The town lies near the Buhayrat al Qadisiyyah, an artificial lake which was created by the building of the Haditha Dam, the largest hydroelectric facility in Iraq.

They claim locals built water wheels to establish a limited aqueduct system similar to the one that served Rome.

An attack on the dam would have severely flooded towns along the Euphrates downstream from Haditha, as well as eliminating an important source of electricity.

According to an August 2005 report by The Guardian, the town was controlled by insurgents, with US forces making only fleeting visits every few months.

Like Al-Qa'im, it had come under a Taliban-like rule, with Sharia law being imposed and Western-style items banned and insurgents collecting the salaries of government employees.

In 2009, a federal appeals court ruled that Murtha was immune from the lawsuit because he was acting in his official role as a lawmaker when he made the comments to reporters.

[13] Lt Colonel Jeffrey Chessani, the highest-ranking officer accused over the incident, had been charged with dereliction of duty for failing to order a war crimes investigation into the killings.

The charges were dismissed in 2008 on the grounds General James Mattis, who was responsible for overseeing the prosecutions, had been unduly influenced by his top legal aide, then-Colonel John Ewers, who had been the investigator into the incident.

In exchange, he plead guilty to one count of dereliction of duty for telling his squad to "shoot first and ask questions later," and was demoted to the rank of private.

[16] The plea agreement caused anger in Iraq, with the Iraqi government saying it "did not fit the crime" and that they would look for other legal avenues they could pursue.

The progress was evident when an American Congressional Delegation visited the town in August and found full shops and friendly people.

Also planned is keeping the hydro-electric dam functioning and rebuild capacity with the help of US led coalition forces, to re-open a local oil refinery, again with significant funding and technical advice from Coalition forces and provincial reconstruction teams headquartered in Ramadi and Al Asad, to rebuild two dams over the Euphrates River, man a large (and apparently effective) police force, establish regular ambulance service, re-equip and run their hospital, open an asphalt factory, re-open schools with basic refurbishments complete, fill the offices of their local government, expand their local markets, begin rebuilding a local marble factory.

Al Jazeera's Iraq editor Hamed Hadeed said Haditha plays a major role in the country's conflict because of its strategic location and unparalleled resistance to ISIL: "Haditha serves as a significant transportation route between the western regions of Anbar, the central province of Salahuddin, and northern governorate of Nineveh.