Al Qaeda Flag Flies over City Where Marines Fought Largest Battle of Iraq War

Mediaite ^ | Friday, January 3, 3014 | Noah Rothman

[kristinn]

Just over two years since American troops entirely withdrew from Iraq, the black flag of Al Qaeda flies over the city of Fallujah’s government buildings in Iraq’s western Anbar Province. It was there that several American contractors were killed and strung up over a bridge in 2004 and American Marines fought the biggest battle of the Iraq War.

“The capture of Fallujah came amid an explosion of violence across the western desert province of Anbar in which local tribes, the Iraqi security forces and al-Qaeda militants have been fighting one another for days in a confusingly chaotic three-way war,” reads a report in the Washington Post.

From the WaPo article:

...“At the moment, there is no presence of the Iraqi state in Fallujah,” said a local journalist who asked not to be named because he fears for his safety. “The police and the army have abandoned the city, al-Qaeda has taken down all the Iraqi flags and burned them, and it has raised its own flag on all the buildings.”

At Friday prayers, held outdoors and attended by thousands of people, a masked ISIS fighter took the podium and addressed the crowd, declaring the establishment of an “Islamic emirate” in Fallujah and promising to help residents fight the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Iranian allies.

“We don’t want to hurt you. We don’t want to take any of your possessions,” the masked man told the crowd, according to the journalist, who attended the prayers. “We want you to reopen the schools and institutions and return to your normal lives.”..

[Portcall24]

If one wants to read a book that will chill you to the core read, “House to House” which involves an Army portion of the fight in Fallujah. Here’s a short write up on it:

One of the great heroes of the Iraq War, Staff Sergeant David Bellavia captures the brutal action and raw intensity of leading his Third Platoon, Alpha Company, into a lethally choreographed kill zone: the booby-trapped, explosive-laden houses of Fallujah’s militant insurgents. Bringing to searing life the terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand infantry combat, this stunning war memoir features an indelibly drawn cast of characters, not all of whom would make it out of the city alive, as well as chilling accounts of Bellavia’s singular courage: Entering one house alone, he used every weapon at his disposal in the fight of his life against America’s most implacable enemy.

[Trailerpark Badass]

House to House was excellent.

This one provides a solid overview of the entire battle(s).

[redgolum]

We lost. Because the State department chose not to win.

This was expected under Bush.

[Dartman]

We made a bad situation far worse by toppling the existing power structure. Secular dictatorships are the least worst option for Muslim countries.

Exactly !! Your words should be carved in stone. Just ask the people of Egypt or Libya.

[School of Rational Thought]

Never ever get involved in another war with similar rules of engagement.

[sgtyork]

Thanks for your service man. Lets channel this sorrow and anger.

[mykroar]

I’m sure you have, but tell them thanks for their service. My nephew is in Afghanistan now...but short, should be back soon.

[rlmorel]

An amazing book. Our men have plenty to be proud of. They did their job.

[Portcall24]

I worked with Bing West both while in Checkmate as well as at the Center for Low Intensity Conflict. He has an exceptional analytical mind.

[ElkGroveDan]

That hellhole needs to be bulldozed into the sand.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Invading Iraq was the biggest blunder is US foreign policy history."

Well, in war, we have become conditioned to believe that the right side wins. That was our story through the end of World War II. We could still believe it back then. But what we have learned since then is that the most brutal side, the strongest side, wins. We have tried to win wars by being nice, and it doesn't work. Our last clear victory in a major war was WW II, and we were brutal - atomic bombs, firestorms, hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths tolerated. It was not, according to progressive BS, "the good war." It was absolutely brutal, but we won.

[Nuc 1.1]

Just joined you in prayer.

[easternsky]

You have mail

[Nuc 1.1]

Asteroids, mass driver, high orbit, space program. Do the math.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”Invading Iraq was the biggest blunder is US foreign policy history.
Oh, and Bush gave us ethanol and banned Edison light bulbs too.”

Unfortunately you are right on all three.

I seem to recall that Rummy kept US troops outside Fallujah until after the 2004 election so as to not have casualties hurt GWBs chances in the election, letting many of the killers slip out.

Then he waited till Pelosi took the House in 2007 to go to congress for surge funding.

And GWBush got Obama elected, so it was all for nothing.

[Travis McGee]

[Nuc 1.1]

So sorry. Prayers up.

[MestaMachine]

Iraq was always a proxy war between iran and saudi arabia. Let them fight their own war. Bush supported the saudis and alibama supports the iranians. We have NO business there whatsoever.

Fallujah should be just a bad memory and so should Ramadi.

[Girlene]

I thought al queida was “decimated”, “on the run”, on the “path to defeat”.

So disheartening to see this happen after our warriors fought such a bloody battle to secure Fallujah.

[woofie]

Everything you said has been said by any number of true blue leftists

You should look carefully at what you swallowed