Iraq War

Iraq War From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search This article is about the war that started in 2003. For the initial invasion, see 2003 invasion of Iraq. For the entire conflict from 2003 to the present, see Iraqi conflict (2003–present). For other wars in Iraq, see Iraq War (disambiguation). Iraq War Part of the Iraqi conflict and 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 29 days) Location Iraq Result Inconclusive Invasion and occupation of Iraq Overthrow of Ba'ath Party government and execution of Saddam Hussein Emergence of significant insurgency, rise of al-Qaeda in Iraq, severe sectarian violence Subsequent reduction in violence and depletion of al-Qaeda in Iraq[8][9] Establishment of parliamentary democracy 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[13][14] Re-escalation of conflict in 2014 ending in 2017 Return of U.S. forces to Iraq in 2014 Low-level insurgency following 2017 Belligerents Invasion phase (2003) United States United Kingdom Australia Poland Peshmerga Supported by: Italy[1] Canada[2] Netherlands[3] Invasion phase (2003) Iraq Post-invasion (2003–11) United States United Kingdom MNF–I (2003–09)[show] New Iraqi government Iraqi Armed Forces Awakening Council Supported by: Iran Iran[4][5] Iraqi Kurdistan Peshmerga Post-invasion (2003–11) Ba'ath loyalists Logo of the Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation.png Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation Ba'athist Iraq Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order Sunni insurgents Al-Qaeda in Iraq (2004–06) Islamic State of Iraq[6] (from 2006) Islamic Army of Iraq (emblem).png Islamic Army of Iraq Ansar al-Sunnah (2003–07) Shia insurgents Mahdi Army Shiism arabic blue.svg Special Groups Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq Others Supported by: Iran Quds Force[7] For fighting between insurgent groups, see Sectarian violence in Iraq (2006–08). 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 John Howard Kevin Rudd Ion Iliescu Traian Băsescu Ilham Aliyev Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Silvio Berlusconi Paul Martin Stephen Harper José María Aznar Anders Fogh Rasmussen Aleksander Kwaśniewski Lech Kaczyński Saddam Hussein (POW) Skull and Crossbones.svg Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri Iraq Qusay Hussein † Iraq Uday Hussein † Iraq Abid Hamid Mahmud (POW) Skull and Crossbones.svg Iraq Ali Hassan al-Majid (POW) Skull and Crossbones.svg Iraq Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti (POW) Skull and Crossbones.svg Iraq Taha Yasin Ramadan (POW) Skull and Crossbones.svg Iraq Tariq Aziz (POW) Iraq Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed 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-Kaabi Qasem Soleimani[15] Strength Invasion forces (2003) 309,000 United States: 192,000[16] United Kingdom: 45,000 Australia: 2,000 Poland: 194 Kurdistan Region Peshmerga: 70,000 Coalition forces (2004–09) 176,000 at peak United States Forces – Iraq (2010–11) 112,000 at activation Security contractors 6,000–7,000 (estimate)[17] Iraqi security forces 805,269 (military and paramilitary: 578,269,[18] police: 227,000) Awakening militias ≈103,000 (2008)[19] Iraqi Kurdistan ≈400,000 (Kurdish Border Guard: 30,000,[20] 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: 70,000–75,000 Fedayeen Saddam SSI.svg Fedayeen Saddam: 30,000 Sunni Insurgents ≈70,000 (2007)[21] Al-Qaeda ≈1,300 (2006)[22] Islamic State of Iraq ≈1,000 (2008) Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order ≈500–1,000 (2007) Casualties and losses Iraqi security forces (post-Saddam) Killed: 17,690[23] Wounded: 40,000+[24] Coalition forces Killed: 4,825 (4,507 U.S.,[25] 179 U.K.,[26] 139 other)[27] Missing/captured (U.S.): 17 (9 died in captivity, 8 rescued)[28] Wounded: 32,776+ (32,292 U.S.,[29] 315 U.K., 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: 25,071 Total wounded: 117,961 Iraqi combatant dead (invasion period): 5,388–10,800[41][42][43] Insurgents (post-Saddam) Killed: 26,544 (2003–11)[44] (4,000 foreign fighters killed by Sep. 2006)[45] Detainees: 12,000 (Iraqi-held, in 2010 only)[46] 119,752 insurgents arrested (2003–2007)[47] Total dead: 31,608–37,344 Estimated deaths: Lancet survey** (March 2003 – July 2006): 654,965 (95% CI: 392,979–942,636)[48][49] Iraq Family Health Survey*** (March 2003 – July 2006): 151,000 (95% CI: 104,000–223,000)[50] Opinion Research Business**: (March 2003 – August 2007): 1,033,000 (95% CI: 946,258–1,120,000)[51] Iraq Family Health Survey*** (March 2003 – July 2006): 151,000 (95% CI: 104,000–223,000)[52] PLOS Medicine Study**: (March 2003 – June 2011): 405,000 (95% CI: 48,000–751,000) Documented deaths from violence: Iraq Body Count (2003 – 14 December 2011): 103,160–113,728 civilian deaths recorded[53] and 12,438 new deaths added from the Iraq War Logs[54] Associated Press (March 2003 – April 2009): 110,600[55] 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. vte Iraq War vte Persian Gulf Wars The Iraq War[nb 1] 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.[56] An estimated 151,000 to 1,033,000 Iraqis were killed in the first three to four years of conflict. US troops were officially withdrawn in 2011. However, following the spread of the Syrian Civil War and the territorial gains of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Obama administration decided to redeploy US forces to Iraq in 2014. Many former soldiers are employed by defence contractors and private military companies.[57][58] 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 as part of the George W. Bush administration's War on Terror, following the September 11 attacks.[59] In October 2002, Congress authorized President Bush to use military force against Iraq should he choose to.[60] The Iraq War began on 20 March 2003,[61] when the U.S., joined by the U.K. and several coalition allies, launched a "shock and awe" bombing campaign. Iraqi forces were quickly overwhelmed as coalition forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Ba'athist government; Saddam Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year and executed three years later. The power vacuum following Saddam's demise and the mismanagement of the Coalition Provisional Authority led to widespread civil war between Shias and Sunnis, as well as a lengthy insurgency against coalition forces. Many of the violent insurgent groups were supported by Iran and al-Qaeda in Iraq. The United States responded with a build-up of 170,000 troops in 2007.[62] This build-up gave greater control to Iraq's government and military, and was judged a success by many.[63] 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.[64] The Bush administration based its rationale for the Iraq War principally on the assertion that Iraq, which had been viewed by the U.S. as a "rogue state" since the 1990–1991 Gulf War, supposedly possessed an active weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program,[65] and that the Iraqi government posed a threat to the United States and its coalition allies.[66][67] Some U.S. officials falsely accused Saddam of harbouring and supporting al-Qaeda,[68] while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship and bring democracy to the people of Iraq.[69][70] In 2004, the 9/11 Commission said there was no evidence of an operational relationship between the Saddam Hussein regime and al-Qaeda.[71] No stockpiles of WMDs or an active WMD program were ever found in Iraq.[72] Bush administration officials made numerous assertions about a purported Saddam-al-Qaeda relationship and WMDs that were based on sketchy evidence, and which intelligence officials rejected.[72][73] The rationale of U.S. pre-war intelligence faced heavy criticism both domestically and internationally.[74] The Chilcot Report, a British inquiry into its decision to go to war, was published in 2016 and concluded military action may have been necessary but was not the last resort at the time and that the consequences of invasion were underestimated.[75] When interrogated by the FBI, Saddam Hussein admitted to having kept up the appearance of possessing weapons of mass destruction in order to appear strong in front of Iran.[76] He also confirmed that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction prior to the U.S. invasion.[77] 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 previously dominant Sunni minority and worsening sectarian tensions. In the summer of 2014, the ISIL launched a military offensive in northern Iraq and declared a worldwide Islamic caliphate, leading to Operation Inherent Resolve, another military response from the United States and its allies. The Iraq War caused at least one hundred thousand civilian deaths, as well as tens of thousands of military deaths (see estimates below). The majority of deaths occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. Subsequently, the 2014–2017 War in Iraq, which is considered a domino effect of the invasion, caused at least 67,000 civilian deaths, in addition to the displacement of five million people within the country.[78][79][80]