Following are extracts from a letter to The American Enterprise from a young West Point-educated Army officer who has been at the center of intelligence operations connected to two of the trickiest and most successful combat actions carried out by the U.S. military in the last half century--August 2004's Battle of Najaf and November's Battle of Fallujah. He provides details on the Fallujah fight, including the previously unreported revelation that Muslim holy warriors traffic in illicit drugs.

On November 7, Prime Minister Allawi gave the green light to the American and Iraqi military. All day long, Air Force and Marine Corps aviators shaped the battlefield with laser-guided bombs and hellfire missiles. We had been collecting information for months through unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), human intelligence, and Special Forces probes. We knew exactly where the insurgents stored their weapons, where they held meetings. So the attacks from the air were precise, and very effective in reducing the enemy's ability to fight before a single U.S. soldier entered the city.
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