Fallujah (Arabic: فلوجة; sometimes transliterated as Falluja and less commonly Fallouja or Falloujah) is a city of about 350,000 inhabitants in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly 69km (43 miles) west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Within Iraq, it is known as the "city of mosques" for the more than 200 mosques found in the city and surrounding villages. It is one of the most important places to Sunni Islam in the region.
History
The region has been inhabited for many millennia and there is evidence that it was inhabited in Babylonian times. The origin of the town's name is in some doubt, but one theory is that its Syriac name, Pallugtha, is derived from the word division.
Under the Ottoman Empire Fallujah was a little more than a minor stop on one of the country's main roads across the desert west from Baghdad. In 1947 the town had only about 10,000 inhabitants. It grew rapidly into a city after Iraqi independence with the influx of oil wealth into the country. Its position on one of the main roads out of Baghdad made it of central importance.
In the spring of 1920, the British, who had gained control of Iraq after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, sent Lt. Col. Gerald Leachman, a renowned explorer and a senior colonial officer, to quell a rebellion in Fallujah. Leachman was killed just south of the city in a fight with local leader Shaykh Dhari. The British sent an army to crush the rebellion, and the ensuing fight took the lives of more than 10,000 Iraqis and 1,000 British soldiers.
Under Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq from 1979 to 2003, Fallujah came to be an important area of support for the regime, along with the rest of the region labeled by the U.S. military as the Sunni Triangle. Many residents of the primarily Sunni city were employees and supporters of Saddam Hussein's government and many senior Ba'ath Party officials were natives of the city. The city was heavily industrialised during the Saddam era with the construction of several large factories, including one closed down by United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in the 1990s that may have been used to create chemical weapons.
Gulf War
During the First Gulf War, Fallujah was one of the cities in Iraq with the most civilian casualties. Two separate failed bombing attempts on Fallujah's bridge across the Euphrates River hit crowded markets, killing an estimated 200 civilians, enraging city residents.
The first bombing occurred early in the Gulf War when a British jet intending to bomb the bridge dropped two laser guided bombs on city's crowded main market. Between 50 and 150 civilians died and many more were injured. In the second incident, Coalition forces attacked Fallujah's bridge over the Euphrates River with four laser-guided bombs. At least one struck the bridge while one or two bombs fell short in the river. The fourth bomb hit another market elsewhere in the city, reportedly due to failure of its laser guidance system.
Iraq War
Fallujah was one of the most peaceful areas of the country just after the fall of Saddam. There was very little looting and the new mayor of the city — Taha Bidaywi, selected by local tribal leaders — was staunchly pro-American. When the U.S. Army entered the town in April 2003, they positioned themselves at the vacated Ba'ath Party headquarters — an action that erased some goodwill, especially when many in the city had been hoping the U.S. Army would stay outside of the relatively calm city. A Fallujah Protection Force composed of local Iraqis was set up by the U.S.-led occupants to help fight the rising resistance.
On the evening of April 28, 2003, a crowd of 200 people defied the Coalition curfew and gathered outside a local school to protest the presence of U.S. Coalition forces in the city. This developed into an altercation with U.S. troops in the city in which 15 Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. gunfire. There were no coalition casualties in the incident.
Insurgency
Opposition to the coalition presence in the city has steadily increased over time. Fallujah has become one of the most dangerous areas for coalition military troops during the occupation of Iraq. Since the occupation began, over ninety Americans have died in Fallujah — more than any city except Baghdad.
Siege
Approximately one year after the invasion, the city's Iraqi police and civil defense forces were unable to establish law and order. Insurgents launched attacks on police stations in the city. In a highly publicized attack on March 31, 2004, four security contractors from the U.S. company Blackwater USA were dragged from their vehicle and killed. Their bodies were then mutilated and burned. A crowd of militants and townsfolk, estimated to number over a thousand, beat and dragged the burnt corpses behind automobiles, then hanged the dismembered remains from the girders of Fallujah's bridge over the Euphrates River. These acts were videotaped by journalists and broadcast worldwide.
In response to the killing of the four Americans, the U.S. military surrounded the city and attempted to capture the individuals responsible and any others in the region who may be involved in insurgency or terrorist activities. The attempt by coalition forces to regain control of Fallujah, Operation Vigilant Resolve, led to about 40 U.S. Marine deaths and at least 470 Iraqi deaths in the fighting. [1]
The pro-American Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that "US troops committed unprecedented war crimes in the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the two first weeks of April. Of the 600 civilians killed by the occupation forces during those 15 days around Fallujah, some 450 were women and children."
One article on the web site from Prensa Latina reporting from Washington commented that the "images of maimed Iraqi children, rows of women's bodies and the scene of a soccer stadium converted into a giant cemetery, ... were only shown by the Qatari television network Al Jazeera."
The Marines even occupied the hospitals, according to Medicins Sans Frontieres, and prevented the injured from receiving medical assistance by placing snipers on terraces to keep people from approaching.
"This was a retaliation operation, carried out by the Marines, supported by F-16 combat planes and combat helicopters, under the code name 'Vigilante Resolve', in revenge for the deaths of four US security guards on March 31," the doctors' organisation stated.
Haaretz pointed out that the four mercenaries' deaths was diffused widely as a propaganda tool by the Pentagon and the US media, while the US troops' crimes in Fallujah were virtually a military secret.
According to the British Independent Newspaper "Since the Anglo-American aggression began in March 2003, more than 16,000 Iraqis have been killed by the invaders in Fallujah, some 10,000 of whom were civilians, a large proportion of them women and children. It is in this context the hatred felt by the majority of Fallujah citizens against US forces must be looked at and calling them resistance fighters is justified."
The occupying force on April 9 allowed more than 70,000 women, children and elderly residents to leave the besieged city, reportedly also allowing males of military age to leave. On April 10, the U.S. military declared a unilateral truce to allow for humanitarian supplies to enter Fallujah. U.S. troops pulled back to the outskirts of the city; local leaders reciprocated the ceasefire, although lower-level intense fighting on both sides continued. An Iraqi mediation team entered the city in an attempt to set up negotiations between the U.S. and local leaders, but as of April 12 had not been successful. The resistance forces capitalized on this 'ceasefire' to conduct the most aggressive counter-offensive of the cordon. Additionally, numerous weapons were found hidden in the humanitarian supply trucks that were attempting to enter the city. [2]
The ceasefire followed a wave of insurgency across southern Iraq, which included the capture of two American soldiers, seven contract employees of Kellogg, Brown and Root, and more than 50 other workers in Iraq. Several of the prisoners were released within days of their capture, while the majority were executed.
The U.S. occupation forces claimed to seek a negotiated settlement but promised to restart its offensive to retake the city if one is not reached. Military commanders said their goal in the siege was to capture those responsible for the numerous deaths of American and Iraqi security personnel. As the siege continued, even though U.S. Marines were under a unilateral ceasefire, insurgents continued to conduct hit-and-run attacks on U.S. Marine positions.
Truce
At the beginning of May, 2004, U.S. troops announced a ceasefire. The U.S. was handing control of the city over to a former Iraqi general with an Iraqi brigade, acknowledging that many of the people under control of the general were insurgents themselves. The general, Major General Muhammed Latif, replaced a U.S. choice, Muhammed Saleh, who was discovered to have been involved in the earlier atrocities against Kurds during the Iran-Iraq war. Latif's militia wore Iraqi military uniforms from Saddam Hussein's era and stated that the United States army needs to leave the country.
Inside the city, mosques proclaimed the victory of the insurgents over the United States. Celebratory banners appeared around the city, and the fighters paraded through the town on trucks. Iraqi governing council member Ahmed Chalabi, after a bombing that killed fellow IGC member Izzadine Saleem, blamed the U.S. military's decisions in Fallujah for the attack, stating "The garage is open and car bombs are coming repeatedly." [3]
Fallujah, according to reporters who have visited, has since become a sort of Islamist mini-state, with Sharia law enforced by the mujahedin. [4]
Counterinsurgency
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Throughout the summer and fall of 2004, the U.S. military conducted sporadic airstrikes on Fallujah, often on residential areas. U.S. forces claimed that these were targeted, intelligence-based strikes against houses used by the group of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an insurgency leader linked to al-Qaida. Civilians were also killed in these attacks.
Fallujah city administrators maintain that Fallujah does not have, nor ever held any insurgents; only civilians.[5] In the first week of Operation Phantom Fury, government spokesman Thair al-Naqeeb said that of the remaining fighters have asked to surrender and that Iraqi authorities "will extend amnesty" to those who have not committed major crimes. [6]
In October and early November, 2004, the U.S. military prepared for a major offensive against the rebel stronghold with stepped up daily aerial attacks using precision-guided munitions against alleged militant "safe houses," restaurants and meeting places in the city. U.S. Marines also engaged in firefights on a daily and nightly basis along the perimeter of the city. There were again conflicting reports of civilian casualties.
On November 7, 2004, the Iraq interim government declared a 60 day state of emergency in preparation for the assault, as insurgents carried out several car bomb attacks in the Fallujah area which killed Iraqi army and police, U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians. The next day Prime Minister Iyad Allawi publicly authorized an offensive in Fallujah and Ramadi to "liberate the people" and "clean Fallujah from the terrorists". U.S. Marines and allied Iraqi soldiers stormed into Fallujah's western outskirts, secured two bridges across the Euphrates, seized a hospital on the outskirts of the city and arrested about 50 men in the hospital. About half the arrested men were later released. A hospital doctor reported that 15 Iraqis were killed and 20 wounded during the overnight incursions. The US armed forces have designated the offensive as Operation Phantom Fury.
US-Iraqi Offensive of Nov 8 2004
Embedded journalists who operate under the close physical supervision of the US army information units and are restricted to a strict censorship have reported the following:
- On November 8, 2004, a force of over 10,000 U.S. and 2000 Iraqi troops began a concentrated assault on Fallujah with air strikes, artillery, armor, and infantry. They seized the rail yards North of the city, and pushed into the city simultaneously from the North, West and Southeast, taking control of the volatile Jolan and Askari districts. Rebel resistance was not as strong as expected, although some rebels fought very hard as they fell back. By nightfall on November 9, 2004, the U.S. troops had reached the heart of the city. U.S. military officials stated that 1,000 to 6,000 insurgents were believed to be in the city, but they did not appear to be well-organized, and fought in small groups, of three to 25. Many insurgents were believed to have slipped away amid widespread reports that the U.S. offensive was coming. During the assault, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers endured sniper fire and destroyed booby traps, but not as many as anticipated. Ten U.S. troops were killed in the fighting and 22 wounded in the first two days of fighting. Insurgent casualty numbers were estimated at 85 to 90 killed or wounded. Several more days of fighting were anticipated as U.S. and Iraqi troops conducted house-to-house searches for weapons, booby traps, and insurgents.
- Reports by the Washington Post suggest that US armed forces used white phosphore granades, creating walls of fire in the city. Doctors working inside Fallujah report seeing melted corpses of suspected inssurgents.
- On November 13 2004 a Red Crescent convoy containing humanitarian aid was barred from entering Fallujah by the U.S. army.
- On November 13 2004, a U.S. soldier was videotaped shooting a wounded, unarmed alleged insurgent to death in a mosque. The incident, which is under investigation, sparked outrage in the entire world. [7]
- On November 14 2004, the Associated Press reported 38 U.S. soldiers killed and 275 wounded during the Fallujah offensive.[8]
- Of the 100 mosques in the city, about 60 were used as fighting positions by the insurgents. The US and Iraqi military swept through all mosques used as fighting positions.
- The amount of arms discovered in Fallujah was thought to be enough to fight a war to take back all of Iraq.
- Some of the tactics used by the insurgents included wearing civilian clothing while attacking, playaing dead and attacking, surrendering and attacking, rigging dead or wounded with bombs, and other acts. In one incident, an insurgent was playing dead and an American Marine shot him twice. This video was captured by an American reporter and shows the true face of the occupation.
See also
External links
- City of Rebellion (BBC)
- Fallujah - City in chaos (CBC)
- Letter from Fallujah to Kofi Annan
- April 2000 Archive of the Iraq Dispatches by Dahr Jamail (News Standard)
- A first person narrative account of hostilities in Fallujah (Rense)
- The 2004 Siege of Fallujah - An interactive guide (The Guardian)
- Raw Video Footage from The US Offensive in Fallujah