It had participated in the invasion, in the spring of 2003, and again in the hard-fought battle for Fallujah in the fall of 2004. This was Kilo Company’s third tour in Iraq. It was manned by the roughly 200 Marines of Kilo Company of the Third Battalion, First Marine Division, out of Camp Pendleton, California. Marines had established a forward operating base they called Sparta. November 19, 2005, is the date people remember. Charged with murder in the deaths of two Iraqis, negligent homicide, and assault. Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum, 25, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Now, all through Anbar, and indeed the Middle East, Haditha is known as a city of death, or more simply as a name, a war cry against the United States. Before the American invasion, it was known as an idyllic spot, where families came from as far away as Baghdad to while away their summers splashing in the river and sipping tea in the shade of trees. Snipers permitting, you can walk it top to bottom in less than an hour, allowing time enough to stone the dogs. It has a market, mosques, schools, and a hospital with a morgue. It extends along the Euphrates’ western bank with a population of about 50,000, in a disarray of dusty streets and individual houses, many with walled gardens in which private jungles grow. On that short list, Haditha is the smallest and farthest upstream. These are among the places made famous by battle-conservative, once quiet communities where American power has been checked, and where despite all the narrow measures of military success the Sunni insurgency continues to grow. It meanders silently through the desert province of Anbar like a ribbon of life, flanked by the greenery that grows along its banks, sustaining palm groves and farms, and a string of well-watered cities and towns.
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