![]() I am more interested in the understanding of history and by the gap between events and the way they are depicted in the media, that storytelling. I was comparing my experience of conflicts with photographers who were embedded for months on the front line during World War II, for example. You have said previously that you don’t consider yourself a ‘war photographer’, that you don’t spend enough time in conflict zones to really experience war in the way some do… This time in Fallujah must have been very intense – how does it fit into or reflect that view?Įven though I have been in dozens of conflict areas in the past 15 years, I do not consider myself a “war photographer”. Warning: The following article contains graphic images which some readers may find upsetting. Here, on the 15 th anniversary of the battle’s start, the photographer discusses the work he made over that week, his changing feelings about the men he was photographing, and one particular image which represents “the culmination of contempt and dehumanization” that grows in those at war. Jérôme Sessini was in Fallujah embedded with US Marines of Charlie Company, at work in the north eastern sector of the city for one week. The fighting in the city has since been recognized by many as the most intense urban warfare since the battle of Huế city during the Vietnam War. The US-led effort against insurgents in the city was code-named Operation Phantom Fury, and marked the first instance of Coalition military action against a purely insurgent force, since the toppling of the Ba-athist government in 2003. The Second Battle of Fallujah was the bloodiest battle of the entire conflict for American troops, and is notable for being the first major engagement of the Iraq War that was fought solely against insurgents as opposed to the government military forces of the former Ba'athist Iraq.The Second Battle of Fallujah started on November 7, 2004, and lasted one and a half months – ending just before Christmas Eve. When the coalition fought their way into the centre of the city, the Iraqi Interim Government requested that the city's control be transferred over to an Iraqi-run local security force, which then began stockpiling weapons and building complex defenses across the city through mid-2004. Earlier, in April 2004, coalition forces fought the First Battle of Fallujah in an attempt to capture or kill insurgent elements who were considered responsible for the 2004 Fallujah ambush, which resulted in the deaths of four private military contractors of Blackwater. ![]() ![]() Operation Phantom Fury was the second major coalition effort in Fallujah. 2003 1st Baghdad 2nd Baghdad Najaf 3rd Baghdad 1st Nasiriyah 1st Karbala 2004 ‡ 1st Erbil ‡ Ashoura 1st Basra 1st Mosul 4th Baghdad 5th Baghdad Karbala & Najaf 1st Baqubah Kufa Marez 2005 Suwaira bombing ‡ 1st Al Hillah 2nd Erbil ‡ Musayyib 6th Baghdad ‡ 7th Baghdad 1st Balad Khanaqin 2006 ‡ Karbala-Ramadi 1st Samarra 8th Baghdad 9th Baghdad ‡ 10th Baghdad 2007 11th Baghdad 12th Baghdad ‡ 13th Baghdad 14th Baghdad 15th Baghdad ‡ 2nd Al Hillah ‡ 1st Tal Afar 16th Baghdad 17th Baghdad 2nd & 3rd Karbala 2nd Mosul ‡ 18th Baghdad Makhmour Abu Sayda 2nd Samarra 19th Baghdad ‡ Amirli 1st Kirkuk 20th Baghdad 21st Baghdad § Qahtaniya Amarah 2008 22nd Baghdad 2nd Balad 23rd Baghdad 4th Karbala 24th Baghdad Karmah 2nd Baqubah Dujail Balad Ruz 2009 25th Baghdad 26th Baghdad Baghdad-Muqdadiyah Taza 27th Baghdad 2nd Kirkuk 2nd Tal Afar ‡ 28th Baghdad ‡ 29th Baghdad ‡ 30th Baghdad 2010 31st Baghdad 32nd Baghdad 3rd Baqubah 33rd Baghdad 34th Baghdad 35th Baghdad ‡ 1st Pan-Iraq 36th Baghdad 37th Baghdad 2nd Pan-Iraq 38th Baghdad 39th Baghdad ‡ 40th Baghdad 2011 41st Baghdad ‡ 3rd Pan-Iraq Karbala-Baghdad 42nd Baghdad Tikrit 3rd Al Hillah 3rd Samarra Al Diwaniyah Taji 4th Pan-Iraq 43rd Baghdad 4th Karbala 44th Baghdad 2nd Basra 45th Baghdad § indicates the deadliest attack in the Iraq War ![]() ‡ indicates attacks resulting in over 100 deaths ![]()
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