Forward Operating Base Falcon

Forward operating base Falcon, referred to by some media sources as Camp Falcon, is a United States military forward operating base in Iraq a short distance outside of Baghdad, some 13 km south of the Green Zone . For a time it was designated as "Camp Ferrin-Huggins".

In late September 2003, the construction of FOB Falcon (as-Saqr Base) in Iraq was a major engineering project for the 439th Battalion. The battalion delivered over 100,000 tons of gravel for the roads, and assisted with building the roads, walls, guard towers and buildings for the FOB. They also finished repairing a compound for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, (their equivalent of the National Guard). The unit worked with many Iraqi contractors and vendors who were employed by the US Army to help rebuild the country. The water and irrigation systems continued to improve, although much work is still needed and sometimes progress seems slow.

October 10th attack

On October 10th, 2006, at about 10.40 p.m. (1940 GMT) a major explosion rocked the base, reportedly due to the base's ammunition dump being hit by a 82mm mortar round fired by Iraqi insurgents. Further explosions continued for hours. Dramatic images of the explosions were carried live on CNN [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/10/sitroom.03.html] . There were no casualties. The base has since resumed normal duties. [http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20061022&articleId=3566]

Conspiracy theory surrounding the attack

Website Jihadunspun.com, which is the source and subject of several conspiracy theories, estimated that there were 300 casualties [http://jihadunspun.com/newsarchive/article_internal.php?article=106619&list=/newsarchive/index.php&] (similar but edited article here [http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a2547.htm#001] ). The article even goes so far to include a casualty list, notably entirely composed of males. This source also claims that the surrounding 'shelling' that occurred as a result of errant munitions was indeed retaliation by the US military. A particularly large explosion and flash in the Al-Jazeera video led some to an unsubstantiated speculatation [http://justanotherblowback.blogspot.com/2006/10/mushroom-cloud-erupts-at-u_18.html] that a nuclear weapon had detonated.

External links

* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1410660598904719984&q=camp%2Bfalcon Video of huge explosion]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-QLTp1DruI Video of the fire]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/rasheed.htm Information on US bases in Iraq]
* [http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2552679 ABC News story of the explosions]
* [http://www.rense.com/general73/falcphotos.htm Photos of the base after the explosions]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6038990.stm Mortar causes Baghdad base fire]