The
2003 invasion of Iraq, (from March 20 to May 1, 2003) was led by the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, backed by
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
forces and smaller contingents from
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
,
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
. Four countries participated with troops during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from March 20 to May 1. These were the United States (248,000), United Kingdom (45,000), Australia (2,000), and Poland (194).
36 other countriesThe Multi-National Force - Iraq is a military command, led by the United States, that is fighting the Iraq War against Iraqi insurgents or resistants. Multi-National Force - Iraq replaced the previous force, Combined Joint Task Force 7, on May 15, 2004. General Ray Odierno serves as Commanding...
were involved in its aftermath. The
invasionAn invasion is a military offensive consisting of all, or large parts of the armed forces of one geopolitical entity aggressively entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering, liberating or re-establishing control or authority over a...
marked the beginning of the current
Iraq WarThe Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq or Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an ongoing military campaign which began on March 20, 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom.Prior to the war, the governments of the United...
. In preparation for the invasion, 100,000 US troops were assembled in
KuwaitThe State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west. The greatest distance from north to south is 200 km and from east to west 170 km . The name is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning "fortress built near water." It has a...
by February 18. The United States supplied the vast majority of the invading forces, but also received support from
Kurdish troopsPeshmerga, Peshmerge or Armed Forces of Kurdistan is the term used by Kurds to refer to armed Kurdish fighters...
in
Iraqi KurdistanIraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region also referred to as Southern Kurdistan as part of Greater Kurdistan is an autonomous, federally recognized region of Iraq...
.
According to then
President of the United StatesThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
,
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
and then
Prime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the Head of Her Majesty's Government...
,
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, the reasons for the invasion were "to disarm
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
of
weapons of mass destructionThe term weapon of mass destruction is often used to describe a weapon that can kill large numbers of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general....
(WMD), to end
Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
's
support for terrorismSaddam Hussein and al-Qaeda link allegations were made by some U.S. Government officials who claimed that a highly secretive relationship existed between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the radical Islamist militant organization Al-Qaeda from 1992 to 2003, specifically through a series of...
, and to free the Iraqi people." According to Blair, the trigger was Iraq's failure to take a "final opportunity" to disarm itself of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that US and British officials called an immediate and intolerable threat to world peace. Although some remnants of pre-1991 production were found after the end of the war, US government spokespeople confirmed that these were not the weapons for which the US went to war. In 2005, the
Central Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government.It is an independent agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers....
released a report saying that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq.
In a January 2003 CBS poll 64% of US nationals had approved of military action against Iraq, however 63% wanted President Bush to find a diplomatic solution rather than going to war, and 62% believed the threat of terrorism would increase in the event of war. The invasion of Iraq was strongly opposed by some traditional U.S. allies, including
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
, and
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Their leaders argued that there was no evidence of WMD and that invading Iraq was not justified in the context of UNMOVIC's February 12, 2003 report. On February 15, 2003, a month before the invasion, there were many worldwide
protests against the Iraq warBeginning in 2002, and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world...
, including a rally of three million people in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
, which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest ever
anti-warThe term anti-war usually refers to the opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many activists...
rally. According to the
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
academic
Dominique ReyniéDominique Reynié is a French academic. He is a professor of political science at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris....
, between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war.
The invasion was preceded by an air strike on the Iraqi Presidential Palace on 19 March 2003. The following day allied forces launched an incursion into southern Iraq from their massing point near the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. While commandos launched an amphibious assault from the
Persian GulfThe Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes controversially referred to as the Arabian Gulf by most Arab states or simply The...
to secure
BasraAl-Baṣrah is the capital of Basra Province, and had an estimated population of 3,800,200 as of 2009. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it is incapable of deep water access, which is handled at the the port of Umm Qasr...
and the surrounding oil fields, the main invasion army moved into southern Iraq securing the region and engaging in the
Battle of NasiriyahThe Battle of Nasiriyah was one of the first major battles of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Heavy fighting took place in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah between Iraqi forces and U.S. Marines over control of key bridges over the Euphrates River and the Saddam Canal.The battle began early on March...
on 23 March. Massive air strikes across the country and against Iraqi command and control threw the defending army into chaos and prevented an effective resistance. On 26 March the 173rd Airborne Brigade was
airdroppedOn March 26, 2003, during Operation Iraqi Freedom, C-17s of the 62d Airlift Wing, 315th Airlift Wing, 437th Airlift Wing, and 446th Airlift Wing dropped SETAF's 173rd Airborne Brigade into Northern Iraq. More than 1,000 paratroopers jumped into Bashur Airfield...
near the northern city of
KirkukKirkuk , , , Kurdish: Kerkûk/کهرکووک , Turkish: Kerkük is a city in Iraq and capital of Kirkuk Governorate....
where they joined forces with
KurdishThe Kurds are an Ethnic-Iranian ethnolinguistic group mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
rebels and fought several actions against the
Iraqi armyThe Iraqi Army is the land army of the Iraqi military, active in various forms since being formed by the British during their mandate over the country after World War I....
to secure the northern part of the country. The main body of allied forces continued their drive into the heart of Iraq and encountered little resistance. Most of the Iraqi military was quickly defeated and
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
was occupied on 9 April. Other operations occurred against pockets of the Iraqi army including the capture and occupation of
KirkukKirkuk , , , Kurdish: Kerkûk/کهرکووک , Turkish: Kerkük is a city in Iraq and capital of Kirkuk Governorate....
on April 10, and the attack and capture of
TikritTikrit is a town in Iraq, located 140 km northwest of Baghdad on the Tigris river...
on 15 April. Iraqi President
Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
and the central leadership went into hiding as the allied forces completed the occupation of the country. On 1 May an end of major combat operations was declared, ending the invasion period and beginning the occupation period.
Prelude to the invasion
The
Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
ended on April 11, 1991 with a cease-fire negotiated between the US, its allies and Iraq. The U.S. and its allies maintained a policy of “
containmentContainment was a United States policy using military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to temper the spread of Communism, enhance America’s security and influence abroad, and prevent a "domino effect". A component of the Cold War, the policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet...
” towards Iraq. This policy involved numerous
economic sanctionsThe Iraq sanctions were a near-total financial and trade embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council against the nation of Iraq. They began August 6 1990, four days after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, and continued until May 22 2003, after the fall of the Saddam Hussein government in the...
by the UN Security Council, US and UK enforcement of
Iraqi no-fly zonesThe Iraqi no-fly zones were a set of two separate no-fly zones , and were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom and France after the Gulf War of 1991 to protect humanitarian operations in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south. Iraqi aircraft were forbidden from flying inside the...
declared by the US and the UK to protect Kurds in
Iraqi KurdistanIraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region also referred to as Southern Kurdistan as part of Greater Kurdistan is an autonomous, federally recognized region of Iraq...
and Shias in the south, and ongoing inspections to prevent Iraqi development of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. Iraqi military helicopters and planes regularly contested the no-fly zones.
In October 1998, removing the Hussein regime became official US foreign policy with enactment of the "
Iraq Liberation ActThe Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 is a United States Congressional statement of policy calling for regime change in Iraq. It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.-Findings and declaration of policy:The Act found that between 1980 and 1998 Iraq had:...
." Enacted following the expulsion of UN weapons inspectors the preceding August after some had been caught spying for the US, the act provided $97 million for Iraqi "democratic opposition organizations" to "establish a program to support a transition to democracy in Iraq." This legislation contrasted with the terms set out in
United Nations Security Council Resolution 687United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 which was on 3 April 1991 set the terms with which Iraq was to comply after losing the Gulf War....
, which focused on weapons and weapons programs and made no mention of regime change. One month after the passage of the “Iraq Liberation Act,” the US and UK launched a bombardment campaign of Iraq called
Operation Desert FoxThe December 1998 bombing of Iraq was a major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from December 16–19, 1998 by the United States and United Kingdom...
. The campaign’s express rationale was to hamper the Hussein government’s ability to produce chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, but US intelligence personnel also hoped it would help weaken Hussein’s grip on power.
With the election of
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
as US President in 2000, the US moved towards a more aggressive policy toward Iraq. The United States Republican Party's campaign platform in the US presidential election, 2000 called for "full implementation" of the
Iraq Liberation ActThe Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 is a United States Congressional statement of policy calling for regime change in Iraq. It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.-Findings and declaration of policy:The Act found that between 1980 and 1998 Iraq had:...
and removal of Hussein, and key Bush advisors, including Vice President
Dick CheneyRichard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 in the administration of George W. Bush....
, Defense Secretary
Donald RumsfeldDonald Henry Rumsfeld is a United States businessman, politician, the 13th Secretary of Defense under President Gerald Ford from 1975 to 1977, and the 21st Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006...
, and Rumsfeld’s Deputy
Paul WolfowitzPaul Dundes Wolfowitz is a former United States Ambassador to Indonesia, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, President of the World Bank, and former Dean of The Paul H...
, had long desired to invade Iraq. After leaving the
George W. Bush administrationThe Presidency of George W. Bush began on his inauguration on January 20, 2001 as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
, former US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said that an attack on Iraq had been planned since Bush's inauguration, and that the first
United States National Security CouncilThe White House National Security Council in the United States is the principal forum used by the President for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the President of the...
meeting involved discussion of an invasion. O'Neill later backtracked, saying that these discussions were part of a continuation of foreign policy first put into place by the Clinton administration.
Despite the Bush administration's stated interest in liberating Iraq, little formal movement towards an invasion occurred until the
September 11, 2001 attacksThe September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners...
. For example, the administration prepared
Operation Desert BadgerOperation Desert Badger was a U.S. plan for response if a pilot was shot down while patrolling the Iraqi no-fly zones. It was designed to disrupt the Iraqis' ability to capture the pilot by attacking Saddam's command and control centres in downtown Baghdad. It included an escalating attack if a...
to respond aggressively in the event that any US Air Force pilot was shot down while flying over Iraq, but this didn't happen. According to aides who were with Rumsfeld in the
National Military Command CenterLocated in the Pentagon, the National Military Command Center houses the logistical and communications center for the National Command Authority of the United States of America. The facility, which is composed of several war rooms, is the principal command and control center of the Department of...
on September 11, Rumsfeld asked for: "best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit Saddam Hussein at same time. Not only
Osama bin LadenOsama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden is a member of the prominent Saudi bin Laden family and one of the founders of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, best known for the September 11 attacks on the United States and its associations with numerous other mass-casualty attacks against...
." The rationale for invading Iraq as a response to 9/11 has been widely questioned, as there was no cooperation between
Saddam Hussein and al-QaedaSaddam Hussein and al-Qaeda link allegations were made by some U.S. Government officials who claimed that a highly secretive relationship existed between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the radical Islamist militant organization Al-Qaeda from 1992 to 2003, specifically through a series of...
.
Shortly after September 11, 2001 (on September 20), President Bush addressed a joint session of the US Congress (which was simulcast live to the world), and announced his new "
War on TerrorismThe War on Terrorism is the common term for the military, political, legal and ideological conflict against what the effort's leaders describe as Islamic terrorism and Islamic militants, and was specifically used in reference to operations by the...
". This announcement was accompanied by the doctrine of 'pre-emptive' military action, later termed the
Bush DoctrineThe Bush Doctrine is a phrase used to describe various related foreign policy principles of former United States president George W. Bush. The phrase initially described the policy that the United States had the right to secure itself from countries that harbor or give aid to terrorist groups,...
. Some Bush advisers favored an immediate invasion of Iraq, while others advocated building an international coalition and obtaining
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
authorization. Bush eventually decided to seek UN authorization, while still reserving the option of invading without it.
Preparations for war
While there had been some earlier talk of action against Iraq, the Bush administration waited until September 2002 to call for action, with
White House Chief of StaffThe White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President...
Andrew CardAndrew Hill "Andy" Card Jr. is a Republican American politician, former United States Cabinet member, and head of President George W. Bush's White House Iraq Group. Card served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President George H. W. Bush and the White House Chief of Staff under George W....
saying, "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." Bush began formally making his case to the international community for an invasion of Iraq in his September 12, 2002 address to the UN Security Council. Key US allies in
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
, such as the United Kingdom, agreed with the US actions, while France and Germany were critical of plans to invade Iraq, arguing instead for continued diplomacy and weapons inspections. After considerable debate, the UN Security Council adopted a compromise resolution, UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which authorized the resumption of weapons inspections and promised "serious consequences" for noncompliance. Security Council members France and Russia made clear that they did not consider these consequences to include the use of force to overthrow the Iraqi government.
Both the US ambassador to the UN,
John NegroponteHon. John Dimitri Negroponte is an American diplomat of Greek descent. He is currently a research fellow and lecturer in international affairs at Yale University's MacMillan Center...
, and the UK ambassador
Jeremy GreenstockSir Jeremy Greenstock GCMG , educated at Harrow and Worcester College, Oxford, was a British diplomat from 1969-2004, serving in New York, Washington DC, Paris, Dubai and Saudi Arabia....
publicly confirmed this reading of the resolution, assuring that Resolution 1441 provided no "automaticity" or "hidden triggers" for an invasion without further consultation of the Security Council.
Resolution 1441 gave Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations" and set up inspections by the
United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection CommissionThe United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission was created through the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 1284 of 17 December 1999....
(UNMOVIC) and the
International Atomic Energy AgencyThe International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for military purposes. It was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
(IAEA). Hussein accepted the resolution on November 13 and inspectors returned to Iraq under the direction of UNMOVIC chairman
Hans Blixis a Swedish diplomat and politician. He was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs . Blix was also the head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission from March 2000 to June 2003, when he was succeeded by Demetrius Perricos...
and IAEA Director General
Mohamed ElBaradeiDr. Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei is the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency , an inter-governmental organization under the auspices of the United Nations. An Egyptian, ElBaradei prefers the Latin writing of his name to be spelled ElBaradei rather than hyphenated...
. As of February 2003, the IAEA "found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons programme in Iraq"; the IAEA concluded that certain items which could have been used in nuclear enrichment centrifuges, such as aluminum tubes, were in fact intended for other uses. UNMOVIC "did not find evidence of the continuation or resumption of programmes of weapons of mass destruction" or significant quantities of proscribed items. UNMOVIC did supervise the destruction of a small number of empty chemical rocket warheads, 50 liters of mustard gas that had been declared by Iraq and sealed by UNSCOM in 1998, and laboratory quantities of a mustard gas precursor, along with about 50 Al-Samoud missiles of a design that Iraq claimed did not exceed the permitted 150 km range, but which had travelled up to 183 km in tests. Shortly before the invasion, UNMOVIC stated that it would take "months" to verify Iraqi compliance with resolution 1441.
In October 2002 the US Congress passed a "Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq". The resolution authorized the President to "use any means necessary" against Iraq, Americans polled in January 2003 widely favored further diplomacy over an invasion. Later that year, however, Americans began to agree with Bush's plan. The US government engaged in an elaborate
domestic public relations campaignThe Rendon Group, a Washington, DC based public relations firm with close ties to the US government, and which has had a prominent role in promoting the Iraqi National Congress, was alleged by some journalists to be planning to support the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a careful public relations...
to market the war to its citizens. Americans overwhelmingly believed Hussein did have weapons of mass destruction: 85% said so, even though the inspectors had not uncovered those weapons. Of those who thought Iraq had weapons stashed somewhere, about half were pessimistic that they would ever turn up. By February 2003, 74% of Americans supported taking military action to remove Hussein from power.
The
Central Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government.It is an independent agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers....
's
Special Activities DivisionThe Special Activities Division is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service , responsible for covert action and "special activities". These activities include covert political action and paramilitary operations...
(SAD) teams were the first US forces to enter Iraq, in July 2002, prior to the main invasion. Once on the ground, they prepared for the subsequent arrival of US Army Special Forces to organize the
KurdishThe Kurds are an Ethnic-Iranian ethnolinguistic group mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
PeshmergaPeshmerga, Peshmerge or Armed Forces of Kurdistan is the term used by Kurds to refer to armed Kurdish fighters...
. This joint team (called the Northern Iraq Liaison Element (NILE)) combined to defeat
Ansar al-IslamAnsar al-Islam , Supporters or Partisans of Islam) is a Kurdish Sunni Islamist group, promoting a radical interpretation of Islam, close to the official Saudi ideology of Wahhabism with strict application of Sharia...
, a group with ties to al Qaeda, in
Iraqi KurdistanIraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region also referred to as Southern Kurdistan as part of Greater Kurdistan is an autonomous, federally recognized region of Iraq...
. This battle was for control of the territory that was occupied by Ansar al-Islam and took place prior to the invasion. It was carried out by Paramilitary Operations Officers from SAD and the Army's
10th Special Forces GroupThe 10th Special Forces Group is an Active Duty United States Army Special Forces group. The 10th Special Forces Group is responsible for operations within the EUCOM area of responsibility, as part of the Special Operations Command, Europe ....
. This battle resulted in the defeat of Ansar and the capture of a
chemical weaponsChemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons to kill, injure, or incapacitate an enemy....
facility at Sargat. Sargat was the only facility of its type discovered in the Iraq war.
SAD teams also conducted missions behind enemy lines to identify leadership targets. These missions led to the initial air strikes against Hussein and his generals. Although the strike against Hussein was unsuccessful in killing him, effectively ended his ability to command and control his forces. Strikes against Iraq's generals were more successful and significantly degraded the Iraqi command's ability to react to, and maneuver against the US-led invasion force. SAD operations officers were also successful in convincing key Iraqi Army officers into surrendering their units once the fighting started.
NATO member
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
refused to allow the US army across its territory into northern Iraq. Therefore, joint SAD and Army Special forces teams and the Pershmerga were the entire Northern force against the Iraqi army. They managed to keep the northern divisions in place rather than allowing them to aid their colleagues against the US led coalition force coming from the south. . Four of these CIA officers were awarded the
Intelligence StarThe Intelligence Star is an award given by the Central Intelligence Agency for a "voluntary act or acts of courage performed under hazardous conditions or for outstanding achievements or services rendered with distinction under conditions of grave risk." The award citation is from the Director...
for their actions.
In February 2003,
US Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current Secretary of...
Colin PowellColin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State , serving under President George W. Bush. He was the first African American appointed to that position...
addressed the
United Nations General AssemblyFor two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:*General Assembly members*General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
, continuing US efforts to gain UN authorization for an invasion. Powell presented evidence alleging that Iraq was actively producing chemical and biological weapons and
had ties to al-QaedaSaddam Hussein and al-Qaeda link allegations were made by some U.S. Government officials who claimed that a highly secretive relationship existed between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the radical Islamist militant organization Al-Qaeda from 1992 to 2003, specifically through a series of...
As a follow-up to Powell’s presentation, the United States, United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, Australia, Denmark, Japan, and Spain proposed a resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, but NATO members like Canada, France, and Germany, together with Russia, strongly urged continued diplomacy. Facing a losing vote as well as a likely veto from France and Russia, the US, UK, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Italy, Japan, and Australia eventually withdrew their resolution.
With the failure of its resolution, the US and their supporters abandoned the Security Council procedures and decided to pursue the invasion without UN authorization, a decision of questionable legality under
international lawPublic international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states, analogous entities, such as the Holy See, and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
. This decision was widely unpopular worldwide, and opposition to the invasion coalesced on February 15 in a worldwide
anti-war protestThe February 15, 2003 anti-war protest was a coordinated day of protests across the world against the imminent invasion of Iraq. Millions of people protested in approximately 800 cities around the world...
that attracted between six and ten million people in more than 800 cities, the largest such protest in human history according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
In March 2003, the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, Poland, Denmark, and Italy began
preparing for the invasion of IraqThe 2003 invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003 UTC. On March 18, 2003, President George W. Bush of the United States of America had set a deadline for the ruler of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, and his two sons, Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein to leave the country, or face military action...
, with a host of
public relationsThe Rendon Group, a Washington, DC based public relations firm with close ties to the US government, and which has had a prominent role in promoting the Iraqi National Congress, was alleged by some journalists to be planning to support the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a careful public relations...
, and military moves. In his March 17, 2003 address to the nation, Bush demanded that Hussein and his two sons
UdayUday Saddam Hussayn al-Tikriti , was the eldest son of Saddam Hussein and his first wife, Sajida Talfah. He was the older brother of Qusay Hussein. Uday was for several years seen as the heir apparent of his father, however Uday lost this after his erratic behavior and troubled relationship with...
and
QusayQusay Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti was the second son of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in 2000.-Family:...
surrender and leave Iraq, giving them a 48-hour deadline. But then the US began the bombing of Iraq on March 18, the day before the deadline expired. On March 18, 2003, the bombing of Iraq by the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Poland, Australia, and Denmark began. Unlike the first Gulf War or the
war in Afghanistan (2001–present)The War in Afghanistan is an ongoing coalition conflict which began on October 7, 2001, as the British military participated in the US military's Operation Enduring Freedom that was launched in response to the September 11 attacks...
, this war had no explicit UN authorisation.
The UK Parliament held a debate on going to war on 18-Mar-2003 where the government motion was approved 412 to 149. During that debate it was stated that the
Attorney GeneralIn most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.-Usage:The term has traditionally...
had advised that the war was legal under previous UN Resolutions.
Attempts to avoid war
In December 2002, a representative of the head of Iraqi Intelligence, General
Tahir Jalil Habbush al-TikritiTahir Jalil Habbush al Takriti is a former Iraqi intelligence official who served under the regime of Saddam Hussein.-Forged 2003 Habbush letter:...
, contacted former
Central Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government.It is an independent agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers....
Counterterrorism Department head
Vincent CannistraroVincent Cannistraro was Director of Intelligence Programs for the United States National Security Council from 1984 to 1987; Special assistant for Intelligence in the Office of the Secretary of Defense until 1988; and Chief of Operations and Analysis at the Central Intelligence Agency's ...
stating that Hussein "knew there was a campaign to link him to September 11 and prove he had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)." Cannistrano further added that "the Iraqis were prepared to satisfy these concerns. I reported the conversation to senior levels of the state department and I was told to stand aside and they would handle it." Cannistrano stated that the offers made were all "killed" by the
George W. Bush administrationThe Presidency of George W. Bush began on his inauguration on January 20, 2001 as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
because they allowed Hussein to remain in power – an outcome viewed as unacceptable. It has been suggested that Saddam Hussein was prepared to go into exile if allowed to keep $1 billion USD.
Egyptian president
Hosni MubarakMuhammad Hosni Mubarak, Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, , (born 4 May 1928), is the 4th and current President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. He was appointed Vice President in 1975, and assumed the presidency on...
's national security advisor,
Osama El-BazOsama El-Baz is an Egyptian diplomat and Senior Advisor to President Hosni Mubarak.A graduate from Cairo University, he studied six years in the United States, where he obtained his master's degree as well as a PhD from Harvard Law School. El-Baz later joigned the Egyptian foreign service, and...
, sent a message to the US State Department that the Iraqis wanted to discuss the accusations that the country had weapons of mass destruction and ties with al-Qaeda. Iraq also attempted to reach the US through the Syrian, French, German, and Russian intelligence services. Nothing came of the attempts.
In January 2003, Lebanese-American Imad Hage met with Michael Maloof of the US Department of Defense's
Office of Special PlansThe Office of Special Plans , which existed from September 2002 to June 2003, was a Pentagon unit created by Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, and headed by Feith, as charged by then-United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to supply senior George W. Bush administration officials with...
. Hage, a resident of
BeirutBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon with a population of over 2.1 million as of 2007. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's coastline with the Mediterranean sea, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan Area, which...
, had been recruited by the department to assist in the "
War on TerrorismThe War on Terrorism is the common term for the military, political, legal and ideological conflict against what the effort's leaders describe as Islamic terrorism and Islamic militants, and was specifically used in reference to operations by the...
". He reported that Mohammed Nassif, a close aide to Syrian president
Bashar al-AssadDr. Bashar al-Assad is the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Regional Secretary of the Ba'ath Party, and the son of former President Hafez al-Assad.- Overview of Presidency :...
, had expressed frustrations about the difficulties of Syria contacting the United States, and had attempted to use him as an intermediary. Maloof arranged for Hage to meet with civilian
Richard PerleRichard Norman Perle is an American political advisor and lobbyist who worked for the Reagan administration as an assistant Secretary of Defense and worked on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee from 1987 to 2004...
, then head of the Defense Policy Board.
In February 2003, Hage met with the chief of Iraqi intelligence's foreign operations, Hassan al-Obeidi. Obeidi told Hage that Baghdad didn't understand why they were being targeted, and that they had no WMDs; he then made the offer for Washington to send in 2000 FBI agents to confirm this. He additionally offered petroleum concessions, but stopped short of having Hussein give up power, instead suggesting that elections could be held in two years. Later, Obeidi suggested that Hage travel to Baghdad for talks; he accepted.
Later that month, Hage met with General Habbush in addition to Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister
Tariq AzizMikhail Yuhanna, later and more popularly known as Tariq Aziz or Tareq Aziz, was the Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, and a close advisor of former President Saddam Hussein for decades...
. He was offered top priority to US firms in oil and mining rights, UN-supervised elections, US inspections (with up to 5,000 inspectors), to have al-Qaeda agent
Abdul Rahman YasinAbdul Rahman Yasin helped make the bombs used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing attack. Yasin is of Iraqi heritage and grew up in Baghdad...
(in Iraqi custody since 1994) handed over as a sign of good faith, and to give "full support for any US plan" in the Arab-Israeli peace process. They also wished to meet with high-ranking US officials. On February 19, Hage faxed Maloof his report of the trip. Maloof reports having brought the proposal to Jamie Duran.
The PentagonThe Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself....
denies that either Wolfowitz or Rumsfeld, Duran's bosses, were aware of the plan.
On February 21, Maloof informed Duran in an email that Richard Perle wished to meet with Hage and the Iraqis if the Pentagon would clear it. Duran responded "Mike, working this. Keep this close hold." On March 7, Perle met with Hage in
KnightsbridgeKnightsbridge is a road which gives its name to an exclusive district lying to the west of Central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
, and stated that he wanted to pursue the matter further with people in Washington (both have acknowledged the meeting). A few days later, he informed Hage that Washington refused to let him meet with Habbush to discuss the offer (Hage stated that Perle's response was "that the consensus in Washington was it was a no-go"). Perle told
The TimesThe Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register....
, "The message was 'Tell them that we will see them in Baghdad."
Casus belli and rationale
George Bush, speaking in October 2002, said that “The stated policy of the United States is regime change… However, if Hussein were to meet all the conditions of the United Nations, the conditions that I have described very clearly in terms that everybody can understand, that in itself will signal the regime has changed”. Based on claims from certain intelligence sources, Bush stated on March 6, 2003 that he believed that Hussein was not complying with UN Resolution 1441.
In September 2002, Anthony Blair stated, in an answer to a parliamentary question, that “Regime change in Iraq would be a wonderful thing. That is not the purpose of our action; our purpose is to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction…” In November of that year, Blair further stated that “So far as our objective, it is disarmament, not régime change - that is our objective. Now I happen to believe the regime of Saddam is a very brutal and repressive regime, I think it does enormous damage to the Iraqi people... so I have got no doubt Saddam is very bad for Iraq, but on the other hand I have got no doubt either that the purpose of our challenge from the United Nations is disarmament of weapons of mass destruction, it is not regime change.” At a press conference on January 31, 2003, Bush again reiterated that the single trigger for the invasion would be Iraq’s failure to disarm: “Saddam Hussein must understand that if he does not disarm, for the sake of peace, we, along with others, will go disarm Saddam Hussein.” As late as February 25, 2003, it was still the official line that the only cause of invasion would be a failure to disarm. As Blair made clear in a statement to the House of Commons: “I detest his regime. But even now he can save it by complying with the UN's demand. Even now, we are prepared to go the extra step to achieve disarmament peacefully.”
Additional justifications used at various times included Iraqi violation of UN resolutions, the Iraqi government's repression of its citizens and Iraqi violations of the 1991 cease-fire.
The main allegations were that Hussein was in possession of, or was attempting to produce,
weapons of mass destructionDuring the Presidency of Saddam Hussein, the nation of Iraq used, possessed, and made efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction . Hussein was internationally known for his use of chemical weapons in the 1980s against Kurdish civilians during and after the Iran–Iraq War...
particularly in light of two previous attacks on Baghdad nuclear weapons production facilities by both Iran and Israel which was alleged to have postponed weapons development progress; and that he had ties to
terroristsSaddam Hussein and al-Qaeda link allegations were made by some U.S. Government officials who claimed that a highly secretive relationship existed between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the radical Islamist militant organization Al-Qaeda from 1992 to 2003, specifically through a series of...
, specifically
al-QaedaAl-Qaeda , alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida, is an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989 and early 1990...
. While it never made an explicit connection between Iraq and the September 11 attacks, the
George W. Bush administrationThe Presidency of George W. Bush began on his inauguration on January 20, 2001 as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
repeatedly insinuated a link, thereby creating a false impression for the US public. Grand jury testimony from the 1993 World Trade Center attack trials cited numerous direct linkages from the bombers to Baghdad and Department 13 of the
Iraqi Intelligence ServiceThe Iraqi Intelligence Service , also known as the Mukhabarat, General Directorate of Intelligence, or Party Intelligence, was the main state intelligence organization in Iraq under Saddam Hussein...
in that initial attack marking the second anniversary to vindicate the surrender of Iraqi armed forces in Operation Desert Storm. For example,
The Washington PostThe Washington Post is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Washington, D.C. and is the city's oldest paper, founded in 1877. Being located in the nation's capital, it has a particular emphasis on national politics and international affairs...
has noted that
Steven Kull, director of the
Program on International Policy AttitudesThe Program on International Policy Attitudes is an institution devoted to research on the public opinion of international politics...
(PIPA) at the
University of MarylandThe University of Maryland, College Park is a public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. Founded in 1856, the University of Maryland is the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland...
, observed in March 2003 that "The administration has succeeded in creating a sense that there is some connection [between Sept. 11 and Saddam Hussein]". This was following a
New York Times/
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
poll that showed 45% of Americans believing Saddam Hussein was "personally involved" in the September 11 atrocities. As the
Christian Science Monitor observed at the time, while "Sources knowledgeable about US intelligence say there is no evidence that Hussein played a role in the Sept. 11 attacks, nor that he has been or is currently aiding Al Qaeda... the White House appears to be encouraging this false impression, as it seeks to maintain American support for a possible war against Iraq and demonstrate seriousness of purpose to Hussein's regime." The CSM went on to report that, while polling data collected "right after Sept. 11, 2001" showed that only 3 percent mentioned Iraq or Saddam Hussein, by January 2003 attitudes "had been transformed" with a Knight Ridder poll showing that 44% of Americans believed "most" or "some" of the September 11 hijackers were Iraqi citizens.
The
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
has also noted that while President Bush "never directly accused the former Iraqi leader of having a hand in the attacks on New York and Washington", he "repeatedly associated the two in keynote addresses delivered since September 11", adding that "Senior members of his administration have similarly conflated the two." For instance, the BBC report quotes Colin Powell in February 2003, stating that "We've learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases. And we know that after September 11, Saddam Hussein's regime gleefully celebrated the terrorist attacks on America." The same BBC report, from September 2003, also noted the results of a recent opinion poll, which suggested that "70% of Americans believe the Iraqi leader was personally involved in the attacks." Also in September 2003, the Boston Globe reported that "Vice President Dick Cheney, anxious to defend the White House foreign policy amid ongoing violence in Iraq, stunned intelligence analysts and even members of his own administration this week by failing to dismiss a widely discredited claim: that Saddam Hussein might have played a role in the Sept. 11 attacks." A year later, presidential candidate
John KerryJohn Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, and is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee....
alleged that Cheney was continuing "to intentionally mislead the American public by drawing a link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11 in an attempt to make the invasion of Iraq part of the global war on terror."
Throughout 2002, the Bush administration insisted that removing Hussein from power in order to restore international peace and security was a major goal. The principal stated justifications for this policy of "regime change" were that Iraq's
continuing production of weapons of mass destructionDuring the Presidency of Saddam Hussein, the nation of Iraq used, possessed, and made efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction . Hussein was internationally known for his use of chemical weapons in the 1980s against Kurdish civilians during and after the Iran–Iraq War...
and
known ties to terrorist organizationsSaddam Hussein and al-Qaeda link allegations were made by some U.S. Government officials who claimed that a highly secretive relationship existed between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the radical Islamist militant organization Al-Qaeda from 1992 to 2003, specifically through a series of...
, as well as Iraq's continued violations of UN Security Council resolutions, amounted to a threat to the US and the world community.
The Bush administration's overall rationale for the invasion of Iraq was presented in detail by US Secretary of State Colin Powell to the
United Nations Security CouncilThe United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
on February 5, 2003; in summary, he stated:
Since the invasion, the US and British government claims concerning
Iraqi weapons programsDuring the Presidency of Saddam Hussein, the nation of Iraq used, possessed, and made efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction . Hussein was internationally known for his use of chemical weapons in the 1980s against Kurdish civilians during and after the Iran–Iraq War...
and links to terrorist organizations have been discredited. While the debate of whether Iraq intended to develop chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons in the future remains open, no WMDs have been found in Iraq since the invasion despite comprehensive inspections lasting more than 18 months. In Cairo, on February 24, 2001, Colin Powell had predicted as much, saying "He [Hussein] has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours." Similarly, assertions of significant operational links between the Iraqi regime and al Qaeda have largely been discredited by the intelligence community, and Secretary Powell himself eventually admitted he had no incontrovertible proof.
In September 2002, the Bush administration said attempts by Iraq to acquire thousands of high-strength aluminium tubes pointed to a clandestine program to make enriched uranium for nuclear bombs. Powell, in his address to the UN Security Council just prior to the war, made reference to the aluminium tubes. But a report released by the
Institute for Science and International SecurityThe Institute for Science and International Security non-profit institution, founded in 1993, to inform the public about science and policy issues affecting international security, particularly relating to nuclear weapons. It is led by former United Nations IAEA nuclear inspector David Albright,...
in 2002 reported that it was highly unlikely that the tubes could be used to enrich uranium. Powell later admitted he had presented an inaccurate case to the United Nations on Iraqi weapons, based on sourcing that was wrong and in some cases "deliberately misleading."
The Bush administration asserted that the Hussein government had sought to purchase yellowcake uranium from Niger. On March 7, 2003, the US submitted intelligence documents as evidence to the
International Atomic Energy AgencyThe International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for military purposes. It was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
. These documents were dismissed by the IAEA as forgeries, with the concurrence in that judgment of outside experts. At the time, a US official claimed that the evidence was submitted to the IAEA without knowledge of its provenance, and characterized any mistakes as "more likely due to incompetence not malice".
Unmanned Iraqi drones
In October 2002, a few days before the
US SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
vote on the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, about 75 senators were told in closed session that the Iraqi government had the means of delivering biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction by
unmanned aerial vehicleAn unmanned aerial vehicle is an aircraft that flies without a human crew. Their largest uses are in military applications. To distinguish UAVs from missiles, a UAV is defined as a reusable, uncrewed vehicle capable of controlled, sustained, level flight and powered by a jet or reciprocating...
(UAV) drones that could be launched from ships off the US' Atlantic coast to attack
US eastern seaboard citiesThe East Coast of the United States, also known as the "Eastern Seaboard" or "Atlantic Seaboard", refers to the easternmost coastal states in the central and northern United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada...
.
Colin PowellColin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State , serving under President George W. Bush. He was the first African American appointed to that position...
suggested in his presentation to the United Nations that UAVs were transported out of Iraq and could be launched against the US. In fact, Iraq had no offensive UAV fleet or any capability of putting UAVs on ships. Iraq's UAV fleet consisted of less than a handful of outdated Czech training drones. At the time, there was a vigorous dispute within the intelligence community as to whether the CIA's conclusions about Iraq's UAV fleet were accurate. The US Air Force agency denied outright that Iraq possessed any offensive UAV capability.
Human rights
As evidence supporting U.S. and British claims about Iraqi WMDs and links to terrorism weakened, some claim supporters of the invasion have increasingly shifted their justification to the
human rights violations of the Hussein governmentIraq under Saddam Hussein had high levels of torture and mass murder.Secret police, torture, murders, deportations, forced disappearances, targeted assassinations, chemical weapons, and the destruction of wetlands were some of the methods Saddam Hussein used to maintain control...
. Leading human rights groups such as
Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto,...
have argued, however, that they believe human rights concerns were never a central justification for the invasion, nor do they believe that military intervention was justifiable on humanitarian grounds, most significantly because "the killing in Iraq at the time was not of the exceptional nature that would justify such intervention." Many supporters of the war, however, claim from the start human rights concerns were among the reasons given for the invasion, and that the threat of weapons of mass destruction was emphasized at the United Nations, since this dealt with Iraq flouting UN resolutions. They further claim human rights groups that oppose the war have no objective standard regarding when to invade a country.
Legality of invasion
The
Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002The Iraq Resolution or the Iraq War Resolution is a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress in October 2002 as Public Law No: 107-243, authorizing the Iraq War.-Contents:The resolution cited many factors to justify the use of military force against...
was passed by congress with Democrats voting 58% in favor in the Senate, and 61% opposed in the House. Republicans supported the
joint resolutionIn the United States Congress, a joint resolution is a legislative measure that requires approval by the Senate and the House and is presented to the President for his/her approval or disapproval, in exactly the same case as a bill....
98% and 97% in the Senate and House respectively. The resolution asserts the authorization by the Constitution of the United States and the Congress for the President to fight anti-United States terrorism. Citing the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, the resolution reiterated that it should be the policy of the United States to remove the Saddam Hussein regime and promote a democratic replacement. The resolution "supported" and "encouraged" diplomatic efforts by President
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
to "strictly enforce through the U.N. Security Council all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq" and "obtain prompt and decisive action by the Security Council to ensure that Iraq abandons its strategy of delay, evasion, and noncompliance and promptly and strictly complies with all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq." The resolution authorized President Bush to use the Armed Forces of the United States "as he determines to be necessary and appropriate" in order to "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and enforce all relevant
United Nations Security CouncilThe United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
Resolutions regarding Iraq."
The legality of the invasion of Iraq has been challenged since its inception on a number of fronts, and several prominent supporters of the invasion in all the invading nations have publicly and privately cast doubt on its legality. It is claimed that the invasion was fully legal because authorization was implied by the
United Nations Security CouncilThe United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
. International legal experts, including the
International Commission of JuristsThe International Commission of Jurists is an international human rights non-governmental organisation. The Commission itself is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists , including members of the senior judiciary in Australia, Canada, and South Africa and the former UN High Commissioner for Human...
, a group of 31 leading Canadian law professors, and the U.S.-based Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy have denounced both of these rationales.
On Thursday November 20, 2003, an article published in the Guardian alleged that
Richard PerleRichard Norman Perle is an American political advisor and lobbyist who worked for the Reagan administration as an assistant Secretary of Defense and worked on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee from 1987 to 2004...
,
a senior member of the administration's
Defense Policy Board Advisory CommitteeThe Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, also referred to as the Defense Policy Board is a federal advisory committee to the United States Department of Defense. Their charter is available on line through the Director of the Office of Administration and Management of the Department of Defense...
, conceded that the invasion was illegal but still justified.
The United Nations Security Council has passed nearly 60 resolutions on Iraq and Kuwait since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The most relevant to this issue is Resolution
678United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 was the legal authorization for the Gulf War which was passed by the Security Council by 12 votes to 2 on 29 November 1990...
, passed on November 29, 1990. It authorizes "member states co-operating with the Government of Kuwait... to use all necessary means" to (1) implement Security Council Resolution
660United Nations Security Council Resolution 660 was adopted by the UN Security Council on 2 August 1990. The resolution condemned the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and demanded a withdrawal of Iraqi troops....
and other resolutions calling for the end of Iraq's occupation of Kuwait and withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwaiti territory and (2) "restore international peace and security in the area." Resolution
678United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 was the legal authorization for the Gulf War which was passed by the Security Council by 12 votes to 2 on 29 November 1990...
has not been rescinded or nullified by succeeding resolutions and Iraq was not alleged after 1991 to invade Kuwait or to threaten do so.
Resolution
1441United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 is a United Nations Security Council resolution adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on November 8, 2002, offering Iraq under Saddam Hussein "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations" that had been set out...
was most prominent during the run up to the war and formed the main backdrop for Secretary of State
Colin Powell'sColin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State , serving under President George W. Bush. He was the first African American appointed to that position...
address to the Security Council one month before the invasion. At the same time, Bush Administration officials advanced a parallel legal argument using the earlier resolutions, which authorized force in response to Iraq's 1991
invasion of KuwaitThe Invasion of Kuwait, also known as the Iraq-Kuwait War, and perhaps more appropriately as Iraqi abolition of Kuwait was a major conflict between the Republic of Iraq and the State of Kuwait which resulted in the seven-month long Iraqi occupation of Kuwait which subsequently led to direct...
. Under this reasoning, by failing to disarm and submit to weapons inspections, Iraq was in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions 660 and 678, and the U.S. could legally compel Iraq's compliance through military means.
Critics and proponents of the legal rationale based on the U.N. resolutions argue that the legal right to determine how to enforce its resolutions lies with the Security Council alone, not with individual nations.
In February 2006,
Luis Moreno-OcampoLuis Moreno-Ocampo is an Argentine lawyer who has been the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since 16 June 2003. He previously worked as a prosecutor in Argentina, famously combating corruption and prosecuting human rights abuses by senior military officials...
, the lead prosecutor for the
International Criminal CourtThe International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .The court came into being on 1 July 2002 — the...
, reported that he had received 240 separate communications regarding the legality of the war, many of which concerned British participation in the invasion. In a letter addressed to the complainants, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo explained that he could only consider issues related to conduct during the war and not to its underlying legality as a possible crime of aggression because no provision had yet been adopted which "defines the crime and sets out the conditions under which the Court may exercise jurisdiction with respect to it." In a March 2007 interview with the
Sunday TelegraphThe Sunday Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in 1961. It is the sister paper of The Daily Telegraph, but is run separately, with a different editorial staff....
, Moreno-Ocampo encouraged Iraq to sign up with the court so that it could bring cases related to alleged war crimes. Luis Moreno-Ocampo also stated that his extensive investigation found no evidence for any
war crime.War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war"; including "murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave labor camps", "the murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war", the killing of hostages, "the wanton destruction of cities, towns...
or any
crime against humanityCrimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...
.
United States Ohio Congressman
Dennis KucinichDennis John Kucinich is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives and was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2004 and 2008 elections....
held a press conference on the evening of April 24, 2007, revealing US House Resolution 333 and the three articles of impeachment against Vice President
Dick CheneyRichard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 in the administration of George W. Bush....
. He charges Cheney with manipulating the evidence of Iraq's weapons program, deceiving the nation about Iraq's connection to al-Qaeda, and threatening aggression against Iran in violation of the
United Nations CharterThe United Nations Charter is the treaty that forms and establishes the international organization called the United Nations. It was signed at the Herbst Theatre of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on June 26, 1945, by 50 of the 51 original...
.
Military aspects
United States military operations were conducted under the codename
Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL). The codename was later changed to
Operation Iraqi Freedom, due to the unfortunate acronym. The United Kingdom military operation was named
Operation TelicOperation TELIC is the codename under which all British operations of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and after are being conducted. A total of 46,000 troops of all the British Services were committed to the operation at its start...
.
Multilateral support
In November 2002, U.S. President
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
, visiting
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
for a
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
summit, declared that "should Iraqi President
Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
choose not to disarm, the United States will lead a
coalition of the willingThe term coalition of the willing is a post-1990 political phrase used to describe military or military/humanitarian interventions for which the United Nations Security Council cannot agree to mount a full UN peacekeeping operation...
to disarm him."
Thereafter, the Bush administration briefly used the term Coalition of the Willing to refer to the countries who supported, militarily or verbally, the military action in Iraq and subsequent military presence in post-invasion Iraq since 2003. The original list prepared in March 2003 included 49 members. Of those 49, only six besides the U.S. contributed troops to the invasion force (the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
,
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
and
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
), 33 provided some number of troops to support the occupation after the invasion was complete. Six members have no military.
Invasion force
Approximately 248,000 Soldiers and Marines from the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers, 1,300 Spanish soldiers, 500 Danish soldiers and 194 Polish soldiers were sent to Kuwait for the invasion. The invasion force was also supported by Iraqi
KurdKürd or Kyurd or Kyurt may refer to:*Kürd Eldarbəyli, Azerbaijan*Kürd Mahrızlı, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Goychay, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Jalilabad, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Qabala, Azerbaijan*Qurdbayram, Azerbaijan...
ish
militia troopsPeshmerga, Peshmerge or Armed Forces of Kurdistan is the term used by Kurds to refer to armed Kurdish fighters...
, estimated to number upwards of 70,000. In the latter stages of the invasion 620 troops of the
Iraqi National CongressThe Iraqi National Congress is an umbrella Iraqi opposition group led by Ahmed Chalabi. It was formed with the aid and direction of the United States government following the Gulf War, for the purpose of fomenting the overthrow of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.-History:INC was set up following the...
opposition group were deployed to southern Iraq.
A U.S. Central Command, Combined Forces Air Component Commander report, indicated that as of April 30, 2003, there were a total of 466,985 U.S. personnel deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom. This included USAF, 54,955; USAF Reserve, 2,084; Air National Guard, 7,207; USMC, 74,405; USMC Reserve, 9,501; USN, 61,296 (681 are members of the U.S. Coast Guard); USN Reserve, 2,056; and US Army, 233,342; US Army Reserve, 10,683; and Army National Guard, 8,866.
Plans for opening a second front in the north were severely hampered when
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
refused the use of its territory for such purposes. In response to Turkey's decision, the United States dropped several thousand paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade into northern Iraq, a number significantly less than the 15,000 strong 4th Mechanized Infantry Division that the U.S. originally planned to use for opening the northern front.
Preparation
CIA
Special Activities DivisionThe Special Activities Division is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service , responsible for covert action and "special activities". These activities include covert political action and paramilitary operations...
(SAD) Paramilitary teams entered Iraq in July 2002 prior to the 2003 invasion. Once on the ground they prepared for the subsequent arrival of US military forces. SAD teams then combined with US Army Special Forces to organize the
KurdishThe Kurds are an Ethnic-Iranian ethnolinguistic group mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
PeshmergaPeshmerga, Peshmerge or Armed Forces of Kurdistan is the term used by Kurds to refer to armed Kurdish fighters...
. This joint team combined to defeat
Ansar al-IslamAnsar al-Islam , Supporters or Partisans of Islam) is a Kurdish Sunni Islamist group, promoting a radical interpretation of Islam, close to the official Saudi ideology of Wahhabism with strict application of Sharia...
, an ally of Al Qaida, in a battle in the northeast corner of Iraq. The US side was carried out by Paramilitary Officers from SAD and the Army's
10th Special Forces GroupThe 10th Special Forces Group is an Active Duty United States Army Special Forces group. The 10th Special Forces Group is responsible for operations within the EUCOM area of responsibility, as part of the Special Operations Command, Europe ....
.
SAD teams also conducted high risk special reconnaissance missions behind Iraqi lines to identify senior leadership targets. These missions led to the initial strikes against
Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
and his key generals. Although the initial strike against Hussein was unsuccessful in killing the dictator, it was successful in effectively ending his ability to command and control his forces. Other strikes against key generals were successful and significantly degraded the command's ability to react to and maneuver against the US-led invasion force coming from the south. SAD operations officers were also successful in convincing key
Iraqi ArmyThe Iraqi Army is the land army of the Iraqi military, active in various forms since being formed by the British during their mandate over the country after World War I....
officers to surrender their units once the fighting started and/or not to oppose the invasion force. NATO member
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
refused to allow its territory to be used for the invasion. As a result, the SAD/SOG and US Army Special Forces joint teams and the Kurdish Peshmerga were the entire northern force against government forces during the invasion. Their efforts kept the 5th Corps of the Iraqi army in place to defend against the Kurds rather than their moving to contest the coalition force.
According to
General Tommy FranksGeneral Tommy Ray Franks, United States Army, KBE, is a retired General in the United States Army. His last Army post was as the Commander of the United States Central Command, overseeing United States Armed Forces operations in a 25-country region, including the Middle East...
, April Fool, an American officer working
undercoverBeing undercover is disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization to learn secret information or to gain the trust of targeted individuals in order to gain information or evidence...
as a
diplomatA diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organisation. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, was approached by an Iraqi intelligence agent.
April Fool then sold to the Iraqi false "top secret" invasion plans provided by Franks' team. This
decoyA decoy is usually a person, device or event meant as a distraction to conceal what an individual or a group might be looking for. Decoys have been used for centuries most notably in game hunting, but also in wartime and in the committing or resolving of crimes.The decoy in war may for example be a...
deception successfully misled the Iraqi military into deploying major forces in Northern and Western Iraq in anticipation of attacks via
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
or
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
, which never took place. This greatly reduced the defensive capacity in the rest of Iraq and significantly facilitated the actual attacks via
KuwaitThe State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west. The greatest distance from north to south is 200 km and from east to west 170 km . The name is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning "fortress built near water." It has a...
and the
Persian GulfThe Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes controversially referred to as the Arabian Gulf by most Arab states or simply The...
in the southeast.
Defending force
The number of personnel in the Iraqi military prior to the war was uncertain, but it was believed to have been poorly equipped. The International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated the Iraqi armed forces to number 538,000 (army 375,000, navy 2,000, air force 20,000 and air defense 17,000), the
paramilitaryA paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status...
Fedayeen SaddamFedayeen Saddam was a paramilitary organization loyal to the former Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein. The name was chosen to mean "Saddam's Men of Sacrifice". At its height, the group had 30,000-40,000 members.-Irregular forces:...
44,000,republican guard 80,000 and reserves 650,000. Another estimate numbers the army and
Republican GuardThe Iraqi Republican Guard was a branch of the Iraqi military, which later became the Republican Guard Corps and then the Republican Guard Forces Command. Formed in 1980, it was originally created to be Saddam Hussein's bodyguard but was expanded into a large military force...
at between 280,000 to 350,000 and 50,000 to 80,000, respectively, and the paramilitary between 20,000 and 40,000. There were an estimated thirteen
infantryInfantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of the Combat Arms they are the backbone of armies...
divisions, ten
mechanizedMechanized infantry are infantry equipped with armored personnel carriers , or infantry fighting vehicles for transport and combat ....
and armored divisions, as well as some
special forcesSpecial forces and special operations forces are generic terms for elite highly-trained military teams/units that conduct specialized operations such as reconnaissance, unconventional warfare, direct action and counter-terrorism actions.In the United States, the term special operations forces is...
units. The
Iraqi Air ForceThe Iraqi Air Force or IQAF is the military branch in Iraq responsible for the policing of international borders, surveillance of national assets and aerial operations...
and
Iraqi NavyThe Iraqi Navy is one of the components of the military of Iraq currently being reconstructed by UK-US Coalition forces in Iraq. Its primary responsibilities are the protection of Iraq's coastline and offshore assets...
played a negligible role in the conflict.
In addition to Iraqi forces, during the invasion foreign volunteers from
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
traveled to Iraq and took part in the fighting, usually under the command of the Saddam Fedayeen. It is not known for certain how many foreign fighters fought in Iraq in 2003, however, intelligence officers of the U.S. First Marine Division estimated that 50% of all Iraqi combatants in central Iraq were foreigners.
In addition, the terrorist group
Ansar al-IslamAnsar al-Islam , Supporters or Partisans of Islam) is a Kurdish Sunni Islamist group, promoting a radical interpretation of Islam, close to the official Saudi ideology of Wahhabism with strict application of Sharia...
controlled a small section of northern Iraq in an area outside of Saddam Hussein's control. Ansar al-Islam had been fighting against Kurdish forces since 2001. At the time of the invasion they fielded an estimated 600 to 800 fighters. Ansar al-Islam was led by the Jordanian-born militant
Abu Musab al-ZarqawiAbu Musab al-Zarqawi ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh was a Jordanian militant Islamist who ran a militant training camp in Afghanistan...
, who would later become an important leader in the
Iraqi insurgencyThe Iraqi insurgency is composed of a diverse mix of militias, foreign fighters, all-Iraqi units or mixtures using violent measures against the United States-led multinational force in Iraq in Iraq and the post-2003 Iraqi government, or by propaganda or money supportive thereof...
. Ansar al-Islam was driven out of Iraq in late March by a joint American-Kurdish force during
Operation Viking HammerOperation Viking Hammer was a military operation of the Iraq War which took place in northern Iraq. The goal of the operation was to eliminate the Ansar al-Islam terrorist organization which was occupying part of Iraqi Kurdistan.-Background:...
.
Invasion
Since the 1991
Persian Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
, the U.S. and UK had been engaged in low-level attacks on Iraqi air defenses which targeted them while enforcing
Iraqi no-fly zonesThe Iraqi no-fly zones were a set of two separate no-fly zones , and were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom and France after the Gulf War of 1991 to protect humanitarian operations in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south. Iraqi aircraft were forbidden from flying inside the...
. These zones, and the attacks to enforce them, were described as illegal by the former UN Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and the then French foreign minister, Hubert Vedrine. Other countries, notably Russia and China, also condemned the zones as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. In mid-2002, the U.S. began more carefully selecting targets in the southern part of the country to disrupt the military command structure in Iraq. A change in enforcement tactics was acknowledged at the time, but it was not made public that this was part of a plan known as
Operation Southern FocusOperation Southern Focus was a period in the months leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq in which the military responses to violations of the southern Iraqi no-fly zones were increased, with more intensive bombing of air defense artillery installations and other military complexes...
.
The amount of ordnance dropped on Iraqi positions by Coalition aircraft in 2001 and 2002 was less than in 1999 and 2000 which was during the Clinton administration. This information has been used to attempt to refute the theory that the Bush administration had already decided to go to war against Iraq before coming to office and that the bombing during 2001 and 2002 was laying the ground work for the eventual invasion in 2003. However, information obtained by the UK
Liberal DemocratsThe Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems or just Liberals, are a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, formed in 1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party; the two parties had been in alliance for seven years, from shortly after the formation of...
showed that the UK dropped twice as many bombs on Iraq in the second half of 2002 as they did during the whole of 2001. The tonnage of UK bombs dropped increased from 0 in March 2002 and 0.3 in April 2002 to between 7 and 14 tons per month in May-August, reaching a pre-war peak of 54.6 tons in September – prior to Congress' October 11 authorization of the invasion. The September 5 attacks included a 100+ aircraft attack on the main air defense site in western Iraq. According to an editorial in
New StatesmanThe New Statesman is a British left-wing political magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
this was "Located at the furthest extreme of the southern no-fly zone, far away from the areas that needed to be patrolled to prevent attacks on the Shias, it was destroyed not because it was a threat to the patrols, but to allow allied special forces operating from Jordan to enter Iraq undetected." Tommy Franks, who commanded the invasion of Iraq, has since admitted that the bombing was designed to “degrade” Iraqi air defences in the same way as the air attacks that began the 1991 Gulf War. These "spikes of activity" were, in the words of then British Defence Secretary,
Geoff HoonGeoffrey "Geoff" William Hoon is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Ashfield since 1992...
, designed to 'put pressure on the Iraqi regime' or, as
The TimesThe Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register....
reported, to "provoke Saddam Hussein into giving the allies an excuse for war". In this respect, as provocations designed to start a war, leaked British Foreign Office legal advice concluded that such attacks were illegal under international law.
Another attempt at provoking the war was mentioned in a leaked memo from a meeting between
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
and
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
on January 31, 2003 at which Bush allegedly told Blair that "The US was thinking of flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours. If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach."
Opening salvo: the Dora Farms strike
The early morning of March 19, 2003, U.S. forces abandoned the plan for initial, non-nuclear
decapitation strikeIn the theory of nuclear warfare, a decapitation strike is a first strike attack that aims to remove the command and control mechanisms of the opponent, in the hope that it will severely degrade or destroy its capacity for nuclear retaliation....
s against fifty-five top Iraqi officials, in light of reports that Saddam Hussein was visiting his daughters and sons, Uday and Qusay at Dora Farms, within the
al-DoraDora is a neighborhood in Rasheed administrative district, southern Baghdad, Iraq. It is primarily Sunni, hundreds of Christian,Shia and Mandaic families have fled since late 2006 due to de facto Islamist control...
farming community on the outskirts of
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
. At approximately 05:30 UTC two
F-117 NighthawkThe Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a stealth ground attack aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force. The F-117A's first flight was in 1981, and it achieved Initial Operational Capability status in October 1983...
s from the 8th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron dropped four enhanced, satellite-guided 2,000-pound
Bunker BusterA bunker buster is a bomb designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground.-World War II:In World War II the British designer Barnes Wallis, of bouncing-bomb fame, designed two bombs that would today be called bunker busters: the five tonne Tallboy and the ten tonne Grand...
s GBU-27 on the compound. Complementing the aerial bombardment were 4 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from at least four ships, including the
Arleigh Burke class destroyerThe Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers is the first destroyer of the United States Navy built around the Aegis combat system and the SPY-1D multi-function phased array radar. The first ship was commissioned on 4 July 1991...
, the USS
Donald Cook, and two submarines in the
Red SeaThe Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez,...
and
Persian GulfThe Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes controversially referred to as the Arabian Gulf by most Arab states or simply The...
. One missed the compound entirely and the other three missed their target landing on the other side of the wall of the palace compound. Saddam Hussein was not present nor were any members of the Iraqi leadership or Hussein family. The attack killed one civilian and injured fourteen others, including nine women and one child. Later investigation revealed that Saddam Hussein had not visited the farm since 1995.
Opening attack
On March 20, 2003 at approximately 02:30 UTC or about 90 minutes after the lapse of the 48-hour deadline, at 05:33 local time, explosions were heard in Baghdad. Special operations commandos from the CIA's
Special Activities DivisionThe Special Activities Division is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service , responsible for covert action and "special activities". These activities include covert political action and paramilitary operations...
from the Northern Iraq Liaison Element infiltrated throughout Iraq and called in the early air strikes. At 03:15 UTC, or 10:15 p.m. EST, George W. Bush announced that he had ordered an "attack of opportunity" against targets in Iraq. As soon as this word was given the troops on standby crossed the border into Iraq.
Before the invasion, many observers had expected a lengthy campaign of aerial bombing in advance of any ground action, taking as examples the
1991 Persian Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
or the
2001 invasion of AfghanistanThe War in Afghanistan is an ongoing coalition conflict which began on October 7, 2001, as the British military participated in the US military's Operation Enduring Freedom that was launched in response to the September 11 attacks...
. In practice, U.S. plans envisioned simultaneous air and ground assaults to decapitate the Iraqi forces as fast as possible (see Shock and Awe), attempting to bypass Iraqi military units and cities in most cases. The assumption was that superior mobility and coordination of Coalition forces would allow them to attack the heart of the Iraqi command structure and destroy it in a short time, and that this would minimize civilian deaths and damage to infrastructure. It was expected that the elimination of the leadership would lead to the collapse of the Iraqi Forces and the government, and that much of the population would support the invaders once the government had been weakened. Occupation of cities and attacks on peripheral military units were viewed as undesirable distractions.
Following
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
's decision to deny any official use of its territory, the Coalition was forced to modify the planned simultaneous attack from north and south. Special Operations forces from the CIA and US Army managed to build and lead the Kurdish Peshmerga into an effective force and assault for the North. The primary bases for the invasion were in
KuwaitThe State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab emirate bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and Iraq to the north and west. The greatest distance from north to south is 200 km and from east to west 170 km . The name is a diminutive of an Arabic word meaning "fortress built near water." It has a...
and other
Persian GulfThe Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes controversially referred to as the Arabian Gulf by most Arab states or simply The...
nations. One result of this was that one of the divisions intended for the invasion was forced to relocate and was unable to take part in the invasion until well into the war. Many observers felt that the Coalition devoted sufficient numbers of troops to the invasion, but too many were withdrawn after it ended, and that the failure to occupy cities put them at a major disadvantage in achieving security and order throughout the country when local support failed to meet expectations.
The invasion was swift, leading to the collapse of the Iraq government and the military of Iraq in about three weeks. The oil infrastructure of Iraq was rapidly seized and secured with limited damage in that time. Securing the oil infrastructure was considered of great importance. In the
Persian Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
, while retreating from Kuwait, the Iraqi army had set many oil wells on fire, in an attempt to disguise troop movements and to distract Coalition forces. Prior to the 2003 invasion, Iraqi forces had mined some 400 oil wells around
BasraAl-Baṣrah is the capital of Basra Province, and had an estimated population of 3,800,200 as of 2009. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it is incapable of deep water access, which is handled at the the port of Umm Qasr...
and the
Al-Faw peninsulaThe al-Faw peninsula is a marshy region adjoining the Persian Gulf in the extreme south-east of Iraq, between and to the south-east of the cities of Basra and Abadan ....
with explosives. Coalition troops launched an air and amphibious assault on the
Al-Faw peninsulaThe al-Faw peninsula is a marshy region adjoining the Persian Gulf in the extreme south-east of Iraq, between and to the south-east of the cities of Basra and Abadan ....
during the closing hours of March 20 to secure the oil fields there; the amphibious assault was supported by warships of the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
,
Polish NavyThe Polish Navy is the branch of Poland's Armed Forces responsible for naval operations. It has 60 ships and about 14,300 commissioned and enlisted personnel...
, and
Royal Australian NavyThe Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following federation of the Australian Colonies in 1901, the former colonial navies merged to become the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
. The
United States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States armed forces responsible for providing force projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
'
15th Marine Expeditionary UnitThe 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit is one of seven Marine Expeditionary Units currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Expeditionary Unit is a Marine Air Ground Task Force with a strength of about 2,200 personnel...
, attached to 3 Commando Brigade and the
PolishPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Special Forces unit
GROMGROM is the primary special forces unit of the Polish Land Forces. It was officially activated on July 8, 1990...
attacked the port of
Umm QasrUmm Qasr , is a port city in southern Iraq. It stands on the canalised Khawr az-Zubayr, part of the Khawr Abd Allah estuary which leads to the Persian Gulf. It is separated from the border of Kuwait by a small inlet...
. There they encountered heavy resistance by Iraqi troops. The
British ArmyThe British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England and Scotland and...
's 16 Air Assault Brigade also secured the oilfields in southern Iraq in places like
RumailaThe Rumaila Field is an oil field located in Kuwait and southern Iraq. The dispute between Iraq and Kuwait over allegedly slant-drilling in the field was one of reasons for Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. This giant oil field was discovered by British Petroleum in 1953. Under Saddam Hussein,...
while the Polish commandos captured offshore oil platforms near the port, preventing their destruction. Despite the rapid advance of the invasion forces, some 44 oil wells were destroyed and set ablaze by Iraqi explosives or by incidental fire. However, the wells were quickly capped and the fires put out, preventing the ecological damage and loss of oil production capacity that had occurred at the end of the
Persian Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
.
In keeping with the rapid advance plan, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division moved westward and then northward through the western desert toward Baghdad, while the
1st Marine Expeditionary ForceThe I Marine Expeditionary Force is a Marine Air Ground Task Force of the United States Marine Corps primarily composed of the 1st Marine Division, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and 1st Marine Logistics Group...
moved along Highway 1 through the center of the country, and 1 (UK) Armoured Division moved northward through the eastern marshland. Spanish units moved south to the Saudi-Iraqi border, then drove north to join U.S. forces. Polish troops moved with U.S. Marines, and Danish soldiers fought with the British and Australians in southern Iraq.
Battle of Nasiriyah
Initially, the U.S. 1st Marine Division fought through the Rumaila oil fields, and moved north to
NasiriyahNasiriyah is a city in Iraq. It is on the Euphrates River about 225 miles southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. It is the capital of the province of Dhi Qar...
—a moderate-sized, Shi'ite dominated city with important strategic significance as a major road junction and its proximity to nearby
Talil AirfieldAli Air Base is a military airbase located near Nasiriyah, Iraq. It was formerly known as Tallil Air Base. It is called Camp Adder by the U.S. Army; the name "Ali Air Base" is used chiefly by the U.S. Air Force; the installation, however, is still commonly referred to as "Tallil"...
. It was also situated near a number of strategically important bridges over the Euphrates River. The United States Army 3rd Infantry Division defeated Iraqi forces entrenched in and around the airfield and bypassed the city to the west. On March 23, a convoy from the 3rd Infantry Division, including the female American soldiers
Jessica LynchJessica Dawn Lynch is a former Private First Class in the United States Army Quartermaster Corps. Lynch served in Iraq during the 2003 invasion by U.S. and allied forces. On March 23, 2003 she was injured and captured by Iraqi forces, but was recovered on April 1 by U.S...
and
Lori PiestewaSPC Lori Ann Piestewa was a U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps soldier killed during the same Iraqi Army attack in which her friend Jessica Lynch was injured. A member of the Hopi tribe, Piestewa was the first woman in the U.S. armed forces killed in the 2003 Iraq war and is the first Native American...
, was ambushed after taking a wrong turn into the city. Eleven U.S. soldiers were killed, and seven, including Lynch and Piestewa, were captured. Piestewa died of wounds shortly after capture, while the remaining five prisoners of war were later rescued. Piestewa, who was from Tuba City, Arizona, and an enrolled member of the
HopiThe Hopi are American Indians people who primarily live on the 12,635 km² Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi Reservation is entirely surrounded by the much larger Navajo Reservation. The two nations used to share the Navajo-Hopi Joint Use Area...
Tribe, was believed to have been the first Native American woman killed in combat in a foreign war.
On the same day, U.S Marines entered Nasiriyah in force, facing heavy resistance as they moved to secure two major bridges in the city. American Marines suffered several fatalities during a firefight with
FedayeenFedayeen is a term used to describe several distinct, militant groups and individuals in Armenia, Iran and the Arab world at different times in history...
in the urban fighting. An
Air Force A-10The A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American single-seat, twin-engine, straight-wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic for the United States Air Force to provide close air support of ground forces by attacking tanks, armored vehicles, and other ground targets with a limited air interdiction...
was involved in a case of
friendly fireFriendly fire is an expression meaning fire from one's own side or allied forces, as opposed to fire coming from enemy forces, and was a tactic originally adopted by the United States military....
that resulted in the death of six Marines when it accidentally attacked an American amphibious vehicle. Two other vehicles were destroyed when a barrage of RPG and small arms fire killed most of the Marines inside. Because of Nasiriyah's strategic position as a road junction, a significant gridlock occurred as U.S. forces moving north converged on the city's surrounding highways.
With the Nasiriyah and Talil Airfields secured, Coalition forces gained an important logistical center in southern Iraq and established FOB/EAF Jalibah, some outside of Nasiriyah. Additional troops and supplies were soon brought through this forward operating base and Italian and Spanish soldiers were now arriving to advance south of the U.S. Army's advance. The
101st Airborne DivisionThe 101st Airborne Division — the "Screaming Eagles"— is a U.S. Army modular infantry division trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for action during the Normandy Landings and in the Battle of the Bulge...
continued its attack north in support of the 3rd Infantry Division. Spanish, British, and Australian paratroopers moved to Talil. By 27 March 28, a severe sand storm slowed the Coalition advance as the 3rd Infantry Division halted its northward drive half way between Najaf and Karbala. As a result of heavy rains that occurred along with the sand storm, orange-colored mud fell on some parts of the invasion force in the area. Air operations by helicopters, poised to bring reinforcements from the 101st Airborne, were blocked for three days. There was particularly heavy fighting in and around the bridge adjacent to the town of Kufl. Another fierce battle was at Najaf, where American Airborne and Armored units with British air support fought a fierce battle in Najaf with Iraqi Regulars, Republican Guard units, and paramilitary forces. The battle lasted from March 24 to April 4, and resulted in a Coalition victory. 4 American soldiers and 590–780 Iraqi soldiers were killed.
Basra
The Iraqi port city of
Umm QasrUmm Qasr , is a port city in southern Iraq. It stands on the canalised Khawr az-Zubayr, part of the Khawr Abd Allah estuary which leads to the Persian Gulf. It is separated from the border of Kuwait by a small inlet...
was the first British obstacle. A joint Polish-British-American force ran into unexpectedly stiff resistance, and it took several days to clear the Iraqi forces out. 14 Coalition soldiers and 30 Iraqi soldiers were killed. Farther north, the British units fought their way into Iraq's second-largest city,
BasraAl-Baṣrah is the capital of Basra Province, and had an estimated population of 3,800,200 as of 2009. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it is incapable of deep water access, which is handled at the the port of Umm Qasr...
, on April 6, coming under constant attack by regulars and Fedayeen, while the British Red Devils cleared the 'old quarter' of the city that was inaccessible to vehicles. Entering Basra was achieved after two weeks of fierce fighting. Elements of 1 (UK) Armoured Division began to advance north towards U.S. positions around
Al AmarahAmarah , is a city in southeastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km from the border with Iran...
on April 9. Pre-existing electrical and water shortages continued throughout the conflict and looting began as Iraqi forces collapsed. While Coalition forces began working with local Iraqi Police to enforce order, a joint team composed of
Royal EngineersThe Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. It provides combat engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces...
and the Royal Logistics Corps of the British Army rapidly set up and repaired dockyard facilities to allow humanitarian aid began to arrive from ships arriving in the port city of
Umm QasrUmm Qasr , is a port city in southern Iraq. It stands on the canalised Khawr az-Zubayr, part of the Khawr Abd Allah estuary which leads to the Persian Gulf. It is separated from the border of Kuwait by a small inlet...
.
After a rapid initial advance, the first major pause occurred in the vicinity of
KarbalaKarbala is a city in Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad at 32.61°N, 44.08°E. In the time of Husayn ibn Alī's life, the place was also known as al-Ghadiriyah, Naynawa, and Shathi'ul-Furaat. The estimated population in 2003 was 572,300 people. It is the capital of Karbala Governorate...
. There, U.S. Army elements met resistance from Iraqi troops defending cities and key bridges along the Euphrates River. These forces threatened to interdict supply routes as American forces moved north. Eventually, troops from the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S Army secured the cities of Najaf and Karbala to prevent any Iraqi counterattacks on the 3rd Infantry Division's lines of communication as the division pressed its advance toward Baghdad.
Special operations
The 2nd
BattalionA battalion is a military unit of around 1000-1500 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel...
of the U.S. 5th Special Forces Group,
United States Army Special ForcesThe United States Army Special Forces, also known as Green Berets, is a Special Operations Force of the United States Army tasked with five primary missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, and counter-terrorism. The first two emphasize...
(Green Berets) conducted reconnaissance in the cities of
BasraAl-Baṣrah is the capital of Basra Province, and had an estimated population of 3,800,200 as of 2009. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it is incapable of deep water access, which is handled at the the port of Umm Qasr...
,
KarbalaKarbala is a city in Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad at 32.61°N, 44.08°E. In the time of Husayn ibn Alī's life, the place was also known as al-Ghadiriyah, Naynawa, and Shathi'ul-Furaat. The estimated population in 2003 was 572,300 people. It is the capital of Karbala Governorate...
and various other locations.
In the North, the 10th Special Forces Group (10th SFG) and CIA paramilitary officers from their
Special Activities DivisionThe Special Activities Division is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service , responsible for covert action and "special activities". These activities include covert political action and paramilitary operations...
had the mission of aiding the Kurdish parties, the
Patriotic Union of KurdistanThe Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is a Kurdish political party in Iraq.-Foundation:The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was founded in June 1975, by coordinations between Jalal Talabani and Nawshirwan Mustafa. Mr...
and the
Kurdistan Democratic PartyKurdistan Democratic Party may refer to:*Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq, an Iraqi Kurdish political party*Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, an Iranian Kurdish political party*Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria, a Kurdish political party in Syria...
, de facto rulers of Iraqi
KurdistanKurdistan is an extensive plateau and mountainous area in the Middle East, inhabited mainly by Kurds...
since 1991, and employing them against the 13 Iraqi Divisions located in the vicinity of Kirkuk and Mosul.
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
had officially forbidden any Coalition troops from using their bases or airspace, so lead elements of the 10th SFG had to make a detour infiltration; their flight was supposed to take four hours but instead took ten. Hours after the first of such flights, Turkey did allow the use of its air space and the rest of the 10th SFG infiltrated in. The preliminary mission was to destroy the base of the Kurdish terrorist group
Ansar al-IslamAnsar al-Islam , Supporters or Partisans of Islam) is a Kurdish Sunni Islamist group, promoting a radical interpretation of Islam, close to the official Saudi ideology of Wahhabism with strict application of Sharia...
, believed to be linked to Al Qaeda. Concurrent and follow-on missions involved attacking and fixing Iraqi forces in the north, thus preventing their deployment to the southern front and the main effort of the invasion.
On March 26, 2003, the 173rd Airborne Brigade augmented the invasion's northern front by parachuting into northern Iraq onto Bashur Airfield, controlled at the time by elements of 10th SFG and Kurdish peshmerga. The fall of Kirkuk on April 10, 2003 to the 10th SFG, CIA Paramilitary Teams and Kurdish peshmerga precipitated the 173rd's planned assault, preventing the unit's involvement in combat against Iraqi forces during the invasion. The successful occupation of Kirkuk came as a result of approximately two weeks of fighting that included the Battle of the Green Line (the unofficial border of the Kurdish autonomous zone) and the subsequent Battle of Kani Domlan Ridge (the ridgeline running northwest to southeast of Kirkuk), the latter fought exclusively by 3rd Battalion, 10th SFG and Kurdish peshmerga against the Iraqi I Corps. The 173rd Brigade would eventually take responsibility for Kirkuk days later, becoming involved in the counterinsurgency fight and remain there until redeploying a year later.
Further reinforcing operations in Northern Iraq, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), serving as Landing Force Sixth Fleet, deployed in April to Erbil and subsequently Mosul via Marine KC-130 flights. The 26 MEU(SOC) maintained security of the Mosul airfield and surrounding area until relief by the 101st Airborne Division.
After Sargat was taken, Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 10th SFG and CIA paramilitary officers along with their Kurdish allies pushed south towards
TikritTikrit is a town in Iraq, located 140 km northwest of Baghdad on the Tigris river...
and the surrounding towns of Northern Iraq. Previously, during the Battle of the Green Line, Bravo Company, 3/10 with their Kurdish allies pushed back, destroyed, or routed the 13th Iraqi Infantry Division. The same company took Tikrit. Iraq was the largest deployment of
Special ForcesSpecial forces and special operations forces are generic terms for elite highly-trained military teams/units that conduct specialized operations such as reconnaissance, unconventional warfare, direct action and counter-terrorism actions.In the United States, the term special operations forces is...
since Vietnam.
Fall of Baghdad (April 2003)
Three weeks into the invasion,
US-led Coalition forcesThe Multi-National Force - Iraq is a military command, led by the United States, that is fighting the Iraq War against Iraqi insurgents or resistants. Multi-National Force - Iraq replaced the previous force, Combined Joint Task Force 7, on May 15, 2004. General Ray Odierno serves as Commanding...
moved into
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
. Initial plans were for Coalition units to surround the city and gradually move in, forcing Iraqi armor and ground units to cluster into a central pocket in the city, and then attack with air and artillery forces. This plan soon became unnecessary, as an initial engagement of armored units south of the city saw most of the Republican Guard's assets destroyed and routes in the southern outskirts of the city occupied. On April 5 Task Force 1-64 Armor of the U.S. Army's Third Infantry Division executed a raid, later called the "Thunder Run", to test remaining Iraqi defenses, with 29 tanks and 14 Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicles advancing to the Baghdad airport. They met heavy resistance, but were successful in reaching the airport. US troops faced heavy fighting in the airport, and were even temporarily pushed out, but eventually secured the airport. The next day, another brigade of the 3rd I.D. attacked into downtown Baghdad and occupied one of the palaces of Saddam Hussein in fierce fighting. US Marines also faced heavy shelling from Iraqi artillery as they attempted to cross a river bridge. The Iraqi commander directed the fire, and one shell from an Iraqi gun killed or wounded four Marines, but the river crossing was successful. The Iraqis managed to inflict heavy casualties on the American forces near the airport from defensive positions but suffered severe casualties from air bombardment. Within hours of the palace seizure and with television coverage of this spreading through Iraq, U.S. forces ordered Iraqi forces within Baghdad to surrender, or the city would face a full-scale assault. Iraqi government officials had either disappeared or had conceded defeat, and on April 9, 2003, Baghdad was formally occupied by Coalition forces and the 24-year dictatorship of Saddam Hussein in Iraq was toppled. Much of Baghdad remained unsecured however, and fighting continued within the city and its outskirts well into the period of occupation. Saddam had vanished, and his whereabouts were unknown. Many Iraqis celebrated the downfall of Saddam by vandalizing the many portraits and statues of him together with other pieces of his
cult of personalityA cult of personality arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships and Stalinist governments....
.
One widely publicized event was the dramatic toppling of a large statue of Saddam in Baghdad's Fardus Square. This attracted considerable media coverage at the time. As the British
Daily Mirror reported,
"For an oppressed people this final act in the fading daylight, the wrenching down of this ghastly symbol of the regime, is their Berlin Wall moment. Big Moustache has had his day."
As Staff Sergeant Brian Plesich reported in
On Point: The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom,
"The Marine Corps colonel in the area saw the Saddam statue as a target of opportunity and decided that the statue must come down. Since we were right there, we chimed in with some loudspeaker support to let the Iraqis know what it was we were attempting to do..."
"Somehow along the way, somebody had gotten the idea to put a bunch of Iraqi kids onto the wrecker that was to pull the statue down. While the wrecker was pulling the statue down, there were Iraqi children crawling all over it. Finally they brought the statue down"
The fall of Baghdad saw the outbreak of regional, sectarian violence throughout the country, as Iraqi tribes and cities began to fight each other over old grudges. The Iraqi cities of Al-Kut and
NasiriyahNasiriyah is a city in Iraq. It is on the Euphrates River about 225 miles southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. It is the capital of the province of Dhi Qar...
launched attacks on each other immediately following the fall of Baghdad to establish dominance in the new country, and the US-led Coalition quickly found themselves embroiled in a potential civil war. US-led Coalition forces ordered the cities to cease hostilities immediately, explaining that Baghdad would remain the capital of the new Iraqi government. Nasiriyah responded favorably and quickly backed down; however, Al-Kut placed snipers on the main roadways into town, with orders that invading forces were not to enter the city. After several minor skirmishes, the snipers were removed, but tensions and violence between regional, city, tribal, and familial groups continued.
US General
Tommy FranksGeneral Tommy Ray Franks, United States Army, KBE, is a retired General in the United States Army. His last Army post was as the Commander of the United States Central Command, overseeing United States Armed Forces operations in a 25-country region, including the Middle East...
assumed control of Iraq as the supreme commander of the coalition occupation forces. Shortly after the sudden collapse of the defense of Baghdad, rumors were circulating in Iraq and elsewhere that there had been a deal struck (a "safqua") wherein the US-led Coalition had bribed key members of the Iraqi military elite and/or the Ba'ath party itself to stand down. In May 2003, General Franks retired, and confirmed in an interview with Defense Week that the US-led Coalition had paid Iraqi military leaders to defect. The extent of the defections and their effect on the war are unclear.
US-led Coalition troops promptly began searching for the key members of Saddam Hussein's government. These individuals were identified by a variety of means, most famously through sets of
most-wanted Iraqi playing cardsIn the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition, the U.S. military developed a set of playing cards to help troops identify the most-wanted members of President Saddam Hussein's government, mostly high-ranking Baath Party members or members of the Revolutionary Command Council...
.
On July 22, 2003 during a raid by the
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
101st Airborne DivisionThe 101st Airborne Division — the "Screaming Eagles"— is a U.S. Army modular infantry division trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for action during the Normandy Landings and in the Battle of the Bulge...
and men from
Task Force 20Task Force 20 is a designation that has been used by several United States Department of Defense units.-United States Navy:Task Force 20 is one of the task force designators assigned to the United States Second Fleet in the Atlantic...
, Saddam Hussein's sons
UdayUday Saddam Hussayn al-Tikriti , was the eldest son of Saddam Hussein and his first wife, Sajida Talfah. He was the older brother of Qusay Hussein. Uday was for several years seen as the heir apparent of his father, however Uday lost this after his erratic behavior and troubled relationship with...
and
QusayQusay Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti was the second son of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in 2000.-Family:...
, and one of his grandsons were killed in a massive fire-fight.
Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
was captured on December 13, 2003 by the
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Army'sThe United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
4th Infantry DivisionThe 4th Infantry Division is a modular division of the United States Army based at Fort Carson, Colorado, with four brigade combat teams. It is a very technically advanced combat division in the U.S. Army....
and members of
Task Force 121Task Force 121 is a classic example of the United States' 'Joint Task Force' concept of conducting special operations. It is organized in a manner similar to Task Force Ranger, which was used during the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993 - Delta Force personnel or other Special Operations Forces supported...
during
Operation Red DawnOperation Red Dawn was the U.S. military operation conducted on 13 December 2003 in the town of ad-Dawr, Iraq, near Tikrit, that captured Iraq President Saddam Hussein, ending rumours of his death. The operation was named after the film Red Dawn, by Captain Geoffrey McMurray...
.
Other areas
In the north, Kurdish forces opposed to Saddam Hussein had already occupied for years an autonomous area in northern Iraq. With the assistance of U.S. Special Forces and air strikes, they were able to rout the Iraqi units near them and to occupy oil-rich
KirkukKirkuk , , , Kurdish: Kerkûk/کهرکووک , Turkish: Kerkük is a city in Iraq and capital of Kirkuk Governorate....
on April 10.
U.S. special forces had also been involved in the extreme south of Iraq, attempting to occupy key roads to
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and airbases. In one case two armored platoons were used to convince Iraqi leadership that an entire armored battalion was entrenched in the west of Iraq.
On April 15, U.S. forces took control of
TikritTikrit is a town in Iraq, located 140 km northwest of Baghdad on the Tigris river...
, the last major outpost in central Iraq, with an attack led by the Marines'
Task Force TripoliTask Force Tripoli was a United States Marine Corps air ground task force formed after the fall of Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. They were commanded by Brigadier General John F. Kelly, then Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Marine Division, and its mission was to continue the...
. About a week later the Marines were relieved in place by the Army's
4th Infantry DivisionThe 4th Infantry Division is a modular division of the United States Army based at Fort Carson, Colorado, with four brigade combat teams. It is a very technically advanced combat division in the U.S. Army....
.
Summary of the invasion
The US-led Coalition forces toppled the government and captured the key cities of a large nation in only 21 days. The invasion did require a large army build-up like the 1991 Gulf War, but many didn't see combat and many were withdrawn after the invasion ended. This proved to be short-sighted, however, due to the requirement for a much larger force to combat the irregular Iraqi forces in the
aftermath of the warThe post-invasion period in Iraq, also known as the Occupation of Iraq, followed the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition led by the United States, which overthrew the Ba'ath Party government of Saddam Hussein. This article covers the period starting May 1, 2003, after United States...
. General
Eric ShinsekiEric Ken Shinseki is a retired United States Army four-star general who is currently serving as the 7th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. His final U.S. Army post was as the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army . He is a veteran of combat in Vietnam, having been left with a maimed foot...
, Army Chief of Staff, recommended "several hundred thousand" troops be used to maintain post-war order, but then Secretary of Defense
Donald RumsfeldDonald Henry Rumsfeld is a United States businessman, politician, the 13th Secretary of Defense under President Gerald Ford from 1975 to 1977, and the 21st Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006...
—and especially his deputy, civilian
Paul WolfowitzPaul Dundes Wolfowitz is a former United States Ambassador to Indonesia, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, President of the World Bank, and former Dean of The Paul H...
—strongly disagreed. General Abizaid later said General Shinseki had been right.
The Iraqi army, armed mainly with Soviet-built equipment, was overall ill-equipped in comparison to the U.S. and UK forces. Attacks on U.S.
supply routesA Main Supply Route is the route or routes designated within an area of operations upon which the bulk of traffic flows in support of military operations....
by
FedayeenFedayeen is a term used to describe several distinct, militant groups and individuals in Armenia, Iran and the Arab world at different times in history...
militiamen were repulsed. The Iraqis' artillery proved largely ineffective, and they were unable to mobilize their air force to attempt a defense. The Iraqi
T-72The T-72 is a Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1971. It is a further development of the T-62 with some features of the T-64A and has been further developed as the T-90...
tanks, the heaviest armored vehicles in the Iraqi Army, were both outdated and ill-maintained, and when they were mobilized they were rapidly destroyed, thanks in part to U.S. and UK
air supremacyAir supremacy is the complete dominance in the air power of one side's air forces over the other side's during a military campaign. It is the most favorable state of control of the air...
. The U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, Naval Aviation, and British
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
operated with impunity throughout the country, pinpointing heavily defended resistance targets and destroying them before ground troops arrived.
The main battle tanks (MBT) of the U.S. and UK forces, the U.S.
M1 AbramsThe M1 Abrams is a main battle tank produced in the United States. The M1 is named after General Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff and Commander of US military forces in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. It is a well armed, heavily armored, and highly mobile tank designed for modern armored...
and British Challenger 2, proved worthy in the rapid advance across the country. With the large number of
rocket propelled grenadeA rocket-propelled grenade is any hand-held, shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon capable of firing an unguided rocket equipped with an explosive warhead....
(RPG) attacks by irregular Iraqi forces, few U.S. and UK tanks were lost and no tank crewmen were killed by hostile fire. The only tank loss sustained by the British Army was a Challenger 2 of the Queen's Royal Lancers that was hit by another Challenger 2, killing two crewmen. All three British tank crew fatalities were a result of
friendly fireFriendly fire is an expression meaning fire from one's own side or allied forces, as opposed to fire coming from enemy forces, and was a tactic originally adopted by the United States military....
.
The Iraqi Army suffered from poor morale, even amongst the elite Republican Guard. Entire units disbanded into the crowds upon the approach of invading troops, or actually sought out U.S. and UK forces out to surrender. In one case, a force of roughly 20–30 Iraqis attempted to surrender to a two-man vehicle repair and recovery team, invoking similar instances of Iraqis surrendering to news crews during the
Persian Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
. Other Iraqi Army officers were bribed by the
Central Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government.It is an independent agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers....
(CIA) or coerced into surrendering. Worse, the Iraqi Army had incompetent leadership – reports state that
Qusay HusseinQusay Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti was the second son of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in 2000.-Family:...
, charged with the defense of
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
, dramatically shifted the positions of the two main divisions protecting Baghdad several times in the days before the arrival of U.S. forces, and as a result the units within were both confused and further demoralized when U.S. Marine and British forces attacked. By no means did the invasion force see the entire Iraqi military thrown against it; U.S. and UK units had orders to move to and seize objective target-points rather than seek engagements with Iraqi units. This resulted in most regular Iraqi military units emerging from the war fully intact and without ever having been engaged by U.S. forces, especially in southern Iraq. It is assumed that most units disintegrated to either join the growing
Iraqi insurgencyThe Iraqi insurgency is composed of a diverse mix of militias, foreign fighters, all-Iraqi units or mixtures using violent measures against the United States-led multinational force in Iraq in Iraq and the post-2003 Iraqi government, or by propaganda or money supportive thereof...
or returned to their homes.
According to the declassified
PentagonThe Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself....
report, "The largest contributing factor to the complete defeat of Iraq's military forces was the continued interference by Saddam." The report, designed to help U.S. officials understand in hindsight how Saddam and his military commanders prepared for and fought the invasion, paints a picture of an Iraqi government blind to the threat it faced, hampered by Saddam's inept military leadership and deceived by its own
propagandaPropaganda is communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience...
and inability to believe the United States would invade a sovereign country without provocation. According to the BBC, the report portrays Saddam Hussein as "chronically out of touch with reality - preoccupied with the prevention of domestic unrest and with the threat posed by Iran."
Security, looting and war damage
Looting took place in the days following the 2003 invasion. Similar looting occurred for two weeks following the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama.
It was reported that the
National Museum of IraqThe National Museum of Iraq is a museum located in Baghdad, Iraq. It contains priceless relics from Mesopotamian civilization, thousands of which were looted in 2003 during the Iraq War. On February 23, 2009, the museum was reopened for a day by Iraqi prime minister Al-Maliki, with about half of...
was among the looted sites. Most initial news reports were that 100 percent of the museum's artifacts had been removed by looters. In fact, no more than 3 percent of its contents were removed by thieves.
An assertion that U.S. forces did not guard the museum because they were guarding the Ministry of Oil and Ministry of Interior is disputed by investigator Col. Matthew Bogdanos in his 2005 book, "Thieves of Baghdad." Bogdanos notes that the Ministry of Oil building was bombed, but the museum complex, which took some fire, was not bombed. He also writes that Saddam Hussein's troops set up sniper's nests inside and on top of the museum, and nevertheless U.S. Marines and soldiers stayed close enough to prevent wholesale looting.
Early on, U.S. officials reacted defensively to the first, false news reports of 100 percent looting. According to U.S. officials, the "reality of the situation on the ground" was that hospitals, water plants, and ministries with vital intelligence needed security more than other sites. There were only enough U.S. troops on the ground to guard a certain number of the many sites that ideally needed protection, and so, apparently, some "hard choices" were made.
The
FBIThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency. The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
was soon called into Iraq to track down the stolen items. It was found that the initial claims of looting of substantial portions of the collection were heavily exaggerated.
Initial reports claimed a near-total looting of the museum, estimated at upwards of 170,000 inventory lots, or about 501,000 pieces. The most recent estimate places the number of stolen pieces at around 15,000, and about 10,000 of them probably were taken in an "inside job" before U.S. troops arrived, according to Bogdanos. Over 5,000 looted items have since been recovered.
There has been speculation that some objects still missing were not taken by looters during the invasion, but were taken by Saddam Hussein or his entourage before or during the fighting. There have also been reports that early looters had keys to vaults that held rarer pieces, and some have speculated as to the pre-meditated systematic removal of key artifacts.
The
National Museum of IraqThe National Museum of Iraq is a museum located in Baghdad, Iraq. It contains priceless relics from Mesopotamian civilization, thousands of which were looted in 2003 during the Iraq War. On February 23, 2009, the museum was reopened for a day by Iraqi prime minister Al-Maliki, with about half of...
was only one of many museums and sites of cultural significance that were affected by the war. Many in the arts and antiquities communities briefed policy makers in advance of the need to secure Iraqi museums. Despite the looting being lighter than initially feared, the cultural loss of items from ancient
SumerSumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Iraq . It is the earliest known civilization in the world and is known as the Cradle of Civilization...
is significant.
More serious for the post-war state of Iraq was the looting of cached weaponry and ordnance which fueled the subsequent
insurgencyThe Iraqi insurgency is composed of a diverse mix of militias, foreign fighters, all-Iraqi units or mixtures using violent measures against the United States-led multinational force in Iraq in Iraq and the post-2003 Iraqi government, or by propaganda or money supportive thereof...
. As many as 250,000 tons of explosives were unaccounted for by October 2004. Disputes within the US Defense Department led to delays in the post-invasion assessment and protection of Iraqi nuclear facilities.
TuwaithaThe Baghdad Nuclear Research Facility adjacent to the Tuwaitha "Yellow Cake Factory" contains the remains of nuclear reactors bombed by Israel in 1981 and the United States in 1991. It was used as a storage facility for spent reactor fuel and industrial and medical wastes. The radioactive material...
, the Iraqi site most scrutinized by UN inspectors since 1991, was left unguarded and was looted.
Zainab BahraniZainab Bahrani is professor of Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology at Columbia University.- Career :A native of Baghdad, Iraq, she was educated in Europe and the United States. She received her Master of Arts and doctoral degrees Zainab Bahrani (born 1962) is professor of Ancient Near...
, professor of Ancient Near Eastern Art History and Archaeology at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
, reported that a helicopter landing pad was constructed in the heart of the ancient city of
BabylonBabylon was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
, and "removed layers of archeological earth from the site. The daily flights of the helicopters rattle the ancient walls and the winds created by their rotors blast sand against the fragile bricks. When my colleague at the site, Maryam Moussa, and I asked military personnel in charge that the helipad be shut down, the response was that it had to remain open for security reasons, for the safety of the troops."
Bahrani also reported that in the summer of 2004, "the wall of the Temple of Nabu and the roof of the Temple of Ninmah, both sixth century BC, collapsed as a result of the movement of helicopters." Electrical power is scarce in post-war Iraq, Bahrani reported, and some fragile artifacts, including the Ottoman Archive, would not survive the loss of refrigeration.
Bush declares "End of major combat operations" (May 2003)
On May 1, 2003, Bush landed on the aircraft carrier
USS Abraham LincolnUSS Abraham Lincoln , nicknamed "Abe", is the fifth Nimitz-class supercarrier in the United States Navy. She is the second Navy ship named after former president Abraham Lincoln...
, in a
LockheedLockheed Martin is a multinational aerospace manufacturer, global security and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed with Martin Marietta. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Lockheed Martin employs 146,000 people...
S-3 VikingThe Lockheed S-3 Viking was a jet aircraft used by the United States Navy to identify, track, and destroy enemy submarines. In the late 1990s, the S-3B's mission focus shifted to surface warfare and aerial refueling. The Viking also provided electronic warfare and surface surveillance capabilities...
, where he gave a speech announcing the end of major combat operations in the Iraq war. Bush's landing was criticized by opponents as an overly theatrical and expensive stunt. Clearly visible in the background was a banner stating "Mission Accomplished." The banner, made by
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style and has been the residence of every...
staff and supplied by request of the United States Navy, was criticized as premature. The White House subsequently released a statement that the sign and Bush's visit referred to the initial invasion of Iraq and disputing the claim of theatrics. The speech itself noted: "We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We are bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous."
Post-invasionThe post-invasion period in Iraq, also known as the Occupation of Iraq, followed the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition led by the United States, which overthrew the Ba'ath Party government of Saddam Hussein. This article covers the period starting May 1, 2003, after United States...
Iraq has been marked by violent conflict between U.S.-led soldiers and
insurgentsThe Iraqi insurgency is composed of a diverse mix of militias, foreign fighters, all-Iraqi units or mixtures using violent measures against the United States-led multinational force in Iraq in Iraq and the post-2003 Iraqi government, or by propaganda or money supportive thereof...
. The ongoing resistance in Iraq was concentrated in, but not limited to, an area referred to as the Sunni triangle and Baghdad.
This resistance may be described as
guerrilla warfareGuerrilla warfare is the irregular warfare warfare and combat in which a small group of combatants use mobile military tactics in the form of ambushes and raids to combat a larger and less mobile formal army....
. The tactics in use were to include mortars, suicide bombers, roadside bombs, small arms fire,
improvised explosive deviceAn improvised explosive device is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
s (IED's), and
handheld antitank grenade-launchersA rocket-propelled grenade is any hand-held, shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon capable of firing an unguided rocket equipped with an explosive warhead....
(RPG's), as well as sabotage against the oil infrastructure. There were also attacks toward the power and water infrastructure.
There is evidence that some of the resistance was organized, perhaps by the
fedayeenFedayeen is a term used to describe several distinct, militant groups and individuals in Armenia, Iran and the Arab world at different times in history...
and other Saddam Hussein or Ba'ath loyalists, religious radicals, Iraqis angered by the occupation, and foreign fighters.
Casualties
Death toll
While estimates on the number of casualties during the invasion in Iraq vary widely, the majority of deaths and injuries have occurred after U.S. President Bush declared the end of "major combat operations" on May 1, 2003. According to
CNNCable News Network, almost always referred to by its initialism CNN, is an U.S. cable news network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first network to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television network in the United States...
, the U.S. government reported that 139 American military personnel were killed before May 1, 2003, while over 4,000 have been killed since 2003. Estimates on civilian casualties are more variable than those for military personnel. According to
Iraq Body Count, a group that relies on Western press reports to measure civilian casualties, approximately 7,500 civilians were killed during the invasion phase, while more than 60,000 civilians have been killed as of April 2007.
In November 2006
Iraq's Health MinisterThe Council of Ministers of Iraq is the executive branch of the government of Iraq.The National Assembly of Iraq elects a President of State who along with two deputies form the Presidency Council. The Presidency Council appoints the Prime Minister who appoints the Council of Ministers, all of whom...
Ali al-ShemariAli al-Shemari is an Iraqi politician from the Sadrist Movement who was the Health Minister of Iraq from May 20, 2006 until April 16, 2007.Al-Shemari's deputy, Hakim al-Zamili, and his security chief, Hamid al-Shammari, were arrested and tried in 2007 on claims they ran a death squad that attacked...
said that since the March 2003 invasion between 100,000 and 150,000 Iraqis have been killed. Al-Shemari based his figure on an estimate of 100 bodies per day brought to morgues and hospitals – such a calculation would come out closer to 130,000 in total.
The Lancet surveys of casualties of the Iraq War, conducted by researchers at
Johns Hopkins UniversityThe Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Johns Hopkins also maintains full-time campuses elsewhere in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Italy, China, and Singapore...
, estimates much higher civilian casualties, but does not differentiate between the invasion phase (March-May 2003) and the occupation phase (post May 2003). The Lancet survey estimates that over 650,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a result of the conflict, with the vast majority of these deaths occurring after May 2003. These studies were highly controversial at their time of publication, attracting considerable criticism from predominantly non-scientific sources.
A September 14, 2007 estimate by ORB (Opinion Research Business), an independent British polling agency, suggests that the total Iraqi violent death toll due to the Iraq War since the US-led invasion is in excess of 1.2 million (1,220,580). Although higher than the 2006 Lancet estimate, these results, which were based on a survey of 1499 adults in Iraq from August 12–19, 2007, are more or less consistent with the figures that were published in the Lancet study.
On January 28, 2008, ORB published an update based on additional work carried out in rural areas of Iraq. Some 600 additional interviews were undertaken and as a result of this the death estimate was revised to 1,033,000 with a given range of 946,000 to 1,120,000.
Iraqi refugees
Over 4.2 million Iraqis, more than 16% of the Iraqi population, have lost their homes and become refugees since 2003. As of June 21, 2007, the
United Nations High Commissioner for RefugeesThe Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country...
estimated that 2.2 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighboring countries, and 2 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month. Roughly 40% of Iraq's
middle classThe middle class are any class in the middle of a social schema. In Weberian socio-economic terms they are the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socioeconomically between the working class and upper class. In Marxist terms, middle class commonly refers to either the...
is believed to have fled, the U.N. said. Most are fleeing systematic persecution and have no desire to return. All kinds of people, from university professors to bakers, have been targeted by militias,
insurgentsThe Iraqi insurgency is composed of a diverse mix of militias, foreign fighters, all-Iraqi units or mixtures using violent measures against the United States-led multinational force in Iraq in Iraq and the post-2003 Iraqi government, or by propaganda or money supportive thereof...
and criminals. An estimated 331 school teachers were slain in the first four months of 2006, according to Human Rights Watch, and at least 2,000 Iraqi doctors have been killed and 250 kidnapped since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
The UN reports that although Christians comprise less than 5% of Iraq's population, they make up nearly 40% of the refugees fleeing Iraq. More than 50% of Iraqi Christians have already left the country. In 1987, the last Iraqi census counted 1.4 million Christians. But as the war has radicalized Islamic sensibilities, Christians' total numbers slumped to about 500,000, of whom 250,000 live in
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
. Furthermore, the Mandaean and
YazidiThe Yazidi are a Kurdish ethnicity with ancient Indo-European roots.They are primarily Kurdish speaking, and most live in the Mosul region of northern Iraq...
communities are at the risk of elimination due to
ethnic cleansingEthnic cleansing is a term that has come to be used broadly to describe all forms of ethnically inspired violence, ranging from murder, rape, and torture to the forcible removal of populations...
by
IslamicIslamism is a set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system; that modern Muslims must return to their roots of their religion, and unite politically....
extremists. As many as 110,000 Iraqis could be targeted as
collaboratorsCollaborationism describes the treason of cooperating with enemy forces occupying one's country. As such it implies criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, including complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions, pillage, and economic exploitation as well as...
because of their work for coalition forces.
A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from Iraq have been granted refugee status in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
War Crimes
After the ambush of the
507th Maintenance CompanyThe 507th Maintenance Company was a unit of the U.S. Army which provided maintenance support to 5th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery , based at Fort Bliss, Texas.-An Nasiriyah Incident:...
during the
battle of NasiriyahThe Battle of Nasiriyah was one of the first major battles of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Heavy fighting took place in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah between Iraqi forces and U.S. Marines over control of key bridges over the Euphrates River and the Saddam Canal.The battle began early on March...
on March 23, the bodies of several American soldiers who had been killed in the ambush were shown on Iraqi television. Some of these soldiers had visible gunshot wounds to head, leading to speculation that they had been executed. With the exception of Sgt.
Donald WaltersDonald Ralph Walters was a United States Army Quartermaster Corps Sergeant, officially listed as killed in action in southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on March 23 2003 in the same ambush in which Jessica Lynch was captured...
, no evidence has since surfaced to support this scenario and it is generally accepted that the soldiers were killed in action. Five live prisoners of war were also interviewed on the air, a violation of the
Geneva ConventionsThe Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties and three additional protocols that set the standards in international law for humanitarian treatment of the victims of war. The singular term Geneva Convention refers to the agreements of 1949, negotiated in the aftermath of World War II, updating...
.
Sergeant
Donald WaltersDonald Ralph Walters was a United States Army Quartermaster Corps Sergeant, officially listed as killed in action in southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on March 23 2003 in the same ambush in which Jessica Lynch was captured...
was initially reported to have been killed in the March 23 ambush of the
507th Maintenance CompanyThe 507th Maintenance Company was a unit of the U.S. Army which provided maintenance support to 5th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery , based at Fort Bliss, Texas.-An Nasiriyah Incident:...
after killing several Fedayeen before running out of ammunition. However, an eyewitness later reported that he had seen Walters being guarded by several Fedayeen in front of a building. Forensics work later found Walters' blood in front of the building and blood spatter suggesting he died from two gunshot wounds to the back at close range. This led the Army to conclude that Walters had been executed after being captured, and he was posthumously awarded the
Prisoner of War MedalThe Prisoner of War Medal is a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on 8 November 1985. The United States Code citation for the POW Medal statute is 10 U.S.C...
in 2004.
It was alleged in the authorized biography of Pfc.
Jessica LynchJessica Dawn Lynch is a former Private First Class in the United States Army Quartermaster Corps. Lynch served in Iraq during the 2003 invasion by U.S. and allied forces. On March 23, 2003 she was injured and captured by Iraqi forces, but was recovered on April 1 by U.S...
that she was raped by her captors after her capture as part of the
507th Maintenance CompanyThe 507th Maintenance Company was a unit of the U.S. Army which provided maintenance support to 5th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery , based at Fort Bliss, Texas.-An Nasiriyah Incident:...
, based on medical reports and the pattern of her injuries, though this is not supported by Ms Lynch.
Mohammed Odeh al-RehaiefMohammed Odeh al-Rehaief is an Iraqi attorney who helped the United States armed forces rescue prisoner of war Jessica Lynch from a hospital in Nasiriyah. As reward for his assistance, the U.S. government granted him humanitarian asylum on April 28, 2003...
, who later helped American forces rescue Lynch, stated that he saw an Iraqi Colonel slap Lynch while she was in her hospital bed. The staff at the hospital where Lynch was held later denied both stories, saying that Lynch was well cared for. While Lynch suffers from
amnesiaAmnesia is a memory condition in which memory is disturbed. In simple terms it is the loss of memory. The causes of amnesia are organic or functional. Organic causes include damage to the brain, through trauma or disease, or use of certain drugs. Functional causes are psychological factors, such...
due to her injuries, Lynch herself has denied any mistreatment whilst in captivity.
Also on March 23, a British Army engineering unit made a wrong turn near the town of
Az ZubayrAz Zubayr is a town in Basra Governorate in Iraq. Some sources say it has a population of 184,900, others say 460,000 The coordinates are 30° 23' 21N, 47° 42' 29E....
, which was still held by Iraqi forces. The unit was ambushed and Sapper Luke Allsopp and Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth became separated from the rest. Both were captured and executed by Iraqi irregular forces. In 2006, a video of Allsopp lying on the ground surrounded by Iraqi irregular forces was discovered.
Marine Sergeant Fernando Padilla-Ramirez was reported missing from his supply unit after an ambush north of
NasiriyahNasiriyah is a city in Iraq. It is on the Euphrates River about 225 miles southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. It is the capital of the province of Dhi Qar...
on March 28. His body was later dragged through the streets of
Ash-ShatrahAsh Shatrah is a town in the Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq, located on the Gharraf Canal at the intersection with Highway 7. It is 22.35 km west of the ancient city of Lagash. It has a 2009 population estimated between 65 and 90 thousand.-History:...
and hung in the town square. His body was later taken down and buried by sympathetic locals. His body was discovered by American forces on April 10.
During the
Battle of NasiriyahThe Battle of Nasiriyah was one of the first major battles of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Heavy fighting took place in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah between Iraqi forces and U.S. Marines over control of key bridges over the Euphrates River and the Saddam Canal.The battle began early on March...
, there was an incident where Iraqi irregulars feigned surrender in order to approach an American Marine unit securing a bridge. After getting close to the Marines, the Iraqis suddenly opened fire,killing 10 Marines and wounding 40. Word of this quickly spread through the ranks, and American forces reinforced security procedures for dealing with prisoners of war.
On March 30, soldiers from the British
Royal Scots Dragoon GuardsThe Royal Scots Dragoon Guards is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior Scottish regiment. It was formed on 2 July 1971 at Holyrood, Edinburgh, by the amalgamation of the 3rd Carabiniers The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) (SCOTS DG) is a cavalry regiment of...
reported that they had observed Fedayeen fighters using children as human shields in the village of Kuj Al Mum. On March 31,
Iraqi Republican GuardThe Iraqi Republican Guard was a branch of the Iraqi military, which later became the Republican Guard Corps and then the Republican Guard Forces Command. Formed in 1980, it was originally created to be Saddam Hussein's bodyguard but was expanded into a large military force...
units were reported to be using women as human shields outside of Hindiyah. Many other incidents of Fedayeen fighters using human shields were reported from various towns in Iraq.
Some reports indicate that the Fedayeen used ambulances to deliver messages and transport fighters into combat. On March 31, Fedayeen forces in a Red Crescent marked ambulance attacked American soldiers outside of Nasiriyah, wounding 3.
During the
Battle of BasraThe Battle of Basra was one of the first battles of the invasion of Iraq. It pitched British and Iraqi forces.The British 7 Armoured Brigade fought their way into Iraq's second-largest city, Basra, on 6 April, coming under constant attack by regulars and Fedayeen, while the Parachute Regiment...
, British forces of the
Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)The Black Watch was a Scottish infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 2006. In 2006 the regiment was restructured to be a battalion The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of ScotlandAs part of the Scottish Division, it was the senior regiment of the Highland Brigade...
reported that on March 28, Fedayeen forces opened fire on thousands of civilian refugees fleeing the city, wounding several people.
Fedayeen and Republican Guard forces were reported to have executed Iraqi soldiers who tried to surrender on multiple occasions, as well as threatening the families of those who refused to fight. One such incident was directly observed during the
Battle of Debecka PassThe Battle of Debecka Pass, sometimes known as the Battle of Debecka Ridge, or otherwise referred to as the Alamo of the Iraq War , was a successful operation launched by U.S. Special Forces to secure a major crossroads near the village of Debecka, between Mosul and Kirkuk in northern Iraq. It was...
.
U.S. media coverage
The U.S. invasion of Iraq was the most widely and closely reported war in military history. Television network coverage was largely pro-war and viewers were six times more likely to see a pro-war source as one who was anti-war. The New York Times ran a number of articles describing Saddam Hussein's attempts to build weapons of mass destruction. The September 8, 2002 article titled "U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts" would be discredited, leading the New York Times to issue a public statement admitting it was not as rigorous as it should have been.
At the start of the war in March 2003, as many as 775 reporters and photographers were traveling as embedded journalists. These reporters signed contracts with the military that limited what they were allowed to report on. When asked why the military decided to embed journalists with the troops, Lt. Col. Rick Long of the U.S. Marine Corps replied, “Frankly, our job is to win the war. Part of that is
information warfareInformation warfare is the use and management of information in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. Information warfare may involve collection of tactical information, assurance that one's own information is valid, spreading of propaganda or disinformation to demoralize the enemy...
. So we are going to attempt to dominate the information environment.”
A September 2003 poll revealed that seventy percent of Americans believed there was a link between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of 9/11. 80% of Fox viewers were found to hold at least one such belief about the invasion, compared to 23% of PBS viewers.
Ted TurnerRobert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable television network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
, founder of CNN, said that
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC , usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-born American global media mogul. He owns media outlets and is a major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation ....
was using Fox News to advocate an invasion. Critics have argued that this statistic is indicative of misleading coverage by the U.S. media since viewers in other countries were less likely to have these beliefs. A post-2008 election poll by FactCheck.org found that 48% of Americans believe Hussein played a role in the 9/11 attacks, the group concluded that "voters, once deceived, tend to stay that way despite all evidence."
Independent media coverage
Independent media also played a prominent role in covering the invasion. The Indymedia network, among many other independent networks including many journalists from the invading countries, provided reports in a way difficult to control by any government, corporation or political party. In the United States Democracy Now, hosted by
Amy GoodmanAmy Goodman is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist and author.A 1984 graduate of Harvard University, Goodman is best known as the principal host of Democracy Now!, a public radio/television/internet news program...
has been critical of the reasons for the 2003 invasion and the alleged crimes committed by the U.S. authorities in Iraq.
On the other side, among media not opposing to the invasion,
The EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in an office in the City of Westminster, London. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843. While The Economist calls itself a...
stated in an article on the matter that "the normal diplomatic tools—sanctions, persuasion, pressure, UN resolutions—have all been tried, during 12 deadly but failed years" then giving a mild conditional support to the war stating that "if Mr Hussein refuses to disarm, it would be right to go to war".
Australian
war artistA war artist, also known as a combat artist, captures the experience of war in an artistic manner whilst based in the battlefield. Unlike war poets, a war artist is almost always acting in an official capacity.- Australian :...
George GittoesGeorge Gittoes , artist, has been described as a war artist who uses painting, drawing, photography and video. He has focused on traveling to places which have been affected greatly by human tragedy either because of war or natural disaster...
collected independent interviews with soldiers while producing his documentary
Soundtrack To WarSoundtrack to War is a 90 minute documentary by Australian war artist George Gittoes. Filmed throughout 2003-2004, Gittoes bypassed the U.S. military's media lockdown on the war in Iraq to capture an authentic account of the human experience of the war. Gittoes interviewed American soldiers...
. The war in Iraq provided the first time in history that military on the front lines were able to provide direct, uncensored reportage themselves, thanks to
blogA blog is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order...
ging software and the reach of the
internetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Dozens of such reporting sites, known as
soldier blogsA warblog or milblog is a weblog devoted mostly or wholly to covering news events concerning an ongoing war. Sometimes the use of the term "warblog" implies that the blog concerned has a pro-war slant. The use of the term "milblog" implies that the author is with the military.-Description and...
or milblogs, were started during the war. These blogs were more often than not largely pro-war and stated various reasons why the soldiers and Marines felt they were doing the right thing.
International media coverage
International coverage of the war differed from coverage in the U.S. in a number of ways.
The Arab-language news channel Al Jazeera and the German Satellite channel Deutsche
Welle featured almost twice as much information on the political background of the war. Al Jazeera also showed scenes of civilian casualties which were rarely seen in the U.S.
Criticisms
Opponents of military intervention in Iraq have attacked the decision to invade Iraq along a number of lines, including calling into question the evidence used to justify the war, arguing for continued diplomacy, challenging the war’s legality, suggesting that the U.S. had other more pressing security priorities, (i.e. Afghanistan and
North KoreaNorth Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer area between North Korea and South Korea...
) and predicting that the war would destabilize the Middle East region.
The breadth and depth of the criticism was particularly notable in comparison with the first
Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
, which met with considerably less domestic and international opposition, although the geopolitical situation had evolved since the last decade.
Rationale based on faulty evidence
The central U.S. justification for launching the Iraq War was that Saddam Hussein's alleged development of nuclear and biological weapons and purported ties to al-Qaeda made his regime a "grave and growing" threat to the United States and the world community. During the lead-up to the war and the aftermath of the invasion, critics cast doubt on the evidence supporting this rationale. Concerning Iraq’s weapons programs, prominent critics included
Scott RitterWilliam Scott Ritter, Jr. is noted for his role as a chief United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, and later for his criticism of United States foreign policy in the Middle East. Prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Ritter publicly argued that Iraq possessed no...
, a former U.N. weapons inspector who argued in 2002 that inspections had eliminated the nuclear and chemical weapons programs, and that evidence of their reconstitution would “have been eminently detectable by intelligence services ….” Although it is popularly believed that Saddam Hussein had forced the IAEA weapons inspectors to leave Iraq, they were in fact withdrawn at the request of US Ambassador Peter Burleigh in advance of
Operation Desert FoxThe December 1998 bombing of Iraq was a major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from December 16–19, 1998 by the United States and United Kingdom...
, the 1998 American bombing campaign. After the build-up of U.S. troops in neighboring states, Hussein welcomed them back and promised complete cooperation with their demands. Experienced IAEA inspection teams were already back in Iraq and had made some interim reports on its search for various forms of WMD.
Joseph C. WilsonJoseph Charles Wilson IV is the CEO of his own firm JC Wilson International Ventures, "a consulting firm specializing in strategic management and international-business development." In January 2007, Wilson joined Jarch Capital, LLC, as vice chairman, to advise the firm's expansion in areas of...
, an American diplomat investigated claims that Iraq had sought uranium for nuclear weapons in Niger and reported that they had no substance.
Similarly, alleged links between Iraq and al-Qaeda were called into question during the lead up to the war, and were discredited by an October 21, 2004 report from U.S. Senator
Carl LevinCarl Milton Levin is a Democratic United States Senator from Michigan and is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. He has been in the Senate since 1979 and Michigan's senior senator since 1995...
, which was later corroborated by an April 2006 report from the Defense Department’s inspector general. These reports further alleged that Bush Administration officials, particularly former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith, manipulated evidence to support links between al-Qaeda and Iraq.
Lack of a U.N. mandate
One of the main questions in the lead-up to the war was whether the
United Nations Security CouncilThe United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
would authorize military intervention in Iraq. When it became increasingly clear that U.N. authorization would require significant further weapons inspections, and that the U.S. and the UK planned to invade Iraq regardless, many criticized their effort as unwise, immoral, and illegal.
Robin CookRobert Finlayson Cook was a British Labour politician, who was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 1997 to 2001....
, then the leader of the
British House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
and a former foreign secretary, resigned from
Tony Blair'sAnthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
cabinet in protest over the UK’s decision to invade without the authorization of a U.N. resolution. Cook said at the time that: "In principle I believe it is wrong to embark on military action without broad international support. In practice I believe it is against Britain's interests to create a precedent for unilateral military action.”
In addition, senior government legal advisor
Elizabeth WilmshurstElizabeth Wilmshurst CMG, fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House and Professor of International Law at University College London, is best known for her role as Deputy Legal Adviser at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom on the eve of the...
resigned, stating her legal opinion that an invasion would be illegal.
United Nations Secretary-GeneralThe Secretary-General of the United Nations, acronym UNSYG, is the head of the Secretariat, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....
Kofi AnnanKofi Atta Annan, Honorary GCMG is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2007. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.-Early years and family:Kofi Annan was born in the...
said in an interview with the BBC in September 2004, "[F]rom our point of view and from the Charter point of view [the war] was illegal." This drew immediate criticism from the United States and was immediately played down." His annual report to the
General AssemblyFor two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:*General Assembly members*General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
for 2003 included no more than the statement: "Following the end of major hostilities which resulted in the occupation of Iraq..." A similar report from the Security Council was similarly terse in its reference to the event: "Following the cessation of hostilities in Iraq in April 2003..."
However, some argue that Kofi Annan was simply picking sides and playing politics. The United Nations Security Council has passed nearly 60 resolutions on Iraq and Kuwait since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The most relevant to this issue is Resolution
678United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 was the legal authorization for the Gulf War which was passed by the Security Council by 12 votes to 2 on 29 November 1990...
, passed on November 29, 1990. It authorizes "member states co-operating with the Government of Kuwait...to use all necessary means" to (1) implement Security Council Resolution
660United Nations Security Council Resolution 660 was adopted by the UN Security Council on 2 August 1990. The resolution condemned the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and demanded a withdrawal of Iraqi troops....
and other resolutions calling for the end of Iraq's occupation of Kuwait and withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwaiti territory and (2) "restore international peace and security in the area." However, the phrase "restore international peace and security in the area" was widely understood to refer to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and was not a blank check for future military aggression against Iraq.
Military intervention vs diplomatic solution
Criticisms about the evidence used to justify the war notwithstanding, many opponents of military intervention objected on the grounds that a diplomatic solution would be preferable, and that war should be reserved as a truly last resort. This position was exemplified by French Foreign Minister
Dominique de VillepinDominique de Villepin Dominique de Villepin Dominique de Villepin (born Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin served as the Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007....
, who responded to U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell'sColin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State , serving under President George W. Bush. He was the first African American appointed to that position...
February 5, 2003 presentation to the U.N Security Council by saying that: "Given the choice between military intervention and an inspections regime that is inadequate because of a failure to cooperate on Iraq's part, we must choose the decisive reinforcement of the means of inspections."
On February 12, 2003 following the U.N. inspection report delivery, each one of the 15 representative of the U.N Security Council were given a 10 minute speech to expose the position they chose for their country. The
Hans Blixis a Swedish diplomat and politician. He was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs . Blix was also the head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission from March 2000 to June 2003, when he was succeeded by Demetrius Perricos...
-led
United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection CommissionThe United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission was created through the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 1284 of 17 December 1999....
report concluded on "no evidence of forbidden military nuclear activities", "no evidence of mass destruction weapon" (Iraq’s unconventional weapons program would had been successfully dismantled during the 1990s), but "Baghdad must cooperate more".
First speaker was the Syrian Arab Republic representative —sole Arab state in the council— who strongly supported the continuation of the inspections, arguing that Iraq was accused to not respect the UN resolutions while
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
ignored more than 500 of them and owned mass destruction weapons as well.
Next was de Villepin. Some excerpts that voice opposition to immediate use of military force: “In adopting unanimously resolution 1441, we have collectively shown our agreement on proceeding with two steps: the choice of disarmament by way of inspections, and, in case of failure of this strategy, the examination by the Security Council of all options, including that of recourse to force. It's in this scenario of failure of the inspections, and in this case only, that a second resolution can be justified. … France has two convictions: first, that the option of inspections hasn't been carried through to its conclusion and can bring an effective response to the imperative to disarm Iraq; and second, that a use of force would have such heavy consequences for people, for the region et for international stability, that it couldn’t be envisaged except as a last resort. … We have just heard [in the report from Mr Blix and Mr El Baradeï] that the inspections are giving results. Of course, each of us wants more, and we continue together to put pressure on Bagdad to obtain more. But the inspections are giving results. [De Villepin then lists some of these results, and describes them as ‘significant advances’. He describes steps France has made to help these inspections give more results.]
On the subject of terrorism, de Villepin casts doubt on “the supposed links between Al-Qaida and the regime of Baghdad”. He continues: “On the other hand, … would such an intervention today not risk aggravating the fractures between societies, between cultures, between people, the fractures on which terrorism lives?”
France took the lead of the diplomatic solution front together with Germany and Russia, in the likes of a classic
XIXth century European empires allianceThere have been numerous alliances known as the Triple Alliance.The War of the Triple Alliance refers to a major war in South America in the nineteenth century.The various alliances known as "the triple alliance" are:...
, as de Villepin advocated for an additional time for the inspectors.
Colin Powell responded that Iraq cheated with the UN and the inspections could not continue indefinitely.
The direct opposition between diplomatic solution and military intervention involving France and the United States which was impersonated by Chirac versus Bush then later Powell versus de Villepin, became a milestone in the
Franco-American relationsFranco-American relations refers to the international relations between France and the United States. Its groundwork was laid by the colonization of parts of the Americas by the European powers France and Great Britain.- Country comparison :...
.
Anti-French propangadaFrancophobia, or Gallophobia, as well as Francophobe, are terms that refer to a dislike toward the government, culture, history, or people of France or the Francophonie. Its antonym is francophilia...
exploiting the classic Francophobic clichés immediately ensued in the
United StatesAnti-French sentiment in the United States is the manifestation of Francophobia by Americans. It signifies a consistent hostility towards the government, culture, and people of France, that employs stereotypes.-Understanding anti-French sentiments:...
and the United Kingdom. A call for a boycott on French wine was launched in the United States and the
New York PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
covered on the 1944 "Sacrifice" of the GIs France would had forgotten. It was followed a week later, in February 20, by the British newspaper
The SunThe Sun is a daily tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland with the second highest circulation of any daily English-language newspaper in the world and the biggest circulation within the UK, standing at an average of 2,986,000 copies a day between January and June 2008 and...
publishing a special issue entitled "Chirac is a worm" and including
ad hominemAn ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem is an argument which links the validity of a premise to a characteristic or belief of a person advocating the premise....
attacks such as "Jacques Chirac has become the shame of Europe". Actually both newspapers expressed the opinion of their owner, U.S. billionaire
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC , usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-born American global media mogul. He owns media outlets and is a major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation ....
, a military intervention supporter and a George W. Bush partisan as argued by
Roy GreensladeRoy Greenslade is Professor of Journalism at London’s City University and has been a media commentator since 1992, most notably for The Guardian....
in
The GuardianThe Guardian is a British daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Founded in 1821, it is unique among major British newspapers in being owned by a foundation .The Guardian Weekly, which circulates worldwide, provides a compact digest of four newspapers...
published on February 17.
Distraction from the war on terrorism and other priorities
Both supporters and opponents of the Iraq War widely viewed it within the context of a post-
September 11The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners...
world, where the U.S. has sought to make terrorism the defining international security paradigm. Bush often describes the Iraq War as a “central front in the war on terror”. Some critics of the war, particularly within the U.S. military community, argued pointedly against the conflation of Iraq and the war on terror, and criticized Bush for losing focus on the more important objective of fighting al-Qaeda. As Marine Lieut. General Greg Newbold, the Pentagon's former top operations officer, wrote in a 2006 Time article, “I now regret that I did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threat—al-Qaeda.”
Critics within this vein have further argued that containment would have been an effective strategy for the Hussein government, and that the top U.S. priorities in the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
should be encouraging a solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflictThe Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing dispute between Israel and the Palestinians. It forms part of the wider Arab–Israeli conflict. The term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Zionist halutzim and the Arab population living in Palestine under...
, working for the moderation of
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
, and solidifying gains made in
AfghanistanThe War in Afghanistan is an ongoing coalition conflict which began on October 7, 2001, as the British military participated in the US military's Operation Enduring Freedom that was launched in response to the September 11 attacks...
and central Asia. In an October 2002 speech, Retired Marine Gen.
Anthony ZinniAnthony Charles Zinni is a retired four-star General in the United States Marine Corps and a former Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command...
, former head of
Central CommandCentral Command may refer to:* United States Central Command* AFP Central Command * Central Command...
for U.S. forces in the Middle East and State Department's envoy to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, called Iraq “maybe six or seven,” in terms of U.S. Middle East priorities, adding that “the affordability line may be drawn around five.” However, while commander of CENTCOM, Zinni held a very different opinion concerning the threat posed by Iraq. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in February 2000, Zinni said: “Iraq remains the most significant near-term threat to U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf region. This is primarily due to its large conventional military force, pursuit of WMD, oppressive treatment of Iraqi citizens, refusal to comply with United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR), persistent threats to enforcement of the No Fly Zones (NFZ), and continued efforts to violate UN Security Council sanctions through oil smuggling.” However, it is important to note that Zinni specifically referred to "the Persian Gulf region" in his Senate testimony, which is a significantly smaller region of the world than the "Middle East", which he referred to in 2007.
Potential to destabilize the region
In addition to arguing that Iraq was not the top strategic priority in the war on terrorism or in the Middle East, critics of the war also suggested that it could potentially destabilize the surrounding region. Prominent among such critics was
Brent ScowcroftBrent Scowcroft was the United States National Security Advisor under Presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush and a Lieutenant General in the United States Air Force. He also served as Military Assistant to President Richard Nixon and as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security...
, who served as National Security Adviser to
George H. W. BushGeorge Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st President of the United States . He was also Ronald Reagan's Vice President , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence....
. In an August 15, 2002
Wall Street Journal editorial entitled "Don't attack
SaddamSaddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
," Scowcroft wrote that: “Possibly the most dire consequences would be the effect in the region” where there could be “an explosion of outrage against us” that “could well destabilize Arab regimes” and “could even swell the ranks of the terrorists.”
Related phrases
This campaign featured a variety of new terminology, much of it initially coined by the U.S. government or military. The military official name for the invasion was Operation Iraqi Liberation (
White House Press Release). However this was quickly changed to "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Also notable was the usage "
death squadA death squad is an armed terrorist squad that kills civilians, terrorists or guerillas. These groups tend to commit extrajudicial assassinations / extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances of persons...
s" to refer to
fedayeenFedayeen is a term used to describe several distinct, militant groups and individuals in Armenia, Iran and the Arab world at different times in history...
paramilitary forces. Members of the Saddam Hussein government were called by disparaging
nicknameA nickname is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing. It can also be the familiar or truncated form of the proper name, which may sometimes be used simply for convenience A nickname (also spelled "nick name") is a descriptive name...
s – e.g., "Chemical Ali" (
Ali Hassan al-MajidAli Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikritieh is a former Ba'athist Iraqi Defense Minister, Interior Minister, military commander and chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service...
), "Baghdad Bob" or "Comical Ali" (Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf), and "Mrs. Anthrax" or "Chemical Sally" (
Huda Salih Mahdi AmmashHuda Salih Mahdi Ammash is an American-educated Iraqi scientist, dubbed Mrs. Anthrax and Chemical Sally. Ammash was number 53 on the Pentagon's list of the 55 most wanted, the five of hearts in the deck of Most wanted Iraqi playing cards, and the only woman to be featured.U.S. officials allege...
). Saddam Hussein was systematically referred to as "Saddam", which some Westerners mistakenly believed to be disparaging. (Although there is no consensus about how to refer to him in English, "Saddam" is acceptable usage, and is how people in Iraq and the Middle East generally refer to him.)
Terminology introduced or popularized during the war include:
- "Axis of evil
"Axis of evil" is a term coined by United States President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002 in order to describe governments that he accused of helping terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction. President Bush named Iran, Iraq and North Korea...
", originally used by Bush during a State of the Union"State Of The Union" is the debut single from British singer-songwriter David Ford. It had previously been featured as a demo on his official website, before appearing as a track on a CD entitled "Apology Demos EP," only on sale at live shows....
address on January 29, 2002 to describe the countries of Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
- "Coalition of the willing
The term coalition of the willing is a post-1990 political phrase used to describe military or military/humanitarian interventions for which the United Nations Security Council cannot agree to mount a full UN peacekeeping operation...
", a term that originated in the ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
era (e.g., interview, Clinton, ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
, June 8, 1994), and used by the Bush Administration to describe the countries contributing troops in the invasion, of which the U.S. and UK were the primary members.
- "Decapitating
Decapitation is the separation of the head of an animal from its body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by means of a guillotine...
the regime", a euphemism for either overthrowing the government or killing Saddam Hussein.
- "Embedding
Embedded journalism refers to news reporters being attached to military units involved in armed conflicts. While the term could be applied to many historical interactions between journalists and military personnel, it first came to be used in the media coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq...
", United States practice of assigning civilian journalistA journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that are not biased.Reporters are one type of journalist...
s to U.S. military units.
- "Mother of all bombs", a bomb developed and produced to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. Its name echoes Saddam's phrase "Mother of all battles
The phrase Mother of all battles has been used to refer to:*The Gulf War *Operation Rah-e-Nijat...
" to describe the first Gulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , known also as the Gulf War, the First Gulf War,or often as the Second Gulf War and by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as The Mother of all Battles, or commonly as Desert Storm, for the military response...
.
- "Old Europe
Old Europe is a term that was popularized in January 2003 after then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld used it to refer to European countries that did not support the 2003 invasion of Iraq, specifically France and Germany...
", Rumsfeld'sDonald Henry Rumsfeld is a United States businessman, politician, the 13th Secretary of Defense under President Gerald Ford from 1975 to 1977, and the 21st Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006...
term used to describe European governments not supporting the war: "You're thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe."
- "Regime change
"Regime change" is the replacement of one regime with another. While it is widely believed that the term was first coined by former US President Bill Clinton, use of the term dates to at least 1925....
", a euphemism for overthrowing a government.
- "Shock and Awe", the strategy of reducing an enemy's will to fight through displays of overwhelming force.
Many slogans and terms coined came to be used by Bush's political opponents, or those opposed to the war. For example, in April 2003
John KerryJohn Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, and is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee....
, the
DemocraticThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
candidate in the presidential election, said at a campaign rally: "What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States." Other war critics use the name "Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL)" to subtly point out their opinion as to the cause of the war, such as the song Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL) by
David RovicsDavid Rovics is an indie singer/songwriter and grassroots political protestor from the United States. His music is most accurately described as protest-folk and concerns topical subjects such as the 2003 Iraq war, anti-globalization and social justice issues. Rovics is an outspoken critic of not...
, a popular folk protest singer.
See also
- American popular opinion of invasion of Iraq
- Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
Beginning in 2004, accounts of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq came to public attention...
- Australian contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The Howard Government supported the disarmament of Iraq during the Iraq disarmament crisis. Australia later provided one of the four most substantial combat force contingents during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, under the operational codename Operation Falconer....
- British Mandate of Iraq
- Canada and the Iraq War
Canada's relation to the Iraq War that began in 2003 was, unlike the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, limited only to indirect connections, with no troops deployed for combat in that theatre...
- Canada and Iraq War Resisters
During the Iraq War, which began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, there were United States military personnel who refused to participate, or continue to participate, in that specific war. Their refusal meant that they faced the possibility of punishment in the United States according to Article 85...
- Carter Doctrine
The Carter Doctrine was a policy proclaimed by President of the United States Jimmy Carter in his State of the Union Address on January 23 1980, which stated that the United States would use military force if necessary to defend its national interests in the Persian Gulf region...
- Casualties of the conflict in Iraq since 2003
Casualties of the conflict in Iraq since 2003 have come in many forms, and the accuracy of the information available on different types of Iraq War casualties varies greatly...
- Command responsibility
Command responsibility, sometimes referred to as the Yamashita standard or the Medina standard, is the doctrine of hierarchical accountability in cases of war crimes....
- Democracy in the Middle East
Proposed reasons for the relative absence of liberal democracy in the Middle East are diverse, from the long history of imperial rule by the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France and the contemporary political and military intervention by the United States, all of which have been blamed for preferring...
- Energy crisis
An energy crisis is any great bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In popular litterature though, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place.- Causes :...
- Foreign hostages in Iraq
Beginning in April 2004, members of the Iraqi insurgency began taking hostage foreign civilians in Iraq. Since then, they have kidnapped more than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis; among them, dozens of foreign hostages have been killed...
- Foreign policy of the United States
- Governments' pre-war positions on invasion of Iraq
- Human rights in post-Saddam Iraq
- Iraq disarmament crisis
The issue of Iraq's disarmament reached a crisis in 2002-2003, when U.S. President George W. Bush demanded a complete end to what he alleged was Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq comply with UN Resolutions requiring UN inspectors unfettered access to areas those...
- Iraqi insurgency
The Iraqi insurgency is composed of a diverse mix of militias, foreign fighters, all-Iraqi units or mixtures using violent measures against the United States-led multinational force in Iraq in Iraq and the post-2003 Iraqi government, or by propaganda or money supportive thereof...
- Interrogation of Saddam Hussein
The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein began shortly after his December 2003 capture, while the deposed President of Iraq was held at the United States Camp Cropper detention facility at Baghdad International Airport. Beginning in February 2004, the interrogation program, codenamed Operation Desert...
- Jus ad bellum
Jus ad bellum are a set of criteria that are consulted before engaging in war, in order to determine whether entering into war is justifiable....
- Lancet surveys of casualties of the Iraq War
- Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq
A dispute exists over the legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The debate centers around the question whether the invasion was an unprovoked assault on an independent country that may have breached international law, or if the United Nations Security Council authorized the invasion A dispute...
- List of aviation accidents and incidents during the Iraq War
- List of people associated with the 2003 invasion of Iraq
- Peak oil theory
- List of wars and disasters by death toll
- Occupation of Iraq timeline
For events pre-May 1, 2003, see: 2003 Iraq war timeline.See also: 2003 in Iraq, 2004 in Iraq, 2005 in Iraq, 2006 in Iraq, 2007 in Iraq, 2008 in Iraq....
- Oil reserves in Iraq
- Opposition to the Iraq War
There has been significant opposition to the Iraq War across the world, both before and during the initial 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States,the United Kingdom and smaller contingents from other nations, and throughout the subsequent occupation...
- Petrodollar warfare
The phrase petrodollar warfare refers to a hypothesis that a hidden, driving force of United States foreign policy over recent decades has been the status of the United States dollar as the world's dominant reserve currency and as the currency in which oil is priced. The term was coined by William...
- Petroleum industry
The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting , and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline...
- Polish involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq
On March 17, 2003, then Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski announced that Poland would send about 200 troops to the Persian Gulf to take part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Polish soldiers were present in the region since July 2002, and combat was first confirmed on March 24...
- Popular opposition to the 2003 Iraq War
- Protests against the 2003 Iraq war
- Reconstruction of Iraq
Reconstruction of Iraq describes attempts by the international community to improve and repair the infrastructure of Iraq in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion, when much was destroyed. Iraq was governed, after the 2003 invasion, by the Coalition Provisional Authority and, after June 28, 2004 by a...
- Refugees of Iraq
Throughout the past 100 years, there have been a growing number of refugees fleeing Iraq and settling throughout the world, peaking recently with the latest Iraq War. The Iran–Iraq War from 1980 to 1988, the 1990 Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, the first Gulf War and subsequent conflicts all generated...
- Sectarian violence in Iraq
Following the U.S.-launched 2003 invasion of Iraq, the situation deteriorated, and by 2007, the conflict between Iraqi Sunni and Shi'a factions was described by the National Intelligence Estimate as having elements of a civil war. In a January 10, 2007 address to the American people, President...
- The UN Security Council and the Iraq war
In March 2003 the United States government announced that "diplomacy has failed" and that it would proceed with a "coalition of the willing" to rid Iraq under Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction the U.S. insisted it possessed...
- United Nations Charter
The United Nations Charter is the treaty that forms and establishes the international organization called the United Nations. It was signed at the Herbst Theatre of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on June 26, 1945, by 50 of the 51 original...
- Views on the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The events surrounding the 2003 invasion of Iraq have led to numerous expressions of opinion with respect to the war. This page contains links to several topics relating to views on the invasion, and the subsequent occupation of Iraq.American views...
- War on Terrorism
The War on Terrorism is the common term for the military, political, legal and ideological conflict against what the effort's leaders describe as Islamic terrorism and Islamic militants, and was specifically used in reference to operations by the...
- Weapons of the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq
On April 9, 2003, Baghdad was formally secured. As the summer of 2003 gave way to autumn, the pattern of anti-occupation attacks shifted to include repeated, deadly suicide car bombings against high-profile targets in Baghdad, such as the headquarters of the UN and the Red Cross, foreign embassies,...
- Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq
The withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq has been a contentious issue within the United States since the beginning of the Iraq War. As the war has progressed from its initial invasion phase to a five year occupation, U.S. public opinion has turned in favor of troop withdrawal...
- Vietnam War
The Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
Further reading
- "The Three Trillion Dollar War
The Three Trillion Dollar War is a 2008 book by Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes, both of whom are American economists.The book examines the full cost of the Iraq War, including many hidden costs...
" by Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes
- "Shadow Warriors" by Kenneth R. Timmerman. Three Rivers Press. 2008. ISBN 0307352099 (Paperback edition)
- Spring 2007 Dissent
Dissent is an intellectual quarterly edited by Michael Walzer and Michael Kazin. Founded in 1954 by a group of New York Intellectuals, which included Irving Howe, Lewis A...
, "Exporting Democracy: Lessons from Iraq," a symposium featuring Paul BermanPaul Berman is an American author and journalist who writes on politics and literature. His articles have been published in The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review and Slate...
, Mitchell Cohen, Seyla BenhabibSeyla Benhabib is a Turkish Jewish professor of political science and philosophy at Yale, and director of the program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, and a well-known contemporary philosopher...
and others. Read
- Google Print*Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces by Linda Robinson
- Heavy Metal a Tank Company's Battle to Baghdad by Captain Jason Conroy and Ron Martz
- Cobra II : The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq
Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq is a 2006 book written by Michael R. Gordon, chief military correspondent for the New York Times, and Bernard E. Trainor, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general, which details the behind-the-scenes decision-making that lead to the...
by Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. TrainorBernard E. Trainor is journalist and a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general. He served in the Marine Corps for 39 years in both staff and command capacities. After retiring from the Marine Corps, he began working as the chief military correspondent for the New York Times. He is currently a...
- Iraq and the Evolution of American Strategy by Steven Metz
Steven Kent Metz is an American author, Chairman of the Regional Strategy and Planning Department, and Research Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S...
. ISBN 1597971960
- The Iraq War by Williamson Murray and Robert H. Scales, Jr.
- The Iraq War by John Keegan
Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan OBE is a British military historian, lecturer and journalist. He has published many works on the nature of combat between the 14th and 21st centuries concerning land, air, maritime and intelligence warfare as well as the psychology of battle.Keegan is well-known...
- Hans Köchler
Hans Köchler is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and president of the International Progress Organization, a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the United Nations...
, The Iraq Crisis and the United Nations. Power Politics vs. the International Rule of Law. Studies in International Relations, XXVIII. Vienna: I.P.O., 2004, ISBN 3-900704-22-8, Google Print
- Bibliography: The Second U.S. - Iraq War (2003- ) by Edwin Moise
External links
- H.J.Res. 114 U.S. Senate results to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq.
- Over half a million Iraqis dead, 4 years later, May 2007 after "us surge" monthly death rates not decreasing
- "Fact Sheets: The Lancet Survey: Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq". (Authors: Professors Gilbert Burnham, M.D., and Riyadh Lafta, M.D., and Shannon Doocy, Ph.D., Les Roberts
Les Roberts is an American epidemiologist. He was the first winner of the Center for Disease Control's Paul C. Schnitker Award for contributions to global health. He became prominent in the news just before the 2004 U.S. presidential election for his study estimating that 100,000 Iraqi civilians...
, Ph.D. Participating institutions: The Johns Hopkins UniversityThe Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Johns Hopkins also maintains full-time campuses elsewhere in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Italy, China, and Singapore...
Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, MarylandBaltimore is an independent city and the largest city in the state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore City in order to distinguish it from surrounding...
, and Al Mustansiriya University, in BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
.) Electronic Iraq/electronicIraq.net. Accessed May 24, 2007. ("Electronic Iraq/electronicIraq.net [is] a joint project from Voices in the WildernessKathy Kelly is an American peace activist, pacifist and author, a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, one of the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness, and currently a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. She has been described as "probably the most respected leader in the...
and The Electronic IntifadaThe Electronic Intifada is a not-for-profit, independent online publication which covers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective, "aimed at combating the pro-Israeli, pro-American spin" its editors believe exists in mainstream media accounts...
.")
- War Report. More than 5,000 articles, documents and analyses of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, updated four times a week—Project on Defense Alternatives.
- CIA’s final report
- Occupation of Iraq Timeline at the History Commons
- Morgues so full, bodies turned away
- The War In Context News aggregator
- Amnesty International Report on Iraq
- Iraq: Amnesty International seeks clarification on house demolitions by US troops in Iraq
- Iraq: full texts of speeches and key documents archived by The Guardian
The Guardian is a British daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Founded in 1821, it is unique among major British newspapers in being owned by a foundation .The Guardian Weekly, which circulates worldwide, provides a compact digest of four newspapers...
. Retrieved May 31, 2005.
- Iraq: Forcible return of refugees and asylum-seekers is contrary to international law
- Iraq: Tribunal established without consultation
- Memorandum on concerns related to legislation introduced by the Coalition Provisional Authority
- National Priorities Project Cost of the Iraqi War Estimate
- Reconstruction must ensure the human rights of Iraqis
- Video Seminar on Iraq Coalition Politics: April 20, 2005, sponsored by the Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security at the University of Illinois.
- War in Iraq: Day by Day Guide
- Iraq War NEWS DIGEST-Iraq and the U.S.A.
- Iraq Special Weapons News
- Attacks on journalists in Iraq – IFEX
The International Freedom of Expression Exchange , founded in 1992, is a global network of 81 non-governmental organisations that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression....
- Archaeologists Review Loss of Valuables in Museum Looting
- Iraqi Perspectives Report, Joint Center for Operational Analysis at United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military...
, March 2006
- "Frontline: The Dark Side" PBS documentary on Vice President Dick Cheney's remaking of the Executive and infighting leading up to the war in Iraq
- 1999 Desert Crossing War Game to Plan Invasion of Iraq and to Unseat Saddam Hussein
Video