by Bing West
CHAPTER 23
country . . . Craig Whitlock, “Iraqi Soccer Team Pitched Aside by Paraguay in Semis,” Washington Post, August 25, 2004, p. D1.
best people . . . Grant Wahl, “Iraqi Soccer Players Angered by Bush Campaign Ads,” Sports Illustrated, August 19, 2004.
twelve thousand trained . . . Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “Demise of Iraqi Units Symbolic of US Errors,” Washington Post, September 25, 2004, p. A1.
to $6.6 billion . . . David S. Cloud and Greg Jaffe, “US Diplomat Wants More Funds for Iraqi Security,” Wall Street Journal, August 30, 2004, p. A1.
dismembered . . . Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “Allawi Holds Meetings with Insurgents,” Washington Post, August 30, 2004, p. A1.
from scratch . . . Chandrasekaran, “Demise of Iraqi Units Symbolic of U.S. Errors,” Washington Post.
for nothing . . . Stephanie Barry, [email protected], September 5, 2004.
Jerry L. Durrant . . . Alissa J. Rubin, “Ineffective Iraqi Force in Falluja Disbanded,” Los Angeles Times, September 11, 2004, p. A1.
Rumsfeld . . . Alissa Rubin and Doyle McManus, “Why America Has Waged a Losing Battle on Fallujah,” Los Angeles Times, October 24, 2004, p. 1.
Myers . . . Press Conference, Pentagon, September 28, 2004.
police . . . Stephen Farrell, “Allawi Lays Down His Law,” Australian, September 14, 2004, p. 1.
CPA did . . . Ibid.
Marine side . . . UPI, “Only Four in Fallujah Brigade Join US Side,” October 11, 2004.
cancer of Fallujah . . . Dexter Filkins, “U.S. Plans Year-End Drive to Take Iraqi Rebel Areas,” New York Times, September 19, 2004.
voted ten to two . . .Karl Vick, “Fallujah Group Comes to Table,” Washington Post, October 7, 2004, p. A14.
over Zarqawi . . . F. J. Bing West, “This Time a Fight to the Finish?” Los Angeles Times, October 17, 2004.
suicide bomber . . . Associated Press, October 30, 2004.
CHAPTER 24
drifting . . . Beth Gardiner, Associated Press, “Iraq Won’t Allow Falluja to Remain Under Insurgent Control,” September 30, 2004.
martyrs . . . Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong? (Phoenix Books, 2002), p. 10.
playing favorites . . . The collegial cooperation between the army and Marines, which seemed so normal, had taken a century to achieve. In World War I, concerned that the Marines might emerge as a second army, the revered Army General “Black Jack” Pershing refused to permit Marine units to fight together as a unified division. As World War II drew to a close, relations between the army and Marines in the battle on Okinawa were so bitter that General George C. Marshall pledged that army soldiers would never again fight under a Marine general. In Vietnam the overall commander, General William C. Westmoreland, reported to Washington that he distrusted Marine operations, and his successor, General Creighton Abrams, refused to accept a Marine general as his deputy, accusing the Marines of “inertia” and “pedestrian tactics.” See Lewis Sorley, Thunderbolt: General Creighton Abrams and the Army of His Times (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), pp. 208–209, 390–391.
Vietnam rocked both services to their core, as disgruntled draftees threatened established traditions and discipline. Both services rallied and by the mid-1980s had forged stronger organizations and new war-fighting concepts. In NATO Europe the army championed an Air-Land Doctrine for coordinating massive volumes of firepower to destroy the massive Soviet Army. The Marines, reacting against the search-and-destroy tactics of Vietnam, developed a Maneuver Warfare doctrine that relied upon speed to seize objectives along the world’s littorals. Army and Marine officers met to exchange ideas, while Congress passed the Goldwater-Nichols Bill, which transferred power from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the theater commanders.
The result was that in the first Gulf War in 1991, the CentCom commander, General Norman Schwarzkopf, praised the Marines for the speed of their two-division attack, carried out according to Maneuver Warfare principles. And in April 2003, the march of the 1st Marine Division to Baghdad proceeded with remarkable speed, again applying Maneuver Warfare.
But while the two Gulf Wars (1991 and 2003) erased mutual suspicions between the two services and proved the soundness of joint planning at the high level, each service fought as a separate entity at the division level. During the attack on Baghdad in 2003 the 1st Marine Division, the 82nd Airborne Division, and the 3rd Infantry Division fought in their own individual battle spaces.
In the August battle in Najaf and the November battle for Fallujah, the operational cooperation between the two services reached a new zenith: Marine and army battalions fought side by side.
politicized . . . Patrick Cockburn, “Falluja: The Homecoming and the Homeless,” Independent, December 11, 2004.
battalions . . . Order of Battle for Operation Phantom Fury.
p. 261 UAVs . . . Eric Schmitt, “Remotely Controlled Aircraft Crowd Dangerous Iraqi and Afghan Skies,” New York Times, April 5, 2005, p. A9.
CHAPTER 25
surged forward and swept south . . . On the west end of the city Battalion 3/5 led off. At the same time, one kilometer to the east, the tanks and Bradleys of Task Force 2-7 charged south from the railroad station, followed by Battalion 3/1. After relieving pressure on a team from 2nd Force Recon Company, already fighting in the city, 2-7 headed toward Jolan Park. Farther to the east Regimental Combat Team 7 sent an army armored battalion (2-2) through the berm, headed for Highway 10, followed by two Marine infantry battalions (1/8 and 1/3) advancing roughly abreast.
wiping . . . Malay’s wiper was his three rifle companies advancing abreast, with his executive officer, Major Todd Desgrosseilliers, moving behind the companies with huge D-9 bulldozers to crush shooters trapped in bypassed buildings and engineers to blow the monstrous munitions caches. “We’re the old Green Bay Packers sweep,” Major Robert Piddock, the operations officer, said. “The opposition knows we’re coming, and there’s not a damn thing they can do to stop us.”
CHAPTER 26
Battalion 1/8 . . . “The magnificent bastards” is a sobriquet from its past. At Tarawa in 1944 eight hundred Marines waded across a thousand yards of reef covered by Japanese machine guns; 450 men made it to the beach. See William Manchester, Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1979), p. 239.
Marine Corps ROTC . . . The correct technical term is “Navy ROTC with a Marine Corps option,” because the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps are separate branches of the Department of the Navy. The U.S. Marine Corps is the senior branch, organized by an act of Congress on November 10, 1775.
CHAPTER 28
journalist . . . Kevin Sites, “Open Letter to 3/1 Marines,” November 17, 2004, www.kevinsites.net.
body parts . . . Jackie Spinner, “Military Believes Zarqawi Headquarters Found,” Washington Post, November 18, 2004, p. A1.
letters from Zarqawi . . . Robert F. Worth and Edward Wong, “House in Fallujah Seems to Have Been Base for Jordanian Terrorist,” New York Times, November 18, 2004, p. A1.
Ford Explorer . . . Jackie Spinner, op. cit., p. 1
Zarqawi complex . . . Rowan Scarborough, “U.S. Declares Insurgency ‘Broken,’ ” Washington Times, November 19, 2004, p. A1.
handed us over . . . John F. Burns, “Tape Condemns Sunni Muslim Clerics,” New York Times, November 25, 2004, p. A1.
75 to 100 buildings . . . Data provided by RCT 1 air officers in ops center at Camp Fallujah, July 28, 2004.
main gun rounds . . . Ordnance data provided by division ops center air officers and MEF Lessons Learned team at Camp Fallujah, November 28, 2004.
buildings were damaged . . . Ann Scott Tyson, “Increased Security in Fallujah Slows Down Efforts to Rebuild,” Washington Post, April 19, 2005, p. A15.
Wounded . . . MEF statistics for Operation Dawn, provided to author on March 21, 2005.
EPILOGUE
inches . . . Tony Perry, “Polls Stand Empty in Sunni Stronghold,” Los Angeles Times, January 31, 2005, p.
A1.
a year ago . . . Gen Myers, Press Conference, Pentagon, April 26, 2005.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
____
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
____
FROM THE TIME SADDAM FELL IN April 2003 through the Iraqi election in January 2005, twenty American and four Iraqi battalions battled in and around Fallujah. In preparing this book, I made five trips to that city, spending about five months with many of the battalions. Over the course of sixteen months, I interviewed or observed at close hand on operations more than seven hundred soldiers and Marines in the Fallujah area. Many interviews extended over weeks, and the Internet was a tremendous tool for checking back about firefights and battles. As word spread, I received a steady stream of e-mails from soldiers and Marines, some poignant, some hilarious, and all filled with that cocky grunt spirit that pervades American infantry battalions.
Regrettably, sheer space and the demands of narrative coherence made it impossible to include many of the stories or to write of every unit. Mr. John Ripley and the Marine Corps Historical Division are hard at work writing the definitive accounts of Najaf and Fallujah, to include all units in those battles.
Mr. John Flicker of Bantam Books performed an absolutely superb job as editor. A former scout team leader in the 82nd Airborne with a strong work ethic, Flicker worked tirelessly to trim and shape this book. My agent, Dan Mandel, provided, per usual, sage advice.
And special thanks are due to Janet Biehl for the careful copyediting and to Betsy Regan for constant encouragement and valued critiques of the draft manuscript.
WITH APPRECIATION
LtCol Abbas Col Mohamed
LtCol Abas LCpl Christopher Abeita
Lt Bryan Abell Mr Khalid Aboud
1/Lt Elliot Ackerman LCpl Thomas Adametz
LtCol John Adams Maj Adham
Mr Ahmed Capt Hamed Alaysh
LCpl Merardo Alcaraz HM2 Philip Alexanian
Col Saad Al-Harbia LtCol Muhamed Ali Hussein
LtCol Almaleky Capt Steven Alvarez
Cpl Steven Andaluz Mr Gary Anderson
LCpl Jeremiah Anderson LCpl Eduardo Arias
Lt Douglas Arugman LCpl Patrick Ashby
Mr Frank Atkins Sgt Juan Avalos
Capt Mark Baaden Capt John Bailey
Capt Timothy Bairstow Mr. William Bajr
Col Gil Baldwin Col Tom Baltazar
1/Lt David Bam Capt Banning
Col Jesse Barker Maj Bartlett
Capt Paul J. Batty Lt Glen Bayliss
LCpl Steven Beasley LCpl Craig Bell
SgtMaj Wayne R. Bell Major David Bellon
LCpl Omar Beltran SgtMaj Michael D. Berg
Capt Theodore Bethay II 2/Lt Joshua Biggers
Sgt Brian Bishop Cpt Ed Bitanga II
Amb Robert Blackwill Mr Josh Boehm
SgtMaj James Booker Mr Max Boot
Sgt Sean Bourier CWO Roy Bourne
Maj Russell Boyce Pfc Bernard Boykin
1/Sgt David L. Bradford 1/Lt Barret Bradstreet
Capt Bragg SSgt Jason Branch
LtCol Gary Brandl Amb L. Paul Bremer
Capt Brickheiser LtCol George Bristol
Sgt Justin Britt 1/Sgt Matthew Broadshire
1/Lt Casey Brock SSgt Jon Brodin
Capt Christopher Bronzi CWO Robert Brooks
Capt Greg T. Brown Lt Colin Browning
Pvt Jason Bruseno Col Arthur Buck
LtCol Nicholas Buckerwicz LtCol Willie Buhl
Lt Joshua Burgess Gov Kareem Burgis
Pfc Daniel Burkart Capt Michael Butler
LtCol Brennan T. Byrne Maj Caja
Lt JD Campbell Sgt Ronald Campbell
SSgt Trevor Candelin Sgt Timothy Canfield
Sgt Phillip Cantrell Sgt Miguel Cantu
LtCol Dominic Caracclio Capt Ted Card
Cpl Raymond Carroll SgtMaj Randall Carter
Gen George W. Casey Cpl Jonathan Cashman
Cpl Matthew Casler Gunny Ishmael Castillo<
br />
CWO Caudall 1/Lt Nathan Chandler
LCpl Marcos Cherry Maj Chessani
Sgt Jason Chilson CWO Albert Christianson
Capt Brett Clark HM3 Adam Clayton
Maj Joseph R. Clearfield Cpl James Click
Col Nick Clissett Sgt Damien Coan
Cpl Michael Cochran 1/Lt Thomas Cogan IV
Dr. Eliot Cohen CWO Bernard Coleman
SSgt Patrick Coleman CWO Chuck Colleton
Sgt Christopher Collette Maj Kevin Collins
Capt Ben Connable Col Buck Connor
Cpl Timothy Connors Cpl Thomas Conroy
LtGen James Conway SPC Neal Cooper
LCpl Bryan Costello LCpl Ty Cotton
CWO Gene Coughlin Capt Kevin Coughlin
CWO Crandall Sgt Sean Crane
Dr Colin Crickard CWO Anthony Crutcher
Cpl Jose Cruz Gunny James Cully
Capt Aaron M. Cunningham Maj Hugh Curtright
Cpl Jonathan Cushman Capt Phil Cushman
Sgt Timothy Cyparski LCpl Robert Daniels
1/Lt Matt Danner Capt Jesse Davidson
Maj Chris Davis 1/Lt Ben Deda
Capt Jason Deel LCpl Vincent Degani
1/Sgt Patrick I. DeHerrera Capt Michael DelPalazzo
Capt Vincent Delpedio HM3 Tyronne Dennis
Mr Robert Derocher Maj Todd Desgrosseilliers
Fr William Devine Maj Mark DeVito
1/Lt Ben Diaz LtCol Victor Didra
Col Thomas Dietrich 1/Lt Frank Dillbeck
Maj Christopher Dixon 1/Lt David Dobb
LtCol Dan Donohue SSgt Michael Drake
LtCol Brian Drinkwine SPC Khaled Dudin
1/Lt Ian Duncan BG Joseph Dunford
HM3 Jason R. Duty 1/Lt Anthony Eanarelli
CWO Ebrey Capt Jamie Edge
Cpl Eric Egging MajGen Karl Eikenberry
1/Sgt Andreas Elesky Dr Ashraf Ellassal
LtCol Elliott Maj Kyle Ellison
Sheik Favah Ensabah SSgt Antwan Epstar
Cpt Bret Erwin Capt Bryant Esteves
Lt Ziad Fakhoury 1/Sgt Steven Fantan
SSgt Johnny Faradjian Maj Peter Farnum
Maj Mike Fenzel SSgt David Fergusen
