“Each day the AQI attacks became worse—more sustained and deadly— and indiscriminate; insurgents targeted both Marines and civilians.”

By Ed Darack

THROUGHOUT THE WAR in Iraq, the news media focused primarily on actions in the Baghdad region, and to a lesser extent on the outlying battles in the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. Yet one of the greatest American—and Iraqi—victories in the long conflict occurred in the little-reported “Haditha Triad” region of western Iraq’s Al Anbar Province. One of the great stories of modern war, it remained untold for years.

Composed of the city of Haditha and the outlying towns of Haqlaniyah, Barwana and Albu Hyatt, the Haditha Triad lies along the Euphrates River corridor, deep in the desert, far from Baghdad. This corridor proved critical to al Qaeda in Iraq (“AQI”) throughout the war. Fighters, weapons, money and supplies flowed into and out of Iraq from Syria through the corridor, as well as between strongholds along it. As American and coalition forces focused on Baghdad and the nearby cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, AQI would retreat to the relative safety of the Triad to rest, train, regroup and plan new attacks.

In the early days of the war, American forces never managed to establish an enduring presence in the region, which allowed AQI to lay down roots there. The Triad would become one of the most violent places in the war, as the terrorist network oppressed the local citizenry and lashed out at American forces deployed to the region.

In 2005, in response to a U.S. and coalition attempt to establish order in the area, AQI decapitated a number of local Iraqi police officers and members of their families, placing their victims’ heads atop stakes at major intersections in the city of Haditha. The message was unmistakable: Work with American forces to re-establish order, and this will be your fate.

AQI set up a shadow government in the region and increased both the frequency and viciousness of their attacks. One of the most telling examples of their brutality occurred during the deployment of the Third Battalion of the 25^th Marine Regiment in 2005, when AQI killed a total of 48 members of the battalion over the course of their time there. In fact, the Third’s time in Haditha would prove to be the single deadliest deployment for a Marine battalion since that of the October, 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that killed 220.

As American forces continued to pummel AQI in places like Fallujah and Ramadi, the insurgent survivors—the most battle-hardened and highly skilled of their ranks—absconded to the Triad. There, like a cornered, wounded animal, they would put up their final fight.

After a seven-month deployment to the Triad, Marines of the Third Battalion, Third Marine Regiment, or “3/3,” commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Norman “Norm” Cooling, began preparing to return to their home base at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. During their deployment, 3/3 maintained a strong “outside the wire” presence throughout the Haditha Triad, making great strides in the counterinsurgency campaign in the area—but at a cost; the battalion lost 15 of their members.

One of the most important, and enduring, victories of 3/3’s time in the Haditha Triad was tracking down a former Iraqi army colonel from the region named Farouk and returning him to his home city of Haditha. The Marines convinced Farouk to establish a resurgent police force, with he as the chief. Despite grave threats to him, his family, and those serving under him, Farouk agreed. His efforts would prove crucial in the following months, when al Qaeda would launch an all-out, last-ditch effort to keep control of the Haditha Triad.

Called the Ramadan Offensive, it was more of a call-to-arms than a well coordinated military campaign. It would begin on Sept. 24, 2006—the day that 3/3 officially handed control of the area of operation over to its sister battalion, the Second Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment (“2/3,” pronounced “two-three”). The area exploded in violence as members of each respective company moved into their home forward operating bases throughout the Triad: Echo Company went to the city of Haditha; Fox Company went to Barwana. Golf Company was dispatched to Haqlaniyah. Headquarters and Services Company, known as “H and S,” went to the Haditha Dam, just north of the city. Weapons or “Whiskey” Company, re-tasked to function like an infantry line company, went to a number of locations throughout the desert south of Haditha, but spent most of their time at the small village of Albu Hyatt.

Sniper attacks and ambushes by insurgent bands armed with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades erupted throughout region. Each day the AQI attacks became worse—more sustained and deadly— and indiscriminate; insurgents targeted both Marines and civilians.

The Marines fought back hard. In Haditha, the center of gravity of the battalion’s fight, Echo Company worked hand-in-hand with Farouk and his fledgling police force. Marines of all companies kept up the pressure on AQI, and simultaneously worked to rebuild the civic infrastructure that was decimated by AQI. Cowed by beheadings, rapes, murder and general intimidation, the locals of the area remained rarely emerged from hiding. Stores were shuttered, schools closed and hospitals inoperable, all the while the enemy would attack and then slip away. The Marines fought an army of phantoms on a battlefield of shadows.

The battalion, however, undertook a number of unorthodox measures to gain ground, in addition to their continuous outside-the-wire mindset. For Halloween, members of Echo Company dressed up in costume during their patrols went door-to-door to hand out candy. They also distributed flyers that they had made using an old ditto machine they found in an abandoned warehouse. The leaflets announced the Marines’ intention to bring normalcy back to the area. For Christmas they dressed up as Santas and elves gave toys.

Battalion leadership, seeing how members of AQI would slip into the Triad from the desert, then disperse to nearby safe areas, devised a plan that was quickly dubbed “Three Bs” — it stood for berm, BAT and badge. Marines erected an earthen berm around key portions of the Triad, walling it off, while biometric automated toolsets (or BATs), portable finger print and retina scanning gear, helped mobile patrols verify the identities of locals and detect insurgents. All of this was further augmented with personal ID badges for friendly civilians.

Despite their gains, tragedy would continue to befall the battalion, including the loss of their operations officer, who was key to the Three Bs plan in a helicopter accident. They kept up the fight, however, on all fronts. The turning point came after a series of atrocities committed by AQI insurgents – fighters used local children as unwitting suicide bombers. One of the most horrific examples of this occurred when a squad from Echo Company happened across a young Iraqi girl on a bicycle wearing a Mickey Mouse backpack. Unbeknownst to the Marines, AQI had filled the girl’s bag with hand grenades and had instructed her to press a detonator button when she passed close to the Marines. She didn’t understand the instructions, so AQI set the bomb off remotely shortly after she rode by the Americans, killing her instantly. In other cases, insurgents simply targeted youngsters as part of their wider terror campaign.

The locals had finally had enough and began coming forward to the Marines with information about the location of key members of AQI. By the end of their deployment—after 23 of their ranks had died and 177 having sustained serious wounds—AQI forces in the area were finally defeated.

Significant actions, or “SIGACTS” – Marine terminology for attacks – went from over 300 per month to less than six. Men, women, and children walked the streets freely. Local government began functioning again. Stores opened. Doctors returned to hospitals. Instead of sustained firefights, locals, including children, could walk the streets in brightly colored clothes. Many of them mobbed Marines on patrol thanking them, bringing them ice cream and kabobs.

The next battalion to occupy the region, the First Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment, didn’t suffer a single loss of life. According to the Marines of 3/3 and 2/3 who followed the news of the area for years after these deployments, ISIS never took the Haditha Triad area. Colonel Farouk held firm.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ed Darak is the author of The Warriors of Anbar. A writer and photojournalist who spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan. Visit his website www.darack.com or follow him on Twitter @EdDarack.