A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah

Bing West

Fallujah: Iraq's most dangerous city unexpectedly emerged as the major battleground of the Iraqi insurgency. For twenty months, one American battalion after another tried to quell the violence, culminating in a bloody, full-scale assault. Victory came at a terrible price: 151 Americans and thousands of Iraqis were left dead. The epic battle for Fallujah revealed the startling connections between policy and combat that are part of the new reality of war. The Marines had planned to slip into Fallujah “as soft as fog”. But after four American contractors were brutally murdered, President Bush ordered an attack on the city - against the advice of the Marines. The assault sparked a political firestorm, and the Marines were forced to withdraw amid controversy and confusion - only to be ordered a second time to take a city that had become an inferno of hate and the lair of the archterrorist al-Zarqawi. Based on months spent with the battalions in Fallujah and hundreds of interviews at every level - senior policy-makers, negotiators, generals, soldiers and Marines on the front lines - No True Glory is a testament to the bravery of the American soldier and a cautionary tale about the complex - and often costly - interconnected roles of policy, politics, and battle in the twenty-first century.

Table of Contents Major Characters Introduction xiii xv Prologue: Lynching at the Brooklyn Bridge p. 1 Part I - Counterinsurgency, April 2003 to March 2004 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. “What kind of people loot dirt?” A Broken Chain of Command “You work with the Americans, you die.” A Backwater Problem Valentine's Day Massacre p. 11 p. 20 p. 26 p. 36 p. 45 Part II: Siege, March to May 2004 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. “They can't do that to Americans.” Mutiny The Tipping Point Faint Echoes of Tet Farmers or Shooters? Avoiding the Perfect Storm Many Die, They Are Gone Easter with the Dark Side “You wanna shoot at me? This ain't no picnic!” Fallujah: A Symptom of Success Two-Faced Sheikhs and Imams Lalafallujah Strategic Confusion The Jolan Graveyard A Deal with the Devil p. 55 p. 65 p. 74 p. 89 p. 94 p. 112 p. 124 p. 134 p. 144 p. 156 p. 161 p. 172 p. 184 p. 194 p. 208 Part III - Reversal, May to october 2004 21. 22. 23. The Bomb Factory “Keep the noise down.” All of This for Nothing? p. 223 p. 233 p. 244 Part IV - Attack, November to December 2004 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. The Watchdogs Merry-Go-Round at the Jolan Phase Line Henry The House from Hell Five Corporals p. 255 p. 268 p. 277 p. 293 p. 304 Epilogue: By Inches, Not Yards, January to May 2005 Conclusion: No True Glory Where Are They Now? Order of Battle for Operation Phantom Fury Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index p. 317 p. 319 p. 325 p. 329 p. 333 p. 357 p. 359 p. 371