![]() Local NGOs estimate the battle killed up to 6,000 Iraqis, mostly civilians, The Guardian has reported.ĭescribing the aftermath, Englehart said, “It seemed like just a massive killing of Arabs. The number of civilian casualties remains unknown, but at least 800 innocent Iraqis were killed, according to the Red Cross. In the end, more than 80 American soldiers were killed, CNN reported. “The hardship that Phantom Fury imposed on Fallujans and the destruction it caused made me feel really ashamed of what we were doing.” But I learned later that tens of thousands of civilians were still hiding in their houses during the operation, so these tactics would have put them in a lot of danger,” Caputi told CNN. “These tactics were meant to keep us safe. Ross Caputi, a former US Marine with the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, recalls some of the controversial tactics used during the battle, including firing grenades or gun rounds into homes before entering, in case insurgents were hiding inside. ![]() Military officials also confirmed that troops used white phosphorous, a highly controversial incendiary weapon that burns the skin. US-led forces used more than 300 bombs, 6,000 rounds of artillery and 29,000 mortar rounds, according to the US Marines. As such, every single person that was walking down the street or in a house was a target,” Jeff Englehart, a former US soldier with the 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, said in the 2005 documentary “ Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre.” “We were told going into Fallujah, into the combat area, that every single person that was walking, talking, breathing was an enemy combatant. (AP Photo, File) APįalluja: The American and Iraqi 'graveyard' Is there a plan B for Iraq? The fall of Ramadi shows the Iraqi army is still weak, Sunni-Shiite reconciliation is slow and U.S. Fighters on both sides, as well as thousands of innocent Iraqis caught in the crossfire, did their best to avoid snipers and booby traps.įILE - In this Mafile photo, Al-Qaida fighters wave al-Qaida flags as they patrol in a commandeered Iraqi military vehicle in Fallujah, Iraq. In Fallujah, US-led forces went house to house hunting for suspected insurgents. The battle lasted from November 7 to December 23, 2004, and, according to the US Army, is widely regarded as the US’ toughest urban battle since Huế, Vietnam, when ferocious fighting between American troops and North Vietnamese soldiers resulted in the deaths of hundreds – if not thousands – of citizens, who were buried in unmarked mass graves by the communist forces. The offensive, code named Operation Phantom Fury, saw the US Marines lead a joint force of American, British and Iraqi troops into the ancient city. Part documentary and part video game, “Six Days in Fallujah” uses gameplay to recount history and recreate true stories from the Second Battle of Fallujah. ![]() “I just can’t get past the inhumanity.”įor Abdulelah and other Iraq War survivors, the imminent release of “Six Days in Fallujah” threatens to reopen old wounds and trivialize their pain.īut the creators of the video game say it’s grossly misunderstood, and that they’re merely using gameplay – the way players interact with a video game – to teach history. “I am disgusted that this is something that will be producing profit when people like me suffered the consequences of this war and will have to watch people play it for fun,” Abdulelah, 28, told CNN. So when Abdulelah, who now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, heard that “Six Days in Fallujah,” a first-person shooter video game set during the Iraq War’s bloodiest battle, was on the verge of being released, she was horrified. The regular sight of dead bodies and the memory of her friend being shot next to her as they walked to school stained her childhood.Ĭhildren’s laughter was replaced with an incessant soundtrack of exploding bombs, and she lived with a crippling fear of losing her family. ![]()
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