The Iraq War

Paul Mason, Britannica Digital Learning

• Publisher: Britannica Digital Learning
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781615356416
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

In The Iraq War, significant events that shaped the war are explored, including the background to war, the clashes over weapons inspections, the fall of Saddam Hussein, the worsening violence inside Iraq, the Iraqi elections, and the withdrawal of troops.

“Mission Accomplished”

MAY 1, 2003

President George W. Bush speaks to crew members of the USS Abraham Lincoln. His message is clearly seen in the background.

On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush landed on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Persian Gulf. He announced that it was “mission accomplished” for the Allied forces, and that “major combat operations” were finished. President Bush was correct to say that the military invasion was largely complete, but there were still many challenges to overcome before the invasion of Iraq could be considered a success.

CELEBRATIONS AND RESENTMENTS

Many Iraqis celebrated Saddam’s downfall. The Kurds and Shia, who make up most of Iraq’s population, were mostly glad he was gone. In Baghdad’s Firdos Square, a determined crowd hauled down one particularly large and famous statue of Saddam. Men began to beat it with their shoes—an especially insulting gesture in Arab countries. However, very few Iraqis backed the invasion completely:

• Even if they had wanted to get rid of Saddam, many Iraqis wished that it had not taken an invasion by foreign troops to end his rule.

• Sunni Muslims had dominated the government, civil service, and armed forces under Saddam. They largely saw the invasion as a defeat.

• Some Muslim Iraqis wished that non-Muslims had not come to Iraq, which is home to some of Islam’s holiest shrines.

THE SPREAD OF LAWLESSNESS

Saddam had been a cruel ruler, who regularly used violence to keep a tight grip on power. When his regime was defeated, it was not clear what would replace it. Local rulers in some areas began to attack one another, battling over which areas they would control. At the same time, looting became commonplace, with private property and national treasures being stolen. For example, thousands of valuable ancient artefacts were stolen from the Iraqi National Museum and are still turning up for sale around the world today.

 

TIMELINE	CONFLICT CONTINUES, 2003
March 20, 2003	The invasion of Iraq by coalition forces begins.
April 9, 2003	Baghdad surrenders to the coalition forces.
May 1, 2003	President Bush declares “mission accomplished.”
June 24, 2003	Six British soldiers are killed by a mob in Majar al-Kabir in southern Iraq.
August 19, 2003	A huge bomb explodes at the UN headquarters in Baghdad, killing the UN’s special envoy.

The Ba’ath Party

Until the coalition invasion, the Ba’ath Party and its leader, Saddam Hussein, governed Iraq. The Ba’ath Party was founded in the 1940s with the aim of linking all Arabs together. It developed branches in various countries but was strongest in Syria and Iraq. It came to power in Iraq in 1963 and again in 1968. Under Saddam, it was a mainly Sunni organization, even though most Iraqis are Shia.

CROSS-REFERENCE
DE-BA’ATHIFICATION: PAGES 22–23

A room in the National Library in Baghdad lies in ruins after looters ransacked it looking for anything of value.

Dismantling Saddam’s Regime

MAY 22, 2003

On May 22, 2003 the UN Security Council agreed to Resolution 1483. The resolution recognized that the United States and Britain were “occupying powers under unified command” and were now responsible for Iraq. In effect, the resolution recognized that the members of the coalition were the new, temporary rulers of Iraq. It also ended UN sanctions against Iraq and transferred the income from Iraq’s oil sales to the Coalition Provisional Authority, which had replaced Saddam’s government.

DE-BA’ATHIFICATION

The Ba’ath Party had run Iraq since 1968 and been a key part of Saddam’s rule. The coalition decided it must be abolished and Ba’ath Party members removed from positions of power. Junior officials were told to leave their jobs. Coalition forces hunted down higher-ranking officials who had played an active part in Saddam’s brutal regime, with the aim of punishing them for their actions.

DISBANDING THE ARMY AND POLICE

Until the invasion, the Iraqi army and police force had been used by Saddam to keep control of the country. Both had used violence against their fellow Iraqis many times, and among the soldiers and policemen were large numbers of Saddam’s supporters. In 2003, the coalition decided to disband the army and police force.

With no effective police force alongside them, coalition soldiers began to struggle to keep control. Some areas of the country, for example, the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, quickly became no-go zones—areas where coalition forces dared not go in case they were attacked. In Baghdad, almost all non-Iraqis were forced to live inside a heavily fortified area called the “Green Zone” for their own safety.

US soldiers on patrol in Baghdad in May 2003. Coalition forces were beginning to find it increasingly hard to keep order in parts of Iraq.

TIMELINE	SADDAM’S REGIME, 1968–2003
July 17, 1968	Saddam Hussein becomes vice president of Iraq.
July 16, 1979	Saddam Hussein becomes secretary general of the Ba’ath Party and president of Iraq.
April 9, 2003	Baghdad is captured by coalition forces, ending Saddam’s rule.
April 15, 2003	Saddam’s hometown, Tikrit, is captured by coalition forces. Many of Saddam’s most important supporters came from Tikrit, and it was among his most loyal bases.

GROWTH OF THE INSURGENCY

By 2004, the violence in Iraq had steadily become worse. There was an increase in the number of attacks both on coalition forces and on the new Iraqi government. These attacks became known as the insurgency. Insurgents were a combination of local leaders and foreign fighters. Some were Sunnis unhappy at losing control of Iraq, some were local warlords trying to gain as much territory as possible, and some came to attack the United States and its allies, who they saw as the ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Defeat and Humiliation: March 3, 1991
• Kurdish Safe Haven: April 5, 1991
• Weapons Inspection Clashes: October 29, 1997
• UNMOVIC: December 17, 1999
• Resolution 1441: November 8, 2002
• Protests Against War: February 15, 2003
• Invasion: March 20, 2003
• The Fall of Baghdad: April 9, 2003
• “Mission Accomplished”: May 1, 2003
• Dismantling Saddam’s Regime: May 22, 2003
• Attack on the UN Embassy: August 19, 2003
• The Capture of Saddam: December 13, 2003
• Abu Ghraib: March 21, 2004
• Transfer of Power: June 28, 2004
• The Battle for Fallujah: November 8, 2004
• The First Elections: January 30, 2005
• Attack on the al-Askari Mosque: February 22, 2006
• Troop Surge: January 10, 2007
• A Divided Government: August 1, 2007
• Iran’s President Visits Iraq: March 2, 2008
• Withdrawal: December 15, 2011
• Key Figures in the Iraq War
• Glossary
• Further Information
• Index