It has been two and a half years since I first decided to write about the battles for Fallujah. My life has been filled with amazing people and there have been many astounding days since I started this project. I have walked among American heroes and some very special people have touched my life in ways I never imagined.
As the date moves closer to the release of New Dawn, I wanted to share some of these stories with you all. I thought I would start with the story of how it all began.
Col Mike Shupp and MajGen Richard Natonski
I visited Lieutenant General Richard Natonski in his office in the Pentagon in the summer of 2007. I had gone to visit him to talk about my last book, “Marines in the Garden of Eden.” At the end of our conversation, he said, “You ought to write a book about Fallujah.” I responded that I thought that the story had already been told. “No it hasn’t.” he replied.
I went home to Florida and did some initial research and realized that there was still much to be told about Operation Phantom Fury. I immediately started interviews and the in-depth research needed to tell this amazing story.
I returned to Washington DC in the spring of 2008 to interview Colonel Mike Shupp, General Natonski and other participants of the operation. While in DC, I received an email from the award-winning documentary producer, David Taylor. He had just started a project with a major cable television network. They had obtained several hours of high definition video that the Marine Corps had taken in the lead-up to the invasion in 2002 and during the initial days of the march to Baghdad in 2003. This major television network had commissioned David to produce a documentary film on the invasion of Iraq and they wanted David to use the HD video footage.
David had immediately gone to the bookstore. He picked up several books on the invasion. He leafed through COBRA II, it provided a picture that was too high-level. He then scanned The March Up and decided that this was not what he was looking for. Then, he started Marines in the Garden of Eden. He read it from cover-to-cover and immediately contacted me.
David lives in the Washington, D. C. area. I called him from my hotel in Crystal City and we arranged to meet for lunch. David told me all about his project and enlisted my help. He wanted to tell the story of the battle for Nasiriyah. We worked together for the next several weeks and then the project fell apart. The major network wanted David to do a “war is bad” piece. David resisted, telling them that they couldn’t dictate a conclusion to his documentary. He told the television executives that he would report the truth and if it turned out to be a “war is bad” piece, so be it, but he would not go into the project with a foregone conclusion. The network did not budge in their position and David walked away.
Tune in tomorrow for part II and reserve your personal autographed copy of New Dawn today.
