testing trigger section
THE TRIGGER
On March 31, 2004, an extremist mob ambushed and killed four U.S. Blackwater civilian contractors inside Fallujah. They burned the bodies and hung them from the King Faisal Bridge before a large crowd. Images and video from this spread across the world.
U.S. forces mounted a hasty response to the killings, launching the First Battle of Fallujah, also known as Operation Valiant Resolve, on April 3. By April 9, the Iraqi government called off the response, even as the forces made strong progress, taking over a third of the city.
They turned the operation over to an 1,100-person Sunni security force known as the Fallujah Brigade. They didn’t last. Instead of continuing the fight, they laid down their weapons and disbanded. Many joined the insurgency.
Twenty-seven U.S. service members were killed during this operation.
