Review Candy Cooper, Reporting From Iraq, On the Ground in Fallujah, Scholastic, 2020

  

Reporting From Iraq, On The Ground in Fallujah is a young adult book about Ann Garrels and her time reporting on Iraq from 2003-2004. Despite being a very short read it actually covers some major points about journalism in Iraq during this period.

Review Ahmed Mansour, Inside Fallujah, The Unembedded Story, Olive Branch Press, 2009

 

Mansour, Ahmed, Inside Fallujah, The Unembedded Story, Olive Branch Press, 2009

 

Ahmed Mansour was a talk show host turned journalist for Al-Jazeera who reported on the two battles for Fallujah in 2004. He was an opponent of the war and thought attacking a city with civilians was a war crime. That led him to blame everything upon the Americans and repeat false stories that he heard from Iraqis. While he reported on the casualties and suffering of the people of Fallujah you cannot believe anything else he wrote.

Review Patrick O’Donnell, We Were One, Shoulder To Shoulder With The Marines Who Took Fallujah, Da Capo Press, 2006

O’Donnell, Patrick, We Were One, Shoulder To Shoulder With The Marines Who Took Fallujah, Da Capo Press, 2006

 

Patrick O’Donnell went to Iraq in 2004 to witness the 2^nd Battle of Fallujah and tell the story of some of the Americans involved in the fight. He eventually came across the 1^st platoon of the 3^rd Battalion, 1^st Marine Regiment. He told their story in We Were One, Shoulder To Shoulder With The Marines Who Took Fallujah. It is a traditional combat story emphasizing the comradery and bravery of the Marines.

Review Chief Warrant Officer 4 Timothy McWilliams, with Schlosser, Nicholas, U.S. Marines in Battle, Fallujah, November-December 2004, Marine Corps University, 2014

McWilliams, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Timothy, with Schlosser, Nicholas, U.S. Marines in Battle, Fallujah, November-December 2004, Marine Corps University, 2014

 

U.S. Marines in Battle, Fallujah, November-December 2004 was part of a series of books released by the Marine Corps to document its involvement in the Iraq War. It is a detailed military history covering the fighting by Marines and soldiers during Operation Phantom Fury the 2^nd Battle of Fallujah. That is also its drawback as there is nothing on the politics or impact of the battle.

Review Hope Is Not A Plan, The War In Iraq From Inside The Green Zone

Mowle, Thomas, Hope Is Not A Plan, The War In Iraq From Inside The Green Zone, Westport London: Praeger Security International, 2007

 

Hope Is Not A Plan, The War In Iraq From Inside The Green Zone is a very informative book about the lack of U.S. strategic planning and coordination from 2004-05. It’s an anthology with each chapter written by military officers who served in Iraq during that period. As the editor Thomas Mowle points out everyone should know that the Bush administration did not plan for the immediate aftermath of the 2003 invasion that led to looting and the collapse of the Iraqi state. What this selection tries to point out is that the Americans continued to fail at planning afterward.

Review Fighting for Fallujah, A New Dawn for Iraq

Ballard, John, Fighting for Fallujah, A New Dawn for Iraq, Westport, London: Praeger Security International, 2006

 

Fighting for Fallujah, a New Dawn for Iraq is a military history of the two battles for the Iraqi city by John Ballard. It covers how Fallujah became a center of resistance to the U.S. occupation, then the American attempt to pacify it and concludes with the rebuilding effort. It is heavy on details about the U.S. military units involved. The author veers off course sometimes but it is still a good blow by blow account of the struggle for Fallujah.

Review First Fights In Fallujah, Marines During Operation Vigilant Resolve, in Iraq, April 2004

Kelly, Lieutenant Colonel David, Ret., First Fights In Fallujah, Marines During Operation Vigilant Resolve, in Iraq, April 2004, Philadelphia and Oxford, Casemate, 2023

 

First Fights In Fallujah, Marines During Operation Vigilant Resolve by Retired Lieutenant Colonel David Kelly was part of the Marine history project that sent researchers throughout the Iraq War to interview the troops about their experiences. This one focused upon the First Battle of Fallujah. Like other books in the series this one is up and down with some vary harrowing tales of combat mixed in with other ones that are not half as interesting.

Chilcot Inquiry Section 9.2 23 May 2003 To June 2004

During the lead up to the 2003 Iraq War the Blair government was very optimistic. It believed that it could influence the Bush administration’s war plans and that everything would work out even when things didn’t go according to plan during the invasion. As soon as the occupation of Iraq began the British changed their tuned. They believed that the U.S. had no plan for postwar Iraq and that security was quickly deteriorating. They warned the Americans who largely ignored them.

Review No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah

West, Bing, No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah, New York: Bantam Books, 2005

 

No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah by Bing West is a harrowing tale of the Marines and soldiers that fought in the two Battles of Fallujah in 2004. It takes you into the squads and companies that went house to house along with all the political machinations that surrounded the operation. While it’s a great history of the campaign to retake Fallujah it is in no way representative of what the Iraq War was like.

Review Fallujah Awakens, Marines, Sheikhs, and the Battle Against Al Qaeda

Ardolino, Bill, Fallujah Awakens, Marines, Sheikhs, and the Battle Against Al Qaeda, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2013

 

Fallujah Awakens, Marines, Sheikhs, and the Battle Against Al Qaeda is Bill Ardolino’s tale of how the Marines forged an alliance with sheikhs from the Albu Issa tribe in the Fallujah peninsula south of the city to battle the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in 2007. The area was a base for ISI and split the Albu Issa literally in half. A few sheikhs were tired of the insurgents taking over their territory and asked the Americans for help. The story is about how ISI alienated members of the Albu Issa while the Marines tried new tactics which turned around the security situation.

Review Among Warriors In Iraq, True Grit, Special Ops, and Raiding in Mosul and Fallujah

 Review Tucker, Mike, Among Warriors In Iraq, True Grit, Special Ops, and Raiding in Mosul and Fallujah, Guilford: The Lyons Press, 2005

 

Mike Tucker’s Among Warriors In Iraq, True Grit, Special Ops, and Raiding in Mosul and Fallujah focuses upon the enlisted men and low ranking officers in the first year of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. He spent a few weeks in Mosul and Fallujah from 2003-04 with various American units and wrote about their day to day operations and their feelings about the war. He captured their frustration fighting an insurgency where they didn’t know who the good and bad guys were. On the other hand, neither the soldiers nor the author had any idea what they were doing in Iraq. They valorized action over anything else and considered all Arabs the enemy. Tucker was also enamored with the Kurds which slanted much of his writing.

U.S. Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 14 Fighting To The Elections, August-December 2004

The 14^th chapter of the U.S. Army history of the Iraq War covers the end of 2004. At that time the U.S. military was focused upon securing major cities including Fallujah to allow the January 2005 elections to take place. On the other hand, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi was becoming the face of the insurgency while the first splits in the resistance were beginning to emerge.

U.S. Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart, April 2004

Chapter 12 of the U.S. Army history of the Iraq War “Things Fall Apart” covers April 2004. At the start of the new year the U.S. was feeling optimistic about its occupation of Iraq. It believed that it had crossed the turning point with the insurgency and that it would dissipate after the capture of Saddam Hussein. That meant the military was pushing ahead with its withdrawal while the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was working with the United Nations to set up a political transition to return sovereignty. Then the Americans were faced with two uprisings one by the insurgency focused around the 1^st Battle of Fallujah and another by Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army in the 1^st Battle of Najaf. These undermined all of the U.S.’s plans.

Postwar Situation In Fallujah Rebuilding Mostly Done Economy And Services Not Recovered

(REACH)

There is very little information coming out about Iraq’s postwar areas. The Iraqi media says little and the western press even less. NGOs are the only organizations putting out reports on these places. REACH released an assessment of Anbar’s Fallujah district. It found that almost all the displaced have returned, war damaged was mostly repaired, but there is a lack of services and jobs which is hindering the revival of the economy.

Postwar Business Environment In Fallujah

(Combating Terrorism Center)

The International Organization for Migration did a survey at the end of 2018 into the economic situation in Fallujah. It found that a high number of businesses were destroyed and looted during the time the city was under Islamic State control and the period it was liberated. In the aftermath firms are still facing difficulties like in many other post conflict areas of Iraq.

Revised Review Fallujah Redux, The Anbar Awakening and the Struggle With Al-Qaeda

Revised Review Green, Daniel and Mullen, William, Fallujah Redux, The Anbar Awakening and the Struggle With Al-Qaeda, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2014

Fallujah Redux is not about the two well known Battle of Fallujah fought in 2004, but rather how the U.S. and Iraqi forces along with local tribes attempted to secure the district during the 2007 Surge. It was written by Daniel Green who was a Naval Reserve officer and General William Mullen III who commanded the 2^nd Battalion of the 6^th Marines at the time. Green worked with the Fallujah government and on a tribal outreach effort, while Mullen was involved in combat operations. The book is written in an interesting style with each author trading off chapters writing about their specific experiences. When they arrived in the city in 2007, it was feared that the insurgents had almost regained the initiative, and the Anbar Awakening, which had started in Ramadi had not stretched east yet. Green and Mullen were part of the U.S.-Iraqi effort that helped bring Fallujah back from the brink.

Review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq

Review Foulk, Vincent, The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq, Jefferson and London: McFarland & Company, Inc.: 2007

The Battle for Fallujah is a bit misleading as the book is really about the period from 2003 when the U.S. forces first entered Fallujah until the 2^nd Battle of Fallujah at the end of 2004. Each chapter has a theme such as kidnappings, car bombs, Moqtada al-Sadr and his uprisings, etc. It’s a quick read on what the American military was facing during this period of the Iraq War.

Fallujah Redux Interview With Daniel Green On Fallujah During The Surge

Throughout post-Saddam Iraq Fallujah was a trouble spot for the new Iraqi government and the Coalition forces. During the Surge, Navy Reservist Daniel Green worked with tribes in the district and the local government to get them into the fight against the insurgency and help turn the city around. He wrote about his experiences in Fallujah Redux along with General William Mullen III. This is an interview with Green about what happened in Fallujah in 2007. He can be followed on Twitter at @fallujahredux.

Rebuilding Fallujah, Unfinished Business

In June 2016, Fallujah was freed from the Islamic State. Most of the city’s residents are back, the economy is recovering, but there is still lots to do. Part of that is due to local politics, which has banned several thousand people from returning due to suspicions about their connections to the insurgents. Another issue is the government’s financial crisis, which has held up rebuilding. At the same time, IS has a presence there once again. Fallujah stands as an example for the cities that were liberated after it. While life appears back to normal, its rebuilding has been marked by revenge, the return of insurgents, and there is still much unfinished business.

VICE VIDEO: Fallujah A Liberated City In Ruins