{{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War
{{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

)
{{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

) , partof = the

Iraq conflict Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

and the

War on terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...

, image = Iraq War montage.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: US troops at Uday and

Qusay Hussein Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Nasiri al-Tikriti (or Qusai, ar, قصي صدام حسين; 17 May 1966 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician, military leader, and the second son of Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in ...

's hideout; insurgents in northern Iraq; the toppling of the

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

statue in

Firdos Square Firdos Square ( ar, ساحة الفردوس, Sāḥat al-Firdaus) is a public open space in central Baghdad, Iraq. It is named after the Arabic word ''Firdows'', which means "paradise". The site has been the location of several monumental artworks ...

, date = {{ubl, {{Start and end dates, 2003, 3, 20, 2011, 12, 18, df=yes
({{Age in years, months and days, 2003, 03, 19, 2011, 12, 18) , place =

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, result = *

Invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

and

occupation of Iraq Occupation of Iraq or Iraq occupation may refer to: * Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011) (occupation by American, British and Italian forces) * Mandatory Iraq (Iraq under British Administration, 1921–1932) * Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014) ...

* Overthrow of

Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Baʿath Party ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي ' ) was a political party founded in Syria by Mishel ʿAflaq, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Bītār, and associates of Zaki al-ʾArsūzī. The party espoused B ...

government *

Execution of Saddam Hussein The execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein took place on 30 December 2006, (Death’s Angels). Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging, after being convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the ...

in 2006 * Recognition of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region * Emergence of significant insurgency, rise and fall of

al-Qaeda in Iraq Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI; ar, القاعدة في العراق, al-Qā'idah fī al-ʿIrāq) or Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia ( ar, القاعدة في بلاد الرافدين, al-Qā'idah fī Bilād ar-Rāfidayn), officially known as ''Tanzim Qaidat a ...

January 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 30 January 2005 to elect the new National Assembly, alongside governorate elections and a parliamentary election in Kurdistan Region. The 275-member legislature had been created under the Transitio ...

and formation of

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

-led government *

Civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

between 2006 and 2008 *

Withdrawal Withdrawal means "an act of taking out" and may refer to: * Anchoresis (withdrawal from the world for religious or ethical reasons) * ''Coitus interruptus'' (the withdrawal method) * Drug withdrawal * Social withdrawal * Taking of money from a ban ...

of US forces from Iraq in 2011 * Escalation of sectarian insurgency after US withdrawal leading to the rise of the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

{{cite news , url=https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-jrtn-movement-and-iraq%E2%80%99s-next-insurgency , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826043422/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-jrtn-movement-and-iraq%E2%80%99s-next-insurgency , url-status=dead , archive-date=26 August 2011 , title=The JRTN Movement and Iraq's Next Insurgency | Combating Terrorism Center at West Point , publisher=Ctc.usma.edu , access-date=2 August 2014 * Re-escalation of conflict in 2013 and return of US forces to Iraq in 2014 * Continued

Iraqi conflict The Iraqi conflict is an armed conflict that began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States-led Multi-National Force – Iraq, coalition that toppled the Ba'athist Iraq, government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued as an insurge ...

, combatant1 = Invasion phase (2003)
{{flag, United States
{{flag, United Kingdom
{{flag, Australia
{{flag, Poland
{{flagdeco, Iraqi Kurdistan

Peshmerga The Peshmerga ( ku, پێشمەرگه, Pêşmerge, lit=those who face death) is the Kurdish military forces of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, the Peshmerga, along with their security subsidiaries, ...

INC Inc. or inc may refer to: * Incorporation (business), as a suffix indicating a corporation * ''Inc.'' (magazine), an American business magazine * Inc. No World, a Los Angeles-based band * Indian National Congress, a political party in India * I ...

Supported by:
{{flag, Denmark
{{flag, Netherlands
{{flag, Italy
{{flag , Spain , combatant2 = Invasion phase (2003)
{{flagcountry, Ba'athist Iraq

{{flagicon image, Flag of Ansar al-Islam.svg

Ansar al-Islam Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan ( ku, ئەنسارولئیسلام له کوردستان),Chalk, Peter, ''Encyclopedia of Terrorism'' Volume 1, 2012, ABC-CLIO simply called Ansar al-Islam ( ku, ئەنسارولئیسلام), also nicknamed the Kurdi ...

{{efn, against both

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, combatant1a = Post-invasion
(2003–11)
{{flagdeco, Iraq

{{flag, United States
{{flag, United Kingdom {{collapsible list , bullets = yes , titlestyle = background:transparent;font-weight:normal;text-align:left; , title = {{flagicon image, Flag of Multi-National Force – Iraq.png MNF–I
(2003–09) , {{flag, United States
(2003–09) , {{flag, United Kingdom
(2003–09) , {{flag, Australia
(2003–09) , {{flag, Turkey
(2003–08) , {{flag, Romania
(2003–09) , {{flag, Azerbaijan
(2003–08) , {{flag, Kuwait
(2003–08) , {{flag, Estonia
(2003–09) , {{flag, El Salvador
(2003–09) , {{flag, Bulgaria
(2003–08) , {{flag, Moldova
(2003–08) , {{flag, Albania
(2003–08) , {{flag, Ukraine
(2003–08) , {{flag, Denmark
(2003–08) , {{flag, Czech Republic
(2003–08) , {{flag, South Korea, 1997
(2003–08) , {{flag, Singapore
(2003–08) , {{flag, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2003–08) , {{flag, Macedonia
(2003–08) , {{flag, Latvia
(2003–08) , {{flag, Poland
(2003–08) , {{flag, Kazakhstan
(2003–08) , {{flag, Mongolia, 1992
(2003–08) , {{flag, Georgia
(2003–08) , {{flag, Tonga
(2004–08) , {{flag, Japan
(2004–08) , {{flag, Armenia
(2005–08) , {{flag, Slovakia
(2003–07) , {{flag, Lithuania
(2003–07) , {{flag, Italy
(2003–06) , {{flag, Norway
(2003–06) , {{flag, Hungary
(2003–05) , {{flag, Netherlands
(2003–05) , {{flag, Portugal
(2003–05) , {{flag, New Zealand
(2003–04) , {{flag, Thailand
(2003–04) , {{flag, Philippines
(2003–04) , {{flag, Honduras, 1949
(2003–04) , {{flag, Dominican Republic
(2003–04) , {{flag, Spain
(2003–04) , {{flag, Nicaragua
(2003–04) , {{flag, Iceland
(2003–04) {{flagicon image, Flag of the Iraq Awakening Conference.svg

Awakening Council The Sons of Iraq ( ar, أبناء العراق ''Abnāʼ al-ʻIrāq'') were coalitions between tribal sheikhs in the Al Anbar province in Iraq as well as former Saddam Hussein's Iraqi military officers that united in 2005 to maintain stability ...

Supported by:
{{flag, Iran * {{flagicon image, Seal of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army.svg, border=no Artesh ---- {{flag, Iraqi Kurdistan *

, combatant2a = Post-invasion (2003–11)
{{flagicon image, Flag_of_the_Ba%27ath_Party.svg Ba'ath loyalists * SCJL ** {{flagicon, Ba'athist Iraq JRTN ---- {{flagicon image, Flag of Jihad.svg Sunni insurgents * {{flagicon image, Flag of al-Qaeda in Iraq.svg AQI (2004–06) * {{flagdeco, ISIL ISI{{cite AV media, url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a01Rg2g2Z8#t=745 , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/2a01Rg2g2Z8 , archive-date=2021-12-14 , url-status=live, title=President Barack Obama Speaks With VICE News, date=16 March 2015, publisher=YouTube{{cbignore (from 2006) * IAI *

Ansar al-Sunnah Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah ( ar, جماعة أنصار السنه, Jama'at 'Anṣār as-Sunnah, lit=Assembly of the Helpers of Sunnah), also known as Jaish Ansar al-Sunna (Army of the Helpers of Sunnah), Ali ibn Abi Talib Battalion or simply as ...

(2003–07) *

Others Others or The Others may refer to: Fictional characters * Others (A Song of Ice and Fire), Others (''A Song of Ice and Fire''), supernatural creatures in the fictional world of George R. R. Martin's fantasy series ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' * Ot ...

---- {{flagicon image, Shiism arabic blue.svg Shia insurgents * {{flagicon image, Flag of Promised Day Brigades.svg

Mahdi Army The Peace Companies ( ar, سرايا السلام, or Saraya al Salam) are an Iraqi armed group linked to Iraq's Shia community. They are a 2014 revival of the Mahdi Army ( ''Jaysh al-Mahdī'') that was created by the Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada a ...

Special Groups * {{flagicon image}

Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH; ar, عصائب أهل الحق Aṣaʾib ʾAhl al-Haqq, "League of the Righteous"), also known as the Khazali Network ( ar, شبكة الخزعلي), is a radical Iraqi Shi'a political party and paramilitary group active ...

Supported by:
{{IRN * {{flagicon image, Seal of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution.svg, border=no

IRGC The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

** {{flagicon image, Seal of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution.svg, border=no

Quds Force The Quds Force ( fa, نیروی قدس, niru-ye qods, Jerusalem Force) is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War ...

, commander1 = {{plainlist, * {{flagdeco, Iraq

Jalal Talabani Jalal Talabani ( ku, مام جەلال تاڵەبانی, translit=Celal Talebanî; ar, جلال طالباني ; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2006 to 2014, as well as ...

* {{flagdeco, Iraq

Ayad Allawi Ayad Allawi ( ar, إيَاد عَلَّاوِي ; born 31 May 1944) is an Iraqi politician. He served as the vice president of Iraq from 2014 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018. Previously he was interim prime minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and the p ...

* {{flagdeco, Iraq

Ibrahim al-Jaafari Ibrahim Abd al-Karim al-Eshaiker ( ar, إبراهيم عبد الكريم الأشيقر; born 25 March 1947), also known as Ibrahim al-Jaafari, is an Iraqi politician who was Prime Minister of Iraq in the Iraqi Transitional Government from 2005 ...

* {{flagdeco, Iraq

Nouri al-Maliki Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki ( ar, نوري المالكي; born 20 June 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki (), is secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and the vice president ...

* {{flagdeco, United States

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

* {{flagdeco, United States

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

* {{flagdeco, United States

Donald Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under Presi ...

* {{flagdeco, United States

Robert Gates Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by president George W. Bush an ...

* {{flagdeco, United States

Tommy Franks Tommy Ray Franks (born 17 June 1945) is a retired general in the United States Army. His last army post was as the Commander of the United States Central Command, overseeing United States military operations in a 25-country region, including the ...

* {{flagicon image, Flag of Multi-National Force – Iraq.png, size=23px

Ricardo Sanchez Ricardo Sanchez (born September 9, 1953) is a former lieutenant general in the United States Army. His career was most notable for his service as commander of Multi-National Force – Iraq and V Corps. Early life and education Sánchez was bor ...

* {{flagicon image, Flag of Multi-National Force – Iraq.png, size=23px

George W. Casey, Jr. George William Casey Jr. (born July 22, 1948) is a retired four-star general who served as the 36th Chief of Staff of the United States Army from April 10, 2007, to April 10, 2011. He served as Commanding General, Multi-National Force – Iraq fr ...

* {{flagicon image, Flag of Multi-National Force – Iraq.png, size=23px

David Petraeus David Howell Petraeus (; born November 7, 1952) is a retired United States Army general and public official. He served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 6, 2011, until his resignation on November 9, 2012. Prior to h ...

* {{flagicon image, Flag of United States Forces – Iraq.png

Raymond T. Odierno Raymond Thomas Odierno (8 September 1954 – 8 October 2021) was an American military officer who served as a four-star general of the United States Army and as the 38th chief of staff of the Army. Prior to his service as chief of staff, Odiern ...

* {{flagicon image, Flag of United States Forces – Iraq.png

Lloyd Austin Lloyd James Austin III (born August 8, 1953) is a retired United States Army four-star general who, since his appointment on January 22, 2021, has served as the 28th United States secretary of defense. He is the first African American to serv ...

* {{Flagdeco, United Kingdom

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

* {{flagdeco, United Kingdom

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

* {{flagdeco, United Kingdom

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

* {{flagdeco, Australia

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

* {{flagdeco, Australia

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

* {{flagdeco, Netherlands

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied H ...

* {{flagdeco, Denmark

Anders Fogh Rasmussen Anders Fogh Rasmussen (; born 26 January 1953) is a Danish politician who was the 24th Prime Minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the 12th Secretary General of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became CEO of politi ...

* {{flagdeco, Italy

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

* {{flagdeco, Italy

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prim ...

* {{flagdeco, Spain

José María Aznar José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spain. A member of the Fre ...

* {{flagdeco, Poland

Aleksander Kwaśniewski Aleksander Kwaśniewski (; born 15 November 1954) is a Polish politician and journalist. He served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule, he was active in the Socialist Union of Poli ...

* {{flagdeco, Poland

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010. Before his tenure as president, he prev ...

* {{flagdeco, Iran

Mohammad Salimi Mohammad Salimi ( fa, محمد سلیمی; 1937 – 2016) was an Iranian military who served as the 6th Minister of Defense in November 1981 to August 1984 and the commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army in 2000 to 2005. Early life Salimi ...

* {{flagdeco, Iran

Ataollah Salehi Ataollah Salehi ( fa, عطاءالله صالحی; born 9 March 1950) is the former and third commander-in-chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, serving from 2005 until 2017. He graduated before the Islamic Revolution from the Iranian Arm ...

, commander2 = {{plainlist, * {{flagdeco, Iraq, 1991

{{POW

* {{flagdeco, Iraq, 1991

Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri ( ar, عزة إبراهيم الدوري, Izzat Ibrāhīm ad-Dūrī; 1 July 1942 – 25 October 2020) was an Iraqi politician and Army Field Marshal. He served as Vice Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council u ...

* {{flagdeco, Iraq, 1991

{{KIA * {{flagdeco, Iraq, 1991

Uday Hussein Uday Saddam Hussein ( ar, عدي صدام حسين; 18 June 1964 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician and the eldest son of Saddam Hussein. He held numerous positions as a sports chairman, military officer and businessman, and was the head ...

{{KIA * {{flagdeco, Iraq, 1991

Abid Hamid Mahmud Lieutenant General Abid Al-Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti ( ; ar, عبد الحميد محمود التكريتي) (21 September 1957 – 7 June 2012) was an Iraqi military officer and Saddam Hussein's personal secretary. Biography Mahmud began his ...

{{POW{{executed * {{flagdeco, Iraq, 1991

Ali Hassan al-Majid Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti ( ar, علي حسن عبد المجيد التكريت, ʿAlī Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Tikrītī; 30 November 1941 – 25 January 2010), nicknamed Chemical Ali ( ar, علي الكيمياوي, ʿAlī al-Kīm ...

{{POW{{executed * {{flagdeco, Iraq, 1991

Barzan Ibrahim Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti (17 February 1951 – 15 January 2007) ( ar, برزان إبراهيم الحسن التكريتي), also known as Barazan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Barasan Ibrahem Alhassen and Barzan Hassan, was one of three Sibling#h ...

{{POW{{executed * {{flagdeco, Iraq, 1991

Taha Yasin Ramadan Taha Yasin Ramadan al-Jizrawi ( ar, طه ياسين رمضان الجزراوي; (1939 – 20 March 2007) was an Iraqi politician and military officer of Kurdish origin, who served as one of the three Vice President of Iraq, vice presidents of I ...

{{POW{{executed * {{flagdeco, Iraq, 1991

Tariq Aziz Tariq Aziz ( ar, طارق عزيز , 28 April 1936 – 5 June 2015) was an Iraqi politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and a close advisor of President Saddam Hussein. Their association began in the 1950s wh ...

{{POW * {{flagdeco, Iraq, 1991

Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed al-Muwali ( ar, محمد يونس الأحمد) aka Khadr al-Sabahi is a former senior member of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. Ahmed currently has a million dollar bounty placed on his head as one of Iraq's most wanted men acc ...

---- {{plainlist, * Sunni insurgency * {{flagicon image, Flag of al-Qaeda in Iraq.svg

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ( ar, أَبُو مُصْعَبٍ ٱلزَّرْقَاوِيُّ, ', ''Father of Musab, from Zarqa''; ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh (, '), was a Jordanian jihadist who ran a t ...

{{KIA * {{flagicon image, Flag of al-Qaeda in Iraq.svg

Abu Ayyub al-Masri Abu Ayyub al-Masri ( ; , ', translation: "Father of Ayyub the Egyptian"; 1967 – 18 April 2010), also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir

{{KIA * {{flagicon image, Flag of The Islamic State of Iraq.jpg

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi Hamid Dawud Mohamed Khalil al-Zawi ( ar, حَمِيدُ دَاوُدَ مُحَمَّدُ خَلِيلِ ٱلزَّاوِيِّ, Ḥamīd Dāwud Muḥammad Ḵalīl az-Zāwī; 1959 – 18 April 2010), known as Abu Hamza al-Baghdadi and Abu Omar ...

{{KIA * {{flagicon image, Flag of The Islamic State of Iraq.jpg

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ( ar, أبو بكر البغدادي, ʾAbū Bakr al-Baḡdādī; born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali Muhammad al-Badri al-Samarrai ( ar, إبراهيم عواد إبراهيم علي محمد البدري السامرائي, ʾIb ...

* Ishmael Jubouri * {{flagicon image, Flag of al-Qaeda in Iraq.svg

Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i Wirya Salih ( ku, وه‌ریا ساڵح), known as Abu Abdullah al Shafi'i ( ar, ابو عبدالله الشافعي; ''Father of Abdullah, the Shafi'i''), is the former leader of Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna and Ansar al-Islam from early 2003 to 2010. ...

{{POW ---- {{plainlist, * Shia insurgency * {{flagicon image, Flag of Promised Day Brigades.svg

Muqtada al-Sadr Muqtada al-Sadr ( ar, مقتدى الصدر, Muqtadā aṣ-Ṣadr; born 4 August 1974) is an Iraqi politician and militia leader. He is the leader of the Sadrist Movement and the leader of the Peace Companies, a successor to the militia he had p ...

Abu Deraa Ismail Hafidh al-Lami ( ar, اسماعيل حافظ اللامي) — known as Abu Deraa ( ar, أبو درع, ''"Father of the Shield"'') is an Iraqi Shia militant whose men have been accused of retaliatory terrorizing and killing Sunnis. Bio ...

* {{flagicon image}

Qais al-Khazali Qais Hadi Sayed Hasan al-Khazali ( ar, قيس هادي سيد حسن الخزعلي; born 20 June 1974) is best known as the founder and leader of the Iran-backed Special Groups (Iraq), Special Groups in Iraq from June 2006 until his capture by ...

* {{flagicon image, Shiism arabic blue.svg

Azhar al-Dulaimi Azhar al-Dulaymi was an Iraqi who Brigadier General Kevin J. Bergner reported was a suspected member of the Mahdi army Special Group (Iraq), "Special Group" and was killed by US forces on 19 May 2007. Bergner did not describe how Dulaimi d ...

{{KIA * {{flagdeco, Iran

Yahya Rahim Safavi Yahya "Rahim" Safavi ( fa, یحیی (رحیم) صفوی, born 1952) is an Iranian military commander who served as the chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Early life Safavi was born in 1952 in the city of Isfahan, Iran. C ...

* {{flagdeco, Iran

Mohammad Ali Jafari Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari ( fa, محمدعلی جعفری, born 1 September 1957, also known as Aziz Jafari and Ali Jafari) is a former commander-in-chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps from 2007 to 2019. He was appointed by S ...

* {{flagdeco, Iran

Qasem Soleimani Qasem Soleimani ( fa, قاسم سلیمانی, ; 11 March 19573January 2020) was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until his assassination in 2020, he was the commander of the Quds F ...

, strength1 = Invasion forces (2003)
309,000-584,799
{{flag, United States: 192,000-466,985 personnel
{{flag, United Kingdom: 45,000
{{flag, Australia: 2,000
{{flag, Poland: 194
{{flagicon, Kurdistan

: 70,000

Coalition forces ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , comman ...

(2004–09)
176,000 at peak

United States Forces – Iraq United States Forces – Iraq (USF-I) was an American military sub-unified command, part of U.S. Central Command. It was stationed in Iraq as agreed with the Government of Iraq under the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement. USF–I replaced ...

(2010–11)
112,000 at activation
Security contractors 6,000–7,000 (estimate)

Iraqi security forces The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) is a term used by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to describe law enforcement and military forces of the federal government of the Republic of Iraq. During the Iraq War, these entities received trainin ...

805,269 (military and paramilitary: 578,269,{{Page needed, date=August 2015 police: 227,000)
{{flagicon image, Flag of the Iraq Awakening Conference.svg Awakening militias
≈103,000 (2008)

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also incl ...

≈400,000 (Kurdish Border Guard: 30,000,

75,000) , strength2 = Coat of arms (emblem) of Iraq 1991-2004

Iraqi Armed Forces The Iraqi Armed Forces ( ar, القوات المسلحة العراقية romanized: ''Al-Quwwat Al-Musallahah Al-Iraqiyyah'') (Kurdish languages, Kurdish: هێزە چەکدارەکانی عێراق) are the military forces of the Iraq, Republic ...

: 375,000{{efn, disbanded in 2003
Iraqi Republican Guard Symbol

Special Iraqi Republican Guard: 12,000
Iraqi Republican Guard Symbol

Iraqi Republican Guard Iraqi or Iraqis (in plural) means from Iraq, a country in the Middle East, and may refer to: * Iraqi people or Iraqis, people from Iraq or of Iraqi descent * A citizen of Iraq, see demographics of Iraq * Iraqi or Araghi ( fa, عراقی), someone o ...

: 70,000–75,000
Fedayeen Saddam SSI

Fedayeen Saddam Fedayeen Saddam () was a paramilitary Fedayeen organization loyal to the Ba'athist Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. The name was chosen to mean "Saddam's Men of Sacrifice". At its height, the group had 30,000–40,000 members. Irregular force ...

: 30,000 ---- Sunni Insurgents
≈70,000 (2007)The Brookings Institutio
Iraq Index: Tracking Variables of Reconstruction & Security in Post-Saddam Iraq
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071002041710/http://www3.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index.pdf , date= 2 October 2007 1 October 2007
{{flagicon image, Flag of al-Qaeda in Iraq.svg

Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

≈1,300 (2006)
{{flagicon image, Flag of The Islamic State of Iraq.jpg

Islamic State of Iraq The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI; ar, دولة العراق الإسلامية '), commonly referred to as al-Qaeda in Iraq ( ar, القاعدة في العراق '), is a militant Salafist jihadist group that aimed to establish an Islamic sta ...

≈1,000 (2008)
Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order
≈500–1,000 (2007) , casualties1 =

(post-Saddam)
Killed: 17,690
Wounded: 40,000+

Killed: 4,825 (4,507 US, 179 U.K., 139 other)
Missing/captured (US): 17 (9 died in captivity, 8 rescued)
Wounded: 32,776+ (32,292 US,{{cite web, url=http://www.defense.gov/casualty.pdf , title=Casualty, access-date=29 June 2016 315 U.K., 210+ other)Many official US tables a
"Military Casualty Information"
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303054755/http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/castop.htm , date=3 March 2011. Se
latest totals for injury, disease/other medical
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110602035127/http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/oif-total.pdf , date=2 June 2011"Casualties in Iraq"
iCasualties.org (was lunaville.org). Benicia, California. Patricia Kneisler, ''et al.''
"Iraq Coalition Casualties"
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110321080348/http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx , date=21 March 2011
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114214203/http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FactSheets/OperationsFactsheets/OperationsInIraqBritishCasualties.htm , date=14 November 2006. UK Ministry of Defense

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004051608/http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/CorporatePublications/DoctrineOperationsandDiplomacyPublications/OperationsInIraq/OpTelicCasualtyAndFatalityTables.htm , date=4 October 2012. Injured/diseases/other medical*: 51,139 (47,541 US, 3,598 UK)

Contractors A general contractor, main contractor or prime contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the course of ...

Killed: 1,554{{cite web , url=http://www.dol.gov/owcp/dlhwc/dbaallnation.htm , title=Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) – Defense Base Act Case Summary by Nation , publisher=US Department of Labor , access-date=15 December 2011{{cite web , author=T. Christian Miller , url=http://projects.propublica.org/tables/contractor_casualties , title=US Government Private Contract Worker Deaths and Injuries , publisher=Projects.propublica.org , date=23 September 2009 , access-date=23 October 2010 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727185847/http://projects.propublica.org/tables/contractor_casualties , archive-date=27 July 2011
Wounded & injured: 43,880
Awakening Councils
Killed: 1,002+
Wounded: 500+ (2007), 828 (2008) Total dead: 25,071
Total wounded: 117,961 , casualties2 = Iraqi combatant dead (invasion period): 7,600–45,000
Insurgents (post-Saddam)
Killed: 26,544+ (2003–11)
(4,000 foreign fighters killed by Sep. 2006)

Detainee Detention is the process whereby a state or private citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom or liberty at that time. This can be due to (pending) criminal charges preferred against the individual pursuant to a prosecution or t ...

s: 12,000 (Iraqi-held, in 2010 only){{cite news, url=http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-13/world/iraq.detainees_1_detainees-iraqi-authorities-moussawi?_s=PM:WORLD, title=Amnesty: Iraq holds up to 30,000 detainees without trial, publisher=CNN, date=13 September 2010, access-date=6 January 2011, url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101023155150/http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-13/world/iraq.detainees_1_detainees-iraqi-authorities-moussawi?_s=PM%3AWORLD, archive-date=23 October 2010
119,752 insurgents arrested (2003–2007)
Total dead: 34,144–71,544 , casualties3 =
Documented deaths from violence:

Iraq Body Count Iraq Body Count project (IBC) is a web-based effort to record civilian deaths resulting from the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Included are deaths attributable to coalition and insurgent military action, sectarian violence and criminal violence ...

(2003 – 14 December 2011): 103,160–113,728 civilian deaths recorded and 12,438 new deaths added from the Iraq War Logs

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

(March 2003 – April 2009): 110,600 Iraqi deaths in total
Statistical estimates
''Lancet'' survey** (March 2003 – July 2006): 654,965 (95% CI: 392,979–942,636){{cite web, url=http://brusselstribunal.org/pdf/lancet111006.pdf , title=Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907130701/http://brusselstribunal.org/pdf/lancet111006.pdf , archive-date= 7 September 2015 {{small, (242 KB). By Gilbert Burnham, Riyadh Lafta, Shannon Doocy, and Les Roberts. ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

'', 11 October 2006{{cite web, url=http://web.mit.edu/CIS/pdf/Human_Cost_of_War.pdf , title=The Human Cost of the War in Iraq: A Mortality Study, 2002–2006 {{small, (603 KB). By Gilbert Burnham, Shannon Doocy, Elizabeth Dzeng, Riyadh Lafta, and Les Roberts. A supplement to the October 2006 Lancet study. It is also found here: {{cite web, url=http://www.jhsph.edu/refugee/research/iraq/Human_Cost_of_WarFORMATTED.pdf , title=Archived copy , access-date=9 May 2012 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128182122/http://www.jhsph.edu/refugee/research/iraq/Human_Cost_of_WarFORMATTED.pdf , archive-date=28 November 2007 }

/ref>

New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. Hist ...

31 January 2008
Opinion Research Business**: (March 2003 – August 2007): 1,033,000 (95% CI: 946,258–1,120,000)
PLOS Medicine Study**: (March 2003 – June 2011): 405,000 (60% violent) (95% CI: 48,000–751,000) For more information see

Casualties of the Iraq War Estimates of the casualties from the Iraq War (beginning with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the ensuing occupation and insurgency and civil war) have come in several forms, and those estimates of different types of Iraq War casualties vary gr ...

. , notes = * "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.
*** Violent deaths only – does not include excess deaths due to increased lawlessness, poorer healthcare, etc. , campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Iraq War{{Campaignbox Persian Gulf Wars The Iraq War{{efn, {{Lang-ar, حرب العراق, translit=ḥrb ālʿrāq, group=lower-alpha{{efn, This conflict is also known as the Second Gulf War, Gulf War II, or the Second Iraq War (with the "First Iraq War" being interchangeably used with the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

.) was a protracted armed conflict in

from 2003 to 2011 that began with the

invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Ba'athist Iraq, Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one mont ...

by the United States-led coalition that overthrew the

Iraqi government The federal government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as an Islamic, democratic, federal parliamentary republic. The federal government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as wel ...

. The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the coalition forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government.{{cite encyclopedia , title=Iraq War, url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/870845/Iraq-War, encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica, access-date=27 October 2012 US troops were officially withdrawn in 2011. The

became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition, and the insurgency and many dimensions of the armed conflict are ongoing. The invasion occurred as part of the

George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following a narrow victory over Democratic ...

war on terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...

following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

, despite no connection between Iraq and the attacks. In October 2002,

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

granted Bush the power to decide whether to launch any military attack in Iraq. The Iraq War began on 20 March 2003, when the US, joined by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, launched a "

shock and awe Shock and awe (technically known as rapid dominance) is a military strategy based on the use of overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force to paralyze the enemy's perception of the battlefield and destroy their will to fight. Though ...

" bombing campaign. Iraqi forces were quickly overwhelmed as coalition forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Ba'athist government; Saddam Hussein was captured during

Operation Red Dawn Saddam Hussein, the deposed president of Iraq, was captured by the United States military forces in the town of Ad-Dawr, Iraq on 13 December 2003. Codenamed Operation Red Dawn, this military operation was named after the 1984 American film ''Red ...

in December of that same year and executed three years later. The power vacuum following Saddam's demise and mismanagement by the

Coalition Provisional Authority ) , capital = Baghdad , largest_city = capital , common_languages = ArabicKurdishEnglish (''de facto'') , government_type = Transitional government , legislature = Iraqi Governing Council , title_leader = Administrator , leader1 = Jay ...

led to widespread civil war between

Shias Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most n ...

and

Sunnis Sunni Islam () is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia ...

, as well as a lengthy insurgency against coalition forces. The United States responded with a build-up of 170,000 troops in 2007. This build-up gave greater control to Iraq's government and military, and was judged a success by many. In 2008, President Bush agreed to a withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq. The withdrawal was completed under

in December 2011. The United States based its rationale for the invasion heavily on claims that Iraq had a

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natura ...

(WMD) program and posed a threat to the United States and its allies.Senator

Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Nelson previously served as a United States Senator from Flor ...

(28 January 2004
"New Information on Iraq's Possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction"
{{Webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420112938/https://fas.org/irp/congress/2004_cr/s012804b.html , date=20 April 2016 ''Congressional Record'' Additionally, some US officials accused Saddam of harbouring and supporting

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

. In 2004, the

9/11 Commission The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...

concluded there was no evidence of any relationship between Saddam's regime and al-Qaeda. No stockpiles of WMDs or active WMD program were ever found in Iraq.{{Cite news, url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/22/iraq-war-wmds-an-intelligence-failure-or-white-house-spin/, title=The Iraq War and WMDs: An intelligence failure or White House spin?, date=2019, newspaper=The Washington Post Bush administration officials made numerous claims about a purported Saddam–al-Qaeda relationship and WMDs that were based on insufficient evidence rejected by intelligence officials. The rationale for war faced heavy criticism both domestically and internationally.

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder ...

, then the

Secretary-General of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

, called the invasion illegal under international law, as it violated the

UN Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...

. The 2016

Chilcot Report The Iraq Inquiry (also referred to as the Chilcot Inquiry after its chairman, Sir John Chilcot)United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...

in the process of declaring war, that the process of identification for a legal basis of war was "far from satisfactory", and that, these conclusions taken together, the war was unnecessary.{{cite news, author=Luke Harding, date=6 July 2016, title=Chilcot delivers crushing verdict on Blair and the Iraq war, newspaper=The Guardian, url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/chilcot-report-crushing-verdict-tony-blair-iraq-war, url-status=live, access-date=6 July 2016, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160707153638/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/chilcot-report-crushing-verdict-tony-blair-iraq-war, archive-date=7 July 2016{{cite news, author=Leon Watson, date=6 July 2016, title=Chilcot report: 2003 Iraq war was 'unnecessary', invasion was not 'last resort' and Saddam Hussein was 'no imminent threat', newspaper=The Telegraph, url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/06/chilcot-inquiry-judgement-day-for-tony-blair-as-iraq-war-report/, url-status=live, access-date=6 July 2016, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706072539/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/06/chilcot-inquiry-judgement-day-for-tony-blair-as-iraq-war-report/, archive-date=6 July 2016

Philippe Sands Philippe Joseph Sands, KC (born 17 October 1960) is a British and French writer and lawyer a11 King's Bench Walkand Professor of Laws and Director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals at University College London. A specialist in ...

,
''A Grand and Disastrous Deceit''
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805100956/http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n15/philippe-sands/a-grand-and-disastrous-deceit, date=5 August 2016

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...

Vol. 38 No. 15,28 July 2016 pp.9–11. When interrogated by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

, Saddam Hussein confirmed that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction prior to the US invasion. In the aftermath of the invasion, Iraq held

multi-party elections In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in c ...

in 2005.

became

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

in 2006 and remained in office until 2014. The al-Maliki government enacted policies that alienated the country's previously dominant Sunni minority and worsened

sectarian Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...

tensions. In the summer of 2014,

ISIL An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

launched a military offensive in northern Iraq and declared a

worldwide Worldwide may refer to: * Pertaining to the entire world * Worldwide (rapper) (born 1986), American rapper * Pitbull (rapper) (born 1981), also known as Mr. Worldwide, American rapper * ''Worldwide'' (Audio Adrenaline album), 2003 * ''Worldwide' ...

Islamic

caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

, leading to

Operation Inherent Resolve Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is the U.S. military's operational name for the International military intervention against IS, including both a campaign in Iraq and a campaign in Syria, with a closely-related campaign in Libya. Throu ...

, another military response from the United States and its allies. According to a 2019

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

study,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

emerged as "the only victor" of the war. An estimated 151,000 to 1,033,000 Iraqis died in the first three to five years of conflict. In total, the war caused 100,000 or more civilian deaths - about 61% of the total death count - as well as tens of thousands of military deaths (see estimates

below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor *Bottom (disambiguation) Bottom may refer to: Anatomy and sex * Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or ...

). The majority of deaths occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. Subsequently, the

War in Iraq This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states. Other armed conflicts involving Iraq * Wars during Mandatory Iraq ** Ikhwan raid on South Iraq 1921 * Smaller conflicts, revolutions, coups and periphery confli ...

of 2013 to 2017, which is considered a

domino effect A domino effect or chain reaction is the cumulative effect generated when a particular event triggers a chain of similar events. This term is best known as a mechanical effect and is used as an analogy to a falling row of dominoes. It typically ...

of the invasion and occupation, caused at least 155,000 deaths, in addition to the displacement of more than 3.3 million people within the country. Additionally, the war hampered the domestic popularity and public image of Bush, and also strongly affected Blair's popularity in the United Kingdom, leading in 2006 to his intention to resign under large pressure from his party.

Background

{{Main, Lead-up to the Iraq War, Rationale for the Iraq War {{See also, Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, Iraq disarmament crisis, Iraq disarmament timeline 1990–2003 Strong international opposition to the

regime began following Iraq's

invasion of Kuwait The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was an operation conducted by Iraq on 2 August 1990, whereby it invaded the neighboring State of Kuwait, consequently resulting in a seven-month-long Iraqi military occupation of the country. The invasion and Ira ...

in 1990. The international community condemned the invasion,{{cn, date=February 2023 and in 1991 a military

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

led by the United States launched the

to expel Iraqi forces from

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

. Following the Gulf War, the US and its allies tried to keep

in check with a policy of

containment Containment was a geopolitical strategic foreign policy pursued by the United States during the Cold War to prevent the spread of communism after the end of World War II. The name was loosely related to the term ''cordon sanitaire'', which was ...

. This policy involved numerous

economic sanctions Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they may ...

by the

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...

; the enforcement of

Iraqi no-fly zones The Iraqi no-fly zones conflict was a low-level conflict in the two no-fly zones (NFZs) in Iraq that were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom, and France after the Gulf War of 1991. The United States stated that the NFZs were intende ...

declared by the US and the UK to protect the

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...

and

s in the south from aerial attacks by the Iraqi government, and ongoing inspections to ensure Iraq's compliance with United Nations resolutions concerning

Iraqi weapons of mass destruction Iraq actively researched and later employed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from 1962 to 1991, when it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile and halted its biological and nuclear weapon programs as required by the United Nations Security Coun ...

The inspections were carried out by the

United Nations Special Commission United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) was an inspection regime created by the United Nations to ensure Iraq's compliance with policies concerning Iraqi production and use of weapons of mass destruction after the Gulf War. Between 1991 and 199 ...

(UNSCOM). UNSCOM, in cooperation with the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...

, worked to ensure that Iraq destroyed its chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and facilities.Zilinskas, Raymond A., "UNSCOM and the UNSCOM Experience in Iraq", ''Politics and the Life Sciences'', Vol. 14, No. 2 (Aug. 1995), 230. In the decade following the Gulf War, the United Nations passed 16 Security Council resolutions calling for the complete elimination of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Member states communicated their frustration over the years that Iraq was impeding the work of the special commission and failing to take seriously its disarmament obligations. Iraqi officials harassed the inspectors and obstructed their work, and in August 1998, the Iraqi government suspended cooperation with the inspectors completely, alleging that the inspectors were spying for the US.{{cite book, author=Robert Fisk, title=The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jp2mZr7BoGsC, date=18 December 2007, publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, isbn=978-0-307-42871-4 Digital copy, does not include page numbers. The spying allegations were later substantiated. In October 1998, removing the Iraqi government became official

US foreign policy The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...

with the enactment of the

Iraq Liberation Act The Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 is a United States Congressional statement of policy stating that "It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq." It was signed i ...

. The act provided $97 million for Iraqi "democratic opposition organizations" to "establish a program to support a transition to democracy in Iraq." This legislation contrasted with the terms set out in

United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 was adopted on 3 April 1991. After reaffirming resolutions United Nations Security Council Resolution 660, 660, United Nations Security Council Resolution 661, 661, United Nations Security Council Re ...

, which focused on weapons and weapons programs and made no mention of regime change. One month after the passage of the Iraq Liberation Act, the US and UK launched a bombardment campaign of Iraq called

Operation Desert Fox The 1998 bombing of Iraq (code-named Operation Desert Fox) was a major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from 16 to 19 December 1998, by the United States and the United Kingdom. On 16 December 1998, President of the United States Bill ...

. The campaign's express rationale was to hamper Saddam Hussein's government's ability to produce chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, but US intelligence personnel also hoped it would help weaken Saddam's grip on power. Following the election of

as president in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, the US moved towards a more aggressive Iraq policy. The Republican Party's campaign platform in the 2000 election called for "full implementation" of the Iraq Liberation Act as "a starting point" in a plan to "remove" Saddam. Little formal movement towards an invasion occurred until the

although plans were drafted and meetings were held from the first days of his administration.{{cite book, author=Bob Woodward, author-link=Bob Woodward, title=Plan of Attack, url=https://archive.org/details/planofattackdefi00bobw, url-access=registration, date=21 April 2004, publisher=Simon and Schuster, isbn=978-0-7432-6287-3, page
9
��23

Pre-war events

{{Main, Rationale for the Iraq War, Preparations for 2003 invasion of Iraq, Failed Iraqi peace initiatives Following 9/11, the Bush administration's national security team actively debated an invasion of Iraq. On the day of the attacks, Secretary of Defense

asked his aides for: "best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit

at the same time. Not only

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

." President Bush spoke with Rumsfeld on 21 November and instructed him to conduct a confidential review of OPLAN 1003, the war plan for invading Iraq. Rumsfeld met with General

, the commander of

US Central Command The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Tas ...

, on 27 November to go over the plans. A record of the meeting includes the question "How start?", listing multiple possible justifications for a US–Iraq War. The rationale for invading Iraq as a response to 9/11 has been refuted, as there was no cooperation between

Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

President Bush began laying the public groundwork for an invasion of Iraq in January 2002

State of the Union The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditio ...

address, calling Iraq a member of the

Axis of Evil The phrase "axis of evil" was first used by U.S. President George W. Bush and originally referred to Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. It was used in Bush's State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, less than five months after the 9/11 attac ...

, and saying "The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons." Bush said this and made many other dire allegations about the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction despite the fact that the Bush administration knew that Iraq had no nuclear weapons and had no information about whether Iraq had biological weapons. He began formally making his case to the international community for an invasion of Iraq in his 12 September 2002 address to the

. However, a 5 September 2002 report from Major General Glen Shaffer revealed that the

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

's J2 Intelligence Directorate had concluded that the United States' knowledge on different aspects of the Iraqi WMD program ranged from essentially zero to about 75%, and that knowledge was particularly weak on aspects of a possible nuclear weapons program: "Our knowledge of the Iraqi nuclear weapons program is based largely – perhaps 90% – on analysis of imprecise intelligence," they concluded. "Our assessments rely heavily on analytic assumptions and judgment rather than hard evidence. The evidentiary base is particularly sparse for Iraqi nuclear programs."{{cite news , last1=IBT Staff Reporter , title=Little evidence for Iraq WMDs ahead of 2003 war: U.S. declassified report , url=https://www.ibtimes.com/little-evidence-iraq-wmds-ahead-2003-war-us-declassified-report-264519 , access-date=30 December 2018 , work=

International Business Times The ''International Business Times'' is an American online news publication that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on busi ...

, date=8 February 2011{{cite web , last1=Shaffer , first1=Glen , title=Iraq: Status of WMD Programs , url=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2697361-Myers-J2-Memo.html#document/p1 , website=

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

, access-date=30 December 2018 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424014613/https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2697361-Myers-J2-Memo.html , archive-date=24 April 2016 , date=5 September 2002 Similarly, the British government found no evidence that Iraq possessed nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq posed no threat to the West, a conclusion British diplomats shared with the US government. Key US allies in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, such as the United Kingdom, agreed with the US actions, while

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

were critical of plans to invade Iraq, arguing instead for continued diplomacy and weapons inspections. After considerable debate, the UN Security Council adopted a compromise resolution,

UN Security Council Resolution 1441 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 is a United Nations Security Council resolution adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on 8 November 2002, offering Iraq under Saddam Hussein "a final opportunity to comply with ...

, which authorized the resumption of weapons inspections and promised "serious consequences" for non-compliance. Security Council members France and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

made clear that they did not consider these consequences to include the use of force to overthrow the Iraqi government. The US and UK ambassadors to the UN publicly confirmed this reading of the resolution. Resolution 1441 set up inspections by the

United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) was created through the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 1284 of 17 December 1999 and its mission lasted until June 2007. UNMOVIC was meant to ...

(UNMOVIC) and the

. Saddam accepted the resolution on 13 November and inspectors returned to Iraq under the direction of UNMOVIC chairman

Hans Blix Hans Martin Blix (; born 28 June 1928) is a Sweden, Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party (Sweden), Liberal People's Party. He was Minister for Foreign Affairs (Sweden), Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs (1978–1979 ...

and IAEA Director General

Mohamed ElBaradei Mohamed Mustafa ElBaradei ( ar, محمد مصطفى البرادعي, Muḥammad Muṣṭafá al-Barādaʿī, ; born 17 June 1942) is an Egyptian law scholar and diplomat who served as the vice president of Egypt on an interim basis from 14 July ...

. 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. In March 2003, Blix said progress had been made in inspections, and no evidence of WMD had been found.Blix, H. (7 March 2003
"Transcript of Blix's U.N. presentation"
{{Webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109052347/http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/07/sprj.irq.un.transcript.blix/index.html , date=9 November 2016 CNN In October 2002, the US Congress passed the "

Iraq Resolution The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002,President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

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 United States public's opinion on the invasion of Iraq has changed significantly since the years preceding the incursion. For various reasons, mostly related to the unexpected consequences of the invasion, as well as misinformation prov ...

). 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."Poll: Talk First, Fight Later"
CBS.com, 24 January 2003. Retrieved on 23 April 2007. Powell-anthrax-vial

On 5 February 2003, Secretary of State

Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African ...

appeared before the UN to present evidence that Iraq was hiding unconventional weapons. However, despite warnings from the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Federal Intelligence Service The Federal Intelligence Service (German: ; , BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin and is the world's largest intelligence head ...

and the British

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

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. Powell also presented evidence alleging Iraq had ties to al-Qaeda. As a follow-up to Powell's presentation, the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, Australia,

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

proposed a resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, but NATO members like

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, 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. Chirac Bush Blair Berlusconi

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 Qusay (also transliterated as Qusai, ar, قصي, ) is a masculine given name. It may refer to: People * Qusai Abu Alieh, Jordanian footballer * Qusai Abtini, Syrian child actor * Ahmed Kousay Altaie, Iraqi American United States Army soldier, capt ...

, surrender and leave Iraq, giving them a 48-hour deadline. The UK

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

held a debate on going to war on 18 March 2003 where the government motion was approved 412 to 149. 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 The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They were ...

in 1846. Three government ministers resigned in protest at the war,

John Denham John Denham may refer to: * John Denham (died 1556 or later), English MP for Shaftesbury * John Denham (judge), (1559–1639), father of the poet below, and one of the Ship Money judges * John Denham (poet) (1615–1669), English poet * John Denham ...

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Philip Alexander Hunt, Baron Hunt of Kings Heath, (born 19 May 1949) is a former health administrator and a Labour Co-operative member of the House of Lords. Early life and career Born in 1949, Philip Hunt was educated at the single-sex gramm ...

, and the then

Leader of the House of Commons The leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons. The leader is generally a member or attendee of the cabinet of the ...

Robin Cook Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook (28 February 19466 August 2005) was a British Labour politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 whe ...

Opposition to invasion

{{Further, Criticism of the Iraq War, Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Legality of the Iraq War, Protests against the Iraq War In October 2002, former US President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

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." Of 209 House Democrats in Congress, 126 voted against the

Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002,Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Senator,

Lincoln Chafee Lincoln Davenport Chafee ( ; born March 26, 1953) is an American politician. He was mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island from 1993 to 1999, a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He was a m ...

, voted against it. The Senate's lone Independent,

Jim Jeffords James Merrill Jeffords (May 11, 1934 – August 18, 2014) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. senator from Vermont. Sworn into the Senate in 1989, he served as a Republican until 2001, when he left the party to become ...

, voted against it. Retired US Marine, former Navy Secretary and future US senator

Jim Webb James Henry Webb Jr. (born February 9, 1946) is an American politician and author. He has served as a United States senator from Virginia, Secretary of the Navy, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Counsel for the United States ...

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." In the same period,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

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." London anti-war protest banners

On 20 January 2003, French Foreign Minister

Dominique de Villepin Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac. In his career working at the Minist ...

declared "we believe that military intervention would be the worst solution". Meanwhile, anti-war groups across the world organized public protests. According to French academic

Dominique Reynié Dominique Reynié (born 17 June 1960, Rodez, France) is a French academic. He is a professor of political science at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po Paris). Biography Education Dominique Reynié graduated from Sciences P ...

, between 3 January and 12 April 2003, {{Nowrap, 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.Anti-war protests do make a difference
{{Webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060321084247/http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=6067 , date=21 March 2006, Alex Callinicos, Socialist Worker, 19 March 2005. 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". 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. Two days later, US Defense Secretary

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. Germany's Foreign Secretary Joschka Fischer, although having been in favor of stationing German troops in Afghanistan, advised Chancellor of Germany, Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, 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!"'' There were serious Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, legal questions surrounding the launching of the war against Iraq and the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war in general. On 16 September 2004,

, 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." In November 2008 Tom Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Bingham, the former British Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, Law Lord, described the war as a serious violation of international law, and accused Britain and the United States of acting like a "world vigilante". He also criticized the post-invasion record of Britain as "an occupying power in Iraq". Regarding the treatment of Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, Abu Ghraib, Bingham said: "Particularly disturbing to proponents of the rule of law is the cynical lack of concern for international legality among some top officials in the Presidency of George W. Bush, Bush administration." In July 2010, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Deputy Prime Minister of the UK Nick Clegg, during Prime Minister's Questions, PMQs session in Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament, condemned the invasion of Iraq as "illegal" – though he later clarified that this was a personal opinion, not an official one.{{Cite news, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10715629, title = Clegg clarifies stance after saying Iraq war 'illegal', work = BBC News, date = 21 July 2010

History

2003: Invasion

{{Main, 2003 invasion of Iraq, 2003 in Iraq, Timeline of the 2003 invasion of Iraq {{See also, Coalition military operations of the Iraq War, Iraq War order of battle, Al Anbar campaign T-54s, T-55s, Type 59s or Type 69s at Diwaniyah, Iraq

T-54s, T-55s, Type 59s or Type 69s at Diwaniyah, Iraq

The first Central Intelligence Agency team entered Iraq on 10 July 2002.Operation Hotel California, The Clandestine War inside Iraq, Mike Tucker and Charles Faddis, 2008. 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).{{cite book , title=Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account of the Decision to Invade Iraq , author=Bob Woodward , year=2004 , publisher=Simon & Schuster , isbn=978-0743255486, author-link=Bob Woodward{{Page needed, date=August 2015 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. Most importantly, their efforts organized the Kurdish

to become the northern front of the invasion. Together this force defeated

before the invasion and then defeated the Iraqi army in the north. 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. At 5:34 a.m. Baghdad time on 20 March 2003 (9:34 pm, 19 March EST) the surprise"Keeping 4th ID in the Mediterranean created element of surprise. Iraq did not expect attack to begin until 4th ID arrived in Kuwait." Rumsfeld, D., Franks, T.
Summary of Lessons Learned
{{Webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131012120/http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/congress/rumsfeld_franks_9jul03.ppt , date=31 January 2012. Prepared testimony for the Senate Armed Services Committee, 9 July 2003. military invasion of Iraq began.{{cn, date=February 2023 There was no declaration of war.Friedman, G.
What Happened To The American Declaration Of War?
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729192157/https://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2011/03/30/what-happened-to-the-american-declaration-of-war/ , date=29 July 2017 , ''Forbes'', 30 March 2011. The 2003 invasion of Iraq was led by

General

, under the code-name Operation Iraqi Freedom,{{cite news , title=A nation at war: The attack; U.S. and British troops push into Iraq as missiles strike Baghdad compound, url= https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/21/world/nation-war-attack-us-british-troops-push-into-iraq-missiles-strike-baghdad.html , author=Patrick E. Tyler, newspaper=The New York Times, date=21 March 2003, page=B8 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. The invasion force was also supported by Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga, militia troops, estimated to number upwards of 70,000.{{cite web, url=http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/p4013coll3&CISOPTR=363 , title=Surrogate Warfare: The Role of U.S. Army Special Forces , author=MAJ Isaac J. Peltier , publisher=US Army , page=29 , access-date=13 September 2009 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211141158/http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=%2Fp4013coll3&CISOPTR=363 , archive-date=11 February 2009 Type 69 Iraq

According to General Franks, there were eight objectives of the invasion: {{blockquote, "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." 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. Iraq-War-Map

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. 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. The American 1st Marine Division Battle of Nasiriyah, fought through Nasiriyah in a battle to seize the major road junction. The United States Army 3rd Infantry Division defeated Iraqi forces entrenched in and around Ali Air Base, Talil Airfield. 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. When they started again Battle of the Karbala Gap (2003), they secured the Karbala Gap, a key approach to Baghdad, then secured the bridges over the Euphrates River, and US 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. Marines in Saddams palace DM-SD-04-12222

Marines in Saddams palace DM-SD-04-12222

On 9 April, Baghdad fell, ending Saddam's 24‑year rule. US forces seized the deserted

ministries and, according to some reports later disputed by the Marines on the ground, stage-managed{{cite news , url=https://articles.latimes.com/2004/jul/03/nation/na-statue3 , title= Army Stage-Managed Fall of Saddam Statue , work=Los Angeles Times , date=3 July 2004 , access-date=23 October 2010 , first=David , last=Zucchino the Firdos Square statue destruction, 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

, the radical Shiite cleric. 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. According to the Pentagon, {{convert, 250000, ST (of {{convert, 650000, ST total) of ordnance was looted, providing a significant source of ammunition for the Iraqi insurgency (2003–11), 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. Coalition forces reported the death in combat of 139 US military personnel and 33 UK military personnel.

Post-invasion phase

{{Main, History of Iraq (2003–2011) {{Further, Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011)

2003: Beginnings of insurgency

{{See, Ramadi under US military occupation USMarineTankinBaghdad

On 1 May 2003, President Bush visited the aircraft carrier {{warship, USS, Abraham Lincoln, CVN-72, 6 operating a few miles west of San Diego, San Diego, California. At sunset, he held his nationally televised Mission Accomplished speech, "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. Nevertheless,

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".{{cn, date=February 2023 The initial Iraqi insurgents were supplied by hundreds of weapons caches created before the invasion by the Iraqi army and Special Republican Guard (Iraq), Republican Guard. Initially, Iraqi resistance (described by the coalition as "Anti-Iraqi Forces") largely stemmed from fedayeen and Saddam/

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 Governorate, Baghdad, Al Anbar Governorate, Al Anbar, and Saladin Governorate, 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%). Insurgents used various guerrilla warfare, guerrilla tactics, including mortars, missiles, suicide attacks, Juba (sniper), 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 Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011), 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. 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 (2003), 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

= {{See also, Iraqi Governing Council, International Advisory and Monitoring Board, Coalition Provisional Authority Program Review Board, l3=CPA Program Review Board, Development Fund for Iraq, Reconstruction of Iraq Shortly after the invasion, the multinational coalition created the

(CPA; ar, سلطة الائتلاف 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. Iraq 2003 occupation

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, including 40,000 school teachers who had joined the Baath Party simply to stay employed. US army general

called the decision a "catastrophic failure". 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. 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. 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. {{clear

= Capturing former government leaders

= {{See also, Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal, Trial of Saddam Hussein SaddamSpiderHole

In the summer of 2003, the multinational forces focused on Most-wanted Iraqi playing cards, 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,

himself was captured on 13 December 2003, on a farm near Tikrit in

. The operation was conducted by the United States Army's 4th Infantry Division (United States), 4th Infantry Division and members of Task Force 121. Intelligence on Saddam's whereabouts came from his family members and former bodyguards. 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 {{Nowrap, $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 Islam, Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The Coalition Provisional Authority opposed allowing democratic elections at this time. The insurgents stepped up their activities. The two most turbulent centers were the area around Fallujah and the poor

sections of cities from Baghdad (Sadr City) to Basra in the south.

2004: Insurgency expands

{{Main, 2004 in Iraq {{See also, List of coalition military operations of the Iraq War, 2004 in Iraq, Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011), Fallujah during the Iraq War, Iraq spring fighting of 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

-linked group led by

, helping to drive the insurgency. Soldiers firing a M120 120mm mortar (Iraq)

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

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. The most serious fighting of the war so far began on 31 March 2004, when Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011), 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. 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. Photos of the event were released to news agency, news agencies worldwide, causing a great deal of indignation and moral panic, moral outrage in the United States, and prompting an unsuccessful "pacification" of the city: the First Battle of Fallujah in April 2004. Defense

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 warfare, urban combat (that they had been involved in) since the Battle of Hue City in Vietnam." During the assault, US forces used White phosphorus use in Iraq, 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. 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). Military correspondent Thomas E. Ricks (journalist), 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. 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

{{Further, 2005 in Iraq, Military transition team Baghdad Convention Center inside

On 31 January, Iraqis January 2005 Iraqi legislative election, 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. 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. 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.Thomas Ricks (2006) ''Fiasco'': 413 A referendum was held on 15 October in which the new Constitution of Iraq, Iraqi constitution was 2005 Iraqi constitutional referendum, ratified. An Iraqi National Assembly was December 2005 Iraqi legislative election, elected in December, with participation from the Sunnis as well as the Kurds and Shia. Insurgent attacks increased in 2005 with 34,131 recorded incidents, compared to a total 26,496 for the previous year.

2006: Civil war and permanent Iraqi government

{{Further, Iraqi Civil War (2006–2008), Sectarian violence in Iraq, Operation Together Forward, Provincial Reconstruction Team L company 3rd Battalion 3rd Marines search house

L company 3rd Battalion 3rd Marines search house

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 (2006), 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". 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. 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. Bush and al-Maliki

On 6 June 2006, the United States was successful in tracking

, the leader of

who was killed in a targeted killing, while attending a meeting in an isolated safehouse approximately {{convert, 8, km, mi, abbr=on 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 1st Iraqi Council of Representatives, members of the Iraqi National Assembly. This followed the December 2005 Iraqi legislative election, general election in December 2005. The government succeeded the Iraqi Transitional Government, which had continued in office in a Caretaker government, caretaker capacity until the formation of the permanent government.

= Iraq Study Group report and Saddam's execution

= {{Main, Iraq Study Group, Execution of Saddam Hussein 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

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. 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. 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.

2007: US troops surge

{{Further, 2007 in Iraq, Iraq War troop surge of 2007, Timeline of the Iraq War troop surge of 2007, Strategic reset Bush surge announcement jan 2007

In a 10 January 2007, 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. On 23 January 2007, in the 2007 State of the Union Address, Bush announced "deploying reinforcements of more than 20,000 additional soldiers and Marines to Iraq". On 10 February 2007,

was made commander of Multinational Force Iraq, Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I), the four-star post that oversees all coalition forces in the country, replacing General George William Casey Jr., George Casey. In his new position, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq and employed them in the new Iraq War troop surge of 2007, "Surge" strategy outlined by the Bush administration. On 10 May 2007, 144 Iraqi Parliamentary lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal. 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. Pressures on US troops were compounded by the continuing withdrawal of coalition forces.{{Citation needed, date=May 2014 In early 2007, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, British Prime Minister Blair announced that following Operation Sinbad, British troops would begin to withdraw from Basra Governorate, handing security over to the Iraqis. In July Danish Prime Minister

also announced the withdrawal of 441 Danish troops from Iraq, leaving only a unit of nine soldiers manning four observational helicopters. 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.

= Planned troop reduction

= In a speech made to Congress on 10 September 2007, David Petraeus, Petraeus "envisioned the withdrawal of roughly 30,000 US troops by next summer, beginning with a Marine contingent [in September]." On 13 September, Bush backed a limited withdrawal of troops from Iraq. 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 reported curtailed by 40–80%, according to a Pentagon report. Independent reports 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. army

Historically, the daily counts tallied by ''The New York Times'' have 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. 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. On 14 August 2007, the 2007 Qahtaniya bombings, 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. On 13 September 2007, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha was killed in a bomb attack in the city of Ramadi. 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. A statement posted on the Internet by the shadowy

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". OIF fatalities by month

There was a reported trend of decreasing US troop deaths after May 2007,{{cn, date=February 2023 and violence against coalition troops had fallen to the "lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion". These, and several other positive developments, were attributed to the surge by many analysts. 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. 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. By late 2007, as the US troop surge began to wind down, violence in Iraq had begun to decrease from its 2006 highs. Entire neighborhoods in Baghdad were ethnically cleansed by Shia and Sunni militias and sectarian violence has broken out in every Iraqi city where there is a mixed population.{{cite news , author=Peter Beaumont, url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/04/usa.iraq , title=Sects slice up Iraq as U.S. troops 'surge' misfires , work=The Guardian , date=4 March 2007, access-date=23 October 2010 , location=London{{cite news, url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/784/sc4.htm , title=There is ethnic cleansing , work=Al-Ahram Weekly Online , date=8 March 2006 , access-date=23 October 2010 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101012224431/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/784/sc4.htm , archive-date=12 October 2010 Investigative reporter Bob Woodward cites 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. In the Shia region near Basra, British forces turned over security for the region to Iraqi Security Forces. Basra is the ninth governorate of Iraq's 18 governorates to be returned to local security forces' control since the beginning of the occupation.

= 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." 59% of those polled in the US support a timetable for withdrawal. 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.

= Tensions with Iran

= {{Further, Iran–United States relations, Karbala provincial headquarters raid In 2007, tensions increased greatly between

and

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. Coalition forces also Kill or Capture strategy, began to target alleged Iranian Quds force operatives in Iraq, either U.S. raid on the Iranian Liaison Office in Arbil, arresting or killing suspected members. The Bush administration and coalition leaders began to publicly state that Iran was supplying weapons, particularly Explosively formed penetrator, 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.

= Tensions with Turkey

= {{Further, 2008 Turkish incursion into northern Iraq Border incursions by Kurdistan Workers' Party, 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. The Turkish parliament approved a resolution permitting the military to pursue the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan. In November, Turkish gunships attacked parts of northern Iraq in the first such attack by Turkish aircraft since the border tensions escalated. 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. 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.

= Blackwater private security controversy

= {{Main, Blackwater Baghdad shootings 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, in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade.

2008: Civil war continues

{{Further, 2008 in Iraq, Iraqi Civil War (2006–2008) 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 Iraq War troop surge of 2007, 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.{{cite web , url=http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=52539 , title=U.S. Deaths in Iraq Decrease in 2008 , publisher=Defenselink.mil , access-date=23 October 2010 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. Meanwhile, the proficiency of the Iraqi military increased as it launched a spring offensive against Shia militias, which Prime Minister

had previously been criticized for allowing to operate. This began with a March Battle of Basra (2008), operation against the Mehdi 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. 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. Progress in Sunni areas continued after members of Awakening movements in Iraq, the Awakening movement were transferred from US military to Iraqi control. 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. Kurdish lands (3D)

In the regional dimension, the ongoing conflict between Turkey and Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK intensified on 21 February, when Turkey 2008 Turkish incursion into northern Iraq, 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. 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. Turkish troops withdrew on 29 February. 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. The commander of the coalition, US General

, noted that "in military terms, transitions are the most dangerous time" in December 2008.

= Spring offensives on Shiite militias

= {{Further, Iraq Spring Fighting of 2008, Siege of Sadr City, Battle of Basra (2008) IA-Sadr-City-04242008

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

, one of the militias, which controlled much of the region.{{cite news , author=Stephen Farrell and Ahmar Karim, title=Drive in Basra by Iraqi Army Makes Gains, work=The New York Times, date=12 May 2008, url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/world/middleeast/12basra.html , access-date=12 May 2008 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. 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". 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

Speaking before Congress on 8 April 2008, General

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. 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." Upon questioning by then Senate committee chair Joe Biden, Ambassador Crocker admitted that Al-Qaeda, Al‑Qaeda in Iraq was less important than the Al Qaeda organization led by

along the Afghan-Pakistani border. 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, AK‑47 assault rifles for the US M16 rifle, M‑16 and M4 carbine, M‑4 rifles, among other equipment. In 2008 alone, Iraq accounted for more than {{Nowrap, $12.5 billion of the {{Nowrap, $34 billion US weapon sales to foreign countries (not including the potential F-16 fighter planes.). Iraq sought 36 General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, 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 {{Nowrap, $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 {{Nowrap, $3 billion, and six C-130J transport planes, worth up to {{Nowrap, $1.5 billion. From 2005 to 2008, the United States had completed approximately $20 billion in arms sales agreements with Iraq.

= Status of forces agreement

= {{Main, US–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement The US–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement was approved by the Iraqi government on 4 December 2008.{{cite web, url=http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidANA20081204T131005ZTKH99/Iraq%20presidential%20council%20endorses%20US%20security%20pact , title=Iraq presidential council endorses U.S. security pact , publisher=Zawya.com , access-date=23 October 2010 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511180133/http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidANA20081204T131005ZTKH99/Iraq%20presidential%20council%20endorses%20US%20security%20pact , archive-date=11 May 2011 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.BBC News (27 November 2008
"Iraqi parliament backs U.S. pullout"
{{Webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206100202/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7752580.stm , date=6 December 2016 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.{{cite news, url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/56116.html , title=Status of Forces Agreement , publisher=McClatchyDC , access-date=23 October 2010 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801061936/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/56116.html , archive-date=1 August 2009 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."On the other hand, Iraq has primary legal jurisdiction over off-duty soldiers and civilians who commit "major and premeditated crimes" outside of US installations. These major crimes were to be defined by a joint committee and the United States was to retain the right to determine whether or not its personnel were on- or off-duty. Iraq also maintains primary legal jurisdiction over contractors (and their employees) that have contracts with the United States
''Arms Control Center'': How Comfortable is the U.S.-Iraq SOFA?
{{Webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128062748/http://www.armscontrolcenter.org/policy/iraq/articles/112408_how_comfortable_iraq_sofa/ , date=28 January 2015"Committees assigned to deal with US-led combat operations and jurisdiction over US military personnel are among those that have not met even as Iraq moves toward sovereignty, US Army General Ray Odierno told reporters.
''Los Angeles Times'': In Iraq, transfer-of-power committees have yet to take shape
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223103138/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-transition24-2008dec24%2C0%2C5731621.story , date=23 February 2009{{cite news, url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/56116.html , title=Status of Forces Agreement (Unofficial Translation) , publisher=McClatchyDC , access-date=23 October 2010 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801061936/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/56116.html , archive-date=1 August 2009 Alissa J. Rubin, Rubin, A. (27 November 2008
"Iraqi Parliament approves security pact"
''International Herald Tribune'' Street fighting Mosul

Some Americans have discussed "loopholes"{{cite news, url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/56474.html , title=U.S. staying silent on its view of Iraq pact until after vote , publisher=McClatchyDC , date=25 November 2008 , access-date=23 October 2010 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081231033639/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/56474.html , archive-date=31 December 2008 and some Iraqis have said they believe parts of the pact remain a "mystery".{{cite news , url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/29/AR2008112900341_pf.html , title=Top Shiite Cleric in Iraq Raises Concerns About Security Pact , newspaper=The Washington Post , date=29 November 2008 , access-date=23 October 2010 , first1=Sudarsan , last1=Raghavan , first2=Saad , last2=Sarhan 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.{{cite news , url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/washington/22combat.html , title=Trying to Redefine Role of U.S. Military in Iraq , work=The New York Times , date=22 December 2008 , access-date=15 January 2011 , first=Elisabeth , last=Bumiller Several groups of Iraqis protested the passing of the SOFA accord"Iraq: Cleric al-Sadr calls for peaceful protests"
(''Associated Press'') {{Webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201103604/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/28/news/ML-Iraq-Al-Sadr.php , date=1 December 2008{{cite news , url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JL02Ak01.html , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202035148/http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JL02Ak01.html , url-status=unfit , archive-date=2 December 2008 , title=SOFA not sitting well in Iraq , work=Asia Times , date=2 December 2008 , access-date=23 October 2010{{cite news , url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=98188 , title=Iraqi refugees in Syria protest against military pact with U.S , newspaper=Daily Star , date=3 December 2008 , access-date=23 October 2010 , archive-date=7 January 2009 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107200053/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=98188 , url-status=dead as prolonging and legitimizing the occupation. Tens of thousands of Iraqis burned an effigy of

in a Firdos Square, central Baghdad square where US troops five years previously organized a tearing down of a statue of Saddam Hussein.{{cite news, url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=188761 , title=Iraqi people will judge on U.S. pact , publisher=Al Jazeera , access-date=23 October 2010{{Dead link, date=June 2016, bot=medic{{cbignore, bot=medic Some Iraqis expressed skeptical optimism that the US would completely end its presence by 2011.{{cite news, last=Robertson , first=Campbell , url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/28/africa/security.php , archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20081128172225/http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/28/africa/security.php , url-status=dead , archive-date=28 November 2008 , title=Feelings are mixed as Iraqis ponder U.S. security agreement , work=International Herald Tribune , date=28 October 2008 , access-date=26 December 2011 On 4 December 2008, Iraq's presidential council approved the security pact. 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. 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.

2009: Coalition redeployment

{{Further, 2009 in Iraq

= Transfer of the Green Zone

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.{{Citation needed, date=November 2022 The US military attributed a decline in reported civilian deaths to several factors including the US‑led "troop surge", the growth of US-funded Sunni Awakening, Awakening Councils, and Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's call for his militia to abide by a cease fire.

= Provincial elections

= {{Main, 2009 Iraqi governorate elections 2009 Iraqi elections

On 31 January, Iraq held provincial elections. 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. Iraqi voter turnout failed to meet the original expectations which were set and was the lowest on record in Iraq,''Centre Daily'': Low turnout in Iraq's election reflects a disillusioned nation
{{Webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212014733/http://www.centredaily.com/505/story/1105833.html , date=12 February 2009 but US Ambassador Ryan Crocker characterized the turnout as "large". Of those who turned out to vote, some groups complained of disenfranchisement and fraud. After the post-election curfew was lifted, some groups made threats about what would happen if they were unhappy with the results.

= Exit strategy announcement

= On 27 February, United States President

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. The day before Obama's speech, Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki, 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.

= 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 {{convert, 5, km, mi, abbr=on away, where protesters burned an effigy featuring the face of US President George W. Bush. 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.''Miami Herald'': Tens of thousands of Iraqis rally against U.S.
{Dead link, date=June 2016, bot=medic{{cbignore, bot=medic

= Coalition forces withdraw

= On 30 April, the United Kingdom formally ended combat operations. Prime Minister

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. 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 Ministry of Interior (Iraq), Interior Ministry officials reported that the civilian death toll in Iraq fell to its lowest level in November since the 2003 invasion. 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

On 30 June and 11 December 2009, the Ministry of Oil (Iraq), Iraqi ministry of oil awarded contracts to international oil companies for some of Economy of Iraq#2009 Oil services contracts, 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.{{cite news , url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/12/200912117243440687.html , title=Oil firms awarded Iraq contracts, publisher=Al Jazeera , date=11 December 2009 , access-date=23 October 2010{{cite news , url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/200963093615637434.html , title=BP group wins Iraq oil contract, publisher=Al Jazeera , date=30 June 2009 , access-date=23 October 2010{{cite web , url=http://www.iraqidinar123.com/us-report-iraq-of-leading-oil-producers-2040/ , title=US report: Iraq of leading oil producers 2040 , date=18 February 2014 , access-date=26 February 2014 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 {{anchor, 2010:_US_Drawdown_and_Operation_New_Dawn

{{Further, 2010 in Iraq, Withdrawal of US troops from Iraq (2007–2011) On 17 February 2010, US Secretary of Defense

announced that as of 1 September, the name "Operation Iraqi Freedom" would be replaced by "Operation New Dawn". On 18 April, US and Iraqi forces killed

Abu Ayyub al-Masri Abu Ayyub al-Masri ( ; , ', translation: "Father of Ayyub the Egyptian"; 1967 – 18 April 2010), also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir

the leader of

in a joint American and Iraqi operation near Tikrit, Iraq. 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. Iraqi Prime Minister

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," Mr 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. 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

. This attack was followed by another attack on Iraq's Bank of Trade building that killed 26 and wounded 52 people. Iraqi army 03 2011

In late August 2010, insurgents conducted 25 August 2010 Iraq bombings, 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. 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. Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq (2007–2011)#The events of August 19, 2010, 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

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. These troops were required to leave Iraq by 31 December 2011 under an U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, agreement between the US and Iraqi governments. 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". State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley stated "... we are not ending our work in Iraq, We have a long-term commitment to Iraq." 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. On the same day in Iraq, at a ceremony at one of

'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 2003 Mission Accomplished Speech, 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". On the same day Gen. Ray Odierno was replaced by

as Commander of US forces in Iraq. Flickr - DVIDSHUB - Iraqi Police Build Relationships in Basra

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. 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. From 10 to 13 September, Second Advise and Assist Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (United States), 25th Infantry Division Battle of the Palm Grove, fought Iraqi insurgents near Diyala Governorate, 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. In October, WikiLeaks disclosed Iraq War documents leak, 391,832 classified US military documents on the Iraq War.{{cite news , title=The WikiLeaks Iraq War Logs: Greatest Data Leak in U.S. Military History , newspaper=Der Spiegel , date=22 October 2010 , url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,724845,00.html , access-date=23 October 2010{{cite news , title=Iraq war logs: secret files show how U.S. ignored torture , first1=Nick , last1=Davies , first2=Jonathan , last2=Steele , first3=David , last3=Leigh , newspaper=The Guardian , date=22 October 2010 , url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-war-logs-military-leaks , access-date=23 October 2010 , location=London{{cite news , title=WikiLeaks releases secret Iraq file , first=Gregg , last=Carlstrom , publisher=Al Jazeera English , date=22 October 2010 , url=http://english.aljazeera.net/secretiraqfiles/2010/10/2010102217631317837.html , access-date=23 October 2010 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. Coordinated attacks in primarily Shia areas struck throughout Baghdad on 2 November, killing approximately 113 and wounding 250 with around 17 bombs.

= Iraqi arms purchases

As US forces departed the country, the Ministry of Defence (Iraq), 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. In addition to the $13 billion purchase, the Iraqis also requested 18 General Dynamics F‑16 Fighting Falcon, F-16 Fighting Falcons as part of a $4.2 billion program that also included aircraft training and maintenance, AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM‑9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, laser-guided bombs and reconnaissance equipment.{{cite news , url=http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2010/10/01/US-plans-42-billion-arms-sale-to-Iraq/UPI-31991285953914/ , title=U.S. plans $4.2 billion arms sale to Iraq , publisher=UPI , date=1 October 2010 , access-date=15 January 2011 All Abrams tanks were delivered by the end of 2011, but the first F-16s did not arrive in Iraq until 2015, due to concerns that the Islamic State might overrun Balad Air Base. The Iraqi Navy also purchased 12 US‑built Swift-class patrol boats, at a cost of $20 million each. Delivery was completed in 2013. The vessels are used to protect the oil terminals at Al Başrah Oil Terminal, Basra and Khor Al Amaya Oil Terminal, Khor al-Amiya. Two US‑built offshore support vessels, each costing $70 million, were delivered in 2011.{{cite book, author1=Anthony H. Cordesman, author2=Sam Khazai, title=Iraq in Crisis, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oovOAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA255, date=4 June 2014, publisher=Center for Strategic & International Studies, isbn=978-1-4422-2856-6, page=255

= 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.

2011: US withdrawal

{{Main, Withdrawal of US troops from Iraq (2007–2011) {{Further, 2011 in Iraq Muqtada al-Sadr returned to Iraq in the holy city of Najaf to lead the Sadrist movement after being in exile since 2007. On 15 January 2011, three US troops were killed in Iraq. One of the troops was killed on a military operation in central Iraq, while the other two troops were deliberately shot by one or two Iraqi soldiers during a training exercise. On 6 June, five US troops were killed in an apparent rocket attack on JSS Loyalty. A sixth soldier, who was wounded in the attack, died 10 days later of his wounds. On 13 June 2011, two US troops were killed in an IED attack located in Wasit Governorate. On 26 June 2011, a US soldier was killed. Sergeant Brent McBride was sentenced to four years, two months for his involvement in the death. On 29 June, three US troops were killed in a rocket attack on a US base located near the border with Iran. It was speculated that the militant group responsible for the attack was the same one which attacked JSS Loyalty just over three weeks before. With the three deaths, 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. 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. 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. 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.{{cite news , title=Barack Obama: All U.S. troops to leave Iraq in 2011, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15410154, work=BBC News, access-date=21 October 2011, date=21 October 2011 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.{{cite news , last=Johnson, first=Craig, title=N.C. soldier reportedly last to die in Iraq war, url=http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/16/n-c-soldier-reportedly-last-to-die-in-iraq-war/, access-date=16 December 2011, publisher=CNN, date=16 December 2011 In November 2011, the US Senate voted down a resolution to formally end the war by bringing its authorization by Congress to an end.{{cite news, last=Antle, first=W. James, title=Senate Tackles Iraq War Powers, Indefinite Detention, url=http://spectator.org/blog/2011/11/30/senate-tackles-iraq-war-powers, work=The Spectacle Blog, publisher=The American Spectator, access-date=23 February 2015, url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523095150/http://spectator.org/blog/2011/11/30/senate-tackles-iraq-war-powers, archive-date=23 May 2013 Gate closing Iraq-Kuwait border

On 15 December, an American military ceremony was held in Baghdad putting a formal end to the US mission in Iraq. The last US 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 US Marine Embassy Guards and between 4,000 and 5,000 Private military company, private military contractors.{{cite news , last=Denselow, first=James, title=The US departure from Iraq is an illusion, url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/oct/25/us-departure-iraq-illusion, access-date=10 February 2014, newspaper=The Guardian, date=25 October 2011, location=London 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.

Aftermath – emerging conflict and insurgency

{{Main, Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013), War in Iraq (2013–2017) {{See also, Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014), Northern Iraq offensive (August 2014), , American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–2021) Territoires de l'Etat islamique juin 2015

Territoires de l'Etat islamique juin 2015

The invasion and occupation led to sectarian violence, which caused widespread displacement among Iraqi civilians. The Iraqi Red Crescent organization estimated the total internal displacement was around 2.3 million in 2008, with as many as 2 million Iraqis having left the country. Poverty led many Iraqi women to turn to prostitution to support themselves and their families, attracting sex tourists from the region. The invasion led to a constitution, which supported democracy as long as laws did not violate traditional Islamic principles, and the first parliamentary elections were held in 2005. In addition, the invasion preserved the autonomy of the Kurdish region, and stability brought new economic prosperity to Iraq. Because the Kurdish region is historically the most democratic area of Iraq, many Iraqi refugees from other territories fled here. 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. 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. 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." 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. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki unsuccessfully asked his parliament to declare a state of emergency that would give him increased powers.{{cite news , title=Iraq crisis: Isis gains strength near Baghdad as Kurdish forces seize Kirkuk, url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/12/crisis-in-iraq-insurgents-take-major-cities-live-blog, access-date=12 June 2014, work=The Guardian 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. 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.{{cite news , title=Obama Authorizes Air Strikes in Iraq, url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/obama-weighs-military-strikes-to-aid-trapped-iraqis-officials-say.html?_r=0, date=8 August 2014, access-date=22 August 2014, work=The New York Times A Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017), 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. 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. The Iraqi government declared victory against ISIL in December 2017.{{cite news , last=Mostafa , first=Nehal , date=9 December 2017 , title=Iraq announces end of war against IS, liberation of borders with Syria: Abadi , url=https://www.iraqinews.com/iraq-war/iraq-announces-end-war-liberation-borders-syria-abadi/ , work=Iraqi News , access-date=9 December 2017 By 2018, violence in Iraq was at its lowest level in ten years. This was greatly a result of the defeat of ISIL forces and the subsequent calming-down of the Iraqi insurgency (2017–present), insurgency. In January 2020, 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.

Casualty estimates

{{Main, Casualties of the Iraq War {{See also, Foreign hostages in Iraq, List of bombings during the Iraq War C-17 Medevac mission, Balad AB, Iraq

For coalition death totals see the infobox at the top right. See also

, 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. {, class="wikitable" , - ! Source ! Iraqi casualties ! March 2003 to ... , - valign=top ,

Iraq Family Health Survey On January 9, 2008 the World Health Organization reported the results of the "Iraq Family Health Survey" published in the New England Journal of Medicine.{{cite journal, last1=Hagopian, first1=Amy, last2 = Flaxman , first2 = Abraham D. , last3 = Takaro , first3 = Tim K. , last4 = Esa Al Shatari , first4 = Sahar A. , last5 = Rajaratnam , first5 = Julie , last6 = Becker , first6 = Stan , last7 = Levin-Rector , first7 = Alison , last8 = Galway , first8 = Lindsay , last9 = Hadi Al-Yasseri , first9 = Berq J. , last10 = Weiss , first10 = William M. , last11 = Murray , first11 = Christopher J. , last12 = Burnham , first12 = Gilbert , last13 = Mills , first13 = Edward J. , title=Mortality in Iraq Associated with the 2003–2011 War and Occupation: Findings from a National Cluster Sample Survey by the University Collaborative Iraq Mortality Study, journal=PLOS Medicine, date=15 October 2013, volume=10, issue=10, doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001533, pmid=24143140 , pmc=3797136 , pages=e1001533 , June 2011 , - valign=top , ORB survey of Iraq War casualties, Opinion Research Business survey , 1,033,000 violent deaths from the conflict , August 2007 , - valign=top , Iraqi Health Ministry , 87,215 violent deaths per death certificates issued
Deaths prior to January 2005 unrecorded
Ministry estimates up to 20% more deaths are undocumented. , January 2005 to
February 2009 , - valign=top , #Associated Press, Associated Press , 110,600 violent deaths
Health Ministry death certificates plus AP estimate of casualties for 2003–04 , April 2009 , - valign=top ,

, 105,052–114,731 violent civilian deaths
compiled from commercial news media, NGO and official reports
Over 162,000 civilian and combatant deaths , January 2012 , - valign=top , WikiLeaks. Classified Iraq War Logs , 109,032 violent deaths including 66,081 civilian deaths , January 2004 to
December 2009

Criticism and cost

{{Further, Criticism of the Iraq War, Opposition to the Iraq War, Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Legality of the Iraq War, Views on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Protests against the Iraq War, Governmental positions on the Iraq War prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Media coverage of the Iraq War, Public relations preparations for 2003 invasion of Iraq {{See also, Iraq War misappropriations, Habbush letter, The Way of the World (book) Pic of ramadi

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, with many US citizens finding many parallels with the Vietnam War. 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. The Center for Public Integrity alleges that the Presidency of George W. Bush, Bush administration made a total of 935 false statements between 2001 and 2003 about Iraq's alleged threat to the United States. Both proponents and Opposition to the Iraq War, 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 History of Iraq (2003–2011), 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.{{cite news, url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/chilcot-report-crushing-verdict-tony-blair-iraq-war, title=Chilcot delivers crushing verdict on Blair and the Iraq war , author=Luke Harding, newspaper=The Guardian, date=6 July 2016, access-date=6 July 2016{{cite news, url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/06/chilcot-inquiry-judgement-day-for-tony-blair-as-iraq-war-report/, title=Chilcot report: 2003 Iraq war was 'unnecessary', invasion was not 'last resort' and Saddam Hussein was 'no imminent threat', author=Leon Watson, date=6 July 2016, access-date=6 July 2016, newspaper=The Telegraph{{cite news, url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36721645, title=Chilcot report: Findings at a glance, date=6 July 2016, access-date=6 July 2016, work=BBC News State positions Iraq war

Criticisms include: * Legality of the Iraq War, Legality of the invasion * Casualties of the Iraq War, Human casualties * 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.) * Financial cost of the 2003 Iraq Conflict, Financial costs with approximately {{Nowrap, $612 billion spent as of 4/09 the Congressional Budget Office, CBO has estimated the total cost of the war in Iraq to the United States will be around {{Nowrap, $1.9 trillion. * Adverse effect on US-led global "

" * Damage to US' traditional alliances and influence in the region. * Endangerment and ethnic cleansing of religious and ethnic minorities by insurgents{{cite news, url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-is-disintegrating-as-ethnic-cleansing-takes-hold-478937.html , title=Iraq is disintegrating as ethnic cleansing takes hold , work=The Independent , date=20 May 2006 , access-date=23 October 2010 , location=London , first=Patrick , last=Cockburn , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100202194816/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-is-disintegrating-as-ethnic-cleansing-takes-hold-478937.html , archive-date=2 February 2010 * Disruption of Petroleum industry in Iraq, Iraqi oil production and related energy security concerns (the Oil price increases since 2003, price of oil quadrupled between 2002 and 2008).

Financial cost

{{Main, Financial cost of the Iraq War In March 2013, the total cost of the Iraq War to date was estimated at $1.7 trillion by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. Some argue that the total cost of the war to the US economy will range from $3 trillion to {{Nowrap, $6 trillion, including interest rates, by 2053, as described in the Watson Institute's report. The upper ranges of these estimates include long-term veterans costs and economic impacts. For example, Harvard's public finance expert Linda J. Bilmes has estimated that the long-term cost of providing disability compensation and medical care to US troops injured in the Iraq conflict will reach nearly $1 trillion over the next 40 years, and that the war in Iraq diverted resources from the war in Afghanistan, led to rising oil prices, increased the federal debt, and contributed to a global financial crisis. A CNN report noted that the United States–led interim government, the

lasting until 2004 in Iraq had lost $8.8 billion in the Development Fund for Iraq. In June 2011, it was reported by CBS News that $6 billion in neatly packaged blocks of $100 bills was air-lifted into Iraq by the George W. Bush administration, which flew it into Baghdad aboard C‑130 military cargo planes. In total, the ''Times'' says $12 billion in cash was flown into Iraq in 21 separate flights by May 2004, all of which has disappeared. An inspector general's report mentioned that "'Severe inefficiencies and poor management' by the Coalition Provisional Authority would leave no guarantee that the money was properly used", said Stuart W. Bowen, Jr., director of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. "The CPA did not establish or implement sufficient managerial, financial, and contractual controls to ensure that funds were used in a transparent manner." Bowen told the Times the missing money may represent "the largest theft of funds in national history."

Reparations

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

Humanitarian crisis

{{Main, Humanitarian crises of the Iraq War, Refugees of Iraq Car bomb victim in Iraq

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%. 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. A 2007 Iraq cholera outbreak, 2007 cholera outbreak in northern Iraq was thought to be the result of poor water quality. As many as half of Iraqi doctors left the country between 2003 and 2006. By the end of 2015, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 4.4 million Iraqis had been internally displaced. The population of Christianity in Iraq, Iraqi Christians dropped dramatically during the war, from 1.5 million in 2003 to 500,000 in 2015, 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."

Environmental impact

Oil pollution

The war has led to Oil spill, oil spills, which increased carbon emissions and contaminated the surrounding water resources. During the invasion period, the retreating Iraqi Ground Forces, 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.{{Cite web , title=The Environmental Consequences of the War on Iraq , url=https://www.greenparty.org.uk/files/reports/2003/The%20Environmental%20Consequences%20of%20the%20War%20on%20Iraq%202.htm#:~:text=Oil,%20soot,%20sulphur%20and%20acid,billion%20tons%20of%20carbon%20dioxide. , access-date=2022-07-24 , website=www.greenparty.org.uk In 2003, more than 50 billion tonnes of carbon emissions were produced from burning oil fields and released into the atmosphere. Also, over 130 million gallons of oil leaked into surrounding water resources, such as Sawa Lake.{{Cite journal , last=Al-Shammari , first=Ahmed Majeed , date=2016-06-01 , title=Environmental pollutions associated to conflicts in Iraq and related health problems , url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/reveh-2015-0024/html , journal=Reviews on Environmental Health , language=en , volume=31 , issue=2 , pages=245–250 , doi=10.1515/reveh-2015-0024 , pmid=26512425 , s2cid=41359706 , issn=2191-0308 Between 2003 and 2010, more than 5,000 birds from three species died around Sawa Lake.

Radioactive contamination

The U.S.-led coalition used depleted uranium (DU) munitions during the war to pierce tank armour. {{convert, 1000, to, 2000, tonnes, lbs 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.{{Cite journal , last1=Fathi , first1=Riyad Abdullah , last2=Matti , first2=Lilyan Yaqup , last3=Al-Salih , first3=Hana Said , last4=Godbold , first4=Douglas , date=2013-03-01 , title=Environmental pollution by depleted uranium in Iraq with special reference to Mosul and possible effects on cancer and birth defect rates , journal = Medicine, Conflict and Survival , volume=29 , issue=1 , pages=7–25 , doi=10.1080/13623699.2013.765173 , issn=1362-3699 , pmid=23729095, s2cid=45404607 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. In addition, radiation contamination may have had harmful public health outcomes through poisoning and increased incidence of various cancers and birth defects. Several studies have identified increased occurrence of deformities, cancers, and other serious health problems in areas where DU shells were used.{{cite journal , last1=Burkle , first1=Frederick , last2=Garfield , first2=Richard , title=Civilian mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq , journal =

, date=16 March 2013 , volume=381 , issue=9870 , pages=877–879 , doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(12)62196-5 , pmid=23499026 , s2cid=20887504 Some Iraqi doctors attributed these malformations to possible long-term effects of depleted uranium.{{cite news , last1=Jamail , first1=Dahr , title=Iraq's wars, a legacy of cancer , url=https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/2013315171951838638.html , access-date=29 November 2018 , work = Al Jazeera , date=16 March 2013 Studies disagree on whether DU ammunition has any measurable detrimental health effects. 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 to 8,000 new cases yearly. 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."{{Cite journal, last1=Al-Hadithi , first1=Tariq S., last2=Saleh , first2=Abubakir M. , last3=Al-Diwan , first3=Jawad K. , last4=Shabila , first4=Nazar P. , date=2012 , title=Birth defects in Iraq and the plausibility of environmental exposure: A review , journal=Conflict and Health , language=en , volume=6 , issue=3 , pages=245–250 , doi=10.1186/1752-1505-6-3 , pmid=22839108 , pmc=3492088

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. More than 250 chemical and armament factories were destroyed, which caused over 50,000 cubic meters of Dangerous goods, hazardous chemicals, such as fertilizer, and raw sewage to leak into water, leading to surrounding freshwater ecosystem becoming polluted and species' habitat being impacted. 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.

War crimes

{{Main, Human rights in post-invasion Iraq {{Prose, date=July 2013 Throughout the Iraq War, many human rights abuses and war crimes were committed.

By Coalition forces and private contractors

{{See also, United States war crimes Abu Ghraib 53

* Deaths of civilians as a result of bombing and missile strikes that fail to take all feasible precautions with regards to civilians casualties. * Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse by US Army personnel, involving the detention of thousands of Iraqi men and women. 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 use in Iraq, 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. The use of white phosphorus against civilian populations is banned by international legislation. * Mahmudiyah rape and killings, where US soldiers raped and killed 14-year old Abeer Qasim Humza. They also killed 3 of her relatives. * The torture and killing of prisoner of war, Iraqi Air Force commander, Abed Hamed Mowhoush. * The death of Baha Mousa while in British Army custody. * Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre, where 42 civilians were allegedly killed by coalition airstrikes. * Planting weapons on noncombatant, unarmed Iraqis by three US Marines after killing them. According to a report by ''The Nation'', other similar acts have been witnessed by US soldiers. * 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.

By Insurgent groups

{{Main, Iraq War insurgent attacks {{Further, Suicide bombings in Iraq since 2003, Tactics of the Iraqi insurgency Car bomb 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. The insurgents have also conducted numerous suicide attacks on the Iraqi civilian population, mostly targeting the majority Shia community. An October 2005 report from Human Rights Watch examines the range of civilian attacks and their purported justification. * Attacks against civilians by sectarian death squads primarily during the Civil war in Iraq (2006-07), 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. * 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; beheading several diplomats: two Algerian diplomatic envoys Ali Belaroussi and Azzedine Belkadi, Egyptian diplomatic envoy al-Sherif, and four Russian diplomats * 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 * The publicised killing of several contractors; Eugene Armstrong, Jack Hensley, Kenneth Bigley, Ivaylo Kepov and Georgi Lazov (Bulgarian truck drivers.) 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) 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. * Torture or killing of members of the New Iraqi Army, and assassination of civilians associated with the

, 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

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. Iraqi police from the Interior Ministry were accused of forming Death Squads and committing numerous massacres of Sunni Arabs. Many of these human rights abuses were carried out by Iraqi government-sponsored Shi'ite militias.

Public opinion on the war

{{Main, Public opinion on the Iraq War

International opinion

In a March 2003 Gallup (company), Gallup poll, the day after the invasion, 76% of Americans had approved of military action against Iraq. In a March 2003 YouGov poll, 54% of Britons supported the military action against Iraq. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The Pew Global Attitudes Project reports that in 2006 majorities in the Netherlands, Germany, Jordan, France, Lebanon, Russia, China, Canada,

, 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.

Iraqi opinion

Directly after the invasion, polling suggested that a slight majority supported the US invasion. 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.{{cite web, url=http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/sep06/Iraq_Sep06_rpt.pdf , title=The Iraqi Public on the U.S. Presence and the Future of Iraq , publisher=World Public Opinion , date=27 September 2006 , access-date=23 November 2008 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160824163145/http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/sep06/Iraq_Sep06_rpt.pdf , archive-date=24 August 2016 Iraq Poll
conducted by D3 Systems, D3 Systems for the BBC, ABC News, ARD German TV and USA Today. More than 2,000 people were questioned in more than 450 neighbourhoods and villages across all 18 provinces of Iraq between 25 February and 5 March 2007. The margin of error is + or – 2.5%. 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. In a March 2007 BBC poll, 82% of Iraqis expressed a lack of confidence in coalition forces based in Iraq. 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". 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.

Relation to the Global War on Terrorism

{{Main, Iraq War and the War on Terror {{Further, Criticism of the War on Terrorism, Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda timeline Though explicitly stating that Iraq had "nothing" to do with 9/11, erstwhile President George W. Bush consistently referred to the Iraq War as "the central front in the War on Terrorism, War on Terror", and argued that if the United States pulled out of Iraq, "terrorists will follow us here". 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". 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. 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." 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."

Foreign involvement

Suicide bombers

{{bar box , title= Origins of suicide bombers in Iraq 2003–2007 , titlebar=#DDD , float= right , left1= Nationality , right2= , width= 300px , bars= {{bar pixel, Saudi Arabia, red, 53 {{bar pixel,

, orange, 18 {{bar pixel, Italy, blue, 8 {{bar pixel, Syria, blue, 8 {{bar pixel,

, blue, 7 {{bar pixel, Jordan, blue, 4 {{bar pixel, * Other, blue, 26 , caption=* Three each from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen; two each from Belgium, France, Spain; one each from Britain, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan According to studies, most of the suicide bombers in

are foreigners, especially Saudi people, Saudis.{{cite news, last=Bernstein-Wax, first=Jessica, title=Studies: Suicide bombers in Iraq are mostly foreigners, url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2007/08/08/18791/studies-suicide-bombers-in-iraq.html, publisher=McClatchy Newspapers, date=8 August 2007, access-date=24 September 2012, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516230831/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2007/08/08/18791/studies-suicide-bombers-in-iraq.html, archive-date=16 May 2015, url-status=dead

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 {{Nowrap, 31 January 2007, Iraqi Prime Minister

stated that Iran was supporting attacks against Coalition forces in Iraq 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 {{Nowrap, 11 January.{{cite magazine , first=Robert , last=Baer , author-link=Robert Baer , title=Are the Iranians Out for Revenge? , url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1583523,00.html?cnn=yes , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202224629/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1583523,00.html?cnn=yes , url-status=dead , archive-date=2 February 2007 , magazine=Time (magazine), Time , date=30 January 2007 , access-date=31 January 2007 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.{{cite web, url=https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/01/18/armys-long-awaited-iraq-war-study-finds-iran-was-the-only-winner-in-a-conflict-that-holds-many-lessons-for-future-wars/, title=Army's long-awaited Iraq war study finds Iran was the only winner in a conflict that holds many lessons for future wars, last=South, first=Todd, date=4 February 2019, website=Army Times, language=en-US, access-date=6 February 2019

Footnotes

{{Notelist

References

{{Reflist

External links

{{sisterlinks, c=Iraq War, d=yes, q=yes, n=yes, b=no, v=no, voy=no, m=no, mw=no, wikt=no, s=no, species=no
International Center for Transitional Justice, Iraq

Dollar cost of war
total US cost of the Iraq War
"Bleak Pentagon study admits 'civil war' in Iraq"
by Rupert Cornwell, ''The Independent'', March 2007
High resolution maps of Iraq
GulfWarrior.org

on the evening of 19 March 2003, announcing war against Iraq.

The Second US–Iraq War (2003– ) *
1st Major Survey of Iraq
'. Zogby International, 10 September 2003.

Chronological polls of Americans 18 and older
''Just War in Iraq 2003''
(PDF)—Legal dissertation by Thomas Dyhr from University of Copenhagen.
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
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903114656/http://www.publicintegrity.org/politics/white-house/iraq-war-card , date=3 September 2018 . Center for Public Integrity.
Jargin SV. "Health care in Iraq: 2013 vs. 2003"
''CMAJ''. 17 September 2013. * {{cite web , last1=Mather-Cosgrove , first1=Bootie , title=The War with Iraq: Changing Views , url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-war-with-iraq-changing-views/ , work=CBS News {{Iraq War, Overview, state=expanded {{Authority control {{Navboxes , list = {{War on Terrorism {{Armed Iraqi groups in the Iraq War and the Iraq Civil War {{Middle East conflicts {{American conflicts {{Iraq topics {{United States topics {{US history {{Post-Cold War Asian conflicts {{Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant {{American conflicts Iraq War, Iraq War legal issues, * 2000s conflicts 2000s in Iraq 2000s in Iraqi Kurdistan 2010s conflicts 2010s in Iraq 2010s in Iraqi Kurdistan Articles containing video clips Presidency of George W. Bush George W. Bush administration controversies Presidency of Barack Obama Imperialism Iraq–United States relations History of Iraqi Kurdistan Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Iraq Modern history of Iraq Occupation of Iraq Politics of Iraq Proxy wars United States involvement in regime change War on terror Wars involving Albania Wars involving Armenia Wars involving Australia Wars involving Azerbaijan Wars involving Bosnia and Herzegovina Wars involving Bulgaria Wars involving Denmark Wars involving El Salvador Wars involving Estonia Wars involving Georgia (country) Wars involving Honduras Wars involving Iceland Wars involving Iraq Wars involving Italy Wars involving Japan Wars involving Kazakhstan Wars involving Latvia Wars involving Lithuania Wars involving Moldova Wars involving Mongolia Wars involving New Zealand Wars involving Nicaragua Wars involving North Macedonia Wars involving Norway Wars involving Poland Wars involving Portugal Wars involving Romania Wars involving Singapore Wars involving Slovakia Wars involving South Korea Wars involving Spain Wars involving Thailand Wars involving Turkey Wars involving the Czech Republic Wars involving the Dominican Republic Wars involving the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Wars involving the Netherlands Wars involving the Philippines Wars involving the United Kingdom Wars involving the United States Wars involving Tonga Wars involving Ukraine

Background

Pre-war events

Opposition to invasion

History

2003: Invasion

Post-invasion phase

2003: Beginnings of insurgency

= Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraq Survey Group

= Capturing former government leaders

2004: Insurgency expands

2005: Elections and transitional government

2006: Civil war and permanent Iraqi government

= Iraq Study Group report and Saddam's execution

2007: US troops surge

= Planned troop reduction

= Effects of the surge on security

= Political developments

= Tensions with Iran

= Tensions with Turkey

= Blackwater private security controversy

2008: Civil war continues

= Spring offensives on Shiite militias

= Congressional testimony

= Iraqi security forces rearm

= Status of forces agreement

2009: Coalition redeployment

= Transfer of the Green Zone

= Provincial elections

= Exit strategy announcement

= Sixth anniversary protests

= Coalition forces withdraw

= Iraq awards oil contracts

2010: US drawdown and Operation New Dawn {{anchor, 2010:_US_Drawdown_and_Operation_New_Dawn

= Iraqi arms purchases

= The UN lifts restrictions on Iraq

2011: US withdrawal

Aftermath – emerging conflict and insurgency

Casualty estimates

Criticism and cost

Financial cost

Reparations

Humanitarian crisis

Environmental impact

Oil pollution

Radioactive contamination

Ecosystem destruction

War crimes

By Coalition forces and private contractors

By Insurgent groups

By Post-invasion Iraqi Government

Public opinion on the war

International opinion

Iraqi opinion

Relation to the Global War on Terrorism

Foreign involvement

Suicide bombers

Role of Iran

See also

Footnotes

References

Further reading

External links