Al-Anbar Awakening
Volume 1, American Perspectives; U.S. Marines and Counterinsurgency in Iraq, 2004-2009
Edited by Chief Warrant Officer-4 Timothy S. McWilliams and Lieutenant Colonel Kurtis P. Wheeler
ABOUT THE BOOK
This two-volume anthology of interviews tells the story of the al-Anbar Awakening and the emergence of al-Anbar Province from the throes of insurgency. It presents the perspectives of both Iraqis (volume two) and Americans (volume one) who ultimately came to work together, in an unlikely alliance of former adversaries, for the stabilization and redevelopment of the province. The collection begins in the 2003-4 time frame with the rise of the insurgency and concludes with observations from the vantage point of early to-mid 2009.The anthology demonstrates that there is not one history of the Awakening, but several histories intertwined. It is not a complete collection, but one that provides a broad spectrum of candid, unvarnished perspectives from some of the leading players.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Chief Warrant Officer-4 Timothy S. McWilliams, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, served in Fallujah in 2004 as a logistics officer. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps History Division in 2007 and has deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan as a field historian. McWilliams has worked in the marketing and communications field and recently earned a master’s degree in history from California State University, Chico.
Lieutenant Colonel Kurtis P. Wheeler, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, deployed to Iraq during 2006-7 as a field historian for the U.S. Marine Corps History Division and has also collected for the History Division in the Republic of Georgia. Commissioned in 1989, he served with 10th Marines in Operation Desert Storm and with the tank and civil affairs communities as a reserve officer. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard University and is the history department chairman and teacher in Cazenovia, New York.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1: 2004 • Marine Deployment to al-Anbar and the Rise of the Insurgency
Preparing for Counterinsurgency
U.S. Marine Security and Stabilization Operations
The Indirect Approach: Engaging the Tribes
Fallujah—The Epicenter of the Insurgency
Operation al-Fajr and the Return to Security and Stabilization Operations
Chapter 2: Counterinsurgency and the Roots of the Awakening
The Shift to Counterinsurgency
Enabling the Awakening, Part I
Enabling the Awakening, Part II
Partnering with the Tribes in Ramadi
Counterinsurgency in Central Ramadi, Part I
Counterinsurgency in Central Ramadi, Part II
Chapter 3: 2007 • The Awakening Turns the Tide
Turning the Tide, Part I
Turning the Tide, Part II
Chapter 4: 2008-2009 • Transition to Iraqi Control
Transition to Iraqi Control, Part I
Transition to Iraqi Control, Part II
Transition to Iraqi Control, Part III
Transition to Iraqi Control, Part IV
Appendix