TIKRIT, Iraq - While Baghdad erupts in sectarian violence, the general in charge of U.S. forces in northern Iraq believes security has improved enough here for soldiers to think about a day when the attacks stop.
"Security is at a level where we can begin worrying about economics, about projects," Maj. Gen. Thomas R. Turner told The Associated Press. "It's true in Mosul. It's true in Tal Afar. And it's true in Tikrit."
Turner, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, was referring to northern Iraqi cities that were once deeply embroiled in insurgent violence. Although the insurgent threat remains, the area is less turbulent than central Iraq or the western province of Anbar.
That's notable, Turner said, because many U.S. military commanders had thought the northern provinces under his command would be lasting insurgent strongholds, with roads forever lined with bombs and gunmen always targeting U.S. convoys.
Now computer labs are being built in Mosul and libraries are planned in Tal Afar, he said.
But progress admittedly has come at a cost, Turner said.
More than 150 soldiers from his division, the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky., have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003. Most recently, three soldiers from the division's 2nd Brigade were slain - including two whose bodies were mutilated - when left alone to guard a checkpoint along the Euphrates River south of Baghdad.
"The loss of each soldier is just horrible and we're proud of what they accomplished and only want to make sure their deaths mattered," Turner said.
As the division prepares to return home after a yearlong deployment, the war will linger with them. Soldiers from two of its brigades have been charged with murder for allegedly killing Iraqi civilians, the latest in a string of abuse allegations against U.S. service members.
Four soldiers with the division's 3rd Brigade in Tikrit face murder charges in the deaths of Iraqi detainees near Samarra. Five more from its 2nd Brigade south of Baghdad face charges for allegedly raping and murdering an Iraqi woman and her family in Mahmoudiya.
Turner, who spoke to the AP between stops during an hourlong helicopter ride Sunday in northern Iraq, would not discuss the allegations because it could compromise the investigation.
But he stressed that allegations should not overshadow progress the division had made throughout Iraq. In the provinces his soldiers patrol, he's seen a smaller U.S. military footprint as the command ponders a drawdown of the 127,000-member American mission.
The area around Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, has a largely Sunni Arab population. Insurgents were active in the early months of the conflict. U.S. officials say the area has calmed considerably in the last year because of aggressive pursuit of insurgents.
Samarra has also calmed since the February bombing of a Shiite shrine, an event that led to rampant sectarian violence that brought the country to the brink of civil war.
Turner said much has changed. When the division leaves, only 10 of the once 35 U.S. military bases that were built in northern Iraq after the invasion will remain. The rest have closed or have been transferred to Iraqi Army units capable of operating independently.
"We really had too many," Turner said. "We were spending a lot just securing ourselves."
Turner said the dramatic escalation in violence clearly separates Baghdad as a front all its own. It's not reflective of the entire country, but critical nevertheless, he said.
"I see a lot of progress. We've really worked hard to get here," Turner said. "We just need to be patient."