In an upcoming first-person shooter video game, Six Days in Fallujah, you can relive one of the bloodiest battles ever conducted by the U.S. Army. According to the gameplay trailer, which the game developers Victura and Highwire Games released a few days after the 18th anniversary of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the gamer is placed in the boots of a U.S. Marine: You find yourself barging, uninvited, through the homes of innocent Iraqis in a quest to clear Fallujah of insurgents in the Second Battle of Fallujah.
Also known as Operation Phantom Fury, the attack on the town, which took place in late 2004, a year after then-U.S. President George W. Bush’s “mission accomplished” speech, is now deemed controversial at best and a war crime at worst. The Second Battle of Fallujah led to the deaths of an estimated 800 Iraqi civilians and nearly 100 U.S. and British army personnel. The conflict—and indeed the entire war—was a deeply traumatic moment in history that continues to haunt many Iraqis. A once prosperous nation has been left in economic disrepair, with collapsing infrastructure and a colossal civilian death toll.
