Iraq War: 2003–2011 war after an American-led invasion

Iraq War
	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; (8 years and 8 or 9 months)
Location	Iraq
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; Establishment of democratic elections and formation of new Shia led government; Coalition failure to defeat Iraqi insurgency; Withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011; Stronger Iranian influence in Iraq; 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;
Belligerents
Invasion phase (2003); United States; United Kingdom; Australia; Poland; Peshmerga; Supported by:; Canada; Netherlands	Invasion phase (2003); Iraq
Post-invasion; (2003–11); United States ; United Kingdom ; Iraq ; MNF–I; (2003–09) United States (2003–09) ; United Kingdom (2003–09) ; Australia (2003–-09) ; Azerbaijan (2003–08) ; Kuwait (2003–08) ; Estonia (2003–09) ; El Salvador (2003–09) ; Bulgaria (2003–08) ; Moldova (2003–08) ; Albania (2003–08) ; Ukraine (2003–08) ; Denmark (2003–08) ; Czech Republic (2003–08) ; South Korea (2003–08) ; Singapore (2003–08) ; Brunei (2003–04) ; Croatia (2003–08) ; Bosnia and Herzegovina (2003–08) ; Macedonia (2003–08) ; Latvia (2003–08) ; Poland (2003–08) ; Kazakhstan (2003–08) ; Mongolia (2003–08) ; Georgia (2003–08) ; Tonga (2004–08) ; Japan (2004–08) ; Armenia (2005–08) ; Slovakia (2003–07) ; Lithuania (2003–07) ; Italy (2003–06) ; Norway (2003–06) ; Hungary (2003–05) ; Netherlands (2003–05) ; Portugal (2003–05) ; New Zealand (2003–04) ; Thailand (2003–04) ; Philippines (2003–04) ; Honduras (2003–04) ; Dominican Republic (2003–04) ; Spain (2003–04) ; Nicaragua (2003–04) ; Iceland (2003–unknown) ; Supported by:; Iran; 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 Al-Qaeda in Iraq (2004–06); Islamic State of Iraq (from 2006); Islamic Army of Iraq; Ansar al-Sunnah (2003–07); Shia insurgents Mahdi Army; Special Groups; Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq; Others; supported by:; Iran Quds Force; For fighting between insurgent groups, see Sectarian violence in Iraq (2006–08).
Commanders and leaders
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) ; 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 Qasem Soleimani;
Strength
Invasion forces (2003); 309,000; United States: 192,000; 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); Iraqi security forces; 805,269 (military and paramilitary: 578,269, police: 227,000); Awakening militias; ≈103,000 (2008); Iraqi Kurdistan; ≈400,000 (Kurdish Border Guard: 30,000, 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); al-Qaeda; ≈1,300 (2006); Islamic State of Iraq; ≈1,000 (2008); Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order; ≈500–1,000 (2007)
Casualties and losses
Iraqi security forces (post-Saddam); Killed: 17,690; Wounded: 40,000+; Coalition forces; Killed: 4,815 (4,496 U.S., 179 UK, 139 other); Missing/captured (U.S.): 17 (8 rescued, 9 died in captivity); Wounded: 32,776+ (32,252 U.S., 315 UK, 212+ other); Injured/diseases/other medical*: 51,139 (47,541 U.S., 3,598 UK); Contractors; Killed: 1,554; Wounded & injured: 43,880; Awakening Councils; Killed: 1,002+; Wounded: 500+ (2007), 828 (2008); Total dead: 25,285 (+12,000 policemen killed 2003–2005); Total wounded: 117,961	Iraqi combatant dead (invasion period): 7,600–10,800; Insurgents (post-Saddam); Killed: 26,544 (2003–11); Detainees: 12,000 (Iraqi-held); Total dead: 34,144–37,344
	Estimated deaths:; Lancet survey (March 2003 – July 2006): 654,965 (95% CI: 392,979–942,636); Iraq Family Health Survey* (March 2003 – July 2006): 151,000 (95% CI: 104,000–223,000); 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.; ; Documented deaths from violence:; Iraq Body Count (2003 – 14 December 2011): 103,160–113,728 civilian deaths recorded, and 12,438 new deaths added from the Iraq War Logs; Associated Press (March 2003 – April 2009): 110,600 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.

The conflict continued for much of the next ten years as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3–4 years of conflict. The United States officially withdrew from the country in 2011 but left private security contractors in its place to continue the war. In 2014 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant conquered much of northern Iraq. An American-led new coalition sent troops to help the government of Iraq.

Australia, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Poland were also involved in the war with support from the Kurdish Peshmerga.

Background

After the Gulf War of 1990-1991 during which a US-led coalition retook Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion, Iraq was severely damaged both economically and socially. Numerous penalties were imposed on the crumbling state of Iraq, including a no-fly zone (essentially barring any civilian and military planes from flying over Iraq), along with UN weapon inspections to ensure that Saddam was not stockpiling WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction). In 1998, the Iraqi government stopped allowing these inspections to continue after allegations that the inspectors were spying for the US.

Notes

References

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Iraq War: 2003–2011 war after an American-led invasion

Background

Notes

References

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