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voice with the media, Congress, the public
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November 9, 2004
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Troops in Fallujah
With the long-awaited U.S. military offensive against Fallujah finally
underway, DefenseWatch and Soldiers for the Truth want to hear directly
from the men and women involved in this key battle for Iraq's
freedom.
Please email us your accounts of the fighting, of acts of bravery
by your fellow soldiers and Marines
as well as Iraqi troops, of leadership successes or leadership failures.
We want to share with the world your experiences in the harsh alleyways
of Fallujah. Your stories deserve the widest audience.
Please email us at dweditor@yahoo.com (identifying your account
with the header title, "Fallujah"), and we will promptly post your
stories for our hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide.
--Ed Offley, Editor DefenseWatch
By LTC David G. Bellon USMC
Marines are Ready for Fallujah Fight
Editor's Note: The following is an emailed account of the prelude
to the ongoing U.S. military offensive in Fallujah, written by a
Marine Corps officer to his father and posted on his family's internet
website, The Greenside.
Dear Dad -
As you have no doubt been watching, we have had our hands full around
Fallujah. It would seem as if the final reckoning is coming. The
city has been on a consistent downhill spiral since we were ordered
out in April. Its siren call for extremists and criminals has only
increased steadily and the instability and violence that radiates
out of the town has expanded exponentially.
If there is another city in the world that contains more terrorists,
I would be surprised. From the last two years, I just don't see
a way that we can succeed in Iraq without reducing this threat.
The cost of continuing on without taking decisive action is too
high to dwell on.
The enemies inside the town have come to fight and kill Americans.
Nothing will sate their bloodlust and hatred other than to kill
everyone of us or at least die trying. It is hard to fathom as a
Westerner as rational thought would dictate that we will only be
here for a relatively short blip in their history and while we are
here, billions of dollars in investments will pour in and opportunity
that is beyond comprehension will open up for anyone willing to
work. This is not Kansas and this enemy does not think like that.
If we build a school or clinic, they destroy it. They would rather
deny medical care or education for the children of the citizens
who live nearby than to have any symbol of the West in general and
America specifically among them. It is hard to comprehend. Frankly,
we are done trying.
For eight months, we have been on our chain. The enemy has fooled
itself misinterpreting our humanity and restraint for lack of will
and courage. For eight months, we have watched Marines, soldiers
and sailors maimed and killed by invisible cowards hiding behind
some wall or in a canal as he detonates another IED. For eight months,
we have been witness to suicidal sociopaths driving vehicles laden
with explosives into crowds of Iraqis and into our own convoys.
Just last week, we lost another nine Marines killed and an equal
number of wounded as the result of some ignorant extremist who was
able to convince himself that killing himself and as many Americans
as possible would send him to paradise where he could finally get
his virgins.
Now, their own ignorance and arrogance will be their undoing. They
believe that they can hold Fallujah. In fact, they have come from
all over to be part of its glorious defense. I cannot describe the
atmosphere that exists in the Regiment right now. Of course, the
men are nervous, but I think they are more nervous that we will
not be allowed to clean the rat's nest out and instead will be forced
to continue operating as is.
It's as if a window of opportunity has opened and everyone just
wants to get on with it before it closes. The Marines know the enemy
has massed and has temporarily decided to stay and fight. For the
first time, the men feel as though we may be allowed to do what
needs to be done. If the enemy wants to sit in his citadel and try
to defend it against the Marine Corps and some very hard soldiers
... then the men want to execute before the enemy sobers up and
flees.
It may come off as an exceptionally bellicose perspective, but where
the Marines live and operate is a war zone in the starkest reality.
When the Marines leave the front gate on an operation or patrol,
someone within direct line of sight of that gate is trying to kill
them. All have lost friends and watched as the enemy hides within
his sanctuary that has been allowed out of what one must assume
is political necessity.
The enemy has been given every advantage by our sense of morality
and restraint and by a set of operational rules that we are constrained
to operate under. The Marines feel like their time has come and
we will finally be ordered to do what must be done and be given
the latitude to do it. Even though the price will be high, there
is not a man here that would chose status quo over paying the price.
Every day, the enemy takes more hostages, assassinates developing
Iraqi leaders and savagely beats suspected collaborators. I will
give you just one recent example that happened last week. One of
our patrols was moving down a street when they saw what looked like
a fight. The Marines closed with the scene. It was a family that
had come to Iraq on religious pilgrimage that was taken hostage
and was being taken into Fallujah.
The muj stopped for some reason and the father began fighting. The
Marines interdicted and captured two of the kidnappers. Two more
ran and the Marines could not get a shot without fear of killing/wounding
others.
Every day, insurgents from inside Fallujah drive out and wait for
Iraqis that work on our bases. Once the Iraqis leave they are stopped.
The lucky ones are savagely beaten. The unfortunate ones are killed.
A family that had fled Fallujah in order to get away from the fighting
recently tried to return. When they got to their home, they found
it taken over by terrorists (very common). When the patriarch showed
the muj his deed in order to prove that the house was his, they
took the old man out into the street and beat him senseless in front
of his family.
Summary executions are common. Think about that. Summary executions
inside Fallujah happen with sobering frequency. We have been witness
to the scene on a number of occasions. Three men are taken from
the trunk of a car and are made to walk to a ditch where they are
shot. Bodies are found in the Euphrates without heads washed downstream
from Fallujah. To date we have been allowed to do nothing.
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I have no idea the numbers of beheadings that have occurred in
Fallujah since I have been here. I have no idea the number of hostages
that have ended up in Fallujah since we have been here. I just don't
know that Americans would be able to comprehend the number anyway.
Unfortunately, the situation has only gotten worse. There is no
hope for any type of reasoned solution with an enemy like this.
Once again, we are being asked by citizens who have fled the city
to go in and take the city back. They are willing for us to literally
rubble the place in order to kill the terrorists within. Don't get
me wrong, there are still many inside the town that support the
terrorists and we cannot expect to be thanked publicly if we do
take the city.
There is a sense of deja vu with the refugees telling us where their
houses are and asking us to bomb them because the muj have taken
them over. We heard the same thing in April only to end up letting
the people down. Some no doubt have paid with their lives. The "good"
people who may ultimately buy into a peaceful and prosperous Iraq
are again asking us to do what we know must be done.
The Marines understand and are eager to get on with it. The only
lingering fear in them is that we will be ordered to stop again.
I don't know if this is going to happen but if it happens soon,
I will write you when it's over,
Love,
Dave
Lt.
Col. David G. Bellon was commissioned as an officer in the Marine
Corps in 1990 after graduating from law school. He remained on active
duty until 1998, then continued as a reserve officer while building
a law practice in Oceanside, Calif. In January 2003, he went to
Iraq to serve in the infantry during the invasion. He returned home
in September of last year and was sent back to Iraq in February
2004. He is currently serving with the 1st Marine Regiment Combat
Team. Send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.
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