even those who are largely politically aware, combined with the general obliviousness to what goes on outside our own borders (and inside them, too, but that's another story), which is really only reflected in the incompetence of our media - can we rationally expect to have a press that is better than we as a whole, any more than we can expect to have a leadership in our democracy that is not reflective of all our faults and deservedly so - means that even a few months ago I was having to remind people here that at one point Mosul was being held up as an example of how well the occupation was going and how to do it right, I have put together a refresher course on US-Mosul interactions over the past 5 years, courtesy of the BBC archives.
(One thing which is particularly fascinating about the BBC pages is that down each side you will see working links to all the then-top news stories at the moment, setting the events being reported on into a wider context and helping the reader to remember what exactly s/he was interested in or doing at the time.)
This is not comprehensive, nor anything like - this is a simple tool for outlining the progress of the disaster that is Mosul from a somewhat-less partisan and uninformed source than the US media, to provide a context that will not be found in US sources below an academic level.
I hope to show that perhaps there is not entirely irrational hatred of American freedoms that is to blame for the lack of stability and that perhaps considering their experiences over the past years, even prior to the invasion, the people of Mosul not only had their own problems due to Sudeten-like strategies of Hussein's, but also had some justification for disliking the US military presence before ever a Coalition wheel rolled into the city limits.
I mean, this is a city which numbers almost twice the population of my state - larger than NH and VT combined, a third the population of Massachusetts - as large as three Bostons, where Falluja was the size of regional capitol Worcester - and a city which was rife with ethnic tensions before the US and Britain started bombing it, and one reason why it has been so hard to tell who's doing the shooting and blowing up of things around the North is that there are too many damn factions, into which we intruded yet another set of catalysts, and yet if you hadn't been reading the BBC or listening to NPR, you'd never have gotten a hint that they had their own low-grade civil war going on, just waiting for opportunities to break out - and the conflict between the original inhabitants and the transplants is itself an oversimplification of over 1200 years of recorded urban issues.
Imagine a foreign army trying to "pacify" Depression-era Chicago, which was half again as large as contemporary Mosul, with forces that understood neither English nor Italian nor any other ethnic dialect spoken in the Windy City. Or for a less hypothetical example, '70s Belfast (Belfast is about the same size as Fallujah) That one worked so well, didn't it?
--For another mental exercise, useful to Americans at least if not to Britons, replace "Iraqi" with "Colonist" and "American" with "Redcoat" in any news story, and ask yourself what your emotional response would be. (For technology which didn't exist two hundred years ago, namely aerial bombardment, substitute shellings by cannon, which are after all what they are replacing much more efficiently.)
Some Mosul Facts
Pop: circa 2 million
Founded: hard to say - the area, near ancient Ninevah, has been continuously inhabited for 8000 years, but the city itself became an important transportation hub in the 700s AD/CE and a regional capital in the 1100s. The derived word "muslin" reflects its importance as a former center of the textile industry.
Ethnicity: Primarily split between Kurds and Sunni Arabs, the latter mostly transplanted there in recent decades in a deliberate attempt by the former Baghdad government to shake the traditional balance in the North.
[Ed. --yes, this is a recipe for disaster all on its own.]
1998
March
Two more Iraqi sites inspected by UN weapons inspectors
UN weapons inspectors have arrived in Mosul as they continue their visits to presidential sites.
1999
March
New US strikes on Iraq
American warplanes have bombed several Iraqi air-defence sites around the city of Mosul in the northern no-fly zone for the second day running.
May
US planes hit Iraqi missile sites
American planes flying from a base in southern Turkey have attacked Iraqi military sites near the city of Mosul.
Iraqi radar site attacked
An American warplane operating from southern Turkey has attacked an Iraqi radar site near the northern city of Mosul.
June
US warplanes bomb Iraqi facilities
The United States Air Force says airplanes monitoring the air exclusion zone in northern Iraq have bombed radar facilities near the city of Mosul for the second day running.
US planes bomb northern Iraq
The United States military says its planes bombed an Iraqi radar installation east of the northern city of Mosul after being fired at by anti-aircraft defences.
July
US bombs northern Iraq
The United States says its planes have bombed a northern Iraqi communications site south east of Mosul.
August
US hits northern Iraq again
American aircraft flying from Turkey have attacked two Iraqi communications centres near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
Iraq says new bombings kill civilians
The information ministry in Baghdad says that a number of civilians were killed or injured in air strikes by allied warplanes on the Mosul region in northern Iraq on Monday.
Iraq bombing 'damaged Saint's tomb'
The Ministry of Defence in London says it is investigating reports that British or American planes bombed a Christian monastery near Mosul, in Northern Iraq, earlier this month.
[Just out of curiosity, how many readers in the US/UK assumed that all the complaints about civilian casualties in our ongoing euphemized air war against Iraq between the end of GWI and the resumption of active aggression in GWII were made up by the Ba'ath Party propagandists, because after all we in the West valued human rights and just war theory too much to do that? Assuming that is, an awareness that there was an ongoing campaign of bombings (and yes, strafings, according to a report I heard personally from someone who was stationed over there at that time) during all the '90s? --Anyone still want to assert that now, that we couldn't have failed to give a damn about legitimate targets any more than in 1945?]
September
Allied warplanes bomb northern Iraq
Planes of the joint American-European command in northern Iraq have bombed an area south of Mosul.
US attacks Iraqi defence site
American aircraft have attacked an air defence site near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
2000
February
US planes attack northern Iraq
American aircraft have carried out an attack on Iraqi ground-to-air defence systems near the northern city of Mosul.
2001
June
Turkey reopens Iraq rail-link
The first passenger train between Turkey and Iraq for almost 20 years has arrived in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
[We can safely assume that other things happened in Mosul which were of interest to the inhabitants, both good and bad, besides the presence of UN inspectors and US bombs, before the start of the hot war in 2003, that surely something of import more than the reopening of one rail line took place in this city but not even the British media reported on it. As far as the majority of Americans are concerned, Mosul, like Saigon, came into existence when we went to war there.]
2003
April
US bombs Mosul defences
US B-52 bombers pound Iraqi forces near the northern city of Mosul as Kurdish fighters and US troops close in.
Coalition advance in N Iraq
American special forces and Kurdish fighters are closing in on the cities of Kirkuk and Mosul in northern Iraq, backed by heavy air strikes.
In pictures: Winners and looters
Images of public disorder that has accompanied the fall of Baghdad and now the two main northern cities, Mosul and Kirkuk.
Kurds tighten grip on Iraqi north
US-backed Kurdish fighters take control of the city of Mosul unopposed after the Iraqi army flees.
Mosul falls to Kurds
Widespread looting breaks out in the main northern Iraqi city of Mosul, after the Iraqi army abandons it to US-backed Kurdish fighters.
US admits Mosul killings
A US commander says American troops did shoot dead a group of Iraqis during a protest in the northern city.
Child casualties 'fill Iraq hospitals'
The appalling injuries suffered by Ali Ismail Abbas are far from unique, says an aid worker who has visited Mosul's hospitals.
Bringing security to Mosul
US marines are attempting to bring security to the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, following violent outbursts of anti-Western sentiment.
May
Mosul holds landmark vote
Delegates in the northern Iraqi city choose an interim council in the first such election since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
June
US loses two aircraft over Iraq
America reports the loss of a helicopter and plane as reports come in of fighting near Baghdad and in Mosul.
July
Tests 'show Saddam's sons died'
The US military in Iraq says extensive tests confirm that Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed in an attack by coalition forces.
Chronology: How the Mosul raid unfolded
The US military has given a blow-by-blow account of the operation which it says resulted in the deaths of Saddam Hussein's sons Qusay and Uday - BBC News Online looks at the key moments.
US to show photo's of Saddam's sons
Donald Rumsfeld says the US will release pictures of Saddam Hussein's sons to prove they are dead.
Iraqis still fear Saddam's sons
Iraqis in Mosul want proof that Saddam Hussein's sons are really dead, reports the BBC's James Reynolds
August
Mosul police chief shot
The chief of police in the northern Iraqi city is shot and two of his bodyguards killed.
Saddam deputy captured
The man known as "Saddam's knuckles" is in US custody after being seized by Kurds in Mosul in northern Iraq.
[Remember the "Deck of Cards"--? Yeah, I'd forgotten all about that, too.]
US helicopters circle Mosul
American helicopters are said to be hovering over the property of Saddam Hussein's defence minister in northern Iraq.
September
Bomb expert killed in Iraq
A British bomb disposal expert dies in an ambush near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
Friends and occupiers in Mosul
The BBC's Middle East correspondent Paul Wood reports on the 101st Airborne Division's campaign to win hearts and minds in Mosul.
Blast hits Iraqi 'sex cinema'
At least two people are killed and up to 20 others injured in an explosion at a Mosul cinema reportedly showing pornographic films.
November
US troops killed in ambush
Two American soldiers are killed in Mosul, six months to the day since President Bush declared major combat over.
US probes Iraq helicopter crash
The US army seeks to establish why two Black Hawk helicopters crashed in Mosul, killing at least 17 troops.
Mosul's pacification messages
Mosul could have been a firecracker in post-war Iraq, but understandings on both sides have allayed trouble.
December
Gunmen kill US soldier in Mosul
A US soldier dies in a drive-by shooting in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the US military says.
Two US soldiers killed in Mosul
Two US soldiers are killed in the latest attacks on coalition troops in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
Gunmen shoot dead top Iraqi judge
A senior Iraqi judge is gunned down in the northern city of Mosul in a drive-by shooting.
2004
January
Baghdad diary: Week six
Omar Razek, a correspondent for the BBC's Arabic Service, is writing an online diary of his experiences in the heart of Baghdad. (...Mosul is known as the "City of Two Springs", because autumn there is as beautiful as spring...)
US pilots missing in Iraq crash
Two US pilots are missing after their helicopter crashed during a search and rescue mission in the Iraqi city of Mosul, US officials say.
Car bomb rips through Iraqi city
A bomb kills at least nine people outside a police station in Mosul and several more die in Baghdad blasts.
Iraq violence kills up to 18
Several attacks in Iraq claim more lives, as people prepare to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
February
Timeline: Iraqi Kurds
A chronology of key events
[General Petraeus and the 101st Airborne are sent back to the states at the beginning of February. Remember how much worse things became in Basra after the Black Watch was rotated out and replaced with Territorial troops.]
March
Fourth US missionary dies in Iraq
A fourth US missionary dies after gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in Mosul, northern Iraq.
Iraq gunmen kill eight civilians
Gunmen kill eight people - including two Germans - in a spate of shootings in north and central Iraq.
UK civilian killed in Iraq ambush
A British civilian and a Canadian die in a drive-by shooting in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul.
Four dead in Iraqi rocket attack
An attack on a local government building in Mosul kills at least four Iraqis and injures 19 others.
April
Timeline: US losses in Iraq
Deaths in combat or accidents since 1 May when President Bush declared the end of major combat.
May
Timeline: US losses in Iraq
Deaths in combat or accidents since 1 May when President Bush declared the end of major combat. [Ed - not the same as the preceding story]
Four killed in Iraq mortar attack
A mortar attack on an army recruitment centre in the city of Mosul kills four people and injures at least 17 others.
June
North Iraq car bombings kill 15
At least 15 people are killed and more than 110 hurt in car bomb blasts in Mosul and Baquba, officials say.
Academic killed in northern Iraq
Unknown assailants kill a senior university lecturer and her husband in the northern city of Mosul.
Multiple attacks kill 100 in Iraq
Insurgents plunge Mosul and other Iraqi cities into carnage just six days before the handover of power.
July
Iraqi governor killed in attack
The governor of Mosul is killed on his way to Baghdad, hours after a deadly bombing in the capital.
Four die in Mosul truck bombing
A woman and child are among those killed in a suspected suicide attack on a US base in the northern Iraqi city.
August
Car bomber attacks Mosul police
An attack on a police station in the northern Iraqi city kills at least five, as fresh clashes are reported in Falluja.
Bomb blasts rock Iraqi churches
At least 11 are reported dead as churches in two cities are targeted in what seems to be a new tactic by insurgents.
Battle erupts in north Iraqi city
Clashes between police and militants in the Iraqi city of Mosul leave 12 dead and dozens injured, hospital sources say.
September
Violence flares in northern Iraq
At least 17 people are killed by a suicide car bombing in Kirkuk, while clashes kill several others in Mosul.
US air strikes target Sadr City
At least five people are killed in US air attacks in Baghdad's Sadr City area, while a car bomb hits Mosul.
October
Several killed in Iraq violence
Several Iraqis, an Estonian and a US soldier die in bombings in Baghdad and Mosul, and in clashes elsewhere.
November
Fresh violence flares in Mosul
The US military says it has attacked suspected rebel targets in Mosul after an upsurge in violence in the northern Iraqi city.
Extra guards tackle Mosul unrest
The Iraqi government sends national guard reinforcements to Mosul after an upsurge in violence.
Insurgents 'patrolling Iraq city'
Iraq rebels are patrolling parts of the northern city of Mosul following three days of violence there, residents say.
US troops diverted to Mosul
Hundreds of US troops are diverted from Falluja to Mosul, as violence continues to spread to other areas of Iraq.
[Go back and read the last entry from Nov. 2003.]
New attacks on Mosul police posts
Anti-US insurgents storm two police stations in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, witnesses say.
In pictures: Mosul mission
Pictures of the flashpoint northern Iraqi city of Mosul where the US military are fighting insurgents.
US storms Mosul rebel positions
US forces retake police stations seized by Iraqi rebels in a major assault in the northern city of Mosul.
Mortars pound Falluja resistance
US artillery bombards southern districts of Falluja in an attempt to remove remaining pockets of rebels. (...A journalist in Mosul told the BBC the situation is now largely calm, although there is a heavy troop presence on the streets...)
Eyewitness: Uneasy calm in Mosul
An Iraqi journalist in the city of Mosul describes nervous calm in the city as US troops pour in to fend off attacks by insurgents.
Eyewitness: US revises Mosul plans
A cameraman who filmed a US marine allegedly shooting an injured Iraqi in Falluja gives his account of the incident.
US general warns over Iraq poll
Violence in Mosul is damaging efforts to hold elections in the city, the US commander in north Iraq tells the BBC.
Iraq log: 29 November 2004
What is life like for ordinary Iraqis and others caught up in events? We are publishing a range of accounts here.
December
Pope condemns Iraq church attacks
Pope John Paul II criticises attacks on Iraqi Christians after two churches were bombed in the city of Mosul.
'Foreigners' killed in north Iraq
Insurgents kill at least three foreigners in the northern city of Mosul, say reports.
Mosul: Northern powder-keg?
A profile of Iraq's third-largest city, a melting pot of Arabs and Kurds that has seen increased violence recently.
Attack on US Iraq base kills 24
An attack at a US military base in northern Iraq kills 24 people and injures more than 60, the US military says.
2005
? ? ?