On March 18, 2003, Coalition forces would launch the initial attacks on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. A full invasion of the country followed, and Hussein was overthrown from power. While the end of Hussein’s oppressive reign was considered a victory for many of the Iraqi people, the Sunnis of the Ba’ath Party refused to accept his demise. Although the Sunnis were in the minority, the city of Fallujah would remain home to many of the Ba’ath Party supporters. On March 31, 2004, almost a year to date from the end of Hussein’s reign, four American Blackwater contactors working in Fallujah were attacked, brutally beaten, burned and dismembered by a group of Iraqi insurgents. Two of the bodies were hung from a bridge for all of the citizens of Fallujah to see, and a mob style celebration took place in the city. The highly publicized incident would be the igniter for the First Battle of Fallujah, known as Operation Vigilant Resolve. On May 1, 2004, the battle would end with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the city and control being turned over to the newly formed Fallujah Brigade. The mission as a whole was a failure, and the shortcomings of Operation Vigilant Resolve were ultimately a demonstration of the underestimation of the power, size, efficiency, organization and control that the Insurgent Forces had in Iraq as well as the lack of a consistent strategic plan from the American forces.
In 2003, Fallujah was an industrial city comprised of shoddy cinder block buildings, subsidized factories, and a limited availability of electricity. The city contained forty-seven mosques in its neighborhood and was known as the city of a hundred mosques. It comprised of two thousand blocks of courtyard walls, tenements, concrete houses, and ...
... middle of paper ...
...cate effectively compounded the issues surrounding cultural differences between the groups. The religious leadership of the city openly supported and promoted violence against Americans. In Fallujah and the surrounding area, ambushes and roadside attacks were increasing. Multiple interpretations of the rules of engagement increased tensions. As soon as someone fired in battle, the Americans could lawfully fire back, which led to an increased number in civilian casualties. Insurgents realized that Americans would not back down and they began to stage their attacks in areas that were likely to lead to a higher number of civilian casualties. According to one Iraqi policeman, “That’s why Fallujah is boiling… American Soldiers conducted humiliating house searches, breaking furniture, frisking men and women and stealing cash and jewelry.” (Foulk, 2007, p. 19).
When discussing the truths that were revealed to Kerry through his experience at Vietnam he states, “We learned the meaning of free-fire zones, shooting anything that moves, and we watched while America placed a cheapness on the lives of Orientals.” Here Kerry shows the dehumanization that occurred as a result of the Vietnam war. By showing they were simply “shooting anything that moves” shows the how war sent these men to a thoughtless and barbaric state. He ultimately shows the loss of humanity. Kerry also gives insight into the many atrocities these men committed such as how they “cut off heads” and have “blown up bodies”. Through these graphics, Kerry takes a very distant war and makes it personal to his audience. He does not sugarcoat or dance around the barbarity of the war. Rather Kerry faces it head on and these descriptions create a truly barbaric
(Stroilov)Now the Desert Storm was a go. American troops were now forced to get Saddam and his troops out of Kuwait’s Borders. (Stroilov)When this happened over 500,000 American troops were inside Kuwait’s border at the time. Also Iraq had about the same number of troops as the US did. (Stroilov)Although the first 37 days of the Desert storm was done by air bombings. (Stroilov)This meant that none of the American ground troops were in action for the first 37 days of the Storm.(Stroilov)
The battle is over. The NVA forces had suffered hundreds of casualties and were no longer capable of a fight. U.S. forces had suffered 79 killed and 121 injured and had been reinforced that would guarantee their safety the safety of all the companies as they medivacd all the wounded and dead, and resupplied. The actions taken by Moore and his command group, from Company Commanders to NCO’s, saved the lives of numerous American soldiers. This battle shows the leadership and unit discipline needed to survive and be combat effective in adverse situations.
A. The “We Beat and Killed People.” Newsweek. 13 May 2002 - 24. Print.
Operation Desert Shield was launched by President H.W. Bush to increase the amount of forces and troops in areas surrounding Kuwait and mainly in Saudi Arabia in response to the 120,000 troops and 2,000 tanks invading Kuwait. The United Nations called for the Iraqi army’s extraction from their presence in Kuwait, however Hussein went ag...
The Battle of Kamdesh was fought in Afghanistan during the Afghan War. It is an occurrence in the ongoing NATO campaign of the Operation Enduring Freedom since the year 2001. It was one of the bloodiest battles the USA forces engaged in during this campaign against the Taliban insurgents. The Taliban insurgents, assisted by local Nuristan militias, attacked Kamdesh, which is an American combat outpost, located deep in the Nuristan tribal Areas. They carried out a well-coordinated attack on the outpost, leading to a breach and an overrun of the post. This paper, seeks to analyze why, when, how, and what were the resulting impact of the battle.
The 2nd Brigade of 101st Airborne Division found out in the summer of 2004 that they had to prepare for the war in the Middle East more particularly for Iraq. With Colonel Todd Ebel in Command of the 2nd Division with a year to prepare over 3,400 men and woman he got right to work. Colonel Ebel started by choosing his staff and who he thought was fit to take charge and lead this ever more complicated war. It was a huge religious civil war taking place in Iraq at the time with the Sunnis at war against the Shi’ite and after the capture of Saddam insurgency started uprising immediately. This uprising along with the uprising of Muqtada al-Sadr a key leader that had lots of violent followers that soon grew into a form of a militia called Mahdi Army which became another huge problem for the U.S. because the line between a legitamite populist movement and a huge theocratic organized-crime and terror ring was a thin one. The 2nd Brigade Infantry Battalions consisted of 1-502nd (First Strike) and 2-502nd (Strike Force) and 2nd brigade as a whole is known as the “Black Hearts”. Ebel’s mission was to deny insurgent’s access to Baghdad through his AO and as intelligence increased to uproot and destroy insurgent safe havens, while also training the IA so they could ensure the stability of the region later on. Ebel chose Lt. Col. Kunk as commander of “First Strike” 1-502nd and Lt. Col. Haycock as commander of “Strike Force” 2-502nd. By Ebel’s personality evaluations of Kunk and Haycock he decided that Kunk would work in the area that involved him being more engaging where populist centers were and work with local officials and Haycock more in the fighting areas. Kunk was in command of 3 rifle companies, 1 weapons company, 1 logistics company...
The battle I will be discussing is the battle of Tora Bora. The engagement took place in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan from December 12, 2001 to December 17, 2001. The units involved were from the CIA, numerous Special Forces groups, Pakistani soldiers and local anti-Taliban fighters. The mission given to the forces was to kill Osama bin Laden from the caves, leave the body with the Taliban and disrupt the Al Qaeda organization by removing their leader. The intent was to infiltrate the cave system, remove bin Laden and return home.
U.S. Military Commanders promised an overwhelming response. On the morning of Sunday, the 4th of April, 2004, platoons of Marines began to position themselves around the city. The following day, the fighting began and quickly intensified. This day was the start of what is known as Operation Vigilant Resolve. It was an operation set to take back control of Fallujah from the insurgents (McCarthy, 2004).
It is said “the ends justify the means” that in order to achieve an important aim, it is acceptable to do something bad. But, imagine four “American” Marines urinating on several dead Taliban fighters. Of course, these soldiers have to dehumanize or otherwise face the guilt and anguish in killing another “human”. This is not the true eye of justice; this is not a “freedom fighter” by heart as America so hardly declares itself. This is an act of “terrorism” of the four American soldiers urinating on the dead with no aim in people’s values or interests. In the article, “We’re all guilty of dehumanizing the enemy”, Sebastian Junger agrees when he writes, “But of course they have dehumanized the enemy — otherwise they would have to face the enormous guilt and anguish of killing other human beings… this awful incident might reveal something else: a desperate attempt by confused young men to convince themselves that they haven’t just committed their first murder.” Along the same lines in the comic book, “We stand On Guard” shows the protagonist Amber Madeline Roos killing a soldier after he surrendered in cold blood. Amber and Highway hijacked the White Hawk the Americans used and transported themselves onto Ma 'am 's ship. In amber last words before setting off the explosions states, “You don’t get some noble defender of justice. You get me.” That
Schmidt, Michael. “Fatal Bombs in Iraq Seemed Aimed at Militia.” The New York Times. 09 Feb. 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.
The transformation of America is often discussed in both popular media and academic dialogue. Each generation has a name, new technologies define new eras, and events seem only notable when they are “historic”. While major events catch the interest of a broad spectrum of the public consciousness, subtle interactions between actors and slight shifts in beliefs are constantly changing the realities of the world. When the twin towers fell in 2001, the United States seemed to be thrust into a new world of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Jihadists, and a global fight against terrorism; bombs were dropped, ground forces were deployed in foreign states, and anyone who publicly questioned the urgency of war was at risk to be labeled a traitor. This one event was indelibly branded on the consciousness of the world and if often seen as a moment of sudden transformation. Most Americans believe that the troop presence in Iraq and Afghanistan are due to the terrorist attacks on the United States and while it is hard to deny that the 9-11 attacks was the impetus for putting boots on the ground, it is imperative that the chain of events following the horror of September 11 are seen to reflect the willingness and wants of actors in control before the towers fell.
One morning as a 13 year old, as i was getting ready for school my step dad called me into the front room to see the morning news. Playing on a loop was the 2003 invasion of Baghdad, also commonly referred to as the Shock & Awe. I remember how the city was illuminated by our rockets.(see Appendix A) I knew that the were not special effects or fireworks, but i felt, like after hearing about the initial invasion and how hard fought the battles leading up to that point were, i felt like the iraqi people had deserved it. I was filled with so much excitement and pride, i could practically hear the national anthem in the background. “We got em’!” We struck back at the individuals that “suckerpuched” us on September 11th
On December 13th, 2003, Saddam Hussein, the deposed dictator of Iraq, was captured by the US forces. In the midst of the night, time ran out for Saddam as the US forces found and seized him in his hiding place; a hole adjacent his farm house near his hometown in Al-Awja, Iraq. He was under the impression that he would be secure near his hometown, Tikrit, as he felt and hoped that his remaining local supporters would protect him from the US Coalition Forces. The important information about where Saddam’s whereabouts came from a person who had been associated with Saddam and arrested the day before in Baghdad. Saddam was captured at around 5:30 pm GMT time after US forces had obtained reports of two possible hideouts near his hometown named Wolverine One and Wolverine Two.