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Books > Humanities > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 > General
The city of an-Najaf, Iraq, is a provincial and market center
located on the western branch of the Euphrates River approximately
100 miles south of Baghdad. Its population (prewar) of 563,000
expands at times with pilgrims to this important center of Islamic
scholarship and theology. It is the location of several significant
shrines for Shi'a Muslims and boasts one of the largest cemeteries
in the world. Its more recent history has been marked by conflict
of a political nature as the place of exile for Ayatollah Khomeini
and site of the assassination of Ayatollah Mohammad Sadiq. It
served as the location of Shi'a resistance to perceived political
oppression and was a place of battle once more in 2004. This is a
"battle study" written purposely from the perspective of the
Marines, soldiers, and sailors who fought at an-Najaf in August
2004. Some context is needed to fit these events within the
evolution of the campaigning in Iraq in 2004. The Americans
deployed to al-Anbar and an-Najaf Provinces, faced a variety of
threats as Iraq attempted to again govern itself. Threats were from
disparate sources, including Sunni fighters in Fallujah and Shi'a
fighters in Najaf. Behind each was the possibility of al-Qaeda in
Iraq or criminal exploitation of any disruption of Coalition
efforts to establish responsible Iraqi Government. This complexity
of threats did not lend itself to easy solutions. In March 2004,
Lieutenant General James T. Conway's I Marine Expeditionary Force
was faced with an outbreak of Sunni insurgency in Fallujah. At the
same time, a Shi'a uprising took place across Iraq, including
Baghdad, Najaf, an-Nasiriyah, al-Kut, al-Amarah, and Kirkuk. The
fighting spread to Karbala, Hillah, and Basrah with attacks on
Iraqi and Coalition outposts. This fighting dropped off in June
with the establishment of the Iraqi Interim Government of Prime
Minister Ayad Allawi, but the menace of further violence remained.
The Multi-National Force-Iraq, under General George W. Casey Jr.,
USA, felt that before the Iraqis could be responsible for security
in each province, the centers of violence had to be dealt with by a
"clear-hold-build" approach. Baghdad, Fallujah, and Najaf were thus
targeted. When Muqtada al-Sadr fomented another uprising in August,
the recently arrived 11thMarine Expeditionary Unit found itself
assigned to quell the uprising in Najaf. It would be reinforced for
this effort by two U.S. Army and four Iraqi Army battalions. The
narrative that follows documents this effort from the small unit
level. The importance of the close relationship between political
and military force is emphasized. The intent is to provide a view
of combat for the education and training of Marines who might face
similar circumstances.
The leader of the Chinese communist revolution, Mao Zedong, was
once asked by a journalist what he thought was the lasting impact
of the French Revolution. He allegedly responded that he did not
know the answer to this question as it was "too early to tell." In
this same vein, field historian Colonel Nicholas E. Reynolds' book
on the beginning of hostilities in Iraq is one of the first
historical works commissioned by the History Division to focus on
the role of the U.S. Marine Corps in the long war against global
terrorism. This particular book is about Marines during the first
stage of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). It spans the period from 11
September 2001 to March and April 2003, when the Coalition removed
Saddam Hussein from power, and concludes in November 2003 when the
Marines left Kuwait to return to their home bases in the United
States. While many then believed that the "kinetic" phase of the
fighting in Iraq was largely over, as we now know, it was only a
prelude to a longer but just as deadly phase of operations where
Marines would be redeployed to Iraq in 2004 to combat insurgents
(both foreign and domestic) who had filtered back into the country.
However, this phase of the fighting would be very different from
the one the Marines and U.S. Army had fought in the spring of 2003
in the march up to take Baghdad. The primary focus of the book is I
Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF)-the run up to the war in 2002
and early 2003, especially the development of "the plan," with its
many changes, the exhaustive rehearsals, and other preparations,
and then the conduct of decisive combat operations and the
immediate postwar period, mostly under the control of the U.S.
Central Command's Coalition Forces Land Component Command. The book
also touches upon other Marine activities in the Military
Coordination and Liaison Command in northern Iraq and with the
British in the south. Nonetheless, the primary focus remains on I
Marine Expeditionary Force and the interactions of its constituent
elements. Other forthcoming History Division publications will soon
offer detailed narratives on Marines in Operation Enduring Freedom
(OEF) in Afghanistan and II MEF operations inside Iraq.
It's 1952. Marines have been fighting in Korea for just over 2
years. The daring execution of the Inchon Landing, if not
forgotten, might as well have been. For instead of conducting
amphibious assaults and moving rapidly though North Korean forces,
the Marines of the Ist Marine Division are fighting along a main
line of resistance (MLR)-outpost warfare-static warfare that
consisted of slugfests between artillery and mortars, but always
the infantryman moving in small groups attacking and reattacking
the same ground.
Since reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan began in 2001, the U.S.
government, the international community, and the Afghan government
have made improving Afghanistan's justice system a priority. Key
documents have noted the importance of the justice sector,
including the U.S. government's Integrated Civilian-Military
Campaign Plan for Support to Afghanistan and the Afghan
Government's National Priority Programs focus on strengthening
Afghan rule of law and Afghan citizens' access to justice. The
Department of State (State) has invested in a variety of rule of
law programs since 2005, including programs managed by its Bureau
of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) to
train Afghan justice sector personnel. State also serves as the
lead coordinator for U.S. justice sector development efforts in
Afghanistan, responsible for coordinating the activities of several
U.S. agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) and the Department of Justice. INL has spent
approximately $205.5 million on its Justice Sector Support Program
(JSSP) to provide training to Afghan justice sector officials, to
develop a case management system to track cases throughout
Afghanistan's justice system, and to build the capacity and
administrative skills of officials within Afghan ministries
This is a story about Marines and a tough mission: the Marines of I
and II Marine Expeditionary Forces were deployed to Iraq during
2004-2006 and confronted a violent insurgency and a nation in
chaos. Though the Marines came to fight-they did so admirably in
al-Fallujah, ar-Ramadi, and other hot and dusty locales in al-Anbar
Province-they also laid the foundation for a secure and stable
Iraqi society. Though security and stabilization seemed improbable
if not impossible in al-Anbar Province, the apparent intractable
insurgency was beaten with gritty determination that Marines have
always brought to the fight. Besides using warfighting skills, the
Marines also employed their expertise in civil affairs to help
rebuild a nation in disarray. The military occupation of al-Anbar
Province required patience, perseverance, and fortitude. The cities
and towns were damaged, inhabitants demoralized, and little
remained of civil authority. Hopes remained high that the
occupation would be short-lived and that the Iraqis would pick
themselves up and rebuild. However, those hopes died hard on the
harsh realities of post-invasion Iraq. As the Marines took up new
and unplanned responsibilities, insurgent violence continued and
increased, generated by the national disarray of all social
institutions. For the I and II Marine Expeditionary Forces, nation
building and combat operations would proceed alongside one another
for most of their service in Iraq.
In 1917, deep in the snowy mountains of occupied Korea, an
impoverished local hunter on the brink of starvation saves a young
Japanese officer from an attacking tiger. In an instant, their
fates are connected, a chance encounter that will shape both of
their lives for over half a century. Meanwhile, in the north of
Korea, a young girl named Jade is sold by her family to Miss
Silver's courtesan school in the glamorous city of Pyongyang. When
she befriends an orphan boy named JungHo, they form a deep
friendship. But before long, JungHo will be swept up in the
revolutionary fight for independence, while Jade becomes a
celebrated performer pursued by a wealthy romantic prospect. From
the perfumed chambers of a courtesan school in Pyongyang to the
glamorous cafes of a modernizing Seoul and the boreal forests of
Manchuria, Juhea Kim's unforgettable characters forge their own
destinies as they shape the future of their nation. Immersive and
elegant, Beasts of a Little Land unveils a world where friends
become enemies, enemies become saviours, and beasts take many
shapes.
The following account represents one of the earliest efforts to
chronicle Marine Corps operations in Iraq between 2004 and 2005.
This was a significant period in the history of Operation Iraqi
Freedom, seeing two battles fought over the city of Fallujah, the
eruption of the Sadr revolt in an-Najaf, continuous
counterinsurgency operations throughout Iraq, and initial efforts
on the part of Marines to cultivate and forge alliances with the
tribes of Iraq's al-Anbar Province. Almost as soon as Saddam
Hussein's regime collapsed in 2003, it became apparent to U.S.
commanders that a second deployment of Marines to Iraq would be
necessary to conduct security and stability operations. This
monograph recounts the first two years of this second deployment
during which Marines were responsible for Iraq's vast al-Anbar
Province. This study focuses on I Marine Expeditionary Force's
deployment in 2004 and II Marine Expeditionary Force's deployment
of 2005, paying close attention to planning, counterinsurgency
operations, and efforts to build civil-military relations with the
Iraqi population. Particular attention is also paid to the first
and second battles of Fallujah and the battle of an-Najaf. This is
a story of Marines, missions, and machines. The deployment of the I
and II Marine Expeditionary Forces in that sequence to Iraq during
2004-05 contains a surprising number of turns of events. These were
largely successes, but the situations did not always appear so
favorable at the time and often they required tenacious efforts,
skills, courage, and stamina of Marines and their Navy and Army
comrades to reach the desired outcome. The combat record of Marine
Corps forces in Iraq brings great credit upon the Corps and the
armed forces of the United States of America. But, as will be seen
in the following pages, the combat record lies interspersed with a
seemingly endless range of tasks undertaken by the battalions and
the squadrons the Corps operated as it engaged in security and
stabilization operations in al-Anbar and the surrounding provinces.
In the spring and summer of 1951 the war in Korea took a different
form, moving from the period of sweeping offensives and withdrawals
to a bitter, slow, costly, and violent operational tempo. The
fighting northeast of the Hwachon Reservoir-- known as the
"Punchbowl"-was some of the fiercest the Marine Corps faced in its
history. Not only did the Marine Corps have to fight North Korean
and Chinese armies, it also had to overcome strained inter-Service
relationships that affected everything from supply to close air
support (CAS). The Battle of the Punchbowl, was one of the last
battles of the movement phase of the Korean War. Following the
breakdown of armistice negotiations in August 1951, the United
Nations Command decided to launch a limited offensive in the late
summer/early autumn to shorten and straighten sections of their
lines, acquire better defensive terrain, and deny the enemy key
vantage points from which they could observe and target UN
positions. The Battle of Bloody Ridge took place west of the
Punchbowl from August-September 1951 and this was followed by the
Battle of Heartbreak Ridge northwest of the Punchbowl from
September-October 1951. At the end of the UN offensive in October
1951, UN Forces controlled the line of hills north of the
Punchbowl.
Disillusioned by movies and naive, the author is determined to
enter into the military early and become a war hero."
Eyewitness to War Oral History Series: Eyewitness to War The US
Army in Operation AL FAJR: An Oral History is a unique publication
for the Combat Studies Institute. It is our first publication to
make exclusive use of oral history. This study is a derivative of
the CSI Operational Leadership Experiences (OLE) project, a program
that collects and archives first-person experiences from the Global
War on Terror. It can also be considered a companion to the
recently published CSI Occasional Paper #20: Operation AL FAJR: A
Study in Army and Marine Corps Joint Operations. Interviews
collected for the OLE project formed the basis for that occasional
paper and were so compelling, we felt a need to publish those
interviews in a book series. In November 2004, the second battle
for Fallujah was a brutal and bloody fight so characteristic of
urban terrain. Under the overall command of the 1st Marine
Division, four Marine infantry and two US Army battalions (Task
Forces 2-2 Infantry and 2-7 Cavalry) were committed to the streets
of Fallujah. At this same time, the Army's 2d Brigade, 1st Cavalry
Division formed a cordon to hold and isolate the insurgents in the
city. Using the fi repower and mobility of the Army's heavy armor
and mechanized units to full effect, the Marine Regimental Combat
Teams were successful in destroying the enemy and securing Fallujah
in ten days. Eyewitness to War interviews span a wide spectrum of
participants, from commanders and senior non-commissioned officers
at all levels to the first-hand accounts of combat and combat
service support personnel on the battlefield. We make no claim that
this history is a comprehensive work, as these 37 people are but a
fraction of the thousands who took part in the operation. This is
primarily an Army oral history, though one of the Marine Regimental
Commanders agreed to provide his story. The USMC bore the brunt of
fighting in Fallujah and this study does not attempt to overlook
their tremendous accomplishments. The individuals featured in this
work volunteered to work with our staff over many months. Their
stories are a tremendous testimony to the skill, flexibility, and
bravery of the US Army today. This collection of personal
experiences is the raw material history is made of. It is a
riveting and useful way to study the past. And it is our hope that
the insights derived from their roles in the second battle for
Fallujah will better prepare the US Army for tomorrow's endeavors.
Following the fight out of the Chosin Reservoir, the 1st Marine
Division embarked aboard ships bound for Pusan. Once offloaded in
mid-December, the division moved inland some 40 miles west to
Masan, an area previously occupied by the 1st Provisional Marine
Brigade that summer. As 1950 drew to a close, the military
situation in Korea appeared bleak. American policymakers were even
contemplating evacuating U.S. forces. This U.S. Marine Corps
history provides unique information about important aspects of the
Korean War, with material on the 1st Marine Division, Lt. General
Matthew Bunker Ridgway, Truman fires MacArthur, medical helicopter
evacuation, and the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing 1951.
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