Iraq War |
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Part of the Iraqi conflict and the War on Terror |
Clockwise from top: U.S. troops at Uday and Qusay Hussein's hideout; insurgents in northern Iraq; the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Firdos Square |
Date | 20 March 2003 – 18 December 2011 (2011-12-18) (8 years and 8 or 9 months) |
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Location | |
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Result |
Inconclusive
- Invasion and occupation of Iraq
- Overthrow of Ba'ath Party government and execution of Saddam Hussein
- Emergence of significant insurgency, rise of al-Qaeda in Iraq, severe sectarian violence
- Subsequent reduction in violence and depletion of al-Qaeda in Iraq[1][2]
- Establishment of democratic elections and formation of new Shia led government
- Coalition failure to defeat Iraqi insurgency[3][4][5][6]
- Withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011
- Stronger Iranian influence in Iraq[7][8][9]
- Escalation of sectarian insurgency after U.S. withdrawal leading to the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the successor of al-Qaeda in Iraq[10][11]
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Belligerents |
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Invasion phase (2003)
United States
United Kingdom
Australia
Poland
Peshmerga
Supported by:
Canada[12]
Netherlands[13] |
Invasion phase (2003)
Iraq |
Post-invasion (2003–11)
United States
United Kingdom
Iraq
Supported by:
Iran[14][15]
Iraqi Kurdistan |
Post-invasion (2003–11)
Ba'ath loyalists
- Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation
- Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order
Sunni insurgents
Shia insurgents
Mahdi Army
Special Groups
- Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq
- Others
supported by:
Iran
For fighting between insurgent groups, see Sectarian violence in Iraq (2006–08). |
Commanders and leaders |
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Ayad Allawi
Ibrahim al-Jaafari
Nouri al-Maliki
Ricardo Sanchez
George W. Casey, Jr.
David Petraeus
Raymond T. Odierno
Lloyd Austin
George W. Bush
Barack Obama
Tommy Franks
Donald Rumsfeld
Robert Gates
Tony Blair
Gordon Brown
David Cameron
John Howard
Kevin Rudd
Silvio Berlusconi
Walter Natynczyk
José María Aznar
Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Aleksander Kwaśniewski |
Ba'ath Party
Saddam Hussein (POW) ![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Skull_and_Crossbones.svg/15px-Skull_and_Crossbones.svg.png)
Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri
Qusay Hussein †
Uday Hussein †
Abid Hamid Mahmud (POW)
Ali Hassan al-Majid (POW)
Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti (POW)
Taha Yasin Ramadan (POW)
Tariq Aziz (POW)
Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed
Sunni insurgency
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi †
Abu Ayyub al-Masri †
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi †
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Ishmael Jubouri
Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i (POW)
Shia insurgency
Muqtada al-Sadr
Abu Deraa Qais al-Khazali
Akram al-Kaabi
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Strength |
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Invasion forces (2003) 309,000
United States: 192,000[19]
United Kingdom: 45,000
Australia: 2,000
Poland: 194
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)[20]
Iraqi security forces 805,269 (military and paramilitary: 578,269,[21] police: 227,000)
Awakening militias ≈103,000 (2008)[22] Iraqi Kurdistan ≈400,000 (Kurdish Border Guard: 30,000,[23] Peshmerga 375,000) |
Iraqi Armed Forces: 375,000 (disbanded in 2003)
Special Iraqi Republican Guard: 12,000
Iraqi Republican Guard: 70,000–75,000
Fedayeen Saddam: 30,000
Sunni Insurgents ≈70,000 (2007)[24] al-Qaeda ≈1,300 (2006)[25]
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)
Killed: 17,690[26]
Wounded: 40,000+[27]
Coalition forces Killed: 4,815[28][29] (4,496 U.S.,[30] 179 UK,[31] 139 other)[28]
Missing/captured (U.S.): 17 (8 rescued, 9 died in captivity)[32]
Wounded: 32,776+ (32,252 U.S.,[30] 315 UK, 212+ other[33])[34][35][36][37] Injured/diseases/other medical*: 51,139 (47,541 U.S.,[38] 3,598 UK)[34][36][37]
Contractors
Killed: 1,554[39][40]
Wounded & injured: 43,880[39][40]
Awakening Councils
Killed: 1,002+[41] Wounded: 500+ (2007),[42] 828 (2008)[43]
Total dead: 25,285 (+12,000 policemen killed 2003–2005) Total wounded: 117,961 |
Iraqi combatant dead (invasion period): 7,600–10,800[44][45]
Insurgents (post-Saddam)
Killed: 26,544 (2003–11)[46]
Detainees: 12,000 (Iraqi-held)[47]
Total dead: 34,144–37,344 |
Estimated deaths:
Lancet survey** (March 2003 – July 2006): 654,965 (95% CI: 392,979–942,636)[48][49]
Iraq Family Health Survey*** (March 2003 – July 2006): 151,000 (95% CI: 104,000–223,000)[50]
PLOS Medicine Study**: (March 2003 – June 2011): 405,000 (95% CI: 48,000–751,000), in addition to 55,000 deaths missed due to emigration.[51]
Documented deaths from violence:
Iraq Body Count (2003 – 14 December 2011): 103,160–113,728 civilian deaths recorded,[52] and 12,438 new deaths added from the Iraq War Logs[53] Associated Press (March 2003 – April 2009): 110,600[54]
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. |