Operation Phantom Fury: Encyclopedia II - Operation Phantom Fury - Timeline

Operation Phantom Fury - Timeline

Fallujah was one of the most peaceful areas of the country just after the fall of Saddam. There was very little looting and the new mayor of the city — Taha Bidaywi Hamed, selected by local tribal leaders — was staunchly pro-American.

28 April 2003. A crowd of 200 people defied the curfew and gathered outside a local school to protest the presence of foreign forces in the city. This developed into an altercation with U.S. troops in the city in which fifteen Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. gunfire. There were no Coalition casualties in the incident.

1 May, 2003: President Bush proclaims the end of "major combat operations in Iraq."

13 December, 2003: Saddam Hussein is captured.

31 March, 2004: Four American contractors are killed in the city, and images of their mutilated bodies are broadcast around the world.

4 April, 2004: American troops launch Operation Vigilant Resolve.

28 April 2004: Operation Vigilant Resolve ends with an agreement that the local population would keep resistance fighters out of the city. A Fallujah Protection Force composed of local Iraqis was set up by the US led occupants to help fight the rising resistance.

7 November, 2004: Operation Phantom Fury begins.

13 November, 2004: American spokesmen describe fighting in the city as mopping up isolated pockets of resistance.

16 November, 2004: News footage shows a US Marine shooting a wounded Iraqi.

Late January, 2005: Operation Phantom Fury ends. American troops begin withdrawing.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Timeline", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki