Editing 82nd Airborne Division (section)

===Operation Iraqi Freedom I, 2003–2004===
[[File:82nd AB Mosul.jpg|left|thumb|U.S. Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division patrol the streets of the Al Sudeek district of Mosul, Iraq, in January 2005.]]

In March 2003, 2–325 of the 2nd BCT was attached to the [[75th Ranger Regiment]] as part of a [[special operations]] task force to conduct a parachute assault to seize [[Saddam International Airport]] in support of [[Operation Iraqi Freedom]]. On 21 March 2003, Company D, 2-325 crossed the Saudi Arabia–Iraq border as part of Task Force Hunter to escort HIMARS artillery systems to destroy Iraqi artillery batteries in the western Iraqi desert. Upon cancellation of the parachute assault to seize the airport, the battalion returned to its parent 2nd Brigade at Talil Airfield near [[An Nasariyah]], Iraq. The 2nd Brigade then conducted operations in [[Battle of Samawah (2003)|Samawah]], [[Fallujah]], and [[Baghdad]]. The brigade returned to the United States by the end of February 2004.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

The early days of the 82nd Airborne's participation in the deployment were chronicled by [[embedded journalist]] [[Karl Zinsmeister]] in his 2003 book ''[[Boots on the Ground (book)|Boots on the Ground: A Month with the 82nd Airborne in the Battle for Iraq]]''.

In April 2003, according to [[Human Rights Watch]], soldiers from a subordinate unit, the 1st battalion of the [[325th Airborne Infantry Regiment|325th Infantry]], allegedly fired indiscriminately into a crowd of Iraqi civilians protesting their presence in the city of [[Fallujah killings of April 2003|Fallujah, killing and wounding many civilians]]. The battalion suffered no casualties.<ref name=hrw>{{cite report|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2003/06/16/iraq-us-should-investigate-al-falluja|title=Iraq: U.S. Should Investigate al-Falluja|date=17 June 2003|access-date=1 September 2013|publisher=Human Rights Watch}}</ref>

The 3rd Brigade deployed to [[Iraq]] in the summer, redeploying to the U.S. in spring 2004. The 1st Brigade deployed in January 2004. The last units of the division left by the end of April 2004. The 2nd Brigade deployed on 7{{nbsp}}December 2004 to support the free elections{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} and returned on Easter Sunday in 2005. During this initial deployment, 36 soldiers from the division were killed and about 400 were wounded, out of about 12,000 deployed. On 21 July 2006, the 1st Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment, along with a platoon from Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment and a troop from 1st Squadron, [[73rd Cavalry Regiment (United States)|73rd Cavalry Regiment]] deployed to [[Tikrit, Iraq]], returning in December 2006.

==== Torture and Abuse at Camp Mercury ====
In September 2005, a Human Rights Watch report alleged that residents of Fallujah called the 1st Battalion, [[504th Infantry Regiment]] "the Murderous Maniacs," based on their treatment of Iraqis in detention. According to accounts of 82nd Airborne officers and NCOs, members of the battalion in 2003-2004 routinely used physical and mental torture as a means of intelligence gathering and for stress relief.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leadership Failure: Firsthand Accounts of Torture of Iraqi Detainees by the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division : I. Summary |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/us0905/1.htm |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=www.hrw.org}}</ref> According to the report, these battalion members estimated "...that about half of the detainees at Camp Mercury were released because they were not involved in the insurgency, but they left with the physical and mental scars of torture." 

After reporting these abuses yet being ignored by his superiors for 17 months, the Captain took his allegations to three senior Republican senators—[[Bill Frist]], [[John McCain]], and [[John Warner]]—before the Army was finally compelled to launch an investigation. It was only after his report to the senators that action was taken. A staffer for one of them later told TIME magazine that the captain’s claims were “extremely credible.” <ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Zagorin |first=Adam |date=2005-09-23 |title=Pattern of Abuse |url=https://time.com/archive/6919010/pattern-of-abuse/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref> The 1st Battalion, [[504th Infantry Regiment]]'s torture and abuse of prisoners later inspired the passage of the [[Detainee Treatment Act]], and the anonymous captain was later revealed to be [[Ian Fishback]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-10 |title=Soldier Who Wrote of Detainee Abuse Submits Statement on Senator Sessions {{!}} Human Rights First |url=https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/soldier-who-wrote-detainee-abuse-submits-statement-senator-sessions |access-date=2025-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610043126/https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/soldier-who-wrote-detainee-abuse-submits-statement-senator-sessions |archive-date=10 June 2021 }}</ref> 

When Ian Fishback passed away in 2021, Senator [[Dick Durbin]] called Ian Fishback a military hero, saying:
{{Quote|text=Major Fishback’s courageous letter shed light on the atrocities that were being committed—shamefully—in the name of our nation. ... After reports emerged from horrific abuses at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, I tried for a year and a half to pass legislation to make it clear that cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees was illegal. Two military heroes, my former colleague Senator John McCain and Major Fishback, turned the tide in this effort.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20211202134803/https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-calls-for-closure-of-guantanamo-bay-in-ndaa Durbin also honored the life and legacy of the late Major Ian Fishback], ''Press Release'', November 30, 2021</ref>|source=}}