Fallujah during the Iraq War
[1] 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.
[3] Although the majority of the residents were Sunni and had supported Saddam Hussein's rule, Fallujah lacked military presence just after his fall.
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.
[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).
After the May 11 disarmament of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq and subsequent protected persons assignment under the Fourth Geneva Convention,[9] the incoming 3rd Infantry Division also began using the large MEK compound adjacent to Dreamland to accommodate its larger troop presence in Fallujah.
[12] 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.
[14] The four contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague, were dragged from their cars, beaten, and set ablaze.
[16] 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.
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.
[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.
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[25] against militant "safe houses," restaurants and meeting places in the city.
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.
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.
[27] 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.
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.
"[41] 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.
[47] Residents were allowed to return to the city in mid-December after undergoing biometric identification, provided they carried their ID cards at all times.
According to Mike Marqusee of Iraq Occupation Focus writing in The Guardian,[50] "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.
[51] 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.
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.
