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Starting and ending dates of the conflict

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Starting and ending dates of the conflict

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The Iraq War began in march of 2003 when the US invaded Iraq and threatened to destroy with MASS destruction. President George W. Bush announces that U.S. forces have begun a military operation into Iraq. “These are opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign,” the president says. That initial effort to “decapitate” Iraq’s leadership with air strikes fails, clearing the way for a ground invasion.

2003

20

This ended politically on October 21, 2011 when Obama made the annocementment on creating a new relationship with Iraq

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In March 2003, U.S. forces invaded Iraq vowing to destroy Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and end the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein. When WMD intelligence proved illusory and a violent insurgency arose, the war lost public support. Saddam was captured, tried, and hanged and democratic elections were held. In the years since, there have been over 4,700 U.S. and allied troop deaths, and more than one hundred thousand Iraqi civilians have been killed. Meanwhile, questions linger over Iraq's fractious political situation.

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In March 2003, U.S. forces invaded Iraq vowing to destroy Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and end the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein. When WMD intelligence proved illusory and a violent insurgency arose, the war lost public support. Saddam was captured, tried, and hanged and democratic elections were held.

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Role of religious beliefs, technology, and weaponry in the conflict

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Role of religious beliefs, technology, and weaponry in the conflict

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Tributes that bring honor to the victims of the conflict

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Tributes that bring honor to the victims of the conflict

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How many casualties occurred because of this event? 

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How many casualties occurred because of this event? 

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In the article Iraqi Civilians it states, "However, we know that between 280,771-315,190 have died from direct war related violence caused by the U.S., its allies, the Iraqi military and police, and opposition forces from the time of the invasion through March 2023."

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Iraqi men mourn a relative, likely the victim of sectarian killing, who was found shot dead with 14 other people in May 2005. Witnesses reported seeing the men being arrested by interior ministry commandos at a market near Baghdad before being driven away. (AFT PHOTO/ALIAL-Saddi/AFP/Getty Images)

No one knows with certainty how many people have been killed and wounded in Iraq since the 2003 United States invasion. However, we know that between 280,771-315,190 have died from direct war related violence caused by the U.S., its allies, the Iraqi military and police, and opposition forces from the time of the invasion through March 2023. The violent deaths of Iraqi civilians have occurred through aerial bombing, shelling, gunshots, suicide attacks, and fires started by bombing. Many civilians have also been injured.

Because not all war-related deaths have been recorded accurately by the Iraqi government and the U.S.-led coalition, the numbers are likely much higher. Several estimates based on randomly selected household surveys place the total death count among Iraqis in the hundreds of thousands.

Several times as many Iraqi civilians may have died as an indirect result of the war, due to damage to the systems that provide food, health care and clean drinking water, and as a result, illness, infectious diseases, and malnutrition that could otherwise have been avoided or treated. The war has compounded the ill effects of decades of harmful U.S. policy actions towards Iraq since the 1960s, including economic sanctions in the 1990s that were devastating for Iraqis.

Despite more than $100 billion committed to aiding and reconstructing Iraq, many parts of the country still suffer from lack of access to clean drinking water and housing.

Key Findings

Life-threatening damage to Iraqi health care and other infrastructure has not been repaired: civilians are still dying in significant numbers.

Recommendations

The U.S. government should ensure that civilian deaths and injuries are included in public reporting of war deaths and should include a tally of children killed.
(Page updated as of March 2023)

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The Costs of War Project is a team of 35 scholars, legal experts, human rights practitioners, and physicians, which began its work in 2011. We use research and a public website to facilitate debate about the costs of the post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

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On October 21 President Obama announces that the remaining troops will arrive home before the end of 2011 and he claims this in order for the better relation for Iraq and the United States. And soon after then announcement, December 18, 2011, the United States completely withdrew its military forces from Iraq.

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The Iraq War was an armed conflict between a United States-led coalition force against the regime of Saddam Hussein from 2003 to 2011. The war was part of a broader campaign against terrorist activity known as the Global War on Terror.

States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger.... We'll be deliberate; yet, time is not on our side. I will not wait on events while dangers gather. I will not stand by as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons.

-- President George W. Bush, State of the Union, January 29, 2002

President George W. Bush meets with Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld outside the Oval Office shortly after authorizing "Operation Iraqi Freedom", March 19, 2003.

By 2002, Iraq had long been in violation of the Gulf War Settlement, in which Iraq had agreed to weapons inspections by the United Nations and to abide by no-fly zones. Saddam Hussein defied this agreement by refusing access to military bases for weapons inspections and continually violating the no-fly zones in the region. The Central Intelligence Agency initially reported to United States government officials that Iraq was actively seeking to make and acquire weapons of mass destruction. This reporting was in error. Paired with Iraq's reticence to allow weapons inspectors onto key sites, Iraq appeared to be a major threat to national security, and the United States considered Saddam Hussein to be a terrorist.

President George W. Bush first referred to Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as an "axis of evil" in the State of the Union on January 29, 2002. On November 8, 2002, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1441, warning of "serious consequences" if Iraq did not offer unrestricted access to UN weapons inspectors.

On August 26, 2002, in a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars 103rd National Convention, Vice President Dick Cheney said, "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us. And there is no doubt that his aggressive regional ambitions will lead him into future confrontations with his neighbors -- confrontations that will involve both the weapons he has today, and the ones he will continue to develop with his oil wealth."

Following a failed attempt to appeal to the United Nations for a mandate to invade Iraq, the United States, along with forces from Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, Poland, and Great Britain launched Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 19, 2003. On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush declared the "end of major combat operations," and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was established as the first of several successive transitional governments. Unfortunately, the armed conflict was far from over.

President George W. Bush walks across the tarmac with NFO Lt. Ryan Phillips to Navy One, an S-3B Viking jet, at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, May 1, 2003. Flying to the USS Abraham Lincoln, the President addressed the nation that evening to announce that major combat operations in Iraq had ended. (Remarks by the President from the USS Abraham Lincoln)

On December 13, 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured by United States special forces. Hussein was eventually sentenced to death for crimes against humanity in 2006 by an Iraqi court. His sentence was carried out near Baghdad on December 30, 2006.

Throughout the Iraq War, coalition forces faced problems with sectarian violence and insurgents. This reached a crisis point in 2006. This led the United States to increase the amount of troops deployed to Iraq by 20,000, known as the "surge," in 2007.

It is clear that we need to change our strategy in Iraq.... So America will change our strategy to help the Iraqis carry out their campaign to put down sectarian violence and bring security to the people of Baghdad. This will require increasing American force levels. So I've committed more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq.

-- President George W. Bush, Address to the Nation on Military Operations in Iraq, January 10, 2007

On December 18, 2011, the United States completely withdrew its military forces from Iraq, following a gradual withdrawal that began with an announcement by President Obama in February 2009. The war was incredibly costly. A little over 4,400 Americans and nearly 100,000 Iraqis were killed in the conflict that lasted over eight years. After the invasion, it was revealed that there were no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and that the United States government's allegations thereof had been based on unreliable or misinterpreted intelligence.

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The Iraq War was an armed conflict between a United States-led coalition force against the regime of Saddam Hussein from 2003 to 2011. The war was part of a broader campaign against terrorist activity known as the Global War on Terror.

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-Ali Hassan Al-Majid (Iraqi Minister) [1941-]

-Nouri Al-Maliki (Prime Minister of Iraq) [1950-]

-Kofi Annan (Un Secretary-General) [1938-]

-Tony Blair (Prime Minister of the UK) [1953-]

-L. Paul Bremer (Leader of the CPA) [1941-]

-George W. Bush (President of the United States) [1946-]

-Jacques Chirac (President of France) [1932-]

-Saddam Hussien (President of Iraq) [1937-2006]

-Barrack Obama (President of the United States) [1961-]

-Donald Rumsfield (US Secretary of Defense) [1932-]

-Jalal Talabani (President of Iraq) [1933-]

(Page 46, Timelines, The Iraq War)

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How did this conflict impact people in that specific area?

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How did this conflict impact people in that specific area?

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As war occurred, so much money was spent on delivering supplies and obtaining resources. As they had to spend all this money this effected their debt even more. Especially all the damage that had been done during the war. There was more than $100 billion committed to aiding and reconstructing Iraq. In the article it states, Several times as many Iraqi civilians may have died as an indirect result of the war, due to damage to the systems that provide food, health care and clean drinking water, and as a result, illness, infectious diseases, and malnutrition that could otherwise have been avoided or treated.

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In March 2003, U.S. forces invaded Iraq vowing to destroy Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and end the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein. When WMD intelligence proved illusory and a violent insurgency arose, the war lost public support. Saddam was captured, tried, and hanged and democratic elections were held. In the years since, there have been over 4,700 U.S. and allied troop deaths, and more than one hundred thousand Iraqi civilians have been killed. Meanwhile, questions linger over Iraq's fractious political situation.

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In March 2003, U.S. forces invaded Iraq vowing to destroy Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and end the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein. When WMD intelligence proved illusory and a violent insurgency arose, the war lost public support. Saddam was captured, tried, and hanged and democratic elections were held.