The Most Evil People on the Face of the Earth"

Newly returned from Iraq, one of our heroes, HR McMaster of the 3 Armored Cavalry, describes the city of Tal Afar, before and after:

When the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment arrived at Tal Afar, Iraq, last summer, the city was in the grip of insurgents - schools were closed, businesses shuttered. Anyone seen cooperating with the beleaguered city government or U.S. forces was murdered, sometimes beheaded in gruesome public killings.
"These are some of the most evil people on the face of the earth," Col. H.R. McMaster, commander of the 3rd ACR, said Tuesday. "They used mass murder to terrorize the city, to make anyone afraid to cooperate with us or the city government."
McMaster, a shaved-head veteran of the first Gulf War as well as the invasion of Iraq, said the insurgents staked their claim to Tal Afar, a city of 250,000 people near the Syrian border. "They even had a Web site that said the Lions of Tal Afar would never give up the city," he explained.
The 3rd ACR returned home to Fort Carson last month, leaving behind a Tal Afar where kids were playing in the streets again, schools were reopened and the police now have 1,700 officers - a huge increase over the 80 that had been living under siege when McMaster's regiment arrived.

A must read story!