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The 2004 Fallujah ambush occurred on March 31, 2004, when Iraqi insurgents attacked a convoy containing four American contractors from the private military company Blackwater USA who were conducting a delivery for food caterers ESS.

The ambush

The four armed contractors—Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Mike Teague—were killed and dragged from their vehicles. Their bodies were beaten, burned, dragged through the city streets, and hung from a Euphrates River bridge.

Response

Photos of the event, showing jubilant Iraqis posing with the charred corpses, were released to news agencies worldwide, which caused a great deal of indignation in the United States.

The ambush led to the First Battle of Fallujah, a U.S.-led operation to retake control of the city. The battle was halted mid-way for political reasons, an outcome that commentators have described as insurgent victory. Seven months later, in November 2004, a second attempt to capture the city, the Second Battle of Fallujah, proved successful.

Intelligence reports concluded that the attack was planned by Ahmad Hashim Abd al-Isawi. He was captured by Navy SEALs in 2009, five years later. al-Isawi was held for a time by the United States intelligence community, including at Camp Schwedler. In 2010, he testified at a court-martial of SEALs he accused of mistreating him. He was subsequently handed over to Iraqi authorities for trial and executed by hanging some time before November 2013.

2005 lawsuit

The families of the victims filed suit (Helvenston et al. v. Blackwater Security) against Blackwater USA for wrongful death in January 2005.

References

1. "Contractors - The High-Risk Contracting Business | Private Warriors | FRONTLINE | PBS". www.pbs.org. Archived from the original on 2012-02-15. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
2. Bing West (2005). No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah. Bantam Books. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-0-553-80402-7.
3. West xxii. "The Second Phase began in March 2004, when four American contractors were killed and the bodies mutilated in broad daylight in the heart of the city. The US Marines were ordered to seize the city, but then, due to international outrage over televised reportage of the assault, were told to stop. For six weeks the Marines engaged in fierce but inconclusive siege warfare."
4. LeBleu, Joe. "Long Rifle: A Sniper's Story in Iraq and Afghanistan", p. 201. "In mid-April 2003, President Bush decided not to secure Fallujah...laying the groundwork for later U.S. failure there."
5. Scahill, Jeremy. "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army", p. 205. "The horrors unfolding in Fallujah, coupled with the U.S. failure to take control of the city, and the bold resistance of Fallujah's residents was encouraging other Iraqis to rise up."
6. Deignan, Tom (December 22, 2013). "Navy SEALS tragedy in Afghanistan chronicled in new film, "Lone Survivors"". IrishCentral. Archived from the original on January 26, 2017. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
7. CNN Wire Staff (April 22, 2010). "Navy SEAL not guilty of charges in Iraq". CNN. Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
8. Hartwell, Ray V. (November 26, 2013). "Persecuting Our Heroes". The American Spectator. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

• 2004 murders in Iraq
• Attacks in 2004
• 2004 in Iraq
• Blackwater (company)
• Battles of the Anbar campaign (2003–2011)
• Fallujah in the Iraq War
• Terrorist incidents in Iraq in 2004
• Ambushes of the Iraq War
• March 2004 events in Iraq
• Battles of the Iraq War in 2004