"Invasion of Iraq" redirects here. For the American-led invasion in 1991, see Gulf War. For the conflict triggered by this American-led invasion in 2003, see Iraq War. For other uses, see Invasion of Iraq (disambiguation).
2003 invasion of Iraq غزو العراق (Arabic) داگیرکردنی عێراق (Kurdish)
Part of the War on terror and the Iraq War
Clockwise from top-left: American troops from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, escort Iraqi prisoners of war to a holding area in the desert; American convoy of Humvees in northern Iraq during a sandstorm; Iraqi civilians cheer as American soldiers topple Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad's Firdos Square; American troops from the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, watch an Iraqi paramilitary's headquarters burn in Samawah
Date
20 March 2003 – 1 May 2003 (1 month, 1 week and 4 days)
Location
Iraq and Kuwait[a]
Result
Coalition victory
Belligerents
Coalition of the willing
United States
United Kingdom
Australia
Poland
Denmark
Spain
Italy
Netherlands
Kuwait
KDP
PUK
Iraqi National Congress
Free Iraqi Forces[3]
Republic of Iraq PMOI[4]Islamic Emirate of Byara
Ansar al-Islam
Kurdistan Islamic Group[5][6]
Commanders and leaders
George W. Bush Dick Cheney Donald Rumsfeld Colin Powell Tommy Franks Tony Blair Geoff Hoon Brian Burridge John Howard Peter Cosgrove Aleksander Kwaśniewski Leszek Miller Masoud Barzani Babakir Zebari Jalal Talabani Kosrat Rasul Ali Ahmed Chalabi
Saddam Hussein Qusay Hussein Uday Hussein Abid Hamid Mahmud Ali Hassan al-Majid Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri Ra'ad al-Hamdani Taha Yassin Ramadan Tariq Aziz Massoud Rajavi (MIA) Maryam Rajavi
Total: 1,311,000Iraqi Armed Forces: 538,000 active 650,000 reserves[13][14] 4,000 tanks[15] 3,700 APCs and IFVs 2,300 artillery pieces 300 combat aircraft[16] SRG: 12,000 RG: 75,000 Fedayeen Saddam: 30,000 Arab volunteers: 6,000[17]
Casualties and losses
Total: 747+
196+ killed
551+ wounded
Coalition:
172 killed[18]
139
33
551 wounded[19]
Peshmerga: 24+ killed[20]
Total: 30,000+
11,000–45,000 killed
Unknown wounded
11,000 (4,895–6,370 observed and reported) (Project on Defense Alternatives study)[21][22]
45,000 (extrapolated from fatality rates in units serving around Baghdad)[23]
Estimated Iraqi civilian fatalities:
7,269 (Iraq Body Count)[24]
3,200–4,300 (Project on Defense Alternatives study)[21]
v
t
e
Iraq War (Outline)
Timeline
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Invasion (2003)
Umm Qasr
Al Faw
1st Basra
Nasiriyah
Raid on Karbala
Haditha Dam
1st Najaf
Northern Delay
Viking Hammer
Samawah
1st Karbala
Al Kut
Hillah
Green Line
Karbala Gap
Debecka Pass
Kani Domlan Ridge
Baghdad
Post-invasion insurgency (2003–2006)
Al Anbar
Killing of Qusay & Uday Hussein
1st Ramadan
Latifiya
Capture of Saddam Hussein
Spring 2004
City Hall
Al Kut
1st Fallujah
Sadr City
1st Ramadi
Good Friday
Husaybah
Danny Boy
2nd Najaf
CIMIC-House
Samarra
2nd Fallujah
Mosul
Lake Tharthar
Al Qa'im
Hit
Haditha
Steel Curtain
Tal Afar
2nd Ramadi
Together Forward
Diwaniya
Civil war (2006–2008)
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 (2008–2011)
2008 Day of Ashura
Nineveh
Spring 2008
2nd Basra
2008 al-Qaeda Offensive
Augurs of Prosperity
Abu Kamal
Palm Grove
Camp Ashraf
US withdrawal violence
v
t
e
List of bombings during 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
2004
‡ 1st Erbil
‡ Ashoura
1st Basra
1st Mosul
4th Baghdad
5th Baghdad
Karbala & Najaf
1st Baqubah
Kufa
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
2nd Mosul
‡ 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
2010
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
v
t
e
Persian Gulf Wars
Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988)
Gulf War (1990–1991)
Invasion of Kuwait (1990)
Iraqi Kurdish/Shi'a uprisings (1991)
Iraq no-fly zones conflict (1991–2003)
Iraq air strikes (January 1993)
Iraq missile strikes (1993)
Iraq missile strikes (1996)
Iraq bombing (1998)
1999 Shia uprising in Iraq
Iraqi conflict (2003–present)
Iraq War (2003–2011)
Iraqi insurgency (2003–2006)
Iraqi civil war (2006–2008)
Iraqi insurgency (2008–2011)
Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013)
War in Iraq (2013–2017)
Islamic State insurgency in Iraq (2017–present)
Attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan
v
t
e
Iraqi–Kurdish conflict
Early conflicts
Mahmud Barzanji revolts
Ahmed Barzani revolt
1943 Barzani revolt
Main phase
First Iraqi–Kurdish War
Second Iraqi–Kurdish War
PUK insurgency
Arabization campaigns
1983–1986 Kurdish rebellions
Anfal campaign
1991 uprisings
Later phase
1994–97 Civil War
2003 invasion of Iraq
2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict
Kirkuk
2023 Makhmour clashes
The United States-led invasion[b] of the Republic of Iraq was the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion began on 19 March 2003 and lasted just over one month,[26] including 26 days of major combat operations, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq. Twenty-two days after the first day of the invasion, the capital city of Baghdad was captured by coalition forces on 9 April after the six-day-long Battle of Baghdad. This early stage of the war formally ended on 1 May when U.S. President George W. Bush declared the "end of major combat operations" in his Mission Accomplished speech,[27] after which the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was established as the first of several successive transitional governments leading up to the first Iraqi parliamentary election in January 2005. U.S. military forces later remained in Iraq until the withdrawal in 2011.[28]
The coalition sent 160,000 troops into Iraq during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from 19 March to 1 May.[29] About 73% or 130,000 soldiers were American, with about 45,000 British soldiers (25%), 2,000 Australian soldiers (1%), and ~200 Polish JW GROM commandos (0.1%). Thirty-six other countries were involved in its aftermath. In preparation for the invasion, 100,000 U.S. troops assembled in Kuwait by 18 February.[29] The coalition forces also received support from the Peshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan.
According to U.S. President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, the coalition aimed "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction [WMD], to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people", even though the UN inspection team led by Hans Blix had declared it had found no evidence of the existence of WMDs just before the start of the invasion.[30][31] Others place a much greater emphasis on the impact of the September 11 attacks, on the role this played in changing U.S. strategic calculations, and the rise of the freedom agenda.[32][33] According to Blair, the trigger was Iraq's failure to take a "final opportunity" to disarm itself of alleged nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that U.S. and British officials called an immediate and intolerable threat to world peace.[34]
In a January 2003 CBS poll, 64% of Americans had approved of military action against Iraq; however, 63% wanted Bush to find a diplomatic solution rather than go to war, and 62% believed the threat of terrorism directed against the U.S. would increase due to war.[35] The invasion was strongly opposed by some long-standing U.S. allies, including the governments of France, Germany, and New Zealand.[36][37][38] Their leaders argued that there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that invading that country was not justified in the context of UNMOVIC's 12 February 2003 report. About 5,000 chemical warheads, shells or aviation bombs were discovered during the Iraq War, but these had been built and abandoned earlier in Saddam Hussein's rule before the 1991 Gulf War. The discoveries of these chemical weapons did not support the government's invasion rationale.[39][40] In September 2004, Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General at the time, called the invasion illegal under international law and said it was a breach of the UN Charter.[41]
On 15 February 2003, a month before the invasion, there were worldwide protests against the Iraq War, including a rally of three million people in Rome, which the Guinness World Records listed as the largest-ever anti-war rally.[42] According to the 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 the Iraq war.[43]
The invasion was preceded by an airstrike on the Presidential Palace in Baghdad on 20 March 2003. The following day, coalition forces launched an incursion into Basra Governorate from their massing point close to the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. While special forces launched an amphibious assault from the Persian Gulf to secure Basra and the surrounding petroleum fields, the main invasion army moved into southern Iraq, occupying the region and engaging in the Battle of Nasiriyah on 23 March. Massive air strikes across the country and against Iraqi command and control threw the defending army into chaos and prevented an effective resistance. On 26 March, the 173rd Airborne Brigade was airdropped near the northern city of Kirkuk, where they joined forces with Kurdish rebels and fought several actions against the Iraqi Army, to secure the northern part of the country.
The main body of coalition forces continued their drive into the heart of Iraq and were met with little resistance. Most of the Iraqi military was quickly defeated and the coalition occupied Baghdad on 9 April. Other operations occurred against pockets of the Iraqi Army, including the capture and occupation of Kirkuk on 10 April, and the attack on and capture of Tikrit on 15 April. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the central leadership went into hiding as the coalition forces completed the occupation of the country. On 1 May, President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations: this ended the invasion period and began the period of military occupation.
^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.
^Cite error: The named reference USNewsandworldreport was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^[1][2]
^Ephraim Kahana; Muhammad Suwaed (2009). The A to Z of Middle Eastern Intelligence. Scarecrow Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-8108-7070-3.
^"Iraqi political groupings and individuals". middleeastreference.org.uk. Archived from the original on 5 March 2007.
^Masters of Chaos, Chapter 13 p. 7 Archived 2012-02-14 at the Wayback Machine
^"CNN.com - U.S.: Patriots down Iraqi missiles - Mar. 20, 2003". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
^"CNN.com - Missile hits Kuwait City mall - Mar. 28, 2003". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
^"Iraq launches Scud missiles | World news | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
^Carter, Linwood B. (28 November 2005). "Iraq: Summary of U.S. Forces" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 May 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
^Cite error: The named reference PolishSpecialForces was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference MajPeltier was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Anthony H. Cordesman (28 June 2002). "If We Fight Iraq: Iraq and The Conventional Military Balance" (PDF). Center for Strategic and International Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
^Toby Dodge (16 November 2002). "Iraqi army is tougher than US believes". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
^Ricks, Thomas E. (2006). Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. Penguin. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-59420-103-5.
^"IRAQ: Iraq's Prewar Military Capabilities". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
^"Foreign Irregulars in Iraq". washingtoninstitute.org. 10 April 2003. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
^"Iraq Coalition Casualties: Fatalities by Year and Month" Archived 6 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine iCasualties.org. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
^icasualties Iraq Coalition Casualties: U.S. Wounded Totals Archived 24 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine
^Willing to face Death: A History of Kurdish Military Forces – the Peshmerga – from the Ottoman Empire to Present-Day Iraq (page 67) Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Michael G. Lortz
^ ab"The Wages of War: Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 2003 Conflict". Commonwealth Institute of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 2 September 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
^"Wages of War – Appendix 1. Survey of reported Iraqi combatant fatalities in the 2003 war". Commonwealth Institute of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 2 September 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
^"Body counts". By Jonathan Steele. The Guardian. 28 May 2003.
^Iraq Body Count project Archived 9 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Source of IBC quote on undercounting by media is Press Release 15 :: Iraq Body Count.
^Malovany, Pesach (21 July 2017). Wars of Modern Babylon: A History of the Iraqi Army from 1921 to 2003. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813169453 – via Google Books.
^"U.S. Periods of War and Dates of Recent Conflicts" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. 29 November 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 March 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
^"Political Circus: 'Mission Accomplished' finds a home". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
^Gordon, Michael; Trainor, Bernard (1 March 1995). The Generals' War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf. New York: Little Brown & Co.
^ ab"U.S. has 100,000 troops in Kuwait". CNN. 18 February 2003. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
^Cite error: The named reference beginning1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"UN INSPECTORS FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF PROHIBITED WEAPONS PROGRAMMES AS OF 18 MARCH WITHDRAWAL, HANS BLIX TELLS SECURITY COUNCIL | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
^"US Hardliners search for a Saddam connection". Gulf States Newsletter's Middle East Insider (9). September 2001. Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
^Oz Hassan (2012) Constructing America's Freedom Agenda for the Middle East
^"President Bush Meets with Prime Minister Blair". Georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. 31 January 2003. Archived from the original on 12 March 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
^"Poll: Talk First, Fight Later" Archived 30 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine. CBS, 24 January 2003. Retrieved 23 April 2007.
^An exception was Denmark, where even the popular opinion supported the invasion and Denmark as a member of the coalition. Joint Declaration by Russia, Germany and France on Iraq France Diplomatie 10 February 2003
^NZ praised for 'steering clear of Iraq war' Archived 15 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine The Dominion Post, 7 December 2008.
^Beltrame, Julian (31 March 2003). "Canada to Stay out of Iraq War". Maclean's. Archived from the original on 18 May 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
^Hoar, Jennifer (23 June 2006). "Weapons Found In Iraq Old, Unusable". CBS News. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
^Chivers, C.J. (14 October 2014). "The Secret Casualties of Iraq's Abandoned Chemical Weapons". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 January 2015.
^MacAskill, Ewen; Borger, Julian (15 September 2004). "Iraq war was illegal and breached UN charter, says Annan". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
^"Guinness World Records, Largest Anti-War Rally". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on 4 September 2004. Retrieved 11 January 2007.
^Callinicos, Alex (19 March 2005). "Anti-war protests do make a difference". Socialist Worker. Archived from the original on 21 March 2006. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
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