Global InformationIraq War information
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| Iraq War حرب العراق (Arabic) | |||||||
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| 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 | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
Invasion (2003) United States Iraqi Kurdistan United Kingdom Australia Iraqi National Congress[1] Poland |
Invasion (2003) Iraq People's Mujahedin of Iran | ||||||
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 | |||||||
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| Strength | |||||||
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Coalition forces (2003) 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) |
Sunni Insurgents  Islamic State of Iraq≈1,000 (2008) Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order ≈500–1,000 (2007) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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Iraqi security forces (post-Saddam) 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 | ||||||
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* "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). | |||||||
| Part of a series on |
| Ba'athism |
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The Iraq War (Arabic: حرب العراق, romanized: ḥarb 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 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 and argued that Iraq posed a threat to the United States and its allies. However, in 2004 the 9/11 Commission concluded that 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.
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- ^ http://www.defense.gov/casualty.pdf
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- ^ "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.
- ^ "Operation Iraqi Freedom". iCasualties. Archived from the original on 21 March 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Casualty" (PDF). Retrieved 29 June 2016.
- ^ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/DPAS-6K9H5Y?OpenDocument
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- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20040426022123/http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=9524
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3355749.stm
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- ^ https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2009-02-07-salvador-iraq_N.htm
- ^ http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=18470 Archived 13 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=33116
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- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20110428201646/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/combat-troops-pull-out-of-iraq/780839.aspx
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20120130025416/http://iraq.pigstye.net/article.php/20050112090041443/print
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- ^ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2003/12/23/1015519.htm
- ^ http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2003/12/28/iraqi-insurgency-2-thai-soldiers-killed-1-injured-br-0
- ^ 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
- ^ "Casualties in Iraq".
- ^ a b iCasualties.org (was lunaville.org). Benicia, California. Patricia Kneisler, et al., "Iraq Coalition Casualties" Archived 21 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Human Costs of U.S. Post-9/11 Wars: Direct War Deaths in Major War Zones | Figures | Costs of War".
- ^ a b "Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) – Defense Base Act Case Summary by Nation". US Department of Labor. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
- ^ 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.
- ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/world/middleeast/24sunni.html
- ^ https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/15/iraq/main3504599.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3504599 Archived 14 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
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- ^ "Thirteen anti-Qaeda tribe members killed in Iraq – France 24". Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
- ^ Williams, Timothy; Hussein, Mohammed (29 December 2009). "4 Sunni Guards at Checkpoint in Baghdad Are Found Dead". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/06/20106653940383435.html#
- ^ https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128084675
- ^ Chulov, Martin (18 July 2010). "Suicide bomber kills dozens of US-backed militia in Baghdad". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
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- ^ Archived 18 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Moore, Solomon; Oppel, Richard A. (24 January 2008). "Attacks Imperil U.S.-Backed Militias in Iraq". The New York Times.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Jonathan Steele: Body counts". TheGuardian.com. 28 May 2003.
- ^ https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-09-26-insurgents_N.htm
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- ^ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-30/iraq-civilian-deaths-drop-for-third-year-as-toll-eases-after-u-s-drawdown.html
- ^ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aia6y6NymliRdEZESktBSWVqNWM1dkZOSGNIVmtFZEE#gid=4
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- ^ "Insurgent body count documents released." Archived 27 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine Stars and Stripes. 1 October 2007. Number of convictions not specified.
- ^ "Iraq Body Count". Retrieved 27 April 2014.
- ^ "Iraq War Logs: What the numbers reveal". Iraq Body Count. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
- ^ Kim Gamel (23 April 2009). "AP Impact: Secret tally has 87,215 Iraqis dead". Fox News. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
- ^ "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
- ^ "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] - ^ "Iraq Family Health Survey" New England Journal of Medicine 31 January 2008
- ^ "Greenspan admits Iraq was about oil, as deaths put at 1.2m". the Guardian. 16 September 2007. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
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