Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Truthwillneverdie (talk | contribs) at 12:20, 20 June 2013 (Undid revision 560692903 by CJK (talk) trying to bring back Darouet's last stable version). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Iraq War
Part of the Global War on Terrorism
Clockwise from top: Delta Force of Task Force 20 alongside troops of 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, at Uday Hussain and Qusay Hussein's hideout.; Insurgents in northern Iraq; an Iraqi insurgent firing a MANPADS; the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Firdos Square.
Date 20 March 2003 (2003-03-20) – 15 December 2011 (2011-12-15) (8 years, 8 months, 3 weeks and 4 days) Location Iraq Result Invasion and occupation of Iraq Overthrow of Ba'ath Party government and execution of Saddam Hussein Insurgency, foreign terrorist operations, and sectarian violence Subsequent depletion of Iraqi insurgency, improvements in public security Establishment of democratic elections and formation of new government U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement Withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq Ongoing insurgency
Belligerents
Invasion phase (2003)  United States of America  United Kingdom  Australia  Poland Peshmerga	Invasion phase (2003) Ba'athist Iraq
Post-invasion (2003–11)  Iraq Iraqi Armed Forces Peshmerga Awakening Council Multi-National Force – Iraq  United States (03–11)  United Kingdom (03–11)  South Korea (03–08)  Italy (03–06)  Poland (03-08)  Australia (03–09)  Georgia (03–08)  Ukraine (03–08)  Netherlands (03–05)  Spain (03–04) 30 other countries	Post-invasion (2003–11) Ba'ath Party loyalists Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order Sunni insurgents Islamic State of Iraq Islamic Army of Iraq Ansar al-Sunnah Shia insurgents Mahdi Army Special Groups Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq For fighting between insurgent groups, see Civil war in Iraq.
Commanders and leaders
Ayad Allawi Ibrahim al-Jaafari Nouri al-Maliki Ricardo Sanchez George W. Casey, Jr. David Petraeus Raymond T. Odierno Lloyd Austin George W. Bush Barack Obama Tony Blair Gordon Brown David Cameron John Howard Kevin Rudd Aleksander Kwaśniewski Lech Kaczyński	Ba'ath Party Saddam Hussein  (POW) Qusay Hussein † Uday Hussein † Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri Sunni insurgency Abu Omar al-Baghdadi † Abu Musab al-Zarqawi † Abu Ayyub al-Masri † Al-Nasser Lideen Allah Abu Suleiman † Abu Dua Ishmael Jubouri Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i  (POW) Shia insurgency Muqtada al-Sadr Abu Deraa
Strength
Invasion Forces (2003–2004) ~300,000 Coalition forces (2004–2009) 176,000 at peak United States Forces – Iraq (2010–2011) 112,000 at activation Security contractors 6,000–7,000 (estimate) Iraqi Security Forces 805,269 (military and paramilitary: 578,269, police: 227,000) Awakening militias ~103,000 (2008) Iraqi Kurdistan ~400,000 (Kurdish Border Guard: 30,000, Peshmerga 375,000)	Iraqi Army: 375,000 (disbanded in 2003) Sunni Insurgents ~70,000 (2007) Mahdi Army ~60,000 (2007) al-Qaeda ~1,300 (2006) Islamic State of Iraq ~1,000 (2008) Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order ~500–1,000 (2007)
Casualties and losses
Iraqi Security Forces (post-Saddam) Killed: 16,623 Wounded: 40,000+ Coalition Forces Killed: 4,805 (4,487 U.S., 179 UK, 139 other) Missing/captured (U.S.): 8 (all rescued) Wounded: 32,753+ (32,226 U.S., 315 UK, 212+ other) Injured/diseased/other medical*: 51,139 (47,541 U.S., 3,598 UK) Contractors Killed: 1,554 Wounded & injured: 43,880 Awakening Councils Killed: 1,002+ Wounded: 500+ (2007), 828 (2008) Total dead: 24,219 Total wounded: 117,961	Iraqi combatant dead (invasion period): 7,600–11,000 Insurgents (post-Saddam) Killed: 21,221–26,405 (2003-2011) Detainees: 12,000 (Iraqi-held) Total dead: 28,821–37,405
Documented civilian deaths from violence, Iraq Body Count (2003 – 14 December 2011): 103,160–113,728 recorded and 12,438 new deaths added from the Iraq War Logs Estimated violent deaths: Lancet survey (March 2003 – July 2006): 601,027 (95% CI: 426,369–793,663) Associated Press (March 2003 – April 2009): 110,600 Iraq Family Health Survey (March 2003 – July 2006): 151,000 (95% CI: 104,000–223,000) For more information see: Casualties of the Iraq War
* "injured, diseased, or other medical": required medical air transport. UK number includes "aeromed evacuations" ** Total deaths include all additional deaths due to increased lawlessness, degraded infrastructure, poorer healthcare, etc.

Part of a series on
Ba'athism
Organizations Arab Ba'ath 1940–1947 Arab Ba'ath Movement 1940–1947 Ba'ath Party 1947–1966 Baath Party (pro-Iraqi) 1968–2003 Baath Party (pro-Syrian) 1966–present
Variants Neo-Ba'athism 1966–2024 Saddamism 1979–2003
People Zaki al-Arsuzi Michel Aflaq Salah al-Din al-Bitar Abdullah Rimawi Wahib al-Ghanim Fuad al-Rikabi Salah Jadid Hafez al-Assad Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Saddam Hussein Bashar al-Assad Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri
Literature On the Way of Resurrection The Battle for One Destiny The Genius of Arabic in Its Tongue
History Ba'athist Iraq Ramadan Revolution November 1963 coup d'état 17 July Revolution 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge Iran–Iraq War Gulf War UN sanctions Iraq War De-Ba'athification Ba'athist Syria Syrian Committee to Help Iraq 1963 / 1966 coup d'états Corrective Revolution Intervention in Lebanon Syrian occupation of Lebanon Syrian civil war Fall of the Assad regime
Regional organizations Algeria pro-Iraq pro-Syria Bahrain pro-Iraq pro-Syria Egypt pro-Iraq pro-Syria Iraq pro-Iraq pro-Syria Jordan pro-Iraq pro-Syria Kuwait pro-Iraq Lebanon pro-Iraq pro-Syria Libya pro-Iraq Mauritania pro-Iraq pro-Syria Palestine pro-Iraq pro-Syria Sudan pro-Iraq pro-Syria Syria pro-Iraq pro-Syria Tunisia pro-Iraq pro-Syria Yemen pro-Iraq pro-Syria
Splinter groups Arab Socialist Revolutionary Ba'ath Party 1960–1962/63 Socialist Lebanon 1965–1970 Arab Revolutionary Workers Party 1966–present Democratic Socialist Arab Ba'ath Party 1970–present Sudanese Ba'ath Party 2002–present
Armed groups Arab Liberation Front Al-Awda Al-Abud Network Jeish Muhammad Rejectionists Snake Party Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation Naqshbandi Army General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries Free Iraqi Army
Related topics Arab nationalism Arab socialism Assadist-Saddamist conflict Nasserism Pan-Arabism Unity, Freedom, Socialism
Politics portal Socialism portal
v t e

The Iraq War was an armed conflict in Iraq that consisted of two phases. The first was an invasion of Ba'athist Iraq starting on 20 March 2003 by an invasion force led by the United States. It was followed by a longer phase of fighting, in which an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the newly formed Iraqi government. The U.S. completed its withdrawal of military personnel in December 2011. However, the Iraqi insurgency continues and has caused thousands of fatalities in 2012.

Prior to the war, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom claimed that Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed a threat to their security and that of their coalition/regional allies. In 2002, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1441 which called for Iraq to completely cooperate with UN weapon inspectors to verify that Iraq was not in possession of WMD and cruise missiles. Prior to the attack, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) found no evidence of WMD, but could not yet verify the accuracy of Iraq's declarations regarding what weapons it possessed, as their work was still unfinished. The leader of the inspectors Hans Blix estimated the time remaining for disarmament being verified through inspections to be "months".

After investigation following the invasion, the U.S.‑led Iraq Survey Group concluded that Iraq had ended its nuclear, chemical and biological programs in 1991 and had no active programs at the time of the invasion, but that they intended to resume production if the Iraq sanctions were lifted. Although some degraded remnants of misplaced or abandoned chemical weapons from before 1991 were found, they were not the weapons which had been one of the main arguments for the invasion. The United States’ most senior intelligence officers disputed the Bush administration’s claims that the motivation for war was based on pre-war intelligence regarding WMD. Paul R. Piller, the CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East from 2000 to 2005, said the "broad view" within the intelligence community both in the United States and overseas "was that Saddam was being kept 'in his box' " by U.N. sanctions, and that the best way to deal with him was through "an aggressive inspections program to supplement sanctions already in place." Pillar states the "Official intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs was flawed, but even with its flaws, it was not what led to the war." Instead, he asserted, the administration "went to war without requesting -- and evidently without being influenced by -- any strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq." Similarly, George J. Tenet, the former director of central intelligence, stated Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials pushed the country to war in Iraq without ever conducting a “serious debate” about whether Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to the United States.

Some U.S. officials also accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, but no evidence of a meaningful connection was ever found. Other proclaimed reasons for the invasion included Iraq's financial support for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, Iraqi government human rights abuses, and an effort to spread democracy to the country.

On 16 March 2003, the U.S. government advised the U.N. inspectors to leave their unfinished work and exit from Iraq. On 20 March the American-led coalition conducted a surprise military invasion of Iraq without declaring war. The invasion led to an occupation and the eventual capture of President Hussein, who was later tried in an Iraqi court of law and executed by the new Iraqi government. Violence against coalition forces and among various sectarian groups soon led to the Iraqi insurgency, strife between many Sunni and Shia Iraqi groups, and the emergence of a new faction of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

In June 2008, U.S. Department of Defense officials claimed security and economic indicators began to show signs of improvement in what they hailed as significant and fragile gains. Iraq was fifth on the 2008 Failed States Index, and sixth on the 2009 list. As public opinion favoring troop withdrawals increased and as Iraqi forces began to take responsibility for security, member nations of the Coalition withdrew their forces. In late 2008, the U.S. and Iraqi governments approved a Status of Forces Agreement effective through 1 January 2012. The Iraqi Parliament also ratified a Strategic Framework Agreement with the U.S., aimed at ensuring cooperation in constitutional rights, threat deterrence, education, energy development, and other areas.

In late February 2009, newly elected U.S. President Barack Obama announced an 18-month withdrawal window for combat forces, with approximately 50,000 troops remaining in the country "to advise and train Iraqi security forces and to provide intelligence and surveillance". UK forces ended combat operations on 30 April 2009. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al‑Maliki said he supported the accelerated pullout of U.S. forces. In a speech at the Oval Office on 31 August 2010 Obama declared "the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country." Beginning 1 September 2010, the American operational name for its involvement in Iraq changed from "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to "Operation New Dawn". The remaining 50,000 U.S. troops were designated as "advise and assist brigades" assigned to non-combat operations while retaining the ability to revert to combat operations as necessary. Two combat aviation brigades also remain in Iraq. In September 2010, the Associated Press issued an internal memo reminding its reporters that "combat in Iraq is not over", and "U.S. troops remain involved in combat operations alongside Iraqi forces, although U.S. officials say the American combat mission has formally ended".

On 21 October 2011, President Obama announced that all U.S. troops and trainers would leave Iraq by the end of the year, bringing the U.S. mission in Iraq to an end. On 15 December 2011, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta officially declared the Iraq War over, at a flag lowering ceremony in Baghdad. The last U.S. troops left Iraqi territory on 18 December 2011 at 4:27 UTC.

Background

Iraq disarmament crisis and pre-war intelligence

U.N. weapons inspections resume

The issue of Iraq's disarmament reached a crisis in 2002–2003, when Bush demanded a complete end to alleged Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction and full compliance with UN Security Council Resolutions requiring UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to suspected weapons production facilities. The UN had prohibited Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons after the Gulf War and required Iraq to permit inspections confirming compliance. During inspections in 1999, U.S. intelligence agents supplied the United States with a direct feed of conversations between Iraqi security agencies as well as other information. This was confirmed by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

During 2002, Bush repeatedly warned of military action against Iraq unless inspections were allowed to progress unfettered. In accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1441 Iraq reluctantly agreed to new inspections in late 2002. With the cooperation of the Iraqis, a third weapons inspection team in 2003 led by David Kelly (weapons expert) viewed and photographed two alleged mobile weapons laboratories which were actually facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill balloons.

Shortly before the invasion, Hans Blix the lead weapons inspector, advised the UN Security Council that Iraq was cooperating with inspections and that the confirmation of disarmament through inspections could be achieved in a short period of time if Iraq remained cooperative.

Alleged weapons of mass destruction

Yellowcake uranium

Before the Gulf War, in 1990, Iraq had stockpiled 550 short tons (500 t) of yellowcake uranium at the Tuwaitha nuclear complex about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Baghdad. In late February 2002, the CIA sent former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson to investigate reports (later found to be forgeries) that Iraq was attempting to purchase additional yellowcake from Niger. Wilson returned and informed the CIA that reports of yellowcake sales to Iraq were "unequivocally wrong." The Bush administration, however, continued to allege Iraq's attempts to obtain additional yellowcake were a justification for military action, most prominently in the January 2003, State of the Union address, in which President Bush declared that Iraq had sought uranium, citing British intelligence sources.

In response, Wilson wrote a critical New York Times op-ed piece in June 2003 stating that he had personally investigated claims of yellowcake purchases and believed them to be fraudulent. After Wilson's op-ed, Wilson's wife Valerie Plame was publicly identified as an undercover CIA analyst by a columnist. This led to a Justice Department investigation into the source of the leak.

On 1 May 2005, the "Downing Street memo" was published in The Sunday Times. It contained an overview of a secret 23 July 2002, meeting among British government, Ministry of Defence, and British intelligence figures who discussed the build-up to the Iraq war—including direct references to classified U.S. policy of the time. The memo stated that "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy".

In September 2002, the Bush administration, the CIA and the DIA said attempts by Iraq to acquire high-strength aluminum tubes that were prohibited under the UN monitoring program and which they said pointed to a clandestine effort to make centrifuges to enrich uranium for nuclear bombs. This analysis was opposed by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and INR, which was significant because of DOE's expertise in such gas centrifuges and nuclear weapons programs. The DOE and INR argued that the Iraqi tubes were poorly suited for centrifuges and that while it was technically possible with additional modification, conventional military uses were more plausible. A report released by the Institute for Science and International Security in 2002 reported that it was highly unlikely that the tubes could be used to enrich uranium.

An effort by the DOE to correct this detail in comments prepared for United States Secretary of State Colin Powell's UN appearance was rebuffed by the administration and Powell, in his address to the UN Security Council just before the war, referenced the aluminum tubes, stating that while experts disagreed on whether or not the tubes were destined for a centrifuge program, the specifications of the tubes were unusually tight. Powell later admitted he had presented what turned out to be an inaccurate case to the UN on Iraqi weapons, and the intelligence he was relying on was, in some cases, "deliberately misleading." After the United States presidential election, 2008, and the election of Democratic party nominee Barack Obama, president Bush stated that " biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq".

Poison gas

The CIA had contacted Iraq's foreign minister, Naji Sabri, who was being paid by the French as an agent. Sabri informed them that Saddam had hidden poison gas among Sunni tribesmen, had ambitions for a nuclear program but that it was not active, and that no biological weapons were being produced or stockpiled, although research was underway. According to Sidney Blumenthal, George Tenet briefed Bush on 18 September 2002, that Sabri had informed them that Iraq did not have WMD. Bush dismissed this top-secret intelligence from Hussein's inner circle which was approved by two senior CIA officers. The information was never shared with Congress or CIA agents examining whether Saddam had such weapons.

Biological weapons

Based on reports obtained by the German intelligence service from an Iraqi defector codenamed "Curveball", Colin Powell presented evidence to the United Nations security council that Iraq had an active biological weapons programme. On 15 February 2011, the defector—a scientist identified as Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janafi—admitted to journalists working for The Guardian newspaper that he lied to the Bundesnachrichtendienst in order to strengthen the case against Saddam Hussein, whom he wished to see removed from power.

Result

In December 2009, former Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that he "would still have thought it right to remove " regardless of whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction or not.

Preparations for Iraq war

In the days immediately following 9/11, the Bush Administration national security team actively debated an invasion of Iraq. A memo written by Sec. Rumsfeld dated Nov 27, 2001 considers a US-Iraq war. One section of the memo questions "How start?", listing multiple possible justifications for a US-Iraq War.

During 2002 the amount of ordnance used by British and American aircraft patrolling the no-fly zones of Iraq increased compared to the previous years and by August had "become a full air offensive". Tommy Franks, the allied commander, later stated that the bombing was designed to "degrade" the Iraqi air defense system before an invasion.

In October 2002, a few days before the U.S. Senate voted on the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, about 75 senators were told in closed session that Iraq had the means of attacking the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. with biological or chemical weapons delivered by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs.) On 5 February 2003, Colin Powell presented further evidence in his Iraqi WMD program presentation to the UN Security Council that UAVs were ready to be launched against the United States. At the time, there was a vigorous dispute within the U.S. military and intelligence communities as to whether CIA conclusions about Iraqi UAVs were accurate and other intelligence agencies suggested that Iraq did not possess any offensive UAV capability, saying the few they had were designed for surveillance and intended for reconnaissance. The Senate voted to approve the Joint Resolution with the support of large bipartisan majorities on 11 October 2002, providing the Bush administration with a legal basis for the U.S. invasion under U.S. law.

The resolution granted the authorization by the Constitution of the United States and the United States Congress for the President to command the military to fight anti-United States violence. Citing the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, the resolution reiterated that it should be the policy of the United States to remove the Hussein regime and promote a democratic replacement. The authorization was signed by President George W. Bush on 16 October 2002.

Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix remarked in January 2003 that "Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance—not even today—of the disarmament, which was demanded of it and which it needs to carry out to win the confidence of the world and to live in peace." Among other things he noted that 1,000 short tons (910 t) of chemical agent were unaccounted for, information on Iraq's VX nerve agent program was missing, and that "no convincing evidence" was presented for the destruction of 8,500 litres (1,900 imp gal; 2,200 US gal) of anthrax that had been declared.

In the 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush said "we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs". On 5 February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared before the UN to present American evidence that Iraq was hiding unconventional weapons. The French government also believed that Saddam had stockpiles of anthrax and botulism toxin, and the ability to produce VX. In March, Blix said progress had been made in inspections, and no evidence of WMD had been found. Iraqi scientist Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi codenamed "Curveball", admitted in February 2011, that he lied to the CIA about biological weapons in order to get the US to attack and remove Hussein from power.

In early 2003, the U.S., British, and Spanish governments proposed the so-called "eighteenth resolution" to give Iraq a deadline for compliance with previous resolutions enforced by the threat of military action. This proposed resolution was subsequently withdrawn due to lack of support on the UN Security Council. In particular, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members France, Germany and Canada and non-NATO member Russia were opposed to military intervention in Iraq, due to the high level of risk to the international community's security, and defended disarmament through diplomacy.

A meeting between George W. Bush and Tony Blair took place on 31 January 2003, in the White House. A secret memo of this meeting purportedly showed that the Bush administration had already decided on the invasion of Iraq at that point. Bush was allegedly floating the idea of painting a U‑2 spyplane in UN colors and letting it fly low over Iraq to provoke Iraqi forces into shooting it down, thereby providing a pretext for the United States and Britain to invade. Bush and Blair made a secret deal to carry out the invasion regardless of whether WMD were discovered by UN weapons inspectors, in direct contradiction with statements Blair made to the British House of Commons afterwards that the Iraqi regime would be given a final chance to disarm. In the memo, Bush is paraphrased as saying, "The start date for the military campaign was now pencilled in for 10 March. This was when the bombing would begin." Bush said to Blair that he "thought it unlikely that there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups" in Iraq after the war.

Opposition to invasion

In October 2002 former U.S. President Bill Clinton warned about possible dangers of pre-emptive military action against Iraq. Speaking in the UK on 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."

On 20 January 2003, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin declared "we believe that military intervention would be the worst solution". Meanwhile anti-war groups across the world organised public protests. According to French academic Dominique Reynié, between 3 January and 12 April 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against war in Iraq, with demonstrations on 15 February 2003, being the largest and most prolific.

In February 2003, the U.S. 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, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the post-war troop commitment would be less than the number of troops required to win the war, and that "the idea that it would take several hundred thousand U.S. forces is far from the mark." Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Shineski's estimate was "way off the mark," because other countries would take part in an occupying force.

In March 2003, Hans Blix reported that "No evidence of proscribed activities have so far been found" in Iraq, saying that progress was made in inspections which would continue. He estimated the time remaining for disarmament being verified through inspections to be "months". But the U.S. government announced that "diplomacy has failed", and that it would proceed with a coalition of allied countries—named the "coalition of the willing"—to rid Iraq of its alleged WMD. The U.S. government abruptly advised UN weapons inspectors to leave Baghdad immediately.

There were serious legal questions surrounding the launching of the war against Iraq and the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war in general. On 16 September 2004, Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, said of the invasion, "I have indicated it 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 Lord Bingham, the former British Law Lord, described the war 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, 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 Bush administration." In July 2010, Deputy Prime Minister of the UK Nick Clegg, in an official PMQs session in Parliament, condemned the invasion of Iraq as illegal. Theorist Francis Fukuyama has argued that "the Iraq war and the close association it created between military invasion and democracy promotion tarnished the latter".

The invasion

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

Most importantly, their efforts organized the Kurdish Peshmerga to become the northern front of the invasion. Together this force defeated Ansar al-Islam in Iraqi Kurdistan before the invasion and then defeated the Iraqi army in the north. The battle against Ansar al-Islam 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 p.m., 19 March EST) the surprise military invasion of Iraq began. There was no declaration of war. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by U.S. army General Tommy Franks, began under the codename "Operation Iraqi Liberation", later renamed "Operation Iraqi Freedom", the UK codename Operation Telic, and the Australian codename Operation Falconer. Coalition forces also cooperated with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the north. Approximately forty other governments, the "U.S.-led coalition against Iraq," 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 militia troops, estimated to number upwards of 70,000.

According to General Tommy Franks, the objectives of the invasion were, "First, end 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 related to terrorist networks. Fifth, to collect such intelligence as we can related 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 a representative self-government.”

The invasion was a quick and decisive operation encountering major resistance, though not what the U.S., British and other forces expected. The Iraqi regime had prepared to fight both a conventional and irregular war 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. This achieved some temporary successes and created unexpected challenges for the invading forces, especially the U.S. military.

Coalition troops launched air and amphibious assault 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. Polish commandos captured offshore oil platforms near the port, preventing their destruction.

The heavy armor of the U.S. 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 U.S. 1st Marine Division fought through Nasiriyah in a battle to seize the major road junction and nearby Talil Airfield. The United States Army 3rd Infantry Division defeated Iraqi forces entrenched in and around the airfield and bypassed the city to the west in its drive up north through western Iraq.

With the Nasiriyah and Talil Airfields secured in its rear, the 3rd Infantry Division supported by 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 they secured the Karbala Gap, a key approach to Baghdad, then secured the bridges over the Euphrates River, and the American 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 into Badhdad to seize it.

In the north, OIF‑1 used the largest special operations force since the successful attack on the Taliban government of Afghanistan just over a year earlier. The Iraqi army was quickly overwhelmed in each engagement it faced with U.S. forces, with the elite Fedayeen Saddam putting up strong, sometimes suicidal, resistance before melting away into the civilian population.

On 9 April Baghdad fell, ending President Hussein's 24‑year rule. U.S. forces seized the deserted Ba'ath Party ministries and stage-managed the tearing down of a huge iron statue of Hussein, photos and video of which became symbolic of the event, although later controversial. Not seen in the photos or heard on the videos, shot with a zoom lens, was the chant of the inflamed crowd for Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric. In November 2008, Iraqi protesters staged a similar stomping on and burning of an effigy of George W. Bush. 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, 250,000 short tons (230,000 t) (of 650,000 short tons (590,000 t) total) of ordnance was looted, providing a significant source of ammunition for the Iraqi insurgency. The invasion phase concluded when Tikrit, Hussein's home town, fell with little resistance to the U.S. Marines of Task Force Tripoli and on 15 April the coalition declared the invasion effectively over.

In the invasion phase of the war (19 March–April 30), 9,200 Iraqi combatants were killed along with 7,299 civilians, primarily by U.S. air and ground forces. Coalition forces reported the death in combat of 139 U.S. military personnel and 33 UK military personnel.

Post-invasion phase

2003: Beginnings of insurgency

On 1 May 2003, President Bush staged a dramatic visit to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln operating a few miles west of San Diego, California. The visit climaxed at sunset with Bush's now well-known "Mission Accomplished" speech. In this nationally televised speech, delivered before the sailors and airmen on the flight deck, Bush effectively declared victory due to the defeat of Iraq's conventional forces. However, Saddam remained at large and significant pockets of resistance remained.

After President Bush's speech, coalition forces noticed a gradually increasing flurry of attacks on its troops in various regions, especially in the "Sunni Triangle". The initial Iraqi insurgents were supplied by hundreds of weapons caches created before the invasion by the Iraqi army and Republican Guard.

Initially, Iraqi resistance (described by the coalition as "Anti-Iraqi Forces") largely stemmed from fedayeen and Hussein/Ba'ath Party loyalists, but soon religious radicals and Iraqis angered by the occupation contributed to the insurgency. The three provinces with the highest number of attacks were Baghdad, Al Anbar, and Salah Ad Din. Those three provinces account for 35% of the population, but as of 5 December 2006, were responsible for 73% of U.S. military deaths and an even higher percentage of recent U.S. military deaths (about 80%.)

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

Post-invasion Iraq coalition efforts commenced after the fall of the Hussein 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. Toward the end of 2003, the intensity and pace of insurgent attacks began to increase. A sharp surge in guerrilla attacks ushered in an insurgent effort that was termed the "Ramadan Offensive", as it coincided with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

To counter this offensive, coalition forces begin 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 were stepped up. In addition, two villages, including Hussein's birthplace of al-Auja and the small town of Abu Hishma were surrounded by barbed wire and carefully monitored.

Coalition Provisional Authority and Iraq Survey Group

Shortly after the invasion, which has resulted in the debellatio of Iraq, the multinational coalition created the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) 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.

The CPA was originally headed by Jay Garner, a former U.S. military officer, but his appointment lasted only until 11 May 2003, when President Bush appointed L. Paul Bremer. Bremer served until the CPA's dissolution in July 2004.

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 Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programmes. In 2004 the ISG's Duelfer Report stated that Iraq did not have a viable WMD program.

Capturing former government leaders

In the summer of 2003, the multinational forces focused on capturing the remaining leaders of the former government. On 22 July, a raid by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division and soldiers from Task Force 20 killed Hussein's sons (Uday and Qusay) along with one of his grandsons. In all, over 300 top leaders of the former government were killed or captured, as well as numerous lesser functionaries and military personnel.

Most significantly, Saddam Hussein himself was captured on 13 December 2003, on a farm near Tikrit in Operation Red Dawn. The operation was conducted by the United States Army's 4th Infantry Division and members of Task Force 121. Intelligence on Saddam's whereabouts came from his family members and former bodyguards.

With the capture of Hussein and a drop in the number of insurgent attacks, some concluded the multinational forces were prevailing in the fight against the insurgency. The provisional government began training the new Iraqi security forces intended to police the country, and the United States promised over $20 billion in reconstruction money in the form of 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 Hussein, elements left out of the Coalition Provisional Authority began to agitate for elections and the formation of an Iraqi Interim Government. Most prominent among these was the Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The Coalition Provisional Authority opposed allowing democratic elections at this time. The insurgents stepped up their activities. The two most turbulent centers were the area around Fallujah and the poor Shia sections of cities from Baghdad (Sadr City) to Basra in the south.

2004: Insurgency expands

See also: Military operations of the Iraq War for a list of all Coalition operations for this period, 2004 in Iraq, Iraqi coalition counter-insurgency operations, History of Iraqi insurgency, United States occupation of Fallujah, 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 al-Qaeda in Iraq (an affiliated al-Qaeda group), led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi helping to drive the insurgency.

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

The most serious fighting of the war so far began on 31 March 2004, when Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed a Blackwater USA convoy led by four U.S. 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 agencies worldwide, causing a great deal of indignation and moral outrage in the United States, and prompting an unsuccessful "pacification" of the city: the First Battle of Fallujah in April 2004.

The offensive was resumed in November 2004 in the bloodiest battle of the war so far: the Second Battle of Fallujah, described by the U.S. military as "the heaviest urban combat (that they had been involved in) since the battle of Hue City in Vietnam." During the assault, U.S. forces used white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon against insurgent personnel, attracting controversy. The 46‑day battle resulted in a victory for the coalition, with 95 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 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 U.S. military advisors assigned directly to New Iraqi Army units.

2005: Elections and transitional government

On 31 January, Iraqis elected the Iraqi Transitional Government in order to draft a permanent constitution. Although some violence and a widespread Sunni boycott marred the event, most of the eligible Kurd and Shia populace participated. On 4 February, Paul Wolfowitz announced that 15,000 U.S. 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.

Hopes for a quick end to the insurgency and a withdrawal of U.S. 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 U.S. soldiers.

The summer of 2005 saw fighting around Baghdad and at Tall Afar in northwestern Iraq as U.S. 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.

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

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

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

Although no injuries occurred in the blast, the mosque was severely damaged and the bombing resulted in violence over the following days. Over 100 dead bodies with bullet holes were found on 23 February, and at least 165 people are thought to have been killed. In the aftermath of this attack the U.S. 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 6 March, five United States Army soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, raped the 14-year-old Iraqi girl Abeer Hamza al‑Janabi, and then murdered her, her father, her mother Fakhriya Taha Muhasen and her six-year-old sister. The soldiers then set fire to the girls 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 the involvement in the war crime, that became known as the Mahmudiyah killings.

On 6 June 2006, the United States was successful in tracking Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq who was killed in a targeted killing, while attending a meeting in an isolated safehouse approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) north of Baqubah. At 14:15 GMT two United States Air Force F‑16C jets identified the house and 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 at. Six others—three male and three female individuals—were also reported killed. Among those killed were one of his wives and their child.

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

Iraq Study Group report and Hussein's execution

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

Coalition forces formally transferred control of a province to the Iraqi government, the first since the war. Military prosecutors charged eight U.S. 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: U.S. troops surge

In a 10 January 2007, televised address to the U.S. 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, David Petraeus was made commander of Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I), the four-star post that oversees all coalition forces in country, replacing General George Casey. In his new position, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq and employed them in the new "Surge" strategy outlined by the Bush administration. 2007 also saw a sharp increase in insurgent chlorine bombings.

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. Despite this, the mandate was renewed on 18 December 2007, without the approval of the Iraqi parliament.

Pressures on U.S. troops were compounded by the continuing withdrawal of coalition forces. In early 2007, British Prime Minister Blair announced that following Operation Sinbad British troops would begin to withdraw from Basra Governorate, handing security over to the Iraqis. In July Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also announced the withdrawal of 441 Danish troops from Iraq, leaving only a unit of nine soldiers manning four observational helicopters.

Planned troop reduction

In a speech made to Congress on 10 September 2007, Petraeus "envisioned the withdrawal of roughly 30,000 U.S. troops by next summer, beginning with a Marine contingent ." On 14 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.

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 U.S. combat deaths in Baghdad nearly doubled to 3.14 per day in the first seven weeks of the "surge" in security activity, compared to previous period. Across the rest of Iraq it reduced slightly.

On 14 August 2007, the deadliest single attack of the whole war occurred. Nearly 800 civilians were killed by a series of coordinated suicide bomb attacks on the northern Iraqi settlement of Kahtaniya. More than 100 homes and shops were destroyed in the blasts. U.S. 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 U.S. ally because he led the "Anbar Awakening", an alliance of Sunni Arab tribes that opposed al-Qaeda. The latter organisation claimed responsibility for the attack. A statement posted on the Internet by the shadowy Islamic State of Iraq called Abu Risha "one of the dogs of Bush" and described Thursday's killing as a "heroic operation that took over a month to prepare".

There was a reported trend of decreasing U.S. troop deaths after May 2007, 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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. Investigative reporter Bob Woodward cites U.S. government sources according to which the U.S. "surge" was not the primary reason for the drop in violence in 2007–2008. Instead, according to that view, the reduction of violence was due to newer covert techniques by U.S. 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 province of Iraq's 18 provinces 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 U.S.‑led forces in Iraq will terminate "if requested by the government of Iraq." Under Iraqi law, the speaker must present a resolution called for by a majority of lawmakers. 59% of those polled in the U.S. 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

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

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

Tensions with Turkey

Border incursions by PKK militants based in Northern Iraq have continued to harass Turkish forces, with casualties on both sides. In the fall of 2007, the Turkish military stated their right to cross the Iraqi Kurdistan border in "hot pursuit" of PKK militants and began shelling Kurdish areas in Iraq and attacking PKK bases in the Mount Cudi region with aircraft. 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 U.S. military are being recovered by authorities in Turkey after being used by PKK in that state.

Blackwater private security controversy

On 17 September 2007, the Iraqi government announced that it was revoking the license of the U.S. 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

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

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 summer 2007.

Meanwhile, the proficiency of the Iraqi military increased as it launched a spring offensive against Shia militias which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had previously been criticized for allowing to operate. This began with a March operation against the 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 U.S. 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 the Awakening movement were transferred from U.S. 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.

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

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.

U.S. military officials met these trends with cautious optimism as they approached what they described as the "transition" embodied in the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement which was negotiated throughout 2008. The commander of the coalition, U.S. General Raymond T. Odierno, noted that "in military terms, transitions are the most dangerous time" in December 2008.

Spring offensives on Shia militias

At the end of March, the Iraqi Army, with Coalition air support, launched an offensive, dubbed "Charge of the Knights", in Basra to secure the area from militias. This was the first major operation where the Iraqi Army did not have direct combat support from conventional coalition ground troops. The offensive was opposed by the Mahdi Army, one of the militias, which controlled much of the region. 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 talks with Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Qods brigades of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the intercession of the Iranian government, on 31 March 2008, al‑Sadr ordered his followers to ceasefire. 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

Speaking before the Congress on 8 April 2008, General David Petraeus urged delaying troop withdrawals, saying, "I've repeatedly noted that we haven't turned any corners, we haven't seen any lights at the end of the tunnel," referencing the comments of then President Bush and former Vietnam-era General William Westmoreland. 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 in Iraq was less important than the Al渱Qaeda organization led by Osama bin Laden along the Afghan-Pakistani border. Lawmakers from both parties complained that U.S. 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 current purchasers of U.S. military equipment with their army trading its AK‑47 assault rifles for the U.S. M‑16 and M‑4 rifles, among other equipment. In 2008 alone, Iraq accounted for more than $12.5 billion of the $34 billion U.S. weapon sales to foreign countries (not including the potential F-16 fighter planes.).

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

Status of forces agreement

The U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement was approved by the Iraqi government on 4 December 2008. It establishes that U.S. combat forces will withdraw from Iraqi cities by 30 June 2009, and that all U.S. forces will be completely out of Iraq by 31 December 2011. The pact is subject to possible negotiations which could delay withdrawal and a referendum scheduled for mid-2009 in Iraq which may require all U.S. forces to completely leave by the middle of 2010. The pact requires criminal charges for holding prisoners over 24 hours, and requires a warrant for searches of homes and buildings that are not related to combat.

U.S. contractors working for U.S. forces will be subject to Iraqi criminal law, while contractors working for the State Department and other U.S. agencies may retain their immunity. If U.S. 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 U.S.‑Iraq committee if the United States certifies the forces were off-duty.

Some Americans have discussed "loopholes" and some Iraqis have said they believe parts of the pact remain a "mystery". U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has predicted that after 2011 he would expect to see "perhaps several tens of thousands of American troops" as part of a residual force in Iraq.

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

A representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al‑Sistani's 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 Iraqi have gathered weekly after Friday prayers and shouted anti‑U.S. 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

Transfer of 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.

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

Provincial 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, but U.S. 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 Barack Obama gave a speech at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in the U.S. state of North Carolina announcing that the U.S. 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.

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

Sixth anniversary protests

On 9 April, the sixth anniversary of Baghdad's fall to coalition forces, tens of thousands of Iraqis thronged Baghdad to mark the sixth anniversary of the city's fall and to demand the immediate departure of coalition forces. The crowds of Iraqis stretched from the giant Sadr City slum in northeast Baghdad to the square around 5 km (3.1 mi) away, where protesters burned an effigy featuring the face of former U.S. President George W. Bush, who ordered the U.S.‑led invasion of Iraq, and also the face of Saddam Shi'ites were brutally persecuted under Saddam's rule. 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.

Coalition forces withdraw

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

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

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

Iraq awards oil contracts

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

2010: U.S. drawdown and Operation New Dawn

On 17 February 2010, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates 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 the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq 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 Nouri al-Maliki announced the killings of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri at a news conference in Baghdad and showed reporters photographs of their bloody corpses. "The attack was carried out by ground forces which surrounded the house, and also through the use of missiles," Mr Maliki said. "During the operation computers were seized with e-mails and messages to the two biggest terrorists, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri", Maliki added. U.S. 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."

U.S. 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 Islamic State of Iraq. This attack was followed by another attack on Iraq's Bank of Trade building that killed 26 and wounded 52 people.

In late August 2010, insurgents conducted a major attack with at least 12 car bombs simultaneously detonating from Mosul to Basra and killing at least 51. These attacks coincided with the U.S. 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 U.S. ground forces designated for active combat operations. The last U.S. combat brigades departed Iraq in the early morning of 19 August. Convoys of U.S. troops had been moving out of Iraq to Kuwait for several days, and NBC News broadcast live from Iraq as the last convoy crossed the border. While all combat brigades left the country, an additional 50,000 personnel (including Advise and Assist Brigades) remained in the country to provide support for the Iraqi military. These troops are required to leave Iraq by 31 December 2011 under an agreement between the U.S. 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 U.S. 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, Obama announced the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom from the Oval Office. 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 American wars.

On the same day in Iraq, at a ceremony at one of Saddam Hussein's former residences at Al Faw Palace in Baghdad, a number of U.S. dignitaries spoke in a ceremony for television cameras, avoiding overtones of the triumphalism present in US announcements made earlier in the war. Vice President Joe Biden expressed concerns regarding the ongoing lack of progress in forming a new Iraqi government, saying of the Iraqi people that "they expect a government that reflects the results of the votes they cast". Gen. Ray Odierno stated that the new era "in no way signals the end of our commitment to the people of Iraq". Speaking in Ramadi earlier in the day, Gates said that U.S. forces "have accomplished something really quite extraordinary here, 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" in regards 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 Lloyd Austin as Commander of US forces in Iraq.

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

On 8 September, the U.S. 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 provinces. From 10–13 September, Second Advise and Assist Brigade, 25th Infantry Division fought Iraqi insurgents near Diyala.

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

Wikileaks disclosed 391,832 classified U.S. military documents on the Iraq War. 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 security forces transition towards self reliance

Preparing to buy $13 billion worth of American arms, the Iraq Defense Ministry intends to transform the country's degraded conventional forces into a state-of-the-art military and become among the world’s biggest customers for American military arms and equipment. Part of the planned purchase includes 140 M1 Abrams main battle tanks. Iraqi crews have already begun training on them. In addition to the $13 billion purchase, the Iraqis have requested 18 F-16 Fighting Falcons as part of a $4.2 billion program that also includes aircraft training and maintenance, AIM‑9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, laser-guided bombs and reconnaissance equipment. If approved by Congress, the first aircraft could arrive in spring 2013. Under the plan, the first 10 pilots would be trained in the United States.

The Iraqi navy also inaugurated U.S.‑built Swift Class patrol boat at Umm Qasr, Iraq's main port at the northern end of the gulf. Iraq is to take delivery of 14 more of these $20 million, 50‑foot craft before U.S. forces depart. The high-speed vessels' main mission will be to protect the oil terminals at al‑Basra and Khor al-Amiya through which some 1.7 million barrels a day are loaded into tankers for export. Two U.S.‑built offshore support vessels, each costing $70 million, were expected to be delivered in 2011.

The United States Department of Defense had issued notification of an additional $100 million proposed sales of arms from the US to Iraq. General Dynamics is to be the prime contractor on a $36 million deal for the supply of ammunition for Iraq’s Abrams M1 A1 tanks. The sale consists of: 14,010 TP-T M831A1 120mm Cartridges; 16,110 TPCSDS-T M865 120mm Cartridges; and 3,510 HEAT-MP-T M830A1 120mm Cartridges. Raytheon is proposed as the prime contractor for a $68 million package of “Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) Systems”.

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: Conclusion

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 U.S. 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 U.S. troops were killed in an apparent rocket attack on Camp Victory, located near Baghdad International Airport. A sixth soldier, who was wounded in the attack, died 10 days later of his wounds.

On 29 June, three U.S. troops were killed in a rocket attack on a U.S. base located near the border with Iran. It was speculated that the militant group responsible for the attack was the same one which attacked Camp Victory just over three weeks before. With the three deaths, June 2011, became the bloodiest month in Iraq for the U.S. military since June 2009, with 15 U.S. soldiers killed, only one of them outside combat.

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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. troops and trainers would leave Iraq by the end of the year as previously scheduled, bringing the U.S. mission in Iraq to an end. The last American soldier to die in Iraq before the withdrawal was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on 14 November.

In November 2011, the U.S. Senate voted down a resolution to formally end the war by bringing its authorization by Congress to an end.

The last U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq on 18 December. The next day, Iraqi officials issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni Vice-President Tareq Al-Hashemi. He has been accused of involvement in assassinations and fled to the Kurdish part of Iraq.

Post U.S. withdrawal

Iraqi insurgency surged in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal. The terror campaigns have since been engaged by Iraqi, primarily radical Sunni, insurgent groups against the central government and the warfare between various factions within Iraq. The events of post U.S. withdrawal violence succeeded the previous insurgency in Iraq (prior to 18 December 2011), but have showed different patterns, raising concerns that the surging violence might slide into another civil war. Some 1,000 people were killed across Iraq within the first two months since U.S. withdrawal.

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 May 20 , 2013, at least 95 people died in a wave of car bomb attacks that was preceded by a car bombing on May 15 that led to 33 deaths; also, on May 18, 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.

Casualty estimates

For coalition death totals see the infobox at the top right. See also Casualties of the Iraq War, which has casualty numbers for coalition nations, contractors, non-Iraqi civilians, journalists, media helpers, aid workers, and the wounded. The main article also gives explanations for the wide variation in estimates and counts, and shows many ways in which undercounting occurs. 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.

Criticism and cost

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 U.S. citizens finding many parallels with the Vietnam War. For example a former CIA officer who described the Office of Special Plans as a group of ideologues who were dangerous to U.S. national security and a threat to world peace, and that the group lied and manipulated intelligence to further its agenda of removing Saddam. The Center for Public Integrity alleges that the 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 opponents of the invasion have also criticized the prosecution of the war effort along a number of other lines. Most significantly, critics have assailed the United States and its allies for not devoting enough troops to the mission, not adequately planning for post-invasion Iraq, and for permitting and perpetrating human rights abuses. As the war has progressed, critics have also railed against the high human and financial costs.

Criticisms include:

• Legality of the invasion
• Human casualties
• Insufficient post-invasion plans, in particular inadequate troop levels (a RAND Corporation study stated that 500,000 troops would be required for success)
• Financial costs with approximately $612 billion spent as of 4/09 the CBO has estimated the total cost of the war in Iraq to U.S. taxpayers will be around $1.9 trillion.
• Adverse effect on U.S.-led global "war on terror"
• Damage to U.S.' traditional alliances and influence in the region, especially Israel and Saudi Arabia.
• Endangerment and ethnic cleansing of religious and ethnic minorities by insurgents
• Disruption of Iraqi oil production and related energy security concerns (the price of oil has quadrupled since 2002)

After President Barack Obama was inaugurated in 2009, some anti-war groups decided to stop protesting even though the war was still going on. Some of them decided to stop because they felt they should give the new President time to establish his administration, and others stopped because they believed that Obama would end the war.

Financial cost

The financial cost of the war has been more than £4.55 billion ($9 billion) to the UK, and over $845 billion to the U.S. government.

In March 2013, the total cost of the Iraq War was estimated to have been $1.7 trillion by the Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University. Critics have argued that the total cost of the war to the U.S. economy is estimated to be from $3 trillion to $6 trillion, including interest rates, by 2053.

A CNN report noted that the United States-led interim government, the Coalition Provisional Authority 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 six billion in neatly packaged blocks of $100 bills was literally 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."

Humanitarian crises

Malnutrition rates have risen from 19% before the U.S.‑led invasion to a national average of 28% four years later. Some 60–70% of Iraqi children are suffering from psychological problems. 68% of Iraqis have no access to safe drinking water. A cholera outbreak in northern Iraq is thought to be the result of poor water quality. As many as half of Iraqi doctors have left the country since 2003.

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 fewer than 800 Iraqis refugee status, granting just 133 in 2007. By contrast, the United States granted asylum to more than 100,000 Vietnamese refugees during the Vietnam War."

Human rights abuses

Throughout the entire Iraq war, there have been human rights abuses on all sides of the conflict.

Iraqi government

• The use of torture by Iraqi security forces.
• Iraqi police from the Interior Ministry accused of forming Death Squads and committing numerous massacres and tortures of Sunni Arabs and the police collusion with militias in Iraq have compounded the problems.

Coalition forces and private contractors

• Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
• Haditha killings of 24 civilians (ongoing with some charges dropped)
• White phosphorus use in Iraq
• Gang-rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl and the murder of her family, in Mahmoudiyah
• The torture and killing of prisoner of war, Iraqi Air Force commander, Abed Hamed Mowhoush
• The killing of Baha Mousa
• Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre where 42 civillians were allegedly killed by coalition forces.
• Controversy over whether disproportionate force was used, during the assaults by Coalition and (mostly Shia and Kurdish) Iraqi government forces on the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah in 2004.
• Planting weapons on noncombatant, unarmed Iraqis by three U.S. Marines after killing them. According to a report by The Nation, other similar acts have been witnessed by U.S. soldiers. Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War tell similar stories.
• Blackwater Baghdad shootings

Insurgent groups

• 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 including children through bombing of market places and other locations reachable by suicide bombers.
• Attacks against civilians by sectarian death squads primarily during the Iraqi Civil war.
• 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 Coalition Provisional Authority, such as Fern Holland, or the Iraqi Governing Council, such as Aqila al-Hashimi and Ezzedine Salim, or other foreign civilians, such as those from Kenya.

Public opinion on the war

International opinion

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 U.S. handling of the Iraq War. A September 2007 poll conducted by the BBC found that two-thirds of the world's population believed the U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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, Pakistan, Spain, Indonesia, Turkey, and Morocco believed the world was safer before the Iraq War and the toppling of Hussein. Pluralities in the United States and India believe the world is safer without 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 Iraqi's wanted US and other Coalition forces to withdraw once security was restored and that 26–35% wanted immediate withdrawal instead. Despite a majority having previously been opposed to the US presence, 60% of Iraqis opposed American troops leaving directly prior to withdrawal, with 51% saying withdrawal would have a negative effect. In 2006 a poll conducted on the Iraqi public revealed that 64% of the ones polled said Iraq was going in the right direction and 77% claimed it was worth ousting Saddam Hussein.

Relation to the Global War on Terrorism

Former President George W. Bush consistently referred to the Iraq war as "the central front in the War on Terror", and argued that if the United States pulled out of Iraq, "terrorists will follow us here." While other proponents of the war have regularly echoed this assertion, as the conflict has dragged on, members of the U.S. Congress, the U.S. public, and even U.S. troops have questioned the connection between Iraq and the fight against anti-U.S. terrorism. In particular, a consensus has developed among intelligence experts that the Iraq war has increased terrorism. Counterterrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna frequently refers to the invasion of Iraq as a "fatal mistake."

London's conservative 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 U.S. 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 U.S. intelligence agencies, held that "The Iraq conflict has become the 'cause celebre' for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement."

However, since the invasion, polls have suggested that support for terrorism has lowered in most Muslim countries including Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey.

Role of Saudi Arabia and non-Iraqis

According to studies, most of suicide bombers in Iraq are foreigners, especially Saudis.

Alleged Iranian involvement

This article may be unbalanced toward certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (March 2012)

Although some military intelligence analysts have concluded there is no concrete evidence, U.S. Major General Rick Lynch has claimed that Iran has provided training, weapons, money, and intelligence to Shiite insurgents in Iraq and that up to 150 Iranian intelligence agents, plus members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are believed to be active in Iraq at any given time. Lynch thinks that members of the Iranian Quds Force and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have trained members of the Qazali terror network in explosives technology and also provided the network with arms, munitions, and military advisors. Many explosive devices, including improvised explosives (IEDs) and armor-piercing penetrators (EFPs), used by insurgents are claimed by Lynch to be Iranian-made or designed.

In January 2008, Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNFI) initiated Task Force Troy to identify Iranian-made weapons. Their report was delivered in July 2008. Of 4,600 weapons caches discovered, only 98 contained at least one Iranian-made weapon with these representing less than one half percent of the total number of weapons recovered. No Iranian weapons were discovered in Karbala or Basra and of the 350 armor-piercing explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) found, none were of Iranian origin. Despite frequent claims that Iran is supplying weapons to insurgents, the MNFI report criticized official U.S. claims on Iranian weapons, stating, "Iranian munitions found in Iraq were likely purchased on the open market."

According to two unnamed U.S. officials, the Pentagon is examining the possibility that the Karbala provincial headquarters raid, in which insurgents managed to infiltrate an American base, kill five U.S. soldiers, wound three, and destroy three humvees before fleeing, was supported by Iranians. In a speech on 31 January 2007, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stated that Iran was supporting attacks against Coalition forces in Iraq and some Iraqis suspect that the raid may have been perpetrated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps's Qods Force in retaliation for the detention of five Iranian officials by U.S. forces in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on 11 January.

Popular culture

This section needs expansion. You can help by making an edit requestadding to it . (March 2012)

The Iraq War is referred to in the Dropkick Murphys song "Last Letter Home", which references a series of letters written by Marine Sergeant Andrew K. Farrar Jr. who died in Iraq on 28 January 2005. Part of the movie The Men Who Stare at Goats is set in Iraq, and includes a true incident when two rival groups of American contractors engage in a gunfight against each other in Ramadi. The movie Battle for Haditha is set in Haditha and tries to see the Iraq War through the viewpoint of US Marines, Iraqi insurgents, and Iraqi civilians, while exploring the Haditha killings. In 2008, a Marine near Haditha was filmed throwing a puppy off a cliff in a viral video that was circulated around YouTube and the Internet, and resulted in the Marine being dishonorably discharged from the military. In 2009 Konami announced plans to release a tactical shooter computer game titled Six Days in Fallujah, based on the Second Battle of Fallujah and played from the perspective of a squad from 3rd Battalion 1st Marines.

See also

• Carter Doctrine
• Canada and the Iraq War
• Canada and Iraq War resisters
• Covert United States foreign regime change actions
• Human rights in Saddam's Iraq
• Iraq prison abuse scandals
• 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike (associated with WikiLeaks in 2010)
• The International Criminal Court and the 2003 invasion of Iraq
• Overseas interventions of the United States
• United Nations Security Council and the Iraq War
• List of Iraq War resisters
• List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
• List of United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning Iraq
• List of wars 2003–current

Footnotes

1. The conflict is also known as the War in Iraq, the Occupation of Iraq, and the Second Gulf War (Gulf War II). It was referred to as Operation Iraqi Freedom by the United States military, from 2003 to 2010.

References

1. "Last U.S. troops leave Iraq, ending war". USA Today. 17 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
2. "Sectarian divisions change Baghdad's image". MSNBC. 3 July 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
3. "U.S. says Iraq pullout won't cause dramatic violence". MSNBC. 18 November 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
4. "UK 'to continue deporting failed Iraqi asylum seekers'". BBC. 22 November 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
5. "Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs Charlene Lamb's Remarks on Private Contractors in Iraq". State.gov. 17 July 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
6. International Institute for Strategic Studies; Hackett, James (ed.) (3 February 2010). The Military Balance 2010. London: Routledge. ISBN 1-85743-557-5. {{cite book}}: |author2= has generic name (help)
7. Rubin, Alissa J.; Nordland, Rod (29 March 2009). "Troops Arrest an Awakening Council Leader in Iraq, Setting Off Fighting". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
8. "The Kurdish peshmerga forces will not be integrated into the Iraqi army: Mahmoud Sangawi — Interview". Ekurd.net. 22 January 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
9. The Brookings Institution Iraq Index: Tracking Variables of Reconstruction & Security in Post-Saddam Iraq 1 October 2007
10. Ricks, Thomas E. (11 January 2007). "Intensified Combat on Streets Likely". Washington Post. p. A01. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
11. Pincus, Walter. "Violence in Iraq Called Increasingly Complex". Washington Post, 17 November 2006.
12. 260 killed in 2003, 15,196 killed from 2004 through 2009 (with the exceptions of May 2004 and March 2009), 67 killed in March 2009, and 1,100 killed in 2010, thus giving a total of 16,623 dead
13. "Iraq War" (PDF). Retrieved 18 November 2012.
14. "Operation Iraqi Freedom". iCasualties. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
15. "Home and Away: Iraq and Afghanistan War Casualties". CNN. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
16. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
17. "Ministry of Defence | Fact Sheets | Operations Factsheets | Operations in Iraq: British Fatalities". Mod.uk. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
18. "Forces: U.S. & Coalition/POW/MIA". CNN. Retrieved 22 February 2011.; As of July 2012, seven American private contractors remain unaccounted for. Their names are: Jeffrey Ake, Aban Elias, Abbas Kareem Naama, Neenus Khoshaba, Bob Hamze, Dean Sadek and Hussain al-Zurufi. Healy, Jack, "With Withdrawal Looming, Trails Grow Cold For Americans Missing In Iraq", New York Times, 22 May 2011, p. 6.
19. "Casualty" (PDF). Retrieved 18 November 2012.
20. 33 Ukrainians , 31+ Italians , 30 Bulgarians , 20 Salvadorans , 19 Georgians , 18 Estonians , 16+ Poles , 15 Spaniards , 10 Romanians , 6 Australians , 5 Albanians, 4 Kazakhs , 3 Filipinos and 2 Thais for a total of 212+
21. ^ Many official U.S. tables at "Military Casualty Information". See latest totals for injury, disease/other medical
22. "Casualties in Iraq".
23. ^ iCasualties.org (was lunaville.org). Benicia, California. Patricia Kneisler, et al., "Iraq Coalition Casualties"
24. ^ "Defence Internet Fact Sheets Operations in Iraq: British Casualties". UK Ministry of Defense. Latest combined casualty and fatality tables.
25. http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/oif-total.pdf
26. ^ "U.S. Department of Labor — Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) - Defense Base Act Case Summary by Nation". Dol.gov. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
27. ^ T. Christian Miller (23 September 2009). "U.S. Government Private Contract Worker Deaths and Injuries". Projects.propublica.org. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
28. 185 in Diyala from June 2007 to December 2007, 4 in assassination of Abu Risha, 25 on 12 November 2007, 528 in 2008, 27 on 2 January 2009, 53 From 6 to 12 April 2009, 13 on 16 November 2009, 15 in December 2009, 100+ from April to June 2010, 52 on 18 July 2010 , total of 1,002+ dead
29. Moore, Solomon; OPPEL Jr, RICHARD A. (24 January 2008). "Attacks Imperil U.S.-Backed Militias in Iraq". The New York Times.
30. Greg Bruno. "Finding a Place for the 'Sons of Iraq' - Council on Foreign Relations". Cfr.org. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
31. Press release (28 October 2003). "New Study Finds: 11,000 to 15,000 Killed in Iraq War; 30 Percent are Non-Combatants; Death Toll Hurts Postwar Stability Efforts, Damages US Image Abroad". Project on Defense Alternatives (via Common Dreams NewsCenter). Retrieved 2 September 2010.
32. Conetta, Carl (23 October 2003). "The Wages of War: Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 2003 Conflict — Project on Defense Alternative Research Monograph #8". Project on Defense Alternatives (via Commonwealth Institute). Retrieved 2 September 2010.
33. 597 killed in 2003,, 23,984 killed from 2004 through 2009 (with the exceptions of May 2004 and March 2009), 652 killed in May 2004, 45 killed in March 2009, 676 killed in 2010, 451 killed in 2011 (with the exception of February), thus giving a total of 26,405 dead
34. "Amnesty: Iraq holds up to 30,000 detainees without trial". CNN. 13 September 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
35. "Iraq Body Count". Iraq Body Count. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
36. "Iraq War Logs: What the numbers reveal". Iraq Body Count. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
37. Template:PDFlink. By Gilbert Burnham, Riyadh Lafta, Shannon Doocy, and Les Roberts. The Lancet, 11 October 2006
38. Template:PDFlink. 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:
39. Associated Press, 14 October 2009
40. "Iraq Family Health Survey" New England Journal of Medicine 31 January 2008
41. ^ "Iraq War". Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
42. Iraq war illegal, says Annan BBC 16 September 2004.
43. "The US invasion has caused nearly three-quarter million Iraqi deaths". Wsws.org. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
44. "A chronology of the six-week invasion of Iraq". PBS. 26 February 2004. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
45. Kevin Baker "The Quietest War: We've Kept Fallujah, but Have We Lost Our Souls?" American Heritage, Oct. 2006.
46. Cutler, David (18 December 2011). "Timeline: Invasion, surge, withdrawal; U.S. forces in Iraq". Reuters. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
47. "Last US troops withdraw from Iraq". BBC. 18 December 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2008.
48. Center for American Progress (29 January 2004) "In Their Own Words: Iraq's 'Imminent' Threat" americanprogress.org
49. ^ Senator Bill Nelson (28 January 2004) "New Information on Iraq's Possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction", Congressional Record
50. Blair, A. (5 March 2002) "PM statement on Iraq following UN Security Council resolution" Number 10 Downing Street
51. ^ Blix, H. (7 March 2003) "Transcript of Blix's U.N. presentation" CNN
52. ^ In his remarks to the UN Security Council on 14 February 2003 Hans Blix said on cooperation that "In my 27 January update to the Council, I said that it seemed from our experience that Iraq had decided in principle to provide cooperation on process, most importantly prompt access to all sites and assistance to UNMOVIC in the establishment of the necessary infrastructure. This impression remains and we note that access to sites has so far been without problems." On time remaining until the confirmation of disarmament he said "the period of disarmament through inspection could still be short if immediate, active and unconditional cooperation with UNMOVIC and IAEA were to be forthcoming." United Nations Security Council: 4707 meeting. Friday, 14 February 2003, 10 a.m., New York, New York, USA.
53. Hersh, Seymour M. (5 May 2003). Selective Intelligence, New Yorker.
54. "Official's Key Report On Iraq Is Faulted". The Washington Post. 8 February 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2008.
55. U.S. Senate Intelligence Community (June 2008): "Two Bipartisan Reports Detail Administration Misstatements on Prewar Iraq Intelligence, and Inappropriate Intelligence Activities by Pentagon Policy Office".

    There is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate.

    - Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV
56. "Iraq Survey Group Final Report: Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)".
57. Shrader, K. (22 June 2006) "New Intel Report Reignites Iraq Arms Fight" Associated Press
58. Ex-CIA Official Faults Use of Data on Iraq by Walter Pincus|accessdate=15 June 2013
59. Ex-C.I.A. Chief, in Book, Assails Cheney on Iraq|accessdate=15 June 2013
60. "The Weekly Standard, Saddam's al Qaeda Connection".
61. Woods, K. M. and Lacey, J. (2008) "Saddam and Terrorism: Emerging Insights from Captured Iraqi Documents", vol. 1 Institute for Defense Analyses IDA Paper P-4287, pp. ES-1
62. Kerr, R.J., et al. (29 July 2004) "Intelligence and Analysis on Iraq: Issues for the Intelligence Community", MORI Doc. ID 1245667 (Langley, VA: Central Intelligence Agency)
63. CNN (12 September 2002) "White House spells out case against Iraq", "the White House released a report early Thursday, listing some of the principal accusations against Iraq and its leader.... Iraq is also accused of sheltering two Palestinian terrorist organizations, and it lists Saddam's decision in 2002 to increase from $10,000 to $25,000 the bounty paid to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers."
64. Wolfowitz, P. (30 May 2003)
65. "President Discusses the Future of Iraq" The White House, 26 February 2003
66. "Bush Sought ‘Way’ To Invade Iraq?" 60 Minutes
67. Kinght, W.: UN weapons inspectors told to leave Iraq, New Scientist, 17 March 2003.
68. See:
    • "US troops complete their withdrawal from Iraq". Herald Sun. Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
69. ^ "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. Prepared testimony for the Senate Armed Services Committee, 9 July 2003.
70. ^ Friedman, G.: What Happened To The American Declaration Of War?, Forbes, 30 March 2011.
71. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, 2 Feb 2007, see "four wars" remark
72. "CBS on civil war". CBS News. 26 September 2006.
73. "U.S. Department of Defense (June 2008): Measuring Security and Stability in Iraq
74. Foreign Policy: The Failed States Index 2008
75. Foreign Policy: 2009 Failed States Index
76. Britain's Brown visits officials, troops in Iraq. International Herald Tribune, 2 October 2007.
77. Italy plans Iraq troop pull-out BBC 15 March 2005
78. Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in Iraq
79. http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/SE_SFA.pdf Strategic Framework Agreement (pdf bitmap)
80. English Language Teaching and Learning Program (US State Dept.)
81. Karadsheh, J. (27 November 2008) "Iraq parliament OKs pact on U.S. troops' future" CNN
82. Thomma, Steven (27 February 2009). "Obama to extend Iraq withdrawal timetable; 50,000 troops to remain". McClatchy Newspapers.
83. Feller, Ben (27 February 2009). "Obama sets firm withdrawal timetable for Iraq". Associated Press.
84. "UK Iraq combat operations to end". BBC News. 30 April 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2009.
85. "Iraq Welcomes Faster U.S. Withdrawal Reports". Fox News. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
86. Londoño, Ernesto (19 August 2010). "Operation Iraqi Freedom ends as last combat soldiers leave Baghdad". The Washington Post.
87. The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/08/31/world/middleeast/international-us-iraq.html?_r=1. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
88. "Obama's full speech: 'Operation Iraqi Freedom is over'". MSNBC. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
89. "Combat brigades in Iraq under different name — Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq". Army Times. 19 August 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
90. Linkins, Jason (3 September 2010). "AP Issues Standards Memo: 'Combat In Iraq Is Not Over'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
91. Sirota, David (7 September 2010). "AP Tells Its Reporters to Avoid Saying the Iraq War Is Over". Huffington Post. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
92. ^ "Barack Obama: All U.S. troops to leave Iraq in 2011". BBC News. 21 October 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
93. Brook, Tom (15 December 2011). "U.S. war in Iraq officially ends". USA Today. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
94. Basu, Moni (18 December 2011). "Deadly Iraq war ends with exit of last U.S. troops". CNN. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
95. "U.S. silence on new Iraq spying allegations". BBC News. 7 January 1999. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
96. "Saddam's uranium headed for Ontario processing plant". The Star. Toronto. Associated Press. 5 July 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
97. Duffy, Michael (13 July 2003). "A Question of Trust". Time. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
98. Roberts, Pat; Rockefeller, John D., IV (2004). "Report on the u.s. intelligence community's prewar intelligence assessments on iraq" (Document). United States Senate: Select Committee on Intelligence. pp. 39–47. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |contribution-url= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |contribution= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |format= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
99. Rycroft, Matthew (1 May 2005). "The secret Downing Street memo". The Sunday Times. London.
100. Silberman, Laurence H.; Robb, Charles S. (2005). "Report to the President of the United States" (Document). The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. p. 198. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |contribution-url= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |contribution= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |format= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help) "Iraq was prohibited from possessing tubes composed of 7075 T6 aluminum alloy with outer diameters exceeding 75 mm under Annex III to United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 because of their potential use in gas centrifuges."
101. John Pike. "Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
102. ^ The CIA's Aluminum Tubes' Assessment: Institute for Science and International Security 10 March 2003
103. Spinning The Tubes Four Corners Australian Broadcasting Corporation air date 27 October 2003
104. "Powell's remarks". Iraqwatch.org. 5 February 2003. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
105. "Evidence on Iraq Challenged," Joby Warrick, The Washington Post, 19 Sep 2002
106. Colin Powell's speech to the UN, 5 Feb 2003
107. Meet the Press NBC, 16 May 2004
108. Goldenberg, Suzanne (2 December 2008). "Iraq war my biggest regret, Bush admits". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
109. Pincus, Walter (23 March 2006). "Ex-Iraqi Official Unveiled as Spy". The Washington Post.
110. Blumenthal, S. (6 September 2007) "Bush knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction" Salon.com
111. Martin Chulov (15 February 2011). "Curveball: How the U.S. was duped by Iraqi fantasist looking to topple Saddam". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
112. Reynolds, Paul (12 December 2009). "Unashamed Blair confirms his critics' claims on Iraq". BBC News. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
113. ^ http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/16/building-momentum-for-regime-change-rumsfelds-secret-memos/
114. http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/02/newly-released-memos-of-donald-rumsfeld-prove-knowing-iraq-war.html
115. Norton-Taylor, Richard (4 December 2002). "Britain and U.S. step up bombing in Iraq". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
116. Smith, Michael (29 May 2005). "RAF bombing raids tried to goad Saddam into war". The Sunday Times. London. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
117. Lowe, C. (16 December 2003) "Senator: White House Warned of UAV Attack," Defense Tech
118. John Pike. "Commission of the Intelligence capabilities of the United States regarding weapons of mass destruction". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
119. ^ Blix's remarks 27 January 2003
120. George W. Bush. "Third State of the Union Address". From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.
121. American Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy (Washington, D.C., 2003), 159–61.
122. www.abcnews.go.com, 15 February 2011, "Iraqi Defector "Curveball" Admits WMD Lies, Is Proud of Tricking US" by Lee Farran
123. Joint Declaration by Russia, Germany and France on Iraq France Diplomatie 10 February 2003
124. Russian/Ukrainian rebuff for Blair over Iraq The Guardian 11 October 2002
125. "Bush-Blair Iraq war memo revealed". BBC News Online. 27 March 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
126. "CNN Inside Politics". CNN. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
127. Grice, Andrew (3 October 2002). "The Independent. "Clinton urges caution over Iraq as Bush is granted war powers"". The Independent. London. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
128. "Press conference of Foreign affairs Minister Dominique de Villepin (excerpts)". Embassy of France in the U.S. 20 January 2003. Archived from the original on 27 September 2006. Retrieved 13 February 2007.
129. Anti-war protests do make a difference, Alex Callinicos, Socialist Worker, 19 March 2005.
130. "– Army chief: Force to occupy Iraq massive". USA Today. 25 February 2003. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
131. "– Administration fends off demands for war estimates – Mar. 3, 2003". CNN. 26 February 2003. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
132. Top judge: U.S. and UK acted as 'vigilantes' in Iraq invasion, The Guardian, 18 November 2008
133. Clegg brands Iraq War illegal in his first PMQs – with the backing of No10, Daily Mail, 21 July 2010
134. Fukuyama, Francis (17 January 2011). "US democracy has little to teach China". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 January 2011.(registration required)
135. ^ Operation Hotel California, The Clandestine War inside Iraq, Mike Tucker and Charles Faddis, 2008.
136. ^ Plan of Attack, Bob Woodward, 2004.
137. A NATION AT WAR: SECOND FRONT; Allied Troops Are Flown In To Airfields In North Iraq, By C. J. CHIVERS, 24 March 2003
138. A NATION AT WAR: IN THE FIELD THE NORTHERN FRONT; Militants Gone, Caves in North Lie Abandoned By C. J. CHIVERS, 30 March 2003
139. "Operation Iraqi Freedom". Target Iraq. GlobalSecurity.org. 27 April 2005.
140. "Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer". Office of the Press Secretary. 24 March 2003. Retrieved 27 November 2008. March 24, 2003... discussed the ongoing aspects of Operation Iraqi liberation
141. Australian Department of Defence (2004). The War in Iraq. ADF Operations in the Middle East in 2003. Page 11.
142. "Surrogate Warfare: The Role of U.S. Army Special Forces — MAJ Isaac J. Peltier, U.S. Army – p. 29". Retrieved 13 September 2009.
143. Sale, Michelle and Khan, Javid. "Missions Accomplished?" http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2003/04/11/missions-accomplished. Access date 25 June 2012
144. West, Bing (2003). The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the 1st Marine Division. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-80376-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
145. ^ Zucchino, David (3 July 2004). "Army Stage-Managed Fall of Hussein Statue". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
146. The Rachel Maddow Show. 18 August 2010, MSNBC
147. "Iraqi Protesters Burn Bush Effigy". Cbsnews.com. 21 November 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
148. Collier, R. (9 April 2003) "Baghdad closer to collapse" San Francisco Chronicle
149. "Stuff Happens". Defenselink.mil. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
150. Conetta, C. (20 October 2003) "The Wages of War: Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 2003 Conflict," Research Monograph no. 8 Project on Defense Alternatives
151. Reuters. "Getting amputees back on their feet".Washington Post. 25 Oct 2005.
152. "Iraq Coalition Casualty Count" 19 March 2003, through 1 May 2003 (end of major combat) iCasualties.org
153. "Operation Iraqi Freedom Maps". GlobalSecurity.Org. Unavailable. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
154. "iCasualties: Iraq Coalition Casualty Count — Deaths by Province Year/Month". Icasualties.org. Archived from the original on 8 July 2008. Retrieved 27 October 2008.
155. "Poll: Iraqis out of patience". USA Today. 30 April 2004.
156. "Gloom descends on Iraqi leaders as civil war looms". Reuters.
157. ISG's Duelfer Report
158. "Pentagon: Saddam is POW". CNN. 10 January 2004.
159. "Saddam 'caught like a rat' in a hole". CNN. 15 December 2003.
160. "Why the U.S. is Running Scared of Elections in Iraq". Guardian (London) via Common Dreams. 19 January 2004. Retrieved 21 November 2006.
161. "Shocking video evidence of American brutality". Daily Mail. London. 8 May 2004. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
162. "frontline: private warriors: contractors: the high-risk contracting business". PBS. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
163. Residents hang slain Americans' bodies from bridge – CNN.com
164. ScanEagle Proves Worth in Fallujah Fight, DefenseLINK News
165. Thomas Ricks (2006) Fiasco: 398–405
166. Hersh, S. (10 May 2004) "Torture at Abu Ghraib" The New Yorker
167. Thomas E. Ricks (2006) Fiasco, The American Military Adventure In Iraq. Penguin
168. "U.S. to pull out 15,000 from Iraq". BBC News. 4 February 2005. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
169. ^ Thomas Ricks (2006) Fiasco: 413
170. Thomas Ricks (2006) Fiasco: 414
171. "Decrying violence in Iraq, UN envoy urges national dialogue, international support". UN News Centre. 25 November 2006.
172. A Soldier's Shame 9 July 2006
173. Killings shattered dreams of rural Iraqi msnbc.com
174. Barrouquere, Brett (29 May 2009). "Iraqi family's relatives confront killer". Sydney Morning Herald.
175. "Attacks in Iraq at All-Time High, Pentagon Report Says". PBS. 19 December 2006.
176. Watkins, Thomas (22 December 2006). "8 Marines Charged With 24 Iraqi Slayings". FOX.
177. "Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq". BBC. 30 December 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
178. "President's Address to the Nation". The White House. 10 January 2007.
179. Holusha, John (23 January 2007). "Petraeus Calls Iraq Situation Dire". The New York Times.
180. Gordon, Michael (5 January 2007). "Bush to Name a New General to Oversee Iraq". The New York Times.
181. Iraq Bill Demands U.S. Troop Withdraw Associated Press, Fox News, 10 May 2007
182. Iraqi parliament wants say in extension of U.S.‑led forces Associated Press, The Jerusalem Post, 5 June 2007
183. Raed Jarrar (20 December 2007). "Bush, Maliki Break Iraqi Law to Renew U.N. Mandate for Occupation". AlterNet. Retrieved 12 June 2008. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
184. BBC NEWS 21 February 2007, Blair announces Iraq troops cut
185. Al-Jazeera ENGLISH, 21 February 2007, Blair announces Iraq troop pullout
186. Flaherty, A. (10 September 2007) "Petraeus Talks of Troop Withdrawal," Associated Press
187. "Bush pledges Iraq troop reduction". BBC News. 14 September 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
188. "Pentagon: Violence down in Iraq since 'surge'". CNN. 23 June 2008.
189. U.S. surge has failed – Iraqi poll BBC 10 September 2007
190. Few See Security Gains ABC 10 September 2007
191. "Baghdad violence decrease debatable". By Damien Cave—The New York Times. 15 March 2007. Worcester Telegram & Gazette News.
192. Rubin, Alissa J.; Wong, Edward (9 April 2007). "Patterns of War Shift in Iraq Amid U.S. Buildup". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
193. "icasualties.org".
194. "Search goes on as Iraq death toll tops 250" Guardian 15 August
195. Auer, Doug (17 August 2007). "Iraq toll could hit 500". News.com.au. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
196. "They won't stop until we are all wiped out" Guardian 18 August 2007
197. Cave, Damien; Glanz, James (22 August 2007). "Toll in Iraq Bombings Is Raised to More Than 500". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
198. "Iraqi insurgents kill key U.S. ally". BBC News. 13 September 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
199. Compton, Ann (13 September 2007). "Top Sunni Sheik Killed in IED Attack". ABC News. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
200. Rising, David (14 September 2007). "Mourners Vow Revenge at Sheik's Funeral — washingtonpost.com". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
201. U.S. Casualties in Iraq GlobalSecurity.org
202. U.S. General Says Iraq Violence Down The Associated Press 17 December 2007
203. Iraq – the best story of the year The Times 17 December 2007
204. Surge hasn't curbed violence in Iraq The Australian 5 September 2007
205. "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq" December 2007 Report to Congress, sec. 1.3-Security Environment, p. 18-Overall trends in violence
206. Nancy A. Youssef (18 December 2007). "Despite drop in violence, Pentagon finds little long-term progress in Iraq". Mcclatchydc.com. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
207. Peter Beaumont (4 March 2007). "Sects slice up Iraq as U.S. troops 'surge' misfires". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
208. ^ Cockburn, Patrick (20 May 2006). "Iraq is disintegrating as ethnic cleansing takes hold". The Independent. London. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
209. "There is ethnic cleansing". Weekly.ahram.org.eg. 8 March 2006. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
210. BBC News, 5 September 2008, "U.S. 'Spying' on Iraqi Leadership" citing the book The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006–2008 by Bob Woodward
211. "AFP: Iraq takes control of Basra from British army". AFP via Google. 15 December 2007. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
212. Abdul-Zahra, Q. (10 May 2007) "Iraqi Bill on Troop Pullout Discussed" Washington Post Retrieved 10 May 2007
213. Jarrar, R. and Holland, J. (9 May 2007) "Majority of Iraqi Lawmakers Now Reject Occupation" AlterNet.org Retrieved 10 May 2007
214. Saad, L. (9 May 2007) "Americans Favor Iraq Timetable, Don't Foresee Increased Terrorism" USA Today/Gallup poll Retrieved 10 May 2007
215. "US uses Sunnis to patrol streets". The New York Times. Melbourne. 20 August 2007.
216. Collins, Chris (23 August 2007). "Iranians attack Kurdish rebels in Iraq". McClatchy Washington Bureau. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
217. "US general says Iran helping stop Iraq bloodshed". Agence France-Presse. 21 November 2007.
218. link inactive
219. Robertson, Nic (14 October 2007). "Attacks cross Iraq-Turkey border". CNN. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
220. Meixler, Louis (23 October 2007). "Turkey May Attack Kurds Using Airstrikes, Troops". Bloomberg.
221. Barazanji, Yahya (13 November 2007). "Turkish Helicopters Strike Inside Iraq". Huffington Post.
222. Tavernise, Sabrina (16 December 2007). "Turkey Bombs Kurdish Militant Targets in Iraq". The New York Times.
223. Cloud, David S. (30 August 2007). "U.S. Weapons, Given to Iraqis, Move to Turkey". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
224. Glanz, James (28 September 2007). "Blackwater Shooting Scene Was Chaotic". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
225. ^ "U.S. Deaths in Iraq Decrease in 2008". Defenselink.mil. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
226. "Iraq Index: Tracking Variables of Reconstruction and Security in Post-Saddam Iraq", Brookings Institution
227. "DoD News Briefing with Maj. Gen. Salmon from Iraq", U.S. Department of Defense news transcript
228. Tran, Mark (12 December 2008). "U.S. credits Iran for drop in Iraq roadside bombs". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
229. Sykes, Hugh (1 October 2008). "Awakening fears for Iraq's future". BBC.
230. Steele, Jonathan (15 September 2008). "Iraq: Al-Qaida intensifies its stranglehold in the world's most dangerous city". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
231. "Operation Mother of Two Springs", Institute for the Study of War commentary
232. "EU terror list" (PDF). Retrieved 23 October 2010.
233. U.S. terror list
234. "NATO chief declares PKK terrorist group". Xinhua News Agency. 20 December 2005.
235. Bentley, Mark (22 February 2008). "Turkish Army Begins Ground Assault on PKK in Iraq". Bloomberg.
236. "Gov't gives no timetable for return". Turkish Daily News. 26 February 2008.
237. Kamber, Michael (27 February 2008). "Iraq Cabinet Demands Turks Leave Kurdish Area in North". The New York Times.
238. Torchia, Christopher (29 February 2008). "Turkish Troops Withdraw from Iraq". Associated Press.
239. Dagher, Sam (26 March 2008). "Across Iraq, battles erupt with Mahdi Army". The Christian Science Monitor. p. 2.
240. ^ Stephen Farrell and Ahmar Karim (12 May 2008). "Drive in Basra by Iraqi Army Makes Gains". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
241. Fadel, Leila (30 March 2008). "After Iranian mediation, firebrand Iraqi cleric orders halt to attacks". McClatchy Newspapers.
242. Zremski, J. (4/09/08) "Petraeus urges withdrawal delay" Buffalo News
243. Smith, S.A. (9 April 2008) "Senators grill Petraeus," Indiana Journal-Gazette
244. Ambinder, M. (9 April 2002) "Biden's Audition?" The Atlantic
245. Michaels, Jim (22 May 2008). "Iraqi forces load up on U.S. arms". USA Today. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
246. "Business as usual for U.S. arms sales". Asia Times. 24 September 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
247. Iraq Seeks F-16 Fighters (Wall St. Journal)
248. Re-Arming Iraq (Center for American Progress)
249. "Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation: U.S. Surges $11 Billion in Arms Sales to Iraq". Armscontrolcenter.org. 6 August 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
250. ^ "Iraq presidential council endorses U.S. security pact". Zawya.com. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
251. BBC News (27 November 2008) "Iraqi parliament backs U.S. pullout"
252. White House: Iraq Status of Forces Agreement
253. "Status of Forces Agreement". Mcclatchydc.com. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
254. "On the other hand, Iraq has primary legal jurisdiction over off-duty soldiers and civilians who commit "major and premeditated crimes" outside of U.S. installations. These major crimes will need to be defined by a joint committee and the United States retains 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?
255. "Committees assigned to deal with U.S.-led combat operations and jurisdiction over U.S. military personnel are among those that have not met even as Iraq moves toward sovereignty, U.S. Army Gen. Ray Odierno told reporters." Los Angeles Times: In Iraq, transfer-of-power committees have yet to take shape
256. "Status of Forces Agreement (Unofficial Translation)". Mcclatchydc.com. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
257. Rubin, A. (27 November 2008) "Iraqi Parliament approves security pact" International Herald Tribune
258. "U.S. staying silent on its view of Iraq pact until after vote". Mcclatchydc.com. 25 November 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
259. ^ Raghavan, Sudarsan; Sarhan, Saad (29 November 2008). "Washington Post: Top Shiite Cleric in Iraq Raises Concerns About Security Pact". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
260. Bumiller, Elisabeth (22 December 2008). "New York Times: Trying to Redefine Role of U.S. Military in Iraq". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
261. "Iraq: Cleric al-Sadr calls for peaceful protests" (Associated Press)
262. "SOFA not sitting well in Iraq". Asia Times. 2 December 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
263. "Iraqi refugees in Syria protest against military pact with U.S". Dailystar.com.lb. 3 December 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
264. ^ "Iraqi people will judge on U.S. pact". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
265. Robertson, Campbell (28 October 2008). "Feelings are mixed as Iraqis ponder U.S. security agreement". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
266. "Iraqis hold anti‑U.S. rally in Baghdad". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
267. "Iraqi civilian deaths down in January". CNN. 31 January 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
268. Steven Lee Myers America's Scorecard in Iraq 7 February 2009, The New York Times
269. Dagher, Sam (21 January 2009). "The New York Times: A Top Sunni Survives an Attack in Iraq". The New York Times. Iraq. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
270. "Gunmen kill Iraqi soldier south of Baghdad". News.trend.az. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
271. Sarhan, Saad (17 January 2009). "Province Candidate Killed In Iraq". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
272. Dagher, Sam (12 February 2009). "New York Times: Violence Across Iraq Kills 13, Including a Sunni Politician". The New York Times. Mosul (Iraq);Karbala (Iraq). Retrieved 26 December 2011.
273. ^ Centre Daily: Low turnout in Iraq's election reflects a disillusioned nation
274. Morin, Monte (2 February 2009). "Iraq vote turnout fails to meet expectations". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
275. Nabil Al-jurani (4 February 2009). "Iraq: Sunni tribal leader says he can prove fraud". MSNBC. Associated Press. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
276. "Iraq's Sadrists complain of vote fraud". Middle-east-online.com. 7 February 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
277. Lee, Steven (10 February 2009). "International Herald Tribune: Election results spur threats and infighting in Iraq". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
278. "Obama's Speech at Camp Lejeune, N.C." The New York Times. 27 February 2009.
279. Bel Aiba, Ines (26 February 2009). "Iraq not fazed by pending U.S. pullout: Maliki". AFP.
280. "Six years on, huge protest marks Baghdad's fall". The Star. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
281. Miami Herald: Tens of thousands of Iraqis rally against U.S.
282. "BBC: UK combat operations end in Iraq". BBC News. 30 April 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
283. Christie, Michael (30 November 2009). "Iraqi civilian deaths drop to lowest level of war". Reuters. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
284. "Oil firms awarded Iraq contracts". English.aljazeera.net. 11 December 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
285. "BP group wins Iraq oil contract". English.aljazeera.net. 30 June 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
286. Exclusive: War in Iraq to Be Given New Name War in Iraq to Be Given New Name
287. "2 Most Wanted Al Qaeda Leaders in Iraq Killed by U.S., Iraqi Forces" FoxNews, 19 April 2010
288. "US : Al-Qaida in Iraq warlord slain" MSNBC, 20 April 2010
289. "Iraqi al-Qaeda leaders 'killed'". BBC News. 19 April 2010.
290. Ali, Khalid D.; Williams, Timothy (20 June 2010). "Car Bombs Hit Crowds Outside Bank in Baghdad". The New York Times.
291. Shadid, Anthony (25 August 2010). "Insurgents Assert Their Strength With Wave of Bombings Across Iraq". The New York Times.
292. "U.S. ending combat operations in Iraq". MSNBC. 18 August 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
293. "U.S. ends combat operations in Iraq". Al Jazeera English. 18 August 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
294. Londoã±O, Ernesto (18 August 2010). "Final U.S. combat brigade pulls out of Iraq". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
295. Linkins, Jason (3 September 2010). "AP Issues Standards Memo: 'Combat In Iraq Is Not Over'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
296. "Last U.S. combat brigade exits Iraq". BBC News. 19 August 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
297. "President Obama's Address on Iraq". The New York Times. 31 August 2010.
298. Gordon, Michael (1 September 2010). "U.S. Formally Begins a New Era in Iraq". The New York Times.
299. "G.I. Deaths Are First for U.S. After Combat Mission's End". The New York Times. 7 September 2010.
300. "First U.S. Advise and Assist Brigade arrives under New Dawn | Article | The United States Army". Army.mil. 8 September 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
301. Williams, Timothy; Adnan, Duraid (16 October 2010). "Sunnis in Iraq Allied With U.S. Rejoin Rebels". The New York Times.
302. "The WikiLeaks Iraq War Logs: Greatest Data Leak in U.S. Military History". Der Spiegel. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
303. Davies, Nick; Steele, Jonathan; Leigh, David (22 October 2010). "Iraq war logs: secret files show how US ignored torture". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
304. Carlstrom, Gregg (22 October 2010). "WikiLeaks releases secret Iraq file". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
305. Martin Chulov in Baghdad (1 November 2010). "Baghdad church siege survivors speak of taunts, killings and explosions | World news". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
306. Parker, Ned; Zeki, Jaber (3 November 2010). "Iraq bombings: 113 killed in bombings in Baghdad". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
307. ^ "U.S. plans $4.2 billion arms sale to Iraq". UPI.com. 1 October 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
308. Michaels, Jim (1 September 2010). "Iraq to spend $13B on U.S. arms, equipment". USA Today.
309. "Over $100m New Arms Sales to Iraq". Iraq Business News. 30 November 2010.
310. "VOA | UN Security Council Lifts Some Restrictions On Iraq | News | English". Voanews.com. 15 December 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
311. Shadid, Anthony; Leland, John (5 January 2011). "Moktada al-Sadr Returns to Iraq". The New York Times.
312. Lara Jakes. "3 American Soldiers Killed in Iraq". Aolnews.com. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
313. "Five US troops killed in Iraq attack". English.aljazeera.net. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
314. "DOD Identifies Army Casualty". Defense.gov. 12 March 2009. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
315. "Three U.S. soldiers killed in southern Iraq". BBC. 30 June 2011.
316. "June bloodiest month for U.S. in Iraq in 2 years". Cbsnews.com. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
317. "Iraq to buy US warplanes worth around $3 billion". MSN. MSNBC.
318. Johnson, Craig (16 December 2011). "N.C. soldier reportedly last to die in Iraq war". CNN. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
319. Antle, W. James. "Senate Tackles Iraq War Powers, Indefinite Detention". The American Spectator. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
320. Jaffe, Greg (18 December 2011). "Last U.S. troops cross Iraqi border into Kuwait". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
321. "Arrest warrant for Iraq Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi". BBC News. 12 January 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
322. Keith Wagstaff (27 May 2013). "Is Iraq heading toward civil war?". The Week. THE WEEK PUBLICATIONS, INC. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
323. SINAN SALAHEDDIN (20 May 2013). "ATTACKS KILL 95 IN IRAQ, HINT OF SYRIAN SPILLOVER". Associated Press. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
324. "Iraq". Forces: U.S. & Coalition/Casualties. CNN. 2008. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
325. Vietnam war-eyewitness booksW.; Iraq and Vietnam: Differences, Similarities and Insights, (2004: Strategic Studies Institute)
326. "Revealed: The Secret Cabal Which Spun for Blair," Sunday Herald, Neil Mackay, 8 June 2003
327. "Group: 'Orchestrated Deception' by Bush on Iraq". NPR. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
328. War critics astonished as U.S. hawk admits invasion was illegal, The Guardian, 20 November 2003
329. Top judge: U.S. and UK acted as 'vigilantes' in Iraq invasion, The Guardian, 18 November 2008
330. "RAND Review | Summer 2003 - Burden of Victory". Rand.org. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
331. "U.S. CBO estimates $2.4 trillion long-term war costs | Politics | Reuters". Reuters. 24 October 2007. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
332. Iraq war was terrorism 'recruiting sergeant', The Guardian, 28 September 2006
333. Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Hurting U.S. Terror Fight, The Washington Post, 23 September 2006
334. Israel warns of Iraq war 'earthquake', BBC News, 7 February 2003
335. Saudis warn U.S. over Iraq war, BBC News, 17 February 2003
336. Crawford, Angus (4 March 2007). "Iraq's Mandaeans 'face extinction'". BBC News. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
337. "Iraq's Yazidis fear annihilation". MSNBC. 16 August 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
338. Sabah, Zaid (23 March 2007). "Christians, targeted and suffering, flee Iraq". USA Today. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
339. "Assyrians Face Escalating Abuses in "New Iraq"". Ipsnews.net. 3 May 2006. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
340. "Light Crude Oil (CL, NYMEX): Monthly Price Chart". Futures.tradingcharts.com. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
341. "Iraq to revive oil deal with China". International Herald Tribune. 29 March 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
342. After six years, peace vigil ends, Times-Herald, 20 March 2009
343. "UK. Spending on War in Iraq, Afghanistan Rises to $16 Bln (December 2006)". Bloomberg. 6 December 2006. Retrieved 22 January 2007.
344. Wall Street Journal Friday, March 15, 2013
345. Trotta, Daniel (2 March 2008). "Iraq war hits U.S. economy: Nobel winner". Reuters. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
346. Trotta, Daniel (14 March 2013). "Iraq war costs U.S. more than $2 trillion: study". Reuters.
347. Audit: U.S. lost track of $9 billion in Iraq funds Monday, 31 January 2005. CNN
348. www.cbsnews.com, 14 June 2011, “Report: $6B missing in Iraq may have been stolen”by Tucker Reals,
349. "Hunger, disease spread in Iraq". Alertnet.org. 30 July 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
350. "Traumatised Iraqi children suffer psychological damage". Alertnet.org. 16 July 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
351. Cockburn, Patrick (31 August 2007). "Cholera spreads in Iraq as health services collapse". The Independent. London. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
352. Laurance, Jeremy (20 October 2006). "Medics beg for help as Iraqis die needlessly". The Independent. London. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
353. "Global Views: Iraq's refugees, by R. Nolan, Foreign Policy Association Features, Resource Library, 12 June 2007.
354. "Iraq: Torture Continues at Hands of New Government". Human Rights News. 25 January 2005.
355. Dexter Filkins (29 November 2005). "Sunnis Accuse Iraqi Military of Kidnappings and Slayings". The New York Times.
356. "Iraq rape soldier jailed for life". BBC. 16 November 2006. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
357. Neil Mackay (14 March 2004). "Iraq: The Wedding Party Massacre". Sunday Herald.
358. "2 GI's charged with murder of Iraqis — International Herald Tribune". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
359. "Multi-National Force – Iraq — Additional Soldier charged with murder". Mnf-iraq.com. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
360. About Chris Hedges Chris Hedges, former Middle East bureau chief for the New York Times, is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute. He is the author, with Laila Al-Arian, of Collateral Damage and an earlier book, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (Free Press). more ... About Laila Al-Arian Laila Al-Arian is a freelance journalist and co-author, with Chris Hedges, of Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians (Nation Books), based on their 2007 Nation article "The Other War." more .. "The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness". The Nation. Retrieved 10 September 2008. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
361. "The Raw Story | Anti-war veterans' group: War crimes are 'encouraged'". Rawstory.com. Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
362. Ellen Knickmeyer (3 June 2005). "Iraq Puts Civilian Toll at 12,000". The Washington Post.
363. Paul McGeough (2 February 2005). "Handicapped boy who was made into a bomb". Sydney Morning Herald.
364. Iraq bombing toll rises. The Age 2 July 2006
365. A Face and a Name. Civilian Victims of Insurgent Groups in Iraq. Human Rights Watch October 2005.
366. "Who are the Iraq Insurgents?". NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. 12 June 2006.
367. "Kidnappers Kill Algerian Diplomats". Free Internet Press. 27 July 2005.
368. "Captors kill Egypt envoy to Iraq". BBC News. 8 July 2005. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
369. "Russian diplomat deaths confirmed". BBC News. 26 June 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
370. Alex Rodriguez, Iraqi shrine blast suspect caught (paid archive), The Chicago Tribune 29 June 2006.
371. "Insurgents kill Bulgarian hostage: Al-Jazeera". CBC News. 14 July 2004.
372. "Foreign hostages in Iraq". CBC News. 22 June 2006.
373. "4 Contractors murdered by al Qaeda". The Washington Post. 31 March 2004. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
374. Sabrina Tavernise (19 June 2005). "Iraqis Found in Torture House Tell of Brutality of Insurgents". The New York Times.
375. "Iraq kidnappings stun Kenya press". BBC News. 23 July 2004. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
376. "World View of U.S. Role Goes from Bad to Worse" (PDF). BBC World Service. 23 January 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2007.
377. "Most people 'want Iraq pull-out'". BBC NEWS. 7 September 2007. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
378. "Guardian July Poll" (PDF). ICM Research. 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
379. Zogby, James (2007). "Four Years Later: Arab Opinion Troubled by Consequences of Iraq War" (PDF). Arab American Institute. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
380. "India: Pro-America, Pro-Bush". Pew Global Attitudes Project. Pew Research Center. 28 February 2006.
381. Most Iraqis in Baghdad welcome US: NDTV poll The Indian Express
382. ^ "The Iraqi Public on the U.S. Presence and the Future of Iraq" (PDF). World Public Opinion. 27 September 2006. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
383. Iraq Poll conducted by 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%.
384. Iraqis Oppose Oil Development Plans, Poll Finds (August 6, 2007) (Oil Change International, Institute for Policy Studies, War on Want, PLATFORM and Global Policy Forum)
385. Most Iraqis in Baghdad welcome US: NDTV poll The Indian Express
386. US under 50,000 - Iraqis ‘down’ on drawdown Arab Times
387. Bush, President George W. (9 September 2003). "A Central Front in the War on Terror". Global Message. The White House.
388. Garamone, Jim (19 September 2002). "Iraq Part of Global War on Terrorism, Rumsfeld Says". American Forces Press Service.
389. Bush, President George W. (21 August 2006). "Press Conference by the President". Peace in the Middle East. The White House.
390. Gunaratna, Rohan (Summer 2004). "The Post-Madrid Face of Al Qaeda". Washington Quarterly. 27 (3): 98. doi:10.1162/016366004323090278.
391. Sengupta, Kim (26 May 2004). "Occupation Made World Less Safe, Pro-War Institute Says". The Independent.
392. Priest, Dana (14 January 2005). "Iraq New Terror Breeding Ground". The Washington Post.
393. "Declassified Key Judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States"" (PDF) (Press release). Office of the Director of National Intelligence. April 2006.
394. Sharp Decline in Support for Suicide Bombing in Muslim Countries Pew Research Center
395. Muslim Americans: No Signs of Growth in Alienation or Support for Extremism Pew Research Center
396. ^ Bernstein-Wax, Jessica (8 August 2007). "Studies: Suicide bombers in Iraq are mostly foreigners". McClatchy Newspapers.
397. Glasser, Susan B. (15 May 2005). "'Martyrs' In Iraq Mostly Saudis". The Washington Post.
398. See also: Hafez, Mohammed M. Suicide Bomber in Iraq. United States Institute of Peace Press. ISBN 1601270046.
399. Linzer, Dafna (26 January 2007). "Troops Authorized to Kill Iranian Operatives in Iraq". The Washington Post. p. A.1.
400. Greenwell, Megan (20 August 2007). "Iran Trains Militiamen Inside Iraq, U.S. Says". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
401. "U.S. again misfires on Iranian arms in Iraq". Asia Times, 18 November 2008
402. "Al-Maliki: Iraq won't be battleground for U.S., Iran". CNN. 31 January 2007. Archived from the original on 2 February 2007. Retrieved 31 January 2007.
403. "Iran involvement suspected in Karbala compound attack". CNN.com. 31 January 2007. Retrieved 31 January 2007.
404. Baer, Robert (30 January 2007). "Are the Iranians Out for Revenge?". Time. Retrieved 31 January 2007.
405. Slack, Donovan. "Last Letters". Boston Globe. Boston.
406. ""THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS" Review". Felice's Log. 18 November 2009. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
407. Koehler, Robert (17 September 2007). "Battle for Haditha". Variety. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
408. Barbara Mikkelson. "Marine Throws Puppy Off Cliff". snopes.com. Retrieved 11 December 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
409. Gilbert, Ben (6 April 2009). "Konami announces 'Six Days in Fallujah,' based on real battle in Iraq". Joystiq. Retrieved 11 December 2011.

Further reading

• Bellavia, David (2007). House to House: An Epic Memoir of War. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1416574712.
• Gordon, Michael R. (2006). Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. Pantheon. ISBN 978-1557782328.
• Larson, Luke S. (2008). Senator's Son: An Iraq War Novel. Phoenix, Arizona: Key Edition Incorporated. ISBN 978-1449969868.
• North, Richard (2009). Ministry of Defeat: The British War in Iraq 2003-2009. Continuum Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-1441169976.
• Bruce R. Pirnie (2008). Counterinsurgency in Iraq (2003-2006) (PDF). Santa Monico, CA: Rand Corporation. ISBN 978-0-8330-4297-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Thomas E. Ricks (2006). [[Fiasco (book)|Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq]]. Penguin. ISBN 9781594201035. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)<

External links

• Electronic Iraq Daily news and analysis from Iraq with a special focus on the Iraqi experience of war
• News from Iraq: Aggregated news on the war, including politics and economics.
• Iraq: Transition of Power CNN Report: Three years later, debate rages.
• Dollar cost of war: total U.S. 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
• Presidential address by George W. Bush on the evening of 19 March 2003, announcing war against Iraq.
• Bibliography: The Second U.S. - Iraq War (2003– )
• "1st Major Survey of Iraq". Zogby International, 10 September 2003.
• Iraq at Polling Report.com. Chronological polls of Americans 18 and older
• Aerial Propaganda Leaflet Database. Psywar.org, 6 November 2005. (Iraq War PSYOP leaflets and posters)
• 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.

v t e Iraq War (2003–2011)
Beginning of the Iraqi conflict
Prelude Background Pre-1990 17 July Revolution Iranian Revolution 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge Iran–Iraq War British / U.S. support for Iraq Chemical attacks against Iran Anfal campaign Iran–Contra affair 1990–2003 Gulf War Invasion of Kuwait Nayirah testimony Sanctions against Iraq No-fly zones 1991 uprisings UNSCOM Arms-to-Iraq affair Oil-for-Food Programme Investigations September 11 attacks Aftermath War on terror 2001 anthrax attacks U.S. War in Afghanistan Invasion Rationale WMD claims Yellowcake uranium Aluminum tubes Biological weapons Chemical weapons "Curveball" Mobile weapon labs Saddam–al-Qaeda conspiracy theory Anthrax claims Prague Ricin claims Oil as a possible rationale Issues American imperialism Bush Doctrine Wolfowitz Doctrine Colin Powell's UN presentation Disarmament crisis UNMOVIC Failed peace initiatives Iraq resolution / UK parliament's support for invasion Iraqi–Kurdish conflict Legality Legitimacy of the invasion Media coverage Military analyst program Rapid response operation Saddam's alleged shredder Preemptive war Saddam Hussein and human rights Dossiers and memos Habbush letter Downing Street memo September Dossier Vilnius letter Letter of the eight Bush–Blair 2003 memo February Dossier Bush–Aznar memo
Overview Key events Invasion (2003) Occupation (2003–2011) Insurgency 2003–06 period Anbar campaign Fallujah Capture of Saddam Hussein Interrogation Trial Execution / Reactions 2006 al-Askari mosque bombing Civil war (2006–08) 2007 U.S. troop surge timeline U.S. withdrawal Status of forces agreement Invasion (2003) Timeline Preparations for invasion Multi-National Force Battle of Nasiriyah Fall of Baghdad Battle of Debecka Pass Firdos Square statue Mission Accomplished speech US public opinion Occupation (2003–2011) Occupation of Ramadi De-Ba'athification 100 Orders CPA Order 2 CPA Order 17 U.S. military bases Blackwater Reconstruction Development Fund Economic reform UNAMI Al Qa'qaa high explosives U.S. kill or capture strategy Replacement governments Coalition Provisional Authority Iraqi Governing Council Interim Government 2005 parliamentary elections Transitional Government Constitution Ratification
Participants Countries Australia Ba'athist Iraq Denmark Georgia Iran Italy Japan Poland South Korea Thailand Ukraine United Kingdom United States Insurgent groups Sunni groups Islamic Army in Iraq 1920 Revolution Brigades Jaish al-Rashideen Islamic Front for the Iraqi Resistance Hamas of Iraq Jeish Muhammad Mujahideen Shura Council Islamic State of Iraq Al-Qaeda in Iraq Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan Black Banner Organization Wakefulness and Holy War Abu Theeb's group Abu Bakr Al-Salafi Army Mujahideen Army Shia groups Mahdi Army Abu Deraa's militia Badr Organization Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq Sheibani Network Soldiers of Heaven Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq Promised Day Brigade Kata'ib Hezbollah Ba'ath loyalists Fedayeen Saddam Al-Awda Popular Army Al-Abud Network Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation
Battles and operations Operations 2003 Ancient Babylon Catalyst Desert Scorpion Desert Thrust Falconer Iron Hammer Iron Justice Ivy Blizzard Northern Delay Airborne Dragon Panther Squeeze Peninsula Strike Planet X Capture of Saddam Hussein (Red Dawn) Telic 2004 Baton Rouge Bulldog Mammoth Iron Saber New Dawn (Al Fajr) Phantom Fury Phantom Linebacker Plymouth Rock Vigilant Resolve Warrior's Rage 2005 Able Rising Force Able Warrior Cyclone Iron Hammer Matador New Market Spear (Romhe) Squeeze Play Steel Curtain 2006 Al Majid Gaugamela Guardian Tiger Iron Triangle River Falcon Sinbad Swarmer Together Forward 2007 Alljah Arbead II Ardennes Black Eagle Commando Eagle Forsythe Park Imposing Law Leyte Gulf Marne Avalanche Marne Torch Mawtini Phantom Strike Phantom Thunder Polar Tempest Purple Haze Saber Guardian Sledgehammer Stampede 3 Tiger Hammer Valiant Guardian (Harris Ba'sil) 2008 Defeat Al Qaeda in the North Augurs of Prosperity Phantom Phoenix 2009–2011 New Dawn Battles 2003 Invasion Umm Qasr Al Faw Basra I Nasiriyah Karbala I Haditha Dam Najaf I Samawah I Karbala II Al Kut Hillah Karbala Gap Debecka Pass Baghdad I Majar al-Kabir Ramadan Offensive 2004 Spring fighting Karbala City Hall Fallujah I Siege of Sadr City Ramadi I Good Friday ambush Baghdad International Airport Husaybah Danny Boy Najaf II CIMIC House Samarra Fallujah II Mosul 2005 Lake Tharthar Abu Ghraib Al-Qa'im Hit convoy Haditha Tal Afar 2006 Baghdad II Ramadi II Diwaniya Al Rumaythah Amarah Turki 2007 Haifa Street Karbala provincial HQ Najaf III Shurta Nasir Basra II Baqubah Route Bismarck Donkey Island Karbala III 2008 Spring fighting Iraqi Day of Ashura Nineveh Basra III Al-Qaeda offensive 2009–2011 Palm Grove (2010) Related events Turkish incursions into northern Iraq 2007 2008 Abu Kamal raid
War crimes Occupation forces Killings and massacres During the 2003 invasion U.S. killings of journalists Fallujah killings Killing of Nadhem Abdullah (2003) Murder of Muhamad Husain Kadir Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre (2004) Haifa Street helicopter incident (2005) Tal Afar shootings (2005) Basra prison incident (2005) Haditha massacre (2005) Mahmudiyah rape and killings (2006) Ishaqi massacre (2006) Baghdad detainee killings (2006) Hamdania incident (2006) Iraqi bodyguard killing (2006) Iron Triangle Murders (2006) Baghdad airstrike (2007) Nisour Square massacre (2007) Iraq War Logs (2010) Chemical weapons Use of white phosphorus by the United States (2004–05) Torture and abuse Abu Ghraib prison (2003–06) Camp Bucca (2003–09) Camp Nama (2003–04) Balad Air Base (2003–2011) Death of Nagem Hatab (2003) Killing of Baha Mousa (2003) Death of Abed Hamed Mowhoush (2003) Killing of Manadel al-Jamadi (2003) Death of Fashad Mohamed (2004) § Other killings and bombings 2003 Jordanian embassy Canal Hotel Imam Ali mosque bombing Baghdad October 2003 2004 Erbil 2004 Ashura massacre Basra 2004 Mosul 2004 2004 church bombings Baghdad bombings 14 September 30 September Karbala and Najaf bombings Baqubah 2004 Kufa mosque bombing 2005 Al Hillah 2005 Erbil 2005 Musayyib bombing Baghdad bombings August September Balad 2005 Khanaqin bombings 2006 Karbala and Ramadi Al-Askari mosque 2006 Buratha mosque bombing Sadr City bombings July November Hayy Al-Jihad massacre 2007 Mustansiriya University Baghdad bombings 22 January 3 February 12 February 18 February 29 March 18 April 26 July 1 August Al Hillah 2007 Tal Afar 2007 Iraqi Parliament 2007 Karbala mosque bombings Massacres of Yazidis April massacre Qahtaniyah bombings Makhmour Abu Sayda Al-Askari mosque 2007 Al-Khilani mosque bombing Amirli bombing Kirkuk 2007 Al Amarah bombings 2008 Bagdad bombings February March June Balad 2008 Karbala 2008 Al-Karmah Dujail bombing Balad Ruz bombing Attacks on Christians in Mosul 2009 Bagdad bombings March 6 April June August October December Baghdad–Miqdadiyah Taza bombing Kirkuk 2009 Tal Afar 2009 2010 Nationwide attacks 10 May 25 August Bagdad bombings January February April August September November Baqubah 2010 Baghdad church massacre 2011 Nationwide attacks January August Bagdad bombings January August October Arba'een bombings Tikrit assault Al Hillah 2011 Samarra bombing Al Diwaniyah bombing Taji bombings Karbala 2011 Basra 2011 Other war crimes Raid on Camp Ashraf (2011) Archaeological looting Chlorine bombings Torture by the Wolf Brigade (2004–2011) Prosecution United States and the International Criminal Court Hague Invasion Act Prosecution for the 2003 invasion Abtan v. Blackwater Hamdan v. Rumsfeld Saleh v. Bush Taguba Report § All attacks listed in this group were either committed by insurgents, or have unknown perpetrators
Impact General Casualties Iraq Body Count Iraq Family Health Survey Lancet surveys ORB survey Damage to Baghdad Al-Aimmah Bridge disaster Human rights Humanitarian crisis 2007 cholera outbreak Financial cost Refugees Iraqi Christians Mandaeans Violence against Iraqi academics Political controversies Post-invasion WMD conjecture Iraq scandal in Finland Dixie Chicks comments Plame affair Hood event Death of David Kelly Hutton Inquiry Kidnapping of Angelo dela Cruz 2004 document leak Al Jazeera bombing memo Scott Thomas Beauchamp controversy MoveOn.org ad controversy Six Days in Fallujah Role of Canada War resisters Investigations Senate Report on WMD Intelligence Duelfer Report Chilcot Inquiry Reactions Pre-war Pre-war international reactions Khuy Voyne! Saddam Hussein interview Views on the invasion U.S. public opinion Opposition Criticism United Nations Oprah's Anti-war series Iraqi map pendant Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan Photo Op A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq Bush shoe-throwing incident Protests Halloween 2002 February 15, 2003 March 20, 2003 Bring Them Home Now Tour January 20, 2005 September 24, 2005 January 27, 2007 March 17, 2007 2007 Port of Tacoma September 15, 2007 March 19, 2008 Aftermath in Iraq The rise of ISIL Insurgency (2011–13) War in Iraq (2013–17) War against ISIL (2014–present) U.S.-led intervention in Iraq (2014–2021) Insurgency (2017–present)
Miscellaneous Terminology Axis of evil Outposts of tyranny "Baghdad Bob" "Chemical Ali" Coalition of the willing Dead checking Embedded journalism Freedom fries Friedman Unit "Mother of All Bombs" "Mrs. Anthrax" Old Europe and New Europe Regime change Shock and awe "Sixteen Words" "Smoking gun / mushroom cloud" Star Spangled Ice Cream Strategic reset "There are unknown unknowns" Triangle of Death "Yo, Blair" Critical Global arrogance Inverted totalitarianism "The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time" Memorials Afghan–Iraqi Freedom Memorial (Salem, Oregon) Al-Shaheed Monument Iraq and Afghanistan Memorial (London) Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial Old North Memorial Garden Saving Iraqi Culture Lists Assassinations Aviation shootdowns and accidents Bombings Coalition military operations Documentaries Iraqi security forces fatality reports Most-wanted Iraqi playing cards Private contractor deaths Timeline 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Related Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty Chelsea Manning CIA black sites Efforts to impeach George W. Bush "Enhanced interrogation techniques" Torture in the United States Extraordinary rendition Green Zone Guantanamo Bay detention camp Gulf of Tonkin incident Resolution Military–industrial complex Neoconservatism Patriot Act Petrodollar warfare theory Post-9/11 Special Relationship The Iraq War: A Historiography of Misplaced Pages Changelogs Unilateralism Unitary executive theory U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East WikiLeaks Ba'ath Party archives
Outline / Category / Wikinews / Multimedia

v t e Armed groups in the Iraqi conflict
Iraqi government	Iraqi Armed Forces Iraqi Army Iraqi Air Force Iraqi Navy Iraqi security forces Iraqi Police Iraqi Police Service National Police Supporting Forces Facilities Protection Service
Ba'athists	Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order Fedayeen Saddam General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries Al-Awda General Command of the Armed Forces, Resistance and Liberation in Iraq Popular Army New Return Patriotic Front Political Media Organ of the Ba'ath Party Popular Resistance for the Liberation of Iraq Al-Abud Network Free Iraqi Army
Militias and others	Shia Islamic militias Popular Mobilization Forces Mahdi Army Abu Deraa's Mahdi Army faction Badr Organization Sheibani Network Soldiers of Heaven Free Iraqi Forces Special Groups (Iraq) Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq Promised Day Brigade Kata'ib Hezbollah Saraya Ansar al-Aqeeda Kata'ib al-Imam Ali Kata'ib Jund al-Imam Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba Saraya al-Jihad Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas Forces Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya Quwwat Sahl Ninawa Mukhtar Army Hezbollah Liwa Abu al-Fadhal al-Abbas Jaysh al-Mu'ammal Liwa Ali al-Akbar Islamic Resistance in Iraq Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada Sunni Islamic militias Tribal Mobilization Awakening groups 1920 Revolution Brigades Jaish al-Rashideen Islamic Army in Iraq Islamic Front for the Iraqi Resistance Hamas of Iraq Harakat Ahrar al-Iraq Kurdish militias Peshmerga Kurdistan Workers' Party Kurdistan Freedom Hawks Asayîşa Êzîdxanê Turkmen militias Iraqi Turkmen Front 16Brigade 52nd Brigade 92nd Brigade Brigade of Imam Hussein Sayyid al-Shuhada Bashir Regiment Assyrian militias Nineveh Plains Nineveh Plain Protection Units Nineveh Plain Forces Qaraqosh Protection Committee Dwekh Nawsha Syriac Military Council Kataib Rouh Allah Issa Ibn Miriam Babylon Brigade Yazidi militias Asayîşa Êzîdxanê Êzîdxan Protection Force Sinjar Alliance Sinjar Resistance Units Êzîdxan Women's Units
Insurgents	Nationalist Salafis Mujahideen Army Mujahideen Battalions of the Salafi Group of Iraq Islamic Salafist Boy Scout Battalions Mohammad's Army Salafi Jihadists Al-Mustafa Army in Iraq Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan Black Banner Organization Abu Theeb's group Abu Bakr Al-Salafi Army Hassan Al-Basri Brigades Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna Jamaat Jaysh Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamaah Islamic State Mujahideen Shura Council Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah Al-Qaeda in Iraq Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad Shield of Islam Brigade Wakefulness and Holy War White Flags

v t e Iraq topics
History Chronology Ubaid period Hassuna culture Halaf culture Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period Samarra culture Uruk period Jemdet Nasr period Sumer Subartu Akkadian Empire Gutian dynasty Neo-Sumerian Empire Isin-Larsa period First Babylonian Empire Old Assyrian Period Middle Assyrian Empire Kassite dynasty of the Babylonian Empire Simurrum culture Babylonia Assyria Neo-Assyrian Empire Neo-Babylonian Empire Babylonian captivity Fall of Babylon Achaemenid Assyria Seleucid Babylonia Parthian Babylonia Sassanid Asorestan 638–1958 Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate Buyid dynasty Qara Qoyunlu Aq Qoyunlu Safavids Ottoman Iraq (incl. Mamluk dynasty) Mandate for Mesopotamia Mandatory Iraq Kingdom of Iraq Kings Arab Federation Republic 1958–1968 1968–2003 2003–2011 2011–present Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region (National Command) Saddam Hussein Iraqi–Kurdish conflict 1974–1975 Shatt al-Arab clashes 1977 Shia uprising in Iraq 1979–1980 Shia uprising in Iraq Weapons of mass destruction Iran–Iraq War Operation Opera Invasion of Kuwait Gulf War 1991 uprisings Sanctions Iraq War U.S. invasion Iraqi insurgency U.S. troop withdrawal Insurgency (2011–2013) War (2014–2017) Fall of Mosul Mosul liberation Insurgency 2019–2021 protests 2021–2022 Iraqi political crisis
Geography Faw peninsula Upper Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia Borders Euphrates river Hamrin Mountains Iraqi Kurdistan Lakes Islands Mesopotamia Mesopotamian Marshes Persian Gulf Places Shatt al-Arab Syrian Desert Tigris river Umm Qasr Zagros Mountains Wildlife Sinjar Mountains
Politics Administrative divisions Constitution Council of Representatives (legislative) Democracy Elections Foreign aid Foreign relations Government Council of Ministers Presidency Council President List Prime Minister List Human rights in pre-Saddam Iraq in Saddam Hussein's Iraq in post-invasion Iraq in ISIL-controlled territory LGBT Freedom of religion Women Law Military Police Political parties Judiciary Wars and conflicts
Economy Banks Central Bank Companies Corruption Dinar (currency) Infrastructure Foreign Investment Oil Industry Oil reserves Reconstruction Stock Exchange Telecommunications Transportation Airlines Railways Tourism
Society Demographics Iraqis Languages Mesopotamian Arabic Aramaic Kurdish Iraqi Turkmen/Turkoman dialects Persian Minorities Armenians Assyrians Circassians Kurds Mandaeans Marsh Arabs Persians Solluba Iraqi Turkmen/Turkoman Jews Religion Secularism Islam Christianity Mandaeism Yazidis Irreligion General Art Cinema Cuisine Culture Literature Education Health Media Television Music Smoking Sports Squatting Public holidays Mesopotamian spring festival (Akitu) Mandaean New Year
Category Portal WikiProject Commons