IRAQ WAR

Background

The Iraq War was the second military operation aimed by George W. Bush after the 9/11 attack. 

According to some U.S. officials, Saddam Hussein had connections with Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist group (al-Qaeda). Intelligent services included the possibility of Iraq was employing weapons of mass destruction threatened their security and that of their coalition/regional allies. This point was the main argument of U.S to invade the country.

However, Iraq cooperated with the inspectors who were sending by United Nations Security Council to verify if it was or not in possession of this kind of weapons. The surprise was that the commission didn’t find evidence to prove that Iraq was resumed his nuclear program. But head weapons inspector, Hans Blix, said that while Iraq's cooperation was "active", it was not "unconditional" and not "immediate"

Against the UN resolution, George W. Bush, supporting by Tony Blair and José María Aznar, decided to invade Iraq. The Operation Iraqi Freedom began on March 20, 2003.

 The world famouse "Azores photo".

Voices against the invasion

There is no doubt about the controversial situation about Iraq. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton was one of the first voices to talk about the negative consequences about the military action. In October 2002, speaking on a Labour Party conference he said that: “As a pre-emptive action today, however well-justified, may come back with unwelcome consequences in the future....I don't care how precise your bombs and your weapons are, when you set them off, innocent people will die”

In the same way was the French Foreign Minister Dominique Villepin on January 20, 2003, when he argued that: “We believe that military intervention would be the worst solution”. Other relevant name who didn’t support the operation was Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations

The truth is that manifestations against Iraq war were promoted all around the world. And the most relevant protests were, curiously, in England and Spain. In other words, Bush’s allied governments.

First days

The Iraq war began on March 20, 2003. The U.S. army General Tommy Franks led the operation. The coalition against Iraq participated with 248,000 soldiers from the United States, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers and 194 Polish soldiers from Special Forces unit GROM sent to Kuwait for the invasion. The invasion force was also supported by Iraqi Kurdish militia troops, estimated to number upwards of 70,000.

The main objectives were bring down Saddam Hussein’s government and located and destroyed the undiscovered weapons of mass destruction. Nowadays, weapons still undiscovered. 

The resistance was more efficient than allied troops expected. Iraqi army used a small fast attacks strategy and war was extended to civilian locations. This achieved some temporary successes and created unexpected challenges for the invading forces, especially the U.S. military.

Finally, on April 9, allies took Baghdad after a hard assault. The President Hussein was disappeared, but his regime was definitely down. A provisional government took the power.

“We got him” 

This is the most famous phrase of Iraq operation. On December 13, 2003, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, Paul Brenner, announced that Saddam Hussein was captured in a farm near Tikrit. The dictator was hidden in secret places since he left the royal palace. However, allied troops were tipped of his whereabouts.

Hussein was shown to the world with a dirty beard and a careless long hair. Doctors confirmed his identity with a D.N.A. test. He was moved to United States where was interrogated by the F.B.I agent George Piro.

The trial extended for two years, but finally, Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence was appealed, but Iraq’s Supreme Court affirmed it. Saddam was hanged on December 30, 2006.

Consequences

In January 2005 was promoted the first National Assembly in Iraq with the idea to form a new Constitution. His members were elected by universal vote. However, the elections were disapproved by some society level who considerers that it was a U.S. game.

After all, the elections took place and the new text was a real. Actually, Iraq is a Federal Parliamentary Republic. The country is governed by the Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (elected twice) and laws are according to Islam religion. All Iraqi regions have more power.

In other hand, President Barack Obama announced in 2010 that Americans troops “returned home in August”. The American leader talked in a press conference about the future and said that: “Our commitment in Iraq is going to change. We will pass from and military effort to a civil effort. We trust in our diplomatic members. Truly, we can´t see the end of the United States sacrifice in Iraq”.

War in numbers

There some data about Iraq war. The statistics are from 2007, so the numbers increse in the next years. Anyway, people can imagine all the destruction caused by the conflict.