THE BATTLE OF FALLUJAH

The Second Battle of Fallujah — code-names Operation Al-Fajr (Arabic, "the dawn") and Operation Phantom Fury — was a joint U.S.-Iraqi -British offensive in November and December 2004. It was led by the U.S. Marine Corps against the Iraqi insurgency stronghold in the city of Fallujah and was authorized by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Interim Government. The U.S. military called it "some of the heaviest urban combat U.S. Marines have been involved in since the Battle of Huế City in Vietnam in 1968."[13]
This operation was the second major operation in Fallujah. Earlier, in April 2004, Coalition Forces fought the First Battle of Fallujah in order to capture or kill insurgent elements considered responsible for the deaths of a Blackwater Security team. When Coalition Forces (a majority being U.S. Marines) fought into the center of the city, the Iraqi government requested that control of the city be turned over to an Iraqi-run local security force, which then began stockpiling weapons and building complex defenses across the city in mid-2004.
In the months after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Fallujah was one of the most peaceful areas of the country. There was very little looting, and the new mayor of the city, Taha Bidaywi Hamed, selected by local tribal leaders, was staunchly pro-American. However, events were soon to heat up to the boiling point. The pre-operation timeline is as follows:
On April 28, 2003, a crowd of 200 people defied a local curfew and gathered outside a local school to protest the presence of foreign forces in the city. The protest escalated as gunmen reportedly fired upon U.S. troops from the protesting crowd and U.S. Army soldiers from the 3rd Battalion of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division returned fire, killing 17 people and wounding more than 70 of the protesters. There were no Army or Coalition casualties in the incident. U.S. forces said that the shooting took place over 30–60 seconds.[citation needed]
In February, 2004, control of Fallujah, and the surrounding area in the Al-Anbar province, was turned over to the 1st Marine Division; the Army's 82nd Airborne Division was relieved of their command.
On March 31, 2004, Four American private military contractors were ambushed and killed in the city. Images of their mutilated bodies were broadcast around the world.
Within days, U.S. Marine Corps forces launched Operation Vigilant Resolve (April 4, 2004) to take back control of the city from insurgent forces. On April 28, 2004, Operation Vigilant Resolve ended with an agreement that the local population would keep the insurgents out of the city. The Fallujah Brigade, composed of local Iraqis under the command of Muhammed Latif, a former Baathist general, was allowed to pass through coalition lines and take over the city.
Insurgent strength and control began to grow to such an extent that by September 24, 2004, a senior U.S. official told ABC News that catching Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, said to be in Fallujah, was now "the highest priority," and estimated his troops at 5,000 men, mostly non-Iraqis.[14]
[edit] Timeline