Iraq War

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the war that started in 2003 and ended in 2011. For the
initial invasion, see 2003 invasion of Iraq. For the ongoing war in Iraq, see Iraqi
Civil War (2014present). For previous wars in Iraq, see Iraq War (disambiguation).
Iraq War
Part of the War on Terror
Iraq War montage.png
Clockwise from top: U.S. troops at Uday 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 18 December 2011
(8 years, 8 months and 28 days)
Location Iraq
Result
Invasion and occupation of Iraq
Overthrow of Ba'ath Party government and execution of Saddam Hussein
Iraqi insurgency, emergence of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Sectarian Violence and another
civil war[6][7]
Subsequent reduction in violence and depletion of al-Qaeda in Iraq[8][9]
Establishment of democratic elections and formation of new Shia led government
Withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011
Stronger Iranian influence in Iraq[10][11][12]
Escalation of sectarian insurgency after U.S. withdrawal leading to the rise of the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the successor of al-Qaeda in Iraq[7][13]
Iraqi Civil War (2014present)
Return of US forces to Iraq in 2014
Belligerents
Invasion phase (2003)
United States
United Kingdom
Australia
Poland

Support from:
Peshmerga

Netherlands[1]
Invasion phase (2003)

Ba'athist Iraq
Post-invasion
(200311)
United States
United Kingdom

MNFI
(200309)[show]
New Iraqi government

Iraqi Armed Forces

Awakening Council
supported by:
Iran Iran[2][3] Iraqi Kurdistan

Peshmerga
Post-invasion (200311)
Ba'ath loyalists
Logo of the Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation.png Supreme Command for Jihad
and Liberation
Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order
Sunni insurgents

Al-Qaeda in Iraq (200406)

Islamic State of Iraq[4] (from 2006)
Islamic Army of Iraq (emblem).png Islamic Army of Iraq
Ansar al-Sunnah (200307)
Shia insurgents

Mahdi Army
Shiism arabic blue.svg Special Groups
Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq
Others
supported by:
Iran Iran

Quds Force[5]
For fighting between insurgent groups, see Sectarian violence in Iraq (200607).
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
Tommy Franks
Donald Rumsfeld
Robert Gates
Tony Blair
Gordon Brown
David Cameron
Jos Mara Aznar
John Howard
Kevin Rudd
Walter Natynczyk
Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Aleksander Kwasniewski
Silvio Berlusconi
Ba'ath Party
Saddam Hussein (POW) Skull and crossbones.svg
Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri

Sunni insurgency
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Ayyub al-Masri
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Islamic Army of Iraq (emblem).png Ishmael Jubouri
Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i (POW)

Shia insurgency
Muqtada al-Sadr
Shiism arabic blue.svg Abu Deraa
Qais al-Khazali
Akram al-Kabi

Qasem Soleimani[14]
Strength
Invasion forces (2003)
309,000
United States: 192,000[15]
United Kingdom: 45,000
Australia: 2,000
Poland: 194
Iraqi Kurdistan Peshmerga: 70,000

Coalition forces (200409)

176,000 at peak
United States Forces Iraq (201011)
112,000 at activation
Security contractors 6,0007,000 (estimate)[16]
Iraqi security forces
805,269 (military and paramilitary: 578,269,[17] police: 227,000)

Awakening militias
103,000 (2008)[18]
Iraqi Kurdistan
400,000 (Kurdish Border Guard: 30,000,[19] Peshmerga 375,000)
Coat of arms of Iraq (1991-2004).svg Iraqi Armed Forces: 375,000 (disbanded in
2003)
Iraqi Republican Guard Symbol.svg Special Iraqi Republican Guard: 12,000
Iraqi Republican Guard Symbol.svg Iraqi Republican Guard: 70,00075,000
Fedayeen Saddam SSI.svg Fedayeen Saddam: 30,000

Sunni Insurgents
70,000 (2007)[20]
al-Qaeda
1,300 (2006)[21]

Islamic State of Iraq

1,000 (2008)
Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order
5001,000 (2007)
Casualties and losses
Iraqi Security Forces (post-Saddam)
Killed: 17,690[22]
Wounded: 40,000+[23]
Coalition forces
Killed: 4,815[24][25] (4,497 U.S.,[26] 179 UK,[27] 139 other)[24]
Missing/captured (U.S.): 17 (8 rescued, 9 died in captivity)[28]
Wounded: 32,776+ (32,249 U.S.,[29] 315 UK, 212+ other[30])[31][32][33][34]
Injured/diseases/other medical*: 51,139 (47,541 U.S.,[35] 3,598 UK)[31][33][34]
Contractors
Killed: 1,554[36][37]
Wounded & injured: 43,880[36][37]
Awakening Councils
Killed: 1,002+[38]
Wounded: 500+ (2007),[39] 828 (2008)[40]

Total dead: 25,285 (+12,000 policemen killed 2003-2005)""

Total wounded: 117,961
Iraqi combatant dead (invasion period): 7,60010,800[41][42]
Insurgents (post-Saddam)
Killed: 26,544 (200311)[43]
Detainees: 12,000 (Iraqi-held)[44]

Total dead: 34,14437,344

Estimated deaths:
Lancet survey** (March 2003 July 2006): 654,965 (95% CI: 392,979942,636)[45][46]
Iraq Family Health Survey*** (March 2003 July 2006): 151,000 (95% CI:
104,000223,000)[47]
PLOS Medicine Study**: (March 2003 June 2011): 405,000 (95% CI: 48,000751,000),
in addition to 55,000 deaths missed due to emigration.[48]

Documented deaths from violence:

Iraq Body Count (2003 14 December 2011): 103,160113,728 civilian deaths
recorded,[49] and 12,438 new deaths added from the Iraq War Logs[50]
Associated Press (March 2003 April 2009): 110,600[51]

For more information see: Casualties of the Iraq War

* "injured, diseased, or other medical": required medical air transport. UK number
includes "aeromed evacuations"
** Total excess deaths include all additional deaths due to increased lawlessness,
degraded infrastructure, poorer healthcare, etc.
*** Violent deaths only - does not include excess deaths due to increased
lawlessness, poorer healthcare, etc.
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v t e
The Iraq War,[nb 1] also known as the Second Gulf War, was a protracted armed
conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led
coalition that overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued
for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces
and the post-invasion Iraqi government.[52] An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more
Iraqis were killed in the first 34 years of conflict. The U.S. became re-involved
in 2014 at the head of a new coalition; the insurgency and many dimensions of the
civil armed conflict continue. The invasion occurred under the pretext of a
declared war against international terrorism and its sponsors under the
administration of US President George W. Bush following the September 11 terror
attacks.

The invasion began on 20 March 2003,[53] with the U.S., joined by the United
Kingdom and several coalition allies, launching a "shock and awe" bombing campaign.
Iraqi forces were quickly overwhelmed as U.S. forces swept through the country. The
invasion led to the collapse of the Ba'athist government; President Hussein was
captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year and executed by a
military court three years later. However, the power vacuum following Saddam's
demise and the mismanagement of the occupation led to widespread sectarian violence
between Shias and Sunnis, as well as a lengthy insurgency against U.S. and
coalition forces. Many violent insurgent groups were supported by Iran and al-Qaeda
in Iraq. The United States responded with a troop surge in 2007. The winding down
of U.S. involvement in Iraq accelerated under President Barack Obama. The U.S.
formally withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by December 2011.[54]

The Bush administration based its rationale for the war principally on the
assertion that Iraq, which had been viewed by the US as a rogue state since the
Persian Gulf War, possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and that the Iraqi
government posed an immediate threat to the United States and its coalition allies.
[55][56] Select U.S. officials accused Saddam of harbouring and supporting al-
Qaeda,[57] while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship and bring
democracy to the people of Iraq.[58][59] After the invasion, no substantial
evidence was found to verify the initial claims about WMDs, while claims of Iraqi
officials collaborating with al-Qaeda were proven false. The rationale and
misrepresentation of US prewar intelligence faced heavy criticism both domestically
and internationally, with President Bush declining from his record-high approval
ratings following 9/11 to become one of the most unpopular presidents in US
history.[60]

In the aftermath of the invasion, Iraq held multi-party elections in 2005. Nouri
al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006 and remained in office until 2014. The al-
Maliki government enacted policies that were widely seen as having the effect of
alienating the country's Sunni minority and worsening sectarian tensions. In the
summer of 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) launched a military
offensive in Northern Iraq and declared a worldwide Islamic caliphate, eliciting
another military response from the United States and its allies. The Iraq War
caused hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties and thousands of military
casualties (see estimates below). The majority of casualties occurred as a result
of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007.

Contents [hide]
1 Background
1.1 Western arming of Iraq
1.2 Iraq disarmament and pre-war intelligence
1.2.1 U.N. weapons inspections resume
1.3 Weapons of mass destruction
1.3.1 Yellowcake uranium
1.3.2 Poison gas
1.3.3 Biological weapons
1.3.4 Post-invasion views on WMD
1.4 Preparations
1.5 Opposition to invasion
2 2003: Invasion
3 200311: Post-invasion phase
3.1 2003: Beginnings of insurgency
3.1.1 Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraq Survey Group
3.1.2 Capturing former government leaders
3.2 2004: Insurgency expands
3.3 2005: Elections and transitional government
3.4 2006: Civil war and permanent Iraqi government
3.4.1 Iraq Study Group report and Saddam's execution
3.5 2007: U.S. troops surge
3.5.1 Planned troop reduction
3.5.2 Effects of the surge on security
3.5.3 Political developments
3.5.4 Tensions with Iran
3.5.5 Tensions with Turkey
3.5.6 Blackwater private security controversy
3.6 2008: Civil war continues
3.6.1 Spring offensives on Shiite militias
3.6.2 Congressional testimony
3.6.3 Iraqi security forces rearm
3.6.4 Status of forces agreement
3.7 2009: Coalition redeployment
3.7.1 Transfer of Green Zone
3.7.2 Provincial elections
3.7.3 Exit strategy announcement
3.7.4 Sixth anniversary protests
3.7.5 Coalition forces withdraw
3.7.6 Iraq awards oil contracts
3.8 2010: U.S. drawdown and Operation New Dawn
3.8.1 Iraqi security forces transition towards self-reliance
3.8.2 UN lifts restrictions on Iraq
3.9 2011: U.S. withdrawal
4 Aftermath post U.S. withdrawal
5 Casualty estimates
6 Criticism and cost
6.1 Financial cost
7 Humanitarian crises
8 Human rights abuses
8.1 Iraqi government
8.2 Coalition forces and private contractors
8.3 Insurgent groups
9 Public opinion on the war
9.1 International opinion
9.2 Iraqi opinion
10 Relation to the Global War on Terrorism
11 Foreign involvement
11.1 Role of Saudi Arabia and non-Iraqis
11.2 Role of China and Russia
11.3 Iranian involvement
12 See also
13 Footnotes
14 References
15 Further reading
16 External links
Background[edit]
Western arming of Iraq[edit]
See also: Iraq and weapons of mass destruction
A 1990 Frontline report on "The arming of Iraq" said, "Officially, most Western
nations participated in a total arms embargo against Iraq during the 1980s, but ...
Western companies, primarily in Germany and Great Britain, but also in the United
States, sold Iraq the key technology for its chemical, missile, and nuclear
programs. ... [M]any Western governments seemed remarkably indifferent, if not
enthusiastic, about those deals. ... [I]n Washington, the government consistently
followed a policy which allowed and perhaps encouraged the extraordinary growth of
Saddam Hussein's arsenal and his power."[61] The Western arming of Iraq took place
in the context of the Iran-Iraq War, which had seen NATO lose a valuable ally in
Iran after the Iranian Revolution.

Iraq disarmament and pre-war intelligence[edit]

See also: Lead up to the Iraq War, Rationale for the Iraq War, Governments' pre-war
positions on invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, and Stovepiping
Main articles: Iraq disarmament timeline 19902003 and 2002 in Iraq
Prior to September 2002, the CIA was the George W. Bush administration's main
provider of intelligence on Iraq. In September, a Pentagon unit called the Office
of Special Plans (OSP) was created by Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, and headed
by Feith, as charged by then-United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to
supply senior Bush administration officials with raw intelligence pertaining to
Iraq.[62] Seymour Hersh writes that, according to a Pentagon adviser, "[OSP] was
created in order to find evidence of what Wolfowitz and his boss, Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld, wanted to be truethat Saddam Hussein had close ties to Al Qaeda,
and that Iraq had an enormous arsenal of chemical, biological, and possibly even
nuclear weapons (WMD) that threatened the region and, potentially, the United
States. [...] 'The agency [CIA] was out to disprove linkage between Iraq and
terrorism' the Pentagon adviser told me."[63]

U.N. weapons inspections resume[edit]

The issue of Iraq's disarmament reached a turning point in 20022003, when US
president George W. Bush demanded a complete end to alleged Iraqi production of
weapons of mass destruction and full compliance with U.N. Security Council
Resolutions requiring U.N. weapons inspectors unfettered access to suspected
weapons production facilities. The U.N. 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 on the
teams supplied the United States government 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.[64]

During 2002, Bush repeatedly warned of military action against Iraq unless
inspections were allowed to progress unfettered. In accordance with U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1441, Iraq agreed to new inspections under United Nations
Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) in 2002. With the
cooperation of the Iraqis, a third weapons inspection team in 2003 led by David
Kelly viewed and photographed two alleged mobile weapons laboratories, which were
actually facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill artillery balloons.
[65]

As part of its weapons inspection obligations, Iraq was required to supply a full
declaration of its current weapons capabilities and manufacturing. On 3 November
2002, Iraq supplied an 11,800-page report to the UN Security Council and the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stating that it had no WMDs. The IAEA
and UNMOVIC, the two organizations charged with inspecting Iraq's weapons, reported
that the declaration was incomplete.[66]

Weapons of mass destruction[edit]

Yellowcake uranium[edit]

A UN weapons inspector examines an Iraqi factory in 2002.

In 1990, before the Persian Gulf War, Iraq had stockpiled 550 short tons (500 t) of
yellowcake uranium at the Tuwaitha nuclear complex about 20 kilometres (12 mi)
south of Baghdad.[67] 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."[68] 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.
[69]

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.[70][71] After Wilson's op-ed, Wilson's wife Valerie
Plame was publicly identified as an undercover CIA analyst by the columnist Robert
Novak. This led to a Justice Department investigation into the source of the leak.
The federal investigation led to the conviction of Scooter Libby, Vice President
Dick Cheney's chief of staff, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.[67]

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 warincluding 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".[72]

In September 2002, the Bush administration, the CIA and the DIA (Defense
Intelligence Agency) said attempts by Iraq to acquire high-strength aluminum tubes
were prohibited under the UN monitoring program and pointed to a clandestine effort
to make centrifuges to enrich uranium for nuclear bombs.[73][74] 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.[75] 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.[76]

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[76][77] 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.[78] 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."[79][80][81] After the 2008 U.S. presidential election, and the
election of Democratic party nominee Barack Obama, President Bush stated that "[my]
biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in
Iraq".[82]

Poison gas[edit]