Iraq War

Iraq War
حرب العراق (Arabic)
Part of the Iraq conflict and the war on terror

Clockwise from top: US troops raid Uday and Qusay Hussein's hideout; insurgents in northern Iraq; the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Firdos Square
Date20 March 200318 December 2011
(8 years, 8 months and 28 days)
Location
Result see Aftermath
Belligerents
Invasion (2003)
 United States
 Iraqi Kurdistan
 United Kingdom
 Australia
Iraqi National Congress[1]
 Poland
Invasion (2003)
Iraq
MEK
After Invasion (2003–11)
 Iraq
 United States
 United Kingdom
MNF–I (2003–09)
 Iraqi Kurdistan
Awakening Council
After Invasion (2003–11)
Ba'ath loyalists
Sunni insurgents
Shia insurgents
Commanders and leaders
Strength

Coalition forces (2003)
309,000–584,799
 United States: 192,000–466,985 personnel [2][3]
 United Kingdom: 45,000
 Australia: 2,000
 Poland: 194
Kurdistan Region Peshmerga: 70,000

Coalition forces (2004–09)
176,000 at peak
United States Forces – Iraq (2010–11)
112,000 at activation
Security contractors 6,000–7,000 (estimate)[4]
Iraqi security forces
805,269 (military and paramilitary: 578,269,[5][page needed] police: 227,000)
Awakening militias
≈103,000 (2008)[6]
Iraqi Kurdistan
≈400,000 (Kurdish Border Guard: 30,000,[7] Peshmerga 75,000)

Iraqi Armed Forces: 375,000[a]
Special Iraqi Republican Guard: 12,000
Iraqi Republican Guard: 70,000–75,000
Fedayeen Saddam: 30,000


Sunni Insurgents
≈70,000 (2007)[8]
Al-Qaeda
≈1,300 (2006)[9]

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[b]
Wounded: 40,000+[15]
Coalition forces
Killed: 4,825 (4,507 US,[c] 179 UK,[20] 139 other)[21]
Missing/captured (US): 17 (9 died in captivity, 8 rescued)[22]
Wounded: 32,776+ (32,292 US,[23] 315 UK, 210+ other[d])[44][45][46][47]
Injured/diseases/other medical*: 51,139 (47,541 US,[48] 3,598 UK)[44][46][47]
Contractors
Killed: 3,650 [49][50][51]
Wounded & injured: 43,880[50][51]
Awakening Councils
Killed: 1,002+[e]
Wounded: 500+ (2007),[63] 828 (2008)[64]

Total dead: 27,163
Total wounded: 117,961
Iraqi combatant dead (invasion period): 7,600–45,000[65][66]
Insurgents (post-Saddam)
Killed: 26,544+ (2003–11)[f]
(4,000 foreign fighters killed by Sep. 2006)[73]
Detainees: 12,000 (Iraqi-held, in 2010 only)[74]
119,752 insurgents arrested (2003–2007)[75]
Total dead: 34,144–71,544


Documented deaths from violence:
Iraq Body Count (2003 – 14 December 2011): 103,160–113,728 civilian deaths recorded[76] and 12,438 new deaths added from the Iraq War Logs[77]
Associated Press (March 2003 – April 2009): 110,600 Iraqi deaths in total[78]


Statistical estimates
Lancet survey** (March 2003 – July 2006): 654,965 (95% CI: 392,979–942,636)[79][80]
Iraq Family Health Survey*** (March 2003 – July 2006): 151,000 (95% CI: 104,000–223,000)[81]
Opinion Research Business**: (March 2003 – August 2007): 1,033,000 (95% CI: 946,258–1,120,000)[82]
PLOS Medicine Study**: (March 2003 – June 2011): 405,000 (60% violent) (95% CI: 48,000–751,000)[83]

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.
**** Sukkariyeh, Syria were also affected (2008 Abu Kamal raid).

The Iraq War (Arabic: حرب العراق, romanizedḥarb al-ʿirāq) was a protracted armed conflict in Iraq from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion of Iraq by the United States-led coalition that overthrew the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the coalition forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. US troops were officially withdrawn in 2011.

The United States became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition. The insurgency and many dimensions of the armed conflict are ongoing. The invasion occurred as part of the George W. Bush administration's war on terror following the September 11 attacks in 2001 in the United States .

In October 2002, the United States Congress passed a joint resolution that granted Bush the power to use military force against the Iraqi government. The Iraq War officially began on 20 March 2003, when the US, joined by the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland, launched a "shock and awe" bombing campaign. Shortly following the bombing campaign, US-led forces launched a ground invasion of Iraq. Iraqi forces were quickly overwhelmed as coalition forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Ba'athist government; Saddam Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year and executed three years later.

The power vacuum following Saddam's demise, and mismanagement by the Coalition Provisional Authority, led to widespread civil war between Shias and Sunnis, as well as a lengthy insurgency against coalition forces. The United States responded with a build-up of 170,000 troops in 2007. This build-up gave greater control to Iraq's government and military while also giving the United States a greater say in the postwar reconstruction of Iraq. In 2008, President Bush agreed to a withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq. The withdrawal was completed under Barack Obama in December 2011.

The United States based most of its rationale for the invasion on claims that Iraq had a weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program and posed a threat to the United States and its allies. In addition to claiming that Saddam Hussein was supporting al-Qaeda, US government also alleged that Al-Qaeda was covertly co-operating with Iraq to build weapons of mass destruction. However, in 2004 the 9/11 Commission concluded there was no evidence of any relationship between Saddam's regime and al-Qaeda. No stockpiles of WMDs or active WMD program were ever found in Iraq. Bush administration officials made numerous claims about a purported Saddam–al-Qaeda relationship and WMDs that were based on insufficient evidence rejected by intelligence officials. The rationale for the Iraq war faced heavy criticism both domestically and internationally. Kofi Annan, then the Secretary-General of the United Nations, called the invasion illegal under international law, as it violated the UN Charter. The 2016 Chilcot Report, a British inquiry into the United Kingdom's decision to go to war, concluded that not every peaceful alternative had been examined, that the UK and US had undermined the United Nations Security Council in the process of declaring war, that the process of identification for a legal basis of war was "far from satisfactory", and that, these conclusions taken together, the war was unnecessary. When interrogated by the FBI, Saddam Hussein confirmed that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction prior to the US invasion, although the Iraq Survey Group did find that Saddam had the aim of WMD proliferation and maintained the laboratories and scientists necessary for WMD development.

In 2005, Iraq held multi-party elections. Nouri al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006 and remained in office until 2014. The al-Maliki government enacted policies that alienated the country's previously dominant Sunni minority and worsened sectarian tensions.

The war killed an estimated 150,000 to 1,033,000 people, including more than 100,000 civilians (see estimates below). Most died during the initial insurgency and civil conflicts. The 2013–2017 War in Iraq, which is considered a domino effect of the invasion and occupation, caused at least 155,000 deaths and internally displaced more than 3.3 million Iraqis.

The war hurt the United States' international reputation as well as Bush's domestic popularity and public image. The war reduced Blair's popularity, leading to his resignation in 2007.

  1. ^ Graham, Bradley (7 April 2003). "U.S. Airlifts Iraqi Exile Force For Duties Near Nasiriyah". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 8 August 2007. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
  2. ^ "A Timeline of Iraq War, Troop Levels". The Huffington Post.
  3. ^ https://sgp.fas.org/crs/mideast/RL31763.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  4. ^ "Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs Charlene Lamb's Remarks on Private Contractors in Iraq". US Department of State. 17 July 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  5. ^ International Institute for Strategic Studies (3 February 2010). Hackett, James (ed.). The Military Balance 2010. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-85743-557-3.
  6. ^ Rubin, Alissa J.; Nordland, Rod (29 March 2009). "Troops Arrest an Awakening Council Leader in Iraq, Setting Off Fighting". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  7. ^ "The Kurdish peshmerga forces will not be integrated into the Iraqi army: Mahmoud Sangawi – Interview". Ekurd.net. 22 January 2010. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Pincus, Walter. "Violence in Iraq Called Increasingly Complex". The Washington Post, 17 November 2006.
  10. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2003/12/19/1013869.htm
  11. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/22/true-civilian-body-count-iraq
  12. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20120226181744/http://hello.news352.lu/edito-4036-march-violence-claims-252-iraqi-lives.html
  13. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20130116094430/http://articles.cnn.com/2011-01-02/world/iraq.casualty.figures_1_iraqi-police-mosul-police-iraqi-troops?_s=PM%3AWORLD
  14. ^ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aia6y6NymliRdEZESktBSWVqNWM1dkZOSGNIVmtFZEE#gid=4
  15. ^ "Iraq War" (PDF). US Department of State. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  16. ^ http://www.defense.gov/casualty.pdf
  17. ^ https://dcas.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/app/conflictCasualties
  18. ^ https://thefallen.militarytimes.com/marine-lance-cpl-angel-r-ramirez/2891852
  19. ^ https://thefallen.militarytimes.com/army-sgt-jerry-l-deloach/3512737
  20. ^ "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.
  21. ^ "Operation Iraqi Freedom". iCasualties. Archived from the original on 21 March 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  22. ^ "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.
  23. ^ "Casualty" (PDF). Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  24. ^ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/DPAS-6K9H5Y?OpenDocument
  25. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/11/13/MNGJ730QPA1.DTL
  26. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20040426022123/http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=9524
  27. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3355749.stm
  28. ^ http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=33103
  29. ^ https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2009-02-07-salvador-iraq_N.htm
  30. ^ http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=18470 Archived 13 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  31. ^ http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=33116
  32. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20070612101918/http://iraq.pigstye.net/article.php/JuraTomasz/print
  33. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20110501084237/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-16186603.html
  34. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20110429012705/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,104369,00.html
  35. ^ http://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/17607/soldier-dead-after-attack-on-spanish-convoy-in-afghanistan Archived 2 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  36. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20190402224856/http://www1.albawaba.com/news/five-spanish-soldiers-four-us-troops-injured-iraq-bomb-attacks
  37. ^ http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200404/09/eng20040409_139905.shtml
  38. ^ http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/6708832.html
  39. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20110428201646/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/combat-troops-pull-out-of-iraq/780839.aspx
  40. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20120130025416/http://iraq.pigstye.net/article.php/20050112090041443/print
  41. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20110707174014/http://asianjournalusa.com/rp-troops-to-stay-in-iraq-despite-ambush-p929-67.htm
  42. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2003/12/23/1015519.htm
  43. ^ http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2003/12/28/iraqi-insurgency-2-thai-soldiers-killed-1-injured-br-0
  44. ^ a b Many official US 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
  45. ^ "Casualties in Iraq".
  46. ^ a b iCasualties.org (was lunaville.org). Benicia, California. Patricia Kneisler, et al., "Iraq Coalition Casualties" Archived 21 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  47. ^ a b "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.
  48. ^ "Global War on Terrorism – Operation Iraqi Freedom March 19, 2003 Through May 31, 2011 By Casualty Category Within Service" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 June 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  49. ^ "Human Costs of U.S. Post-9/11 Wars: Direct War Deaths in Major War Zones | Figures | Costs of War".
  50. ^ a b "Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) – Defense Base Act Case Summary by Nation". US Department of Labor. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  51. ^ a b T. Christian Miller (23 September 2009). "US Government Private Contract Worker Deaths and Injuries". Projects.propublica.org. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  52. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/world/middleeast/24sunni.html
  53. ^ https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/15/iraq/main3504599.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3504599 Archived 14 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  54. ^ http://www.cfr.org/iraq/finding-place-sons-iraq/p16088 Archived 10 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  55. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/world/middleeast/03iraq.html
  56. ^ "Thirteen anti-Qaeda tribe members killed in Iraq – France 24". Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  57. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/world/middleeast/30iraq.html
  58. ^ http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/06/20106653940383435.html#
  59. ^ https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128084675
  60. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/18/iraq-suicide-bombings-kill-militia
  61. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20100718205535/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-18/bombs-targeting-sons-of-iraq-leave-at-least-44-dead.html
  62. ^ Archived 18 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  63. ^ Moore, Solomon; Oppel, Richard A. (24 January 2008). "Attacks Imperil U.S.-Backed Militias in Iraq". The New York Times.
  64. ^ Greg Bruno. "Finding a Place for the 'Sons of Iraq'". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 10 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  65. ^ 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.
  66. ^ "Jonathan Steele: Body counts". TheGuardian.com. 28 May 2003.
  67. ^ https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-09-26-insurgents_N.htm
  68. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/22/true-civilian-body-count-iraq
  69. ^ http://www.iraqbodycount.org/analysis/numbers/warlogs/
  70. ^ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/CJAL-7QPQB7?OpenDocument Archived 3 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  71. ^ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-30/iraq-civilian-deaths-drop-for-third-year-as-toll-eases-after-u-s-drawdown.html
  72. ^ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aia6y6NymliRdEZESktBSWVqNWM1dkZOSGNIVmtFZEE#gid=4
  73. ^ "4,000 fighters killed, 'al-Qaida in Iraq' tape says." The Guardian. 28 September 2006.
  74. ^ "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.
  75. ^ "Insurgent body count documents released." Archived 27 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine Stars and Stripes. 1 October 2007. Number of convictions not specified.
  76. ^ "Iraq Body Count". Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  77. ^ "Iraq War Logs: What the numbers reveal". Iraq Body Count. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  78. ^ Kim Gamel (23 April 2009). "AP Impact: Secret tally has 87,215 Iraqis dead". Fox News. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  79. ^ "Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 September 2015. (242 KB). By Gilbert Burnham, Riyadh Lafta, Shannon Doocy, and Les Roberts. The Lancet, 11 October 2006
  80. ^ "The Human Cost of the War in Iraq: A Mortality Study, 2002–2006" (PDF). (603 KB). By Gilbert Burnham, Shannon Doocy, Elizabeth Dzeng, Riyadh Lafta, and Les Roberts. A supplement to the October 2006 Lancet study. It is also found here: "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) [1]
  81. ^ "Iraq Family Health Survey" New England Journal of Medicine 31 January 2008
  82. ^ "Greenspan admits Iraq was about oil, as deaths put at 1.2m". the Guardian. 16 September 2007. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  83. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hagopian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).