On April 9, 2004, Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) leader L. Paul Bremer “formally announced that coalition forces would unilaterally cease offensive operations in Fallujah. He stated that the CPA wanted to facilitate negotiations between the Iraqi Governing Council and city spokespersons, and use the time to allow humanitarian supplies to be delivered to residents. Amid media speculation of incompetence, however, Fallujah came to stand for a failure to achieve clearly stated and defined missions. It was really a strategic defeat for the United States and a moral victory for the insurgents.”
– Ricardo S. Sanchez with Donald T. Phillips, Wiser in Battle, Pages 356-357