![]() ![]() In response, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of the coalition forces in Iraq, ordered the I Marine Expeditionary Force to launch Operation Vigilant Resolve into Fallujah to deny its use as an insurgent sanctuary and to arrest those responsible for the killing of the contractors. Images of the hanging bodies were televised and broadcast world-wide. Two of the contractors’ bodies were hung from the ramparts of a bridge on the outskirts of the city. On March 31, 2004, insurgents ambushed, killed, and subsequently burned four American security contractors in Fallujah. In 2004 Fallujah had an estimated population of 250,000 to 300,000 residents. It is a densely populated, industrial city that grew as a way station along silk road branches that connected Baghdad to major population centers such as Aleppo, Syria. Fallujah rests on the banks of the Euphrates River. The city of Fallujah, located between the cities of Baghdad and Ramadi, became an insurgent hotbed and served as the base of operations for al Qaeda affiliate Jamat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad. The triangles’ points included the cities of Baghdad, Tikrit, and Ramadi. The insurgent stronghold was located within the “Sunni Triangle,” a densely populated region in central Iraq inhabited largely by Sunni Muslims. Bush declared that “ Major combat operations in Iraq have ended,” while standing beneath the “Mission Accomplished” banner onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, but a Sunni insurgency was already simmering. ![]() ![]() Some mistakenly believed that the war was over when President George W. The United States invaded Iraq in March 2003 and quickly overthrew Saddam Hussein and his Ba’ath Party government. ![]() The views expressed by General Rainey are his and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. James Rainey about the 2004 Second Battle of Fallujah Iraq. The excerpt is an edited conversation John Spencer had with Lt. The Second Battle of Fallujah was the bloodiest battle of the entire conflict for American troops, and is notable for being the first major engagement of the Iraq War that was fought solely against insurgents as opposed to the government military forces of the former Ba'athist Iraq.Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from the book “Understanding Urban Warfare” published by Howgate Publishing and available for purchase at Amazon here. When the coalition fought their way into the centre of the city, the Iraqi Interim Government requested that the city's control be transferred over to an Iraqi-run local security force, which then began stockpiling weapons and building complex defenses across the city through mid-2004. Earlier, in April 2004, coalition forces fought the First Battle of Fallujah in an attempt to capture or kill insurgent elements who were considered responsible for the 2004 Fallujah ambush, which resulted in the deaths of four private military contractors of Blackwater. Operation Phantom Fury was the second major coalition effort in Fallujah. 2003 1st Baghdad 2nd Baghdad Najaf 3rd Baghdad 1st Nasiriyah 1st Karbala 2004 ‡ 1st Erbil ‡ Ashoura 1st Basra 1st Mosul 4th Baghdad 5th Baghdad Karbala & Najaf 1st Baqubah Kufa Marez 2005 Suwaira bombing ‡ 1st Al Hillah 2nd Erbil ‡ Musayyib 6th Baghdad ‡ 7th Baghdad 1st Balad Khanaqin 2006 ‡ Karbala-Ramadi 1st Samarra 8th Baghdad 9th Baghdad ‡ 10th Baghdad 2007 11th Baghdad 12th Baghdad ‡ 13th Baghdad 14th Baghdad 15th Baghdad ‡ 2nd Al Hillah ‡ 1st Tal Afar 16th Baghdad 17th Baghdad 2nd & 3rd Karbala 2nd Mosul ‡ 18th Baghdad Makhmour Abu Sayda 2nd Samarra 19th Baghdad ‡ Amirli 1st Kirkuk 20th Baghdad 21st Baghdad § Qahtaniya Amarah 2008 22nd Baghdad 2nd Balad 23rd Baghdad 4th Karbala 24th Baghdad Karmah 2nd Baqubah Dujail Balad Ruz 2009 25th Baghdad 26th Baghdad Baghdad-Muqdadiyah Taza 27th Baghdad 2nd Kirkuk 2nd Tal Afar ‡ 28th Baghdad ‡ 29th Baghdad ‡ 30th Baghdad 2010 31st Baghdad 32nd Baghdad 3rd Baqubah 33rd Baghdad 34th Baghdad 35th Baghdad ‡ 1st Pan-Iraq 36th Baghdad 37th Baghdad 2nd Pan-Iraq 38th Baghdad 39th Baghdad ‡ 40th Baghdad 2011 41st Baghdad ‡ 3rd Pan-Iraq Karbala-Baghdad 42nd Baghdad Tikrit 3rd Al Hillah 3rd Samarra Al Diwaniyah Taji 4th Pan-Iraq 43rd Baghdad 4th Karbala 44th Baghdad 2nd Basra 45th Baghdad § indicates the deadliest attack in the Iraq War ‡ indicates attacks resulting in over 100 deaths ![]()
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