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NARRATIVE NOMINATING SSG DAVID BELLAVIA FOR THE MEDAL OF HONOR DURING OPERATION PHANTOM FURY FALLUJAH, IRAQ On the night of 10 November 2004 Third Platoon, A Company, Task Force 2-2 IN near OBJ Wolf in Fallujah, Iraq, was ordered to attack to destroy six to eight Anti Iraqi Forces (AIF). 1LT Edward Iwan, the A Company Executive Officer, had identified six to eight AIF who had entered a block of twelve buildings. These AIF had engaged A55 and tanks from Team Tank with automatic weapons and rocket fire. Having a 25 mm cannon malfunction, 1LT Edward Iwan cordoned off the...

A status update on the operations in the Baghdad Belts and beyond Operation Phantom Fury, the name of the overarching operation to secure the Baghdad Belts, is now in its fifth day. As noted yesterday, Phantom Thunder is a corps level operation, with multiple U.S. and Iraqi divisions engaged on multiple fronts. Iraqi Security Forces and Multinational Forces Iraq are engaged in intense fights in four main theaters: Baghdad proper, and the belts regions consisting of Diyala and southern Salahadin province to the north, northern Bail province to the south, and eastern Anbar province to the west of Baghdad. The...

U.S. soldiers show their flag with Sept. 11 written to mark the 5th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States, in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday Sept.11, 2006. Five years after Sept. 11, the United States is winning the war against terrorism, but any let-up in the fight now would only embolden terrorists such as al-Qaida, said U.S. officials Monday. (AP Photo/Samir Mizban)

SOLDIERS PAUSE — U.S. Army soldiers from Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, pause at the end of a patrol near Wynot, Iraq. (U.S. Army courtesy photo)

Iraqi Shi'ites pray during weekly Friday noon prayers at the Imam Hussein shrine in the holy city of Kerbala, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, September 8, 2006. Hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims are expected to gather in Kerbala during the weekend religious celebration marking the birthday of a Shi'ite Saint. (REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammad) (IRAQ)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki , second left, takes a pen from top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, after signing a document which puts the Iraqi prime minister in direct control of the country's military, at a ceremony, in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday Sept.7, 2006. Coalition forces handed over control of Iraq's armed forces command to the government on Thursday, a move U.S. officials have hailed as a crucial milestone on the country's difficult road to independence. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

U.S. President George W. Bush makes remarks on the global war on terror to the Military Officers Association of America in Washington September 5, 2006. (REUTERS/Jim Young) (UNITED STATES)

LIVE-FIRE RANGE – Marines serving with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's (Special Operations Capable) MEU Service Support Group 24 participate in an enhanced marksmanship program and crew-served weapon live-fire range while training in Dijibouti, Africa, Aug. 26, 2006. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Jeffrey A. Cosola)

Sun Sep 3, 1:21 PM ET - Iraq's national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, seen here in July 2006, has said that Hamed Jumaa al-Saedi -- Al-Qaeda's number two in Iraq -- has been arrested. Saedi is accused of masterminding an attack on a revered Shiite shrine that triggered a brutal wave of sectarian killings. (AFP/File/Ali Al-Saadi)

Head of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the largest Sunni block with 44 seats in parliament, Adnan al-Dulaimi addresses a press conference, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday Sept. 2, 2006. Al-Dulaimi urged all militia groups to stop the killings and kidnappings of Iraqis especially in Baghdad. (AP Photo/Samir Mizban)

Iraqi special police commandos attend target practice in Baghdad August 29, 2006. The training is aimed at providing tighter security to high Iraqi government officials and other VIPs. (REUTERS/Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud) (IRAQ)

New graduates from the Iraq Military Academy embrace relatives and fellow new officers after their graduation ceremony in Baghdad August 28, 2006. (Faleh Kheiber/Reuters)

The top U.S. commander in Iraq George Casey, center front, leaves after a visit to an Iraqi army camp in Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday Aug. 27, 2006. A series of bomb explosions left at least 18 people dead and dozens were wounded Sunday as Iraq's relentless violence remained unabated despite an appeal from Shiite prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for reconciliation and an end to sectarian fighting. (AP Photo/Adam Hadei)

Thu Aug 24, 12:07 PM ET - Army General John Abizaid is seen in this August 3, 2006 file photo. Abizaid on Thursday praised a major U.S.-led security clampdown in Baghdad, saying it has brought 'great progress' and said that Iraq was far from civil war. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

Witness Moussa Abdullah Moussa shows a document with photographs of people he claims that were also killed by chemical attacks during his testimony on day 3 of the Anfal Campaign trial in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone on Wednesday Aug. 23, 2006. For a second day, survivors took the stand in the trial, in which Saddam and six co-defendants are charged over the 1987-1988 Anfal campaign, a military sweep against the Kurds of northern Iraq in which tens of thousands of people were killed. (AP Photo/ Daniel Berehulak, Pool)

Suspected insurgents sit inside a military headquarters in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad August 22, 2006. The men were among the 13 people arrested and assorted weapons were confiscated from them during an early morning raid in Muqdadiya, a military official said. (REUTERS/Stringer) (IRAQ)

Mon Aug 21, 12:31 PM ET - US President George W. Bush, seen here, has said he was worried that Iraq might slip into civil war but forcefully rejected calls for an immediate US withdrawal, saying that would be a "disaster." (AFP/Paul J. Richards)

An Iraqi policeman helps a suspected militant from a police truck, in Baqouba, 60 kilometers, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Aug.20, 2006. Working on an intelligence report, Iraqi policemen on Aug.19, 2006, raided a neighborhood near Baqouba and captured 25 suspected militants, poice said. (AP Photo)

Iraqi children play soccer on a deserted street, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday Aug.19, 2006. An uneasy silence cloaked the streets of Baghdad on Saturday at the start of a two-day vehicle ban aimed at preventing attacks during a major Shiite religious gathering, as seven pilgrims were shot dead in a Sunni neighborhood. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

In this photo released by the Iraqi Presidential Press office, Jordanian envoy Ahmed al-Lozi, left, presents his credentials to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday Aug. 18, 2006. Al-Lozi has become the first fully accredited Arab ambassador in the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein, an official said Friday. (AP Photo/Iraqi Presidential Press Office)