Iraq War
On the 12th of September 2002, President George W. Bush stood before the United Nations General Assembly in New York City and declared Iraq a member of the Axis of Evil. He stated that the United States would not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten it with the world's most destructive weapons. This speech marked the beginning of a formal diplomatic push for invasion. The intelligence community had already warned that there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the September 11 attacks. A report from Major General Glen Shaffer on the 5th of September 2002 revealed that knowledge regarding Iraq's nuclear program ranged from essentially zero to approximately 75 percent. British diplomats shared this conclusion with their American counterparts. Despite these warnings, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld preferred outside analysis supplied by the Iraqi National Congress. They claimed Saddam was pursuing weapons of mass destruction and had ties to al-Qaeda. On the 5th of February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell presented evidence to the UN Security Council claiming Iraq was hiding unconventional weapons. His presentation relied heavily on information from Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed Curveball. An Iraqi emigrant living in Germany later admitted his claims were false. German and British intelligence services had warned that this source was untrustworthy. The resolution authorizing force was withdrawn after France and Russia threatened a veto. Kofi Annan, then secretary-general of the United Nations, declared the invasion illegal under international law on the 16th of September 2004.
At 5:34 am Baghdad time on the 20th of March 2003, the surprise military invasion of Iraq began without a formal declaration of war. Coalition forces included 248,000 soldiers from the United States, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers, and 194 Polish soldiers from Special Forces unit GROM. Approximately forty other governments participated as part of the Coalition of the Willing. US Army General Tommy Franks led Operation Iraqi Freedom while the UK called it Operation Telic. Coalition troops launched air and amphibious assaults on the al-Faw Peninsula to secure oil fields and ports. The US 3rd Infantry Division moved westward through the western desert toward Baghdad. A severe sand storm slowed the coalition advance, forcing a halt to consolidate supply lines. On the 9th of April, Baghdad fell, ending Saddam Hussein's twenty-four-year rule. US forces seized the deserted Ba'ath Party ministries. Looting of public buildings followed immediately. According to the Pentagon, tons of ordnance were looted, providing ammunition for the insurgency. The invasion phase concluded when Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, fell with little resistance to US Marines of Task Force Tripoli on the 15th of April. An estimated 9,200 Iraqi combatants were killed by coalition forces during this phase along with an estimated 3,750 non-combatants. Coalition forces reported the death in combat of 139 US military personnel and 33 UK military personnel.
Ambassador Paul Bremer arrived in Iraq on the 12th of May 2003, and established the Coalition Provisional Authority. His first action was to issue Coalition Provisional Authority Order 1 on the 16th of May 2003. This policy excluded members of the Baathist party from the new government and administration. It eventually led to the removal of 85,000 to 100,000 Iraqi people from their jobs. Walter B. Slocombe, a US Advisor within the CPA, advocated changing pre-war policy to employ former Iraqi soldiers. President Bush gave Bremer authority to change the policy in Spring 2003. The decision resulted in unemployment and alienation of hundreds of thousands of former armed Iraqi soldiers. These men subsequently aligned themselves with various occupation resistance movements. In the week before the order to disband the army, no coalition forces were killed by hostile action. The week after, five US soldiers were killed. On the 18th of June 2003, coalition forces opened fire on former Iraqi soldiers protesting in Baghdad who threw rocks at them. The policy to disband the Iraqi Army was reversed only days after implementation but it was too late. Widespread looting gripped the country in April 2003. By that point there were not enough US forces to control the breakdown of order. On the 1st of May 2003, President Bush declared an end to major combat operations from the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln off San Diego.
The beginning of 2006 saw government creation talks alongside growing sectarian violence. Sectarian violence expanded to a new level of intensity following the al-Askari Mosque bombing in Samarra on the 22nd of February 2006. The explosion damaged one of the holiest sites in Shi'a Islam. Over 100 dead bodies with bullet holes were found on the 23rd of February. At least 165 people are thought to have been killed in the aftermath. The US military calculated that the average homicide rate in Baghdad tripled from 11 to 33 deaths per day. In 2006 the UN described the environment in Iraq as a civil war-like situation. On the 12th of March 2006, five United States Army soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment raped and murdered fourteen-year-old Iraqi girl Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi. They also murdered her father Fakhriya Taha Muhasen and six-year-old sister Hadeel Qassim Hamza al-Janabi. The soldiers set fire to the girl's body to conceal evidence. Four of the soldiers were convicted of rape and murder while the fifth was convicted of lesser crimes. This event became known as the Mahmudiyah rape and killings. Insurgent attacks increased in 2005 with 34,131 recorded incidents compared to 26,496 for the previous year.
On the 10th of January 2007, President George W. Bush proposed deploying 21,500 more troops for Iraq along with job programs and reconstruction proposals worth $1.2 billion. David Petraeus was made commander of Multi-National Force , Iraq on the 10th of February 2007. He replaced General George Casey and oversaw all coalition forces in the country. Petraeus employed them in the new Surge strategy outlined by the Bush administration. By March 2008, violence in Iraq was reportedly curtailed by 40 to 80 percent according to a Pentagon report. An Iraqi military spokesman claimed that civilian deaths since the start of the troop surge plan were 265 in Baghdad down from 1,440 in the four previous weeks. The rate of US combat deaths in Baghdad nearly doubled to 3.14 per day in the first seven weeks of security activity. Across the rest of Iraq it decreased slightly. On the 14th of August 2007, the deadliest single attack of the whole war occurred when nearly 800 civilians were killed by coordinated suicide bomb attacks on Kahtaniya. Over 100 homes and shops were destroyed in the blast. US officials blamed al-Qaeda for targeting the non-Muslim Yazidi ethnic minority.
Widespread prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib received international media attention in April 2004. First reports came from a 60 Minutes II news report and an article by Seymour M. Hersh in The New Yorker posted online on the 30th of April. Graphic pictures showed US military personnel taunting and abusing Iraqi prisoners. Military correspondent Thomas Ricks claimed these revelations dealt a blow to moral justifications for the occupation. In November 2005, military prosecutors charged eight US Marines with the murders of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha. Ten of them were women and children. Four officers were also charged with dereliction of duty regarding the event. On the 17th of September 2007, the Iraqi government revoked the license of Blackwater USA over the firm's involvement in killing eight civilians including a woman and infant. This occurred during a firefight following a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade. Photos of the four armed contractors killed in Fallujah in March 2004 caused indignation worldwide. Their bodies were dragged from vehicles beaten burned and hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates. Scott Helvenston Jerko Zovko Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague died in that ambush.
The Iraq Study Group Report was released on the 6th of December 2006. Co-chairs James Baker and Lee H. Hamilton concluded that the situation in Iraq was grave and deteriorating. They stated US forces seemed caught in a mission with no foreseeable end. Saddam Hussein was hanged on the 30th of December 2006 after being found guilty of crimes against humanity by an Iraqi court. The war led to an estimated 150,000 to over a million deaths including over 100,000 civilians. Most deaths occurred during the post-invasion insurgency and civil war. Bush's popularity declined significantly due to the conflict. UK prime minister Tony Blair's support for the war diminished his standing contributing to his resignation in 2007. Kofi Annan declared the invasion illegal under international law as it violated the UN Charter. The 2016 Chilcot Report concluded the war was unnecessary since peaceful alternatives had not been fully explored. In 2014 the US became re-engaged in Iraq leading a new coalition under Combined Joint Task Force , Operation Inherent Resolve. The conflict evolved into the ongoing Islamic State insurgency which emerged from the chaos.
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Common questions
When did the Iraq War begin and end?
The surprise military invasion of Iraq began at 5:34 am Baghdad time on the 20th of March 2003. The conflict concluded in 2011 when US forces withdrew from the country.
Who declared the Iraq War illegal under international law?
Kofi Annan, then secretary-general of the United Nations, declared the invasion illegal under international law on the 16th of September 2004. He stated that the action violated the UN Charter.
What happened to Saddam Hussein after his capture?
Saddam Hussein was hanged on the 30th of December 2006 after being found guilty of crimes against humanity by an Iraqi court. His execution ended his twenty-four-year rule which had fallen on the 9th of April 2003.
How many troops were deployed during the initial invasion phase of the Iraq War?
Coalition forces included 248,000 soldiers from the United States, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers, and 194 Polish soldiers from Special Forces unit GROM. Approximately forty other governments participated as part of the Coalition of the Willing.
Why did sectarian violence increase significantly in 2006?
Sectarian violence expanded to a new level of intensity following the al-Askari Mosque bombing in Samarra on the 22nd of February 2006. The explosion damaged one of the holiest sites in Shi'a Islam and led to over 100 dead bodies with bullet holes found on the 23rd of February.