Twenty years ago, the US and Britain invaded Iraq | Abroad

After 9/11, Bush announces a comprehensive plan to find and stop terrorists around the world. Four weeks after the attacks, the US and Britain invade Afghanistan after it appears that the attacks from that country were prepared by Al Qaeda. The Americans ask the Taliban, who are in power at the time, to extradite al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his followers. Because that doesn’t happen, the operation ‘Enduring Freedom’ starts.

In 2002, the US also began to put pressure on Iraq to cut ties with terrorists and destroy the country’s alleged weapons of mass destruction. Bush and US Secretary of State Colin Powell address the United Nations on the dangers of Saddam Hussein’s regime and his refusal to disarm the country.

Bush is determined to bring down Hussein. After 9/11 he says that the Americans reserve the right to take military action against regimes that are ill-disposed to them. He sees Iraq as the greatest danger.

This has to do with the Gulf War that took place in 1990-1991. Saddam invaded neighboring Kuwait in August 1990, prompting the United Nations to respond with an attack on Iraq. The conflict eventually ended in a ceasefire, in which it was agreed that Iraq should rid itself of weapons of mass destruction and not use, develop or buy new materials. The US thinks that Saddam is not complying with those conditions.

Since 9/11 and the strong language of Bush, there has been a lot of speculation about the possible invasion of Iraq. In 2002, it was leaked that President Bush ordered the American secret service CIA to expel the Iraqi president. Killing Hussein is not ruled out.

On March 17, 2003, the US president issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam to leave the country. If he doesn’t, a second Gulf war would start. Saddam rejects the ultimatum the next day.

A day before the invasion, United Nations inspectors conclude after a 112-day mission that it is unclear whether Iraq actually has weapons of mass destruction, something that the US and Britain have been trying to convince the whole world of for months. They refer to reports that later turn out to be false.
On March 20, 2003, the Americans and the British invaded Iraq through Kuwait, even though they did not have the support of the UN and there were worldwide protests against the war. The raid led to the deposition of Saddam and his regime in April 2003. When the capital Baghdad is taken, Saddam goes into hiding. He was only discovered in December 2003, with disheveled hair and a long beard, by American soldiers in an underground cave near Tikrit. The following year, the Americans handed him over to the Iraqi authorities.

In October 2005, the trial of the ex-dictator and seven of his supporters began before a special court in Baghdad. There he was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity. He is held responsible for the murder of 148 Shiites in 1982 in Doujail. More than three years after his fall, the Iraqi ex-dictator is hanged and dies on the gallows. He is buried in his native village of Ouja, near Tikrit.

On May 1, 2003, Bush declares the war over, but the violence still continues. The raid marks one of the bloodiest periods in Iraq’s modern history.

On September 1, 2010, then US President Barack Obama officially ended the combat mission in Iraq. The last American combat unit left Iraq on August 19 of that year, but about 50,000 American soldiers remain in the country. They must help develop the Iraqi security services and provide support for counter-terror operations. They will retire by the end of 2011.

Nearly 5,000 American soldiers die during the invasion. The figures vary widely on the death toll among the Iraqis: the most conservative estimate mentions 134,000 Iraqi civilian deaths and tens of thousands of military deaths, other figures speak of almost or more than a million deaths. In 2006, the renowned science magazine The Lancet reported more than half a million deaths.

Chaos and sectarian violence followed the invasion, leading to the emergence of the Sunni extremist group Islamic State (IS). It controlled large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014. Iraq declared military victory over IS in December 2017, but it still claims deadly attacks in the country.