by Bing West
PROLOGUE
Blackwater Security . . . Connie Mabin, “Slain Contractors Included 3 Veterans,” Associated Press, April 2, 2004.
the resistance . . . Jeffrey Gettleman, “4 from US Killed; Mob Drags Bodies,” New York Times, April 1, 2004, p. A1.
like the fog . . . Jeffrey Gettleman, “Mix of Pride and Shame Follows Killings and Mutilation by Iraqis,” New York Times, April 2, 2004, p. 1.
kill them . . . E-mail to author, March 31, 2004.
furious. . . . Dr. Juan R. I. Cole, www.juancole.com, July 2, 2004.
unpunished . . . Sewell Chan and Karl Vick, “US Vows to Find Civilians’ Killers,” Washington Post, April 2, 2004, p. A1.
overwhelming . . . Ibid.
immediately . . . Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2004, p. A1.
go get those responsible . . . David Ignatius, “Making Do in Iraq,” Washington Post, June 22, 2004, p. A17.
not told . . . Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2004, p. A1.
CHAPTER 1
nearby roof . . . Ian Fisher, “US Force Said to Kill 15 Iraqis,” New York Times, April 30, 2003, p. 1.
to cover the story . . . Edmund Blair of Reuters, Ellen Knickmeyer of AP, Ian Fisher of the New York Times, Rajiv Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post, Michael Sackman of the Los Angeles Times, Phil Reeves of the Independent (U.K.), and Dan Murphy of the Christian Science Monitor.
shooting in the air . . . Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village (New York: Anchor Books, 1969).
under attack . . . Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Scott Wilson, “Iraqi City Simmers with New Attack,” Washington Post, May 2, 2003, p. 21.
the next day . . . Scott Wilson, “U.S. Forces Kill Two During Iraqi Demonstration: Some Baath Party Loyalists May Be Provoking U.S. Soldiers,” Washington Post Foreign Service, April 30, 2003.
flowing in from Saudi Arabia . . . Stephen Schwartz, “Saudi Mischief in Fallujah,” the Weekly Standard, June 16, 2004, p. 1.
redeem you, O Islam . . . Michael S. Doran, “Intimate Enemies,” Washington Post, February 18, 2004, p. A19.
betrayed the ruling caliph . . . Ibid.
we’ll kick you out . . . Chandrasekaran and Wilson, “Iraqi City Simmers with New Attack.” Washington Post, May 2, 2003, p. A21.
3rd Infantry Division . . . John Hendren, “Fallouja Was Not the Prize Brigade Expected,” Los Angeles Times, June 3, 2003.
ask for candy . . . Douglas Birch, “Rebellious City in Iraq Poses Stern Test of American Resolve,” Baltimore Sun, June 12, 2003.
kebab restaurant. . . . Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “Iraq’s Barbed Realities,” Washington Post, October 17, 2004, p. B1.
local security forces . . . 2nd Brigade, 3rd ID Campaign Plan Brief, undated.
routine patrol vehicle . . . Alissa J. Rubin, “U.S. Conducts Wide-Ranging Sweeps in Iraq,” Los Angeles Times, June 16, 2003, p. l.
a soldier asked . . . Daniel Williams and Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “U.S. Troops Frustrated with Role in Iraq,” Washington Post, June 20, 2003, p. 1.
dropped a bomb . . . Jim Krane and Colleen Slevin, “Explosion at Mosque Kills Five Iraqis,” New York Times, July 1, 2003.
checkpoints . . . Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “In Iraqi City, A New Battle Plan,” Washington Post, July 29, 2003, p. A1.
water-pumping station . . . Ibid.
American fatalities . . . LtGen James Conway, USMC, Defense Department Briefing, the Pentagon, May 5, 2004.
through western Fallujah . . . Ron Martz, “Volatile Fallujah ‘a Little More Stable,’ ” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 21, 2003.
freedom of movement . . . Ibid.
hostile place . . . Chandrasekaran, “In Iraqi City, a New Battle Plan,” p. A1.
CHAPTER 2
to be one line of authority . . . General Tommy Franks, American Soldier, New York: ReganBooks, 2004, p. 295.
Johnson had shifted . . . Howard B. Schaffer, Ellsworth Bunker (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), p. 188.
pacification programs . . . Edward P. Metzner, More Than a Soldier’s War: Pacification in Vietnam (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1995), pp. 156 and 192.
his deputy CentCom commander for reconstruction . . . Franks, op. cit., p. 532.
more political clout and money from the White House . . . Franks, op. cit., p. 531.
classical guerrilla-type campaign . . . Vernon Loeb, “ ‘Guerrilla’ War Acknowledged,” Washington Post, July 17, 2003, p. 1.
banana republic . . . Ariana Eunjung Cha, “Flaws Showing in New Iraqi Forces: Pace of Police Recruiting Leads to Shortcuts,” Washington Post, December 3, 2003, p. A1.
CHAPTER 3
82nd Airborne Division returned . . . When the 3rd ID headed home, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment sent in a small contingent to provide temporary overwatch of Fallujah for a few weeks. During that time, another American soldier was killed by an IED.
inside the city . . . Anthony Shadid, “2 U.S. Soldiers Killed by Mines on Iraqi Roads,” Washington Post, August 28, 2003, p. 14.
six-month-old American occupation . . . Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “A Burst of Gunfire, Then a ‘Hail,’ ” Washington Post, October 14, 2003, p. 1.
three IEDs . . . Brian Bennett, “Into the Danger Zone,” Time, October 13, 2003, p. 48.
same kind of regime . . . Tini Tran, “General: 3 to 6 GIs Dying in Iraq a Week,” Associated Press, October 2, 2003.
God is great . . . Bennett, “Into the Danger Zone,” p. 48.
seven paratroopers wounded . . . David Lamb and Tyler Marshall, “In 2nd Ambush on Iraqi Road in 2 Days, 1 U.S. Soldier Dies,” Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2003.
government jobs . . . Charles Clover, “Falluja’s Message of Hate for US Troops,” Financial Times, January 12, 2004, p. 6.
the problems here . . . Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Vernon Loeb, “ ‘The Battlefield for All Iraq,’ ” Washington Post, November 4, 2003.
increased activities . . . Ibid.
power generators . . . Dexter Filkins, “In Die-Hard City, G.I.’s Are Enemy,” New York Times, November 4, 2003, p. 1.
stop the violence . . . Susan Sachs, “Law and Order: Iraqi Tribes, Asked to Help G.I.’s, Say They Can’t,” New York Times, November 11, 2003, p. A1.
sheikhs had power . . . Associated Press, “Violent Fallujah Becomes Quiet,” November 22, 2003.
control their tribes . . . Associated Press, “In Iraq, Treading Carefully While Fighting Insurgency,” Baltimore Sun, November 16, 2003.
schoolteacher in Fallujah . . . Susan Sachs, “Tribes in Falluja Where G.I.’s Seek Help Say They Can’t,” New York Times, November 11, 2003, p. A10.
thousand-pound bombs . . . “US Jet Bombs Insurgents after Fallujah Attacks,” “PA” News, November 9, 2003.
combination of all three . . . Green Left Weekly, November 12, 2003.
crush a walnut . . . Alissa J. Rubin and Patrick J. McDonnell, “U.S. Gunships Target Insurgents in Iraq amid Copter Crash Inquiry,” Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2003.
Mahadaai . . . Alan Sipress, “US. Presses Counteroffensive, But Insurgents Strike Again,” Washington Post, December 5, 2003, p. 21.
release several women . . . Associated Press, “In Iraq, Treading Carefully While Fighting Insurgency,” Baltimore Sun, November 16, 2003.
attacks by explosive devices . . . Patrick J. McDonnell, “Town Preoccupies the Occupation,” Los Angeles Times, November 17, 2003, p. 1.
Iraqi was killed . . . CentCom News Release, December 16, 2003.
to fight now . . . Tracy Wilkinson, “Bombs Kill 2 American Soldiers, 2 Iraqi Youths,” Los Angeles Times, December 29, 2003.
fire at them . . . Charles Clover, “Falluja’s Message of Hate for US Troops,” Financial Times, January 12, 2004, p. 6.
you die . . . Tracy Wilkinson, “Bombs Kill 2 American Soldiers, 2 Iraqi Youths,” Los Angeles Times, December 29, 2003.
CHAPTER 4
50 percent . . . Washington Post
Opinion Polling, About.com, February 15, 2005.
their lives . . . Michael M. Phillips, “Before Heading to Iraq, Marines Learn People Skills,” Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2004, p. 1.
with an assessment team . . . Author was a member of the Eikenberry team.
external borders . . . “U.S. to Unveil Plans for New Iraqi Army,” New York Times, June 23, 2003.
Guard soldier . . . OSD Unclassified Working Paper, November 11, 2003.
Wolfowitz said . . . House Armed Services Committee Hearing, June 22, 2004.
noneffective . . . Author interviews in Ramadi and Fallujah with the 82nd, January 16–20, 2004.
a thousand officers . . . Commander’s Conference Report, Al Anbar Governance Coordinator, November 4, 2003.
he said . . . “Commander: ‘Not Enough Hate’ for Iraqi Civil War,” CNN, June 30, 2004.
the bottlenecks . . . At a hearing on September 17, 2004, for instance, Senator Chuck Hagel (R–Nebraska) pointed out that of $4.2 billion authorized for water and sewage works, $16 million had been spent; of $367 million set aside for specific military items, $7 million had been spent; and of $3 billion authorized for law, order, and justice programs, $167 million had been spent.
should have . . . CSPAN, House Foreign Operations Subcommittee Hearing, September 24, 2004.
two French citizens . . . Craig S. Smith, “2 French Citizens Are Killed by Gunmen on Iraqi Road,” New York Times, January 7, 2004.
around the city . . . Patrick Rucker, “Copter Crew Used to Saving Lives,” Chicago Tribune, January 28, 2004.
second shoot-down . . . Daniel Williams and Alan Sipress, “Helicopter Crash in Iraq Kills Nine U.S. Soldiers,” Washington Post, January 9, 2004, p.12.
the Fallujah area . . . Charles Clover, “Falluja’s Message of Hate for US Troops,” Financial Times, January 12, 2004, p. 6.
at your throat . . . Karl Zinsmeister, Dawn over Baghdad (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2004), p. 152.
guerrilla war . . . Don Van Natta, “Who Is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi?,” New York Times, October 10, 2004, p. 4-1.
blood on a wall . . . Hannah Allam and Tom Pennington, “Troops Battle to Rid Town of Suspected Cell,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 23, 2004.
we get killed . . . Ibid.
in tactics . . . Interviews with the 82nd, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, February 2–3, 2005.
firefights . . . Interviews with commanders in Fallujah, January 14–15, 2004.
grow back stronger . . . CBS 60 Minutes, “On Patrol in the Sunni Triangle,” February 8, 2004.
to be removed . . . Anthony Shadid, “In New Iraq, Sunnis Fear a Grim Future,” Washington Post, December 22, 2003, p. 1.
CHAPTER 5
their future . . . “Fallujah Raids Administer Severe Jolt to US Transition Plan,” DEBKAfile, February 14, 2004.
promptly canceled . . . Combined Dispatches, “Iraqi Rebels Strike During Abizaid Visit,” Washington Post, February 13, 2004, p. 1.
death to collaborators . . . Mariam Fain, “21 Killed, Prisoners Freed in Iraqi Raid,” washingtonpost.com, February 14, 2004.
would be well . . . Jim Michaels, “In an Iraqi Hot Spot, New Iraqi Police Chief Takes the Heat,” USA Today, February 10, 2004, p. 1.
twenty-three policemen . . . Rowan Scarborough, “Inside Job Suspected in Iraq Attacks,” Washington Times, February 17, 2004, p. 1.
charges of conspiracy . . . Tom Lasseter, “U.S. Detains Mayor After Deadly Attack,” Miami Herald, February 17, 2004.
Anbar Provincial Council . . . Dexter Filkins, “ ‘Liberty or Death’ Is a Grim Option for the Local Councils,” New York Times, February 15, 2004, p. 10.
pick up a gun . . . “ ‘This place is crazy’—In Fallujah, it’s not if you get shot at, but when,” March 3, 2004, www.hodierne.com/iraq2.
division . . . The U.S. Army had four divisions with two-star commanders reporting to the three-star JTF. The Marines were sending an experienced three-star (Conway) who would report to the JTF.
a man’s neck . . . Ron Harris, “Commander Calls Fallujah Most Difficult Area,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 1, 2004, p. 1.
the armed resistance . . . Carl E. Mundy III, “Spare the Rod, Save the Nation,” Washington Post, December 30, 2003, p. A23.
as amicably . . . Thomas E. Ricks, “Marines to Offer New Tactics in Iraq,” washingtonpost.com, January 7, 2004, p. A1.
fired upon . . . Steven Komarow, “Favored by Saddam, Fallujah Seething Since His Fall,” USA Today, April 2, 2004, p. 4.
attack us . . . Army Major General Charles H. Swannack, Jr., “82nd Airborne Division Commanding General’s Briefing from Iraq,” U.S. Department of Defense News Transcript, March 10, 2004.
bloodied . . . Darrin Mortenson, “Army Commander Says Marines Face Challenge in Quieting Iraqi Town,” North County Times, March 25, 2004.
CHAPTER 6
to the States . . . Karl Vick and Sewell Chan, “10 Iraqis Are Killed in Spasm of Attacks,” Washington Post, March 19, 2004, p. 15; Capt Zembiec, several interviews by author, Fallujah, April, May, and July 2004.
near the city . . . Edmund Sanders, “3 Iraqis Killed, 4 U.S. Troops Wounded in Separate Attacks,” Los Angeles Times, March 25, 2004.
twenty-six the number of attacks . . . Eric Schmitt, “The Siege of Fallujah, A Test in a Tinderbox,” New York Times, April 28, 2004, p. 1.
made safe . . . LtGen Conway, interviewed by author, Fallujah, July 24, 2004.
kites flying . . . Battalion 2/1 After Action Report, March 26, 2004.
in the head . . . Dexter Filkins, “Up to 16 Die in Gun Battles in Sunni Areas of Iraq,” New York Times, March 27, 2004, p. 1.
seeking revenge . . . Ibid.
mess with the people of Fallujah?” the mob chanted . . . Sewell Chan, “Descent into Carnage in a Hostile City,” Washington Post, April 1, 2004, p. A1.
turned the corner . . . John F. Burns, “Reminder of Mogadishu: Acts of Hatred, Hints of Doubt,” New York Times, April 1, 2004, p. A1.
see this . . . Jeffrey Gettleman and John F. Burns, “5 G.I.’s and 4 Contractors Are Killed in Separate Attacks,” March 31, 2004.
aggressive . . . Paul McGeough, “Fallujah Braces for US Reprisal,” theage.com, April 3, 2004.
overwhelming . . . 119 JTF-7 Press Conference, April 1, 2004.
Hawza . . . Charles Snow, “The Political Scene,” Middle East Review 47, April 12, 2004.
top aide . . . Larry Diamond, “What Went Wrong in Iraq,” Foreign Affairs, September 2004, p. 40.
Terrorize your enemy . . . John F. Burns, “The Struggle for Iraq; Uprising,” New York Times, April 5, 2004, p. 1.
Kut . . . David Stokes, “Al-Kut, Iraq: After-Battle Report,” Middle East Quarterly, January 10, 2005.
Najaf . . . Senator Joseph Biden, interview by CBS, “Battles Sweeping Iraq,” April 7, 2004.
CHAPTER 7
northwestern outskirts of Fallujah . . . Darrin Mortenson, “Marines Launch Major Offensive in Fallujah,” North County Times, April 4, 2004.
local sheikh . . . Tony Perry and Edmund Sanders, “Fallouja Residents Brace for Assault by Marines,” Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2004.
Tyler Fey . . . Darrin Mortenson, “Wrap-up of Falluja Battle,” North County Times, June 6, 2004.
104 had mutinied . . . David H. Hackworth, “The Combat Task,” www.couplescompany.com, May 1, 2004.
not coming to Fallujah . . . At real risk to themselves, the Iraqi officers had protected the advisers from the mob on the road, yet they wouldn’t lead their soldiers. Unlike the case in the American military, the officers, not the sergeants, formed the backbone of the Iraqi Army. The sergeants were followers, not organizers. Without the officers, the system stopped.
“It’s a peasant army,” Lane said. “A whole company responds to one officer. If he’s weak, a hundred men are out of the fight. The officers are intelligent enough, but they lack initiative. It’s a mystery to me what will make them fight consistently.”
It is in the Euro-American tradition to press battle to its bloody conclusion. Unlike the case in other cultures, in the West battle is not a matter of posturing. Frequently it is not an extension of politics, where compromise is expected. Battles are fought to the death. Historians trace this attribute and the martial ascendancy of the West to Alexander the Great at the 482 B.C. Battle of Gaugamela, 150 miles north of Fallujah, where he defeated the Persians. And among countries of the West, none has suffered the stupendous casualty rate of the American Civil War, when one in four soldiers, Union and Confederate, died. Added to that tradition, the American Marine was trained as a shock troop and steeped in the traditions of World War II, when Marines crawled over the bodies of their fallen comrades on island after island to wipe out the Japanese defenders. The net result was that nothing in their psyches prepared American Marines for soldiers who walked off the job, as if they were union members going on strike.
The Marines had encountered no such mutiny in prior wars. The Vietnamese soldiers had stuck like glue alongside their advisers, and the Combined Action Platoons, which sent Marine squads into villages to fight alongside Vietnamese farmers, had been a singular success. In the war before that, South Korean soldiers had considered it an honor to fight alongside Americans. Indeed, since the beginning of the twentieth century the Marines had been raising and training constabularies. Fish swam, birds flew, and soldiers fought—that was the law of nature. Mutinies simply did not happen.
CHAPTER 8
$700,000 . . . Yaroslav Trofimov, “To Find Peace in the Sunni Triangle, Talk to the Sheikhs,” Wall Street Journal, November 5, 2003, p. 1.
sheikh system . . . Mines too was careful not to offend the sheikhs and, to build support, awarded contracts that didn’t always go to the lowest bidder. He referred to the Baathist Sunnis as “cornered tigers.”
“The coalition is not just an occupying power,” Mines wrote to his superiors. “It is a power involved in disempowering the Sunnis, first through military occupation and ultimately by leaving the Sunnis subordinated to the Shiites in the new Iraq.”
ten separate firefights . . . These include both Chapters 8 and 10. The firefights were: Joker 3-1 at grid 432 993; Rainmaker at 432 994; west of the cemetery, Joker 3-3 and 3-2 at 425 995; Joker 1-1 and 1-2 and Terminator at 434 999; Reaper at 434 994; Bastard Forward at 535 993; Bastard 3 at 434 991; Joker 6 near the stadium at 438 990; Joker 1-3 and Joker 4 at 450 989; Porky 1, 6, and 3-3 south of the fish hook two kilometers east of the stadium at 468 038; and Head Hunter 2 three kilometers north of the stadium at 448 025.