Iraq War

The Iraq War (Arabic: ‫ حرب العراق‬, romanized: ḥarb al-ʿirāq), also referred to as the Second Gulf
War,[80][81] was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a
United States- led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist government of Saddam
Hussein. The conflict persisted as an insurgency arose against coalition forces and the newly
established Iraqi government. US forces were officially withdrawn in 2011. In 2014, the US became
re- engaged in Iraq, leading a new coalition under Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent
Resolve, as the conflict evolved into the ongoing insurgency.

The Iraq invasion was part of the Bush

administration's broader war on terror, launched in
response to the September 11 attacks. In October
2002, the US Congress passed a resolution
granting Bush the authority to use military force
against Iraq. The war began on March 20, 2003,
when the US, joined by the UK, Australia, and
Poland, initiated a "shock and awe" bombing
campaign. Following the bombings, coalition
forces launched a ground invasion, defeating Iraqi
forces and toppling the Ba'athist regime. Saddam
Hussein was captured in December 2003 during
Operation Red Dawn and executed in 2006.

The fall of Saddam's regime created a power

vacuum, which, along with the Coalition Provisional
Authority's mismanagement, fueled a sectarian
civil war between Iraq's Shia majority and Sunni
minority, and contributed to a lengthy insurgency.
In response, the US deployed an additional
170,000 troops during the 2007 troop surge, which
helped stabilize parts of the country. In 2008,
President Bush agreed to withdraw all US combat
troops, a process completed in 2011 under
President Barack Obama.
The primary justifications for the invasion
Iraq War
centered around claims Iraq possessed weapons
‫( حرب العراق‬Arabic)
of mass destruction (WMDs) and that Saddam
Hussein was supporting al- Qaeda. However, the Part of the Iraq conflict and the war on terror

9/11 Commission concluded in 2004 that there

was no credible evidence linking Saddam to al-
Qaeda, and no WMD stockpiles were ever found
in Iraq. These false claims faced widespread
criticism, in the US and abroad. Kofi Annan, then
Secretary- General of the United Nations, declared
the invasion illegal under international law, as it
violated the UN Charter. The 2016 Chilcot Report, a
British inquiry, concluded the war was
unnecessary, as peaceful alternatives had not
been fully explored. In 2005, Iraq held multi- party
elections, and Nouri al- Maliki became Prime
Minister in 2006, a position he held until 2014. His Clockwise from top left:

government’s policies alienated Iraq's Sunni Iraqi National Guard troops, 2004; toppling of
Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad, 2003;
minority, exacerbating sectarian tensions.
destroyed Iraqi Type 69 tank, 2003; U.S soldier
during a leaflet drop from a UH-60 Black
The war led to an estimated 150,000 to over a
Hawk helicopter, 2008; British armored
million deaths, including more than 100,000
vehicles on patrol in Basra, 2008; destroyed
civilians. Many deaths occurred during the headquarters of the Ba'ath Party in Baghdad,
insurgency and subsequent civil war. The conflict 2003

had lasting geopolitical effects, contributing to the

Date 20 March 2003 – 18
emergence of the 2013–2017 War in Iraq, which
December 2011
caused over 155,000 deaths and displaced
(8 years, 8 months and
millions of Iraqis. The war severely damaged the
28 days)
US' international reputation, and Bush’s popularity
declined sharply. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's Location Iraq

support for the war diminished his standing,

Result see Aftermath
contributing to his resignation in 2007.

Be llige re nts
Background
Invasion (2003) Invasion (2003)

Strong international opposition to the Saddam United States Ba'athist Iraq

United Kingdom
Hussein regime began following Iraq's invasion of
Australia
Kuwait in 1990. The international community
Poland
condemned the invasion,[82] and in 1991 a military
Kurdistan Region
coalition led by the United States launched the Iraqi National
Gulf War to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Congress[1]

Following the Gulf War, the US and its allies tried After Invasion After Invasion
to keep Saddam Hussein in check with a policy of (2003–11) (2003–11)

containment. This policy involved numerous Iraq Al-Qaeda in Iraq

economic sanctions by the UN Security Council; United States Ba'ath loyalists

United Kingdom Islamic Army in
the enforcement of Iraqi no- fly zones declared by
MNF–I (2003– Iraq
the US and the UK to protect the Kurds in Iraqi
09) Islamic State of
Kurdistan and Shias in the south from aerial
Kurdistan Region Iraq
attacks by the Iraqi government, and ongoing
Awakening Hamas of Iraq
inspections to ensure Iraq's compliance with Council Jaysh al-
United Nations resolutions concerning Iraqi Mujahideen
weapons of mass destruction. 1920 Revolution
Brigades
The inspections were carried out by the United Jamaat Ansar al-
Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM). Sunna
UNSCOM, in cooperation with the International Sunni insurgents

Atomic Energy Agency, worked to ensure that Iraq Special Groups

destroyed its chemical, biological, and nuclear

Commande rs and le ade rs
weapons and facilities.[83]
Nouri al-Maliki Saddam
In the decade following the Gulf War, the United George W. Bush Hussein
Nations passed 16 Security Council resolutions Barack Obama Abu Musab al-
calling for the complete elimination of Iraqi Dick Cheney Zarqawi †

weapons of mass destruction. Member states Donald Rumsfeld Abu Omar al-

communicated their frustration over the years that Robert Gates Baghdadi †
Tommy Franks Abu Ayyub al-
Iraq was impeding the work of the special
David Petraeus Masri †
commission and failing to take seriously its
Raymond T. Muqtada al-Sadr
disarmament obligations. Iraqi officials harassed
Odierno
the inspectors and obstructed their work,[83] and in
Tony Blair
August 1998, the Iraqi government suspended
cooperation with the inspectors completely, Stre ngth

alleging that the inspectors were spying for the

Coalition forces Iraqi Armed
US.[84] The spying allegations were later
substantiated.[85] (2003) Forces: 375,000[a]
In October 1998, removing the Iraqi government 309,000–584,799 Special Iraqi
became official US foreign policy with the United States: Republican Guard:
enactment of the Iraq Liberation Act. The act 192,000–466,985 12,000
provided $97 million for Iraqi "democratic personnel[2][3] Iraqi Republican
opposition organizations" to "establish a program United Guard: 70,000–
to support a transition to democracy in Iraq."[86] Kingdom: 45,000 75,000
This legislation contrasted with the terms set out Australia: 2,000 Fedayeen
in United Nations Security Council Resolution 687, Poland: 194 Saddam: 30,000
which focused on weapons and weapons Peshmerga:
programs and made no mention of regime 70,000 Sunni

change.[87] Coalition forces Insurgents

(2004–09) ≈70,000 (2007)[8]
One month after the passage of the Iraq
176,000 at peak Al-Qaeda in
Liberation Act, the US and UK launched a
United States Iraq
bombardment campaign of Iraq called Operation
Forces – Iraq ≈1,300 (2006)[9]
Desert Fox. The campaign's express rationale was
(2010–11) Islamic State of
to hamper Saddam Hussein's government's ability
112,000 at Iraq
to produce chemical, biological, and nuclear
activation ≈1,000 (2008)
weapons, but US intelligence personnel also Army of the Men of
Security
hoped it would help weaken Saddam's grip on the Naqshbandi
contractors
[88]
power. Order
6,000–7,000
≈500–1,000 (2007)
Following the election of George W. Bush as (estimate)[4]

president in 2000, the US moved towards a more Iraqi Security

aggressive Iraq policy. The Republican Party's Forces

campaign platform in the 2000 election called for 805,269

"full implementation" of the Iraq Liberation Act as Iraqi Armed Forces

"a starting point" in a plan to "remove" Saddam.[89] and paramilitary:

578,269,[5]
Little formal movement towards an invasion
Iraqi Police:
occurred until the September 11 attacks although
227,000)
plans were drafted and meetings were held from
the first days of his administration.[90][91]
Awakening
militias
≈103,000 (2008)[6]
Kurdistan
Region
≈400,000 (Kurdish
Pre-war events Border Guard:
30,000,[7]
Peshmerga 75,000)

Casualtie s and losse s

Iraqi combatant
Excerpt from Donald Rumsfeld memo dated 27 Iraqi Security Forces
November 2001[92] dead (invasion
(post- Saddam)
period): 7,600–
Following 9/11, the Bush administration's national Killed: 17,690[b]
45,000[63][64]
security team actively debated an invasion of Iraq. Wounded: 40,000+[15] Insurgents (post-
On the day of the attacks, Secretary of Defense Coalition forces Saddam)
Donald Rumsfeld asked his aides for: "best info Killed: 4,825 (4,507 Killed: 26,544+
fast. Judge whether good enough hit Saddam US,[c] 179 UK,[20] 139 (2003–11)[f]

Hussein at the same time. Not only Osama bin other)[21] (4,000 foreign

Laden."[93] President Bush spoke with Rumsfeld Missing/captured fighters killed by

Sep. 2006)[69]
on 21 November and instructed him to conduct a (US): 17 (9 died in
Detainees: 12,000
confidential review of OPLAN 1003, the war plan captivity, 8
(Iraqi-held, in 2010
for invading Iraq.[94][95] Rumsfeld met with General rescued)[22]
only)[70]
Tommy Franks, the commander of US Central Wounded: 32,776+ 119,752 insurgents
Command, on 27 November to go over the plans. (32,292 US,[23] 315 UK, arrested (2003–
A record of the meeting includes the question 210+ 2007)[71]
"How start?", listing multiple possible other[d])[44][45][46][47] Total dead:
justifications for a US–Iraq War.[92][96] The rationale Injured/diseases/oth 34,144–71,544

for invading Iraq as a response to 9/11 has been er medical*: 51,139

refuted, as there was no cooperation between (47,541 US,[48] 3,598
Saddam Hussein and al- UK)[44][46][47]
Qaeda.[97][98][99][100][101][102] Contractors
Killed: 3,650 [49][50][51]
President Bush began laying the public
Wounded & injured:
groundwork for an invasion of Iraq in January 2002
43,880[50][51]
State of the Union address, calling Iraq a member
Awakening Councils
of the Axis of Evil, and saying "The United States
Killed: 1,002+[e]
of America will not permit the world's most
Wounded: 500+
dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's
(2007),[52] 828
[103]
most destructive weapons." Bush said this
(2008)[62]
and made many other dire allegations about the
Total dead: 27,163
threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
Total wounded:
despite the fact that the Bush administration knew 117,961

that Iraq had no nuclear weapons and had no

information about whether Iraq had biological
weapons.[104][105][106][107][108] He began formally Documented deaths from violence:

making his case to the international community for Iraq Body Count (2003 – 14 December

an invasion of Iraq in his 12 September 2002 2011): 103,160–113,728 civilian deaths

address to the UN Security Council.[109] However, recorded[72] and 12,438 new deaths added

a 5 September 2002 report from Major General from the Iraq War Logs [73]

Glen Shaffer revealed that the Joint Chiefs of Associated Press (March 2003 – April

Staff's J2 Intelligence Directorate had concluded 2009): 110,600 Iraqi deaths in total[74]

that the United States' knowledge on different

aspects of the Iraqi WMD program ranged from
Statistical estimates
essentially zero to about 75%, and that knowledge
Lancet survey** (March 2003 – July
was particularly weak on aspects of a possible
2006): 654,965 (95% CI: 392,979–
nuclear weapons program: "Our knowledge of the
942,636)[75][76]
Iraqi nuclear weapons program is based largely –
Iraq Family Health Survey*** (March
perhaps 90% – on analysis of imprecise
2003 – July 2006): 151,000 (95% CI:
intelligence," they concluded. "Our assessments
104,000–223,000)[77]
rely heavily on analytic assumptions and judgment
Opinion Research Business**: (March
rather than hard evidence. The evidentiary base is
2003 – August 2007): 1,033,000 (95% CI:
particularly sparse for Iraqi nuclear
946,258–1,120,000)[78]
[110][111]
programs." Similarly, the British
PLOS Medicine Study**: (March 2003 –
government found no evidence that Iraq
June 2011): 405,000 (60% violent) (95%
possessed nuclear weapons or any other
CI: 48,000–751,000)[79]
weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq posed
For more information see Casualties of the
no threat to the West, a conclusion British
Iraq War.
diplomats shared with the US government.[112]
* "injured, diseased, or other medical":
required medical air transport. UK number
includes "aeromed evacuations".
** Total excess deaths include all additional
deaths due to increased lawlessness,
degraded infrastructure, poorer healthcare,
etc.
A UN weapons inspector in Iraq, 2002 *** Violent deaths only – does not include
excess deaths due to increased lawlessness,
Key US allies in NATO, such as the United
poorer healthcare, etc.
Kingdom, agreed with the US actions, while France
and Germany were critical of plans to invade Iraq,
**** Sukkariyeh, Syria was also affected
arguing instead for continued diplomacy and
(2008 Abu Kamal raid).
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 non- compliance. 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.[113] The US and UK ambassadors to the UN publicly
confirmed this reading of the resolution.[114]

Resolution 1441 set up inspections by the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission (UNMOVIC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Saddam accepted the
resolution on 13 November and inspectors returned to Iraq under the direction of UNMOVIC chairman
Hans Blix and IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei. As of February 2003, the IAEA "found no
evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program 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.[115] In March 2003, Blix said progress had been
made in inspections, and no evidence of WMD had been found.[116]

In October 2002, the US Congress passed the "Iraq Resolution",[117] which 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 (see
popular opinion in the United States on the invasion of Iraq). The US government engaged in an
elaborate domestic public relations campaign to promote the war to its citizens. Americans
overwhelmingly believed Saddam did have weapons of mass destruction: 85% said so, even though
the inspectors had not uncovered those weapons. By February 2003, 64% of Americans supported
taking military action to remove Saddam from power.[118]

United States Secretary of State Colin

Powell holding a model vial of anthrax
while giving a presentation to the
United Nations Security Council
On 5 February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared before the UN to present evidence that
Iraq was hiding unconventional weapons. However, despite warnings from the German Federal
Intelligence Service and the British Secret Intelligence Service that the source was untrustworthy,
Powell's presentation included information based on the claims of Rafid Ahmed Alwan al- Janabi,
codenamed "Curveball", an Iraqi emigrant living in Germany who also later admitted that his claims had
been false.[119] Powell also claimed that Iraq was covertly harbouring and supporting al- Qaeda
networks. Additionally, Powell alleged that al- Qaeda was attempting to acquire weapons of mass
destruction from Iraq:

"Al-Qaida continues to have a deep interest in acquiring weapons of mass

destruction. As with the story of Zarqawi and his network, I can trace the
story of a senior terrorist operative telling how Iraq provided training in
these weapons to al-Qaida. Fortunately, this operative is now detained and
he has told his story. ... The support that this detainee describes included
Iraq offering chemical or biological weapons training for two al-Qaida
associates beginning in December 2000. He says that a militant known as
Abdallah al-Iraqi had been sent to Iraq several times between 1997 and
2000 for help in acquiring poisons and gasses. Abdallah al-Iraqi
characterized the relationship he forged with Iraqi officials as
successful."[120]

As a follow- up to Powell's presentation, the United States, the 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, the UK,
Poland, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Japan, and Australia eventually withdrew their resolution.[121][122]

In March 2003, the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Australia, Spain, Denmark, and Italy
began preparing for the invasion of Iraq with a host of public relations and military moves. In an
address to the nation on 17 March 2003, Bush demanded that Saddam and his two sons, Uday and
Qusay, surrender and leave Iraq, giving them a 48- hour deadline.[123]

The UK House of Commons held a debate on going to war on 18 March 2003 where the government
motion was approved 412 to 149.[124] The vote was a key moment in the history of the Blair
government, as the number of government MPs who rebelled against the vote was the greatest since
the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. Three government ministers resigned in protest at the war, John
Denham, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, and the then Leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook.
Opposition to invasion

In October 2002, former US President Bill Clinton warned about the possible dangers of pre- emptive
military action against Iraq. Speaking in the UK at a Labour Party conference he said: "As a preemptive
action today, however well- justified, may come back with unwelcome consequences in the future... I
don't care how precise your bombs and your weapons are when you set them off, innocent people will
die."[125][126] Of 209 House Democrats in Congress, 126 voted against the Authorization for Use of
Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, although 29 of 50 Democrats in the Senate voted in
favor of it. Only one Republican Senator, Lincoln Chafee, voted against it. The Senate's lone
Independent, Jim Jeffords, voted against it. Retired US Marine, former Navy Secretary and future US
senator Jim Webb wrote shortly before the vote, "Those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq
know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade."[127]

In the same period, Pope John Paul II publicly condemned the military intervention. During a private
meeting, he also said directly to George W. Bush: "Mr. President, you know my opinion about the war
in Iraq. Let's talk about something else. Every violence, against one or a million, is a blasphemy
addressed to the image and likeness of God."[128]

Anti-war protest in London,

September 2002. Organized by the
British Stop the War Coalition, up to
400,000 took part in the protest.[129]

On 20 January 2003, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin declared "we believe that military
intervention would be the worst solution".[130] Meanwhile, anti- war groups across the world organized
public protests. According to French academic Dominique Reynié, between 3 January and 12 April
2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the war in Iraq,
with demonstrations on 15 February 2003 being the largest.[131] Nelson Mandela voiced his
opposition in late January, stating "All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil," and questioning if Bush
deliberately undermined the U.N. "because the secretary- general of the United Nations [was] a black
man".[132]

In February 2003, the US Army's top general, Eric Shinseki, told the Senate Armed Services
Committee that it would take "several hundred thousand soldiers" to secure Iraq.[133] Two days later,
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the post- war troop commitment would be less than the
number of troops required to win the war, and that "the idea that it would take several hundred
thousand US forces is far from the mark." Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Shinseki's
estimate was "way off the mark," because other countries would take part in an occupying force.[134]

Germany's Foreign Secretary Joschka Fischer, although having been in favor of stationing German
troops in Afghanistan, advised Federal Chancellor Schröder not to join the war in Iraq. Fischer
famously confronted United States Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the 39th Munich Security
Conference in 2003 on the secretary's purported evidence for Iraq's possession of weapons of mass
destruction: "Excuse me, I am not convinced!"[135] Fischer also cautioned the United States against
assuming that democracy would easily take root post- invasion; "You're going to have to occupy Iraq
for years and years, the idea that democracy will suddenly blossom is something that I can't share. …
Are Americans ready for this?"[136]

There were serious legal questions surrounding the launching of the war against Iraq and the Bush
Doctrine of preemptive war in general. On 16 September 2004, Kofi Annan, the Secretary- General of
the United Nations, said of the invasion "...was not in conformity with the UN Charter. From our point of
view, from the Charter point of view, it was illegal."[137]
Course of the war

2003: Invasion

Map of the invasion routes and major

operations/battles of the Iraq War through
2007

The first Central Intelligence Agency team entered Iraq on 10 July 2002.[138] This team was
composed of members of the CIA's Special Activities Division and was later joined by members of
the US military's elite Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).[139] Together, they prepared for an
invasion by conventional forces. These efforts consisted of persuading the commanders of several
Iraqi military divisions to surrender rather than oppose the invasion, and identifying all the initial
leadership targets during very high risk reconnaissance missions.[139]

US soldiers at the Hands of Victory

monument in Baghdad

Most importantly, their efforts organized the Kurdish Peshmerga to become the northern front of the
invasion. Together this force defeated Ansar al- Islam in Iraqi Kurdistan before the invasion and then
defeated the Iraqi army in the north.[139][140] The battle against Ansar al- Islam, known as Operation
Viking Hammer, led to the death of a substantial number of militants and the uncovering of a chemical
weapons facility at Sargat.[138][141]

US Marines escort captured enemy

prisoners to a holding area in the
desert of Iraq on 21 March 2003.

At 5:34 am Baghdad time on 20 March 2003[142] (9:34 pm, 19 March EST) the surprise [143] military
invasion of Iraq began. There was no declaration of war.[144] The 2003 invasion of Iraq was led by US
Army General Tommy Franks, under the code- name Operation Iraqi Freedom,[145] the UK code- name
Operation Telic, and the Australian code- name Operation Falconer. Coalition forces also cooperated
with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the north. Approximately forty other governments, the "Coalition of
the Willing", participated by providing troops, equipment, services, security, and special forces, with
248,000 soldiers from the United States, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers and 194
Polish soldiers from Special Forces unit GROM sent to Kuwait for the invasion.[146] The invasion force
was also supported by Iraqi Kurdish militia troops, estimated to number upwards of 70,000.[147]

According to General Franks, there were eight objectives of the invasion:

"First, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein. Second, to identify, isolate, and
eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Third, to search for, to capture, and
to drive out terrorists from that country. Fourth, to collect such intelligence as we
can relate to terrorist networks. Fifth, to collect such intelligence as we can relate
to the global network of illicit weapons of mass destruction. Sixth, to end sanctions
and to immediately deliver humanitarian support to the displaced and to many
needy Iraqi citizens. Seventh, to secure Iraq's oil fields and resources, which belong
to the Iraqi people. And last, to help the Iraqi people create conditions for a
transition to representative self-government."[148]

The invasion was a quick and decisive operation encountering major resistance, though not what the
US, British and other forces expected. The Iraqi regime had prepared to fight both a conventional and
irregular, asymmetric warfare at the same time, conceding territory when faced with superior
conventional forces, largely armored, but launching smaller- scale attacks in the rear using fighters
dressed in civilian and paramilitary clothes.

Coalition troops launched air and amphibious assaults on the al- Faw Peninsula to secure the oil fields
there and the important ports, supported by warships of the Royal Navy, Polish Navy, and Royal
Australian Navy. The United States Marine Corps' 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, attached to
3 Commando Brigade and the Polish Special Forces unit GROM, attacked the port of Umm Qasr, while
the British Army's 16 Air Assault Brigade secured the oil fields in southern Iraq.[149][150]

The heavy armor of the US 3rd Infantry Division moved westward and then northward through the
western desert toward Baghdad, while the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force moved more easterly
along Highway 1 through the center of the country, and 1 (UK) Armoured Division moved northward
through the eastern marshland.[151] The American 1st Marine Division fought through Nasiriyah in a
battle to seize the major road junction.[152] The United States Army 3rd Infantry Division defeated Iraqi
forces entrenched in and around Talil Airfield.[153]

With the Nasiriyah and Talil Airfields secured in its rear, the 3rd Infantry Division supported by the
101st Airborne Division continued its attack north toward Najaf and Karbala, but a severe sand storm
slowed the coalition advance and there was a halt to consolidate and make sure the supply lines
were secure.[154] When they started again they secured the Karbala Gap, a key approach to Baghdad,
then secured the bridges over the Euphrates River, and US Army forces poured through the gap on to
Baghdad. In the middle of Iraq, the 1st Marine Division fought its way to the eastern side of Baghdad
and prepared for the attack to seize the city.[155]

On 9 April, Baghdad fell, ending Saddam's 24‑ year rule. US forces seized the deserted Ba'ath Party
ministries and, according to some reports later disputed by the Marines on the ground, stage-
managed[156] the tearing down of a huge iron statue of Saddam, photos and video of which became
symbolic of the event, although later controversial. Allegedly, though not seen in the photos or heard
on the videos, shot with a zoom lens, was the chant of the inflamed crowd for Muqtada al- Sadr, the
radical Shiite cleric.[157] The abrupt fall of Baghdad was accompanied by a widespread outpouring of
gratitude toward the invaders, but also massive civil disorder, including the looting of public and
government buildings and drastically increased crime.[158][159]

According to the Pentagon, 250,000 short tons (230,000 t) (of 650,000 short tons (590,000 t) total) of
ordnance was looted, providing a significant source of ammunition for the Iraqi insurgency. The
invasion phase concluded when Tikrit, Saddam's home town, fell with little resistance to the US
Marines of Task Force Tripoli on 15 April.
In the invasion phase of the war (19 March – 30 April), an estimated 9,200 Iraqi combatants were
killed by coalition forces along with an estimated 3,750 non- combatants, i.e. civilians who did not take
up arms.[160] Coalition forces reported the death in combat of 139 US military personnel[161] and 33
UK military personnel.[162]

Post-invasion phase

2003: Beginnings of insurgency

A Marine Corps M1 Abrams tank

patrols Baghdad after its fall in 2003.

Humvee struck by an improvised

explosive device attack in Iraq on 29
September 2004. Staff Sgt. Michael F.
Barrett, a military policeman in Marine
Wing Support Squadron 373, was
severely injured in the attack.

Polish GROM forces in sea operations

during the Iraq War
 Marines from D Company, 3rd Light
Armored Reconnaissance Battalion
guard detainees prior to loading them
into their vehicle.

On 1 May 2003, President Bush visited the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln operating a few
miles west of San Diego, California. At sunset, he held his nationally televised "Mission
Accomplished" speech, delivered before the sailors and airmen on the flight deck. Bush declared the
end of major combat operations in Iraq, due to the defeat of Iraq's conventional forces, while
maintaining that much still needed to be done.[95]

Nevertheless, Saddam Hussein remained at large, and significant pockets of resistance remained.
After Bush's speech, coalition forces noticed a flurry of attacks on its troops began to gradually
increase in various regions, such as the "Sunni Triangle".[163][164] The initial Iraqi insurgents were
supplied by hundreds of weapons caches created before the invasion by the Iraqi army and
Republican Guard.

Initially, Iraqi resistance (described by the coalition as "Anti- Iraqi Forces") largely stemmed from
fedayeen and Saddam/Ba'ath Party loyalists, but soon religious radicals and Iraqis angered by the
occupation contributed to the insurgency. The three governorates with the highest number of attacks
were Baghdad, Al Anbar, and Saladin. Those three governorates account for 35% of the population, but
by December 2006 they were responsible for 73% of US military deaths and an even higher
percentage of recent US military deaths (about 80%).[165]

Insurgents used various guerrilla tactics, including mortars, missiles, suicide attacks, snipers,
improvised explosive devices (IEDs), car bombs, small arms fire (usually with assault rifles), and
RPGs (rocket- propelled grenades), as well as sabotage against the petroleum, water, and electrical
infrastructures.

Coalition efforts to establish post- invasion Iraq commenced after the fall of Saddam's regime. The
coalition nations, together with the United Nations, began to work to establish a stable, compliant
democratic state capable of defending itself from non- coalition forces, as well as overcoming
internal divisions.[166]
Meanwhile, coalition military forces launched several operations around the Tigris River peninsula and
in the Sunni Triangle. A series of similar operations were launched throughout the summer in the Sunni
Triangle. In late 2003, the intensity and pace of insurgent attacks began to increase. A sharp surge in
guerrilla attacks ushered in an insurgent effort that was termed the "Ramadan Offensive", as it
coincided with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

To counter this offensive, coalition forces began to use air power and artillery again for the first time
since the end of the invasion, by striking suspected ambush sites and mortar launching positions.
Surveillance of major routes, patrols, and raids on suspected insurgents was stepped up. In addition,
two villages, including Saddam's birthplace of al- Auja and the small town of Abu Hishma, were
surrounded by barbed wire and carefully monitored.

Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraq Survey Group

Shortly after the invasion, the multinational coalition created the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA;
Arabic: ‫) سلطة االئتالف الموحدة‬, based in the Green Zone, as a transitional government of Iraq until the
establishment of a democratic government. Citing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483
(22 May 2003) and the laws of war, the CPA vested itself with executive, legislative, and judicial
authority over the Iraqi government from the period of the CPA's inception on 21 April 2003 until its
dissolution on 28 June 2004.

Occupation zones in Iraq as of

September 2003

The CPA was originally headed by Jay Garner, a former US military officer, but his appointment lasted
only until 11 May 2003, when President Bush appointed L. Paul Bremer. On 16 May 2003, his first day
on the job, Paul Bremer issued Coalition Provisional Authority Order 1 to exclude from the new Iraqi
government and administration members of the Baathist party. This policy, known as De-
Ba'athification, eventually led to the removal of 85,000 to 100,000 Iraqi people from their jobs,[167]
including 40,000 school teachers who had joined the Baath Party simply to stay employed. US army
general Ricardo Sanchez called the decision a "catastrophic failure".[168] Bremer served until the CPA's
dissolution in June 2004.
In May 2003, the US Advisor to Iraq Ministry of Defense within the CPA, Walter B. Slocombe,
advocated changing the pre- war Bush policy to employ the former Iraq Army after hostilities on the
ground ceased.[169] At the time, hundreds of thousands of former Iraq soldiers who had not been paid
for months were waiting for the CPA to hire them back to work to help secure and rebuild Iraq.
Despite advice from US Military Staff working within the CPA, Bremer met with President Bush, via
video conference, and asked for authority to change the US policy. Bush gave Bremer and Slocombe
authority to change the pre- war policy. Slocombe announced the policy change in the Spring of 2003.
The decision led to the alienation of hundreds of thousands of former armed Iraq soldiers, who
subsequently aligned themselves with various occupation resistance movements all over Iraq. In the
week before the order to dissolve the Iraq Army, no coalition forces were killed by hostile action in
Iraq; the week after, five US soldiers were killed. Then, on 18 June 2003, coalition forces opened fire
on former Iraq soldiers protesting in Baghdad who were throwing rocks at coalition forces. The policy
to disband the Iraq Army was reversed by the CPA only days after it was implemented. But it was too
late; the former Iraq Army shifted their alliance from one that was ready and willing to work with the
CPA to one of armed resistance against the CPA and the coalition forces.[170]

Another group created by the multinational force in Iraq post- invasion was the 1,400- member
international Iraq Survey Group, who conducted a fact- finding mission to find Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) programs. In 2004, the ISG's Duelfer Report stated that Iraq did not have a viable
WMD program.[171][172][173][174][175][176]

Capturing former government leaders

Saddam Hussein being pulled from

his hideaway in Operation Red Dawn,
13 December 2003

In the summer of 2003, the multinational forces focused on capturing the remaining leaders of the
former government. On 22 July, a raid by the US 101st Airborne Division and soldiers from Task
Force 20 killed Saddam's sons (Uday and Qusay) along with one of his grandsons. In all, over 300 top
leaders of the former government were killed or captured, as well as numerous lesser functionaries
and military personnel.
Most significantly, Saddam Hussein himself was captured on 13 December 2003, on a farm near
Tikrit in Operation Red Dawn.[177] The operation was conducted by the United States Army's 4th
Infantry Division and members of Task Force 121. Intelligence on Saddam's whereabouts came from
his family members and former bodyguards.[178]

With the capture of Saddam and a drop in the number of insurgent attacks, some concluded that
multinational forces were prevailing in the fight against the insurgency. The provisional government
began training the new Iraqi security forces intended to police the country, and the United States
promised over $20 billion in reconstruction money in the form of a credit against Iraq's future oil
revenues. Oil revenue was also used for rebuilding schools and for work on the electrical and refining
infrastructure.

Shortly after the capture of Saddam, elements left out of the Coalition Provisional Authority began to
agitate for elections and the formation of an Iraqi Interim Government. Most prominent among these
was the Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al- Sistani. The Coalition Provisional Authority opposed
allowing democratic elections at this time.[179] The insurgents stepped up their activities. The two
most turbulent centers were the area around Fallujah and the poor Shia sections of cities from
Baghdad (Sadr City) to Basra in the south.

Looting of ar tifacts from Iraqi museums

Following the United States' invasion of Iraq in 2003, large numbers of antiquities including the
Gilgamesh Dream Tablet were stolen, both from museums, such as the Iraq National Museum, but
also because of illegal excavations at archeological sites throughout the country. Many of them were
smuggled into the United States through the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel, contrary to federal
law. Donald Rumsfeld rejected the claim that they were removed by US military personnel. In the
2020s, about 17,000 artifacts were returned to Iraq from the U.S. and Middle Eastern countries. But
according to an Iraqi archeology professor at the University of Baghdad, the repatriation of these
items was only a partial success; the Baghdad office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) continues to search for the loot worldwide. Many Iraqis blame the
United States for the loss of so many pieces of their country's history.[180][181]
2004: Insurgency expands

Areas of Responsibility in Iraq as at

30 April 2004

The start of 2004 was marked by a relative lull in violence. Insurgent forces reorganised during this
time, studying the multinational forces' tactics and planning a renewed offensive. However, violence
did increase during the Iraq Spring Fighting of 2004 with foreign fighters from around the Middle East
as well as Jama'at al- Tawhid wal- Jihad, an al- Qaeda- linked group led by Abu Musab al- Zarqawi,
helping to drive the insurgency.[182]

As the insurgency grew there was a distinct change in targeting from the coalition forces towards the
new Iraqi Security Forces, as hundreds of Iraqi civilians and police were killed over the next few
months in a series of massive bombings. An organized Sunni insurgency, with deep roots and both
nationalist and Islamist motivations, was becoming more powerful throughout Iraq. The Shia Mahdi
Army also began launching attacks on coalition targets in an attempt to seize control from Iraqi
security forces. The southern and central portions of Iraq were beginning to erupt in urban guerrilla
combat as multinational forces attempted to keep control and prepared for a counteroffensive.

Coalition Provisional Authority director

L. Paul Bremer signs over sovereignty
to the appointed Iraqi Interim
Government, 28 June 2004.

The most serious fighting of the war so far began on 31 March 2004, when Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah
ambushed a Blackwater USA convoy led by four US private military contractors who were providing
security for food caterers Eurest Support Services.[183] The four armed contractors, Scott Helvenston,
Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona, and Michael Teague, were killed with grenades and small arms fire.
Subsequently, their bodies were dragged from their vehicles by local people, beaten, set ablaze, and
their burned corpses hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates.[184] Photos of the event were
released to news agencies worldwide, causing a great deal of indignation and moral outrage in the
United States, and prompting an unsuccessful "pacification" of the city: the First Battle of Fallujah in
April 2004.

The offensive was resumed in November 2004 in the bloodiest battle of the war: the Second Battle
of Fallujah, described by the US military as "the heaviest urban combat (that they had been involved
in) since the Battle of Hue City in Vietnam."[185] During the assault, US forces used white phosphorus
as an incendiary weapon against insurgent personnel, attracting controversy. The 46‑ day battle
resulted in a victory for the coalition, with 95 US soldiers killed along with approximately 1,350
insurgents. Fallujah was totally devastated during the fighting, though civilian casualties were low, as
they had mostly fled before the battle.[186]

Another major event of that year was the revelation of widespread prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib,
which received international media attention in April 2004. First reports of the Abu Ghraib prisoner
abuse, as well as graphic pictures showing US military personnel taunting and abusing Iraqi prisoners,
came to public attention from a 60 Minutes II news report (28 April) and a Seymour M. Hersh article in
The New Yorker (posted online on 30 April).[187] Military correspondent Thomas Ricks claimed that
these revelations dealt a blow to the moral justifications for the occupation in the eyes of many
people, especially Iraqis, and was a turning point in the war.[188]

2004 also marked the beginning of Military Transition Teams in Iraq, which were teams of US military
advisors assigned directly to New Iraqi Army units.

2005: Elections and transitional government

Convention center for Council of

Representatives of Iraq

On 31 January, Iraqis elected the Iraqi Transitional Government in order to draft a permanent
constitution. Although some violence and a widespread Sunni boycott marred the event, most of the
eligible Kurd and Shia populace participated. On 4 February, Paul Wolfowitz announced that 15,000 US
troops whose tours of duty had been extended in order to provide election security would be pulled
out of Iraq by the next month.[189] February to April proved to be relatively peaceful months compared
to the carnage of November and January, with insurgent attacks averaging 30 a day from the prior
average of 70.

The Battle of Abu Ghraib on 2 April 2005 was an attack on United States forces at Abu Ghraib prison,
which consisted of heavy mortar and rocket fire, under which an estimated 80–120 armed insurgents
attacked with grenades, small arms, and two vehicle- borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED).
The US force's munitions ran so low that orders to fix bayonets were given in preparation for hand- to-
hand fighting. It was considered to be the largest coordinated assault on a US base since the Vietnam
War.[190]

Hopes for a quick end to the insurgency and a withdrawal of US troops were dashed in May, Iraq's
bloodiest month since the invasion. Suicide bombers, believed to be mainly disheartened Iraqi Sunni
Arabs, Syrians and Saudis, tore through Iraq. Their targets were often Shia gatherings or civilian
concentrations of Shias. As a result, over 700 Iraqi civilians died in that month, as well as 79 US
soldiers.

The summer of 2005 saw fighting around Baghdad and at Tall Afar in northwestern Iraq as US forces
tried to seal off the Syrian border. This led to fighting in the autumn in the small towns of the
Euphrates valley between the capital and that border.[191]

A referendum was held on 15 October in which the new Iraqi constitution was ratified. An Iraqi
National Assembly was elected in December, with participation from the Sunnis as well as the Kurds
and Shia.[191]

Insurgent attacks increased in 2005 with 34,131 recorded incidents, compared to a total 26,496 for
the previous year.[192]

2006: Civil war and permanent Iraqi government

US Marines from 3rd Battalion 3rd

Marines clear a house in Al Anbar
Governorate.
The beginning of 2006 was marked by government creation talks, growing sectarian violence, and
continuous anti- coalition attacks. Sectarian violence expanded to a new level of intensity following
the al- Askari Mosque bombing in the Iraqi city of Samarra, on 22 February 2006. The explosion at the
mosque, one of the holiest sites in Shi'a Islam, is believed to have been caused by a bomb planted
by al- Qaeda.

Although no injuries occurred in the blast, the mosque was severely damaged and the bombing
resulted in violence over the following days. Over 100 dead bodies with bullet holes were found on
23 February, and at least 165 people are thought to have been killed. In the aftermath of this attack,
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".[193]

On 12 March, five United States Army soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment raped the 14- year- old
Iraqi girl Abeer Qassim Hamza al- Janabi, and then murdered her, her father, her mother Fakhriya Taha
Muhasen, and her six- year- old sister Hadeel Qassim Hamza al- Janabi. The soldiers then set fire to
the girl's body to conceal evidence of the crime.[194] Four of the soldiers were convicted of rape and
murder and the fifth was convicted of lesser crimes for their involvement in the events, which
became known as the Mahmudiyah rape and killings.[195][196]

On 6 June 2006, the United States was successful in tracking Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, the leader of al-
Qaeda in Iraq who was killed in a targeted killing, while attending a meeting in an isolated safehouse
approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) north of Baqubah. Having been tracked by a British UAV, radio contact was
made between the controller and two United States Air Force F- 16C jets, which identified the house
and at 14:15 GMT, the lead jet dropped two 500‑ pound (230 kg) guided bombs, a laser- guided
GBU‑ 12 and GPS- guided GBU‑ 38 on the building where he was located. Six others – three male and
three female individuals – were also reported killed. Among those killed were one of his wives and
their child.

The government of Iraq took office on 20 May 2006, following approval by the members of the Iraqi
National Assembly. This followed the general election in December 2005. The government
succeeded the Iraqi Transitional Government, which had continued in office in a caretaker capacity until
the formation of the permanent government.

Iraq Study Group report and Saddam's execution

The Iraq Study Group Report was released on 6 December 2006. The Iraq Study Group made up of
people from both of the major US parties, was led by co- chairs James Baker, a former Secretary of
State (Republican), and Lee H. Hamilton, a former US Representative (Democrat). It concluded that
"the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating" and "US forces seem to be caught in a mission that
has no foreseeable end." The report's 79 recommendations include increasing diplomatic measures
with Iran and Syria and intensifying efforts to train Iraqi troops. On 18 December, a Pentagon report
found that insurgent attacks were averaging about 960 attacks per week, the highest since the
reports had begun in 2005.[197]

Coalition forces formally transferred control of a governorate to the Iraqi government, the first since
the war. Military prosecutors charged eight US Marines with the murders of 24 Iraqi civilians in
Haditha in November 2005, 10 of them women and children. Four officers were also charged with
dereliction of duty in relation to the event.[198]

Saddam Hussein was hanged on 30 December 2006, after being found guilty of crimes against
humanity by an Iraqi court after a year- long trial.[199]

2007: US troops surge

President George W. Bush

announces the new strategy
on Iraq from the White House
Library, 10 January 2007.

On 10 January 2007, in a televised address to the US public, Bush proposed 21,500 more troops for
Iraq, a job program for Iraqis, more reconstruction proposals, and $1.2 billion for these programs.[200]
On 23 January 2007, in the 2007 State of the Union Address, Bush announced he was "deploying
reinforcements of more than 20,000 additional soldiers and Marines to Iraq".

On 10 February 2007, David Petraeus was made commander of Multi- National Force – Iraq (MNF- I),
the four- star post that oversees all coalition forces in the country, replacing General George Casey. In
his new position, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq and employed them in the new "Surge"
strategy outlined by the Bush administration.[201][202]
On 10 May 2007, 144 Iraqi Parliamentary lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the
United States to set a timetable for withdrawal.[203] On 3 June 2007, the Iraqi Parliament voted 85 to
59 to require the Iraqi government to consult with Parliament before requesting additional extensions
of the UN Security Council Mandate for Coalition operations in Iraq.[204]

Pressures on US troops were compounded by the continuing withdrawal of coalition forces.[205] In

early 2007, British Prime Minister Blair announced that following Operation Sinbad, British troops
would begin to withdraw from Basra Governorate, handing security over to the Iraqis.[205] In July
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also announced the withdrawal of 441 Danish troops
from Iraq, leaving only a unit of nine soldiers manning four observational helicopters.[206] In October
2019, the new Danish government said it would not re- open an official probe into the country's
participation in the US- led military coalition in 2003 Iraqi war.[207]

Planned troop reduction

In a speech made to Congress on 10 September 2007, Petraeus "envisioned the withdrawal of

roughly 30,000 US troops by next summer, beginning with a Marine contingent [in September]."[208] On
13 September, Bush backed a limited withdrawal of troops from Iraq.[209] Bush said 5,700 personnel
would be home by Christmas 2007, and expected thousands more to return by July 2008. The plan
would take troop numbers back to their level before the surge at the beginning of 2007.

Effects of the surge on security

By March 2008, violence in Iraq was reportedly curtailed by 40–80%, according to a Pentagon
report.[210] Independent reports [211][212] raised questions about those assessments. 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 New York Times counted more than 450 Iraqi
civilians killed during the same 28‑ day period, based on initial daily reports from Iraqi Interior Ministry
and hospital officials.

US soldiers take cover during a

firefight with insurgents in the
Al Doura section of Baghdad, 7 March
2007.
Historically, the daily counts tallied by The New York Times underestimated the total death toll by 50%
or more when compared to studies by the United Nations, which rely upon figures from the Iraqi
Health Ministry and morgue figures.[213]

The rate of US combat deaths in Baghdad nearly doubled to 3.14 per day in the first seven weeks of
the "surge" in security activity, compared to the previous period. Across the rest of Iraq, it decreased
slightly.[214][215]

On 14 August 2007, the deadliest single attack of the whole war occurred. Nearly 800 civilians were
killed by a series of coordinated suicide bomb attacks on the northern Iraqi settlement of Kahtaniya.
More than 100 homes and shops were destroyed in the blasts. US officials blamed al‑ Qaeda. The
targeted villagers belonged to the non- Muslim Yazidi ethnic minority. The attack may have
represented the latest in a feud that erupted earlier that year when members of the Yazidi community
stoned to death a teenage girl called Du'a Khalil Aswad accused of dating a Sunni Arab man and
converting to Islam. The killing of the girl was recorded on camera- mobiles and the video was
uploaded onto the internet.[216][217][218][219]

On 13 September 2007, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha was killed in a bomb attack in the city of Ramadi.[220]
He was an important US ally because he led the "Anbar Awakening", an alliance of Sunni Arab tribes
that opposed al- Qaeda. The latter organization claimed responsibility for the attack.[221] A statement
posted on the Internet by the shadowy Islamic State of Iraq called Abu Risha "one of the dogs of
Bush" and described Thursday's killing as a "heroic operation that took over a month to prepare".[222]

A graph of US troop fatalities in Iraq March 2003 –

July 2010, the orange and blue months are the period
of the troop surge and its aftermath.

There was a reported trend of decreasing US troop deaths after May 2007, and violence against
coalition troops had fallen to the "lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion".[223]
These, and several other positive developments, were attributed to the surge by many analysts.[224]

Data from the Pentagon and other US agencies such as the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
found that daily attacks against civilians in Iraq remained "about the same" since February. The GAO
also stated that there was no discernible trend in sectarian violence.[225] However, this report ran
counter to reports to Congress, which showed a general downward trend in civilian deaths and ethno-
sectarian violence since December 2006.[226] By late 2007, as the US troop surge began to wind
down, violence in Iraq had begun to decrease from its 2006 highs.[227]

Entire neighborhoods in Baghdad were ethnically cleansed by Shia and Sunni militias and sectarian
violence broke out in every Iraqi city where there was a mixed population.[228][229][230] Investigative
reporter Bob Woodward cited US government sources according to which the US "surge" was not the
primary reason for the drop in violence in 2007–08. Instead, according to that view, the reduction of
violence was due to newer covert techniques by US military and intelligence officials to find, target,
and kill insurgents, including working closely with former insurgents.[231]

In the Shia region near Basra, British forces turned over security for the region to Iraqi Security
Forces. Basra was the ninth governorate of Iraq's 18 governorates to be returned to local security
forces' control since the beginning of the occupation.[232]

Political developments

More than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country
for the first time. 144 of the 275 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition that would require the
Iraqi government to seek approval from Parliament before it requests an extension of the UN
mandate for foreign forces to be in Iraq, which expires at the end of 2008. It also calls for a timetable
for troop withdrawal and a freeze on the size of foreign forces. The UN Security Council mandate for
US‑ led forces in Iraq will terminate "if requested by the government of Iraq."[233] 59% of those polled
in the US support a timetable for withdrawal.[234]

In mid- 2007, the Coalition began a controversial program to recruit Iraqi Sunnis (often former
insurgents) for the formation of "Guardian" militias. These Guardian militias are intended to support
and secure various Sunni neighborhoods against the Islamists.[235]

Tensions with Iran

In 2007, tensions increased greatly between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan due to the latter's giving
sanctuary to the militant Kurdish secessionist group Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK).
According to reports, Iran had been shelling PEJAK positions in Iraqi Kurdistan since 16 August.
These tensions further increased with an alleged border incursion on 23 August by Iranian troops who
attacked several Kurdish villages killing an unknown number of civilians and militants.[236]

Coalition forces also began to target alleged Iranian Quds force operatives in Iraq, either arresting or
killing suspected members. The Bush administration and coalition leaders began to publicly state that
Iran was supplying weapons, particularly EFP devices, to Iraqi insurgents and militias although to date
have failed to provide any proof for these allegations. Further sanctions on Iranian organizations were
also announced by the Bush administration in the autumn of 2007. On 21 November 2007, Lieutenant
General James Dubik, who is in charge of training Iraqi security forces, praised Iran for its
"contribution to the reduction of violence" in Iraq by upholding its pledge to stop the flow of weapons,
explosives, and training of extremists in Iraq.[237]

Tensions with Turkey

Border incursions by PKK militants based in Northern Iraq have continued to harass Turkish forces,
with casualties on both sides. In the fall of 2007, the Turkish military stated their right to cross the
Iraqi Kurdistan border in "hot pursuit" of PKK militants and began shelling Kurdish areas in Iraq and
attacking PKK bases in the Mount Cudi region with aircraft.[238][239] The Turkish parliament approved a
resolution permitting the military to pursue the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan.[240] In November, Turkish
gunships attacked parts of northern Iraq in the first such attack by Turkish aircraft since the border
tensions escalated.[241] Another series of attacks in mid- December hit PKK targets in the Qandil, Zap,
Avashin and Hakurk regions. The latest series of attacks involved at least 50 aircraft and artillery and
Kurdish officials reported one civilian killed and two wounded.[242]

Additionally, weapons that were given to Iraqi security forces by the US military were being recovered
by authorities in Turkey after being used by PKK in that state.[243]

Blackwater private security controversy

On 17 September 2007, the Iraqi government announced that it was revoking the license of the US
security firm Blackwater USA over the firm's involvement in the killing of eight civilians, including a
woman and an infant,[244] in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department
motorcade.

2008: Civil war continues

An Iraqi Army battalion training for

urban operations

Throughout 2008, US officials and independent think tanks began to point to improvements in the
security situation, as measured by key statistics. According to the US Defense Department, in
December 2008 the "overall level of violence" in the country had dropped 80% since before the surge
began in January 2007, and the country's murder rate had dropped to prewar levels. They also pointed
out that the casualty figure for US forces in 2008 was 314 against a figure of 904 in 2007.[245]

According to the Brookings Institution, Iraqi civilian fatalities numbered 490 in November 2008 as
against 3,500 in January 2007, whereas attacks against the coalition numbered somewhere between
200 and 300 per week in the latter half of 2008, as opposed to a peak of nearly 1,600 in summer
2007. The number of Iraqi security forces killed was under 100 per month in the second half of 2008,
from a high of 200 to 300 in the summer of 2007.[246]

Meanwhile, the proficiency of the Iraqi military increased as it launched a spring offensive against
Shia militias, which Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki had previously been criticized for allowing to
operate. This began with a March operation against the Mahdi Army in Basra, which led to fighting in
Shia areas up and down the country, especially in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. By October, the
British officer in charge of Basra said that since the operation, the town had become "secure" and had
a murder rate comparable to Manchester in England.[247] The US military also said there had been a
decrease of about a quarter in the quantity of Iranian- made explosives found in Iraq in 2008, possibly
indicating a change in Iranian policy.[248]

Progress in Sunni areas continued after members of the Awakening movement were transferred from
US military to Iraqi control.[249] In May, the Iraqi army – backed by coalition support – launched an
offensive in Mosul, the last major Iraqi stronghold of al- Qaeda. Despite detaining thousands of
individuals, the offensive failed to lead to major long- term security improvements in Mosul. At the
end of the year, the city remained a major flashpoint.[250][251]

In the regional dimension, the ongoing conflict between Turkey and PKK[252][253][254] intensified on 21
February, when Turkey launched a ground attack into the Quandeel Mountains of Northern Iraq. In the
nine- day- long operation, around 10,000 Turkish troops advanced up to 25 km into Northern Iraq. This
was the first substantial ground incursion by Turkish forces since 1995.[255][256]

Shortly after the incursion began, both the Iraqi cabinet and the Kurdistan regional government
condemned Turkey's actions and called for the immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops from the
region.[257] Turkish troops withdrew on 29 February.[258] The fate of the Kurds and the future of the
ethnically diverse city of Kirkuk remained a contentious issue in Iraqi politics.

US military officials met these trends with cautious optimism as they approached what they
described as the "transition" embodied in the US–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which was
negotiated throughout 2008.[245] The commander of the coalition, US General Raymond T. Odierno,
noted that "in military terms, transitions are the most dangerous time" in December 2008.[245]
Spring offensives on Shiite militias

An Iraqi soldier and vehicles from the

42nd Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army
Division during a firefight with armed
militiamen in the Sadr City district of
Baghdad 17 April 2008

At the end of March, the Iraqi Army, with Coalition air support, launched an offensive, dubbed "Charge
of the Knights", in Basra to secure the area from militias. This was the first major operation where the
Iraqi Army did not have direct combat support from conventional coalition ground troops. The
offensive was opposed by the Mahdi Army, one of the militias, which controlled much of the
region.[259][260] Fighting quickly spread to other parts of Iraq: including Sadr City, Al Kut, Al Hillah and
others. During the fighting Iraqi forces met stiff resistance from militiamen in Basra to the point that
the Iraqi military offensive slowed to a crawl, with the high attrition rates finally forcing the Sadrists to
the negotiating table.

Following intercession by the Iranian government, al‑ Sadr ordered a ceasefire on 30 March 2008.[261]
The militiamen kept their weapons.

By 12 May 2008, Basra "residents overwhelmingly reported a substantial improvement in their

everyday lives" according to The New York Times . "Government forces have now taken over Islamic
militants' headquarters and halted the death squads and 'vice enforcers' who attacked women,
Christians, musicians, alcohol sellers and anyone suspected of collaborating with Westerners",
according to the report; however, when asked how long it would take for lawlessness to resume if the
Iraqi army left, one resident replied, "one day".[260]

In late April roadside bombings continued to rise from a low in January – from 114 bombings to more
than 250, surpassing the May 2007 high.
Congressional testimony

General David Petraeus in

testimony before Congress on 8
April 2008

Speaking before Congress on 8 April 2008, General David Petraeus urged delaying troop withdrawals,
saying, "I've repeatedly noted that we haven't turned any corners, we haven't seen any lights at the end
of the tunnel," referencing the comments of then- President Bush and former Vietnam- era General
William Westmoreland.[262] When asked by the Senate if reasonable people could disagree on the
way forward, Petraeus said, "We fight for the right of people to have other opinions."[263]

Upon questioning by then Senate committee chair Joe Biden, Ambassador Crocker admitted that
Al‑ Qaeda in Iraq was less important than the Al Qaeda organization led by Osama bin Laden along the
Afghan- Pakistani border.[264] Lawmakers from both parties complained that US taxpayers are carrying
Iraq's burden as it earns billions of dollars in oil revenues.

Iraqi security forces rearm

Iraq became one of the top purchasers of US military equipment with their army trading its AK‑ 47
assault rifles for the US M‑ 16 and M‑ 4 rifles, among other equipment.[265] In 2008 alone, Iraq
accounted for more than $12.5 billion of the $34 billion US weapon sales to foreign countries (not
including the potential F- 16 fighter planes.).[266]

Iraq sought 36 F‑ 16s, the most sophisticated weapons system Iraq has attempted to purchase. The
Pentagon notified Congress that it had approved the sale of 24 American attack helicopters to Iraq,
valued at as much as $2.4 billion. Including the helicopters, Iraq announced plans to purchase at least
$10 billion in US tanks and armored vehicles, transport planes, and other battlefield equipment and
services. Over the summer, the Defense Department announced that the Iraqi government wanted to
order more than 400 armored vehicles and other equipment worth up to $3 billion, and six C- 130J
transport planes, worth up to $1.5 billion.[267][268] From 2005 to 2008, the United States had
completed approximately $20 billion in arms sales agreements with Iraq.[269]
Status of forces agreement

The US–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement was approved by the Iraqi government on 4 December
2008.[270] It established that US combat forces would withdraw from Iraqi cities by 30 June 2009, and
that all US forces would be completely out of Iraq by 31 December 2011. The pact was subject to
possible negotiations which could have delayed withdrawal and a referendum scheduled for mid-
2009 in Iraq, which might have required all US forces to completely leave by the middle of
2010.[271][272] The pact required criminal charges for holding prisoners over 24 hours, and required a
warrant for searches of homes and buildings that are not related to combat.[273]

Street fighting in Mosul in January

2008

US contractors working for US forces were to be subject to Iraqi criminal law, while contractors
working for the State Department and other US agencies may retain their immunity. If US forces
commit still undecided "major premeditated felonies" while off- duty and off- base, they will be
subject to the still undecided procedures laid out by a joint US‑ Iraq committee if the United States
certifies the forces were off- duty.[274][275][276][277]

Some Americans have discussed "loopholes"[278] and some Iraqis have said they believe parts of the
pact remain a "mystery".[279] US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates predicted that after 2011 he
expected to see "perhaps several tens of thousands of American troops" as part of a residual force
in Iraq.[280]

Several groups of Iraqis protested the passing of the SOFA accord[281][282][283] as prolonging and
legitimizing the occupation. Tens of thousands of Iraqis burned an effigy of George W. Bush in a
central Baghdad square where US troops five years previously organized a tearing down of a statue
of Saddam Hussein.[156][279][284] Some Iraqis expressed skeptical optimism that the US would
completely end its presence by 2011.[285] On 4 December 2008, Iraq's presidential council approved
the security pact.[270]

A representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al‑ Sistani expressed concern with the ratified
version of the pact and noted that the government of Iraq has no authority to control the transfer of
occupier forces into and out of Iraq, no control of shipments and that the pact grants the occupiers
immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts. He said that Iraqi rule in the country is not complete while
the occupiers are present, but that ultimately the Iraqi people would judge the pact in a
referendum.[284] Thousands of Iraqis have gathered weekly after Friday prayers and shouted anti‑ US
and anti- Israeli slogans protesting the security pact between Baghdad and Washington. A protester
said that despite the approval of the Interim Security pact, the Iraqi people would break it in a
referendum next year.[286]

2009: Coalition redeployment

Transfer of the Green Zone

Aerial view of the Green Zone, Baghdad

International Airport, and the contiguous Victory
Base Complex in Baghdad

On 1 January 2009, the United States handed control of the Green Zone and Saddam Hussein's
presidential palace to the Iraqi government in a ceremonial move described by the country's prime
minister as a restoration of Iraq's sovereignty. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki said he would
propose 1 January be declared national "Sovereignty Day". "This palace is the symbol of Iraqi
sovereignty and by restoring it, a real message is directed to all Iraqi people that Iraqi sovereignty
has returned to its natural status", al‑ Maliki said.[287]

The US military attributed a decline in reported civilian deaths to several factors including the US‑ led
"troop surge", the growth of US- funded Awakening Councils, and Shiite cleric Muqtada al- Sadr's call
for his militia to abide by a cease fire.[288]

Provincial elections

On 31 January, Iraq held provincial elections.[289] Provincial candidates and those close to them faced
some political assassinations and attempted assassinations, and there was also some other
violence related to the election.[290][291][292][293]
Iraqi voter turnout failed to meet the original expectations which were set and was the lowest on
record in Iraq,[294] but US Ambassador Ryan Crocker characterized the turnout as "large".[295] Of those
who turned out to vote, some groups complained of disenfranchisement and fraud.[294][296][297] After
the post- election curfew was lifted, some groups made threats about what would happen if they
were unhappy with the results.[298]

Exit strategy announcement

US President Barack Obama

delivering a speech at Camp Lejeune
on 27 February 2009

On 27 February, United States President Barack Obama gave a speech at Marine Corps Base Camp
Lejeune in the US state of North Carolina announcing that the US combat mission in Iraq would end by
31 August 2010. A "transitional force" of up to 50,000 troops tasked with training the Iraqi Security
Forces, conducting counterterrorism operations, and providing general support may remain until the
end of 2011, the president added. However, the insurgency in 2011 and the rise of ISIL in 2014
caused the war to continue.[299]

The day before Obama's speech, Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al‑ Maliki said at a press conference
that the government of Iraq had "no worries" over the impending departure of US forces and
expressed confidence in the ability of the Iraqi Security Forces and police to maintain order without
US military support.[300]

Sixth anniversary protests

On 9 April, the 6th anniversary of Baghdad's fall to coalition forces, tens of thousands of Iraqis
thronged Baghdad to mark the anniversary and demand the immediate departure of coalition forces.
The crowds of Iraqis stretched from the Sadr City slum in northeast Baghdad to the square around
5 km (3.1 mi) away, where protesters burned an effigy featuring the face of US President George W.
Bush.[301] There were also Sunni Muslims in the crowd. Police said many Sunnis, including prominent
leaders such as a founding sheikh from the Sons of Iraq, took part.[302]
Coalition forces withdraw

On 30 April, the United Kingdom formally ended combat operations. Prime Minister Gordon Brown
characterized the operation in Iraq as a "success story" because of UK troops' efforts. Britain handed
control of Basra to the United States Armed Forces.[303]

The withdrawal of US forces began at the end of June, with 38 bases to be handed over to Iraqi
forces. On 29 June 2009, US forces withdrew from Baghdad. On 30 November 2009, Iraqi Interior
Ministry officials reported that the civilian death toll in Iraq fell to its lowest level in November since
the 2003 invasion.[304]

On 28 July, Australia withdrew its combat forces as the Australian military presence in Iraq ended, per
an agreement with the Iraqi government.

Iraq awards oil contracts

US Navy and Coast Guard personnel

stand guard aboard the Al Basrah Oil
Terminal in July 2009.

On 30 June and 11 December 2009, the Iraqi ministry of oil awarded contracts to international oil
companies for some of Iraq's many oil fields. The winning oil companies entered joint ventures with
the Iraqi ministry of oil, and the terms of the awarded contracts included extraction of oil for a fixed
fee of approximately $1.40 per barrel.[305][306][307] The fees will only be paid once a production
threshold set by the Iraqi ministry of oil is reached.

2010: US drawdown and Operation New Dawn

On 17 February 2010, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that as of 1 September, the
name "Operation Iraqi Freedom" would be replaced by "Operation New Dawn".[308]

On 18 April, US and Iraqi forces killed Abu Ayyub al- Masri the leader of al- Qaeda in Iraq in a joint
American and Iraqi operation near Tikrit, Iraq.[309] The coalition forces believed al- Masri to be wearing
a suicide vest and proceeded cautiously. After the lengthy exchange of fire and bombing of the
house, the Iraqi troops stormed inside and found two women still alive, one of whom was al- Masri's
wife, and four dead men, identified as al- Masri, Abu Abdullah al- Rashid al- Baghdadi, an assistant to
al- Masri, and al- Baghdadi's son. A suicide vest was indeed found on al- Masri's corpse, as the Iraqi
Army subsequently stated.[310] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki announced the killings of Abu
Omar al- Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al- Masri at a news conference in Baghdad and showed reporters
photographs of their bloody corpses. "The attack was carried out by ground forces which surrounded
the house, and also through the use of missiles," Maliki said. "During the operation computers were
seized with e- mails and messages to the two biggest terrorists, Osama bin Laden and [his deputy]
Ayman al- Zawahiri", Maliki added. US forces commander Gen. Raymond Odierno praised the
operation. "The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al‑ Qaeda in Iraq
since the beginning of the insurgency", he said. "There is still work to do but this is a significant step
forward in ridding Iraq of terrorists."

US Vice President Joe Biden stated that the deaths of the top two al‑ Qaeda figures in Iraq are
"potentially devastating" blows to the terror network there and proof that Iraqi security forces are
gaining ground.[311]

On 20 June, Iraq's Central Bank was bombed in an attack that left 15 people dead and brought much
of downtown Baghdad to a standstill. The attack was claimed to have been carried out by the Islamic
State of Iraq. This attack was followed by another attack on Iraq's Bank of Trade building that killed 26
and wounded 52 people.[312]

Iraqi commandos training under the

supervision of soldiers from the US
82nd Airborne in December 2010

In late August 2010, insurgents conducted a major attack with at least 12 car bombs simultaneously
detonating from Mosul to Basra and killing at least 51. These attacks coincided with the US plans for
a withdrawal of combat troops.[313]

From the end of August 2010, the United States attempted to dramatically cut its combat role in Iraq,
with the withdrawal of all US ground forces designated for active combat operations. The last US
combat brigades departed Iraq in the early morning of 19 August. Convoys of US troops had been
moving out of Iraq to Kuwait for several days, and NBC News broadcast live from Iraq as the last
convoy crossed the border. While all combat brigades left the country, an additional 50,000 personnel
(including Advise and Assist Brigades) remained in the country to provide support for the Iraqi
military.[314][315] These troops were required to leave Iraq by 31 December 2011 under an agreement
between the US and Iraqi governments.[316]

The desire to step back from an active counter- insurgency role did not however mean that the Advise
and Assist Brigades and other remaining US forces would not be caught up in combat. A standards
memo from the Associated Press reiterated "combat in Iraq is not over, and we should not uncritically
repeat suggestions that it is, even if they come from senior officials".[317]

State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley stated "... we are not ending our work in Iraq, We have a
long- term commitment to Iraq."[318] On 31 August, from the Oval Office, Barack Obama announced his
intent to end the combat mission in Iraq. In his address, he covered the role of the United States' soft
power, the effect the war had on the United States economy, and the legacy of the Afghanistan and
Iraq wars.[319]

On the same day in Iraq, at a ceremony at one of Saddam Hussein's former residences at Al- Faw
Palace in Baghdad, a number of US dignitaries spoke in a ceremony for television cameras, avoiding
overtones of the triumphalism present in US announcements made earlier in the war. Vice President
Joe Biden expressed concerns regarding the ongoing lack of progress in forming a new Iraqi
government, saying of the Iraqi people that "they expect a government that reflects the results of the
votes they cast". Gen. Ray Odierno stated that the new era "in no way signals the end of our
commitment to the people of Iraq". Speaking in Ramadi earlier in the day, Gates said that US forces
"have accomplished something really quite extraordinary here, [but] how it all weighs in the balance
over time I think remains to be seen". When asked by reporters if the seven- year war was worth
doing, Gates commented that "It really requires a historian's perspective in terms of what happens
here in the long run". He noted the Iraq War "will always be clouded by how it began" regarding
Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction, which were never confirmed to have
existed. Gates continued, "This is one of the reasons that this war remains so controversial at
home".[320] On the same day Gen. Ray Odierno was replaced by Lloyd Austin as Commander of US
forces in Iraq.
 Alabama Army National Guard MP,
MSG Schur, during a joint community
policing patrol in Basra, 3 April 2010

On 7 September, two US troops were killed and nine wounded in an incident at an Iraqi military base.
The incident is under investigation by Iraqi and US forces, but it is believed that an Iraqi soldier
opened fire on US forces.[321]

On 8 September, the US Army announced the arrival in Iraq of the first specifically designated Advise
and Assist Brigade, the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment. It was announced that the unit would assume
responsibilities in five southern governorates.[322] From 10 to 13 September, Second Advise and
Assist Brigade, 25th Infantry Division fought Iraqi insurgents near Diyala.

According to reports from Iraq, hundreds of members of the Sunni Awakening Councils may have
switched allegiance back to the Iraqi insurgency or al- Qaeda.[323]

In October, WikiLeaks disclosed 391,832 classified US military documents on the Iraq

War.[324][325][326] Approximately, 58 people were killed with another 40 wounded in an attack on the
Sayidat al‑ Nejat church, a Chaldean Catholic church in Baghdad. Responsibility for the attack was
claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq organization.[327]

Coordinated attacks in primarily Shia areas struck throughout Baghdad on 2 November, killing
approximately 113 and wounding 250 with around 17 bombs.[328]

Iraqi arms purchases

M1 Abrams tanks in Iraqi service,

January 2011
As US forces departed the country, the Iraq Defense Ministry solidified plans to purchase advanced
military equipment from the United States. Plans in 2010 called for $13 billion of purchases, to
include 140 M1 Abrams main battle tanks.[329] In addition to the $13 billion purchase, the Iraqis also
requested 18 F- 16 Fighting Falcons as part of a $4.2 billion program that also included aircraft training
and maintenance, AIM‑ 9 Sidewinder air- to- air missiles, laser- guided bombs and reconnaissance
equipment.[330] All Abrams tanks were delivered by the end of 2011,[331] but the first F- 16s did not
arrive in Iraq until 2015, due to concerns that the Islamic State might overrun Balad Air Base.[332]

The Iraqi Navy also purchased 12 US‑ built Swift- class patrol boats, at a cost of $20 million each.
Delivery was completed in 2013.[333] The vessels are used to protect the oil terminals at Basra and
Khor al- Amiya.[330] Two US‑ built offshore support vessels, each costing $70 million, were delivered in
2011.[334]

The UN lifts restrictions on Iraq

In a move to legitimize the existing Iraqi government, the United Nations lifted the Saddam Hussein-
era UN restrictions on Iraq. These included allowing Iraq to have a civilian nuclear program, permitting
the participation of Iraq in international nuclear and chemical weapons treaties, as well as returning
control of Iraq's oil and gas revenue to the government and ending the Oil- for- Food Programme.[335]

2011: US withdrawal

Muqtada al- Sadr returned to Iraq in the holy city of Najaf to lead the Sadrist movement after being in
exile since 2007.[336]

US Army soldier on the roof of an

Iraqi police station in Haqlaniyah, July
2011

June 2011, became the bloodiest month in Iraq for the US military since June 2009, with 15 US
soldiers killed, only one of them outside combat.[337]

On 7 July, two US troops were killed and one seriously injured in an IED attack at Victory Base
Complex outside Baghdad. They were members of the 145th Brigade Support Battalion, 116th Cavalry
Heavy Brigade Combat Team, an Idaho Army National Guard unit base in Post Falls, Idaho. Spc. Nathan
R. Beyers, 24, and Spc. Nicholas W. Newby, 20, were killed in the attack, Staff Sgt. Jazon Rzepa, 30,
was seriously injured.[338]

In September, Iraq signed a contract to buy 18 Lockheed Martin F- 16 warplanes, becoming the 26th
nation to operate the F- 16. Because of windfall profits from oil, the Iraqi government is planning to
double this originally planned 18, to 36 F- 16s. Iraq is relying on the US military for air support as it
rebuilds its forces and battles a stubborn Islamist insurgency.[339]

With the collapse of the discussions about extending the stay of any US troops beyond 2011, where
they would not be granted any immunity from the Iraqi government, on 21 October 2011, President
Obama announced at a White House press conference that all remaining US troops and trainers would
leave Iraq by the end of the year as previously scheduled, bringing the US mission in Iraq to an
end.[340][341][342][343][344][345] The last American soldier to die in Iraq before the withdrawal, SPC. David
Hickman, was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on 14 November.[346]

In November 2011, the US Senate voted down a resolution to formally end the war by bringing its
authorization by Congress to an end.[347]

US and Kuwaiti troops closing the

gate between Kuwait and Iraq on 18
December 2011

On 15 December, an American military ceremony was held in Baghdad putting a formal end to the US
mission in Iraq.[348]

The last US combat troops withdrew from Iraq on 18 December 2011, although the US embassy and
consulates continue to maintain a staff of more than 20,000 including 100+ military personnel within
the Office of Security Cooperation- Iraq (OSC- I),[349] US Marine Embassy Guards and between 4,000
and 5,000 private military contractors.[350][351] The next day, Iraqi officials issued an arrest warrant for
the Sunni Vice- President Tariq al- Hashimi. He has been accused of involvement in assassinations
and fled to the Kurdish part of Iraq.[352]
Aftermath

Emerging conflict and insurgency

June 2015 military situation:

Controlled by Iraqi government
Controlled by the Islamic State
Controlled by Iraqi Kurds
Controlled by Syrian government
Controlled by Syrian rebels
Controlled by Syrian Kurds

The invasion and occupation led to sectarian violence, which caused widespread displacement
among Iraqi civilians. Since the beginning of the war, the first parliamentary elections were held in
2005 which brought greater representation and autonomy to Iraqi Kurds. By 2007 the Iraqi Red
Crescent estimated 2.3 million Iraqis were internally displaced, with an estimated 2 million Iraqis
fleeing to neighboring countries, mostly to Syria and Jordan.[353]

Sectarian violence continued in the first half of 2013. At least 56 people died in April when a Sunni
protest in Hawija was interrupted by a government- supported helicopter raid and a series of violent
incidents occurred in May. On 20 May 2013, at least 95 people died in a wave of car bomb attacks
that was preceded by a car bombing on 15 May that led to 33 deaths; also, on 18 May 76 people were
killed in the Sunni areas of Baghdad. Some experts have stated that Iraq could return to the brutal
sectarian conflict of 2006.[354][355]

On 22 July 2013, at least five hundred convicts, most of whom were senior members of al- Qaida who
had received death sentences, were freed from Abu Ghraib jail in an insurgent attack, which began
with a suicide bomb attack on the prison gates.[356] James F. Jeffrey, the United States ambassador
in Baghdad when the last American troops exited, said the assault and resulting escape "will provide
seasoned leadership and a morale boost to Al Qaeda and its allies in both Iraq and Syria ... it is likely
to have an electrifying impact on the Sunni population in Iraq, which has been sitting on the fence."[357]
By mid- 2014 Iraq was in chaos with a new government yet to be formed following national elections,
and the insurgency reaching new heights. In early June 2014 the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL) took over the cities of Mosul and Tikrit and said it was ready to march on Baghdad, while Iraqi
Kurdish forces took control of key military installations in the major oil city of Kirkuk. The al- Qaida
breakaway group formally declared the creation of an Islamic state on 29 June 2014, in the territory
under its control.[358]

Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki unsuccessfully asked his parliament to declare a state of emergency
that would give him increased powers.[359] On 14 August 2014, Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki
succumbed to pressure at home and abroad to step down. This paved the way for Haidar al- Abadi to
take over on 19 August 2014.

In September 2014, President Obama acknowledged that the US underestimated the rise of the
Islamic State and overestimated the Iraqi military's ability to fight ISIL.[360] Obama announced the
return of US forces, in the form of aerial support, in an effort to halt the advance of ISIL forces, render
humanitarian aid to stranded refugees and stabilize the political situation.[361]

A civil war between ISIL and the central government continued for the next three years. Following the
election of Donald Trump, the United States intensified its campaign against the Islamic State by
January 2017.[362] Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said a tactical shift to surrounding Islamic State
strongholds in Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria, was devised not only to "annihilate" ISIL fighters
hunkered down there, but also to prevent them from returning to their home nations in Europe, Africa,
and the Middle East. In 2017, US- backed Kurdish forces captured Raqqa, which had served as the
ISIL capital.[363] The Iraqi government declared victory against ISIL in December 2017.[364] By 2018,
violence in Iraq was at its lowest level in ten years. This was largely a result of the defeat of ISIL
forces and the subsequent calming- down of the insurgency.[365]

In January 2020, after the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the Iraqi parliament voted for all foreign
troops to leave the country. This would end its standing agreement with the United States to station
5,200 soldiers in Iraq. Then- President Trump objected to withdrawing troops and threatened Iraq with
sanctions over this decision.[366] In 2023, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani indicated
his support for an indefinite U.S. military presence in Iraq.[367]
Casualties

Casualty estimates

Wounded US personnel flown from

Iraq to Ramstein, Germany, for
medical treatment (February 2007)

CC

13:30

Gun camera footage of the July 12,

2007, Baghdad airstrike, that killed 12
people, including Reuters employees
Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed
Chmagh.

For coalition death totals see the infobox at the top right. See also Casualties of the Iraq War, which
has casualty numbers for coalition nations, contractors, non- Iraqi civilians, journalists, media helpers,
aid workers, and the wounded. Casualty figures, especially Iraqi ones, are highly disputed.

There have been several attempts by the media, coalition governments and others to estimate the
Iraqi casualties. The table below summarizes some of these estimates and methods.
 March 2003
Source Iraqi casualties
to ...

Iraq Family Health Sur vey 151,000 violent deaths June 2006

Lancet sur vey 601,027 violent deaths out of 654,965 excess deaths June 2006

PLOS Medicine Study 460,000 excess deaths including 132,000 violent deaths from the June 2011
conflict [79]

Opinion Research Business 1,033,000 violent deaths from the conflict August 2007
sur vey

Iraqi Health Ministr y 87,215 violent deaths per death certificates issued January 2005 to
Deaths prior to January 2005 unrecorded February 2009
Ministry estimates up to 20% more deaths are undocumented.

Associated Press 110,600 violent deaths April 2009

Health Ministry death certificates plus AP estimate of casualties
for 2003–04

Iraq Body Count 105,052–114,731 violent civilian deaths January 2012

compiled from commercial news media, NGO and official reports
Over 162,000 civilian and combatant deaths

WikiLeaks. Classified Iraq War 109,032 violent deaths including 66,081 civilian deaths January 2004 to
Logs December 2009

Impacts

Economic impact

Financial cost

A US Army soldier watching a burning

oil well at Rumaila oil field in April
2003; the fire was later extinguished
by Coalition personnel.

In 2013, the total cost of the war to date was estimated at $1.7 trillion by the Watson Institute for
International and Public Affairs at Brown University.[368] However, some economists argue the total
cost to the U.S. economy could range from $3[369] to $6 trillion, including long- term interest and
veterans' costs, by 2053.[370] The upper ranges of these estimates include the long- term cost of
disability compensation and medical care to U.S. troops. Harvard’s public finance expert, Linda J.
Bilmes, estimated that these costs alone would amount to nearly $1 trillion over the next 40
years.[371] Bilmes also argued the war diverted resources from Afghanistan, raised oil prices,
increased US federal debt, and contributed to the global financial crisis.[372] The most recent
estimates indicate costs will exceed $2.9 trillion by 2050. This figure includes direct costs such as
military operations, veterans' care, and reconstruction, as well as long- term expenses, particularly for
veterans' healthcare and disability benefits. As of 2023, $1.8 trillion had been spent, and costs will
continue over the coming decades due to care for veterans and other war- related expenditures.[373]

A CNN report noted that the U.S.- led interim government, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA),
lost track of $8.8 billion from the Development Fund for Iraq during its tenure.[374] Additionally, in
2011, CBS News reported that $6 billion in cash, was airlifted into Iraq by the Bush administration
aboard military cargo planes. This was part of a total of $12 billion sent in cash over 21 separate
flights by May 2004, much of which disappeared.[375] Stuart Bowen, director of the Office of the
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, stated that the CPA had failed to establish
sufficient controls to ensure the funds were used transparently, adding that the missing money might
represent "the largest theft of funds in national history."[376]

Reparations

By 2013, some human rights groups in both Iraq and the US had begun campaigning for reparations
from the US for the devastation and health effects suffered by Iraqis during the war.[377][378]

Economic recession in 2021

As of 2021, Iraq had fallen into an economic depression, caused by the ongoing COVID pandemic and
falling oil and gas prices, which economists described as the country's biggest financial threat since
the rule of Saddam Hussein. Iraq suffered from currency devaluation in 2021 for the first time in
decades and was unable to import crucial products, including medicines and food, and had a lack of
foreign currency to pay off the national debt.[379]
Humanitarian impact

Humanitarian crisis

Child killed by a car bomb in Kirkuk,

July 2011

According to a 2007 Oxfam report, the child malnutrition rate had risen to 28%, and the rate of people
without access to clean drinking water had risen to 70%.[380] In 2007, Nasser Muhssin, a researcher
on family and children's affairs affiliated to the University of Baghdad claimed that 60–70% of Iraqi
children suffered from psychological problems.[381] A 2007 cholera outbreak in northern Iraq was
thought to be the result of poor water quality.[382] As many as half of Iraqi doctors left the country
between 2003 and 2006.[383]

By the end of 2015, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
4.4 million Iraqis had been internally displaced.[384] The population of Iraqi Christians dropped
dramatically during the war, from 1.5 million in 2003 to 500,000 in 2015,[385] and perhaps only 275,000
in 2016.

The Foreign Policy Association reported that: "Perhaps the most perplexing component of the Iraq
refugee crisis ... has been the inability for the United States to absorb more Iraqis following the 2003
invasion of the country. To date, the United States has granted around 84,000 Iraqis refugee status, of
the more than two million global Iraqi refugees. By contrast, the United States granted asylum to more
than 100,000 South Vietnamese refugees during the Vietnam War."[386][387][388]

Environmental impact

Oil pollution

The war has led to oil spills, which increased carbon emissions and contaminated the surrounding
water resources. During the invasion period, the retreating Iraqi army damaged the oil infrastructure
and destroyed more than 736 oil wells in southern Iraq, resulting in massive oil spills and the ignition
of fires.[389] In 2003, more than 50 billion tonnes of carbon emissions were produced from burning oil
fields and released into the atmosphere.[390] Also, over 130 million gallons of oil leaked into
surrounding water resources, such as Sawa Lake.[391] Between 2003 and 2010, more than 5,000 birds
from three species died around Sawa Lake.[391]

Radioactive contamination

The U.S. army testing the

harmful radiation fragments
on the ground in Basra, Iraq.

The U.S.- led coalition used depleted uranium (DU) munitions during the war to pierce tank armour.[392]
1,000 to 2,000 tonnes (980 to 1,970 long tons; 1,100 to 2,200 short tons) of DU munitions were fired,
which caused ammunition fragments containing radioactive material to spread across the country.
According to a United Nations Environment Programme report, radioactive material contaminated air
and soil; with the radioactive concentration found in Iraqi soil at 709.52 Bq in 2003 compared to
143.22 Bq in 2002.[393] The report states that high levels of radiation prevented plants, especially
crop seeds, from sprouting; with about 22% (9.5 million ha) of the farmland in Iraq unable to grow
barley.[391]

In addition, radiation contamination may have had harmful public health outcomes through poisoning
and increased incidence of various cancers and birth defects.[393] Several studies have identified
increased occurrence of deformities, cancers, and other serious health problems in areas where DU
shells were used.[394] Some Iraqi doctors attributed these malformations to possible long- term
effects of depleted uranium.[395] Studies disagree on whether DU ammunition has any measurable
detrimental health effects.[396][393] According to research from the UK Atomic Energy Authority in
2005, the cancer rate had increased by 35% since 2003. As of 2013, 140,000 Iraqis were suffering
from cancer, with between 7,000 and 8,000 new cases yearly.[393] According to a 2012 journal article
by Al- Hadithi et al., existing studies and research evidence does not show a "clear increase in birth
defects" or a "clear indication of a possible environmental exposure including depleted uranium". The
article further states that "there is actually no substantial evidence that genetic defects can arise
from parental exposure to DU in any circumstances."[397]

Ecosystem destruction

The war has also led to damage to ecosystems though pollution and physical destruction.
Approximately 25,000 tons of bombs were dropped by the U.S. military during the war.[389] More than
250 chemical and armament factories were destroyed, which caused over 50,000 cubic meters of
hazardous chemicals, such as fertilizer, and raw sewage to leak into water,[398] leading to surrounding
freshwater ecosystem becoming polluted and species' habitat being impacted.[389] According to the
World Wide Fund for Nature, 33 Iraqi wetlands, especially the Mesopotamian Marshland, have been
contaminated by chemicals, which has caused 60 types of mammal species to lose their habitats,
and more than 45 types of plants to become extinct.[391]

Impact on the Global War on Terrorism

Though explicitly stating that Iraq had "nothing" to do with 9/11,[399] erstwhile President George W.
Bush consistently referred to the Iraq War as "the central front in the War on Terror", and argued that if
the United States pulled out of Iraq, "terrorists will follow us here".[400][401][402] While other proponents
of the war regularly echoed this assertion, as the conflict dragged on, members of the US Congress,
the US public, and even US troops questioned the connection between Iraq and the fight against anti-
US terrorism. In particular, a consensus developed among intelligence experts that the Iraq War
actually increased terrorism. Counterterrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna frequently referred to the
invasion of Iraq as a "fatal mistake".[403]

London's International Institute for Strategic Studies concluded in 2004 that the occupation of Iraq
had become "a potent global recruitment pretext" for Mujahideen and that the invasion "galvanised" al-
Qaeda and "perversely inspired insurgent violence" there.[404] The US National Intelligence Council
concluded in a January 2005 report that the war in Iraq had become a breeding ground for a new
generation of terrorists; David Low, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats, indicated
that the report concluded that the war in Iraq provided terrorists with "a training ground, a recruitment
ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills ... There is even, under the best scenario, over
time, the likelihood that some of the jihadists who are not killed there will, in a sense, go home,
wherever home is, and will, therefore, disperse to various other countries." The council's chairman
Robert Hutchings said, "At the moment, Iraq is a magnet for international terrorist activity."[405] And the
2006 National Intelligence Estimate, which outlined the considered judgment of all 16 US intelligence
agencies, held that "The Iraq conflict has become the 'cause célèbre' for jihadists, breeding a deep
resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist
movement."[406]

A report by the Council on Foreign Relations, released on the 20th anniversary of the invasion
analyzed the rationale to go to war and the subsequent decisions during the occupation. The report
states that the "justification for going to war was based on scanty and deeply flawed intelligence" and
that the invasion was an "error compounded by the absence of an agreed exit strategy and the
decision to embark on a massive, open- ended nation- building project". The same report also
ascertained that "the occupation authority's first acts were to disband the Iraqi army and the Ba'athist
governing party, igniting what would become a lethal, long- running insurgency and eventually a
multinational terrorist organization that took over most of the country".[407][95]

Impact on geopolitics

From a geopolitical perspective, the war in Iraq has been interpreted as weakening the West's moral
high ground and hampering its ability to effectively counter Russia and China. With regard to the
Russo- Ukrainian War, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said in March 2022 that the U.S. exerted
similar pressures on Iraq in 2003, which the US invaded later for no reason other than "a vial of
unidentified chemicals".[408] In March 2023, Tony Blair, former British prime minister rejected
comparisons between Russia's war in Ukraine and the US- led invasion of Iraq, claiming that the Iraq
War cannot be used as a justification by Russia to annex Russian- speaking zones in eastern
Ukraine.[409]

Criticism

A city street in Ramadi heavily

damaged by the fighting in 2006
 A memorial in North Carolina in
December 2007; US casualty count
can be seen in the background.[410]

The Bush administration's rationale for the Iraq War has faced heavy criticism from an array of popular
and official sources both inside and outside the United States,[411][412][343] with many US citizens
finding many parallels with the Vietnam War.[413] For example, a former CIA officer described the
Office of Special Plans as a group of ideologues who were dangerous to US national security and a
threat to world peace, and stated that the group lied and manipulated intelligence to further its agenda
of removing Saddam.[414] The Center for Public Integrity stated that the Bush administration made a
total of 935 false statements between 2001 and 2003 about Iraq's alleged threat to the United
States.[415]

Both proponents and opponents of the invasion have also criticized the prosecution of the war effort
along with a number of other lines. Most significantly, critics have assailed the United States and its
allies for not devoting enough troops to the mission, not adequately planning for post- invasion Iraq,
and for permitting and perpetrating human rights abuses. As the war has progressed, critics have also
railed against the high human and financial costs. In 2016, the United Kingdom published the Iraq
Inquiry, a public inquiry which was broadly critical of the actions of the British government and military
in making the case for the war, in tactics and in planning for the aftermath of the war.[416][417][418]

Iraq
States participating in the invasion
of Iraq
States in support of an invasion
States in opposition to an
invasion
States with an uncertain or no
official standpoint

Criticisms include:
 Legality of the invasion[419][420][421][422][423]

Human casualties [424][425][426][427]

Human rights violations such as the Iraq prison abuse scandals

Insufficient post- invasion plans, in particular inadequate troop levels (A RAND Corporation study
stated that 500,000 troops would be required for success.)[428]

Financial costs with approximately $612 billion spent as of 4/09 the CBO has estimated the total
cost of the war in Iraq to the United States will be around $1.9 trillion.[429]

Adverse effect on US- led global "war on terror"[430][431]

Damage to US' traditional alliances and influence in the region.[432][433]

Endangerment and ethnic cleansing of religious and ethnic minorities by

insurgents [229][434][435][436][437]

Disruption of Iraqi oil production and related energy security concerns (the price of oil quadrupled
between 2002 and 2008).[438][439]

War crimes

Throughout the war, many human rights abuses and war crimes were committed.

By Coalition forces and private contractors

This photograph from Abu

Ghraib released in 2006 shows
a pyramid of abused Iraqi
prisoners.
Deaths of civilians as a result of bombing and missile strikes that fail to take feasible precautions
with regards to civilians casualties.[440]

Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse by US Army personnel,[441] involving the detention of
thousands of Iraqi people. Torture at Abu Ghraib included rape, sodomy and extensive sexual
abuse, waterboarding, pouring phosphoric acid on detainees, sleep deprivation and physical
beatings.

Haditha massacre of 24 civilians by US soldiers.

Widespread use of the incendiary munition white phosphorus such as during the battle of Fallujah.
The documentary Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre, claimed that Iraqi civilians, including women and
children, had died of burns caused by white phosphorus during the battle, however, US Department
of Defense spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable denied that this was true but confirmed
to the BBC that US forces had used white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon there against
enemy combatants.[442][443][444] The use of white phosphorus against civilian populations is banned
by international legislation.[445]

Mahmudiyah rape and killings, where US soldiers raped and killed 14- year old Abeer Qasim Humza.
They also killed 3 of her relatives.[446][447]

The torture and killing of prisoner of war, Iraqi Air Force commander, Abed Hamed Mowhoush.

The killing of Baha Mousa while in British Army custody.

Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre, where 42 civilians were allegedly killed by coalition
airstrikes.[448]

Planting weapons on noncombatant, unarmed Iraqis by three US Marines after killing them.[449][450]
According to a report by The Nation , other similar acts have been witnessed by US soldiers.[451]

Nisour Square massacre by Blackwater Security Consulting personnel.

Allegations of beatings, electrocution, mock executions, and sexual assault by British troops were
presented to the International Criminal Court (ICC) by Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) and the
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) on 12 January 2014.[452]
By insurgent groups

Car bombing was a frequently used

tactic by insurgents in Iraq.

Killing over 12,000 Iraqis from January 2005 to June 2006, according to Iraqi Interior Minister
Bayan Jabr, giving the first official count for the victims of bombings, ambushes and other deadly
attacks.[453] The insurgents have also conducted numerous suicide attacks on the Iraqi civilian
population, mostly targeting the majority Shia community.[454][455] An October 2005 report from
Human Rights Watch examines the range of civilian attacks and their purported justification.[456]

Attacks against civilians by sectarian death squads primarily during the Iraqi Civil War. Iraq Body
Count project data shows that 33% of civilian deaths during the Iraq War resulted from execution
after abduction or capture. These were overwhelmingly carried out by unknown actors including
insurgents, sectarian militias and criminals.[457]

Attacks on diplomats and diplomatic facilities including; the bombing of the UN headquarters in
Baghdad in August 2003 killing the top UN representative in Iraq and 21 other UN staff
members;[458] beheading several diplomats: two Algerian diplomatic envoys Ali Belaroussi and
Azzedine Belkadi,[459] Egyptian diplomatic envoy al- Sherif,[460] and four Russian diplomats [461]

The February 2006 bombing of the al- Askari Mosque, destroying one of the holiest Shiite shrines,
killing over 165 worshipers and igniting sectarian strife and reprisal killings [462]

The publicised killing of several contractors; Eugene Armstrong, Jack Hensley, Kenneth Bigley,
Ivaylo Kepov and Georgi Lazov (Bulgarian truck drivers.)[463] Other non- military personnel murdered
include: translator Kim Sun- il, Shosei Koda, Fabrizio Quattrocchi (Italian), charity worker Margaret
Hassan, reconstruction engineer Nick Berg, photographer Salvatore Santoro (Italian)[464] and supply
worker Seif Adnan Kanaan (Iraqi.) Four private armed contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko,
Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague, were killed with grenades and small arms fire, their bodies
dragged from their vehicles, beaten and set ablaze. Their burned corpses were then dragged
through the streets before being hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates.[465]

Torture or killing of members of the New Iraqi Army,[466] and assassination of civilians associated
with the Coalition Provisional Authority, such as Fern Holland, or the Iraqi Governing Council, such as
 Aqila al- Hashimi and Ezzedine Salim, or other foreign civilians, such as those from Kenya[467]

By post-invasion Iraqi Government

The post- invasion Iraqi government used torture against detainees, including children. Some
techniques of torture used included beatings, electric shocks, prolonged hanging by the wrists, food
and water deprivation, and blindfolding for multiple days.[468] Iraqi police from the Interior Ministry
were accused of forming Death Squads and committing numerous massacres of Sunni Arabs.[469]
Many of these human rights abuses were carried out by Iraqi government- sponsored Shi'ite
militias.[470]

Public opinion on the war

International opinion

Protesters on 19 March 2005, in

London, where over 150,000 marched

In a March 2003 Gallup poll, the day after the invasion, 76% of Americans had approved of military
action against Iraq.[471] In a March 2003 YouGov poll, 54% of Britons supported the military action
against Iraq.[472] A remarkable aspect was the support for invasion expressed by many left- wing
intellectuals such as Christopher Hitchens, Paul Berman, Michael Walzer and Jean Bethke
Elshtain.[473][474] In a February 2003 poll by the national public research institute CIS, 91% of
Spaniards opposed any military intervention in Iraq.[475]

According to a January 2007 BBC World Service poll of more than 26,000 people in 25 countries, 73%
of the global population disapproved of US handling of the Iraq War.[476] A September 2007 poll
conducted by the BBC found that two- thirds of the world's population believed the US should
withdraw its forces from Iraq.[477]

In 2006 it was found that majorities in the UK and Canada believed that the war in Iraq was
"unjustified" and – in the UK – were critical of their government's support of US policies in Iraq.[478]
According to polls conducted by the Arab American Institute, four years after the invasion of Iraq, 83%
of Egyptians had a negative view of the US role in Iraq; 68% of Saudi Arabians had a negative view;
96% of the Jordanian population had a negative view; 70% of the population of the United Arab
Emirates and 76% of the Lebanese population also described their view as negative.[479] The Pew
Global Attitudes Project reports that in 2006 majorities in the Netherlands, Germany, Jordan, France,
Lebanon, Russia, China, Canada, Poland, Pakistan, Spain, Indonesia, Turkey, and Morocco believed the
world was safer before the Iraq War and the toppling of Saddam, while pluralities in the United States
and India believe the world is safer without Saddam Hussein.[480]

Iraqi opinion

A woman pleads with an Iraqi army

soldier from 2nd Company, 5th
Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division to let
a suspected insurgent free during a
raid near Tafaria, Iraq.

Directly after the invasion, an NDTV poll of Baghdad residents reported a slight majority of
respondents supported the US invasion.[481] Polls conducted between 2005 and 2007 showed 31–
37% of Iraqis wanted US and other Coalition forces to withdraw once security was restored and that
26–35% wanted immediate withdrawal instead.[482][483][484] In 2006, a poll conducted on the Iraqi
public revealed that 52% of the ones polled said Iraq was going in the right direction and 61% claimed
it was worth ousting Saddam Hussein.[482] In a March 2007 BBC poll, 82% of Iraqis expressed a lack
of confidence in coalition forces based in Iraq.[485] According to a 2009 poll conducted by the
University of Maryland, 7 out of 10 Iraqis wanted US troops to withdraw within one year and also 78%
felt that US military presence was "provoking more conflict than it is preventing".[486] Despite a
majority having previously been opposed to the US presence, according to a poll conducted by the
Asharq Research Centre, a private Iraqi company, 60% of Iraqis had believed it was "the wrong time"
for a major withdrawal of American troops prior to the withdrawal in 2011, with 51% saying withdrawal
would have a negative effect.[487][488]
Foreign involvement

Suicide bombers

Origins of suicide bombe rs in Iraq 2003–

2007
Nationality

Saudi Arabia 53

Iraq 18

Italy 8

Syria 8

Kuwait 7

Jordan 4

* Other 26

* Three each from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Turkey,

Yemen; two each from Belgium, France, Spain; one

[489]
each from Britain, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan

According to studies, most of the suicide bombers in Iraq were foreigners, especially
Saudis.[489][490][491]

Role of Iran

According to two unnamed US officials, the Pentagon is examining the possibility that the Karbala
provincial headquarters raid, in which insurgents managed to infiltrate an American base, kill five US
soldiers, wound three, and destroy three humvees before fleeing, was supported by Iranians. In a
speech on 31 January 2007, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki stated that Iran was supporting
attacks against Coalition forces in Iraq[492] and some Iraqis suspect that the raid may have been
perpetrated by the Quds Force in retaliation for the detention of five Iranian officials by US forces in
the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on 11 January.[493][494] In 2014, the legacy of Iran's presence in Iraq after
the invasion had been mixed with regard to the fight against regional terrorist groups. The U.S.
occupation and subsequent regional instability had spawned the creation of the PMF (Popular
Mobilization Forces), an Iranian militia that effectively fought the influence of emerging caliphates in
the region.[495]
Later, a 1,300- page US Army Iraq War study, released in January 2019, concluded that "At the time of
this project's completion in 2018, an emboldened and expansionist Iran appears to be the only victor"
and that the outcome of the war triggered a "deep skepticism about foreign interventions" among
America's public opinion.[423]

Role of Israel

Israel did not officially support or take part in the Iraq War. According to former State Department
official Lawrence Wilkerson and former CIA agent and Iran expert Robert Baer, Israeli officials warned
the Bush administration against invading Iraq, saying that it would destabilize the region and empower
the much more dangerous regime in Iran.[496][497][498][499] However it was reported in the Washington
Post that "Israel is urging United States' officials not to delay a military strike against Iraq's Saddam
Hussein".[500] It was also reported in 2002 that Israeli intelligence provided Washington with alarming
reports about Iraq's alleged program to develop weapons of mass destruction.[501]

According to former US undersecretary of defense Douglas Feith, Israeli officials did not push their
American counterparts to initiate the war in Iraq. In an interview with Ynet, Feith stated that "what you
heard from the Israelis was not any kind of advocacy of war with Iraq" and that "[w]hat you heard from
Israeli officials in private discussions was that they were not really focused on Iraq... [t]hey were much
more focused on Iran."[502]

At Washington's behest, Israel did not provide vocal support for the war, as the US government was
concerned that Israeli support for or participation in the war would potentially alienate the Arab world.
In January 2007, the Forward reported that sometime before March 2003, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon told Bush that Israel "would not push one way or the other" for or against an Iraq war. Sharon
said that he believed that Iraq was a genuine threat to the Middle East and that Saddam had weapons
of mass destruction, but explicitly warned Bush that if the US did go to war with Iraq that he should
make sure to formulate a viable exit strategy, prepare a counterinsurgency strategy, and should not
attempt to implant democracy in the Arab world. One of the sources who provided this information
was Israeli Ambassador to the US Daniel Ayalon.[503]

Israel has also assisted the US military by sharing its expertise on counterinsurgency methods, such
as utilizing drones and operating checkpoints.[504]

In 2003 the Israeli news magazine, the Ha'aretz, in its published story "White Man's Burden" reported
that belief in the war against Iraq was disseminated by "a small group of 25 or 30 neoconservatives,
almost all of them Jewish".[505]
Role of Russia

The invasion of Iraq prompted a widespread wave of criticism from several world leaders, including
Russian President Vladimir Putin.[506] Before and during the invasion of Iraq, the Russian government
provided intelligence to Saddam Hussein about the location of US forces and their plans.[507]

See also

Foreign interventions by the United States

Iraq portal

United States involvement in regime change Middle Eas t portal

Criticism of United States foreign policy

Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict

Iraq–United States relations

The Iraq War: A Historiography of Wikipedia Changelogs

List of wars by death toll

National Network to End the War Against Iraq

United States military casualties of war

Joint Special Operations Command Task Force in the Iraq War

Footnotes

a. disbanded in 2003

b. 260 killed in 2003,[10] 15,196 killed from 2004 through 2009 (with the exceptions of May 2004
and March 2009),[11] 67 killed in March 2009,[12] 1,100 killed in 2010,[13] and 1,067 killed in
2011,[14] thus giving a total of 17,690 dead

c. The US DoD and the DMDC list 4,505 US fatalities during the Iraq War.[16][17] In addition to these,
two service members were also previously confirmed by the DoD to have died while supporting
operations in Iraq,[18][19] but have been excluded from the DoD and DMDC list. This brings the
total of US fatalities in the Iraq War to 4,507.

d. 33 Ukrainians,[24] 31+ Italians,[25][26] 30 Bulgarians,[27][28] 20 Salvadorans,[29] 19 Georgians,[30] 18

Estonians, 14+ Poles,[31][32][33] 15 Spaniards,[34][35][36][37] 10 Romanians,[38] 6 Australians,[39] 5
Albanians, 4 Kazakhs,[40] 3 Filipinos,[41] and 2 Thais,[42][43] for a total of 210+ wounded
 e. 185 in Diyala from June 2007 to December 2007,[52] 4 in assassination of Abu Risha, 25 on 12
November 2007,[53] 528 in 2008,[54] 27 on 2 January 2009,[55] 13 on 16 November 2009,[56] 15 in
December 2009,[57] 100+ from April to June 2010,[58][59] 52 on 18 July 2010,[60][61] leaving a total
of 1,002+ dead[52]

f. 597 killed in 2003,[65] 23,984 killed from 2004 through 2009 (with the exceptions of May 2004
and March 2009),[11] 652 killed in May 2004,[66] 45 killed in March 2009,[67] 676 killed in 2010,[68]
and 590 killed in 2011,[14] thus giving a total of 26,544 dead

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Further reading

Bellavia, David (2007). House to House: An Epic Memoir of War (https://books.google.com/books?

id=74DRCVfzqkgC&q=House+to+House:+an+Epic+of+Urban+Warfare) . Simon & Schuster.
ISBN 978- 1416574712.

A Bitter Legacy: Lessons of Debaathification in Iraq (https://www.ictj.org/publication/bitter- legacy- l

essons- de- baathification- iraq) (Report). International Center for Transitional Justice.

Butt, Ahsan. 2019. "Why did the United States Invade Iraq in 2003?" Security Studies (https://www.t
andfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09636412.2019.1551567)

Dexter Filkins (17 December 2012). "General Principles: How good was David Petraeus?" (https://
www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/12/17/general- principles) . The New Yorker. pp. 76–81.

Gates, Robert M. (2014). Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
ISBN 978- 0307959478. 318 pages

Gordon, Michael R. (2006). Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq (http
s://archive.org/details/cobraiiinsidesto00gord) . Pantheon. ISBN 978- 1557782328. "michael
gordon cobra II."

Larson, Luke S. (2008). Senator's Son: An Iraq War Novel (https://books.google.com/books?id=bLJ

0dUsDjuoC&q=Senator's+Son:+An+Iraq+War+Novel) . Phoenix, Arizona: Key Edition Incorporated.
ISBN 978- 1449969868.

MacDonald, Michael. 2014. Overreach: Delusions of Regime Change in Iraq (https://www.hup.harv

ard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674729100) . Harvard University Press.

Mikulaschek, Christoph and Jacob Shapiro. (2018). Lessons on Political Violence from America's
Post- 9/11 Wars (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022002716669808) . Journal
of Conflict Resolution 62(1): 174–202.

North, Richard (2009). Ministry of Defeat: The British War in Iraq 2003–2009. Continuum Publishing
Corporation. ISBN 978- 1441169976.

Payne, Andrew. 2019/2020. "Presidents, Politics, and Military Strategy: Electoral Constraints during
the Iraq War." International Security 44(3):163–203
 Bruce R. Pirnie; Edward O'Connell (2008). Counterinsurgency in Iraq (2003–2006). Santa Monica,
CA: Rand Corporation. ISBN 978- 0- 8330- 4297- 2.

Thomas E. Ricks (2006). Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (https://archive.org/detail
s/fiascoamericanmi00rick) . Penguin. ISBN 978- 1594201035.

Robben, Antonius C.G.M., ed. (2010). Iraq at a Distance: What Anthropologists Can Teach Us About
the War. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978- 0- 8122- 4203- 4.

Siracusa, Joseph M., and Laurens J. Visser, "George W. Bush, Diplomacy, and Going to War with Iraq,
2001–2003." The Journal of Diplomatic Research/Diplomasi Araştırmaları Dergisi (2019) 1#1: 1–
29 online (https://www.diplomasiarastirmalari.org.tr/wp- content/uploads/2019/12/JDR- Vol1- No1-
December- 2019.pdf#page=9)

Wertheim, Stephen, "Iraq and the Pathologies of Primacy: The Flawed Logic That Produced the War
Is Alive and Well", Foreign Affairs , vol. 102, no. 3 (May/June 2023), pp. 136–140, 142–152.
"Washington is still in thrall to primacy and caught in a doom loop, lurching from self- inflicted
problems to even bigger self- inflicted problems, holding up the latter while covering up the former.
In this sense, the Iraq war remains unfinished business for the United States." (p. 152.)

External links

International Center for Transitional Justice, Iraq (http://www.ictj.org/our- work/regions- and- countrie
s/iraq)

Dollar cost of war (http://costofwar.com/) : total US cost of the Iraq War

"Bleak Pentagon study admits 'civil war' in Iraq" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070319190219/htt

p://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2362747.ece) , by Rupert Cornwell, The
Independent, March 2007

High resolution maps of Iraq (https://web.archive.org/web/20070219040631/http://www.gulfwarri

or.org/iraq/iraq_ maps.htm) , GulfWarrior.org

Presidential address by George W. Bush (https://georgewbush- whitehouse.archives.gov/news/rel

eases/2003/03/20030319- 17.html) on the evening of 19 March 2003, announcing war against
Iraq.

Bibliography (http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/FacultyPages/EdMoise/iraqbib.html#2war) :
The Second US–Iraq War (2003– )

1st Major Survey of Iraq (https://web.archive.org/web/20110102175946/http://www.zogby.com/n

ews/ReadNews.dbm?ID=734) . Zogby International, 10 September 2003.
Iraq at Polling Report.com (http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm) . Chronological polls of
Americans 18 and older

Just War in Iraq 2003 (http://dyhr.com/speciale/JustWarInIraq2003.pdf) (PDF) – Legal

dissertation by Thomas Dyhr from University of Copenhagen.

Iraq war stories (https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2009/apr/14/iraq- war- stories) ,

a Guardian and Observer archive in words and pictures documenting the human and political cost,
The Guardian , April 2009.

Iraq: The War Card (https://www.publicintegrity.org/politics/white- house/iraq- war- card) Archived

(https://web.archive.org/web/20180903114656/http://www.publicintegrity.org/politics/white- hous
e/iraq- war- card) 3 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Center for Public Integrity.

Jargin SV. "Health care in Iraq: 2013 vs. 2003" (https://archive.today/20150309144301/http://www.

cmaj.ca/content/181/9/576.figures- only/reply%23cmaj_ el_ 716427) . CMAJ . 17 September 2013.

Mather- Cosgrove, Bootie (17 March 2005). "The War with Iraq: Changing Views" (https://www.cbsne
ws.com/news/the- war- with- iraq- changing- views/) . CBS News .