Iraq war - wikipedia Iraq war This article is about the war that started in 2003 and ended in 2011. For the initial invasion, see 2003 invasion of Iraq. For the current war in Iraq, see Iraqi Civil War ( 2014 -- present ). For the entire conflict from 2003 to the present, see Iraq conflict ( 2003 -- present ). For previous wars in Iraq, see Iraq War ( disambiguation ). Iraq War Part of the Iraq conflict ( 2003 -- present ) and the War on Terror 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 ( 2003 - 03 - 20 ) -- 18 December 2011 ( 2011 - 12 - 18 ) ( 8 years, 8 months and 28 days ) Location Iraq Result Invasion and occupation of Iraq Overthrow of Ba'ath Party government and execution of Saddam Hussein Iraqi insurgency, emergence of al - Qaeda in Iraq, and Sectarian Violence and another civil war Subsequent reduction in violence and depletion of al - Qaeda in Iraq Establishment of democratic elections and formation of new Shia led government Withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011 Stronger Iranian influence in Iraq 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 Iraqi Civil War ( 2014 -- present ) Return of US forces to Iraq in 2014 Belligerents Invasion phase ( 2003 ) United States United Kingdom Australia Poland Support from : Peshmerga Netherlands Invasion phase ( 2003 ) Ba'athist Iraq Post-invasion ( 2003 -- 11 ) United States United Kingdom MNF -- I ( 2003 -- 09 ) United States ( 2003 -- 09 ) United Kingdom ( 2003 -- 09 ) Australia ( 2003 -- - 09 ) Romania ( 2003 -- 09 ) Azerbaijan ( 2003 -- 08 ) Kuwait ( 2003 -- 08 ) Estonia ( 2003 -- 09 ) El Salvador ( 2003 -- 09 ) Bulgaria ( 2003 -- 08 ) Moldova ( 2003 -- 08 ) Albania ( 2003 -- 08 ) Ukraine ( 2003 -- 08 ) Denmark ( 2003 -- 08 ) Czech Republic ( 2003 -- 08 ) South Korea ( 2003 -- 08 ) Singapore ( 2003 -- 08 ) Bosnia and Herzegovina ( 2003 -- 08 ) Macedonia ( 2003 -- 08 ) Latvia ( 2003 -- 08 ) Poland ( 2003 -- 08 ) Kazakhstan ( 2003 -- 08 ) Mongolia ( 2003 -- 08 ) Georgia ( 2003 -- 08 ) Tonga ( 2004 -- 08 ) Japan ( 2004 -- 08 ) Armenia ( 2005 -- 08 ) Slovakia ( 2003 -- 07 ) Lithuania ( 2003 -- 07 ) Italy ( 2003 -- 06 ) Norway ( 2003 -- 06 ) Hungary ( 2003 -- 05 ) Netherlands ( 2003 -- 05 ) Portugal ( 2003 -- 05 ) New Zealand ( 2003 -- 04 ) Thailand ( 2003 -- 04 ) Philippines ( 2003 -- 04 ) Honduras ( 2003 -- 04 ) Dominican Republic ( 2003 -- 04 ) Spain ( 2003 -- 04 ) Nicaragua ( 2003 -- 04 ) Iceland ( 2003 -- unknown ) New Iraqi government Iraqi Armed Forces Awakening Council supported by : Iran Iraqi Kurdistan Peshmerga Post-invasion ( 2003 -- 11 ) Ba'ath loyalists Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order Sunni insurgents Al - Qaeda in Iraq ( 2004 -- 06 ) Islamic State of Iraq ( from 2006 ) Islamic Army of Iraq Ansar al - Sunnah ( 2003 -- 07 ) Shia insurgents Mahdi Army Special Groups Asa'ib Ahl al - Haq Others supported by : Iran Quds Force For fighting between insurgent groups, see Sectarian violence in Iraq ( 2006 -- 07 ). 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 José María Aznar John Howard Kevin Rudd Walter Natynczyk Anders Fogh Rasmussen Aleksander Kwaśniewski Silvio Berlusconi Ba'ath Party Saddam Hussein ( POW ) Izzat Ibrahim ad - Douri Sunni insurgency Abu Musab al - Zarqawi † Abu Ayyub al - Masri † Abu Omar al - Baghdadi † Abu Bakr al - Baghdadi Ishmael Jubouri Abu Abdullah al - Shafi'i ( POW ) Shia insurgency Muqtada al - Sadr Abu Deraa Qais al - Khazali Akram al - Kabi Qasem Soleimani Strength Invasion forces ( 2003 ) 309,000 United States : 192,000 United Kingdom : 45,000 Australia : 2,000 Poland : 194 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 ) Iraqi security forces 805,269 ( military and paramilitary : 578,269, police : 227,000 ) Awakening militias ≈ 103,000 ( 2008 ) Iraqi Kurdistan ≈ 400,000 ( Kurdish Border Guard : 30,000, Peshmerga 375,000 ) Iraqi Armed Forces : 375,000 ( disbanded in 2003 ) Special Iraqi Republican Guard : 12,000 Iraqi Republican Guard : 70,000 -- 75,000 Fedayeen Saddam : 30,000 Sunni Insurgents ≈ 70,000 ( 2007 ) al - Qaeda ≈ 1,300 ( 2006 ) Islamic State of Iraq ≈ 1,000 ( 2008 ) Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order ≈ 500 -- 1,000 ( 2007 ) Casualties and losses Iraqi Security Forces ( post-Saddam ) Killed : 17,690 Wounded : 40,000 + Coalition forces Killed : 4,815 ( 4,497 U.S., 179 UK, 139 other ) Missing / captured ( U.S. ) : 17 ( 8 rescued, 9 died in captivity ) Wounded : 32,776 + ( 32,249 U.S., 315 UK, 212 + other ) Injured / diseases / other medical * : 51,139 ( 47,541 U.S., 3,598 UK ) Contractors Killed : 1,554 Wounded & injured : 43,880 Awakening Councils Killed : 1,002 + Wounded : 500 + ( 2007 ), 828 ( 2008 ) Total dead : 25,285 ( + 12,000 policemen killed 2003 - 2005 ) `` '' Total wounded : 117,961 Iraqi combatant dead ( invasion period ) : 7,600 -- 10,800 Insurgents ( post-Saddam ) Killed : 26,544 ( 2003 -- 11 ) Detainees : 12,000 ( Iraqi - held ) Total dead : 34,144 -- 37,344 Estimated deaths : Lancet survey * * ( March 2003 -- July 2006 ) : 654,965 ( 95 % CI : 392,979 -- 942,636 ) Iraq Family Health Survey * * * ( March 2003 -- July 2006 ) : 151,000 ( 95 % CI : 104,000 -- 223,000 ) PLOS Medicine Study * * : ( March 2003 -- June 2011 ) : 405,000 ( 95 % CI : 48,000 -- 751,000 ), in addition to 55,000 deaths missed due to emigration. Documented deaths from violence : Iraq Body Count ( 2003 -- 14 December 2011 ) : 103,160 -- 113,728 civilian deaths recorded, and 12,438 new deaths added from the Iraq War Logs Associated Press ( March 2003 -- April 2009 ) : 110,600 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. Iraq War Timeline 2003 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011 Invasion ( 2003 ) Umm Qasr Al Faw 1st Basra Nasiriyah Raid on Karbala Battle of Haditha Dam 1st Najaf Operation Airborne Dragon Northern Delay Viking Hammer Samawah 1st Karbala Al Kut Hillah Green Line Karbala Gap Baghdad Debecka Pass Kani Domlan Ridge Post-invasion insurgency ( 2003 -- 06 ) Al Anbar 1st Ramadan Red Dawn Spring 2004 Al Kut 1st Fallujah Sadr City 1st Ramadi Husaybah Danny Boy 2nd Najaf CIMIC - House Samarra 2nd Fallujah Mosul Lake Tharthar Al Qaim Hit Haditha Steel Curtain Tal Afar 2nd Ramadi Together Forward Diwaniya Sectarian violence ( 2006 - 08 ) 2nd Ramadan Sinbad Amarah Turki Diyala Haifa Street Karbala Raid 3rd Najaf Imposing Law U.K. bases Black Eagle Baghdad belts Baqubah Donkey Island Shurta Nasir Phantom Strike 2nd Karbala Phantom Phoenix Insurgency ( 2008 -- 11 ) 2008 Day of Ashura Ninawa Spring 2008 2nd Basra 2008 Al - Qaeda Offensive Augurs of Prosperity Abu Kamal Camp Ashraf Palm Grove US withdrawal violence Insurgent attacks of the Iraq War ‡ indicates attacks resulting in over 100 deaths § indicates the deadliest attack in the Iraq War This list only includes major attacks. 2003 1st Baghdad 2nd Baghdad Najaf 3rd Baghdad 1st Nasiriyah 1st Karbala ‡ 1st Erbil ‡ Ashoura 1st Basra Mosul ( 2004 ) 4th Baghdad 5th Baghdad Karbala - Najaf 1st Baqubah Kufa FOB Marez 2005 Suwaira bombing ‡ 1st Al Hillah 2nd Erbil ‡ Musayyib 6th Baghdad ‡ 7th Baghdad 1st Balad Khanaqin 2006 ‡ Karbala - Ramadi 1st Samarra 8th Baghdad 9th Baghdad ‡ 10th Baghdad 2007 11th Baghdad 12th Baghdad ‡ 13th Baghdad 14th Baghdad 15th Baghdad 2nd Al Hillah ‡ 1st Tal Afar 16th Baghdad 17th Baghdad 2nd & 3rd Karbala Mosul ( 2007 ) ‡ 18th Baghdad Makhmour Abu Sayda 2nd Samarra 19th Baghdad ‡ Amirli 1st Kirkuk 20th Baghdad 21st Baghdad § Qahtaniya Amarah 2008 22nd Baghdad 2nd Balad 23rd Baghdad 4th Karbala 24th Baghdad Karmah 2nd Baqubah Dujail Balad Ruz 2009 25th Baghdad 26th Baghdad Baghdad - Muqdadiyah Taza 27th Baghdad 2nd Kirkuk 2nd Tal Afar ‡ 28th Baghdad ‡ 29th Baghdad ‡ 30th Baghdad 31st Baghdad 32nd Baghdad 3rd Baqubah 33rd Baghdad 34th Baghdad 35th Baghdad ‡ 1st Pan-Iraq 36th Baghdad 37th Baghdad 2nd Pan-Iraq 38th Baghdad 39th Baghdad ‡ 40th Baghdad 2011 41st Baghdad ‡ 3rd Pan-Iraq Karbala - Baghdad 42nd Baghdad Tikrit 3rd Al Hillah 3rd Samarra Al Diwaniyah Taji 4th Pan-Iraq 43rd Baghdad 4th Karbala 44th Baghdad 2nd Basra 45th Baghdad Persian Gulf Wars Iranian Revolution ( 1978 -- 79 ) Iran -- Iraq War ( 1980 -- 88 ) Invasion of Kuwait ( 1990 ) Gulf War ( 1990 -- 91 ) Iraqi Kurdish / Shi'a uprisings ( 1991 ) Iraq no - fly zones conflict ( 1991 -- 2003 ) Iraq missile strikes ( 1993 ) Iraq missile strikes ( 1996 ) Iraq bombing ( 1998 ) 1999 Shia uprising in Iraq Iraq conflict ( 2003 -- present ) Iraq War ( 2003 -- 11 ) Iraqi insurgency ( 2011 -- 13 ) Iraqi Civil War ( 2014 -- present ) Part of a series on Ba'athism Organisations Arab Ba'ath 1940 -- 1947 Arab Ba'ath Movement 1940 -- 1947 Ba'ath Party 1947 -- 1966 Ba'ath Party ( pro-Iraqi ) 1968 -- 2003 Ba'ath Party ( pro-Syrian ) 1966 -- present People Zaki al - Arsuzi Michel Aflaq Salah al - Din al - Bitar Abdullah Rimawi Wahib al - Ghanim Fuad al - Rikabi Salah Jadid Hafez al - Assad Ahmed Hassan al - Bakr Saddam Hussein Bashar al - Assad Izzat Ibrahim al - Douri Literature On the Way of Resurrection The Battle for One Destiny The Genius of Arabic in Its Tongue History Ba'athist Iraq Ramadan Revolution November 1963 coup d'état 17 July Revolution Iran -- Iraq War Gulf War UN sanctions Iraq War De-Ba'athification Ba'athist Syria Syrian Committee to Help Iraq 1963 / 1966 coup d'états Corrective Revolution Civil War Regional organisations Algeria pro-Iraq pro-Syria Bahrain pro-Iraq pro-Syria Egypt pro-Iraq pro-Syria Iraq pro-Iraq pro-Syria Jordan pro-Iraq pro-Syria Kuwait pro-Iraq Lebanon pro-Iraq pro-Syria Libya pro-Iraq Mauritania pro-Iraq pro-Syria Palestine pro-Iraq pro-Syria Sudan pro-Iraq pro-Syria Syria pro-Iraq pro-Syria Tunisia pro-Iraq pro-Syria Yemen pro-Iraq pro-Syria Splinter groups Arab Socialist Revolutionary Ba'ath Party 1960 -- 1962 / 63 Socialist Lebanon 1965 -- 1970 Arab Revolutionary Workers Party 1966 -- present Democratic Socialist Arab Ba'ath Party 1970 -- present Sudanese Ba'ath Party 2002 -- present Related topics Arab nationalism Arab socialism Nasserism Pan-Arabism Strasserism Politics portal Socialism portal The Iraq War, also known as the Second Gulf War, was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States - led coalition that overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3 -- 4 years of conflict. The U.S. became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition ; the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The invasion occurred under the pretext of a declared war against international terrorism and its sponsors under the administration of US President George W. Bush following the September 11 terror attacks. The invasion began on 20 March 2003, with the U.S., joined by the United Kingdom and several coalition allies, launching a `` shock and awe '' bombing campaign. Iraqi forces were quickly overwhelmed as U.S. forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Ba'athist government ; Saddam was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year and executed by a military court three years later. However, the power vacuum following Saddam 's demise and the mismanagement of the occupation led to widespread sectarian violence between Shias and Sunnis, as well as a lengthy insurgency against U.S. and coalition forces. Many violent insurgent groups were supported by Iran and al - Qaeda in Iraq. The United States responded with a troop surge in 2007. The winding down of U.S. involvement in Iraq accelerated under President Barack Obama. The U.S. formally withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by December 2011. The Bush administration based its rationale for the war principally on the assertion that Iraq, which had been viewed by the US as a rogue state since the Persian Gulf War, possessed weapons of mass destruction ( WMDs ) and that the Iraqi government posed an immediate threat to the United States and its coalition allies. Select U.S. officials accused Saddam of harbouring and supporting al - Qaeda, while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship and bring democracy to the people of Iraq. After the invasion, no substantial evidence was found to verify the initial claims about WMDs, while claims of Iraqi officials collaborating with al - Qaeda were proven false. The rationale and misrepresentation of US prewar intelligence faced heavy criticism both domestically and internationally, with President Bush declining from his record - high approval ratings following 9 / 11 to become one of the most unpopular presidents in US history. In the aftermath of the invasion, Iraq held multi-party elections in 2005. Nouri al - Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006 and remained in office until 2014. The al - Maliki government enacted policies that were widely seen as having the effect of alienating the country 's Sunni minority and worsening sectarian tensions. In the summer of 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL ) launched a military offensive in Northern Iraq and declared a worldwide Islamic caliphate, eliciting another military response from the United States and its allies. The Iraq War caused hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties and thousands of military casualties ( see estimates below ). The majority of casualties occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. Contents 1 Background 1.1 Western arming of Iraq 1.2 Iraq disarmament and pre-war intelligence 1.2. 1 U.N. weapons inspections resume 1.3 Weapons of mass destruction 1.3. 1 Yellowcake uranium 1.3. 2 Poison gas 1.3. 3 Biological weapons 1.3. 4 Post-invasion views on WMD 1.4 Preparations 1.5 Opposition to invasion 2 2003 : Invasion 3 2003 -- 11 : Post-invasion phase 3.1 2003 : Beginnings of insurgency 3.1. 1 Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraq Survey Group 3.1. 2 Capturing former government leaders 3.2 2004 : Insurgency expands 3.3 2005 : Elections and transitional government 3.4 2006 : Civil war and permanent Iraqi government 3.4. 1 Iraq Study Group report and Saddam 's execution 3.5 2007 : U.S. troops surge 3.5. 1 Planned troop reduction 3.5. 2 Effects of the surge on security 3.5. 3 Political developments 3.5. 4 Tensions with Iran 3.5. 5 Tensions with Turkey 3.5. 6 Blackwater private security controversy 3.6 2008 : Civil war continues 3.6. 1 Spring offensives on Shiite militias 3.6. 2 Congressional testimony 3.6. 3 Iraqi security forces rearm 3.6. 4 Status of forces agreement 3.7 2009 : Coalition redeployment 3.7. 1 Transfer of Green Zone 3.7. 2 Provincial elections 3.7. 3 Exit strategy announcement 3.7. 4 Sixth anniversary protests 3.7. 5 Coalition forces withdraw 3.7. 6 Iraq awards oil contracts 3.8 2010 : U.S. drawdown and Operation New Dawn 3.8. 1 Iraqi security forces transition towards self - reliance 3.8. 2 UN lifts restrictions on Iraq 3.9 2011 : U.S. withdrawal 4 Aftermath -- post U.S. withdrawal 5 Casualty estimates 6 Criticism and cost 6.1 Financial cost 7 Humanitarian crises 8 Human rights abuses 8.1 Iraqi government 8.2 Coalition forces and private contractors 8.3 Insurgent groups 9 Public opinion on the war 9.1 International opinion 9.2 Iraqi opinion 10 Relation to the Global War on Terrorism 11 Foreign involvement 11.1 Role of Saudi Arabia and non-Iraqis 11.2 Role of China and Russia 11.3 Iranian involvement 12 See also 13 Footnotes 14 References 15 Further reading 16 External links Background Western arming of Iraq See also : Iraq and weapons of mass destruction On Sept 11 1990 Frontline report on `` The arming of Iraq '' said, `` Officially, most Western nations participated in a total arms embargo against Iraq during the 1980s, but... Western companies, primarily in Germany and Great Britain, but also in the United States, sold Iraq the key technology for its chemical, missile, and nuclear programs... ( M ) any Western governments seemed remarkably indifferent, if not enthusiastic, about those deals... ( I ) n Washington, the government consistently followed a policy which allowed and perhaps encouraged the extraordinary growth of Saddam Hussein 's arsenal and his power. '' The Western arming of Iraq took place in the context of the Iran - Iraq War, which had seen NATO lose a valuable ally in Iran after the Iranian Revolution. Iraq disarmament and prewar intelligence See also : Lead up to the Iraq War, Rationale for the Iraq War, Governments ' pre-war positions on invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein and al - Qaeda, and Stovepiping Main articles : Iraq disarmament timeline 1990 -- 2003 and 2002 in Iraq Prior to September 2002, the CIA was the George W. Bush administration 's main provider of intelligence on Iraq. In September, a Pentagon unit called the Office of Special Plans ( OSP ) was created by Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, and headed by Feith, as charged by then - United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to supply senior Bush administration officials with raw intelligence pertaining to Iraq. Seymour Hersh writes that, according to a Pentagon adviser, `` ( OSP ) was created in order to find evidence of what Wolfowitz and his boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, wanted to be true -- that Saddam Hussein had close ties to Al Qaeda, and that Iraq had an enormous arsenal of chemical, biological, and possibly even nuclear weapons ( WMD ) that threatened the region and, potentially, the United States. (... ) ' The agency ( CIA ) was out to disprove linkage between Iraq and terrorism ' the Pentagon adviser told me. '' UN weapons inspections resume The issue of Iraq 's disarmament reached a turning point in 2002 -- 2003, when US president George W. Bush demanded a complete end to alleged Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction and full compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolutions requiring U.N. weapons inspectors unfettered access to suspected weapons production facilities. The U.N. had prohibited Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons after the Gulf War and required Iraq to permit inspections confirming compliance. During inspections in 1999, U.S. intelligence agents on the teams supplied the United States government with a direct feed of conversations between Iraqi security agencies as well as other information. This was confirmed by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. During 2002, Bush repeatedly warned of military action against Iraq unless inspections were allowed to progress unfettered. In accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, Iraq agreed to new inspections under United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission ( UNMOVIC ) in 2002. With the cooperation of the Iraqis, a third weapons inspection team in 2003 led by David Kelly viewed and photographed two alleged mobile weapons laboratories, which were actually facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill artillery balloons. As part of its weapons inspection obligations, Iraq was required to supply a full declaration of its current weapons capabilities and manufacturing. On 3 November 2002, Iraq supplied an 11,800 - page report to the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ), stating that it had no WMDs. The IAEA and UNMOVIC, the two organizations charged with inspecting Iraq 's weapons, reported that the declaration was incomplete. Weapons of mass destruction Yellowcake uranium A UN weapons inspector examines an Iraqi factory in 2002. In 1990, before the Persian Gulf War, Iraq had stockpiled 550 short tons ( 500 t ) of yellowcake uranium at the Tuwaitha nuclear complex about 20 kilometres ( 12 mi ) south of Baghdad. In late February 2002, the CIA sent former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson to investigate reports ( later found to be forgeries ) that Iraq was attempting to purchase additional yellowcake from Niger. Wilson returned and informed the CIA that reports of yellowcake sales to Iraq were `` unequivocally wrong. '' The Bush administration, however, continued to allege Iraq 's attempts to obtain additional yellowcake were a justification for military action, most prominently in the January 2003, State of the Union address, in which President Bush declared that Iraq had sought uranium, citing British intelligence sources. In response, Wilson wrote a critical New York Times op - ed piece in June 2003 stating that he had personally investigated claims of yellowcake purchases and believed them to be fraudulent. After Wilson 's op - ed, Wilson 's wife Valerie Plame was publicly identified as an undercover CIA analyst by the columnist Robert Novak. This led to a Justice Department investigation into the source of the leak. The federal investigation led to the conviction of Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney 's chief of staff, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. On 1 May 2005, the `` Downing Street memo '' was published in The Sunday Times. It contained an overview of a secret 23 July 2002 meeting among British government, Ministry of Defence, and British intelligence figures who discussed the build - up to the Iraq war -- including direct references to classified U.S. policy of the time. The memo stated that `` Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy ''. In September 2002, the Bush administration, the CIA and the DIA ( Defense Intelligence Agency ) said attempts by Iraq to acquire high - strength aluminum tubes were prohibited under the UN monitoring program and pointed to a clandestine effort to make centrifuges to enrich uranium for nuclear bombs. This analysis was opposed by the United States Department of Energy ( DOE ) and INR, which was significant because of DOE 's expertise in such gas centrifuges and nuclear weapons programs. The DOE and INR argued that the Iraqi tubes were poorly suited for centrifuges and that while it was technically possible with additional modification, conventional military uses were more plausible. A report released by the Institute for Science and International Security in 2002 reported that it was highly unlikely that the tubes could be used to enrich uranium. An effort by the DOE to correct this detail in comments prepared for United States Secretary of State Colin Powell 's UN appearance was rebuffed by the administration and Powell, in his address to the UN Security Council just before the war, referenced the aluminum tubes, stating that while experts disagreed on whether or not the tubes were destined for a centrifuge program, the specifications of the tubes were unusually tight. Powell later admitted he had presented what turned out to be an inaccurate case to the UN on Iraqi weapons, and the intelligence he was relying on was, in some cases, `` deliberately misleading. '' After the 2008 U.S. presidential election, and the election of Democratic party nominee Barack Obama, President Bush stated that `` ( my ) biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq ''. Poison gas The CIA had contacted Iraq 's foreign minister, Naji Sabri, who was being paid by the French as an agent. Sabri informed them that Saddam had hidden poison gas among Sunni tribesmen, had ambitions for a nuclear program but that it was not active, and that no biological weapons were being produced or stockpiled, although research was underway. According to Sidney Blumenthal, George Tenet briefed Bush on 18 September 2002, that Sabri had informed them that Iraq did not have WMD. On 21 June 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released key points from a classified report from the National Ground Intelligence Center on the recovery of degraded chemical munitions in Iraq. The report stated, `` Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain potentially lethal mustard and pure sarin nerve agent. '' However, all are thought to be pre-1991 Gulf War munitions. According to the commander of the National Ground Intelligence Center `` These are chemical weapons as defined under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and yes... they do constitute weapons of mass destruction, ''. In 2006, 2,400 nerve - agent rockets were found in a single compound. In October 2014, the New York Times reported that U.S. servicemen had been exposed and injured during the disposal and destruction of abandoned 4,990 chemical weapons that had been discovered in Iraq. CBS News reported that the U.S. government had concealed the fact that troops had been injured by chemical weapons. US soldiers reporting exposure to mustard gas and sarin allege they were required to keep their exposure secret, sometimes declined admission to hospital and evacuation home despite the request of their commanders. `` We were absolutely told not to talk about it '' by a colonel, the former sergeant said. In November 2014, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons reported the recovery and destruction of 4,530 aging chemical weapons by American forces. In February 2015, The New York Times revealed that following the recovery of 17 Borak in 2004 and early 2005, the United States began acquiring and destroying Borak rockets. The `` extraordinary arms purchase plan '', known as Operation Avarice, continued into 2006 and led to the destroying of more than 400 Borak rockets filled with sarin. The sarin was of a higher purity level than that produced in Iraq in the 1980s. Biological weapons Based on reports obtained by the German intelligence service from an Iraqi defector codenamed `` Curveball '', Colin Powell presented evidence to the United Nations security council that Iraq had an active biological weapons programs. On 15 February 2011, the defector -- a scientist identified as Rafid Ahmed Alwan al - Janabi -- admitted to journalists working for The Guardian newspaper that he lied to the Bundesnachrichtendienst in order to strengthen the case against Saddam Hussein, whom he wished to see removed from power. Post-invasion Views on WMD Further information : WMD conjecture in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq In December 2009, the former British prime minister, Tony Blair, stated that he `` would still have thought it right to remove ( Saddam Hussein ) '' regardless of whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction or not. Preparations President George Bush, surrounded by leaders of the House and Senate, announces the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, 2 October 2002. Excerpt from Donald Rumsfeld memo dated 27 November 2001 In the days immediately following 9 / 11, the Bush Administration national security team actively debated an invasion of Iraq. A memo written by Sec. Rumsfeld dated 27 November 2001 considers a U.S. -- Iraq war. One section of the memo questions `` How start ? '', listing multiple possible justifications for a U.S. -- Iraq War. During 2002, the amount of ordnance used by British and American aircraft patrolling the no - fly zones of Iraq increased compared to the previous years and by August had `` become a full air offensive ''. Tommy Franks, the allied commander, later stated that the bombing was designed to `` degrade '' the Iraqi air defense system before an invasion. In October 2002, a few days before the United States Senate voted on the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, about 75 senators were told in closed session that Iraq had the means of attacking the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. with biological or chemical weapons delivered by unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAVs. ) On 5 February 2003, Colin Powell presented further evidence in his Iraqi WMD program presentation to the UN Security Council that UAVs were ready to be launched against the United States. At the time, there was a vigorous dispute within the U.S. military and intelligence communities over the accuracy of the CIA 's conclusions about Iraqi UAVs. Other intelligence agencies suggested that Iraq did not possess any offensive UAV capability, saying the few they had been designed for surveillance and intended for reconnaissance. The Senate voted to approve the Joint Resolution with the support of large bipartisan majorities on 11 October 2002, providing the Bush administration with a legal basis for the U.S. invasion under U.S. law. The resolution granted the authorization by the Constitution of the United States and the United States Congress for the President to command the military to fight anti-United States violence. Citing the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, the resolution reiterated that it should be the policy of the United States to remove the Saddam regime and promote a democratic replacement. The authorization was signed by President George W. Bush on 16 October 2002. Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix remarked in January 2003 that `` Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance -- not even today -- of the disarmament, which was demanded of it and which it needs to carry out to win the confidence of the world and to live in peace. '' Among other things he noted that 1,000 short tons ( 910 t ) of chemical agent were unaccounted for, information on Iraq 's VX nerve agent program was missing, and that `` no convincing evidence '' was presented for the destruction of 8,500 litres ( 1,900 imp gal ; 2,200 US gal ) of anthrax that had been declared. United States Secretary of State Colin Powell holding a model vial of anthrax while giving a presentation to the United Nations Security Council In the 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush said `` we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs ''. On 5 February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared before the UN to present evidence that Iraq was hiding unconventional weapons. The French government also believed that Saddam had stockpiles of anthrax and botulism toxin, and the ability to produce VX. In March, Blix said progress had been made in inspections, and no evidence of WMD had been found. Iraqi scientist Rafid Ahmed Alwan al - Janabi, codenamed `` Curveball '', admitted in February 2011 that he had lied to the CIA about biological weapons in order to get the U.S. to attack and remove Saddam from power. From the left : French President Jacques Chirac, U.S. President George W. Bush, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Chirac was against the invasion, the other three leaders were in favor. In early 2003, the U.S., British, and Spanish governments proposed the so - called `` eighteenth resolution '' to give Iraq a deadline for compliance with previous resolutions enforced by the threat of military action. This proposed resolution was subsequently withdrawn due to lack of support on the UN Security Council. In particular, North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) members France, Germany and Canada and non-NATO member Russia were opposed to military intervention in Iraq, due to the high level of risk to the international community 's security, and defended disarmament through diplomacy. A meeting between George W. Bush and Tony Blair took place on 31 January 2003, in the White House. A secret memo of this meeting purportedly showed that the Bush administration had already decided on the invasion of Iraq at that point. Bush was allegedly floating the idea of painting a U ‐ 2 spyplane in UN colors and letting it fly low over Iraq to provoke Iraqi forces into shooting it down, thereby providing a pretext for the United States and Britain to invade. Bush and Blair made a secret deal to carry out the invasion regardless of whether WMD were discovered by UN weapons inspectors, in direct contradiction with statements Blair made to the British House of Commons afterwards that the Iraqi regime would be given a final chance to disarm. In the memo, Bush is paraphrased as saying, `` The start date for the military campaign was now pencilled in for 10 March. This was when the bombing would begin. '' Bush said to Blair that he `` thought it unlikely that there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups '' in Iraq after the war. Opposition to invasion Further information : criticism of the Iraq War, legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, legality of the Iraq War, and Protests against the Iraq War In October 2002, former U.S. President Bill Clinton warned about possible dangers of pre-emptive military action against Iraq. Speaking in the UK on a Labour Party conference he said : `` As a preemptive action today, however well - justified, may come back with unwelcome consequences in the future... I do n't care how precise your bombs and your weapons are, when you set them off, innocent people will die. '' Hillary Clinton while serving as senator voted in favor for military action, though she now says it was a mistake. The majority of Democrats in Congress voted against the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, although a majority of Democrats in the Senate voted in favor of it. Sen. Jim Webb wrote shortly before the vote `` Those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade. '' In the same period, Pope John Paul II publicly condemned the military intervention. During a private meeting, he also said directly to George W. Bush : `` Mr President, you know my opinion about Iraq War. Lets talk about something else. Every violence, against one or a million, is a blasphemy addressed to the image and likeness of God. '' Anti-War protest in London, September 2002. Organised by the British Stop the War Coalition, up to 400,000 took part in the protest. On 20 January 2003, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin declared `` we believe that military intervention would be the worst solution ''. Meanwhile, anti-war groups across the world organised public protests. According to French academic Dominique Reynié, between 3 January and 12 April 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against war in Iraq, with demonstrations on 15 February 2003, being the largest and most prolific. Nelson Mandela voiced his opposition in late January, stating `` All that ( Mr. Bush ) wants is Iraqi oil, '' and questioning if Bush deliberately undermined the U.N. `` because the secretary - general of the United Nations ( was ) a black man ''. In February 2003, the U.S. Army 's top general, Eric Shinseki, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that it would take `` several hundred thousand soldiers '' to secure Iraq. Two days later, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the post-war troop commitment would be less than the number of troops required to win the war, and that `` the idea that it would take several hundred thousand U.S. forces is far from the mark. '' Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Shinseki 's estimate was `` way off the mark, '' because other countries would take part in an occupying force. In March 2003, Hans Blix reported that `` no evidence of proscribed activities have so far been found '' in Iraq, saying that progress was made in inspections, which would continue. He estimated the time remaining for disarmament being verified through inspections to be `` months ''. But the U.S. government announced that `` diplomacy has failed '', and that it would proceed with a coalition of allied countries -- named the `` coalition of the willing '' -- to rid Iraq of its alleged WMD. The U.S. government abruptly advised UN weapons inspectors to leave Baghdad immediately. Germany 's Foreign Secretary Fischer, although having been in favour of stationing German troops in Afghanistan, advised Federal Chancellor Schröder not to join the war in Iraq. Fischer famously confronted United States Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the 39th Munich Security Conference in 2003 on the secretary 's purported evidence for Iraq 's possession of weapons of mass destruction : `` Excuse me, I am not convinced ! '' There were serious legal questions surrounding the launching of the war against Iraq and the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war in general. On 16 September 2004, Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, said of the invasion, `` I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN Charter. From our point of view, from the Charter point of view, it was illegal. '' In November 2008 Lord Bingham, the former British Law Lord, described the war as a serious violation of international law, and accused Britain and the United States of acting like a `` world vigilante ''. He also criticized the post-invasion record of Britain as `` an occupying power in Iraq ''. Regarding the treatment of Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib, Bingham said : `` Particularly disturbing to proponents of the rule of law is the cynical lack of concern for international legality among some top officials in the Bush administration. '' In July 2010, Deputy Prime Minister of the UK Nick Clegg, in an official PMQs session in Parliament, condemned the invasion of Iraq as illegal. Theorist Francis Fukuyama has argued that `` the Iraq war and the close association it created between military invasion and democracy promotion tarnished the latter ''. 2003 : invasion Main articles : 2003 invasion of Iraq, 2003 in Iraq, 2003 Iraq war timeline, and List of people associated with the 2003 invasion of Iraq See also : Coalition military operations of the Iraq War and Iraq War order of battle Destroyed remains of Iraqi tanks near Al Qadisiyah US Marines escort captured enemy prisoners to a holding area in the desert of Iraq on 21 March 2003. U.S. soldiers at the Hands of Victory monument in Baghdad The first Central Intelligence Agency team entered Iraq on 10 July 2002. This team was composed of members of the CIA 's Special Activities Division and was later joined by members of the U.S. military 's elite Joint Special Operations Command ( JSOC ). Together, they prepared for the invasion of conventional forces. These efforts consisted of persuading the commanders of several Iraqi military divisions to surrender rather than oppose the invasion, and to identify all the initial leadership targets during very high risk reconnaissance missions. Most importantly, their efforts organized the Kurdish Peshmerga to become the northern front of the invasion. Together this force defeated Ansar al - Islam in Iraqi Kurdistan before the invasion and then defeated the Iraqi army in the north. The battle against Ansar al - Islam led to the death of a substantial number of militants and the uncovering of a chemical weapons facility at Sargat. At 5 : 34 a.m. Baghdad time on 20 March 2003 ( 9 : 34 p.m., 19 March EST ) the surprise military invasion of Iraq began. There was no declaration of war. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by U.S. Army General Tommy Franks, under the code - name `` Operation Iraqi Freedom '', the UK code - name Operation Telic, and the Australian code - name Operation Falconer. Coalition forces also cooperated with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the north. Approximately forty other governments, the `` Coalition of the Willing, '' participated by providing troops, equipment, services, security, and special forces, with 248,000 soldiers from the United States, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers and 194 Polish soldiers from Special Forces unit GROM sent to Kuwait for the invasion. The invasion force was also supported by Iraqi Kurdish militia troops, estimated to number upwards of 70,000. Iraqi tank on Highway 27 destroyed in April 2003 According to General Tommy Franks, there were eight objectives of the invasion, `` First, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein. Second, to identify, isolate, and eliminate Iraq 's weapons of mass destruction. Third, to search for, to capture, and to drive out terrorists from that country. Fourth, to collect such intelligence as we can relate to terrorist networks. Fifth, to collect such intelligence as we can relate to the global network of illicit weapons of mass destruction. Sixth, to end sanctions and to immediately deliver humanitarian support to the displaced and to many needy Iraqi citizens. Seventh, to secure Iraq 's oil fields and resources, which belong to the Iraqi people. And last, to help the Iraqi people create conditions for a transition to a representative self - government. '' Map of the invasion routes and major operations / battles of the Iraq War as of 2007 The invasion was a quick and decisive operation encountering major resistance, though not what the U.S., British and other forces expected. The Iraqi regime had prepared to fight both a conventional and irregular war at the same time, conceding territory when faced with superior conventional forces, largely armored, but launching smaller scale attacks in the rear using fighters dressed in civilian and paramilitary clothes. Since the initiation of the war in Iraq, numerous programs were created to `` enhance psychological resilience and prevent psychological morbidity in troops. '' Coalition troops launched air and amphibious assault on the Al - Faw peninsula to secure the oil fields there and the important ports, supported by warships of the Royal Navy, Polish Navy, and Royal Australian Navy. The United States Marine Corps ' 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, attached to 3 Commando Brigade and the Polish Special Forces unit GROM attacked the port of Umm Qasr, while the British Army 's 16 Air Assault Brigade secured the oil fields in southern Iraq. U.S. Marines from 1st Battalion 7th Marines enter a palace during the Fall of Baghdad. The heavy armor of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division moved westward and then northward through the western desert toward Baghdad, while the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force moved more easterly along Highway 1 through the center of the country, and 1 ( UK ) Armoured Division moved northward through the eastern marshland. The U.S. 1st Marine Division fought through Nasiriyah in a battle to seize the major road junction and nearby Talil Airfield. The United States Army 3rd Infantry Division defeated Iraqi forces entrenched in and around the airfield. With the Nasiriyah and Talil Airfields secured in its rear, the 3rd Infantry Division supported by 101st Airborne Division continued its attack north toward Najaf and Karbala, but a severe sand storm slowed the coalition advance and there was a halt to consolidate and make sure the supply lines were secure. When they started again they secured the Karbala Gap, a key approach to Baghdad, then secured the bridges over the Euphrates River, and U.S. forces poured through the gap on to Baghdad. In the middle of Iraq, the 1st Marine Division fought its way to the eastern side of Baghdad, and prepared for the attack into Baghdad to seize it. In the north, OIF ‐ 1 used the largest special operations force since the successful attack on the Taliban government of Afghanistan just over a year earlier. On 9 April, Baghdad fell, ending Saddam 's 24 ‐ year rule. U.S. forces seized the deserted Ba'ath Party ministries and stage - managed the tearing down of a huge iron statue of Saddam, photos and video of which became symbolic of the event, although later controversial. Not seen in the photos or heard on the videos, shot with a zoom lens, was the chant of the inflamed crowd for Muqtada al - Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric. In November 2008, Iraqi protesters staged a similar stomping on and burning of an effigy of George W. Bush. The abrupt fall of Baghdad was accompanied by a widespread outpouring of gratitude toward the invaders, but also massive civil disorder, including the looting of public and government buildings and drastically increased crime. According to the Pentagon, 250,000 short tons ( 230,000 t ) ( of 650,000 short tons ( 590,000 t ) total ) of ordnance was looted, providing a significant source of ammunition for the Iraqi insurgency. The invasion phase concluded when Tikrit, Saddam 's home town, fell with little resistance to the U.S. Marines of Task Force Tripoli. In the invasion phase of the war ( 19 March -- 30 April ), an estimated 9,200 Iraqi combatants were killed by coalition forces along with an estimated 3,750 non-combatants, i.e. civilians who did not take up arms. Coalition forces reported the death in combat of 139 U.S. military personnel and 33 UK military personnel. 2003 -- 11 : post-invasion phase Main article : History of Iraq ( 2003 -- 11 ) Further information : Iraqi insurgency ( Iraq War ) and Iraq War insurgent attacks 2003 : beginnings of insurgency A Marine Corps M1 Abrams tank patrols a Baghdad street after its fall in 2003 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The humvee Staff Sgt. Michael F. Barrett, military policeman, Marine Wing Support Squadron 373, was riding when it was struck by an improvised explosive device attack in Iraq Sept. 29, 2004. Barrett was severely injured in the attack and is still recovering from his wounds. Polish GROM forces in sea operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom Marines from D Company, 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion guard detainees prior to loading them into their vehicle. On 1 May 2003, President Bush visited the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln operating a few miles west of San Diego, California. At sunset, he held his nationally televised `` Mission Accomplished '' speech ``, delivered before the sailors and airmen on the flight deck : Bush declared victory due to the defeat of Iraq 's conventional forces. Nevertheless, Saddam Hussein remained at large and significant pockets of resistance remained. After Bush 's speech, coalition forces noticed a flurry of attacks on its troops began to gradually increase in various regions, such as the `` Sunni Triangle ''. The initial Iraqi insurgents were supplied by hundreds of weapons caches created before the invasion by the Iraqi army and Republican Guard. Initially, Iraqi resistance ( described by the coalition as `` Anti-Iraqi Forces '' ) largely stemmed from fedayeen and Saddam / Ba'ath Party loyalists, but soon religious radicals and Iraqis angered by the occupation contributed to the insurgency. The three provinces with the highest number of attacks were Baghdad, Al Anbar, and Salah Ad Din. Those three provinces account for 35 % of the population, but as of 5 December 2006, were responsible for 73 % of U.S. military deaths and an even higher percentage of recent U.S. military deaths ( about 80 %. ) Insurgents used various guerrilla tactics, including mortars, missiles, suicide attacks, snipers, improvised explosive devices ( IEDs ), car bombs, small arms fire ( usually with assault rifles ), and RPGs ( rocket propelled grenades ), as well as sabotage against the petroleum, water, and electrical infrastructure. Post-invasion Iraq coalition efforts commenced after the fall of Saddam 's regime. The coalition nations, together with the United Nations, began to work to establish a stable, compliant democratic state capable of defending itself from non-coalition forces, as well as overcoming internal divisions. Meanwhile, coalition military forces launched several operations around the Tigris River peninsula and in the Sunni Triangle. A series of similar operations were launched throughout the summer in the Sunni Triangle. Toward late - 2003, the intensity and pace of insurgent attacks began to increase. A sharp surge in guerrilla attacks ushered in an insurgent effort that was termed as the `` Ramadan Offensive '', as it coincided with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. To counter this offensive, coalition forces began to use air power and artillery again for the first time since the end of the invasion by striking suspected ambush sites and mortar launching positions. Surveillance of major routes, patrols, and raids on suspected insurgents were stepped up. In addition, two villages, including Saddam 's birthplace of al - Auja and the small town of Abu Hishma were surrounded by barbed wire and carefully monitored. Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraq Survey group See also : Iraqi Governing Council, International Advisory and Monitoring Board, CPA Program Review Board, Development Fund for Iraq, and Reconstruction of Iraq Occupation zones in Iraq as of September 2003 Shortly after the invasion, the multinational coalition created the Coalition Provisional Authority ( CPA ; Arabic : سلطة الائتلاف الموحدة ‎ ‎ ), based in the Green Zone, as a transitional government of Iraq until the establishment of a democratic government. Citing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483 ( 22 May 2003 ) and the laws of war, the CPA vested itself with executive, legislative, and judicial authority over the Iraqi government from the period of the CPA 's inception on 21 April 2003, until its dissolution on 28 June 2004. The CPA was originally headed by Jay Garner, a former U.S. military officer, but his appointment lasted only until May 11, 2003, when President Bush appointed L. Paul Bremer. On May 16, 2003, his first day on the job, Paul Bremer issued CPA executive order No. 1 to exclude from the new Iraqi government and administration members of the Baathist party. This eventually led to the removal of 85,000 to 100,000 Iraqi people from their job, including 40,000 school teachers who had joined the Baath Party simply to keep their jobs. U.S. army general Sanchez called the decision a `` catastrophic failure ''. Bremer served until the CPA 's dissolution in July 2004. Another group created by the multinational force in Iraq post-invasion was the 1,400 - member international Iraq Survey Group who conducted a fact - finding mission to find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction ( WMD ) programmes. In 2004, the ISG 's Duelfer Report stated that Iraq did not have a viable WMD program. Capturing former government leaders See also : Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal and Trial of Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein being pulled from his hideaway in Operation Red Dawn, 13 December 2003. Two insurgents in Iraq with SA - 7b and SA - 14 MANPADS In Summer 2003, the multinational forces focused on capturing the remaining leaders of the former government. On 22 July, a raid by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division and soldiers from Task Force 20 killed Saddam 's sons ( Uday and Qusay ) along with one of his grandsons. In all, over 300 top leaders of the former government were killed or captured, as well as numerous lesser functionaries and military personnel. Most significantly, Saddam Hussein himself was captured on 13 December 2003, on a farm near Tikrit in Operation Red Dawn. The operation was conducted by the United States Army 's 4th Infantry Division and members of Task Force 121. Intelligence on Saddam 's whereabouts came from his family members and former bodyguards. With the capture of 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 police the country, and the United States promised over $20 billion in reconstruction money in the form of credit against Iraq 's future oil revenues. Oil revenue was also used for rebuilding schools and for work on the electrical and refining infrastructure. Shortly after the capture of 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 cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al - Sistani. The Coalition Provisional Authority opposed allowing democratic elections at this time. The insurgents stepped up their activities. The two most turbulent centers were the area around Fallujah and the poor Shia sections of cities from Baghdad ( Sadr City ) to Basra in the south. 2004 : insurgency expands Main article : 2004 in Iraq 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, Iraqi insurgency ( 2003 -- 11 ), United States occupation of Fallujah, Iraq Spring Fighting of 2004 Play media Footage from the gun camera of a U.S. Apache helicopter killing suspected Iraqi insurgents Coalition Provisional Authority director L. Paul Bremer signs over sovereignty to the appointed Iraqi Interim Government, 28 June 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. U.S. troops fire mortars 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. A USMC M198 artillery piece firing outside Fallujah in October 2004. The most serious fighting of the war so far began on 31 March 2004, when Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed a Blackwater USA convoy led by four U.S. private military contractors who were providing security for food caterers Eurest Support Services. The four armed contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona, and Michael Teague, were killed with grenades and small arms fire. Subsequently, their bodies were dragged from their vehicles by local people, beaten, set ablaze, and their burned corpses hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates. Photos of the event were released to news agencies worldwide, causing a great deal of indignation and moral outrage in the United States, and prompting an unsuccessful `` pacification '' of the city : the First Battle of Fallujah in April 2004. The offensive was resumed in November 2004 in the bloodiest battle of the war so far : the Second Battle of Fallujah, described by the U.S. military as `` the heaviest urban combat ( that they had been involved in ) since the battle of Hue City in Vietnam. '' During the assault, U.S. forces used white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon against insurgent personnel, attracting controversy. The 46 ‐ day battle resulted in a victory for the coalition, with 95 U.S. soldiers killed along with approximately 1,350 insurgents. Fallujah was totally devastated during the fighting, though civilian casualties were low, as they had mostly fled before the battle. Another major event of that year was the revelation of widespread prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, which received international media attention in April 2004. First reports of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse, as well as graphic pictures showing U.S. military personnel taunting and abusing Iraqi prisoners, came to public attention from a 60 Minutes II news report ( 28 April ) and a Seymour M. Hersh article in The New Yorker ( posted online on 30 April. ) Military correspondent Thomas Ricks claimed that these revelations dealt a blow to the moral justifications for the occupation in the eyes of many people, especially Iraqis, and was a turning point in the war. 2004 also marked the beginning of Military Transition Teams in Iraq, which were teams of U.S. military advisors assigned directly to New Iraqi Army units. 2005 : elections and Transitional government Further information : 2005 in Iraq and Military transition team Convention center for Council of Representatives of Iraq On 31 January, Iraqis elected the Iraqi Transitional Government in order to draft a permanent constitution. Although some violence and a widespread Sunni boycott marred the event, most of the eligible Kurd and Shia populace participated. On 4 February, Paul Wolfowitz announced that 15,000 U.S. troops whose tours of duty had been extended in order to provide election security would be pulled out of Iraq by the next month. February to April proved to be relatively peaceful months compared to the carnage of November and January, with insurgent attacks averaging 30 a day from the prior average of 70. The Battle of Abu Ghraib on 2 April 2005 was an attack on United States forces at Abu Ghraib prison, which consisted of heavy mortar and rocket fire, under which armed insurgents attacked with grenades, small arms, and two vehicle - borne improvised explosive devices ( VBIED ). The U.S. force 's munitions ran so low that orders to fix bayonets were given in preparation for hand - to - hand fighting. An estimated 80 -- 120 armed insurgents launched a massive coordinated assault on the U.S. military facility and internment camp at Abu Ghraib, Iraq. It was considered to be the largest coordinated assault on a U.S. base since the Vietnam War. Hopes for a quick end to the insurgency and a withdrawal of U.S. troops were dashed in May, Iraq 's bloodiest month since the invasion. Suicide bombers, believed to be mainly disheartened Iraqi Sunni Arabs, Syrians and Saudis, tore through Iraq. Their targets were often Shia gatherings or civilian concentrations of Shias. As a result, over 700 Iraqi civilians died in that month, as well as 79 U.S. soldiers. The summer of 2005 saw fighting around Baghdad and at Tall Afar in northwestern Iraq as U.S. forces tried to seal off the Syrian border. This led to fighting in the autumn in the small towns of the Euphrates valley between the capital and that border. A referendum was held on 15 October in which the new Iraqi constitution was ratified. An Iraqi national assembly was elected in December, with participation from the Sunnis as well as the Kurds and Shia. Insurgent attacks increased in 2005 with 34,131 recorded incidents, compared to a total 26,496 for the previous year. 2006 : civil war and permanent Iraqi government Further information : 2006 in Iraq, Civil war in Iraq ( 2006 -- 07 ), Operation Together Forward, and Provincial Reconstruction Team U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion 3rd Marines clear a house in Al Anbar Governorate. The beginning of 2006 was marked by government creation talks, growing sectarian violence, and continuous anti-coalition attacks. Sectarian violence expanded to a new level of intensity following the al - Askari Mosque bombing in the Iraqi city of Samarra, on 22 February 2006. The explosion at the mosque, one of the holiest sites in Shi'a Islam, is believed to have been caused by a bomb planted by al - Qaeda. Although no injuries occurred in the blast, the mosque was severely damaged and the bombing resulted in violence over the following days. Over 100 dead bodies with bullet holes were found on 23 February, and at least 165 people are thought to have been killed. In the aftermath of this attack the U.S. military calculated that the average homicide rate in Baghdad tripled from 11 to 33 deaths per day. In 2006 the UN described the environment in Iraq as a `` civil war - like situation ''. On March 12, five United States Army soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, raped the 14 - year - old Iraqi girl Abeer Qassim Hamza al ‐ Janabi, and then murdered her, her father, her mother Fakhriya Taha Muhasen and her six - year - old sister Hadeel Qassim Hamza al - Janabi. The soldiers then set fire to the girl 's body to conceal evidence of the crime. Four of the soldiers were convicted of rape and murder and the fifth was convicted of lesser crimes for the involvement in the war crime, that became known as the Mahmudiyah killings. Nouri al - Maliki meets with George W. Bush, June 2006 On 6 June 2006, the United States was successful in tracking Abu Musab al - Zarqawi, the leader of al - Qaeda in Iraq who was killed in a targeted killing, while attending a meeting in an isolated safehouse approximately 8 km ( 5.0 mi ) north of Baqubah. Having been tracked by a British UAV, radio contact was made between the controller and two United States Air Force F - 16 C jets, which identified the house and at 14 : 15 GMT, the lead jet dropped two 500 ‐ pound ( 230 kg ) guided bombs, a laser - guided GBU ‐ 12 and GPS - guided GBU ‐ 38 on the building where he was located at. Six others -- three male and three female individuals -- were also reported killed. Among those killed were one of his wives and their child. The current government of Iraq took office on 20 May 2006, following approval by the members of the Iraqi National Assembly. This followed the general election in December 2005. The government succeeded the Iraqi Transitional Government, which had continued in office in a caretaker capacity until the formation of the permanent government. Iraq Study group report and Saddam 's execution Main articles : Iraq Study Group and Execution of Saddam Hussein The Iraq Study Group Report was released on 6 December 2006. Iraq Study Group, made up of people from both of the major U.S. parties, was led by co-chairs James Baker, a former Secretary of State ( Republican ), and Lee H. Hamilton, a former U.S. Representative ( Democrat ). It concluded that `` the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating '' and `` U.S. forces seem to be caught in a mission that has no foreseeable end. '' The report 's 79 recommendations include increasing diplomatic measures with Iran and Syria and intensifying efforts to train Iraqi troops. On 18 December, a Pentagon report found that insurgent attacks were averaging about 960 attacks per week, the highest since the reports had begun in 2005. Coalition forces formally transferred control of a province to the Iraqi government, the first since the war. Military prosecutors charged eight U.S. Marines with the murders of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November 2005, 10 of them women and children. Four officers were also charged with dereliction of duty in relation to the event. Saddam Hussein was hanged on 30 December 2006, after being found guilty of crimes against humanity by an Iraqi court after a year - long trial. 2007 : U.S. troops surge President George W. Bush announces the new strategy on Iraq from the White House Library, 10 January 2007. Further information : 2007 in Iraq, Iraq War troop surge of 2007, Timeline of the Iraq War troop surge of 2007, and Strategic reset In a January 10, 2007, televised address to the U.S. public, Bush proposed 21,500 more troops for Iraq, a job program for Iraqis, more reconstruction proposals, and $1.2 billion for these programs. On 23 January 2007, in the 2007 State of the Union Address, Bush announced `` deploying reinforcements of more than 20,000 additional soldiers and Marines to Iraq ''. On 10 February 2007, David Petraeus was made commander of Multi-National Force -- Iraq ( MNF - I ), the four - star post that oversees all coalition forces in country, replacing General George Casey. In his new position, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq and employed them in the new `` Surge '' strategy outlined by the Bush administration. 2007 also saw a sharp increase in insurgent chlorine bombings. On 10 May 2007, 144 Iraqi Parliamentary lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal. On 3 June 2007, the Iraqi Parliament voted 85 to 59 to require the Iraqi government to consult with Parliament before requesting additional extensions of the UN Security Council Mandate for Coalition operations in Iraq. Despite this, the mandate was renewed on 18 December 2007, without the approval of the Iraqi parliament. Pressures on U.S. troops were compounded by the continuing withdrawal of coalition forces. In early 2007, British Prime Minister Blair announced that following Operation Sinbad British troops would begin to withdraw from Basra Governorate, handing security over to the Iraqis. In July Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also announced the withdrawal of 441 Danish troops from Iraq, leaving only a unit of nine soldiers manning four observational helicopters. Planned troop reduction See also : Provincial Iraqi Control In a speech made to Congress on 10 September 2007, Petraeus `` envisioned the withdrawal of roughly 30,000 U.S. troops by next summer, beginning with a Marine contingent ( in September ). '' On 13 September, Bush backed a limited withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Bush said 5,700 personnel would be home by Christmas 2007, and expected thousands more to return by July 2008. The plan would take troop numbers back to their level before the surge at the beginning of 2007. Effects of the surge on security U.S. soldiers take cover during a firefight with insurgents in the Al Doura section of Baghdad 7 March 2007. By March 2008, violence in Iraq was reported curtailed by 40 -- 80 %, according to a Pentagon report. Independent reports raised questions about those assessments. An Iraqi military spokesman claimed that civilian deaths since the start of the troop surge plan were 265 in Baghdad, down from 1,440 in the four previous weeks. The New York Times counted more than 450 Iraqi civilians killed during the same 28 ‐ day period, based on initial daily reports from Iraqi Interior Ministry and hospital officials. Historically, the daily counts tallied by The New York Times have underestimated the total death toll by 50 % or more when compared to studies by the United Nations, which rely upon figures from the Iraqi Health Ministry and morgue figures. The rate of U.S. combat deaths in Baghdad nearly doubled to 3.14 per day in the first seven weeks of the `` surge '' in security activity, compared to previous period. Across the rest of Iraq it decreased slightly. On 14 August 2007, the deadliest single attack of the whole war occurred. Nearly 800 civilians were killed by a series of coordinated suicide bomb attacks on the northern Iraqi settlement of Kahtaniya. More than 100 homes and shops were destroyed in the blasts. U.S. officials blamed al ‐ Qaeda. The targeted villagers belonged to the non-Muslim Yazidi ethnic minority. The attack may have represented the latest in a feud that erupted earlier that year when members of the Yazidi community stoned to death a teenage girl called Du'a Khalil Aswad accused of dating a Sunni Arab man and converting to Islam. The killing of the girl was recorded on camera - mobiles and the video was uploaded onto the internet. On 13 September 2007, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha was killed in a bomb attack in the city of Ramadi. He was an important U.S. ally because he led the `` Anbar Awakening '', an alliance of Sunni Arab tribes that opposed al - Qaeda. The latter organisation claimed responsibility for the attack. A statement posted on the Internet by the shadowy Islamic State of Iraq called Abu Risha `` one of the dogs of Bush '' and described Thursday 's killing as a `` heroic operation that took over a month to prepare ''. A graph of U.S. troop fatalities in Iraq March 2003 -- July 2010, the orange and blue months are the period of the troop surge and its aftermath. There was a reported trend of decreasing U.S. troop deaths after May 2007, and violence against coalition troops had fallen to the `` lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion ''. These, and several other positive developments, were attributed to the surge by many analysts. Data from the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies such as the Government Accountability Office ( GAO ) found that daily attacks against civilians in Iraq remained `` about the same '' since February. The GAO also stated that there was no discernible trend in sectarian violence. However, this report ran counter to reports to Congress, which showed a general downward trend in civilian deaths and ethno - sectarian violence since December 2006. By late 2007, as the U.S. troop surge began to wind down, violence in Iraq had begun to decrease from its 2006 highs. Entire neighborhoods in Baghdad were ethnically cleansed by Shia and Sunni militias and sectarian violence has broken out in every Iraqi city where there is a mixed population. Investigative reporter Bob Woodward cites U.S. government sources according to which the U.S. `` surge '' was not the primary reason for the drop in violence in 2007 -- 08. Instead, according to that view, the reduction of violence was due to newer covert techniques by U.S. military and intelligence officials to find, target and kill insurgents, including working closely with former insurgents. In the Shia region near Basra, British forces turned over security for the region to Iraqi Security Forces. Basra is the ninth province of Iraq 's 18 provinces to be returned to local security forces ' control since the beginning of the occupation. Political developments Official Iraq - benchmark of the Congress, 2007 More than half of the members of Iraq 's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country for the first time. 144 of the 275 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition that would require the Iraqi government to seek approval from Parliament before it requests an extension of the UN mandate for foreign forces to be in Iraq, which expires at the end of 2008. It also calls for a timetable for troop withdrawal and a freeze on the size of foreign forces. The UN Security Council mandate for U.S. ‐ led forces in Iraq will terminate `` if requested by the government of Iraq. '' Under Iraqi law, the speaker must present a resolution called for by a majority of lawmakers. 59 % of those polled in the U.S. support a timetable for withdrawal. In mid-2007, the Coalition began a controversial program to recruit Iraqi Sunnis ( often former insurgents ) for the formation of `` Guardian '' militias. These Guardian militias are intended to support and secure various Sunni neighborhoods against the Islamists. Tensions with Iran Further information : United States - Iran relations and Karbala provincial headquarters raid In 2007, tensions increased greatly between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan due to the latter 's giving sanctuary to the militant Kurdish secessionist group Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan ( PEJAK. ) According to reports, Iran had been shelling PEJAK positions in Iraqi Kurdistan since 16 August. These tensions further increased with an alleged border incursion on 23 August by Iranian troops who attacked several Kurdish villages killing an unknown number of civilians and militants. Coalition forces also began to target alleged Iranian Quds force operatives in Iraq, either arresting or killing suspected members. The Bush administration and coalition leaders began to publicly state that Iran was supplying weapons, particularly EFP devices, to Iraqi insurgents and militias although to date have failed to provide any proof for these allegations. Further sanctions on Iranian organizations were also announced by the Bush administration in the autumn of 2007. On 21 November 2007, Lieutenant General James Dubik, who is in charge of training Iraqi security forces, praised Iran for its `` contribution to the reduction of violence '' in Iraq by upholding its pledge to stop the flow of weapons, explosives and training of extremists in Iraq. Tensions with Turkey Further information : 2008 Turkish incursion into northern Iraq Border incursions by PKK militants based in Northern Iraq have continued to harass Turkish forces, with casualties on both sides. In the fall of 2007, the Turkish military stated their right to cross the Iraqi Kurdistan border in `` hot pursuit '' of PKK militants and began shelling Kurdish areas in Iraq and attacking PKK bases in the Mount Cudi region with aircraft. The Turkish parliament approved a resolution permitting the military to pursue the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan. In November, Turkish gunships attacked parts of northern Iraq in the first such attack by Turkish aircraft since the border tensions escalated. Another series of attacks in mid-December hit PKK targets in the Qandil, Zap, Avashin and Hakurk regions. The latest series of attacks involved at least 50 aircraft and artillery and Kurdish officials reported one civilian killed and two wounded. Additionally, weapons that were given to Iraqi security forces by the U.S. military were being recovered by authorities in Turkey after being used by PKK in that state. Blackwater private security controversy Main article : Blackwater Baghdad shootings On 17 September 2007, the Iraqi government announced that it was revoking the license of the U.S. security firm Blackwater USA over the firm 's involvement in the killing of eight civilians, including a woman and an infant, in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade. 2008 : civil war Continues Further information : 2008 in Iraq Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 14th Iraqi Army division graduate from basic training. Throughout 2008, U.S. officials and independent think tanks began to point to improvements in the security situation, as measured by key statistics. According to the U.S. Defense Department, in December 2008 the `` overall level of violence '' in the country had dropped 80 % since before the surge began in January 2007, and the country 's murder rate had dropped to prewar levels. They also pointed out that the casualty figure for U.S. forces in 2008 was 314 against a figure of 904 in 2007. According to the Brookings Institution, Iraqi civilian fatalities numbered 490 in November 2008 as against 3,500 in January 2007, whereas attacks against the coalition numbered somewhere between 200 and 300 per week in the latter half of 2008, as opposed to a peak of nearly 1,600 in summer 2007. The number of Iraqi security forces killed was under 100 per month in the second half of 2008, from a high of 200 to 300 in summer 2007. Meanwhile, the proficiency of the Iraqi military increased as it launched a spring offensive against Shia militias, which Prime Minister Nouri al - Maliki had previously been criticized for allowing to operate. This began with a March operation against the Mehdi Army in Basra, which led to fighting in Shia areas up and down the country, especially in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. By October, the British officer in charge of Basra said that since the operation the town had become `` secure '' and had a murder rate comparable to Manchester in England. The U.S. military also said there had been a decrease of about a quarter in the quantity of Iranian - made explosives found in Iraq in 2008, possibly indicating a change in Iranian policy. Progress in Sunni areas continued after members of the Awakening movement were transferred from U.S. military to Iraqi control. In May, the Iraqi army -- backed by coalition support -- launched an offensive in Mosul, the last major Iraqi stronghold of al - Qaeda. Despite detaining thousands of individuals, the offensive failed to lead to major long - term security improvements in Mosul. At the end of the year, the city remained a major flashpoint. 3D map of southern Turkey and northern Iraq In the regional dimension, the ongoing conflict between Turkey and PKK intensified on 21 February, when Turkey launched a ground attack into the Quandeel Mountains of Northern Iraq. In the nine - day - long operation, around 10,000 Turkish troops advanced up to 25 km into Northern Iraq. This was the first substantial ground incursion by Turkish forces since 1995. Shortly after the incursion began, both the Iraqi cabinet and the Kurdistan regional government condemned Turkey 's actions and called for the immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops from the region. Turkish troops withdrew on 29 February. The fate of the Kurds and the future of the ethnically diverse city of Kirkuk remained a contentious issue in Iraqi politics. U.S. military officials met these trends with cautious optimism as they approached what they described as the `` transition '' embodied in the U.S. -- Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which was negotiated throughout 2008. The commander of the coalition, U.S. General Raymond T. Odierno, noted that `` in military terms, transitions are the most dangerous time '' in December 2008. Spring offensives on Shiite militias Further information : Iraq Spring Fighting of 2008, Siege of Sadr City, and Battle of Basra ( 2008 ) An Iraqi soldier and vehicles from the 42nd Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division during a firefight with armed militiamen in the Sadr City district of Baghdad 17 April 2008. At the end of March, the Iraqi Army, with Coalition air support, launched an offensive, dubbed `` Charge of the Knights '', in Basra to secure the area from militias. This was the first major operation where the Iraqi Army did not have direct combat support from conventional coalition ground troops. The offensive was opposed by the Mahdi Army, one of the militias, which controlled much of the region. Fighting quickly spread to other parts of Iraq : including Sadr City, Al Kut, Al Hillah and others. During the fighting Iraqi forces met stiff resistance from militiamen in Basra to the point that the Iraqi military offensive slowed to a crawl, with the high attrition rates finally forcing the Sadrists to the negotiating table. Following talks with Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Qods brigades of Iran 's Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the intercession of the Iranian government, on 31 March 2008, al ‐ Sadr ordered his followers to ceasefire. The militiamen kept their weapons. By 12 May 2008, Basra `` residents overwhelmingly reported a substantial improvement in their everyday lives '' according to The New York Times. `` Government forces have now taken over Islamic militants ' headquarters and halted the death squads and ' vice enforcers ' who attacked women, Christians, musicians, alcohol sellers and anyone suspected of collaborating with Westerners '', according to the report ; however, when asked how long it would take for lawlessness to resume if the Iraqi army left, one resident replied, `` one day ''. In late April roadside bombings continued to rise from a low in January -- from 114 bombings to more than 250, surpassing the May 2007 high. Congressional testimony General David Petraeus in testimony before Congress on 8 April 2008 Speaking before the Congress on 8 April 2008, General David Petraeus urged delaying troop withdrawals, saying, `` I 've repeatedly noted that we have n't turned any corners, we have n't seen any lights at the end of the tunnel, '' referencing the comments of then President Bush and former Vietnam - era General William Westmoreland. When asked by the Senate if reasonable people could disagree on the way forward, Petraeus said, `` We fight for the right of people to have other opinions. '' Upon questioning by then Senate committee chair Joe Biden, Ambassador Crocker admitted that Al ‐ Qaeda in Iraq was less important than the Al Qaeda organization led by Osama bin Laden along the Afghan - Pakistani border. Lawmakers from both parties complained that U.S. taxpayers are carrying Iraq 's burden as it earns billions of dollars in oil revenues. Iraqi security forces rearm An Iraqi Army unit prepares to board a Task Force Baghdad UH - 60 Blackhawk helicopter for a counterinsurgency mission in Baghdad in 2007. Iraq became one of the top current purchasers of U.S. military equipment with their army trading its AK ‐ 47 assault rifles for the U.S. M ‐ 16 and M ‐ 4 rifles, among other equipment. In 2008 alone, Iraq accounted for more than $12.5 billion of the $34 billion U.S. weapon sales to foreign countries ( not including the potential F - 16 fighter planes. ). Iraq sought 36 F ‐ 16s, the most sophisticated weapons system Iraq has attempted to purchase. The Pentagon notified Congress that it had approved the sale of 24 American attack helicopters to Iraq, valued at as much as $2.4 billion. Including the helicopters, Iraq announced plans to purchase at least $10 billion in U.S. tanks and armored vehicles, transport planes and other battlefield equipment and services. Over the summer, the Defense Department announced that the Iraqi government wanted to order more than 400 armored vehicles and other equipment worth up to $3 billion, and six C - 130J transport planes, worth up to $1.5 billion. From 2005 to 2008, the United States had completed approximately $20 billion in arms sales agreements with Iraq. Status of forces Agreement Main article : U.S. -- Iraq Status of Forces Agreement The U.S. -- Iraq Status of Forces Agreement was approved by the Iraqi government on 4 December 2008. It established that U.S. combat forces would withdraw from Iraqi cities by 30 June 2009, and that all U.S. forces would be completely out of Iraq by 31 December 2011. The pact was subject to possible negotiations which could have delayed withdrawal and a referendum scheduled for mid-2009 in Iraq, which might have required all U.S. forces to completely leave by the middle of 2010. The pact required criminal charges for holding prisoners over 24 hours, and required a warrant for searches of homes and buildings that are not related to combat. U.S. contractors working for U.S. forces will be subject to Iraqi criminal law, while contractors working for the State Department and other U.S. agencies may retain their immunity. If U.S. forces commit still undecided `` major premeditated felonies '' while off - duty and off - base, they will be subject to the still undecided procedures laid out by a joint U.S. ‐ Iraq committee if the United States certifies the forces were off - duty. Some Americans have discussed `` loopholes '' and some Iraqis have said they believe parts of the pact remain a `` mystery ''. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has predicted that after 2011 he would expect to see `` perhaps several tens of thousands of American troops '' as part of a residual force in Iraq. Several groups of Iraqis protested the passing of the SOFA accord as prolonging and legitimizing the occupation. Tens of thousands of Iraqis burned an effigy of George W. Bush in a central Baghdad square where U.S. troops five years previously organized a tearing down of a statue of Saddam Hussein. Some Iraqis expressed skeptical optimism that the U.S. would completely end its presence by 2011. On 4 December 2008, Iraq 's presidential council approved the security pact. A representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al ‐ Sistani expressed concern with the ratified version of the pact and noted that the government of Iraq has no authority to control the transfer of occupier forces into and out of Iraq, no control of shipments, and that the pact grants the occupiers immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts. He said that Iraqi rule in the country is not complete while the occupiers are present, but that ultimately the Iraqi people would judge the pact in a referendum. Thousands of Iraqis have gathered weekly after Friday prayers and shouted anti ‐ U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans protesting the security pact between Baghdad and Washington. A protester said that despite the approval of the Interim Security pact, the Iraqi people would break it in a referendum next year. 2009 : coalition redeployment Further information : 2009 in Iraq Transfer of Green Zone Aerial view of the Green Zone, Baghdad International Airport, and the contiguous Victory Base Complex in Baghdad On 1 January 2009, the United States handed control of the Green Zone and Saddam Hussein 's presidential palace to the Iraqi government in a ceremonial move described by the country 's prime minister as a restoration of Iraq 's sovereignty. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al - Maliki said he would propose 1 January be declared national `` Sovereignty Day ''. `` This palace is the symbol of Iraqi sovereignty and by restoring it, a real message is directed to all Iraqi people that Iraqi sovereignty has returned to its natural status '', al ‐ Maliki said. The U.S. military attributed a decline in reported civilian deaths to several factors including the U.S. ‐ led `` troop surge '', the growth of U.S. - funded Awakening Councils, and Shiite cleric Muqtada al - Sadr 's call for his militia to abide by a cease fire. Provincial elections Main article : Iraqi governorate elections, 2009 Election map. Shows what was the largest list in every governorate. On 31 January, Iraq held provincial elections. Provincial candidates and those close to them faced some political assassinations and attempted assassinations, and there was also some other violence related to the election. Iraqi voter turnout failed to meet the original expectations which were set and was the lowest on record in Iraq, but U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker characterized the turnout as `` large ''. Of those who turned out to vote, some groups complained of disenfranchisement and fraud. After the post-election curfew was lifted, some groups made threats about what would happen if they were unhappy with the results. Play media U.S. President Barack Obama delivering a speech at Camp Lejeune on 27 February 2009. Exit strategy announcement On 27 February, United States President Barack Obama gave a speech at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in the U.S. state of North Carolina announcing that the U.S. combat mission in Iraq would end by 31 August 2010. A `` transitional force '' of up to 50,000 troops tasked with training the Iraqi Security Forces, conducting counterterrorism operations, and providing general support may remain until the end of 2011, the president added. However, the insurgency in 2011 and the rise of ISIS in 2014 caused the war to continue The day before Obama 's speech, Prime Minister of Iraq Nuri al ‐ Maliki said at a press conference that the government of Iraq had `` no worries '' over the impending departure of U.S. forces and expressed confidence in the ability of the Iraqi Security Forces and police to maintain order without U.S. military support. Sixth anniversary protests On 9 April, the 6th anniversary of Baghdad 's fall to coalition forces, tens of thousands of Iraqis thronged Baghdad to mark the anniversary and demand the immediate departure of coalition forces. The crowds of Iraqis stretched from the Sadr City slum in northeast Baghdad to the square around 5 km ( 3.1 mi ) away, where protesters burned an effigy featuring the face of U.S. President George W. Bush. There were also Sunni Muslims in the crowd. Police said many Sunnis, including prominent leaders such as a founding sheikh from the Sons of Iraq, took part. Coalition forces withdraw On 30 April, the United Kingdom formally ended combat operations. Prime Minister Gordon Brown characterized the operation in Iraq as a `` success story '' because of UK troops ' efforts. Britain handed control of Basra to the United States Armed Forces. On 28 July, Australia withdrew its combat forces as the Australian military presence in Iraq ended, per an agreement with the Iraqi government. The withdrawal of U.S. forces began at the end of June, with 38 bases to be handed over to Iraqi forces. On 29 June 2009, U.S. forces withdrew from Baghdad. On 30 November 2009, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials reported that the civilian death toll in Iraq fell to its lowest level in November since the 2003 invasion. Iraq awards oil contracts U.S. Navy and Coast Guard personnel stand guard aboard the Al Basrah Oil Terminal in July 2009. On 30 June and 11 December 2009, the Iraqi ministry of oil awarded contracts to international oil companies for some of Iraq 's many oil fields. The winning oil companies enter joint ventures with the Iraqi ministry of oil, and the terms of the awarded contracts include extraction of oil for a fixed fee of approximately $1.40 per barrel. The fees will only be paid once a production threshold set by the Iraqi ministry of oil is reached. 2010 : U.S. drawdown and Operation New Dawn Further information : 2010 in Iraq and Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq On 17 February 2010, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that as of 1 September, the name `` Operation Iraqi Freedom '' would be replaced by `` Operation New Dawn ''. On 18 April, U.S. and Iraqi forces killed Abu Ayyub al - Masri the leader of al - Qaeda in Iraq in a joint American and Iraqi operation near Tikrit, Iraq. The coalition forces believed al - Masri to be wearing a suicide vest and proceeded cautiously. After the lengthy exchange of fire and bombing of the house, the Iraqi troops stormed inside and found two women still alive, one of whom was al - Masri 's wife, and four dead men, identified as al - Masri, Abu Abdullah al - Rashid al - Baghdadi, an assistant to al - Masri, and al - Baghdadi 's son. A suicide vest was indeed found on al - Masri 's corpse, as the Iraqi Army subsequently stated. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al - Maliki announced the killings of Abu Omar al - Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al - Masri at a news conference in Baghdad and showed reporters photographs of their bloody corpses. `` The attack was carried out by ground forces which surrounded the house, and also through the use of missiles, '' Mr Maliki said. `` During the operation computers were seized with e-mails and messages to the two biggest terrorists, Osama bin Laden and ( his deputy ) Ayman al - Zawahiri '', Maliki added. U.S. forces commander Gen. Raymond Odierno praised the operation. `` The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al ‐ Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency '', he said. `` There is still work to do but this is a significant step forward in ridding Iraq of terrorists. '' U.S. Vice President Joe Biden stated that the deaths of the top two al ‐ Qaeda figures in Iraq are `` potentially devastating '' blows to the terror network there and proof that Iraqi security forces are gaining ground. On 20 June, Iraq 's Central Bank was bombed in an attack that left 15 people dead and brought much of downtown Baghdad to a standstill. The attack was claimed to have been carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq. This attack was followed by another attack on Iraq 's Bank of Trade building that killed 26 and wounded 52 people. Iraqi commandos training under the supervision of soldiers from the U.S. 82nd Airborne in December 2010. In late August 2010, insurgents conducted a major attack with at least 12 car bombs simultaneously detonating from Mosul to Basra and killing at least 51. These attacks coincided with the U.S. plans for a withdrawal of combat troops. From the end of August 2010, the United States attempted to dramatically cut its combat role in Iraq, with the withdrawal of all U.S. ground forces designated for active combat operations. The last U.S. combat brigades departed Iraq in the early morning of 19 August. Convoys of U.S. troops had been moving out of Iraq to Kuwait for several days, and NBC News broadcast live from Iraq as the last convoy crossed the border. While all combat brigades left the country, an additional 50,000 personnel ( including Advise and Assist Brigades ) remained in the country to provide support for the Iraqi military. These troops are required to leave Iraq by 31 December 2011 under an agreement between the U.S. and Iraqi governments. The desire to step back from an active counter-insurgency role did not however mean that the Advise and Assist Brigades and other remaining U.S. forces would not be caught up in combat. A standards memo from the Associated Press reiterated `` combat in Iraq is not over, and we should not uncritically repeat suggestions that it is, even if they come from senior officials ''. State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley stated ``... we are not ending our work in Iraq, We have a long - term commitment to Iraq. '' On 31 August, Obama announced the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom from the Oval Office. In his address, he covered the role of the United States ' soft power, the effect the war had on the United States economy, and the legacy of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. On the same day in Iraq, at a ceremony at one of Saddam Hussein 's former residences at Al Faw Palace in Baghdad, a number of U.S. dignitaries spoke in a ceremony for television cameras, avoiding overtones of the triumphalism present in U.S. announcements made earlier in the war. Vice President Joe Biden expressed concerns regarding the ongoing lack of progress in forming a new Iraqi government, saying of the Iraqi people that `` they expect a government that reflects the results of the votes they cast ''. Gen. Ray Odierno stated that the new era `` in no way signals the end of our commitment to the people of Iraq ''. Speaking in Ramadi earlier in the day, Gates said that U.S. forces `` have accomplished something really quite extraordinary here, ( but ) how it all weighs in the balance over time I think remains to be seen ''. When asked by reporters if the seven - year war was worth doing, Gates commented that `` It really requires a historian 's perspective in terms of what happens here in the long run ''. He noted the Iraq War `` will always be clouded by how it began '' regarding Saddam Hussein 's supposed weapons of mass destruction, which were never confirmed to have existed. Gates continued, `` This is one of the reasons that this war remains so controversial at home ''. On the same day Gen. Ray Odierno was replaced by Lloyd Austin as Commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. Alabama Army National Guard MP, MSG Schur, during a joint community policing patrol in Basra, 3 April 2010 On 7 September, two U.S. troops were killed and nine wounded in an incident at an Iraqi military base. The incident is under investigation by Iraqi and U.S. forces, but it is believed that an Iraqi soldier opened fire on U.S. forces. On 8 September, the U.S. Army announced the arrival in Iraq of the first specifically - designated Advise and Assist Brigade, the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment. It was announced that the unit would assume responsibilities in five southern provinces. From 10 -- 13 September, Second Advise and Assist Brigade, 25th Infantry Division fought Iraqi insurgents near Diyala. According to reports from Iraq, hundreds of members of the Sunni Awakening Councils may have switched allegiance back to the Iraqi insurgency or al Qaeda. Wikileaks disclosed 391,832 classified U.S. military documents on the Iraq War. Approximately, 58 people were killed with another 40 wounded in an attack on the Sayidat al ‐ Nejat church, a Chaldean Catholic church in Baghdad. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq organization. Coordinated attacks in primarily Shia areas struck throughout Baghdad on 2 November, killing approximately 113 and wounding 250 with around 17 bombs. Iraqi security forces transition towards self - reliance Preparing to buy $13 billion worth of American arms, the Iraq Defense Ministry intends to transform the country 's degraded conventional forces into a state - of - the - art military and become among the world 's biggest customers for American military arms and equipment. Part of the planned purchase includes 140 M1 Abrams main battle tanks. Iraqi crews have already begun training on them. In addition to the $13 billion purchase, the Iraqis have requested 18 F - 16 Fighting Falcons as part of a $4.2 billion program that also includes aircraft training and maintenance, AIM ‐ 9 Sidewinder air - to - air missiles, laser - guided bombs and reconnaissance equipment. If approved by Congress, the first aircraft could arrive in spring 2013. Under the plan, the first 10 pilots would be trained in the United States. The Iraqi navy also inaugurated U.S. ‐ built Swift Class patrol boat at Umm Qasr, Iraq 's main port at the northern end of the gulf. Iraq is to take delivery of 14 more of these $20 million, 50 ‐ foot craft before U.S. forces depart. The high - speed vessels ' main mission will be to protect the oil terminals at al ‐ Basra and Khor al - Amiya through which some 1.7 million barrels a day are loaded into tankers for export. Two U.S. ‐ built offshore support vessels, each costing $70 million, were expected to be delivered in 2011. M1 Abrams tanks in Iraqi service, January 2011 The United States Department of Defense had issued notification of an additional $100 million proposed sales of arms from the U.S. to Iraq. General Dynamics is to be the prime contractor on a $36 million deal for the supply of ammunition for Iraq 's Abrams M1 A1 tanks. The sale consists of : 14,010 TP - T M831A1 120mm Cartridges ; 16,110 TPCSDS - T M865 120mm Cartridges ; and 3,510 HEAT - MP - T M830A1 120mm Cartridges. Raytheon is proposed as the prime contractor for a $68 million package of `` Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance ( C4ISR ) Systems ''. UN Lifts restrictions on Iraq In a move to legitimize the existing Iraqi government, the United Nations lifted the Saddam Hussein - era UN restrictions on Iraq. These included allowing Iraq to have a civilian nuclear program, permitting the participation of Iraq in international nuclear and chemical weapons treaties, as well as returning control of Iraq 's oil and gas revenue to the government and ending the Oil - for - Food Programme. 2011 : U.S. withdrawal Main article : Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq Further information : 2011 in Iraq Muqtada al - Sadr returned to Iraq in the holy city of Najaf to lead the Sadrist movement after being in exile since 2007. On 15 January 2011, three U.S. troops were killed in Iraq. One of the troops was killed on a military operation in central Iraq, while the other two troops were deliberately shot by one or two Iraqi soldiers during a training exercise. On 6 June, five U.S. troops were killed in an apparent rocket attack on JSS Loyalty. A sixth soldier, who was wounded in the attack, died 10 days later of his wounds. On 13 June 2011, two U.S. troops were killed in an IED attack located in Wasit Province. On 26 June 2011, a U.S. troop was killed. Sergeant Brent McBride was sentenced to four years, two months for the death. On 29 June, three U.S. troops were killed in a rocket attack on a U.S. base located near the border with Iran. It was speculated that the militant group responsible for the attack was the same one which attacked JSS Loyalty just over three weeks before. With the three deaths, June 2011, became the bloodiest month in Iraq for the U.S. military since June 2009, with 15 U.S. soldiers killed, only one of them outside combat. In September, Iraq signed a contract to buy 18 Lockheed Martin F - 16 warplanes, becoming the 26th nation to operate the F - 16. Because of windfall profits from oil, the Iraqi government is planning to double this originally planned 18, to 36 F - 16s. Iraq is relying on the U.S. military for air support as it rebuilds its forces and battles a stubborn Islamist insurgency. With the collapse of the discussions about extending the stay of any U.S. troops beyond 2011, where they would not be granted any immunity from the Iraqi government, on 21 October 2011, President Obama announced at a White House press conference that all remaining U.S. troops and trainers would leave Iraq by the end of the year as previously scheduled, bringing the U.S. mission in Iraq to an end. The last American soldier to die in Iraq before the withdrawal was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on 14 November. In November 2011, the U.S. Senate voted down a resolution to formally end the war by bringing its authorization by Congress to an end. U.S. and Kuwaiti troops closing the gate between Kuwait and Iraq on 18 December 2011. The last U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq on 18 December, although the U.S. embassy and consulates continue to maintain a staff of more than 20,000 including U.S. Marine Embassy Guards and between 4,000 and 5,000 private military contractors. The next day, Iraqi officials issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni Vice-President Tariq al - Hashimi. He has been accused of involvement in assassinations and fled to the Kurdish part of Iraq. Aftermath -- Post U.S. withdrawal Main article : Iraqi insurgency ( 2011 -- 13 ) See also : Northern Iraq offensive ( June 2014 ) and Northern Iraq offensive ( August 2014 ) See also : American - led intervention in Iraq ( 2014 -- present ) 000000002017 - 10 - 25 - 0000 October 25, 2017 military situation : Controlled by Iraqi government Controlled by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant ( ISIS ) Controlled by Iraqi Kurds Controlled by Syrian government Controlled by Syrian rebels Controlled by Syrian Kurds The invasion and occupation led to sectarian violence which caused widespread displacement among Iraqi civilians. The Iraqi Red Crescent organization estimated the total internal displacement was around 2.3 million in 2008, and as many as 2 million Iraqis leaving the country. Poverty led many Iraqi women to turn to prostitution to support themselves and their families, attracting sex tourists from regional lands. The invasion led to a constitution which supported democracy as long as laws did not violate traditional Islamic principles, and a parliamentary election was held in 2005. In addition the invasion preserved the autonomy of the Kurdish region, and stability brought new economic prosperity. Because the Kurdish region is historically the most democratic area of Iraq, many Iraqi refugees from other territories fled into the Kurdish land. Iraqi insurgency surged in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal. The terror campaigns have since been engaged by Iraqi, primarily radical Sunni, insurgent groups against the central government and the warfare between various factions within Iraq. The events of post U.S. withdrawal violence succeeded the previous insurgency in Iraq ( prior to 18 December 2011 ), but have showed different patterns, raising concerns that the surging violence might slide into another civil war. Some 1,000 people were killed across Iraq within the first two months after U.S. withdrawal. Sectarian violence continued in the first half of 2013 -- at least 56 people died in April when a Sunni protest in Hawija was interrupted by a government - supported helicopter raid and a series of violent incidents occurred in May. On 20 May 2013, at least 95 people died in a wave of car bomb attacks that was preceded by a car bombing on 15 May that led to 33 deaths ; also, on 18 May, 76 people were killed in the Sunni areas of Baghdad. Some experts have stated that Iraq could return to the brutal sectarian conflict of 2006. On 22 July 2013, at least five hundred convicts, most of whom were senior members of al - Qaida who had received death sentences, broke out of Iraq 's Abu Ghraib jail when comrades launched a military - style assault to free them. The attack began when a suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into prison gates. James F. Jeffrey, the United States ambassador in Baghdad when the last American troops exited, said the assault and resulting escape `` will provide seasoned leadership and a morale boost to Al Qaeda and its allies in both Iraq and Syria... it is likely to have an electrifying impact on the Sunni population in Iraq, which has been sitting on the fence. '' By mid-2014 the country was in chaos with a new government yet to be formed following national elections, and the insurgency reaching new heights. In early June 2014 the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant ( ISIS ) took over the cities of Mosul and Tikrit and said it was ready to march on Baghdad, while Iraqi Kurdish forces took control of key military installations in the major oil city of Kirkuk. Prime Minister Nouri al - Maliki asked his parliament to declare a state of emergency that would give him increased powers, but the lawmakers refused. In the summer of 2014 President Obama announced the return of U.S. Forces to Iraq, but only in the form of aerial support, in an effort to halt the advance of ISIS forces, render humanitarian aid to stranded refugees and stabilize the political situation. On 14 August 2014, Prime Minister Nouri al - Maliki succumbed to pressure at home and abroad to step down. This paved the way for Haidar al - Abadi to take over On 19 August 2014. In what was claimed to be revenge for the aerial bombing ordered by President Obama, ISIS, which by this time had changed their name to the Islamic State, beheaded an American journalist, James Foley, who had been kidnapped two years previously. Despite U.S. bombings and breakthroughs on the political front, Iraq remained in chaos with the Islamic State consolidating its gains, and sectarian violence continuing unabated. On 22 August 2014, suspected Shia militants opened fire on a Sunni mosque during Friday prayers, killing 70 worshippers. Separately, Iraqi forces in helicopters killed 30 Sunni fighters in the town of Dhuluiya. A day later, apparently in retaliation for the attack on the mosque, three bombings across Iraq killed 35 people. Casualty estimates Main article : Casualties of the Iraq War See also : Foreign hostages in Iraq and Suicide bombings in Iraq since 2003 Wounded U.S. personnel flown from Iraq to Ramstein, Germany, for medical treatment ( February 2007 ) Marines unload a wounded comrade from an Army UH - 60 Blackhawk helicopter for medical treatment at Al Qaim. For coalition death totals see the infobox at the top right. See also Casualties of the Iraq War, which has casualty numbers for coalition nations, contractors, non-Iraqi civilians, journalists, media helpers, aid workers, and the wounded. Casualty figures, especially Iraqi ones, are highly disputed. There have been several attempts by the media, coalition governments and others to estimate the Iraqi casualties. The table below summarizes some of these estimates and methods. Source Iraqi casualties March 2003 to... Iraq Family Health Survey 151,000 violent deaths. June 2006 Lancet survey 601,027 violent deaths out of 654,965 excess deaths. June 2006 PLOS Medicine Study 460,000 excess deaths including 132,000 violent deaths from conflict violent deaths from the conflict. June 2011 Opinion Research Business survey 1,033,000 violent deaths from the conflict. August 2007 Iraqi Health Ministry 87,215 violent deaths per death certificates issued. Deaths prior to January 2005 unrecorded. Ministry estimates up to 20 % more deaths are undocumented. January 2005 to February 2009 Associated Press 110,600 violent deaths. Health Ministry death certificates plus AP estimate of casualties for 2003 -- 04. April 2009 Iraq Body Count 105,052 -- 114,731 violent civilian deaths. compiled from commercial news media, NGO and official reports. Over 162,000 civilian and combatant deaths January 2012 WikiLeaks. Classified Iraq war logs 109,032 violent deaths including 66,081 civilian deaths. January 2004 to December 2009 Criticism and cost Further information : Criticism of the Iraq War, Opposition to the Iraq War, Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Legality of the Iraq War, Views on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Protests against the Iraq War, American popular opinion on invasion of Iraq, Governmental positions on the Iraq War prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Media coverage of the Iraq War, and Public relations preparations for 2003 invasion of Iraq See also : Iraq War misappropriations, Habbush letter, and The Way of the World ( book ) A city street in Ramadi heavily damaged by the fighting in 2006 A memorial in North Carolina in December 2007 ; U.S. casualty count can be seen in the background The Bush Administration 's rationale for the Iraq War has faced heavy criticism from an array of popular and official sources both inside and outside the United States, with many U.S. citizens finding many parallels with the Vietnam War. For example, a former CIA officer described the Office of Special Plans as a group of ideologues who were dangerous to U.S. national security and a threat to world peace, and stated that the group lied and manipulated intelligence to further its agenda of removing Saddam. The Center for Public Integrity alleges that the Bush administration made a total of 935 false statements between 2001 and 2003 about Iraq 's alleged threat to the United States. Both proponents and opponents of the invasion have also criticized the prosecution of the war effort along a number of other lines. Most significantly, critics have assailed the United States and its allies for not devoting enough troops to the mission, not adequately planning for post-invasion Iraq, and for permitting and perpetrating human rights abuses. As the war has progressed, critics have also railed against the high human and financial costs. In 2016, the United Kingdom published the Iraq Inquiry, a public inquiry which was broadly critical of the actions of the British government and military in making the case for the war, in tactics and in planning for the aftermath of the war. States participating in the invasion of Iraq States in support of an invasion States in opposition to an invasion States with an uncertain or no official standpoint Criticisms include : Legality of the invasion Human casualties Human rights violations such as the Iraq prison abuse scandals Insufficient post-invasion plans, in particular inadequate troop levels ( a RAND Corporation study stated that 500,000 troops would be required for success ) Financial costs with approximately $612 billion spent as of 4 / 09 the CBO has estimated the total cost of the war in Iraq to the United States will be around $1.9 trillion. Adverse effect on U.S. - led global `` war on terror '' Damage to U.S. ' traditional alliances and influence in the region, especially Israel and Saudi Arabia. Endangerment and ethnic cleansing of religious and ethnic minorities by insurgents Disruption of Iraqi oil production and related energy security concerns ( the price of oil has quadrupled since 2002 ) After President Barack Obama was inaugurated in 2009, some anti-war groups decided to stop protesting even though the war was still going on. Some of them decided to stop because they felt they should give the new President time to establish his administration, and others stopped because they believed that Obama would end the war. Financial cost In March 2013, the total cost of the Iraq War was estimated to have been $1.7 trillion by the Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University. Critics have argued that the total cost of the war to the U.S. economy is estimated to be from $3 trillion to $6 trillion, including interest rates, by 2053. The upper ranges of these estimates include long - term veterans costs and economic impacts. For example, Harvard 's public finance expert Linda J. Bilmes has estimated that the long - term cost of providing disability compensation and medical care to U.S. troops injured in the Iraq conflict will reach nearly $1 trillion over the next 40 years. A CNN report noted that the United States - led interim government, the Coalition Provisional Authority lasting until 2004 in Iraq had lost $8.8 billion in the Development Fund for Iraq. In June 2011, it was reported by CBS News that $6 billion in neatly packaged blocks of $100 bills was air - lifted into Iraq by the George W. Bush administration, which flew it into Baghdad aboard C ‐ 130 military cargo planes. In total, the Times says $12 billion in cash was flown into Iraq in 21 separate flights by May 2004, all of which has disappeared. An inspector general 's report mentioned that `` ' Severe inefficiencies and poor management ' by the Coalition Provisional Authority would leave no guarantee that the money was properly used '', said Stuart W. Bowen, Jr., director of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. `` The CPA did not establish or implement sufficient managerial, financial and contractual controls to ensure that funds were used in a transparent manner. '' Bowen told the Times the missing money may represent `` the largest theft of funds in national history. '' Humanitarian crises Main articles : Humanitarian crises of the Iraq War and Refugees of Iraq Child killed by a car bomb in Kirkuk, July 2011 The child malnutrition rate rose to 28 %. Some 60 -- 70 % of Iraqi children were reported to be suffering from psychological problems in 2007. Most Iraqis had no access to safe drinking water. A cholera outbreak in northern Iraq was thought to be the result of poor water quality. As many as half of Iraqi doctors left the country between 2003 and 2006. The use of depleted uranium and white phosphorus by the U.S. military has been blamed for birth defects and cancers in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. By the end of 2015, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 4.4 million Iraqis had been internally displaced. The population of Iraqi Christians dropped dramatically during the war, from 1.5 million in 2003 to 500,000 in 2015, and perhaps only 275,000 in 2016. The Foreign Policy Association reported that `` Perhaps the most perplexing component of the Iraq refugee crisis... has been the inability for the United States to absorb more Iraqis following the 2003 invasion of the country. To date, the United States has granted around 84,000 Iraqis refugee status, of the more than two million global Iraqi refugees. By contrast, the United States granted asylum to more than 100,000 Vietnamese refugees during the Vietnam War. '' Human Rights abuses Main article : Human rights in post-invasion Iraq This article is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this article to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. ( July 2013 ) Play media Gun camera footage of the airstrike of 12 July 2007 in Baghdad, showing the slaying of Namir Noor - Eldeen and a dozen other civilians by a U.S. helicopter. Throughout the entire Iraq war, there have been human rights abuses on all sides of the conflict. Iraqi government The use of torture by Iraqi security forces. Iraqi police from the Interior Ministry accused of forming Death Squads and committing numerous massacres and tortures of Sunni Arabs and the police collusion with militias in Iraq have compounded the problems. Coalition forces and private contractors Main article : Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse This photograph from Abu Ghraib released in 2006 shows a pyramid of naked Iraqi prisoners. Deaths of civilians as a result of bombing and missile strikes that fail to take all feasible precautions with regards to civilians casualties. Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse by U.S. Army personnel. Haditha killings of 24 civilians ( ongoing with some charges dropped ) White phosphorus use in Iraq Rape and murder of an Iraqi girl, and murder of her family. The torture and killing of prisoner of war, Iraqi Air Force commander, Abed Hamed Mowhoush The killing of Baha Mousa Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre where 42 civilians were allegedly killed by coalition forces. Planting weapons on noncombatant, unarmed Iraqis by three U.S. Marines after killing them. According to a report by The Nation, other similar acts have been witnessed by U.S. soldiers. Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War tell similar stories. Blackwater Baghdad shootings Allegations of beatings, electrocution, mock executions, and sexual assault by British troops were presented to the International Criminal Court ( ICC ) by Public Interest Lawyers ( PIL ) and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights ( ECCHR ) on 12 January 2014. Insurgent groups Main article : Iraq War insurgent attacks Further information : Suicide bombings in Iraq since 2003 and Tactics of the Iraqi insurgency Car bombings are a frequently used tactic by insurgents in Iraq. Killing over 12,000 Iraqis from January 2005 to June 2006, according to Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, giving the first official count for the victims of bombings, ambushes and other deadly attacks. The insurgents have also conducted numerous suicide attacks on the Iraqi civilian population, mostly targeting the majority Shia community. An October 2005 report from Human Rights Watch examines the range of civilian attacks and their purported justification. Attacks against civilians including children through bombing of market places and other locations reachable by suicide bombers. Attacks against civilians by sectarian death squads primarily during the Iraqi Civil war. Attacks on diplomats and diplomatic facilities including ; the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003 killing the top UN representative in Iraq and 21 other UN staff members ; beheading several diplomats : two Algerian diplomatic envoys Ali Belaroussi and Azzedine Belkadi, Egyptian diplomatic envoy al - Sherif, and four Russian diplomats. The February 2006 bombing of the al - Askari Mosque, destroying one of the holiest Shiite shrines, killing over 165 worshipers and igniting sectarian strife and reprisal killings. The publicised killing of several contractors ; Eugene Armstrong, Jack Hensley, Kenneth Bigley, Ivaylo Kepov and Georgi Lazov ( Bulgarian truck drivers. ) Other non-military personnel murdered include : translator Kim Sun - il, Shosei Koda, Fabrizio Quattrocchi ( Italian ), charity worker Margaret Hassan, reconstruction engineer Nick Berg, photographer Salvatore Santoro ( Italian ) and supply worker Seif Adnan Kanaan ( Iraqi. ) Four private armed contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague, were killed with grenades and small arms fire, their bodies dragged from their vehicles, beaten and set ablaze. Their burned corpses were then dragged through the streets before being hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates. Torture or killing of members of the New Iraqi Army, and assassination of civilians associated with the Coalition Provisional Authority, such as Fern Holland, or the Iraqi Governing Council, such as Aqila al - Hashimi and Ezzedine Salim, or other foreign civilians, such as those from Kenya. Public Opinion on the war Main article : Public opinion on the Iraq War International Opinion Protesters on 19 March 2005, in London, where over 150,000 marched According to a January 2007 BBC World Service poll of more than 26,000 people in 25 countries, 73 % of the global population disapproved of U.S. handling of the Iraq War. A September 2007 poll conducted by the BBC found that two - thirds of the world 's population believed the U.S. should withdraw its forces from Iraq. In 2006 it was found that majorities in the UK and Canada believed that the war in Iraq was `` unjustified '' and -- in the UK -- were critical of their government 's support of U.S. policies in Iraq. According to polls conducted by the Arab American Institute, four years after the invasion of Iraq, 83 % of Egyptians had a negative view of the U.S. role in Iraq ; 68 % of Saudi Arabians had a negative view ; 96 % of the Jordanian population had a negative view ; 70 % of the population of the United Arab Emirates and 76 % of the Lebanese population also described their view as negative. The Pew Global Attitudes Project reports that in 2006 majorities in the Netherlands, Germany, Jordan, France, Lebanon, Russia, China, Canada, Poland, Pakistan, Spain, Indonesia, Turkey, and Morocco believed the world was safer before the Iraq War and the toppling of Saddam, while pluralities in the United States and India believe the world is safer without Saddam Hussein. Iraqi Opinion A woman pleads with an Iraqi army soldier from 2nd Company, 5th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division to let a suspected insurgent free during a raid near Tafaria, Iraq Directly after the invasion, polling suggested that a slight majority supported the U.S. invasion. Polls conducted between 2005 and 2007 showed 31 -- 37 % of Iraqi 's wanted U.S. and other Coalition forces to withdraw once security was restored and that 26 -- 35 % wanted immediate withdrawal instead. Despite a majority having previously been opposed to the U.S. presence, 60 % of Iraqis opposed American troops leaving directly prior to withdrawal, with 51 % saying withdrawal would have a negative effect. In 2006, a poll conducted on the Iraqi public revealed that 52 % of the ones polled said Iraq was going in the right direction and 61 % claimed it was worth ousting Saddam Hussein. Relation to the global war on terrorism Main article : Iraq War and U.S. Global War on Terror Further information : Criticism of the War on Terrorism, Saddam Hussein and al - Qaeda, and Saddam Hussein and al - Qaeda timeline Though explicitly stating that Iraq had `` nothing '' to do with 9 / 11, erstwhile President George W. Bush consistently referred to the Iraq war as `` the central front in the War on Terror '', and argued that if the United States pulled out of Iraq, `` terrorists will follow us here ''. While other proponents of the war regularly echoed this assertion, as the conflict dragged on, members of the U.S. Congress, the U.S. public, and even U.S. troops questioned the connection between Iraq and the fight against anti-U.S. terrorism. In particular, a consensus developed among intelligence experts that the Iraq war actually increased terrorism. Counterterrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna frequently referred to the invasion of Iraq as a `` fatal mistake ''. London 's International Institute for Strategic Studies concluded in 2004 that the occupation of Iraq had become `` a potent global recruitment pretext '' for Mujahideen and that the invasion `` galvanised '' al - Qaeda and `` perversely inspired insurgent violence '' there. The U.S. National Intelligence Council concluded in a January 2005 report that the war in Iraq had become a breeding ground for a new generation of terrorists ; David Low, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats, indicated that the report concluded that the war in Iraq provided terrorists with `` a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills... There is even, under the best scenario, over time, the likelihood that some of the jihadists who are not killed there will, in a sense, go home, wherever home is, and will therefore disperse to various other countries. '' The Council 's chairman Robert Hutchings said, `` At the moment, Iraq is a magnet for international terrorist activity. '' And the 2006 National Intelligence Estimate, which outlined the considered judgment of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, held that `` The Iraq conflict has become the ' cause célèbre ' for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement. '' Foreign involvement Role of Saudi Arabia and non-iraqis See also : Saudi Arabia and terrorism Origins of suicide bombers in Iraq 2003 -- 2007 Nationality Saudi Arabia 53 Iraq 18 Italy 8 Syria 8 Kuwait 7 Jordan * Other 26 * Three each from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen ; two each from Belgium, France, Spain ; one each from Britain, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan According to studies, most of the suicide bombers in Iraq are foreigners, especially Saudis. Role of China and Russia In order to encourage the re-stabilization of Iraq, China and Russia paid the Iraqi government for access to their oil wells by providing the highest bids. Iranian involvement Although some military intelligence analysts have concluded there is no concrete evidence, U.S. Major General Rick Lynch has claimed that Iran has provided training, weapons, money, and intelligence to Shiite insurgents in Iraq and that up to 150 Iranian intelligence agents, plus members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are believed to be active in Iraq at any given time. Lynch thinks that members of the Iranian Quds Force and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have trained members of the Qazali terror network in explosives technology and also provided the network with arms, munitions, and military advisors. Many explosive devices, including improvised explosives ( IEDs ) and explosively - formed projectiles ( EFPs ), used by insurgents are claimed by Lynch to be Iranian - made or designed. According to two unnamed U.S. officials, the Pentagon is examining the possibility that the Karbala provincial headquarters raid, in which insurgents managed to infiltrate an American base, kill five U.S. soldiers, wound three, and destroy three humvees before fleeing, was supported by Iranians. In a speech on 31 January 2007, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al - Maliki stated that Iran was supporting attacks against Coalition forces in Iraq and some Iraqis suspect that the raid may have been perpetrated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps 's Qods Force in retaliation for the detention of five Iranian officials by U.S. forces in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on 11 January. In 2011, U.S. ambassador James Franklin Jeffrey stated `` that Iranian proxies accounted for roughly a quarter of US combat casualties in Iraq -- around 1,100 deaths and many thousands more injuries. '' See also Iraq portal Military of the United States portal War portal 2000s portal 2010s portal 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike ( associated with WikiLeaks in 2010 ) Iraq -- United States relations National Network to End the War Against Iraq Overseas interventions of the United States Protests against the Iraq War United Nations Security Council and the Iraq War United States military casualties of war Iran -- Saudi Arabia proxy conflict The Iraq War : A Historiography of Wikipedia Changelogs Footnotes Jump up ^ The conflict is also known as the War in Iraq, the Occupation of Iraq, the Second Gulf War, and Gulf War II. The period of the war lasting from 2003 to 2010 was referred to as Operation Iraqi Freedom by the United States military. 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Jump up ^ The Brookings Institution Iraq Index : Tracking Variables of Reconstruction & Security in Post-Saddam Iraq Archived 2 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine. 1 October 2007 Jump up ^ Pincus, Walter. `` Violence in Iraq Called Increasingly Complex ''. The Washington Post, 17 November 2006. Jump up ^ 260 killed in 2003, ( 1 ) 15,196 killed from 2004 through 2009 ( with the exceptions of May 2004 and March 2009 ), ( 2 ) 67 killed in March 2009, ( 3 ) 1,100 killed in 2010, ( 4 ) Archived 16 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine. and 1,067 killed in 2011, ( 5 ) thus giving a total of 17,690 dead Jump up ^ `` Iraq War '' ( PDF ). U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 18 November 2012. ^ Jump up to : `` Operation Iraqi Freedom ''. iCasualties. Archived from the original on 21 March 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2010. Jump up ^ `` Home and Away : Iraq and Afghanistan War Casualties ''. CNN. Retrieved 30 March 2010. Jump up ^ `` Casualty '' ( PDF ). Retrieved 29 June 2016. Jump up ^ `` Fact Sheets Operations Factsheets Operations in Iraq : British Fatalities ''. Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 11 October 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2009. Jump up ^ `` POW and MIA in Iraq and Afghanistan Fast Facts ''. CNN. Retrieved 5 June 2014. ; As of July 2012, seven American private contractors remain unaccounted for. Their names are : Jeffrey Ake, Aban Elias, Abbas Kareem Naama, Neenus Khoshaba, Bob Hamze, Dean Sadek and Hussain al - Zurufi. Healy, Jack, `` With Withdrawal Looming, Trails Grow Cold For Americans Missing In Iraq '', The New York Times, 22 May 2011, p. 6. Jump up ^ `` Casualty '' ( PDF ). U.S. Department of Defense. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2012. Jump up ^ 33 Ukrainians ( 6 ), 31 + Italians ( 7 ) ( 8 ), 30 Bulgarians ( 9 ) ( 10 ), 20 Salvadorans ( 11 ), 19 Georgians ( 12 ), 18 Estonians ( 13 ), 16 + Poles ( 14 ) `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 12 June 2007. Retrieved 7 January 2011. ( 15 ) `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011. ( 16 ), 15 Spaniards ( 17 ) ( 18 ) ( 19 ) ( 20 ), 10 Romanians ( 21 ), 6 Australians `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 28 April 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011., 5 Albanians, 4 Kazakhs `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2011., 3 Filipinos `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011. and 2 Thais ( 22 ) ( 23 ) for a total of 212 + ^ Jump up to : Many official U.S. tables at `` Military Casualty Information '' Archived 3 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine... See latest totals for injury, disease / other medical Archived 2 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` Casualties in Iraq ''. ^ Jump up to : iCasualties.org ( was lunaville.org ). Benicia, California. Patricia Kneisler, et al., `` Iraq Coalition Casualties '' Archived 21 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine. ^ Jump up to : `` Defence Internet Fact Sheets Operations in Iraq : British Casualties '' Archived 14 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine... UK Ministry of Defense. Latest combined casualty and fatality tables Archived 4 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine... Jump up ^ `` Archived copy '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 2 June 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2016. ^ Jump up to : `` Office of Workers ' Compensation Programs ( OWCP ) -- Defense Base Act Case Summary by Nation ''. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 15 December 2011. ^ Jump up to : T. Christian Miller ( 23 September 2009 ). `` U.S. Government Private Contract Worker Deaths and Injuries ''. Projects.propublica.org. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2010. Jump up ^ 185 in Diyala from June 2007 to December 2007, ( 24 ) 4 in assassination of Abu Risha, 25 on 12 November 2007, ( 25 ) 528 in 2008, ( 26 ) 27 on 2 January 2009, ( 27 ) 53 From 6 to 12 April 2009, ( 28 ) 13 on 16 November 2009, `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011. 15 in December 2009, ( 29 ) 100 + from April to June 2010, ( 30 ) ( 31 ) 52 on 18 July 2010, ( 32 ) ( 33 ) total of 1,002 + dead Archived 18 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Moore, Solomon ; Oppel, Richard A. ( 24 January 2008 ). `` Attacks Imperil U.S. - Backed Militias in Iraq ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ Greg Bruno. `` Finding a Place for the ' Sons of Iraq ' ''. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 26 December 2011. Jump up ^ Press release ( 28 October 2003 ). `` New Study Finds : 11,000 to 15,000 Killed in Iraq War ; 30 Percent are Non-Combatants ; Death Toll Hurts Postwar Stability Efforts, Damages US Image Abroad ''. Project on Defense Alternatives ( via Common Dreams NewsCenter ). Retrieved 2 September 2010. Archived 17 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Conetta, Carl ( 23 October 2003 ). `` The Wages of War : Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 2003 Conflict -- Project on Defense Alternative Research Monograph # 8 ''. Project on Defense Alternatives ( via Commonwealth Institute ). Retrieved 2 September 2010. Jump up ^ 597 killed in 2003, ( 34 ), 23,984 killed from 2004 through 2009 ( with the exceptions of May 2004 and March 2009 ), ( 35 ) 652 killed in May 2004, ( 36 ) 45 killed in March 2009, ( 37 ) 676 killed in 2010, ( 38 ) and 590 killed in 2011, ( 39 ) thus giving a total of 26,544 dead Jump up ^ `` Amnesty : Iraq holds up to 30,000 detainees without trial ''. CNN. 13 September 2010. Archived from the original on 23 October 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2011. 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The Enterprise. 30 March 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2017. Jump up ^ `` Three U.S. soldiers killed in southern Iraq ''. BBC News. 30 June 2011. Jump up ^ `` June bloodiest month for U.S. in Iraq in 2 years ''. CBS News. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 26 December 2011. Jump up ^ `` Iraq to buy US warplanes worth around $3 billion ''. MSNBC. Jump up ^ `` Barack Obama : All U.S. troops to leave Iraq in 2011 ''. BBC News. 21 October 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011. Jump up ^ Johnson, Craig ( 16 December 2011 ). `` N.C. soldier reportedly last to die in Iraq war ''. CNN. Retrieved 16 December 2011. Jump up ^ Antle, W. James. `` Senate Tackles Iraq War Powers, Indefinite Detention ''. The Spectacle Blog. The American Spectator. Retrieved 23 February 2015. Jump up ^ Denselow, James ( 25 October 2011 ). `` The US departure from Iraq is an illusion ''. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 10 February 2014. Jump up ^ Jaffe, Greg ( 18 December 2011 ). `` Last U.S. troops cross Iraqi border into Kuwait ''. The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 December 2011. Jump up ^ `` Arrest warrant for Iraq Vice-President Tariq al - Hashemi ''. BBC News. 12 January 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012. Jump up ^ DeFronzo, James ( 2012 ). `` Impacts of the Iraq War ''. In Karl Yambert. The Contemporary Middle East ( Third ed. ). Boulder, Colorado : Westview Press. pp. 210 -- 211. ISBN 978 - 0813348391. Jump up ^ Keith Wagstaff ( 27 May 2013 ). `` Is Iraq heading toward civil war ? ''. The Week. Retrieved 28 May 2013. Jump up ^ Sinan Salaheddin ( 20 May 2013 ). `` Attacks Kill 95 in Iraq, Hint of Syrian Spillover ''. Associated Press. Retrieved 28 May 2013. Jump up ^ `` Iraq : hundreds escape from Abu Ghraib jail ''. The Guardian. London. Associated Press. 22 July 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2014. Jump up ^ Michael R. Gordon ; Duraid Adnan ( 24 July 2013 ). `` Brazen Attacks at Prisons Raise Worries of Al Qaeda 's Strength in Iraq ''. The New York Times. 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Jump up ^ Iraq war was terrorism ' recruiting sergeant ', The Guardian, 28 September 2006 Jump up ^ Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Hurting U.S. Terror Fight, The Washington Post, 23 September 2006 Jump up ^ Israel warns of Iraq war ' earthquake ', BBC News, 7 February 2003 Jump up ^ Saudis warn U.S. over Iraq war, BBC News, 17 February 2003 Jump up ^ Crawford, Angus ( 4 March 2007 ). `` Iraq 's Mandaeans ' face extinction ' ''. BBC News. Retrieved 23 October 2010. Jump up ^ `` Iraq 's Yazidis fear annihilation ''. MSNBC. 16 August 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2010. Jump up ^ Sabah, Zaid ( 23 March 2007 ). `` Christians, targeted and suffering, flee Iraq ''. USA Today. Retrieved 23 October 2010. Jump up ^ `` Assyrians Face Escalating Abuses in `` New Iraq '' ``. IPS News. 3 May 2006. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010. Jump up ^ `` Light Crude Oil ( CL, NYMEX ) : Monthly Price Chart ''. Futures.tradingcharts.com. Retrieved 10 September 2008. Jump up ^ `` Iraq to revive oil deal with China ''. International Herald Tribune. 29 March 2009. Archived from the original on 19 September 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2010. Jump up ^ After six years, peace vigil ends, Times - Herald, 20 March 2009 Jump up ^ The Wall Street Journal 15 March 2013 Jump up ^ Trotta, Daniel ( 2 March 2008 ). `` Iraq war hits U.S. economy : Nobel winner ''. Reuters. Retrieved 23 October 2010. Jump up ^ Trotta, Daniel ( 14 March 2013 ). `` Iraq war costs US more than $2 trillion : study ''. Reuters. Jump up ^ Bilmes, Linda ( March 26, 2013 ). `` The Financial Legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan : How Wartime Spending Decisions Will Constrain Future National Security Budgets ''. SSRN Electronic Journal. SSRN 2281275. doi : 10.2139 / ssrn. 2281275... HKS Working Paper No. RWP13 - 006. Jump up ^ Audit : U.S. lost track of $9 billion in Iraq funds Monday, 31 January 2005. CNN Jump up ^ `` Report : $6 B missing in Iraq may have been stolen ''. CBS News. 14 June 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2014. Jump up ^ `` Hunger, disease spread in Iraq -- Oxfam report ''. Reuters. 30 July 2007. Retrieved 14 July 2014. Jump up ^ `` Iraq : Traumatised Iraqi children suffer psychological damage ''. Alertnet.org. 16 July 2007. Retrieved 14 July 2014. Jump up ^ Cockburn, Patrick ( 31 August 2007 ). `` Cholera spreads in Iraq as health services collapse ''. The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 15 October 2007. Retrieved 14 July 2014. Jump up ^ Laurance, Jeremy ( 20 October 2006 ). `` Medics beg for help as Iraqis die needlessly ''. The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 13 October 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2014. Jump up ^ Ten Years Later, U.S. Has Left Iraq with Mass Displacement & Epidemic of Birth Defects, Cancers. Democracy Now ! 20 March 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2014. Jump up ^ Ross Caputi ( 25 October 2012 ). The victims of Fallujah 's health crisis are stifled by western silence. The Guardian. Retrieved 1 January 2014. Jump up ^ Depleted uranium used by US forces blamed for birth defects and cancer in Iraq. RT. 22 July 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2014. Jump up ^ UNHCR. `` Global Trends : Forced Displacement in 2015 ''. Retrieved 18 July 2016. Jump up ^ Griswold, Eliza ( 2015 - 07 - 22 ). `` Is This the End of Christianity in the Middle East ? ''. The New York Times. ISSN 0362 - 4331. Retrieved 2016 - 07 - 18. Jump up ^ `` Global Views : Iraq 's refugees '', by R. Nolan, Foreign Policy Association Features, Resource Library, 12 June 2007. Jump up ^ `` The Flight From Iraq ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 23 March 2014. Jump up ^ `` Iraqi Refugee Processing Fact Sheet ''. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Retrieved 23 March 2014. Jump up ^ `` Iraq : Torture Continues at Hands of New Government ''. Human Rights News. 25 January 2005. Jump up ^ Dexter Filkins ( 29 November 2005 ). `` Sunnis Accuse Iraqi Military of Kidnappings and Slayings ''. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 18 April 2006. Jump up ^ `` Off Target : The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq ''. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 21 October 2015. Jump up ^ Hersh, Seymour M. ( May 17, 2004 ). `` Chain of Command ''. The New Yorker. Retrieved September 13, 2011. NBC News later quoted U.S. military officials as saying that the unreleased photographs showed American soldiers `` severely beating an Iraqi prisoner nearly to death, having sex with a female Iraqi prisoner, and ' acting inappropriately with a dead body. ' The officials said there also was a videotape, apparently shot by U.S. personnel, showing Iraqi guards raping young boys. '' Jump up ^ `` Iraq rape soldier jailed for life ''. BBC News. 16 November 2006. Retrieved 10 September 2008. Jump up ^ Neil Mackay ( 14 March 2004 ). `` Iraq : The Wedding Party Massacre ''. Sunday Herald. Archived from the original on 7 January 2009. 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CBC News. 22 June 2006. Archived from the original on 7 August 2006. Jump up ^ `` 4 Contractors murdered by al Qaeda ''. The Washington Post. 31 March 2004. Retrieved 23 October 2010. Jump up ^ Sabrina Tavernise ( 19 June 2005 ). `` Iraqis Found in Torture House Tell of Brutality of Insurgents ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ `` Iraq kidnappings stun Kenya press ''. BBC News. 23 July 2004. Retrieved 5 January 2010. Jump up ^ `` World View of U.S. Role Goes from Bad to Worse '' ( PDF ). BBC World Service. 23 January 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2007. Jump up ^ `` Most people ' want Iraq pull - out ' ''. BBC News. 7 September 2007. Retrieved 5 January 2010. Jump up ^ `` Guardian July Poll '' ( PDF ). ICM Research. July 2006. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 27 May 2008. Jump up ^ Zogby, James ( March 2007 ). `` Four Years Later : Arab Opinion Troubled by Consequences of Iraq War '' ( PDF ). Arab American Institute. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 28 January 2015. Jump up ^ `` India : Pro-America, Pro-Bush ''. Pew Global Attitudes Project. Pew Research Center. 28 February 2006. Jump up ^ Most Iraqis in Baghdad welcome US : NDTV poll The Indian Express ^ Jump up to : `` The Iraqi Public on the U.S. Presence and the Future of Iraq '' ( PDF ). World Public Opinion. 27 September 2006. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 24 August 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2008. Jump up ^ Iraq Poll conducted by D3 Systems for the BBC, ABC News, ARD German TV and USA Today. More than 2,000 people were questioned in more than 450 neighbourhoods and villages across all 18 provinces of Iraq between 25 February and 5 March 2007. The margin of error is + or -- 2.5 %. Jump up ^ Iraqis Oppose Oil Development Plans, Poll Finds ( 6 August 2007 ) ( Oil Change International, Institute for Policy Studies, War on Want, PLATFORM and Global Policy Forum ) Jump up ^ Most Iraqis in Baghdad welcome US : NDTV poll The Indian Express Archived 22 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine. 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Jump up ^ Walt, Vivienne ( 19 December 2009 ). `` U.S. Companies Shut Out as Iraq Auctions Its Oil Fields ''. Retrieved 26 February 2017 -- via content.time.com. Jump up ^ Linzer, Dafna ( 26 January 2007 ). `` Troops Authorized to Kill Iranian Operatives in Iraq ''. The Washington Post. p. A. 1. Jump up ^ Greenwell, Megan ( 20 August 2007 ). `` Iran Trains Militiamen Inside Iraq, U.S. Says ''. The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 October 2010. Jump up ^ `` Al - Maliki : Iraq wo n't be battleground for U.S., Iran ''. CNN. 31 January 2007. Archived from the original on 2 February 2007. Retrieved 31 January 2007. Jump up ^ `` Iran involvement suspected in Karbala compound attack ''. CNN. 31 January 2007. Retrieved 31 January 2007. Jump up ^ Baer, Robert ( 30 January 2007 ). `` Are the Iranians Out for Revenge ? ''. Time. Retrieved 31 January 2007. Jump up ^ Chulov, Martin ( 2011 - 07 - 28 ). `` Qassem Suleimani : the Iranian general ' secretly running ' Iraq ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 2014 - 08 - 20. Further reading Bellavia, David ( 2007 ). House to House : An Epic Memoir of War. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978 - 1416574712. Dexter Filkins ( 17 December 2012 ). `` General Principles : How good was David Petraeus ? ''. The New Yorker. pp. 76 -- 81. Gates, Robert M. ( 2014 ). Duty : Memoirs of a Secretary at War. New York : Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780307959478. 318 pages Gordon, Michael R. ( 2006 ). Cobra II : The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. Pantheon. ISBN 978 - 1557782328. Larson, Luke S. ( 2008 ). Senator 's Son : An Iraq War Novel. Phoenix, Arizona : Key Edition Incorporated. ISBN 978 - 1449969868. North, Richard ( 2009 ). Ministry of Defeat : The British War in Iraq 2003 -- 2009. Continuum Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978 - 1441169976. Bruce R. Pirnie ; Edward O'Connell ( 2008 ). Counterinsurgency in Iraq ( 2003 -- 2006 ). Santa Monica, CA : Rand Corporation. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8330 - 4297 - 2. Thomas E. Ricks ( 2006 ). Fiasco : The American Military Adventure in Iraq. Penguin. ISBN 9781594201035. A Bitter Legacy : Lessons of Debaathification in Iraq ( Report ). International Center for Transitional Justice. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Iraq War. Wikinews has news related to : Iraq War Wikiquote has quotations related to : Iraq War International Center for Transitional Justice, Iraq Dollar cost of war : total U.S. cost of the Iraq War `` Bleak Pentagon study admits ' civil war ' in Iraq '', by Rupert Cornwell, The Independent, March 2007 High resolution maps of Iraq, GulfWarrior.org Presidential address by George W. Bush on the evening of 19 March 2003, announcing war against Iraq. Bibliography : The Second U.S. -- Iraq War ( 2003 -- ) `` 1st Major Survey of Iraq ''. Zogby International, 10 September 2003. Iraq at Polling Report.com. Chronological polls of Americans 18 and older Just War in Iraq 2003 pdf Legal dissertation by Thomas Dyhr from University of Copenhagen. Iraq war stories, a Guardian and Observer archive in words and pictures documenting the human and political cost, The Guardian, April 2009. Iraq : The War Card. Center for Public Integrity. Jargin SV. Health care in Iraq : 2013 vs. 2003. CMAJ September 17, 2013 Iraq War ( 2003 -- 2011 ) Background Lead - up Disarmament crisis Yellowcake uranium WMD claims Rationale US popular opinion Hussein interview Biological weapons Invasion Failed Iraqi peace initiatives Preparations Multi-National Force Timeline Battle of Nasiriyah Invasion of Baghdad Debecka Pass Firdos Square statue Mission Accomplished speech WMD investigation Coalition Provisional Authority Key events Invasion ( 2003 ) Execution of Saddam Hussein ( 2006 ) Anbar Province ( 2003 -- 11 ) Insurgency ( 2003 -- 11 ) Post-invasion insurgency ( 2003 -- 06 ) Sectarian violence ( 2006 -- 08 ) U.S. withdrawal ( 2007 -- 11 ) Aftermath Post-withdrawal insurgency ( 2011 -- 13 ) Military intervention against ISIL ( 2014 -- present ) Iraqi Civil War ( 2014 -- present ) Reactions Views on the invasion Legitimacy of the invasion Opposition Protests Criticism United Nations Governmental positions Controversies Baghdad Museum looting ( 2003 ) Fallujah genocide ( 2003 ) Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse ( 2004 ) Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre ( 2004 ) Haditha massacre ( 2005 ) Mahmudiyah rape and killings ( 2006 ) Ishaqi incident ( 2006 ) Baghdad airstrike ( 2007 ) Nisour Square massacre ( 2007 ) Iraq War documents leak ( 2010 ) Impact Refugees Duelfer Report Damage to Baghdad Iraq Interim Governing Council Aid and Investment Economic reform Financial cost Casualties Chilcot Inquiry Human rights Memorials London Lists Coalition military operations Bombings Aviation shootdowns and accidents Associated people Timeline 2003 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011 Category Wikinews Multimedia War on Terror War in Afghanistan Iraq War War in North - West Pakistan Symbolism of terrorism Participants Operational ISAF Operation Enduring Freedom participants Afghanistan Northern Alliance Iraq ( Iraqi Armed Forces ) NATO Pakistan United Kingdom United States European Union Philippines Ethiopia Targets al - Qaeda Osama bin Laden al - Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Abu Sayyaf Anwar al - Awlaki Al - Shabaab Harkat - ul - Jihad al - Islami Hizbul Mujahideen Islamic Courts Union Jaish - e-Mohammed Jemaah Islamiyah Lashkar - e-Taiba Taliban Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Conflicts Operation Enduring Freedom War in Afghanistan OEF -- Philippines Georgia Train and Equip Program Georgia Sustainment and Stability OEF -- Horn of Africa OEF -- Trans Sahara Drone strikes in Pakistan Other Operation Active Endeavour Insurgency in the Maghreb ( 2002 -- present ) Insurgency in the North Caucasus Moro conflict in the Philippines Iraq War Iraqi insurgency Operation Linda Nchi Terrorism in Saudi Arabia War in North - West Pakistan War in Somalia ( 2006 -- 09 ) 2007 Lebanon conflict al - Qaeda insurgency in Yemen Korean conflict See also Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse Axis of evil Black sites Bush Doctrine Clash of Civilizations Cold War Combatant Status Review Tribunal Criticism of the War on Terror Death of Osama bin Laden Enhanced interrogation techniques Torture Memos Extrajudicial prisoners Extraordinary rendition Guantanamo Bay detention camp Iranian Revolution Islamism Military Commissions Act of 2006 North Korea and weapons of mass destruction Terrorist Surveillance Program Operation Noble Eagle Operation Eagle Assist Pakistan 's role Patriot Act President 's Surveillance Program Protect America Act of 2007 September 11 attacks State Sponsors of Terrorism Targeted killing Targeted Killing in International Law Targeted Killings : Law and Morality in an Asymmetrical World Unitary executive theory Unlawful combatant Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan CAGE Terrorism portal War portal Armed groups in the Iraq conflict ( 2003 -- present ) Iraqi government Iraqi Armed Forces Iraqi Army Iraqi Air Force Iraqi Police Iraqi Police Service National Police Supporting Forces Facilities Protection Service Ba'athists Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order Fedayeen Saddam General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries Al - Awda General Command of the Armed Forces, Resistance and Liberation in Iraq Popular Army New Return Patriotic Front Political Media Organ of the Ba'ath Party Popular Resistance for the Liberation of Iraq Al - Abud Network Militias and others Shia Islamic militias Mahdi Army Abu Deraa 's Mahdi Army faction Badr Organization Sheibani Network Soldiers of Heaven Special Groups ( Iraq ) Asa'ib Ahl al - Haq Promised Day Brigade Kata'ib Hezbollah Sunni Islamic militias Awakening groups 1920 Revolution Brigade Jaish al - Rashideen Islamic Army in Iraq Islamic Front for the Iraqi Resistance Hamas of Iraq Kurdish militias Peshmerga Kurdistan Workers ' Party Kurdistan Freedom Hawks Kurdistan Free Life Party Turkmen militias Iraqi Turkmen Front 16Brigade 52nd Brigade 92nd Brigade Brigade of Imam Hussein Sayyid al - Shuhada Bashir Regiment Assyrian militias Qaraqosh Protection Committee Nineveh Plain Forces Nineveh Plain Protection Units Dwekh Nawsha Syriac Military Council Kataib Rouh Allah Issa Ibn Miriam Yazidi militias Asayîşa Êzîdxanê Êzîdxan Protection Force Sinjar Alliance Sinjar Resistance Units Êzîdxan Women 's Units Insurgents Nationalist Salafis Mujahideen Army Mujahideen Battalions of the Salafi Group of Iraq Islamic Salafist Boy Scout Battalions Mohammad 's Army Salafi Jihadists Ansar al - Islam Black Banner Organization Abu Theeb 's group Jaish Abi Baker 's group Jamaat Ansar al - Sunna Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Mujahideen Shura Council Tanzim Qaidat al - Jihad fi Bilad al - Rafidayn Jama'at al - Tawhid wal - Jihad Wakefulness and Holy War List of modern conflicts in the Middle East 1910s World War I Middle Eastern theatre Arab Revolt Armenian Genocide Assyrian genocide Unification of Saudi Arabia Simko Shikak revolt Egyptian revolution of 1919 Turkish War of Independence Greco - Turkish War Turkish -- Armenian War Franco - Turkish War Revolts Mahmud Barzanji revolts 1920s Franco - Syrian War Iraqi revolt against the British Sectarian conflict in Mandatory Palestine Adwan Rebellion Arab separatism in Khuzestan Great Syrian Revolt Sheikh Said rebellion 1921 Persian coup d'état 1930s Ararat rebellion Ahmed Barzani revolt Simele massacre Saudi -- Yemeni War ( 1934 ) Goharshad Mosque rebellion 1935 -- 36 Iraqi Shia revolts 1935 Yazidi revolt Dersim rebellion 1940s World War II Italian bombing of Palestine Anglo - Iraqi War Syria -- Lebanon Campaign Anglo - Soviet invasion of Iran 1943 Barzani revolt Alwaziri coup Al - Wathbah uprising Kurdish separatism in Iran Iran crisis of 1946 Arab -- Israeli conflict Israeli -- Palestinian conflict 1950s Egyptian revolution of 1952 1953 Iranian coup d'état Jebel Akhdar War Cypriot ethnic crisis Yemeni -- Adenese clan violence 1958 Lebanon crisis 1958 Iraqi revolution 1959 Mosul uprising 1960s Iraqi -- Kurdish conflict First Iraqi - Kurdish War Dhofar Rebellion North Yemen Civil War Feb. 1963 Iraqi coup 8th March Syrian Revolution Nov. 1963 Iraqi coup Aden Emergency 1964 Hama riot 1966 Syrian coup d'état 1970s Black September in Jordan 1972 North Yemen -- South Yemen war Turkish invasion of Cyprus Lebanese Civil War Political violence in Turkey ( 1976 -- 80 ) Libyan -- Egyptian War Islamist uprising in Syria NDF Rebellion Iranian Revolution Consolidation of the Iranian Revolution 1979 Qatif Uprising Grand Mosque seizure 1980s Sadr uprising ( 1980 ) Iran -- Iraq War 1980 Turkish coup d'état Kurdish separatism in Turkey Turkey - PKK conflict South Yemen Civil War 1986 Egyptian conscripts riot 1986 Damascus bombings Mecca massacre Abu Nidal 's executions 1990s Gulf War ( 1990 -- 1991 ) 1991 uprisings in Iraq Terror campaign in Egypt ( 1990s ) Yemeni Civil War ( 1994 ) Islamic insurgency in Saudi Arabia ( 2000 -- present ) Operation Desert Fox al - Qaeda insurgency in Yemen 1999 Shia uprising in Iraq 2000s Iraq War Balochi insurgency in Iran 2004 al - Qamishli riots Houthi insurgency in Yemen Iran -- Israel proxy conflict 2006 Lebanon conflict Fatah -- Hamas conflict Nahr al - Bared fighting 2008 conflict in Lebanon South Yemen insurgency 2009 -- 10 Iranian election protests 2010s Bahraini uprising Egyptian Crisis Sinai insurgency Insurgency in Egypt ( 2013 -- present ) Syrian Civil War Syrian War spillover in Lebanon Iraqi insurgency ( 2011 -- 13 ) Iraqi Civil War ( 2014 -- present ) Yemeni Crisis This list includes post-Ottoman conflicts ( after 1918 ) of at least 100 fatalities each Prolonged conflicts are listed in the decade when initiated ; ongoing conflicts are marked italic and conflict with + 100,000 killed with bold. Armed conflicts involving the United States Armed Forces listed chronologically Domestic Shays ' Rebellion Whiskey Rebellion Fries 's Rebellion Mormon War Dorr Rebellion Bleeding Kansas Utah War Civil War Indian Wars Brooks -- Baxter War Range War Lincoln County War Johnson County War Coal Creek War Homestead Strike Battle of Blair Mountain Bonus Army Battle of Athens Foreign Revolutionary War Quasi-War First Barbary War War of 1812 Second Barbary War First Sumatran expedition Second Sumatran expedition Ivory Coast Expedition Mexican -- American War First Fiji Expedition Second Opium War Second Fiji Expedition Formosa Expedition Korean Expedition Spanish -- American War Philippine -- American War Boxer Rebellion Banana Wars Border War World War I Russian Civil War World War II Korean War Vietnam War Invasion of the Dominican Republic Invasion of Grenada Lebanese Civil War Invasion of Panama Gulf War Somali Civil War Bosnian War Kosovo War Afghanistan War Iraq War War in North - West Pakistan Libyan Civil War Intervention against ISIL Iraq Syria Cameroon Libya Related articles List of conflicts in the U.S. List of wars involving the U.S. Timeline of U.S. military operations Length of U.S. participation in major wars Overseas expansion Military history Covert regime - change actions Casualties of war Peace movement List of anti-war organizations Conscientious objector Iraq articles History Ancient Sumer Akkadian Empire Babylonia Assyria Neo-Assyrian Empire Neo-Babylonian Empire Achaemenid Assyria Seleucid Babylonia Parthian Babylonia Sassanid Asorestan 638 -- 1958 Muslim conquest of Persia Abbasid Caliphate Buyid dynasty Kara Koyunlu Ak Koyunlu Safavids Ottoman Iraq ( Mamluk dynasty ) Mandatory Iraq Kingdom of Iraq Arab Federation Republic 1958 -- 68 1968 -- 2003 2003 -- 11 2011 -- present Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party -- Iraq Region ( National Command ) Saddam Hussein Iran -- Iraq War Invasion of Kuwait Gulf War Sanctions Iraq War U.S. invasion Iraqi insurgency U.S. troop withdrawal Insurgency ( 2011 -- 2013 ) Civil War ( 2014 -- present ) Mosul liberation Geography Al - Faw Peninsula Al - Jazira Euphrates Hamrin Mountains Persian Gulf Islands Mesopotamia Mesopotamian Marshes Places Lakes Shatt al - Arab Syrian Desert Tigris Umm Qasr Zagros Mountains Politics Administrative divisions Constitution Council of Representatives ( legislative ) Elections Foreign aid Foreign relations Government Council of Ministers Presidency Council President Prime Minister Human rights in pre-Saddam Iraq in Saddam Hussein 's Iraq in post-invasion Iraq in ISIL - 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American Civil Rights Movement 1865 -- 1895 / 1896 -- 1954 Spanish -- American War Imperialism World War I Roaring Twenties Great Depression World War II home front Nazism in the United States American Century Cold War Korean War Space Race Civil Rights Movement Feminist Movement Vietnam War Post-Cold War ( 1991 -- 2008 ) Collapse of the Soviet Union War on Terror War in Afghanistan Iraq War Recent events ( 2008 -- present ) By topic Outline of U.S. history Demographic Discoveries Economic debt ceiling Inventions before 1890 1890 -- 1945 1946 -- 91 after 1991 Military Postal Technological and industrial Geography Territory states territories counties cities, towns, and villages Earthquakes Extreme points Islands Mountains peaks ranges Appalachian Rocky National Park Service National Parks Regions East Coast West Coast Great Plains Gulf Mid-Atlantic Midwestern New England Pacific Central Eastern Northern Northeastern Northwestern Southern Southeastern Southwestern Western Rivers Colorado Columbia Mississippi Missouri Ohio Rio Grande Yukon Time Water supply and sanitation Politics Federal Executive President Executive Office Cabinet / Executive departments Civil service Independent agencies Law enforcement Public policy Legislature Congress Senate Vice President President pro tempore House of Representatives Speaker Judiciary Federal judiciary Supreme Court Courts of appeals District courts Law Constitution federalism preemption separation of powers Bill of Rights civil liberties Code of Federal Regulations Federal Reporter United States Code United States Reports Intelligence Central Intelligence Agency Defense Intelligence Agency Federal Bureau of Investigation National Geospatial - 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ownership Household income Income inequality Middle class Personal income Poverty Professional and working class conflict Standard of living Wealth Issues Ages of consent Capital punishment Crime Incarceration Criticism of government Discrimination Affirmative action Intersex rights Islamophobia LGBT rights Racism Same - sex marriage Drug policy Energy policy Environmental movement Gun politics Health care Health insurance Health care reform Abortion Hunger Obesity Smoking Human rights Immigration illegal International rankings National security Mass surveillance Terrorism Separation of church and state Outline Index Book Category Portal History of the United States Timeline Prehistory Pre-Columbian Colonial 1776 -- 89 1789 -- 1849 1849 -- 65 1865 -- 1918 1918 -- 45 1945 -- 64 1964 -- 80 1980 -- 91 1991 -- 2008 2008 -- present Topics American Century Cities Constitution Demographic Diplomatic Economic Education Immigration Medical Merchant Marine Military Musical Religious Slavery Southern Technological and industrial Territorial acquisitions Territorial evolution Voting rights Women Category Portal Post -- Cold War conflicts in Asia South Asia Nepalese conflicts Civil War ( 1996 -- 2006 ) Royal massacre ( 2001 ) Sri Lankan Civil War ( 1983 -- 2009 ) Other Sri Lankan conflicts 1971 JVP insurrection 1987 -- 89 JVP insurrection Kashmir conflict ( 1947 -- present ) 2013 India -- Pakistan border skirmishes India -- Pakistan border skirmishes ( 2014 -- 2015 ) 2016 India -- Pakistan military confrontation Rohingya insurgency in Western Myanmar ( 1947 - present ) Kargil War ( 1999 ) Jammu and Kashmir insurgency ( 1989 -- present ) Insurgency in Northeast India ( 1964 -- present ) Naxalite -- Maoist insurgency ( 1967 -- present ) Afghanistan -- Pakistan skirmishes Afghan Wars 1989 -- 92 1992 -- 96 1996 -- 2001 2001 -- 14 2015 -- present War in North - West Pakistan ( 2004 -- present ) Balochistan conflict ( 2004 -- present ) East Asia Taiwan Strait Crisis ( 1996 ) Korean dispute Maritime border incidents ( 1967 -- present ) 2013 crisis 2017 crisis Xinjiang conflict ( 1960s -- present ) Southeast Asia Cambodian -- Vietnamese War Insurgency in Laos East Timorese conflicts Indonesian occupation ( 1975 -- 99 ) 1999 crisis 2006 crisis Cambodian -- Thai border dispute ( 2008 -- 11 ) Other Indonesian conflicts Papua conflict ( 1969 -- present ) Aceh insurgency ( 1976 -- 2005 ) Burmese internal conflict ( 1947 -- present ) Karen conflict Kachin ( 2011 -- present ) Civil conflict in the Philippines CPP -- NPA -- NDF Moro Al - Ma'unah ( 2000 - 2001 ) Kampung Medan riots ( 2001 ) South Thailand insurgency ( 2004 -- present ) Central Asia Tajikistani Civil War ( 1992 -- 97 ) Kyrgyz Revolution ( 2010 ) South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes ( 2010 ) Tajikistan Insurgency ( 2010 -- 12 ) Western Asia ( excluding South Caucasus ) Iraqi conflicts Iraqi -- Kurdish ( 1918 -- 2003 ) Civil War ( 1994 -- 97 ) Kurdistan Islamist Conflict ( 2001 - 03 ) War ( 2003 -- 11 ) Post-War insurgency ( 2011 -- 13 ) Civil War ( 2014 -- present ) Conflicts with Israel Israeli -- Palestinian ( 1948 -- present ) Intifada ( 2000 -- 05 ) Gaza -- Israel ( 2006 -- present ) Israeli -- Lebanese ( 1948 -- present ) South Lebanon ( 1985 -- 2000 ) Lebanon War ( 2006 ) Yemeni conflicts Yemeni Civil War ( 1994 ) al - Qaeda ( 1998 -- 2015 ) Houthi ( 2004 -- 15 ) South Yemen ( 2009 -- 15 ) Yemeni Crisis ( 2011 -- present ) Coup d'état ( 2014 -- 15 ) Civil War ( 2015 -- present ) Civil conflict in Turkey Political violence ( 1976 -- 80 ) Maoist insurgency DHKP / C insurgency PKK conflict Turkey -- ISIL conflict Others Kurdish separatism in Iran KDPI insurgency ( 1989 -- 96 ) Iran -- PJAK conflict ( 2004 -- present ) Sinai insurgency ( 2011 -- present ) Bahraini uprising ( 2011 ) Syrian Civil War ( 2011 -- present ) Regional spillover Related topics War on Terror ( 2001 -- present ) Arab Spring ( 2010 -- 11 ) Arab Winter Colour revolutions European conflicts African conflicts Middle East conflicts Conflicts in the Americas Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Names of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Leadership Current Abu Bakr al - Baghdadi Abu Ahmad al - Alwani Abu Fatima al - Jaheishi Abu Muhammad al - Shimali † Former Haji Bakr Abu Abdulrahman al - Bilawi Abu Mohannad al - Sweidawi Abdul Rauf Aliza Abu Sayyaf Ali Awni al - Harzi Abu Umar al - Tunisi Abu Khattab al - Tunisi Abu Muslim al - Turkmani Mohammed Emwazi Abu Nabil al - Anbari Abu Ali al - Anbari Abu Waheeb Abu Omar al - Shishani Abu Mohammad al - Adnani Abu Jandal al - Kuwaiti Ahmad Abousamra Turki al - Binali History Jama'at al - Tawhid wal - Jihad ( 1999 -- 2004 ) Tanzim Qaidat al - Jihad fi Bilad al - Rafidayn ( 2004 -- 06 ) Mujahideen Shura Council ( 2006 ) Islamic State of Iraq ( 2006 -- 13 ) Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( 2013 -- 14 ) Islamic State ( June 2014 -- present ) Timeline of events 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 International branches Khorasan Province ( Afghanistan and Pakistan ) Libyan Provinces ( Libya ) Caucasus Province ( North Caucasus ) Sinai Province ( Sinai ) Algeria Province ( Algeria ) Yemen Province ( Yemen ) Abnaa ul - Calipha ( Somalia ) Boko Haram ( West Africa ) Wars War on Terror Iraq War Iraqi insurgency ( 2003 -- 11 ) Sectarian violence ( 2006 -- 07 ) Iraqi insurgency ( 2011 -- 14 ) Iraqi Civil War ( 2014 -- present ) Syrian Civil War Spillover Spillover in Lebanon Inter-rebel conflict Sinai insurgency Libyan Civil War ( 2014 -- present ) War in North - West Pakistan War in Afghanistan ( 2015 -- present ) Moro conflict ( Philippines ) al - Qaeda insurgency in Yemen Yemeni Civil War ( 2015 -- present ) Boko Haram insurgency Military intervention against ISIL American - led intervention in Iraq American - led intervention in the Syrian Civil War Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War Turkish military intervention in Syria Battles 2013 Akashat ambush Hawija clashes Raqqa campaign ( 2012 -- 13 ) Operation al - Shabah Battle of Ras al - Ayn Battle of Tell Abyad Latakia offensive Siege of Menagh Air Base Battle of Sadad Battle of Qalamoun Aleppo offensive ( October -- December 2013 ) Anbar campaign ( 2013 -- 14 ) 2014 Fall of Fallujah Northern Aleppo offensive ( February -- July 2014 ) Battle of Markada Northern Iraq offensive ( June 2014 ) Fall of Mosul Salahuddin campaign First Battle of Tikrit Northern Iraq offensive ( August 2014 ) Siege of Kobanî Sinjar massacre Derna campaign ( 2014 -- 16 ) Battle of Baiji Battle of Ramadi ( 2014 -- 15 ) Deir ez - Zor offensive ( December 2014 ) Battle of Baiji ( 2014 -- 15 ) Sinjar offensive ( December 2014 ) Battle of Zumar Siege of Amirli 2015 Fall of Nofaliya West African offensive February 2015 Egyptian airstrikes in Libya Bosso and Diffa raid Eastern al - Hasakah offensive Second Battle of Tikrit Battle of Sirte Hama and Homs offensive ( March -- April 2015 ) Battle of Sarrin ( March -- April 2015 ) Battle of Yarmouk Camp Anbar offensive ( 2015 ) Qalamoun offensive ( May -- June 2015 ) Palmyra offensive ( May 2015 ) Western al - Hasakah offensive Al - Hasakah city offensive ( May -- June 2015 ) Tell Abyad offensive ( May -- July 2015 ) Battle of Sarrin ( June -- July 2015 ) Battle of al - Hasakah Kobanî massacre Palmyra offensive ( July -- August 2015 ) Battle of Ramadi ( 2015 -- 16 ) Battle of Al - Qaryatayn ( August 2015 ) Al - Hawl offensive Homs offensive ( November -- December 2015 ) Sinjar offensive ( November 2015 ) East Aleppo offensive ( 2015 -- 16 ) Nineveh Plains offensive Tishrin Dam offensive 2016 Deir ez - Zor offensive ( January 2016 ) Siege of Fallujah ( 2016 ) Nangarhar Offensive Battle of Ben Guerdane Ithriyah - Raqqa offensive ( February -- March 2016 ) Al - Shaddadi offensive 2016 Khanasir offensive Battle of al - Qaryatayn ( March -- April 2016 ) Palmyra offensive ( March 2016 ) Northern Aleppo offensive ( March -- June 2016 ) Hīt offensive Battle of Basilan Battle of Sirte Ar - Rutbah offensive Northern Raqqa offensive ( May 2016 ) Battle of Fallujah Manbij offensive Ithriyah - Raqqa offensive ( June 2016 ) Abu Kamal offensive Battle of al - Rai ( August 2016 ) Northern al - Bab offensive ( September 2016 ) Western al - Bab offensive ( September 2016 ) 2016 Dabiq offensive Western al - Bab offensive ( October -- November 2016 ) Battle of al - Bab Aleppo offensive ( November -- December 2016 ) Palmyra offensive ( December 2016 ) 2017 Battle of Mosul ( 2016 -- 2017 ) Raqqa campaign ( 2016 -- present ) Palmyra offensive ( 2017 ) Deir ez - Zor offensive ( January -- February 2017 ) Eastern Homs offensive ( 2017 ) Hama offensive ( 2017 ) Western Nineveh offensive ( 2017 ) Battle of Tabqa ( 2017 ) Syrian Desert campaign ( December 2016 -- April 2017 ) Syrian Desert campaign ( May -- July 2017 ) Maskanah Plains offensive Battle of Marawi Battle of Raqqa ( 2017 ) Southern Raqqa offensive ( June 2017 ) Central Syria campaign ( 2017 ) Battle of Tal Afar ( 2017 ) Western Anbar campaign ( 2017 -- present ) Hawija offensive ( 2017 ) Attacks 2014 Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting Saint - Jean - sur - Richelieu ramming attack 2015 Porte de Vincennes siege Beheading of Copts in Libya Corinthia Hotel attack Al Qubbah bombings Bardo National Museum attack Sana'a mosque bombings Jalalabad suicide bombing Curtis Culwell Center attack Qatif and Dammam mosque bombings 26 June 2015 Islamist attacks Kobanî massacre Saint - Quentin - Fallavier attack Kuwait mosque bombing Sousse attacks Khan Bani Saad bombing Suruç bombing Baghdad bombing ( August ) Ankara bombings Metrojet Flight 9268 Beirut bombings Paris attacks ( November ) Tunis bombing Qamishli bombings 2016 Zliten truck bombing Hurghada attack Istanbul bombing ( January ) Jakarta attacks Ramadi bombing Mahasin mosque attack Sayyidah Zaynab attack ( January ) Mosul massacre Homs bombings ( February ) Sayyidah Zaynab bombings ( February ) Baghdad bombings ( February ) Istanbul bombing ( March ) Brussels bombings Aden car bombing Iskandariya suicide bombing Baghdad bombing ( April ) Samawa bombing Gaziantep bombing ( May ) Baghdad bombings ( 11 May ) Real Madrid fan club massacres Baghdad gas plant attack Yemen police bombings ( 15 May ) Baghdad bombings ( 17 May ) Jableh and Tartous bombings ( May ) Yemen bombings ( 23 May ) Aktobe shootings Magnanville stabbing Mukalla attacks ( June ) Movida Bar grenade attack Atatürk Airport attack Dhaka attack ( July ) Karrada bombing Muhammad ibn Ali al - Hadi Mausoleum attack Würzburg train attack Kabul bombing ( July ) Ansbach bombing Normandy church attack Qamishli bombings ( July ) Charleroi stabbing Shchelkovo Highway police station attack Aden bombing ( August ) Syria bombings ( September ) Baghdad bombings ( September ) Baghdad bombings ( October ) Quetta police training college attack Hamam al - Alil massacre Khuzdar bombing Samarinda church bombing Kabul suicide bombing ( November ) Hillah suicide truck bombing ( November ) Aden suicide bombings ( December ) Botroseya church bombing Al - Karak attack Berlin attack Baghdad bombings ( December ) 2017 Istanbul nightclub shooting Baghdad bombings ( January ) Azaz bombing ( January ) Kabul Supreme Court attack ( February ) Sehwan suicide bombing Kabul attack ( March ) London ( Westminster ) attack Saint Petersburg Metro bombing Egypt church bombings Mastung suicide bombing Manchester Arena bombing Jakarta bombings Minya attack Al - Faqma bombing London ( Southwark ) attack Brighton siege Tehran attacks Pakistan bombings ( June ) 2017 Hurghada attack 2017 attack on the Iraqi embassy in Kabul 2017 Herat mosque attack August 2017 Quetta suicide bombing Catalonia attacks August 2017 Brussels attack 2017 Nasiriyah attacks 2017 Parsons Green bombing Politics Finances Ideology Human rights Genocide of Christians Genocide of Shias Genocide of Yazidis Persecution of queer men Killing of captives Beheading incidents Destruction of cultural heritage Relations Iran and ISIL Philippines and ISIL United Kingdom and ISIL Foreign fighters Name changes due to ISIL Portrayal of ISIL in American media Society Members Terrorist cell in Brussels Territorial claims Media of ISIL Ahlam al - Nasr Al - Bayan Amaq News Agency Dabiq Dar al - Islam Istok Konstantiniyye Rumiyah Related topics Worldwide caliphate Defeating ISIS Islamism Millenarianism Sexual violence in the Iraqi insurgency Shia -- Sunni relations Slavery in 21st - century Islamism Theocracy GND : 4731075 - 3 NDL : 00968613 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Iraq_War&oldid=807299319 '' Categories : Iraq War 2000s in Iraq 2010s in Iraq 2000s in Iraqi Kurdistan 2010s in Iraqi Kurdistan 2000s conflicts 2010s conflicts George W. Bush administration controversies Iraq -- United States relations Iraq War legal issues Modern history of Iraq Occupation of Iraq Politics of Iraq Imperialism Iraqi Kurdistan Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Iraq War on Terror Wars involving Iraq Wars involving the United States Wars involving the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Wars involving the United Kingdom Wars involving Poland Wars involving Australia Wars involving Romania Wars involving El Salvador Wars involving Estonia Wars involving Albania Wars involving Moldova Wars involving Ukraine Wars involving Bulgaria Wars involving Denmark Wars involving Armenia Wars involving Azerbaijan Wars involving Bosnia and Herzegovina Wars involving the Czech Republic Wars involving Latvia Wars involving Singapore Wars involving South Korea Wars involving the Republic of Macedonia Wars involving Kazakhstan Wars involving Tonga Wars involving Georgia ( country ) Wars involving Mongolia Wars involving Slovakia Wars involving Norway Wars involving Lithuania Wars involving Italy Wars involving the Netherlands Wars involving Portugal Wars involving Japan Wars involving New Zealand Wars involving Iceland Wars involving Nicaragua Wars involving the Dominican Republic Wars involving Spain Wars involving the Philippines Wars involving Honduras Wars involving Thailand Proxy wars Hidden categories : Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from August 2015 CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list Webarchive template wayback links All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from December 2016 Articles with permanently dead external links Pages with login required references or sources Webarchive template archiveis links Articles with dead external links from June 2016 Articles with dead external links from April 2014 Use dmy dates from November 2012 Pages using deprecated image syntax Pages using military navigation subgroups without wide style All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from November 2016 Articles containing Arabic - language text Articles with unsourced statements from November 2014 Articles with unsourced statements from May 2014 Articles needing cleanup from July 2013 All pages needing cleanup Articles with sections that need to be turned into prose from July 2013 All accuracy disputes Articles with disputed statements from January 2014 Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Articles containing video clips Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikinews Wikiquote Languages Afrikaans Azərbaycanca বাংলা Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Български Boarisch Brezhoneg Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Føroyskt Français Frysk Galego 한국어 हिन्दी Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית Basa Jawa لۊری شومالی Latina Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Magyar Македонски मराठी مازِرونی Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Plattdüütsch Português Русский Scots Seeltersk සිංහල Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina کوردی Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska தமிழ் ไทย Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt Walon ייִדיש 粵語 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 27 October 2017, at 03 : 25. 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Question: where did the war in iraq take place
Answer: Iraq