Muslim Civil Rights Group Protests Name ‘Fallujah’ for U.S. Navy Ship
Posted on December 15, 2022 by Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor
ARLINGTON, Va. — A Muslim civil rights group is protesting the U.S. Navy’s selection of the name “Fallujah” as the name of a future amphibious assault ship.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), self-described as the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, “called on the U.S. Navy to change the name of the future America-class amphibious assault ship ‘USS Fallujah,’” in a Dec. 15 press release.
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced Dec. 14 that a future America-class amphibious assault ship, LHA 9, will be named USS Fallujah. The ship “will commemorate the First and Second Battles of Fallujah, American-led offensives during the Iraq War. The name selection follows the tradition of naming amphibious assault ships after U.S. Marine Corps battles, early U.S. sailing ships or legacy names of earlier carriers from World War II,” the Navy release said.
The First Battle of Fallujah occurred in April 2004 in an effort to capture or kill insurgents responsible for the killing of four U.S. contractors, according to the Navy Department release. The Second Battle of Fallujah, fought between Nov. 7 and Dec. 23, 2004, was a major U.S. led offensive to retake control of the city from insurgents and foreign fighters. With over 100 coalition forces killed and over 600 wounded, Operation Phantom Fury is considered the bloodiest engagement of the Iraq War and the fiercest urban combat involving U.S. Marines since the Vietnam War’s Battle of Hue City.
https://seapowermagazine.org/muslim-civil-rights-group-protests-name-fallujah-for-u-s-navy-ship/
