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The Iraq War: History, Causes, Events, and Controversy

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The Iraq War: History, Causes, Events, and Controversy

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The US is withdrawing the last of its troops from Iraq, the final phase in the eight-year operation which has cost billions of dollars and many thousands of lives.

The onus of ensuring Iraq's security and rebuilding the devastated country now rests with Iraqi leaders.

Almost every figure related to the war is disputed, with none more keenly debated than the total number of Iraqi deaths. This is a summary of some of the key numbers and the arguments surrounding them.

TROOP LEVELS

US troops led the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, in coalition with the UK and other nations.

The numbers of US "boots on the ground" have mostly fluctuated between 100-150,000 apart from the period of the "surge" in 2007.

This was President George W Bush's drive to improve security in the country, especially in the capital Baghdad, by sending in 30,000 extra troops.

Barack Obama made withdrawal from Iraq a key pledge in his presidential election campaign of 2008 and troop numbers have steadily fallen since he took office in January 2009.

On 19 August 2010, the last US combat brigade left the country, leaving behind 50,000 military personnel involved in the transition process.

British forces peaked at 46,000 during the invasion phase and then fell away year on year to 4,100 in May 2009 when the UK formally withdrew from Iraq.

The Royal Navy continued to train the Iraqi Navy until May 2011. The UK's presence in Iraq is now only as part of the Nato Training Mission - Iraq. That includes 44 military personnel, including a contingent at the Iraqi Military Academy.

CASUALTIES

By 31 August 2010, when the last US combat troops left, 4,421 had been killed, of which 3,492 were killed in action. Almost 32,000 had been wounded in action.

Since then, in what was called Operation New Dawn, 66 have died, of which 38 were killed in action. Three hundred and five have been wounded in action since 1 September 2010.

The UK lost 179 servicemen and women, of which 136 were killed in action.

While coalition troop fatalities are reasonably well documented, deaths of Iraqi civilians and combatants are more difficult to track because of a lack of reliable official figures. All counts and estimates of Iraqi deaths are highly disputed.

According to IBC there have been between 97,461 and 106,348 civilian deaths up to July 2010.

The most bloody period for civilian deaths was the month of invasion, March 2003, in which IBC says 3,977 ordinary Iraqis lost their lives. A further 3,437 were killed in April of that year.

Both this and the Family Health Survey include deaths of Iraqi combatants as well as civilians.

An unknown number of civilian contractors have also been killed in Iraq. Icasualties publishes what it describes as a partial list with the figure of 467.

The financial scale of the war is another area in which figures vary widely.

The UK has funded its part in the conflict from the Treasury Reserve Fund which is extra money on top of the normal Ministry of Defence budget.

Whitehall figures released in June 2010 put the cost of British funding of the Iraq conflict at £9.24bn ($14.32bn), the vast majority of which was for the military but which also included £557m ($861m) in aid.

Sectarian violence in the conflict began to grow from early 2005. But the destruction of an important Shia shrine in February 2006 saw attacks between Sunni and Shia militias increase dramatically. This caused many Iraqi families to abandon their homes and move to other areas within the country or to flee abroad.

Of that total, nearly 400,000 people had returned by mid 2010, primarily to Baghdad, Diyala, Ninewa, and Anbar provinces, according to the IOM.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

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The US is withdrawing the last of its troops from Iraq, the final phase in the eight-year operation which has cost billions of dollars and many thousands of lives. The onus of ensuring Iraq's security and rebuilding the devastated country now rests with Iraqi leaders.

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Militant groups employ suicide bombing not only for the practical reasons described above but also for broader strategic goals. The Canadian political scientist Mia Bloom noted that suicide bombings are frequently part of a competition between groups for legitimacy, as when the Islamic group Hamas used the willingness of some of its members to kill themselves in attacks against Israel to claim moral superiority over the ruling political party, Fatah, within the Palestinian Authority. Pape, on the other hand, pointed out that suicide bombing can be an effective method to pressure democracies to quit foreign interventions, as happened in the withdrawal of Western forces from Lebanon after 1983 and in India's decision not to reintroduce military forces into Sri Lanka after Gandhi's assassination in 1991. Whatever their long-range goals, it is clear that the leaders of some groups, as part of their campaigns to exploit political, social, and economic conditions, utilize suicide bombing in a rational and calculated manner. Yet the success of the tactic does not always translate into success within a strategy of political violence, for suicide bombing is a double-edged sword. If used too frequently and too indiscriminately, it can become less shocking over time and can even alienate the populations that militants need to sustain their long-term struggle. For instance, according to a Pew Global Attitudes study, the very people in Muslim countries who looked favourably upon suicide bombing in 2002, including residents of Lebanon, Indonesia, and Pakistan, clearly expressed their rejection of suicide bombing as a tactic some five years later.

Confronting suicide bombing

As is noted above, suicide bombing is an effective tactic of political violence in part because it is difficult to stop. Despite the difficulty, states confronting suicide attacks must take measures to prevent them. Such measures can be active or offensive, ranging from aggressive law enforcement (including the profiling of select population and age groups) to violent counterterrorist missions against cells, organizations, and leaders. Other measures can be passive or defensive; these might range from highway checkpoints and screening of airline passengers to legal measures against travel or even to the building of walls and fences in order to control movement. Regardless of what measures are used, they must be balanced against the gravity of the threat, lest they erode the values of the community or society under siege and thus cause more damage than the worst suicide attack. For example, although Israel's security fence, construction of which began in 2002, effectively reduced suicide bombings within Israel, the system of walls and barriers in the West Bank significantly reduced international support and sympathy for Israel in its continuing struggle against Palestinian radicals. Within the United States the ability of the National Security Agency to conduct "warrantless wiretapping," or electronic monitoring of domestic communication, led legislators and civil liberty groups to declare that such powers endanger due process and the personal freedoms guaranteed by law.
James Kiras

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Suicide bombing - Suicide bombing as a strategic weapon

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Militant groups employ suicide bombing not only for the practical reasons described above but also for broader strategic goals. The Canadian political scientist Mia Bloom noted that suicide bombings are frequently part of a competition between groups for legitimacy, as when the Islamic group Hamas used the willingness of some of its members to kill themselves in attacks against Israel to claim moral superiority over the ruling political party, Fatah, within the Palestinian Authority.

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Iraq: Baghdad suicide bomb attack dead rises to 165 - BBC News

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Why Is Iraq's Green Zone So Controversial?

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President Bush Announces Start of Iraq War

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President Bush Announces Start of Iraq War

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President Bush Announces Start of Iraq War

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The United States bombardment of Fallujah began in April 2003, one month after the beginning of the invasion of Iraq. In April 2003 United States forces fired on a group of demonstrators who were protesting against the US presence. US forces alleged they were fired at first, but Human Rights Watch, who visited the site of the protests, concluded that physical evidence did not corroborate US allegations and confirmed the residents' accusations that the US forces fired indiscriminately at the crowd with no provocation. 17 people were killed and 70 were wounded. In a later incident, US soldiers fired on protesters again; Fallujah's mayor, Taha Bedaiwi al-Alwani, said that two people were killed and 14 wounded. Iraqi insurgents were able to claim the city a year later, before they were ousted by a siege and two assaults by US forces. These events caused widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis in the city and surrounding areas. As of 2004, the city was largely ruined, with 60% of buildings damaged or destroyed, and the population at 30%-50% of pre-war levels.

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. When the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion / 2nd Brigade 82nd Airborne entered the town on April 23, 2003, they positioned themselves at the vacated Ba'ath Party headquarters, a local school house, and the Ba'ath party resort just outside town ( Dreamland)-the US bases inside the town erased some goodwill, especially when many in the city had been hoping the US Army would stay outside of the relatively calm city.

On the evening of April 28, 2003, several hundred residents defied the US curfew and marched down the streets of Fallujah, past the soldiers positioned in the former Ba'ath party headquarters, to protest the military presence inside the local school. US soldiers fired upon the crowd, killing as many as 17 and wounding more than 70 of the protesters. US soldiers alleged that they were returning fire, but protesters stated they were unarmed. Independent observers from a human rights group found no evidence that US forces had come under attack. The US suffered no casualties from the incident.

Two days later, on April 30, the 82d Airborne was replaced in the city by Fox Troop from 2nd squadron of the / U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. The 3rd Cavalry was significantly smaller in number and chose not to occupy the same schoolhouse where the shooting had occurred two days earlier. On the same day soldiers shot three protesters in front of U.S. Forward Operating Base "Laurie," established in the former Ba'ath party headquarters, and next to the Mayor's office. At this point in time the 3rd Cavalry controlled all of Al Anbar province, and it became evident a larger force was needed. The now battalion-sized element of the 3rd Cavalry (2nd squadron) in Fallujah was replaced by the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division.[citation needed ]

During the summer, the US Army decided to close down its last remaining base inside the city (the Ba'ath party headquarters; FOB Laurie). At this point the 3d ACR had all of its forces stationed outside Fallujah in the former Baathist resort, Dreamland. After the May 11 surrender of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, the incoming 3d Infantry Division also began using the large MEK compound adjacent to Dreamland to accommodate its larger troop presence in Fallujah. Under its control, the 3rd Infantry Division maintained no bases inside the city of Fallujah.

On 30 June a "huge explosion" occurred in a mosque in which the imam, Sheikh Laith Khalil, and eight other people were killed. Residents of the city stated the army fired a missile at the mosque, while U.S. Colonel Joseph Disalvo stated that the explosion took place in a building adjacent to the mosque. Just a couple of days earlier things had been much quieter, although US troops had been confiscating motorbikes as a preventive measure against terrorist attacks.

Two months after the 3rd Infantry took control of Fallujah from the 3rd Cavalry, it was redeployed home. The 3rd Cavalry again assumed control of Fallujah with only one squadron. Attached to that Squadron was the 115th MP Company from the Rhode Island Army National Guard. The 115th MPs made routine patrols and frequent house raids searching for insurgents and weapons caches. In September 2003, the 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne was deployed to replace the 3rd Cavalry in Ramadi and Fallujah. The 3rd Cavalry was then left to control all of the al-Anbar province except for these two cities.

Approximately one year after the invasion, the city's Iraqi police and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps were unable to establish order. Insurgents launched many attacks, some on police stations in the city, killing at least 20 police officers. Beginning in early March 2004, the Army's 82nd Airborne Division commanded by Major-General Charles H. Swannack Jr. gave a transfer of authority of the al-Anbar province to the I Marine Expeditionary Force commanded by Lt. General Conway. The 3rd Cavalry and the 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne were then sent home.

On 24 March 2004, within hours of taking over control from the 82nd Airborne, the US Marines were drawn into running gun battles with insurgents, the Marines found themselves using these firefights to test the strength of the insurgents in various neighbourhoods. On 27 March, a JSOC surveillance team in Fallujah was compromised and had to shoot its way out of trouble.

Attack on contractors

On March 31, 2004 - Iraqi insurgents from the Brigades of Martyr Ahmed Yassin in Fallujah ambushed a convoy containing four American private military contractors employed by Blackwater USA, who were at the time guarding a convoy carrying kitchen supplies to a military base, for the catering company Eurest Support Services Intelligence reports concluded that Ahmad Hashim Abd al-Isawi was the mastermind behind the attack.

The four contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague, were dragged from their cars, beaten, and set ablaze. Their burned corpses were then dragged through the streets before being hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates.

In response to the killing of the four US citizens, and intense political pressure, the US Marines commenced Operation Vigilant Resolve. They surrounded the city and attempted to capture the individuals responsible as well as others in the region who might have been involved in insurgencies. One out of every two mosques in Fallujah were used to hide fighters or weapons. The Iraqi National Guard was supposed to work alongside the US Marines in the operation, but on the dawn of the invasion they discarded their uniforms and deserted. Under pressure from the Iraqi Governing Council, the US aborted its attempt to regain control of Fallujah. The US Marines suffered 40 deaths in the siege. Estimates of the number of Iraqi deaths (both fighters and civilians) in the attack range from 271 (according to Iraqi Ministry of Health officials) to 731 (according to Rafie al-Issawi, the head of the local hospital).

The occupying force on April 9 allowed more than 70,000 women, children and elderly residents to leave the besieged city. On April 10, the US military declared a unilateral truce to allow for humanitarian supplies to enter Fallujah. US troops pulled back to the outskirts of the city. An Iraqi mediation team entered the city in an attempt to set up negotiations between US forces and local leaders, but as of April 12 had not been successful. At least one US battalion had orders to shoot any male of military age on the streets after dark, armed or not. In violation of the Geneva Convention, the city's main hospital was closed by Marines, negating its use, and a US sniper was placed on top of the hospital's water tower.

The ceasefire followed a wave of insurgency activity across southern Iraq, which included the capture of two US soldiers, seven employees of US military contractor 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.[citation needed ]

The US forces ostensibly sought to negotiate a settlement but promised to restart its offensive to retake the city if one was not reached. Military commanders said their goal in the siege was to capture those responsible for the numerous deaths of US and Iraqi security personnel. As the siege continued, insurgents conducted hit-and-run attacks on US Marine positions. The Marines had announced a unilateral ceasefire.[citation needed ]

At the beginning of May 2004, the US Marine Corps announced a ceasefire due to intense political pressure. Most of the fighting was limited to the southern industrial district, which had the lowest population density inside the city limits and the northwest corner of the city in the Jolan district. There were also Marine battalions in the northeast and southern portion of the city. While both sides began preparations to resume offensives, General Conway took a risk and handed control of the city to a former Iraqi general with roughly 1,000 men who then formed the Fallujah Brigade, while acknowledging that many of the people under control of the general were probably insurgents themselves (no verification was provided). The general, Major General Muhammed Latif, replaced a US choice, Jasim Mohammed Saleh, who was alleged to have been involved in the earlier atrocities against Kurds during the Iran-Iraq War. The ceasefire terms were to give control of Fallujah to General Latif on condition that Fallujah becomes a secure region for coalition forces and halt incoming mortar and rocket attacks on the nearby US bases. Latif's militia wore Iraqi military uniforms from the Hussein era. Another tenet of the cease-fire was the establishment of a Traffic Control Point (TCP) on the eastern side of the city just west of the "cloverleaf". This TCP was constantly manned by a platoon of Marines and a platoon from the Iraqi National Guard and saw almost daily firefights for the rest of the summer.

Inside the city, mosques proclaimed the victory of the insurgents over the United States.[citation needed ] 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 US military's decisions in Fallujah for the attack, stating "The garage is open and car bombs are coming repeatedly."

Fallujah, according to reporters who have visited in mid-summer, had since become a sort of Islamist mini-state, with Sharia law enforced by mujahedin.[citation needed ] Owners of shops that sold US-style magazine and barbers who offered " Western-style" haircuts were beaten and publicly humiliated. Inter-faction fighting was also rampant. The Fallujah Brigade was soon marginalized and ceased to be more than another faction in what had effectively become a no-go area for coalition troops.

Throughout the summer and fall of 2004, the U.S. military conducted sporadic airstrikes on Fallujah. U.S. forces reported that all were confirmed targeted, intelligence-based strikes against houses used by the group of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an insurgency leader linked to al-Qaida.

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 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.

CNN incorrectly reported on October 14, 2004, that the US offensive assault on Fallujah had begun and broadcast a report from a young Marine outside Fallujah, 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert, who announced that "troops have crossed the line of departure." Hours later, CNN reported their Pentagon reporters had determined that the assault had not, in fact, begun. The Los Angeles Times reported on December 1, 2004, that, according to several unnamed Pentagon officials, the Marine's announcement was a feint-part of an elaborate "psychological operation" ( PSYOP) to determine the Fallujah rebels' reactions if they believed attack was imminent.

On November 7, 2004, the U.S.-appointed 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. Marines 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". Marines, U.S. Army soldiers 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.

In the first week of Operation Phantom Fury, government spokesman Thair al-Naqeeb said that many of the remaining fighters have asked to surrender and that Iraqi authorities "will extend amnesty" to those who have not committed major crimes. At the same time, US forces prevented male refugees from leaving the combat zone, and the city was placed under a strict night-time shoot-to-kill curfew with anyone spotted in the Marines' night vision sights shot.

U.S.-Iraqi offensive of November 7, 2004

Journalists embedded with U.S. military units, although limited in what they may report, have reported the following:

On November 8, 2004, a force of around 2,000 U.S. and 600 Iraqi troops began a concentrated assault on Fallujah with air strikes, artillery, armor, and infantry. The New York Times reported that within an hour of the start of the ground attack, troops seized the Fallujah General Hospital. "Patients and hospital employees were rushed out of rooms by armed soldiers and ordered to sit or lie on the floor while troops tied their hands behind their backs". Noam Chomsky in his book Failed States commented that according to the Geneva Conventions, medical establishments "may in no circumstance be attacked, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict." Troops seized the rail yards North of the city, and pushed into the city simultaneously from the North and West taking control of the volatile Jolan and Askari districts. By nightfall on November 9, 2004, the U.S. troops had almost 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, they appear to be 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, Marines and Iraqi soldiers endured sniper fire and destroyed booby traps, much more than 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.

On 9 November, CNN Correspondent Karl Penhaul reported the use of cluster bombs in the offensive: "The sky over Fallujah seems to explode as U.S. Marines launch their much-trumpeted ground assault. War planes drop cluster bombs on insurgent positions and artillery batteries fire smoke rounds to conceal a Marine advance."

November 10, 2004 reports by The Washington Post suggested U.S. armed forces used white phosphorus grenades and/or artillery shells, creating walls of fire in the city. Doctors working inside Fallujah report seeing melted corpses of suspected insurgents. The use of WP ammunition was confirmed from various independent sources, including U.S. troops who had suffered WP burns due to friendly fire. On November 16, 2005, The Independent reported that Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable "disclosed that (white phosphorus) had been used to dislodge enemy fighters from entrenched positions in the city"..."We use them primarily as obscurants, for smokescreens or target marking in some cases. However, it is an incendiary weapon and may be used against enemy combatants." But a day before, Robert Tuttle, the U.S. ambassador to London, denied that white phosphorus was deployed as a weapon: "US forces do not use napalm or white phosphorus as weapons."

On November 13, 2004 a Red Crescent convoy containing humanitarian aid was delayed from entering Fallujah by the U.S. army.

On November 13, 2004, a U.S. Marine with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines was videotaped killing a wounded combatant in a mosque. The incident, which came under investigation, created controversy throughout the world. The man was shot at close range after he and several other wounded insurgents had previously been left behind overnight in the mosque by the U.S. Marines. The Marine shooting the man had been mildly injured by insurgents in the same mosque the day before.

In May 2005, it was announced that the Marine would not face a court-martial. In a statement, Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, commanding general of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, said that a review of the evidence had shown that the shooting was "consistent with the established rules of engagement and the law of armed conflict."

On November 16, 2004, a Red Cross official told Inter Press Service that "at least 800 civilians" had been killed in Fallujah and indicated that "they had received several reports from refugees that the military had dropped cluster bombs in Fallujah, and used a phosphorus weapon that caused severe burns."

As of November 18, 2004, the U.S. military reported 1,200 insurgents killed and 1,000 captured. U.S. casualties were 51 killed and 425 wounded, and the Iraqi forces were 8 killed and 43 wounded.

On December 2, 2004, the U.S. death toll in Fallujah operation reached 71 killed.

Some of the tactics said to be used by the insurgents included playing dead and attacking, surrendering and attacking, and rigging dead or wounded with bombs. In the November 13th incident mentioned above, the U.S. Marine alleged the insurgent was playing dead.

Of the 100 mosques in the city, about 60 were used as fighting positions by the insurgents.[citation needed ] The U.S. and Iraqi military swept through all mosques used as fighting positions, destroying them, leading to great resentment from local residents.

In 2005, the U.S. military admitted that it used white phosphorus as an anti-personnel weapon in Fallujah.

On 17 May 2011, AFP reported that 21 bodies, in black body-bags marked with letters and numbers in Roman script had been recovered from a mass grave in al-Maadhidi cemetery in the centre of the city. Fallujah police chief Brigadier General Mahmud al-Essawi said that they had been blindfolded, their legs had been tied and they had suffered gunshot wounds. The Mayor, Adnan Husseini said that the manner of their killing, as well as the body bags, indicated that US forces had been responsible. Both al-Essawi and Husseini agreed that the dead had been killed in 2004. The US Military declined to comment.

Residents were allowed to return to the city in mid-December after undergoing biometric identification, provided they carry their ID cards all the time. US officials report that "more than half of Fallujah's 39,000 homes were damaged, and about 10,000 of those were destroyed." Compensation amounts to 20 percent of the value of damaged houses, with an estimated 32,000 homeowners eligible, according to Marine Lt. Col. William Brown. According to the NBC, 9,000 homes were destroyed, thousands more were damaged and of the 32,000 compensation claims only 2,500 had been paid as of April 14, 2005. According to Mike Marqusee of Iraq Occupation Focus writing in The Guardian, "Falluja's compensation commissioner has reported that 36,000 of the city's 50,000 homes were destroyed, along with 60 schools and 65 mosques and shrines". Reconstruction is only progressing slowly and mainly consists of clearing rubble from heavily damaged areas and reestablishing basic utility services. This is also due to the fact that only 10% of the pre-offensive inhabitants had returned as of mid-January, and only 30% as of the end of March 2005.

Health effects

Research by Chris Busby, Malak Hamdan and Entesar Ariabi published in 2010 lent credibility to anecdotal news reports of increases in birth defects and cancer after the fighting in 2004. Results from a survey of 711 households in Fallujah on cancer, birth defects and infant mortality suggested that large increases in cancer and infant mortality had occurred. Responses to the questionnaire also suggested an anomalous mean birth sex ratio in children born a year after the fighting, indicating that environmental contamination occurred in 2004. Although the authors said the use of depleted uranium as a possible source of relevant exposure, they emphasized that there could be other possibilities and that their results did not identify the agent(s) responsible for the increased levels of illness.

In early January 2014, Iraq's Fallujah had "fallen completely" out of the Iraqi government's control. The center of the city was reportedly in control of fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. While some families were fleeing Fallujah, others waited for ISIS to take over Ramadi. Despite reports stating ISIS was behind the unrest, The Christian Science Monitor journalist Dan Murphy disputed this allegation and claimed that while ISIS fighters have maintained a presence in the city, various tribal militias who sympathized with the ideas of nationalism and were opposed to both the Iraqi government and ISIS controlled the largest share of area in Fallujah. On January 14, tribal chieftains in the province acknowledged "revolutionary tribesmen" were behind the uprising in Fallujah and other parts of Anbar and announced they would support them unless Maliki agreed to cease the ongoing military crackdowns on tribesmen. In June 2016, Fallujah was retaken by Iraqi forces after a 3 month long siege.

U.S. operations in Fallujah

United States Army led operations in Fallujah

U.S. Marine led operations in Fallujah

American Sniper, is a 2014 American biographical war drama film directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Jason Hall.

Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre, a documentary detailing the alleged use of white phosphorus and Mk-77 by the U.S. Army against civilians in the city. (Google Video)

No True Glory, a Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah based on the book by Bing West scheduled for release in 2008, starring Harrison Ford as General Mattis. As of February 2010, the IMDb has no trace of this film project.

Occupation: Dreamland Documentary film (2005)

Delta Farce Comedy (2007) about Army reservists deployed to Fallujah, but who are accidentally airdropped elsewhere.

Falluja, April 2004, a documentary film by Toshikuni Doi

"Inside the Resistance", a documentary film by Tara Sutton

"Fallujah Forensics", a documentary film by Tara Sutton

1. Iraq: U.S. Should Investigate al-Falluja (Report). Human Rights Watch. June 17, 2003. The 18-page report... challenges the U.S. military's assertion that its troops came under direct fire from individuals in the crowd of protesters on April 28. Human Rights Watch found no conclusive evidence of bullet damage on the school where the soldiers were based. In contrast, buildings facing the school had extensive multi-caliber bullet impacts that were inconsistent with U.S. assertions that soldiers had responded with "precision fire."

2. ^ Firstbrook, Clinton. "Newfound Respect - A Combat Correspondent's Tale of the Battle for Fallujah" (PDF). US Marines Magazine. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 1, 2006.

3. ^ Blair, Edmund (29 April 2003). "Anger Mounts After U.S. Troops Kill 13 Iraqi Protesters". Reuters. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013.

4. Urban, Mark, ^ Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq , St. Martin's Griffin , 2012 ISBN 1-250-00696-1 ISBN 978-1-250-00696-7,p.58

5. ^ Deignan, Tom (December 22, 2013). "Navy SEALS tragedy in Afghanistan chronicled in new film, "Lone Survivors"". IrishCentral.

6. ^ Early Target of Offensive Is a Hospital The New York Times, 8 November 2004.

7. ^ Chomsky, Noam (2006). Failed States: The Abuse of Power and The Assault on Democracy (First Holt Paperbacks Edition 2007 ed.). New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-8050-8284-5.

8. ^ "US forces used 'chemical weapon' in Iraq". The Independent. London. 2005-11-16. Archived from the original on 2008-01-01.

9. ^ Busby, Chris; Hamdan, Malak; Ariabi, Entesar (6 July 2010). "Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005-2009". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 7 (7): 2828-2837. doi:10.3390/ijerph7072828. PMC . PMID 20717542.

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Fallujah during the Iraq War - Wikipedia

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The United States bombardment of Fallujah began in April 2003, one month after the beginning of the invasion of Iraq. In April 2003 United States forces fired on a group of demonstrators who were protesting against the US presence.

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Iraq War Veterans, 20 Years Later: ‘I Don’t Know How to Explain the War to Myself’ | Op-Docs

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The Purple Heart - One of the Most Important Decorations of the American Army - See U in History

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The Purple Heart - One of the Most Important Decorations of the American Army - See U in History #Shorts #SeeUinHistory #History