Editing United States Navy SEALs (section)

====Post-invasion Iraq====
[[File:SEAL Michael A. Monsoor.jpg|left|thumb|Petty Officer [[Michael A. Monsoor]], 2nd Navy SEAL killed in Iraq. This photo was taken during an extraction after a firefight, and the smoke was used to conceal their movements from the enemy.]]

Following the invasion, SEAL platoons rotated through [[Iraq]], conducting overwatch for US and Iraqi patrols and directly mentoring local Iraqi forces; they also conducted surveillance and sniping missions into known trouble spots. In September 2004, a SEAL sniper element was tasked with establishing an overwatch and surveillance position overlooking [[Haifa Street]], they were inserted by [[Bradley IFV]]s from a unit of the [[9th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|9th Cavalry Regiment]], however they were spotted and engaged by insurgents. The SEALs notified the Bradleys, they drove back, fired on the insurgents and set up a cordon for the SEALs to be extracted, one Bradley was destroyed by a car bomb, there were no casualties, and the SEALs were extracted.{{sfnp|Neville|2015|pp=178–179}}

In the interim between the First Battle of Fallujah and [[Second Battle of Fallujah]], insurgents in [[Fallujah]] knew that the coalition assault was inevitable and under the guidance of the influx of foreign fighters, began to build defensive networks throughout the city-ranging from fortified buildings, trench lines, [[berm]]s, strategically placed [[car bomb]]s and [[Improvised explosive device|IEDs]]. In preparations for the second battle, SEALs conducted reconnaissance near the berms and tested out reports that the insurgents were equipped with night-vision equipment, they proved this by throwing an infrared chemical light into the street which drew small arms fire. SEALs along with the [[5th SFG]], [[Marine Force Recon]] and [[MCSOCOM Detachment One|Det One]] and other JSOC elements were heavily involved in shaping operations prior to 7 November [[D-Day (military term)|D-DAY]] when coalition forces entered the city. The SOF shaping included sophisticated feints to mislead the insurgents as to the direction of the final assault, close target reconnaissance and direct-action missions where a logistics node or IED factory was targeted. When the offensive on the insurgents in the city began, many of the US Marine companies had SEAL sniper teams attached to them, mainly from SEAL Teams 3, 5 and 10.{{sfnp|Neville|2015|pp=175–178}}

From 2005, SEALs were heavily committed to western Iraq in [[Al Anbar Governorate]], [[Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn|AQI]] terrorists who escaped Fallujah had relocated to [[Ramadi]]. A SEAL Task Unit was co-located with the Marines at [[Al Asad Airbase]] and sent elements to Ramadi and [[Habbaniyah]], the SEALs were initially tasked with target development for the Marines and providing sniper overwatch for their patrols. The SEALs were already training an Iraqi Army unit in Habbaniyah, although [[Foreign internal defense|FID]] was their main focus until later that year. A SEAL Task Unit generally comprised two individual SEAL Platoons: each Platoon was made up of seven-man squad elements commanded by a [[junior officer]], three of these Task Units (although a fourth was often added) along with a Special Boat Team detachment and a Headquarters Team (including integral intelligence, targeting and EOD personnel) made up a Naval Special Warfare Squadron. According to [[Dick Couch]], the SEALs began FID with two Iraqi units-the Army Scouts who conducted conventional reconnaissance missions, and the SMP (Special Missions Platoon), a locally formed unit that would later fight alongside the SEALs. Despite several challenges, the SEALs were soon conducted operations with partnered units, particularly in Special Reconnaissance, focusing on the surveillance aspect, whilst conventional US Army or Marines would conduct raids and arrests.{{sfnp|Neville|2015|pp=179–180}} The typical loadout of the SEALs in Ramadi included the M4 carbine, optimized for close quarter battle with a 10-inch barrel equipped with a 6-inch sound suppressor, Surefire flashlight and EOTech sight, short barrel and foregrip and seven magazines.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://corpidelite.net/afm/2017/05/a-navy-seal-loadout-in-ramadi/ |title=A Navy SEAL loadout in Ramadi |website=Corpi d'élite.net |date=14 May 2017 |language=en-US |access-date=1 October 2017}}</ref>

As the SEALs were beginning to make headway in Ramadi, AQI was starting to infiltrate the area by targeting local [[Sheikh]]s and convincing them to allow jihadists to marry into local tribes, thus cementing their powerbase and Sheikhs that resisted these advances were met with typical AQI brutality. Al-Qaeda's efforts to install a [[Sharia]]-style shadow government in Ramadi led to AQI's downfall-when in the first half of 2006, in the run-up to the [[Battle of Ramadi (2006)|Second Battle of Ramadi]] SEALs, increasingly partnered with conventional forces of the [[1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division (United States)|1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division]] which was planning the offensive. SEALs along with the Scouts and SMP, would conduct reconnaissance, surveillance and sniper overwatch tasks; with their own targeting cell, they also began conducting raids on local insurgent leaders. The 1st BCT began the concerted offensive to clear Ramadi of AQI fighters; on 29 September 2006, whilst at a rooftop overwatch position, Petty Officer [[Michael A. Monsoor]] died after leaping upon an enemy grenade during a rooftop firefight, two SEALs on the roof were badly wounded from the grenade fragments and their local Iraqi Scouts ran back into the cover of the building, a fourth SEAL (only lightly wounded), managed to radio his colleagues and get the Scouts to return fire. A SEAL element in a second overwatch position immediately ran through heavy fire to reach Monsoor (whom later died from his wounds in the back of a Bradley IFV) and the wounded SEALs, Monsoor was later awarded the Medal of Honor and the Silver Star. The advances by conventional forces and the SEALs in Ramadi, combined with the brutal tactics of AQI, helped to increase recruitment in a local police initiative-the programme was designed to bring the local Sheikhs' militias into the Iraqi Security Forces. These volunteers would serve locally in their communities to defend them against al-Qaeda, a month after the kidnapping and murder of Sheikh Khalid by AQI (which proved to be the tipping point), the Sheikhs signed a declaration agreeing to fight AQI and by the closing of 2006, even former insurgents were joining the local police (later known as the [[Anbar Awakening]]) by the end of the battle, some 1,100 terrorists were killed.{{sfnp|Neville|2015|pp=180–182}}

In Fallujah, the SEAL Task Unit were also heavily involved in fighting. In one joint operation to capture an AQI leader, they entered the target building and were engaged resulting in an Iraqi Scout being killed and a SEAL severely wounded, two SEALs returned fire and entered the building, both SEALs entered different rooms, in one room the SEAL encountered three insurgents who opened fired at close range, another SEAL across the hallway was struck in the head and killed, the SEAL in the room with the insurgents killed all three.{{sfnp|Neville|2015|p=182}}

In September 2009, in a nighttime raid in Fallujah, SEALs captured [[Ahmad Hashim Abd al-Isawi]] (nicknamed the "Butcher of Fallujah"), a prominent al-Qaeda terrorist who was the mastermind behind the [[2004 Fallujah ambush]]. Al-Isawai made accusations of mistreatment while in custody, and testified in April 2010 at the ensuing [[courts-martial]] against three SEALs (all of whom were acquitted).<ref name=RobinsonBook>{{cite book |title=Honor and Betrayal: The Untold Story of the Navy Seals Who Captured the "Butcher of Fallujah"&nbsp;— and the Shameful Ordeal They Later Endured |isbn=978-0306823091 |year=2013 |last=Robinson |first=Patrick |author-link=Patrick Robinson (author) |publisher=[[Perseus Book Group]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NUQPAAAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Navy SEAL not guilty of charges in Iraq |publisher=CNN|date=22 April 2010 |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/04/22/navy.seal.verdict/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Navy SEAL Found Not Guilty of Assaulting a Suspected Terrorist |publisher=[[Fox News Channel]] |date=6 May 2010 |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/navy-seal-found-not-guilty-of-assaulting-a-suspected-terrorist/|first=Steve |last=Centanni}}</ref> Iraqi authorities later tried and executed al-Isawi by [[hanging]] at some point before November 2013.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Persecuting Our Heroes |first=Ray V. |last=Hartwell |magazine=[[The American Spectator]] |date=26 November 2013|url=https://spectator.org/56777_persecuting-our-heroes/}}</ref>

SEALs remained employed throughout the Iraqi Campaign as Task Units or Task Elements until its close in 2011.