- Francis Piccoli
Francis Piccoli is a U.S. Marine Corps Major and Public Affairs Officer attached to the
I Marine Expeditionary Force serving inIraq , and serves as a spokesman for the unit, most notably during battles throughoutFallujah in2004 .Personal life
Born in
1963 , Piccoli lives inWoodbridge, Virginia where his children attend a Catholic school.In March of
2005 he reported to theChicago Tribune that he no longer takes theEucharist when he attends Mass, since he feels there is no room in his heart forforgiveness , a necessary trait to receive Communion in the Catholic tradition. "There's so much hatred in my heart," Piccoli was quoted as stating, though he added "I'll work at it, it's easier once you get out of a certain environment".Media reports
In October of
2004 , he went on record stating that "TheI Marine Expeditionary Force is prepared to do anything that the Iraqi interim government asks us to do", following an announcement by interim leaderIyad Allawi that they were looking at attempts to pacifyFallujah andRamadi which had proved troublesome for US forces in the past.In November of
2004 , theWashington Post quoted Piccoli as stating that a house-to-house sweep of the city had turned up 3 Iraqi hostages, whose identities were never revealed. He later spoke toBBC correspondents and stated thatOperation Phantom Fury was proceeding well, and that Iraqi insurgents inFallujah were now limited to a strip of the city bordering the east-west motorway running down the centre of the city. He also told the journalists that the US forces intended to move against that position later that day.During Operation Dawn, he went on record stating that "This is all going to come down to that young man, that 19, 20 year old corporal, lance corporal whether he's a soldier or a marine, leading his particular fire team or his squad through the city, house by house, block by block, room by room."
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