Sunday marks 20 years since US and coalition forces invaded Iraq on a mission to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and find weapons of mass destruction.
Former President George W. Bush and his administration bet the American people and the international community that Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Coalition forces found no such weapon, and two years later the Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction, set up by Bush, said in a report that the “weapons of mass destruction” debacle was “one of the most publicized is one of Most damaging are the intelligence failures in recent American history. ”
The military succeeded in ousting Hussein from power, clearing the way for a difficult state-building project that would last nearly a decade.
With the withdrawal of the United States in 2011, The price of war was high:
- At least 4,480 US dead and over 32,000 injured
- At least 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead
- At least $806 billion was spent on war
- Thousands of Soldiers Suffering from Probable Causative Diseases exposure to burn holes
2003, the American public Still amazed in September. November 11, 2001 Terrorist attacks largely supported the war. But public opinion today is changing.Pew Research Center research 2019 Found 62% Or Americans thought war was “not worth it”In the same poll, 64% of veterans shared the same opinion.
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Bush and war supporters continue to admit they did not find weapons of mass destruction, but the world “Much worse” Had Hussein remained in power.
Iraq war in pictures
in his 2002 State of the Union addressBush suggested Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction.
“This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world.” Bush said. “Countries like this and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil. The United States will not allow the world’s most dangerous regime to threaten us with the world’s most destructive weapons.”
Just one month before the invasion, Secretary of State Colin Powell said: impassioned speeches and presentations at the United Nations Security Council, Claims Iraq is hiding weapons of mass destruction.
The speech turned the American public in favor of the war. Powell, who died in 2021, continues to regret his speech.
“I will regret it forever” In an interview with the Harvard Gazette, Powell said: After five years. “It was a terrible mistake for all parts of us and the intelligence community…I wish it had been different.”
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Thousands of protesters in the United States and around the world demonstrated when war was imminent.
rear Hussein issued deadline for leaving Iraq On the night of March 19, 2003, President Bush announced the start of the invasion.
US airstrikes hit Iraq to clear the way for invading forces.
After three weeks of fighting, US forces captured the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and breached Hussein’s statue, symbolically ending his reign.
In May 2003, President Bush declared that “mission accomplished”, but the war dragged on for years as sectarian violence and riots engulfed the country.
Hussein was captured by US forces in December 2003. He will be tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity. He was executed in 2006.
The United States saw protests throughout the war.
President Barack Obama, elected in 2008, promised to withdraw troops from Iraq.
The United States completed its withdrawal from Iraq in December 2011, leaving security in the hands of the Iraqi government.
Massive conflict and violence will continue to plague the country. In the mid-2010s, the fugitive terrorist group ISIS famously emerged and conquered parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
today, 2,500 small networks U.S. Forces It is stationed in the country as part of the US’ ongoing partnership with Iraq.
Contributions: Tom Vanden Brook and Dan Nowicki, USA TODAY Network. Associated Press
