2003 invasion of Iraq

The 2003 invasion of Iraq (March 20, 2003 - May 1, 2003) was the war fought by the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Poland and some other countries against Iraq, to end the rule of Saddam Hussein.^[24] The main reason that the war started was said to be because the British and American Governments believed that Iraq had dangerous weapons of mass destruction (such as chemical or nuclear weapons) that could be used against other countries.^[25][26][27] This turned out after the invasion to not be true.

2003 invasion of Iraq
Part of the Iraq War
From left to right: Marines of the U.S. 1st Marine Regiment escort Iraqi prisoners of war; a convoy of U.S. military vehicles in a sandstorm; U.S. soldiers watch an enemy building in Baghdad burn; Iraqi civilians cheer as a statue of Saddam Hussein is toppled.
Date 20 March – 1 May 2003 (1 month, 1 week and 4 days) Location Iraq Result Coalition operational success Iraqi Ba'athist government deposed Occupation of Iraq until June 2004[1] New Iraqi government established Beginning of the Iraq War
Belligerents
Coalition forces:  United States  United Kingdom  Australia  Poland With military support from: Iraqi National Congress[2][3][4] Peshmerga KDP PUK	Iraq Arab volunteers[5][6] MEK (until ceasefire in 2003)[7] Ansar al-Islam
Commanders and leaders
George W. Bush Dick Cheney Donald Rumsfeld Tommy Franks Tony Blair Brian Burridge John Howard Peter Cosgrove Aleksander Kwaśniewski 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 Muqtada AlSadr
Strength
United States: 466,985 personnel[8][9][10]  United Kingdom: 45,000 troops  Australia: 2,000 troops  Poland: 194 Special Forces[11] Peshmerga: 70,000[12] Iraqi National Congress: 620	Iraqi Armed Forces: 538,000 active 650,000 reserves[13][14] 2,000 tanks 3,700 APCs and IFVs 2,300 artillery pieces 300 combat aircraft[15]  Special Iraqi Republican Guard: 12,000  Iraqi Republican Guard: 70,000–75,000  Fedayeen Saddam: 30,000 Arab volunteers: 6,000[16] Shia Al Mahdi Army: 1600–2800
Casualties and losses
Coalition: 214 killed[17] 606 wounded (U.S.)[18] Peshmerga: 24+ killed[19] Total: 238 dead, 1,000+ wounded	Estimated Iraqi combatant fatalities: 30,000 (figure attributed to General Tommy Franks) 7,600–11,000 (4,895–6,370 observed and reported) (Project on Defense Alternatives study)[20][21] 13,500–45,000 (extrapolated from fatality rates in units serving around Baghdad)[22] Total: 7,600–8,000 killed
Estimated Iraqi civilian fatalities: 7,269 (Iraq Body Count)[23] 3,200–4,300 (Project on Defense Alternatives study)[20]

The famous statue of Saddam Hussein being knocked down by US forces

Another reason for the start of the war was that many people thought that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the leaders of al-Qaeda, was hiding in Iraq after the September 11, 2001 attacks.^[28] Though Saddam Hussein was not involved in the planning of the September 11 attacks, many people accused him of giving al-Qaeda a safe place to hide from the United States. The war was extremely controversial. Many British and American people blamed British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the American President, George W. Bush.

American and British paratroopers landed in the far north of Iraq and a few soldiers attacked from the sea, but most invaded from Kuwait in the south. The combined forces proceeded to advance and capture Baghdad. 4,734 NATO soldiers were killed in Iraq war including 4,600 U.S. servicemen,^[29][30] 179 UK servicemen and 139 Other NATO soldiers with a total of 4900 casualties. 31,882 U.S. servicemen and over 3,600 UK servicemen were wounded in Iraq.^[31][32][33] More than 180,000 Iraqi civilians who were not soldiers were also killed.^[34]

Aftermath

The United Nations Secretary-General said that "[F]rom our point of view and from the Charter point of view [the war] was illegal."^[35]