withdrawal and sectarian ms. wu by the maliki government and fallujah is now occupied by islam xd fighters. while much has been written about what happened in and bar they offer the perspective of those that actually served there. in their book, they held up fallujah an example of what can be achieved by the right combination of leadership and perseverance. their story is not really a story of a major military battle in 2004 but of the more complex military, political and diplomatic moves three years later that it did for i did for a time anyway bring greater peace to that war-torn area. so, ladies and gentlemen -- i want to make one other note that bill is asking me to make. all of those remarks here are personal and they do not represent those of his command or u.s. marine corps or armed services. please join me in welcoming dan green and brigadier general mullen. [applause] i thought i would begin with why when fallujah was finally won in 2007 from our perspective, it was more of a whimper for those reasons it wa