“Your brothers did not die in vain,” he said. Doug Zembiec tried to calm the men of his company after it suffered three dead and more than 50 wounded in the attack. Unfortunately, the Brigade was doomed from the start. General Myers outlined the mission of the Fallujah Brigade, as it came to be known: “Deal with the extremists, the foreign fighters, get rid of the heavy weapons and find the folks who perpetrated the Blackwater atrocities.” Conway was more circumspect: “It was an effort to split the hard-core anti-coalition forces and the terrorists from all those others who were fighting for their city.” dollars and given light infantry weapons. They were to be paid-$150 for sergeants, $250 for majors, $300 for colonels-in U.S. The plan, as agreed to, called for the formation of 900 to 1,000 laid-off soldiers from Saddam Hussein’s army, led by their former officers, including 23 generals. I would describe the Fallujah Brigade, for whatever success we did or didn’t have, as one of the few options available to try to accomplish our ends in Fallujah." And I think that the Fallujah Brigade was a concept of operations developed to get us to exactly that point, that we would support the Fallujah Brigade and get ‘em the weapons and the equipment that they needed, and they would establish security in Fallujah. Thus, the “Fallujah Brigade” was born.Ĭolonel Joe Dunford: "The end state was to provide stability and security in Fallujah. The choice was made to take a chance with the “Former Regime Elements,” even though they were suspected of being involved in the resistance. Latif proposed a security force of ex-officers and ex-soldiers from Fallujah to take over the city from the Marines. Muhammad al-Shawany, the newly installed Iraqi intelligence and security chief, suggested Colonel Muhammad Latif, a 66-year-old former Iraqi officer and an opponent of Saddam Hussein, who argued convincingly that the Fallujah situation could be resolved by military-to-military (Iraqi and U.S.) cooperation. General James Conway felt it was up to him to find a solution. The fighting had become a public relations nightmare and, if continued, could severely damage the forthcoming handover of the country. Meanwhile, military leaders attempt to work with the Fallujah Brigade, and new warriors arrive in Iraq.īy the middle of April, it was obvious that I MEF was not going to be allowed to take the city. After political decisions forced the Marines to withdrawal from the city, Fallujah becomes a sanctuary for insurgents who stage deadly attacks on Coalition Forces and anyone who dares to help American troops.
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