No True Glory

I picked up the book No True Glory by Bing West last weekend and I just couldn’t put this book down and finished reading it in three days. The book documents in great detail the battle for the Iraqi city of Fallujah from when the American forces first entered the city in 2003, through the first invasion of the city in April 2004, and concluding with the 2nd invasion of Fallujah in November 2004.

Though when I was in Iraq I never went to Fallujah, the city still holds some personal feelings for me because one of my squad leaders from my first tour in Korea was killed in action serving in this city.

The book begins by explaining the challenges the 3rd ID, the 3rd ACR, and 82nd Airborne had in the initial occupation of the city followed by the US Marine Corps. Shortly after the Marine Corps arrived the 4 American security contractors were ambushed in the city, killed, burned, and hung up over the Euphrates River Bridge for Al Jazeera to show to a world wide audience.

The politicians in Washington including the President were eager for an attack to avenge the contractors deaths even though the Marines on the ground were against a full fledge assault because of the fear of collateral damage alienating the local population. Politics won out and the Marines assaulted the city even though they did not want to.

The Marines methodically assaulted the city block by block but the fighting in the city drew extensive media coverage led by Al Jazeera which greatly over inflated civilian death totals and the amount of destruction in the city. The western press would just repeat Al Jazeera’s claim since they were the only media in the city thus causing the claim of massive civilian casualties to become a fact in many people’s minds.

The Iraqi politicians eager to win favor with the Iraqi public as they lobbied for government positions condemned the attack thus protecting the same terrorists who’s sworn goal was to destroy the fledgling government they represented. English Prime Minister Tony Blair battered by sagging public opinion in the UK also pushed President Bush to end the attack and with the Abu Graib crisis ready to explode President Bush halted the attack and the terrorists proclaimed victory though the Marines were only two days from taking the city and destroying the terrorist’s sanctuary.

The Zarquawi cell Al Qaida terrorists than began to use the city to send death squads and suicide bombers to ravage the country over the coming months. Not to mention the beheading of many foreigners such as Nick Berg and the Korean business intepreter. Nothing would be done to stop the terrorists once and for all until after the US presidential election and the formation of the Iraqi government.

In November 2004 the second assault on Fallujah began because no one had any political office to lose. The Marines proceeded to secure the city quicker than anyone expected without objections from the same politicians that stopped them before. However, this invasion would cost more in US and Iraqi lives, plus the destruction was much more extensive than the damage incurred from the first invasion due to the terrorists having more time to dig in and turn many of the homes into bunker complexes rigged with booby traps.

Upon the securing of the city, torture rooms including the film studio where Nick Berg and the Korean interpreter were beheaded by Zarquawi were uncovered. Plus all the mosques and schools were used as ammunition depots and headquarters buildings for the terrorists. However, none of this was focused on by media because of the shooting of a wounded terrorist by a US Marine who thought the guy was faking his injuries. Of course little if any mention in the media of the fact that this Marine had soldiers killed in his unit by terrorists using the same tactic of faking injuries.

The Marines’ successful assault on the city removed Fallujah from the headlines and killed hundreds of these terrorists even though Zarquawi was able to escape.

Here is a passage in the book that best explains what was happening in Fallujah before the November 2004 assault that liberated the city from the jihadists. For those that have been to Iraq can tell you, the majority of these insurgents are not freedom fighters or holy warriors but common criminals:

The regiment’s intelligence officer, Maj. Bellon, had contempt for the imamas advocating Islamic fundamentalism. “Wahhabism itself ins’t the motivating force in Fallujah. The imams use the mosques to gain control over ignorant people. They preach hate, and that’s not a religion,” he said. “I keep the book on these guys. Most of them are criminals. They own the real estate, they send out thugs to shake down the truck drivers doing the run to Jordan, they fence the stolen cars and organize the kidnappings. They get a cut of every hijacked truck. They could teach Al Capone how to extort a city. They use young gullible jihadists as their pawns. Don’t think of them as clerics. Think terms of a mafia don. They stand there in a religious costume , because that is exactly what it is, and inspect the latest haul before saying afternoon prayers.”

The movie rights for this book have in fact been sold to Universal Studios so expect a movie to come out eventually based on this book. If you really want an inside look at what is happening in Iraq plus see the heroism of the soldiers and Marines in Iraq based around the battle for Fallujah that you never hear about in the mainstream, than check out this book.