Editing Fallujah (section)

===Modern era: 1900–2003===
In the spring of 1920, the British, who had gained control of Iraq after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, sent Lieut.-Colonel [[Gerard Leachman]], a renowned explorer and a senior colonial officer, to meet with local leader Shaykh Dhari, perhaps to forgive a loan given to the sheikh.<ref name=":0" /> Exactly what happened depends on the source, but according to the Arab version, Gerard Leachman was betrayed by the sheikh who had his two sons shoot him in the legs, then behead him by the sword.<ref name=":0">{{Citation
 |last        = Anderson
 |first       = Jon Lee
 |author-link = Jon Lee Anderson
 |title       = Invasions: Nervous Iraqis remember earlier conflicts
 |magazine    = [[The New Yorker]]
 |date        = 24 March 2003
 |url         = http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/03/24/030324fa_fact?currentPage=all
 |access-date  = 21 February 2009
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080624023644/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/03/24/030324fa_fact?currentPage=all
 |archive-date = 24 June 2008
 |df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>

During the brief [[Anglo-Iraqi War]] of 1941, the Iraqi Army was defeated by the British in a battle near Fallujah. In 1947 the town had only about 10,000 inhabitants. It grew rapidly into a city after Iraqi independence with the influx of [[petroleum|oil]] wealth into the country. Its position on one of the main roads out of Baghdad made it of central importance.

Under [[Saddam Hussein]], who ruled Iraq from 1979 to 2003, Fallujah came to be an important area of support for the regime, along with the rest of the region labeled by the US military as the "[[Sunni Triangle]]".<ref name=":1" /> Many residents of the primarily [[Sunni]] city were employees and supporters of Saddam's government, and many senior [[Ba'ath Party]] officials were natives of the city.<ref name=":1" /> Fallujah was heavily industrialised during the Saddam era, with the construction of several large factories, including one closed down by [[United Nations Special Commission]] (UNSCOM) in the 1990s that may have been used to create [[chemical weapons]]. A new highway system as a part of Saddam's infrastructure initiatives circumvented Fallujah and gradually caused the city to decline in national importance by the time of the Iraq War.<ref name=":1">{{Citation
 |last        = Pike
 |first       = John
 |author-link  = John E. Pike
 |title       = Fallujah
 |publisher   = GlobalSecurity.org
 |date        = 4 October 2006
 |url         = http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/fallujah.htm
 |access-date  = 21 February 2009
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20041031002157/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/fallujah.htm
 |archive-date = 31 October 2004
 |df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>

During the [[Gulf War]], [[Coalition of the Gulf War|Coalition]] warplanes repeatedly attacked a bridge in Fallujah which was used as part of an [[Iraqi Armed Forces|Iraqi military]] supply line. On 14 February 1991, a [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) fighter jet fired two [[Laser-guided bomb|laser-guided missiles]] which were aimed at the bridge but malfunctioned and instead struck Fallujah's largest marketplace (which was situated in a residential area), killing between 50 and 150 non-combatants and wounding many more. After news of the mistake became public, an RAF spokesman, [[Group captain|Group Captain]] David Henderson, issued a statement noting that the missile had malfunctioned but admitted that the Royal Air Force had made an error. Coalition warplanes subsequently launched another attack on the bridge, with one missile hitting its target while two others fell into the river and a fourth struck another marketplace in Fallujah, due to its laser guidance system once again malfunctioning.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Sherry|last=Virginia|title=Needless Deaths in the Gulf War: Civilian Casualties During the Air Campaign and Violations of the Laws of War|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|year=1991|isbn=978-0-3000-5599-3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=A. P. V.|last=Rogers|title=Law on the Battlefield|publisher=[[Manchester University Press]]|year=2004|isbn=978-0-7190-6136-3}}</ref>