Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your War In Iraq shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the War In Iraq offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of War In Iraq at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a War In Iraq? Wrong! If the War In Iraq is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about War In Iraq then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling War In Iraq? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about War In Iraq and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your War In Iraq wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your War In Iraq then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the War In Iraq site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about War In Iraq, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your War In Iraq, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{Infobox Military Conflict| conflict=Iraq War | image= ] | caption= Clockwise, starting at top left: a joint patrol in [Samarra; the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in [Firdos Square; an [Iraqi Army soldier readies his rifle during an assault; an [IED detonates in South Baghdad. | date= March 20, [ – present | place= [Iraq | casus= War justifications:

|result= Occupation

| combatant1=] Baathist Iraq
 Baath Party
[Mahdi Army
[al-Qaeda in Iraq
[Iraqi insurgency

| combatant2 = {{flagicon|United States--> United States
{{flagicon
{{flagicon|Australia--> [Australia
{{flagicon
Iraqi Kurdistan
{{flagicon
[Multinational force in Iraq

| commander1 = ] Saddam Hussein{{POW-->{{cite news
Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri
Ishmael Jubouri
 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi{{KIA [Abu Ayyub al-Masri

| commander2 ={{flagicon|United States--> [George W. Bush
{{flagicon
{{flagicon|United States--> [Ricardo Sanchez
{{flagicon
{{flagicon|United States--> [David Petraeus
{{flagicon
{{flagicon|United Kingdom--> [Gordon Brown
{{flagicon
{{flagicon|Iraq--> [Nouri al-Maliki | strength1 = '''Iraqi''' (under Saddam Hussein):
375,000+ regular forces. {{Fact|date=March 2007--> Post-Baathist government, multi-sided conflict:
Iraqi insurgency#Sunni Islamists
Unknown
Mahdi Army
~60,000
al Qaeda/others
1,300+Pincus, Walter. "Violence in Iraq Called Increasingly Complex". Washington Post, November 17, 2006.

]
~300,000 invasion
~177,000 current
Private military company*
~182,000 (118,000 Iraqi, 43,000 Other, 21,000 US) "Private contractors outnumber U.S. troops in Iraq". By T. Christian Miller. Los Angeles Times. July 4, 2007. "Contractor deaths add up in Iraq". By Michelle Roberts. Deseret Morning News. Feb. 24, 2007.
Peshmerga
50,000 invasion
175,000 current
New Iraqi Army
165,000
Iraqi Police
227,000http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/19049.html

] government fell): 7,600 to 10,800 "The Wages of War: Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 2003 Conflict". Project on Defense Alternatives Research Monograph #8. Carl Conetta. October 20, 2003. "New Study Finds: 11,000 to 15,000 Killed in Iraq War; 30% are Non-combatants". Project on Defense Alternatives. Press release October 20, 2003.Insurgents dead (After Saddam Hussein's Baathist government fell): 13,804-20,125 listed on a List of insurgents killed in Iraq.19,429 According to U.S. military (26 September 2007) "19,000 insurgents killed in Iraq since '03". By Jim Michaels. 26 Sept. 2007. USA Today.Detainees (held by Coalition): 23,000 Shanker, Thom. "With Troop Rise, Iraqi Detainees Soar in Number". August 25, 2007. New York Times.Detainees (held by Iraq): 37,000 UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). Human Rights Report. 1 January – 31 March 2007. (p.21)

]. For the latest total of Iraqi police and military killed see page 8 of the most recent Iraq Index PDF file linked there. "More than 12,000 Iraqi police casualties in 2 years". 12,000 wounded and killed. CNN. Oct. 7, 2006. "iCasualties: OIF Iraqi Deaths".

Coalition dead (3,830 US, 171 UK, 132 other): 4,133 iCasualties.org (was lunaville.org). Benicia, California. Patricia Kneisler, et al., "Iraq Coalition Casualties".Many official U.S. tables at "Military Casualty Information". See latest totals for injury, disease/other medical. See also: Latest fatality and wounded-in-action totals.

Coalition missing or captured (US): 4

Coalition Wounded in action: 28,009 US, ~300 UK. "Casualties in Iraq". "Defence Internet Fact Sheets Operations in Iraq: British Casualties". UK Ministry of Defense. Latest combined casualty and fatality tables.

Coalition injured, diseased, or other medical:** 28,645 US, 1,155 UK.

Contractors dead (US 231): 1,003 "In outsourced U.S. wars, contractor deaths top 1,000". By Bernd Debusmann. Reuters. July 3, 2007. 10,569 wounded and 933 deaths in Iraq. 224 are U.S. citizens. "Reconstruction report: 916 death claims for civilian contractors in Iraq". USA Today April 30, 2007. "Iraq Coalition Casualties: Contractor Deaths - A Partial List". icasualties.org

Contractors Foreign hostages in Iraq (US 9): 17

Contractors wounded & injured: 10,569

|casualties3=All Iraqi violent deaths, ORB survey of casualties of the Iraq War. As of August 2007: 1,220,580 (range of 733,158 to 1,446,063). Causes were gunshots (48%), car bombs (20%), aerial bombing (9%), accidents (6%), another blast/ordnance (6%).

***Total deaths (all excess deaths) Lancet surveys of casualties of the Iraq War - As of June 2006: 654,965 (range of 392,979 to 942,636). 601,027 were violent deaths (31% attributed to Coalition, 24% to others, 46% unknown). By Gilbert Burnham, Riyadh Lafta, Shannon Doocy, and Les Roberts. The Lancet, October 11, 2006. By Gilbert Burnham, Shannon Doocy, Elizabeth Dzeng, Riyadh Lafta, and Les Roberts. A supplement to the second Lancet study.

War-related & criminal violence deaths (all Iraqis) Ali al-Shemari. Through early November 2006: 100,000-150,000 "Iraqi death toll estimates go as high as 150,000". Taipei Times, November 11, 2006. "Iraqi health minister estimates as many as 150,000 Iraqis killed by insurgents". International Herald Tribune. Nov. 9, 2006.

War-related & criminal violence deaths (civilians) Iraq Body Count project - English language media only: 69,045-75,495 Iraq Body Count project.

|notes= *Private military company (U.S. government) perform "often highly dangerous duties almost identical to those performed by many U.S. troops."** "injured, diseased, or other medical" - all required medical air transport. UK number includes wounded, too ("aeromed evacuations"). ***Total deaths include all additional deaths due to increased lawlessness, degraded infrastructure, poorer healthcare, etc. For explanations of the wide variation in casualty estimates, see: Casualties of the Iraq War-->

The Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq, the Second Gulf War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an ongoing conflicts which began on March 20, 2003 with the United States-led 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The main rationale for the Iraq War offered by President of the United States George W. Bush, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of Spain José María Aznar and their domestic and foreign supporters, was the belief that Iraq Iraq and weapons of mass destruction weapons of mass destruction (WMD). President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat Piecing together the story of the weapons that weren't Diplomats from countries on the U.N. Security Council that opposed the war made statements that supported this belief. Iraq / Address by Dominique de Villepin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the United Nations Security Council. 5 February, 2003. Katie Couric interview with Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger on NBC's Today Show. 26 February, 2003. These weapons, it was argued, posed a threat to the United States, its allies and interests. In the 2003 State of the Union Address, Bush claimed that the U.S. could not wait until the threat from Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein became imminent. FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Fruit of Appeasement, The New York Times 4 August 1990; subscription only After the invasion, however, Iraq Survey Group#Duelfer Report of the WMD or programs the administration claimed existed. Some U.S. officials cited claims of a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. No evidence of any operational or collaborative relationship with al-Qaeda has been found.http://irrationallyinformed.com//pdfcollection/20040729_Kerr_Report.pdf

The war began on March 20, 2003, when a largely Multinational force in Iraq supported by small contingents from Australia, Denmark and Poland invaded Iraq. The invasion soon led to the defeat and flight of Saddam Hussein. The U.S.-led coalition Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–2006 and attempted to establish a new democracy government; however it failed to restore order in Iraq. The unrest led to asymmetric warfare with the Iraqi insurgency, Civil war in Iraq between many Sunni Islam and Shia Islam Iraqis and al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda in Iraq. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, 2 Feb 2007, see "four wars" remark Coalition nations have begun to withdraw troops from Iraq as public opinion favoring troop withdrawal increases and as Iraqi forces begin to take responsibility for security. Britain's Brown visits officials, troops in Iraq. International Herald Tribune, 2 October 2007. Italy plans Iraq troop pull-out BBC March 15, 2005 The causes and consequences of the war remain controversial.

1991–2003: U.N. Inspectors and the no-fly zones Following the 1991 Gulf War, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 mandated that Iraq and weapons of mass destruction be halted and all such weapons destroyed under a United Nations Special Commission control. U.N. weapons inspectors inside Iraq were able to verify the destruction of a large amount of WMD-material, but substantial issues remained unresolved after they left Iraq in 1998 due to the lack of cooperation by the Iraqi government.

In addition to the inspection regimen, the United States and the United Kingdom (along with France until 1998) engaged in a low-level conflict with Iraq by enforcing northern and southern Iraqi no-fly zones. These zones were United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 to Operation Provide Comfort Iraqi Kurdistan in the north and the Operation Southern Watch, and were seen by the Iraqi government as an infringement of Iraq's sovereignty. Iraqi air-defense installations and American and British air patrols regularly exchanged fire during this period.

Approximately nine months after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States initiated Operation Southern Focus as a change to its response strategy, by increasing the overall number of missions and selecting targets throughout the no-fly zones in order to disrupt the military command structure in Iraq. The weight of bombs dropped increased from none in March 2002 and 0.3 in April 2002 to between 8 and 14 tons per month in May-August, reaching a pre-war peak of 54.6 tons in September 2002.

2001–2003: Iraq disarmament crisis and pre-war intelligence

The US government position on invasion of Iraq for the Iraq War was Iraq's Iraq and weapons of mass destruction program and Saddam Hussein's alleged collaboration with the Al-Qaeda terrorist group. However, the intelligence on both these claims has been criticized and largely discredited post-invasion, with the Bush administration accused of falsely portraying the available intelligence.

The issue of Iraq disarmament crisis in 2002-2003, when President of the United States George W. Bush demanded a complete end to alleged Iraq and weapons of mass destruction and full compliance with UN Resolutions requiring UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to suspected weapons production facilities. Previously, the United Nations actions regarding Iraq Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons since the Gulf War and to permit inspections confirming Iraqi compliance. During 2002, Bush repeatedly backed demands for unfettered inspection and disarmament with threats of military force. In accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 Iraq reluctantly agreed to United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission. The results of these inspections were mixed with no discovery of WMDs and American skepticism of Iraqi WMD program declarations.

In the initial stages of the war on terror, the Central Intelligence Agency, under George Tenet, was rising to prominence as the lead agency in the Afghanistan war. But when Tenet insisted in his personal meetings with President Bush that there was no connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, V.P. Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld initiated a secret program to re-examine the evidence and marginalize the CIA and Tenet. The questionable intelligence acquired by this secret program was "Stovepiping" to the Vice President and presented to the public. In some cases, Cheney’s office would leak the intelligence to reporters, where it would be reported by outlets such as The New York Times. Cheney would subsequently appear on the Sunday political television talk shows to discuss the intelligence, referencing The New York Times as the source to give it credence. "Frontline: The Dark Side," PBS, aired June 20, 2006

Alleged weapons of mass destruction

In late February 2002, the CIA sent former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson to investigate Niger uranium forgeries about Iraq's attempted purchase of yellowcake uranium from Niger. Wilson returned and informed the CIA that reports of yellowcake sales to Iraq were "unequivocally wrong." However, the Bush administration continued to mention yellowcake purchases as justification for military action--most prominently in the January, 2003, State of the Union when President Bush repeated the allegation, citing British intelligence sources. "A Question of Trust," Time, July 13, 2003 In response, Wilson wrote a critical The New York Times op-ed in June 2003 explaining that the CIA had investigated these yellowcake claims and believed them to be fraudulent. Shortly after Wilson's op-ed, the identity of Wilson's wife, undercover CIA analyst Valerie Plame, was revealed in a column by Robert Novak. Since it is Intelligence Identities Protection Act Novak's column launched an investigation by the Justice Department into the source of the leak. Lewis Libby, Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff, was convicted of perjury in the Plame affair investigation. The source of the leak was found to be Richard Armitage. He was never charged.{{cite news | first = Michael | last = Isikoff | url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14533384/site/newsweek/ | title = The Man Who Said Too Much | work = Newsweek National News | publisher = MSNBC.com | date = September 4 [ issue | accessdate = 2007-01-27 -->

A British government memo was published in The Sunday Times on May 1, 2005. Known as the "Downing Street memo," it contains an overview of a secret July 23, 2002 meeting among United Kingdom Labour government, defense and intelligence figures, discussing the build-up to the Iraq war—including direct reference to classified U.S. policy of the time. The memo states, "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." "The secret Downing Street memo," The Sunday Times, May 1, 2005

According to journalist Sidney Blumenthal, on September 18, 2002, George Tenet briefed Bush that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. Blumenthal says Bush dismissed this top-secret intelligence from Saddam's inner circle which was approved by two senior CIA officers, but it turned out to be completely accurate. The information was never shared with Congress or even CIA agents examining whether Saddam had such weapons.Blumenthal, S. (September 6, 2007) "Bush knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction" Salon.com

In September 2002, the Bush administration said attempts by Iraq to acquire thousands of high-strength Iraqi aluminum tubes pointed to a clandestine program to make enriched uranium for nuclear bombs. This view was supported by the CIA and DIA but opposed by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and INR which was significant because the DOE was the only department in the United States government that had expertise in gas centrifuges and nuclear weapons programs. An effort by the DOE to change Powell's comments before his UN appearance was rebuffed by the administration. The CIA's Aluminum Tubes' Assessment: Institute for Science and International Security March 10, 2003 Spinning The Tubes Four Corners (TV series) Australian Broadcasting Corporation air date October 27, 2003 Iraq was not permitted to import high-strength centrifuge tubes under the U.N. monitoring plan. Indeed, Colin Powell, in his address to the U.N. Security Council just prior to the war, made reference to the aluminum tubes. But 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. Powell later admitted he had presented an inaccurate case to the United Nations on Iraqi weapons, and the intelligence he was relying on was, in some cases, "deliberately misleading." "Evidence on Iraq Challenged," Joby Warrick, The Washington Post, Sept. 19, 2002 Colin Powell’s speech to the UN, Feb 5, 2003 Meet the Press, NBC, May 16, 2004

Between September, 2002 and June, 2003, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz created a Pentagon unit known as the Office of Special Plans (OSP), headed by Douglas Feith. It was created to supply senior Bush administration officials with raw intelligence pertaining to Iraq, unvetted by intelligence analysts, and circumventing traditional intelligence gathering operations by the CIA. One former CIA officer described the OSP as dangerous for U.S. national security and a threat to world peace, and that it lied and manipulated intelligence to further its agenda of removing Saddam Hussein. He described it as a group of ideologues with pre-determined notions of truth and reality, taking bits of intelligence to support their agenda and ignoring anything contrary. "Revealed: The Secret Cabal Which Spun for Blair," Sunday Herald, Neil Mackay, June 8, 2003

Authorization for the use of force while giving a presentation to the United Nations Security Council

In October, 2002, a few days before the United States Senate vote on the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, about 75 senators were told in closed session that Saddam Hussein had the means of attacking the East Coast of the United States with biological or chemical weapons delivered by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).Senator Bill Nelson (January 28, 2004) "New Information on Iraq's Possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction", Congressional Record On February 5, 2003, Colin Powell presented further evidence in his Iraqi WMD program presentation to the United Nations Security Council that UAVs were ready to be launched against the U.S. At the time, there was a vigorous dispute within the intelligence community as to whether CIA conclusions about Iraqi UAVs were accurate. The U.S. Air Force agency most familiar with UAVs, the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and the Defense Intelligence Agency denied that Iraq possessed any offensive UAV capability, saying the few they had were designed and intended for surveillance. A majority of the U.S. intelligence committee agreed that the Iraqi UAVs were used only for reconnaissance.Lowe, C. (December 16, 2003) "Senator: White House Warned of UAV Attack," Defense Tech In fact, Iraq's UAV fleet was never deployed and consisted of a handful of outdated 24.5-foot wingspan drones with no room for more than a camera and video recorder, and no offensive capability.Associated Press (August 24, 2003) "Iraqi Drones Not For WMD" CBS News Despite this controversy, the Senate voted to approve the Joint Resolution on 11 October 2002 providing the Bush Administration with Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

In early 2003, the United States, United Kingdom, and Spain 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 for The UN Security Council and the Iraq war. In particular, NATO members France and Germany, together with 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. On January 20, 2003, Minister of Foreign Affairs (France) Dominique de Villepin declared "...we believe that military intervention would be the worst solution".

Opposition to invasion Meanwhile List of anti-war organizations across the world organised public protests. According to the French people academic Dominique Reynié between the 3rd of January and 12th of April 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq War, the demonstrations on February 15 2003 being the largest and most prolific. Anti-war protests do make a difference , Alex Callinicos, Socialist Worker, 19 March 2005.

In March 2003, UN weapons inspector Hans Blix reported in regard to Iraq that, "No evidence of proscribed activities have so far been found," saying that progress was made in inspections which would continue.Blix, H. (March 7, 2003) "Transcript of Blix's U.N. presentation" CNN.com 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 weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. government abruptly advised U.N. weapons inspectors to immediately pull out of Baghdad.

There are also serious Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq surrounding the conduct of the war in Iraq and the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war. On September 16, 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."

2003: Invasion



The 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by General Tommy Franks, began on March 20, under the U.S. codename "Operation Iraqi Freedom", the U.K. codename Operation Telic, and the Australian codename Australian contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Coalition forces also cooperated with Kurdish peshmerga forces in the north. Approximately forty other nations, the "Multinational force in Iraq," participated by providing equipment, services, security, and special forces. The initial coalition military forces were roughly 300,000, of which 98% were U.S. and U.K. troops.During the invasion, the Iraqi Army was quickly overwhelmed with only the Fedayeen Saddam putting up strong resistance before melting away into the civilian population. On April 9 Baghdad fell to United States who seized the deserted Baath Party ministries and pulled down a huge iron statue of Saddam Hussein, symbolically ending his 24-year rule of Iraq. The abrupt fall of Baghdad was also symbolized by massive civil disorder through looting of government buildings and drastically increased crime. On April 13 Tikrit, Saddam's home town and the last town not under coalition control, was taken with little resistance by the Marines of Task Force Tripoli. On April 15 the coalition partners claimed that the war was effectively over.

In the invasion phase of the war (March 20-April 30), 9,200 Iraqi combatants were killed along with 7,299 Iraq Body Count project, primarily by US air and ground forces. http://www.comw.org/pda/0310rm8.html Coalition forces reported the death in combat of 139 U.S. military personnelReuters. "Getting amputees back on their feet".Washington Post. Oct. 25, 2005. and 33 U.K. military personnel. http://www.icasualties.org/oif/SumDetails.aspx?hndRef=1

Coalition Provisional Authority and Iraq Survey Group Shortly after the invasion, 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 (government), legislative, and judicial authority over the Iraqi government from the period of the CPA's inception on April 21, 2003, until its dissolution on June 28, 2004.

The CPA was originally headed by Jay Garner, a former U.S. military officer, but his appointment lasted only until May 11, 2003. After Garner resigned, President Bush appointed L. Paul Bremer as the head the CPA and he served until the CPA's dissolution in July 2004.Another group created in the spring of 2003 was the Iraq Survey Group (ISG; its final report is commonly called the Duelfer Report.). This was a fact-finding mission sent by the multinational force in Iraq after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq to find Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. It consisted of a 1,400-member international team organised by the Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency to hunt for suspected stockpiles of WMD, such as chemical and biological agents, and any supporting research programmes and infrastructure that could be used to develop WMD. In 2004 the Iraq Survey Group stated that Iraq did not have a viable WMD program.

Bush: "end of major combat operations" returning to port carrying its Mission Accomplished banner

On May 1, 2003, President Bush staged a dramatic visit to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) operating a few miles west of San Diego, California on its way home from a long deployment which had included service in the Persian Gulf. 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 Hussein 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". In the initial chaos after the fall of the Iraqi government, there was massive looting of infrastructure, including government buildings, official residences, museums, banks, and military depots. According to The Pentagon, 250,000 tons (of 650,000 tons total) of ordnance was looted, providing a significant source of ammunition for the Iraqi insurgency. The insurgents were further helped by hundreds of weapons caches created prior to the invasion by the conventional Iraqi army and Iraqi Special Republican Guard.

.

Initially, Iraqi resistance (known to the coalition as "Anti-Iraqi Forces") largely stemmed from fedayeen and Saddam/Baath 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 Governorate, Al Anbar Governorate, and Salah ad Din Governorate. Those three provinces account for 35% of the population, but are responsible for 73% of U.S. military deaths (as of December 5, 2006), and an even higher percentage of recent U.S. military deaths (about 80%). Insurgents use guerrilla warfare including; mortars, missiles, suicide attacks, Juba (sniper), improvised explosive devices (IEDs), car bombs, small arms fire (usually with assault rifles), and RPGs (rocket propelled grenades), as well as sabotage against the oil, water, and electrical infrastructure.

post-invasion Iraq, 2003–2007 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 democracy state capable of defending itself, holding itself together as well as overcoming insurgent attacks and 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 "History of Iraqi insurgency#Ramadan Offensive (October-November 2003)", 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 Saddam’s birthplace of al-Auja and the small town of Abu Hishma were wrapped in barbed wire and carefully monitored.

However, the failure to restore basic services to pre-war levels, where over a decade of sanctions, bombing, corruption, and decaying infrastructure had left major cities barely functioning, contributed to local anger at the IPA government headed by an executive council. On July 2 2003, President Bush declared that American troops would remain in Iraq in spite of the attacks, challenging the insurgents with "My answer is, bring 'em on", a widely criticized line which Bush later expressed misgivings about. In the summer of 2003, the multinational forces also focused on Most-wanted Iraqi playing cards of the former regime. On July 22, a raid by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division and soldiers from Task Force 20 killed Saddam Hussein's sons (Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein) along with one of his grandsons. In all, over 300 top leaders of the former regime were killed or captured, as well as numerous lesser functionaries and military personnel.

Saddam Hussein captured

In the wave of intelligence information fueling the raids on remaining Baath Party members connected to insurgency, Saddam Hussein himself was captured on December 13 2003 on a farm near Tikrit in Operation Red Dawn. The operation was conducted by the United States Army's 4th Infantry Division (United States) and members of Task Force 121.

With the capture of Saddam 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 defend 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 Saddam, elements left out of the Coalition Provisional Authority began to agitate for elections and the formation of an Iraqi Interim Government. Most prominent among these was the Shia Islam cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The Coalition Provisional Authority opposed allowing democratic elections at this time, preferring instead to eventually hand-over power to the Interim Iraqi Government.(The Guardian, January 19, 2004, free archived version, last visited November 21, 2006) Due to the internal fight for power in the new Iraqi government more 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: The 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 March 31, 2004, when Iraqi insurgency in Fallujah ambushed a Blackwater USA convoy led by four American 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, beaten, set ablaze, and their burned corpses hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates. Residents hang slain Americans' bodies from bridge - CNN.comPhotos of the event were released to news agency worldwide, causing a great deal of indignation and moral panic 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 warfare since the battle of Hue City in Vietnam." ScanEagle Proves Worth in Fallujah Fight, DefenseLINK News During the assault, U.S. forces used White phosphorus use in Iraq as an incendiary weapon against insurgent personnel, attracting controversy. The 10-day battle resulted in a victory for the coalition, with 54 Americans killed and approximately 1000 insurgents. Unfortunately, Fallujah was totally devastated during the fighting, though civilian casualties were low, as they had mostly been evacuated before the fight.Thomas Ricks (2006) Fiasco: 398-405

The other major event of this year was the revelation of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib which received international media attention in April 2004. First reports of Nature of Abu Ghraib abuse, as well as graphic pictures showing American military personnel in the act of abusing prisoners, came to public attention from a 60 Minutes II news report (April 28) and a Seymour M. Hersh article in the The New Yorker (posted online on April 30).http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact. According to Thomas Ricks' history of the conflict these revelations dealt a body-blow to the moral justifications for the occupation in the eyes of the Iraqis and the international community and were a turning point in the warThomas E. Ricks (2006) Fiasco, The American Military Adventure In Iraq. Penguin.

2005: Elections and sovereignty transferred On January 31, Iraqis Iraqi legislative election, 2005 the Iraqi Transitional Government in order to draft a permanent constitution. Although some violence and widespread Sunni boycott marred the event, most of the eligible Kurd and Shia populace participated. On February 4, 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 an 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 mainly 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 US forces tried to seal off the Syrian border. This led to fighting in the autumn in the small towns of the Euphrates valley between the capital and the that border Thomas Ricks (2006) Fiasco: 413.

A constitutional referendum was held in October and a national assembly was elected in December Thomas Ricks (2006) Fiasco: 413.

Insurgent attacks increased in 2005 with 34,131 recorded incidents, compared to a total 26,496 for the previous year Thomas Ricks (2006) Fiasco: 414.

2006: Permanent Iraqi government and civil war The beginning of 2006 was marked by government creation talks, growing sectarian violence, and continuous anti-coalition attacks. Sectarian violence expanded to a new level of intensity following the al-Askari Mosque bombing (2006) in the Iraqi city of Samarra, on February 22, 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 in Iraq. 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 February 23, and at least 165 people are thought to have been killed. In the aftermath of this attack the US military calculated that the average homicide rate in Baghdad tripled from 11 to 33 deaths per day. The United Nations has since described the environment in Iraq as a "civil war-like situation." A Lancet surveys of casualties of the Iraq War by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has estimated that more than 601,000 Iraqis have died in violence since the U.S. invasion and that fewer than one third of these deaths came at the hands of Coalition forces. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Politics of Iraq estimate that more than 365,000 Iraqis have been displaced since the bombing of the al-Askari Mosque, bringing the total number of Iraqi refugees to more than 1.6 million.

The current government of Iraq took office on May 20, 2006 following approval by the Members of the 1st Iraqi Council of Representatives of the Iraqi National Assembly. This followed the Iraqi legislative election, December 2005. The government succeeded the Iraqi Transitional Government which had continued in office in a Caretaker#Caretaker governments until the new government was agreed.

Increased sectarian violence In September 2006, The Washington Post reported that the commander of the Marine forces in Iraq filed "an unusual secret report" concluding that the prospects for securing the Anbar province are dim, and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there.

Iraq was listed fourth on the 2006 Failed States Index compiled by the American Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace think-tank. The list was topped by Sudan.

As of October 20 the U.S military announced that Operation Together Forward had failed to stem the tide of violence in Baghdad, and Shiite militants under al-Sadr seized several southern Iraq cities.

U.S. congressional elections and expanding violence On November 7, 2006, United States general elections, 2006 removed the Party (United States)| {{Infobox Military Conflict| conflict=Iraq War | image= ] | caption= Clockwise, starting at top left: a joint patrol in [Samarra; the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in [Firdos Square; an [Iraqi Army soldier readies his rifle during an assault; an [IED detonates in South Baghdad. | date= March 20, [ – present | place= [Iraq | casus= War justifications:

|result= Occupation

| combatant1=] Baathist Iraq
Baath Party
[Mahdi Army
 [al-Qaeda in Iraq
[Iraqi insurgency

| combatant2 = {{flagicon|United States--> United States
{{flagicon
{{flagicon|Australia--> [Australia
{{flagicon
Iraqi Kurdistan
{{flagicon
[Multinational force in Iraq

| commander1 = ] Saddam Hussein{{POW-->{{cite news
Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri
Ishmael Jubouri
 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi{{KIA [Abu Ayyub al-Masri

| commander2 ={{flagicon|United States--> [George W. Bush
{{flagicon
{{flagicon|United States--> [Ricardo Sanchez
{{flagicon
{{flagicon|United States--> [David Petraeus
{{flagicon
{{flagicon|United Kingdom--> [Gordon Brown
{{flagicon
{{flagicon|Iraq--> [Nouri al-Maliki | strength1 = '''Iraqi''' (under Saddam Hussein):
375,000+ regular forces. {{Fact|date=March 2007--> Post-Baathist government, multi-sided conflict:
Iraqi insurgency#Sunni Islamists
Unknown
Mahdi Army
~60,000
al Qaeda/others
1,300+Pincus, Walter. "Violence in Iraq Called Increasingly Complex". Washington Post, November 17, 2006.

]
~300,000 invasion
~177,000 current
Private military company*
~182,000 (118,000 Iraqi, 43,000 Other, 21,000 US) "Private contractors outnumber U.S. troops in Iraq". By T. Christian Miller. Los Angeles Times. July 4, 2007. "Contractor deaths add up in Iraq". By Michelle Roberts. Deseret Morning News. Feb. 24, 2007.
Peshmerga
50,000 invasion
175,000 current
New Iraqi Army
165,000
Iraqi Police
227,000http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/19049.html

] government fell): 7,600 to 10,800 "The Wages of War: Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 2003 Conflict". Project on Defense Alternatives Research Monograph #8. Carl Conetta. October 20, 2003. "New Study Finds: 11,000 to 15,000 Killed in Iraq War; 30% are Non-combatants". Project on Defense Alternatives. Press release October 20, 2003.Insurgents dead (After Saddam Hussein's Baathist government fell): 13,804-20,125 listed on a List of insurgents killed in Iraq.19,429 According to U.S. military (26 September 2007) "19,000 insurgents killed in Iraq since '03". By Jim Michaels. 26 Sept. 2007. USA Today.Detainees (held by Coalition): 23,000 Shanker, Thom. "With Troop Rise, Iraqi Detainees Soar in Number". August 25, 2007. New York Times.Detainees (held by Iraq): 37,000 UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). Human Rights Report. 1 January – 31 March 2007. (p.21)

]. For the latest total of Iraqi police and military killed see page 8 of the most recent Iraq Index PDF file linked there. "More than 12,000 Iraqi police casualties in 2 years". 12,000 wounded and killed. CNN. Oct. 7, 2006. "iCasualties: OIF Iraqi Deaths".

Coalition dead (3,830 US, 171 UK, 132 other): 4,133 iCasualties.org (was lunaville.org). Benicia, California. Patricia Kneisler, et al., "Iraq Coalition Casualties".Many official U.S. tables at "Military Casualty Information". See latest totals for injury, disease/other medical. See also: Latest fatality and wounded-in-action totals.

Coalition missing or captured (US): 4

Coalition Wounded in action: 28,009 US, ~300 UK. "Casualties in Iraq". "Defence Internet Fact Sheets Operations in Iraq: British Casualties". UK Ministry of Defense. Latest combined casualty and fatality tables.

Coalition injured, diseased, or other medical:** 28,645 US, 1,155 UK.

Contractors dead (US 231): 1,003 "In outsourced U.S. wars, contractor deaths top 1,000". By Bernd Debusmann. Reuters. July 3, 2007. 10,569 wounded and 933 deaths in Iraq. 224 are U.S. citizens. "Reconstruction report: 916 death claims for civilian contractors in Iraq". USA Today April 30, 2007. "Iraq Coalition Casualties: Contractor Deaths - A Partial List". icasualties.org

Contractors Foreign hostages in Iraq (US 9): 17

Contractors wounded & injured: 10,569

|casualties3=All Iraqi violent deaths, ORB survey of casualties of the Iraq War. As of August 2007: 1,220,580 (range of 733,158 to 1,446,063). Causes were gunshots (48%), car bombs (20%), aerial bombing (9%), accidents (6%), another blast/ordnance (6%).

***Total deaths (all excess deaths) Lancet surveys of casualties of the Iraq War - As of June 2006: 654,965 (range of 392,979 to 942,636). 601,027 were violent deaths (31% attributed to Coalition, 24% to others, 46% unknown). By Gilbert Burnham, Riyadh Lafta, Shannon Doocy, and Les Roberts. The Lancet, October 11, 2006. By Gilbert Burnham, Shannon Doocy, Elizabeth Dzeng, Riyadh Lafta, and Les Roberts. A supplement to the second Lancet study.

War-related & criminal violence deaths (all Iraqis) Ali al-Shemari. Through early November 2006: 100,000-150,000 "Iraqi death toll estimates go as high as 150,000". Taipei Times, November 11, 2006. "Iraqi health minister estimates as many as 150,000 Iraqis killed by insurgents". International Herald Tribune. Nov. 9, 2006.

War-related & criminal violence deaths (civilians) Iraq Body Count project - English language media only: 69,045-75,495 Iraq Body Count project.

|notes= *Private military company (U.S. government) perform "often highly dangerous duties almost identical to those performed by many U.S. troops."** "injured, diseased, or other medical" - all required medical air transport. UK number includes wounded, too ("aeromed evacuations"). ***Total deaths include all additional deaths due to increased lawlessness, degraded infrastructure, poorer healthcare, etc. For explanations of the wide variation in casualty estimates, see: Casualties of the Iraq War-->

The Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq, the Second Gulf War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, is an ongoing conflicts which began on March 20, 2003 with the United States-led 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The main rationale for the Iraq War offered by President of the United States George W. Bush, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of Spain José María Aznar and their domestic and foreign supporters, was the belief that Iraq Iraq and weapons of mass destruction weapons of mass destruction (WMD). President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat Piecing together the story of the weapons that weren't Diplomats from countries on the U.N. Security Council that opposed the war made statements that supported this belief. Iraq / Address by Dominique de Villepin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the United Nations Security Council. 5 February, 2003. Katie Couric interview with Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger on NBC's Today Show. 26 February, 2003. These weapons, it was argued, posed a threat to the United States, its allies and interests. In the 2003 State of the Union Address, Bush claimed that the U.S. could not wait until the threat from Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein became imminent. FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Fruit of Appeasement, The New York Times 4 August 1990; subscription only After the invasion, however, Iraq Survey Group#Duelfer Report of the WMD or programs the administration claimed existed. Some U.S. officials cited claims of a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. No evidence of any operational or collaborative relationship with al-Qaeda has been found.http://irrationallyinformed.com//pdfcollection/20040729_Kerr_Report.pdf

The war began on March 20, 2003, when a largely Multinational force in Iraq supported by small contingents from Australia, Denmark and Poland invaded Iraq. The invasion soon led to the defeat and flight of Saddam Hussein. The U.S.-led coalition Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–2006 and attempted to establish a new democracy government; however it failed to restore order in Iraq. The unrest led to asymmetric warfare with the Iraqi insurgency, Civil war in Iraq between many Sunni Islam and Shia Islam Iraqis and al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda in Iraq. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, 2 Feb 2007, see "four wars" remark Coalition nations have begun to withdraw troops from Iraq as public opinion favoring troop withdrawal increases and as Iraqi forces begin to take responsibility for security. Britain's Brown visits officials, troops in Iraq. International Herald Tribune, 2 October 2007. Italy plans Iraq troop pull-out BBC March 15, 2005 The causes and consequences of the war remain controversial.

1991–2003: U.N. Inspectors and the no-fly zones Following the 1991 Gulf War, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 mandated that Iraq and weapons of mass destruction be halted and all such weapons destroyed under a United Nations Special Commission control. U.N. weapons inspectors inside Iraq were able to verify the destruction of a large amount of WMD-material, but substantial issues remained unresolved after they left Iraq in 1998 due to the lack of cooperation by the Iraqi government.

In addition to the inspection regimen, the United States and the United Kingdom (along with France until 1998) engaged in a low-level conflict with Iraq by enforcing northern and southern Iraqi no-fly zones. These zones were United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 to Operation Provide Comfort Iraqi Kurdistan in the north and the Operation Southern Watch, and were seen by the Iraqi government as an infringement of Iraq's sovereignty. Iraqi air-defense installations and American and British air patrols regularly exchanged fire during this period.

Approximately nine months after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States initiated Operation Southern Focus as a change to its response strategy, by increasing the overall number of missions and selecting targets throughout the no-fly zones in order to disrupt the military command structure in Iraq. The weight of bombs dropped increased from none in March 2002 and 0.3 in April 2002 to between 8 and 14 tons per month in May-August, reaching a pre-war peak of 54.6 tons in September 2002.

2001–2003: Iraq disarmament crisis and pre-war intelligence

The US government position on invasion of Iraq for the Iraq War was Iraq's Iraq and weapons of mass destruction program and Saddam Hussein's alleged collaboration with the Al-Qaeda terrorist group. However, the intelligence on both these claims has been criticized and largely discredited post-invasion, with the Bush administration accused of falsely portraying the available intelligence.

The issue of Iraq disarmament crisis in 2002-2003, when President of the United States George W. Bush demanded a complete end to alleged Iraq and weapons of mass destruction and full compliance with UN Resolutions requiring UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to suspected weapons production facilities. Previously, the United Nations actions regarding Iraq Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons since the Gulf War and to permit inspections confirming Iraqi compliance. During 2002, Bush repeatedly backed demands for unfettered inspection and disarmament with threats of military force. In accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 Iraq reluctantly agreed to United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission. The results of these inspections were mixed with no discovery of WMDs and American skepticism of Iraqi WMD program declarations.

In the initial stages of the war on terror, the Central Intelligence Agency, under George Tenet, was rising to prominence as the lead agency in the Afghanistan war. But when Tenet insisted in his personal meetings with President Bush that there was no connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, V.P. Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld initiated a secret program to re-examine the evidence and marginalize the CIA and Tenet. The questionable intelligence acquired by this secret program was "Stovepiping" to the Vice President and presented to the public. In some cases, Cheney’s office would leak the intelligence to reporters, where it would be reported by outlets such as The New York Times. Cheney would subsequently appear on the Sunday political television talk shows to discuss the intelligence, referencing The New York Times as the source to give it credence. "Frontline: The Dark Side," PBS, aired June 20, 2006

Alleged weapons of mass destruction

In late February 2002, the CIA sent former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson to investigate Niger uranium forgeries about Iraq's attempted purchase of yellowcake uranium from Niger. Wilson returned and informed the CIA that reports of yellowcake sales to Iraq were "unequivocally wrong." However, the Bush administration continued to mention yellowcake purchases as justification for military action--most prominently in the January, 2003, State of the Union when President Bush repeated the allegation, citing British intelligence sources. "A Question of Trust," Time, July 13, 2003 In response, Wilson wrote a critical The New York Times op-ed in June 2003 explaining that the CIA had investigated these yellowcake claims and believed them to be fraudulent. Shortly after Wilson's op-ed, the identity of Wilson's wife, undercover CIA analyst Valerie Plame, was revealed in a column by Robert Novak. Since it is Intelligence Identities Protection Act Novak's column launched an investigation by the Justice Department into the source of the leak. Lewis Libby, Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff, was convicted of perjury in the Plame affair investigation. The source of the leak was found to be Richard Armitage. He was never charged.{{cite news | first = Michael | last = Isikoff | url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14533384/site/newsweek/ | title = The Man Who Said Too Much | work = Newsweek National News | publisher = MSNBC.com | date = September 4 [ issue | accessdate = 2007-01-27 -->

A British government memo was published in The Sunday Times on May 1, 2005. Known as the "Downing Street memo," it contains an overview of a secret July 23, 2002 meeting among United Kingdom Labour government, defense and intelligence figures, discussing the build-up to the Iraq war—including direct reference to classified U.S. policy of the time. The memo states, "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." "The secret Downing Street memo," The Sunday Times, May 1, 2005

According to journalist Sidney Blumenthal, on September 18, 2002, George Tenet briefed Bush that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. Blumenthal says Bush dismissed this top-secret intelligence from Saddam's inner circle which was approved by two senior CIA officers, but it turned out to be completely accurate. The information was never shared with Congress or even CIA agents examining whether Saddam had such weapons.Blumenthal, S. (September 6, 2007) "Bush knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction" Salon.com

In September 2002, the Bush administration said attempts by Iraq to acquire thousands of high-strength Iraqi aluminum tubes pointed to a clandestine program to make enriched uranium for nuclear bombs. This view was supported by the CIA and DIA but opposed by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and INR which was significant because the DOE was the only department in the United States government that had expertise in gas centrifuges and nuclear weapons programs. An effort by the DOE to change Powell's comments before his UN appearance was rebuffed by the administration. The CIA's Aluminum Tubes' Assessment: Institute for Science and International Security March 10, 2003 Spinning The Tubes Four Corners (TV series) Australian Broadcasting Corporation air date October 27, 2003 Iraq was not permitted to import high-strength centrifuge tubes under the U.N. monitoring plan. Indeed, Colin Powell, in his address to the U.N. Security Council just prior to the war, made reference to the aluminum tubes. But 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. Powell later admitted he had presented an inaccurate case to the United Nations on Iraqi weapons, and the intelligence he was relying on was, in some cases, "deliberately misleading." "Evidence on Iraq Challenged," Joby Warrick, The Washington Post, Sept. 19, 2002 Colin Powell’s speech to the UN, Feb 5, 2003 Meet the Press, NBC, May 16, 2004

Between September, 2002 and June, 2003, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz created a Pentagon unit known as the Office of Special Plans (OSP), headed by Douglas Feith. It was created to supply senior Bush administration officials with raw intelligence pertaining to Iraq, unvetted by intelligence analysts, and circumventing traditional intelligence gathering operations by the CIA. One former CIA officer described the OSP as dangerous for U.S. national security and a threat to world peace, and that it lied and manipulated intelligence to further its agenda of removing Saddam Hussein. He described it as a group of ideologues with pre-determined notions of truth and reality, taking bits of intelligence to support their agenda and ignoring anything contrary. "Revealed: The Secret Cabal Which Spun for Blair," Sunday Herald, Neil Mackay, June 8, 2003

Authorization for the use of force while giving a presentation to the United Nations Security Council

In October, 2002, a few days before the United States Senate vote on the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, about 75 senators were told in closed session that Saddam Hussein had the means of attacking the East Coast of the United States with biological or chemical weapons delivered by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).Senator Bill Nelson (January 28, 2004) "New Information on Iraq's Possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction", Congressional Record On February 5, 2003, Colin Powell presented further evidence in his Iraqi WMD program presentation to the United Nations Security Council that UAVs were ready to be launched against the U.S. At the time, there was a vigorous dispute within the intelligence community as to whether CIA conclusions about Iraqi UAVs were accurate. The U.S. Air Force agency most familiar with UAVs, the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and the Defense Intelligence Agency denied that Iraq possessed any offensive UAV capability, saying the few they had were designed and intended for surveillance. A majority of the U.S. intelligence committee agreed that the Iraqi UAVs were used only for reconnaissance.Lowe, C. (December 16, 2003) "Senator: White House Warned of UAV Attack," Defense Tech In fact, Iraq's UAV fleet was never deployed and consisted of a handful of outdated 24.5-foot wingspan drones with no room for more than a camera and video recorder, and no offensive capability.Associated Press (August 24, 2003) "Iraqi Drones Not For WMD" CBS News Despite this controversy, the Senate voted to approve the Joint Resolution on 11 October 2002 providing the Bush Administration with Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

In early 2003, the United States, United Kingdom, and Spain 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 for The UN Security Council and the Iraq war. In particular, NATO members France and Germany, together with 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. On January 20, 2003, Minister of Foreign Affairs (France) Dominique de Villepin declared "...we believe that military intervention would be the worst solution".

Opposition to invasion Meanwhile List of anti-war organizations across the world organised public protests. According to the French people academic Dominique Reynié between the 3rd of January and 12th of April 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq War, the demonstrations on February 15 2003 being the largest and most prolific. Anti-war protests do make a difference , Alex Callinicos, Socialist Worker, 19 March 2005.

In March 2003, UN weapons inspector Hans Blix reported in regard to Iraq that, "No evidence of proscribed activities have so far been found," saying that progress was made in inspections which would continue.Blix, H. (March 7, 2003) "Transcript of Blix's U.N. presentation" CNN.com 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 weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. government abruptly advised U.N. weapons inspectors to immediately pull out of Baghdad.

There are also serious Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq surrounding the conduct of the war in Iraq and the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war. On September 16, 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."

2003: Invasion



The 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by General Tommy Franks, began on March 20, under the U.S. codename "Operation Iraqi Freedom", the U.K. codename Operation Telic, and the Australian codename Australian contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Coalition forces also cooperated with Kurdish peshmerga forces in the north. Approximately forty other nations, the "Multinational force in Iraq," participated by providing equipment, services, security, and special forces. The initial coalition military forces were roughly 300,000, of which 98% were U.S. and U.K. troops.During the invasion, the Iraqi Army was quickly overwhelmed with only the Fedayeen Saddam putting up strong resistance before melting away into the civilian population. On April 9 Baghdad fell to United States who seized the deserted Baath Party ministries and pulled down a huge iron statue of Saddam Hussein, symbolically ending his 24-year rule of Iraq. The abrupt fall of Baghdad was also symbolized by massive civil disorder through looting of government buildings and drastically increased crime. On April 13 Tikrit, Saddam's home town and the last town not under coalition control, was taken with little resistance by the Marines of Task Force Tripoli. On April 15 the coalition partners claimed that the war was effectively over.

In the invasion phase of the war (March 20-April 30), 9,200 Iraqi combatants were killed along with 7,299 Iraq Body Count project, primarily by US air and ground forces. http://www.comw.org/pda/0310rm8.html Coalition forces reported the death in combat of 139 U.S. military personnelReuters. "Getting amputees back on their feet".Washington Post. Oct. 25, 2005. and 33 U.K. military personnel. http://www.icasualties.org/oif/SumDetails.aspx?hndRef=1

Coalition Provisional Authority and Iraq Survey Group Shortly after the invasion, 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 (government), legislative, and judicial authority over the Iraqi government from the period of the CPA's inception on April 21, 2003, until its dissolution on June 28, 2004.

The CPA was originally headed by Jay Garner, a former U.S. military officer, but his appointment lasted only until May 11, 2003. After Garner resigned, President Bush appointed L. Paul Bremer as the head the CPA and he served until the CPA's dissolution in July 2004.Another group created in the spring of 2003 was the Iraq Survey Group (ISG; its final report is commonly called the Duelfer Report.). This was a fact-finding mission sent by the multinational force in Iraq after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq to find Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. It consisted of a 1,400-member international team organised by the Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency to hunt for suspected stockpiles of WMD, such as chemical and biological agents, and any supporting research programmes and infrastructure that could be used to develop WMD. In 2004 the Iraq Survey Group stated that Iraq did not have a viable WMD program.

Bush: "end of major combat operations" returning to port carrying its Mission Accomplished banner

On May 1, 2003, President Bush staged a dramatic visit to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) operating a few miles west of San Diego, California on its way home from a long deployment which had included service in the Persian Gulf. 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 Hussein 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". In the initial chaos after the fall of the Iraqi government, there was massive looting of infrastructure, including government buildings, official residences, museums, banks, and military depots. According to The Pentagon, 250,000 tons (of 650,000 tons total) of ordnance was looted, providing a significant source of ammunition for the Iraqi insurgency. The insurgents were further helped by hundreds of weapons caches created prior to the invasion by the conventional Iraqi army and Iraqi Special Republican Guard.

.

Initially, Iraqi resistance (known to the coalition as "Anti-Iraqi Forces") largely stemmed from fedayeen and Saddam/Baath 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 Governorate, Al Anbar Governorate, and Salah ad Din Governorate. Those three provinces account for 35% of the population, but are responsible for 73% of U.S. military deaths (as of December 5, 2006), and an even higher percentage of recent U.S. military deaths (about 80%). Insurgents use guerrilla warfare including; mortars, missiles, suicide attacks, Juba (sniper), improvised explosive devices (IEDs), car bombs, small arms fire (usually with assault rifles), and RPGs (rocket propelled grenades), as well as sabotage against the oil, water, and electrical infrastructure.

post-invasion Iraq, 2003–2007 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 democracy state capable of defending itself, holding itself together as well as overcoming insurgent attacks and 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 "History of Iraqi insurgency#Ramadan Offensive (October-November 2003)", 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 Saddam’s birthplace of al-Auja and the small town of Abu Hishma were wrapped in barbed wire and carefully monitored.

However, the failure to restore basic services to pre-war levels, where over a decade of sanctions, bombing, corruption, and decaying infrastructure had left major cities barely functioning, contributed to local anger at the IPA government headed by an executive council. On July 2 2003, President Bush declared that American troops would remain in Iraq in spite of the attacks, challenging the insurgents with "My answer is, bring 'em on", a widely criticized line which Bush later expressed misgivings about. In the summer of 2003, the multinational forces also focused on Most-wanted Iraqi playing cards of the former regime. On July 22, a raid by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division and soldiers from Task Force 20 killed Saddam Hussein's sons (Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein) along with one of his grandsons. In all, over 300 top leaders of the former regime were killed or captured, as well as numerous lesser functionaries and military personnel.

Saddam Hussein captured

In the wave of intelligence information fueling the raids on remaining Baath Party members connected to insurgency, Saddam Hussein himself was captured on December 13 2003 on a farm near Tikrit in Operation Red Dawn. The operation was conducted by the United States Army's 4th Infantry Division (United States) and members of Task Force 121.

With the capture of Saddam 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 defend 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 Saddam, elements left out of the Coalition Provisional Authority began to agitate for elections and the formation of an Iraqi Interim Government. Most prominent among these was the Shia Islam cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The Coalition Provisional Authority opposed allowing democratic elections at this time, preferring instead to eventually hand-over power to the Interim Iraqi Government.(The Guardian, January 19, 2004, free archived version, last visited November 21, 2006) Due to the internal fight for power in the new Iraqi government more 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: The 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 March 31, 2004, when Iraqi insurgency in Fallujah ambushed a Blackwater USA convoy led by four American 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, beaten, set ablaze, and their burned corpses hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates. Residents hang slain Americans' bodies from bridge - CNN.comPhotos of the event were released to news agency worldwide, causing a great deal of indignation and moral panic 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 warfare since the battle of Hue City in Vietnam." ScanEagle Proves Worth in Fallujah Fight, DefenseLINK News During the assault, U.S. forces used White phosphorus use in Iraq as an incendiary weapon against insurgent personnel, attracting controversy. The 10-day battle resulted in a victory for the coalition, with 54 Americans killed and approximately 1000 insurgents. Unfortunately, Fallujah was totally devastated during the fighting, though civilian casualties were low, as they had mostly been evacuated before the fight.Thomas Ricks (2006) Fiasco: 398-405

The other major event of this year was the revelation of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib which received international media attention in April 2004. First reports of Nature of Abu Ghraib abuse, as well as graphic pictures showing American military personnel in the act of abusing prisoners, came to public attention from a 60 Minutes II news report (April 28) and a Seymour M. Hersh article in the The New Yorker (posted online on April 30).http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact. According to Thomas Ricks' history of the conflict these revelations dealt a body-blow to the moral justifications for the occupation in the eyes of the Iraqis and the international community and were a turning point in the warThomas E. Ricks (2006) Fiasco, The American Military Adventure In Iraq. Penguin.

2005: Elections and sovereignty transferred On January 31, Iraqis Iraqi legislative election, 2005 the Iraqi Transitional Government in order to draft a permanent constitution. Although some violence and widespread Sunni boycott marred the event, most of the eligible Kurd and Shia populace participated. On February 4, 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 an 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 mainly 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 US forces tried to seal off the Syrian border. This led to fighting in the autumn in the small towns of the Euphrates valley between the capital and the that border Thomas Ricks (2006) Fiasco: 413.

A constitutional referendum was held in October and a national assembly was elected in December Thomas Ricks (2006) Fiasco: 413.

Insurgent attacks increased in 2005 with 34,131 recorded incidents, compared to a total 26,496 for the previous year Thomas Ricks (2006) Fiasco: 414.

2006: Permanent Iraqi government and civil war The beginning of 2006 was marked by government creation talks, growing sectarian violence, and continuous anti-coalition attacks. Sectarian violence expanded to a new level of intensity following the al-Askari Mosque bombing (2006) in the Iraqi city of Samarra, on February 22, 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 in Iraq. 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 February 23, and at least 165 people are thought to have been killed. In the aftermath of this attack the US military calculated that the average homicide rate in Baghdad tripled from 11 to 33 deaths per day. The United Nations has since described the environment in Iraq as a "civil war-like situation." A Lancet surveys of casualties of the Iraq War by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has estimated that more than 601,000 Iraqis have died in violence since the U.S. invasion and that fewer than one third of these deaths came at the hands of Coalition forces. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Politics of Iraq estimate that more than 365,000 Iraqis have been displaced since the bombing of the al-Askari Mosque, bringing the total number of Iraqi refugees to more than 1.6 million.

The current government of Iraq took office on May 20, 2006 following approval by the Members of the 1st Iraqi Council of Representatives of the Iraqi National Assembly. This followed the Iraqi legislative election, December 2005. The government succeeded the Iraqi Transitional Government which had continued in office in a Caretaker#Caretaker governments until the new government was agreed.

Increased sectarian violence In September 2006, The Washington Post reported that the commander of the Marine forces in Iraq filed "an unusual secret report" concluding that the prospects for securing the Anbar province are dim, and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there.

Iraq was listed fourth on the 2006 Failed States Index compiled by the American Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace think-tank. The list was topped by Sudan.

As of October 20 the U.S military announced that Operation Together Forward had failed to stem the tide of violence in Baghdad, and Shiite militants under al-Sadr seized several southern Iraq cities.

U.S. congressional elections and expanding violence On November 7, 2006, United States general elections, 2006 removed the Party (United States)|

War in Iraq
US military to quit Iraq's cities AMERICAN military forces will be withdrawn from Iraqi cities as soon as 30 June next year, according to a draft agreement on the future status of ...

Cnn War In Iraq

War in Iraq - Special Reports from CNN.com
News, analysis, commentary, interactives, photos, video, audio and web resources. USA.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq two years on: Endgame or unending war?
Two years after the fall of Baghdad, it is an open question as to whether an endgame to the insurgency is under way, says the BBC's Paul Reynolds.

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Conflict with Iraq
Links to BBC News reports on the reconstruction of Iraq after the 2003 war.

Iraq War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Iraq war, also known as the Second Gulf War or the War in Iraq is an ongoing conflict which began on March 20, 2003 with the United States-led invasion of Iraq by a ...

Billy Bragg Forums -> War in Iraq
2 User(s) are browsing this forum (2 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)

War In Iraq - Billy Bragg Forums
Should Get A Life Group: New Members Posts: 1,007 Joined: 27-March 03 Member No.: 25

War in Iraq: Bush announces 8,000 US troops to be out of Iraq by ...
President George Bush today ordered 8,000 more combat and support troops out of Iraq by February, a measured drawdown that will leave nearly the same level of US forces in the war ...

Archive Report: War in Iraq (washingtonpost.com)
The War as It Happened. This report has been archived and is no longer being updated. For current news, bookmark washingtonpost.com's current Iraq index.

 

War In Iraq



 
Copyright © 2008 Hintcenter.com - All rights reserved.
Home | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
All Trademarks belong to their repective owners. Many aspects of this page are used under
commercial commons license from Yahoo!