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First Fights in Fallujah: Marines During Operation Vigilant Resolve, in Iraq, April 2004. Philadelphia: Casemate. ISBN 9781636243184. No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah, by Bing West (2005) (ISBN 978-0-553-80402-7) Blood Stripes: The Grunt's View of the War in Iraq, by David J. Danelo (2007) (ISBN 978-0-8117-3393-9)
Although the majority of the residents were Sunni and had supported Saddam Hussein's rule, Fallujah lacked military presence just after his fall. There was little looting and the new mayor of the city—Taha Bidaywi Hamed, was selected by local tribal leaders—was pro-United States. [4]
The 2004 Fallujah ambush occurred on March 31, 2004, when Iraqi insurgents attacked a convoy containing four American contractors from the private military company Blackwater USA who were conducting a delivery for food caterers ESS.
Fallujah's western boundary is the Euphrates River. The Euphrates flows from the west (Ramadi), past Fallujah, and into the Baghdad area. When the river reaches the western edge of Fallujah, it turns north, then quickly south, forming what is commonly referred to as the 'peninsula' area. There are two bridges that cross the Euphrates at Fallujah.
The Third Battle of Fallujah, [23] [24] [25] code-named Operation Breaking Terrorism (Arabic: عملية كسر الإرهاب) by the Iraqi government, was a military operation against ISIL launched to capture the city of Fallujah and its suburbs, located about 69 kilometres (43 mi) west of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq.
Most of Fallujah's civilian population fled the city before the battle, which greatly reduced the potential for noncombatant casualties. [41] U.S. military officials estimated that 70–90% of the 300,000 civilians in the city fled before the attack, leaving 30,000 to 90,000 civilians still in the city. [ 36 ]
The Guardian reported that a few days after the US media published a series of photographs showing abuse of detainees at Abu Gharib prison Task Force 121 was renamed Task Force 6-26. [32] TF 6-26 conducted missions in Fallujah before and during the First Battle of Fallujah. [33]
On January 3, Fallujah was reportedly under the control of Sunni jihadists, but Iraq said the city remained contested. The jihadists raised their black flag in Fallujah, took over all police stations, and military posts after security forces left the city, [3] set police vehicles ablaze and brandished their weapons.