Fallujah
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2008-07-04T23:24:08Z
Towel401
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{{Infobox Settlement
|official_name = {{Pagename}}
|other_name = Fallujah
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|image_caption = Fallujah Mosque
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|pushpin_map_caption =Fallujah's location inside Iraq
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|subdivision_name1 = [[Al Anbar Governorate|Al Anbar]]
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:''For other meanings see [[Fallujah (disambiguation)]].''
'''Fallujah''' ({{lang-ar|الفلوجة}}; sometimes [[Arabic transliteration|transliterated]] as '''Falluja''' or '''Fallouja''') is a city in the [[Iraq]]i [[province]] of [[Al Anbar]], located roughly 69 kilometers (43 miles) west of [[Baghdad]] on the [[Euphrates]]. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries. The city grew from a small town in 1947 to a [[Post-invasion Iraq, 2003-2005|pre-war]] population of about 435,774 inhabitants in 2003, according to [[United Nations|UN]] data; however, according to the former regime, there are about 600,000 inhabitants. The current population is unknown but estimated at over 25,131, with approximately 300 [[Sunni]] immigrants arriving monthly from Baghdad. Within Iraq, it is known as the "city of [[mosque]]s" for the more than 200 mosques found in the city and surrounding villages. <!--This is unsourced and has been fiddled with by POV-pushing anonymous IPs: The [[Iraq War]] has reportedly damaged 60% of the city's buildings, with 20% totally destroyed, including 60 of the city's mosques.-->
==History==
The region has been inhabited for many millennia. There is evidence that the area surrounding Fallujah was inhabited in [[Babylonian]] times. The [[etymology]] of the town's name is in some doubt, but one theory is that its [[Syriac]] name, '''Pallgutha''', is derived from the word ''division''. The name in [[Aramaic]] is [[Pumbedita]], while the city's name in [[Arabic]] means "arable land."
The region of Fallujah was a part of the [[Sassanid]] Persian province of ''Anbar''. The word ''anbar'' is [[Persian language|Persian]] and means "warehouse".{{Fact|date=May 2008}} This region was considered to be the warehouse of the Sassanid troops.{{Fact|date=May 2008}} The city of Fallujah itself was called Misiche at that time.{{Fact|date=May 2008}}
The region played host for several centuries to one of the most important [[Jew]]ish academies, the [[History of the Jews in Iraq#Babylonia as the center of Judaism (219 AD - ~1050 AD)|Pumbedita Academy]], which from 258 to 1038 was one of the two most important centers of Jewish learning worldwide.<ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=710&letter=A]</ref>
Under the [[Ottoman Empire]], Fallujah was a minor stop on one of the country's main roads across the desert west from [[Baghdad]].
In the spring of 1920, the British, who had gained control of Iraq after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, sent Lieut.-Colonel [[Gerard Leachman]], a renowned explorer and a senior colonial officer, to meet with local leader [[Shaykh Dhari]], perhaps to waiver a loan given to the sheikh. Exactly what happened depends on the source, but according to the Arab version, [[Gerard Leachman]] was betrayed by the sheikh who had his two sons shoot him in the legs, then behead him by the sword.[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/03/24/030324fa_fact?currentPage=2]
During the brief [[Anglo-Iraqi War]] of 1941, the Iraqi army was defeated by the British in a battle near Fallujah. In 1947 the town had only about 10,000 inhabitants. It grew rapidly into a city after Iraqi independence with the influx of [[petroleum|oil]] wealth into the country. Its position on one of the main roads out of Baghdad made it of central importance.
Under [[Saddam Hussein]], who ruled Iraq from 1979 to 2003, Fallujah came to be an important area of support for the regime, along with the rest of the region labeled by the US military as the "[[Sunni Triangle]]". Many residents of the primarily [[Sunni]] city were employees and supporters of Saddam's government, and many senior [[Ba'ath Party]] officials were natives of the city. Fallujah was heavily industrialised during the Saddam era, with the construction of several large factories, including one closed down by [[United Nations Special Commission]] (UNSCOM) in the 1990s that may have been used to create [[chemical weapons]]. A new highway system (a part of Saddam's infrastructure initiatives) circumvented Fallujah and gradually caused the city to decline in national importance by the time of the Iraq War.<ref>[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/fallujah.htm Global Security, Fallujah]</ref>
[[Image:BrooklynBridgeFallujah.JPG|thumb|left|200px|Fallujah as seen from the west in April 2004]]
====Gulf War, 1991====
During the [[Gulf War]], Fallujah suffered one of the highest tolls of civilian casualties. Two separate failed bombing attempts on Fallujah's bridge across the Euphrates River hit crowded markets, killing an estimated 200 civilians.{{Fact|date=May 2008}}
The first bombing occurred early in the Gulf War. A [[United Kingdom|British]] jet intending to bomb the bridge dropped two laser-guided bombs on the city's main market. Between 50 and 150 civilians died and many more were injured. In the second incident, Coalition forces attacked Fallujah's bridge over the Euphrates with four laser-guided bombs. At least one struck the bridge while one or two bombs fell short in the river. The fourth bomb hit another market elsewhere in the city, reportedly due to failure of its laser guidance system.<ref>[http://www.hrw.org/reports/1991/gulfwar/INTRO.htm Human Rights Watch]</ref>
===Iraq War, 2003===
{{main|United States occupation of Fallujah}}
[[Image:Downtown fallujah.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Downtown Fallujah, December 2003]]
Fallujah was one of the least affected areas of Iraq immediately after the 2003 invasion by the US-led Coalition. Iraqi Army units stationed in the area abandoned their positions and disappeared into the local population, leaving unsecured military equipment behind. Fallujah was also the site of a Ba'athist resort facility called '[[Dreamland, Iraq|Dreamland]]', located only a few kilometers outside the city proper.
The damage the city had avoided during the initial invasion was negated by damage from looters, who took advantage of the collapse of [[Saddam Hussein]]'s regime. The looters targeted former government sites, the Dreamland compound, and the nearby military bases. Aggravating this situation was the proximity of Fallujah to the infamous [[Abu Ghraib]] prison, from which Saddam, in one of his last acts, had released all prisoners.
The new mayor of the city—[[Taha Bidaywi Hamed]], selected by local tribal leaders—was strongly pro-[[United States|American]]{{fact|date=July 2008}}. When the US Army entered the town in April 2003, they positioned themselves at the vacated Ba'ath Party headquarters. A Fallujah Protection Force composed of local Iraqis was set up by the US-led occupants to help fight the rising resistance.
On the evening of [[April 28]], [[2003]], a crowd of 200 people defied a curfew imposed by the Americans and gathered outside a secondary school used as a military HQ to demand its reopening. Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne stationed on the roof of the building opened fire on the crowd, resulting in the deaths of 17 civilians and the wounding of over 70. <ref>Human Rights Watch. ''Violent Response: The U.S. Army in al-Falluja'', [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/iraqfalluja/Iraqfalluja-03.htm#P165_24463 Part IV]. Accessed [[13 May]] [[2007]].</ref>. The events leading up to the event are disputed. American forces claim they were responding to gunfire from the crowd, while the Iraqis involved deny this version, although conceding rocks were thrown at the troops. A protest against the killings two days later was also fired upon by US troops resulting in two more deaths.
On [[March 31]] [[2004]], [[Iraqi insurgency|Iraqi insurgents]] in Fallujah [[31 March 2004 Fallujah ambush|ambushed a convoy]] containing four American [[private military contractor]]s from [[Blackwater USA]], who were conducting delivery for food caterers [[Eurest Support Services|ESS]].<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/warriors/contractors/highrisk.html "The high-risk contracing business"], ''Frontline'', PBS. Accessed [[13 May]] [[2007]].</ref>
The four armed contractors, [[Scott Helvenston]], Jerry (Jerko) Zovko, Wesley Batalona, and Michael Teague, were dragged from their cars, beaten, and set on fire. Their burned corpses were then dragged through the streets before being hung over a [[bridge]] crossing the [[Euphrates]].<ref>Fisk, Robert. [http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles387.htm Report], ''The Independent'', [[1 April]] [[2004]]. Accessed [[13 May]] [[2007]].</ref><ref>Chandrasekaran, Rajiv (2007). ''Imperial Life in the Emerald City''. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7475-9168-9. p 305.</ref> This bridge is unofficially referred to as "Blackwater Bridge" by Coalition Forces operating there.<ref>Washington Post. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10547-2005Apr22.html ''Private security contractors living on edge in Iraq''] Photographs of the event were released to [[news agency|news agencies]] worldwide, causing outrage in the United States, and prompting the announcement of a campaign to reestablish American control over the city.</ref><ref>Chandrasekaran, Rajiv (2007). ''Imperial Life in the Emerald City''. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7475-9168-9. p 305.</ref>
This led to an abortive US operation to recapture control of the city in [[Operation Vigilant Resolve]], and a successful recapture operation in the city in November 2004, called [[Operation Phantom Fury]] in English and [[Operation Al Fajr]] in Arabic. Operation Phantom Fury resulted in the reputed death of over 1,350 insurgent fighters. Approximately 95 [[United States|American]] Marines were killed, and over 1,000 wounded.
The U.S. military first denied that it has used [[White phosphorus (weapon)|white phosphorus]] as an anti-personnel weapon in Fallujah, but later retracted that denial, and admitted to using the substance against insurgents as an offensive weapon. <ref>BBC News, Wednesday 16 November 2005 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4440664.stm]</ref>
===Current situation===
Residents were allowed to return to the city in mid-December 2004 after undergoing [[biometric]] identification, provided they wear their ID cards all the time. US officials report that "more than half of Fallujah's 39,000 homes were damaged during [[Operation Phantom Fury]], and about 10,000 of those were destroyed" while compensation amounts to 20 percent of the value of damaged houses, with an estimated 32,000 homeowners eligible, according to Marine Lt Col William Brown.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64292-2005Apr18.html Washington Post], [[18 April]] [[2005]].</ref> According to NBC, 9,000 homes were destroyed, thousands more were damaged and of the 32,000 compensation claims only 2,500 have been paid as of [[April 14]] [[2005]].<ref>[http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7503610/]</ref> According to Mike Marqusee of ''Iraq Occupation Focus'' writing in the ''[[Guardian (newspaper)|Guardian]]'', "Fallujah'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".<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1638785,00.html The ''Guardian''].</ref> Reconstruction mainly consists of clearing rubble from heavily-damaged areas and reestablishing basic utility services. Ten per cent of the pre-offensive inhabitants had returned as of mid-January 2005, and 30% as of the end of March 2005.<ref> [http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-03-31-voa6.cfm].</ref> In 2006, some reports say two thirds have now returned and only 15 percent remain displaced on the outskirts of the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=26215|title=IRIN Middle East - IRAQ: Fallujah situation improving slowly}}</ref>
Pre-offensive inhabitant figures are unreliable; the nominal population was assumed to have been 250,000-350,000. Thus, over 150,000 individuals are still living as [[internally displaced person|IDP]]s in tent cities or with relatives outside Fallujah or elsewhere in Iraq. Current estimates by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and Coalition Forces put the city's population at over 350,000, possibly closing in on half a million.
In the aftermath of the offensive, relative calm was restored to Fallujah.
In December 2006, enough control had been exerted over the city to transfer operational control of the city from American forces to the 1st Iraqi Army Division. During the same month, the Fallujah police force began major offensive operations under their new chief. Coalition Forces, as of May 2007, are operating in direct support of the Iraqi Security Forces in the city. The city is one of Anbar province's centers of gravity in a newfound optimism among American and Iraqi leadership about the state of the counterinsurgency in the region.<ref> [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/opinion/06kagan.html?bl&ex=1178769600&en=1fa60d70cd462544&ei=5087%0A New York Times, "Plan B? Let's Give Plan A a Chance First"] </ref><ref> [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003685559_iraqramadi29.html Seattle Times, "Anbar province revitalized as it tames insurgents"] </ref>
In June 2007, [[Regimental Combat Team 6]] began [[Operation Alljah]], a security plan modeled on a successful operation in [[Ramadi]]. After segmenting districts of the city, Iraqi Police and Coalition Forces established police district headquarters in order to further localize the law enforcement capabilites of the Iraqi Police.<ref>[http://www.rightwingnews.com/mt331/2007/06/iraqi_police_training_in_fallu.php] </ref>
A similar program was met with success in the city of Ramadi in late 2006 and early 2007.
==See also==
*[[Operation Market Sweep]]
*[[First Battle of Fallujah]]
*[[Second Battle of Fallujah]]
*[[Iraqi insurgency]]
*[[List of places in Iraq]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://city-journal.org/2008/18_2_fallujah.html Hope for Iraq's Meanest City, ''City Journal,'' Spring 2008]
*[http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/en/body.asp ''Falluja: The hidden massacre''] [[RAI|RAI News 24]] (On [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1134673789364675735&q=fallujah+hidden&pl=true Google Video])
*[http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070415/pl_afp/usiraqmilitarycalifornia2_070415153858 Fallujah comes to California at US Army's 'model Iraq'] [[Agence France-Presse]]
*[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/return-to-fallujah-774846.html Return To Fallujah - The Independent]
{{coor title dm|33|21|N|43|47|E|type:city}}
{{Al Anbar cities}}
[[Category:Cities along the Silk Road]]
[[Category:Cities, towns and villages in Iraq]]
[[Category:Cities and towns on the Euphrates River]]
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