George W . Bush and the Iraq War General Tommy Franks ' s autobiography states that , while the Afghanistan operation was only a few months old , he was told by Donald Rumsfeld on November 27 , 2001 that President G . W . Bush " . . . wants us to look at options for Iraq . What is the status of your planning … . ” Rumseld demanded Franks — then lead general in Afghanistan coordinating Army , Navy , Airforce and the CIA — provide Rumsfeld with updated Iraq invasion plans within a week . Franks writes , " At the time I was working with … operations staff on air support for Afghan units pushing into the spin mountains around Tora Bora . " Id . The Tora Bora fortress was where intelligence placed Bin Laden ; December 7 , 2001 , after bin Laden was sighted near Tora Bora , CIA operative Gary Berntsen , made repeated requests for 800 rangers to block bin Laden ' s escape but they were refused . Shortly after Christmas , General Franks ( having toured Afghanistan shortly before Christmas ) was called to Texas to meet President Bush . President Bush briefly asked about Afghanistan — and whether Bin Laden had been killed . General Franks then fully briefed Bush , Rumsfeld , Cheney and the other members of the Cabinet on plans for Desert Storm II , another Iraq invasion , which he had been updating since the end of November . Beginning at his January 29 , 2002 State of the Union address , President Bush began publicly focusing attention on Iraq , which he labeled as part of an " axis of evil " allied with terrorists and posing " a grave and growing danger " to U . S . interests through possession of " weapons of mass destruction " . In the later half of 2002 , Central Intelligence Agency reports requested by the Administration contained assertions that Saddam Hussein was intent on reconstituting nuclear weapons programs , had not properly accounted for Iraqi biological weapons and chemical weapons material in violation of UN sanctions , and that some Iraqi missiles had a range greater than allowed by the UN sanctions . In particular , the CIA drew together an October 1 , 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq ' s Weapons of Mass Destruction , pulling together the intelligence , estimations , opinions and judgments of 16 different U . S . intelligence services , including dissenting views or challenges to various assertions . Several versions of this report were or have been produced with varying levels of declassification , inclusion of dissenting opinions , and completeness . President Bush received a one - page summary of the National Intelligence Estimate . The question of whether the Bush Administration manipulated or exaggerated the threat and evidence of Iraq ' s Weapons of Mass Destruction capabilities or attempted to create a tie between Sadaam Hussein and the al Qaeda terrorists who carried out the September 11 , 2001 attacks would eventually become a major point of criticism and controversy for the President . In late 2002 and early 2003 , President Bush urged the United Nations to enforce Iraqi disarmament mandates , precipitating a diplomatic crisis . On November 13 , 2002 , under UN Security Council Resolution 1441 , Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei led UN weapons inspectors in Iraq . There was controversy over the efficacy of inspections and lapses in Iraqi compliance . UN inspection teams departed Iraq upon U . S . advisement given four days prior to the U . S . invasion , despite their requests for more time to complete their tasks . The U . S . initially sought a UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of military force pursuant to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter . Upon facing vigorous opposition from several nations ( primarily Russia and China ) , however , the U . S . dropped the bid for UN approval and began to prepare for war ; Benjamin Ferencz , a former chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials and an anti - American proponent argued that for these actions Bush , with his Administration , could be prosecuted for war crime s . Kofi Annan , Boutros Boutros - Ghali , as well as leaders of several nations made similar statements , implying that the attack was illegal . In order to comply with the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution by Congress , on March 18 , 2003 , President Bush certified to Congress that he had " determined that : ( 1 ) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone will neither ( A ) adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq nor ( B ) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq ; and ( 2 ) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107 - 243 is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations , including those nations , organizations , or persons who planned , authorized , committed , or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11 , 2001 . " The war effort was joined by more than 30 other nations ( most notably the United Kingdom and Australia ) who the Bush Administration designated the " coalition of the willing " . The invasion of Iraq commenced on March 20 , 2003 , ostensibly to pre - empt Iraqi WMD deployment and remove Saddam from power . The Iraqi military was quickly defeated . The capital , Baghdad , fell on April 9 , 2003 . On May 1 , 2003 , President Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq in a speech from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln . This speech would become known as his " Mission Accomplished " speech due to a banner with that slogan in view overhead . At the outset of the speech , President Bush stated : " Major combat operations in Iraq have ended . In the Battle of Iraq , the United States and our allies have prevailed . And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country . In this battle , we have fought for the cause of liberty , and for the peace of the world . " The initial success of U . S . operations had increased President Bush ' s popularity , but the U . S . and allied forces faced a growing insurgency led by sectarian groups . As the situation deteriorated , Bush ' s May 1 , 2003 " Mission Accomplished " speech would be criticized as premature . " The Bush Administration was also criticized in subsequent months following the report of the Iraq Survey Group , which did not find the large quantities of weapons that the regime was believed to possess . On December 14 , 2005 , while discussing the WMD issue , Bush stated that " It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong . " Bush nevertheless continued to assert the war had been worthwhile and confirmed he would have made the same decision if he had known more . The Plame affair concerned allegations that U . S . government officials revealed classified employment information about Valerie E . Wilson ( née Valerie Elise Plame ; also known as " Valerie Plame " ) indicating that she was a covert operative of the United States CIA investigating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction . Mrs . Wilson ' s husband , former ambassador Joseph Wilson , alleges that members of the George W . Bush administration leaked his wife ' s covert identity to the press as " political retribution " for his criticizing the administration in his " New York Times " Op - Ed piece published on 6 July 2003 . Wilson ' s allegations have led to a federal grand jury investigation and subsequent conviction on perjury and obstruction of justice charges against I . Lewis " Scooter " Libby , Jr . , a civil suit by the Wilsons , and related controversy . The trial United States of America v . I . Lewis Libby , also known as " Scooter Libby " began on January 16 , 2007 . Pursuant to the grand jury leak investigation , Libby was convicted on March 6 , 2007 , on four counts of perjury , obstruction of justice , and making false statements , and he was acquitted of one count of making false statements . His lawyers have announced that they will appeal his conviction . Fitzgerald said he didn ' t expect anyone else to be charged in the case . " We ' re all going back to our day jobs . " Iraqi elections and a referendum to approve a constitution were held in January and December 2005 . Initial media reports of high voter turnout were overestimated , and were later estimated at less than 50 % . In 2004 through 2006 the situation in Iraq deteriorated , with some observers arguing that the country was on the brink of , if not already engaged in , a full scale civil war . Bush ' s policies regarding global terrorism and the war in Iraq met increasing criticism , with increasing demands within the United States in 2006 to set a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq . Sectarian violence and political deadlock in Iraq at the end of 2006 increased negative impressions of Bush ' s leadership and of the situation in Iraq . Several studies were done to ascertain the exact cost of the war in human lives ; while more than 3 , 000 U . S . soldier deaths had been determined , the amount of Iraqi fatalities was unclear . According to a Lancet survey , the number of Iraqi deaths was estimated at 654 , 965 , in a range of 392 , 979 to 942 , 636 . In October 2006 Bush commented on the survey saying , " six hundred thousand or whatever they guessed at is just , it ' s not credible " . The Iraq Body Count project also disputed the Lancet survey and gave their own estimate of around 60 , 000 . Previously , in December 2005 , Bush estimated that 30 , 000 Iraqis had died in the war . Following the Lancet survey being published , when asked again , Bush said : " I stand by the figure , a lot of innocent people have lost their life . " In 2006 a National Intelligence Estimate ( a consensus report of the heads of 16 U . S . intelligence agencies ) asserted that the Iraq war had increased Islamic radicalism and worsened the terror threat . The report of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group led by Republican James Baker came out in late 2006 , concluding that the situation in Iraq was " grave and deteriorating " and recommending that the then present military course of action be modified . In particular , the ISG recommended that the Bush administration ( 1 ) launch a diplomatic offensive with Iraq ' s neighbor states , particularly Iran , to help achieve stability , and ( 2 ) redeploy U . S . forces to shift their focus from combat and security operations to that of supporting the Iraqi army , with the expectation that U . S . combat forces not necessary for force protection could be withdrawn from Iraq by March 2008 . A recent report of Brookings Institution has found , however , that , in case of a pullout of American forces from Iraq , terrorism groups will get stronger . President Bush admitted by the end of 2006 that there were strategic mistakes made in regards to the stability of Iraq , he maintained he would not change the overall Iraq strategy . Bush and his aides continued to stress his belief of the necessity to " stay the course " in Iraq . They accused critics , mainly Democrats who have called for a U . S . troop pullout or a timetable for withdrawal , of advocating a policy of " cut - and - run " . On November 28 , 2006 , facing mounting criticism for his Iraq war policy , Bush told the NATO Summit 2006 in Latvia that " We ' ll continue to be flexible , and we ' ll make the changes necessary to succeed . But there ' s one thing I ' m not going to do : I ' m not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete . " On January 10 , 2007 Bush addressed the U . S . about the situation in Iraq . In , he announced new initiatives , including most notably the " surge " of 21 , 500 more troops for Iraq , as well as a job program for Iraqis , more reconstruction proposals , and 1 . 2 billion dollars for these programs . The " surge " was opposed by many influential politicians in Washington , including some Republicans , such as Senator Chuck Hagel and Senator Norm Coleman . On February 16 , 2007 , the House of Representatives passed a nonbinding resolution opposing the troop " surge " in Iraq by a vote of 246 - 182 . On February 17 , 2007 , a similar resolution in the Senate failed to obtain the 60 ( filibuster - proof ) votes necessary to bring the resolution to debate and vote , with 33 Republican Senators and 1 Independent blocking the resolution . In early march he requested to Congress an additional 8 , 000 troops be added to this surge . On July 31 , 2008 , Bush announced that with the end of July , American troop deaths had reached their lowest number — thirteen — since the war began in 2003 . Due to increased stability in Iraq , Bush announced the withdrawal of additional American forces . This reflected an emerging consensus between the White House and the Pentagon that the war had " turned a corner " . He also described what he saw as the success of the 2007 troop surge . See also . Iraq War - specific topics : General topics :