Editing First Battle of Fallujah (section)

===US withdrawal===

On 1 May 2004, the United States withdrew from Fallujah, as Lieutenant General [[James T. Conway|James Conway]] announced that he had unilaterally decided to turn over any remaining operations to the newly formed Fallujah Brigade - a Sunni security force formed by the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]],<ref name="Urban, Mark p.63">Urban, Mark, ''Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the Secret Special Forces War in Iraq '', St. Martin's Griffin, 2012 {{ISBN|1-250-00696-1}} {{ISBN|978-1-250-00696-7}},p.63</ref> which would be armed with U.S. weapons and equipment under the command of former [[Ba'athist]] Army General [[Jasim Mohammed Saleh]]. Several days later, when it became clear that Saleh had been involved in military actions against Shi'ites under Saddam Hussein, U.S. forces announced that [[Muhammed Latif]] would instead lead the brigade. Nevertheless, the group dissolved and had turned over all the supplied weapons to the insurgency by September.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/05/AR2007080501299_pf.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=Weapons Given to Iraq Are Missing | first=Glenn | last=Kessler | access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> The Brigade soldiers declared loyalty to the insurgents and joined various jihadist and nationalist groups that vied for authority in the town.<ref name="Urban, Mark p.63"/>

The loss of the Fallujah Brigade prompted the [[Second Battle of Fallujah]] in November that year. After intense fighting, the Americans successfully occupied the city by the end of December.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Camp |first=Dick |date=4 December 2009 |title=Operation Phantom Fury: The Assault and Capture of Fallujah, Iraq |url=https://www.amazon.com/Operation-Phantom-Fury-Assault-Fallujah/dp/B00AK39ZZI |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250124225904/https://www.amazon.com/Operation-Phantom-Fury-Assault-Fallujah/dp/B00AK39ZZI |archive-date=2025-01-24 |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=www.amazon.com |language=en-us}}</ref>

During the interim period between the two battles, U.S. forces maintained a presence at [[Dreamland (Fallujah, Iraq)|Camp Baharia]], a few miles outside the city limits.