The Iraq War: 15 Years Later

 

The Iraq War: 15 Years Later 

Today, it has been 15 years since the Iraq War. I was in college when it started. I was 19 years old when it commenced. I remembered it just like it was yesterday. During the early stages of the war back in 2003, I opposed it 100 percent. History has vindicated my views completely. Iraq was not a direct, imminent threat to America directly. There were no massive weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and it was a war that caused widespread death and hurt to millions of Iraqis and Americans. First, Iraq was a product of WWI. After WWI (it involved the Allied Powers defeating the Central Powers), the Turkish Ottoman Empire was defeated. It once ruled Iraq. The combination of Arabic forces and people like T.E. Lawrence (or the Lawrence of Arabia, who was a real life British person) defeated the Ottoman Empire. Lawrence was angered at how the British and French elites deceived the Arabic people in that region since they promised them their own independent nations. Yet, the French and the British used the League of Nations, the Sykes–Picot Agreement (of 1916), and other slick policies to divide up the Middle East. These nefarious deeds either caused the Western leaders to rule those lands themselves or promote puppet leaders (i.e. monarchs) in those territories. Iraq was ruled by puppet leaders for a time. After WWII, Iraq was part of the United Nations. The 1958 revolt in Iraq caused a more republican government to exist in Iraq after the Hashimite monarchy was overthrown.

Later, by the 1960's, there was the Ba'ath Party coup against Abd al-Karim Qasim during 1963 (called the Ramadan Revolution. Qasim wanted land reform, women's rights, and a strong education in Iraq). When Abd al-Karim Qasim was the Iraqi prime minister, he appointed Naziha al-Dulaimi to become the first woman minister in Iraq’s modern history. Also, she was the first woman cabinet minister of the Arabic world back during the 1950's. Qasim also nationalized Iraq's oil supplies. Later, Saddam ruled Iraq as an authoritarian leader. Saddam Hussein (who shouldn't be glamorized as he was a brutal autocrat) was once an U.S. ally (the U.S. gave Saddam economic aid during the 1980's. There is a picture of Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein during the 1980's too) until the Persian Gulf War when Iraq conquered Kuwait. America thought that Saddam might would have invaded Saudi Arabia (which in their minds would threaten oil markets and other resources), so the West attacked Iraq. After 1991 (which was the end of the Persian Gulf War), Iraq experienced a no-fly zone, many airstrikes like Operation Desert Fox in December of 1998, and sanctions. Iraq was sent materials to develop weapons of mass destruction by the West as early as the 1980's.

I never forgotten that Madeline Albright said in an interview that the sanctions involving Iraqis was worth it. That's disgraceful. George W. Bush supported the invasion and he organized "the coalition of the willing" (plus presenting his fraudulent case to the United Nations) to execute the Iraqi 2003 war. The neo-conservatives not only promoted the Iraq War, but wrote documents favoring a regime change in Iraq before the Iraq War. The shock and awe bombings certainly etched in the minds of many that this war was a different, unique war. At first, American forces quickly defeated Iraqi forces. They came into Baghdad. The problem with that the West utilized de-Baathification (without a progressive alternative). Many in the West refused to give the Sunnis political rights or social rights. Many didn't try to reconcile the tensions among Shias and Sunnis in Iraq as Shias run the government of Iraq. Sunnis and Shias are Muslims who disagree on the successor of Muhammad. Most Muslims of the world are Sunnis. Iran is a nation with a heavy Shia population. Then, the chaos existed in Iraq after the initial defeat of Hussein's forces in Baghdad. The rise of ISIS came about. It is only recently when ISIS's strength has decreased and Iraq is more stable than 10 years ago. In that time, we saw the violence in Fullajah, Abu Ghraib, and other horrendous situations. We saw the rise of the anti-war movement which courageously opposed the Iraq War (just like anti-war heroes opposed the Vietnam War decades earlier). What we learn about the Iraq War is that any unjust war must be opposed period. We won't stop, because we can't stop. We want freedom to exist for all of the inhabitants of the world.

The Beginnings

The Iraq War transpired as the result of the conflicts after the Persian Gulf War. The Persian Gulf War was a brief war where America and its allies (being based in Saudi Arabia) routed out Iraqi forces who were in Kuwait. Advanced technologies like stealth aircraft and cruise missiles were displayed prominently during the conflict. The Persian Gulf War ended in 1991 by the time of the Presidency of George H. W. Bush. George H. W. Bush didn't want to invade Iraq back in 1991, because he feared that ethnic divisions and a possible civil war would develop (which ironically occurred after the 2003 Iraq War). Iraq was prevented from conquering Kuwait permanently, but issues remained. One issue was about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program. America wanted it gone during the 1990's, but the West supplied many WMDs to Iraq during the 1980's. This was a time when Iraq and Iran fought each other in a vicious war. During the 1990's, Iraq was constantly monitored by the United Nations constantly and a no fly zone was enforced. Sanctions existed in Iraq and many people in Iraq suffered. President Clinton used aircraft strikes in Iraqi forces in Operation Desert Fox in December of 1998 as a way to try to prevent Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction. Also, American and British forces were involved in the military campaign. By that time,  there was a debate on how much access weapons inspectors should have in Iraq. By the early 21st century, weapons of mass destruction were gone, but the neo-conservatives still advocated war against Iraq. The 1998 Iraqi Liberation Act (which was signed by then President Bill Clinton) desired a regime change against Saddam Hussein. Also, the neo-conservatives created the PNAC document which explicitly called for U.S. interests to dominate nations like Iraq. PNAC stands for a Project for a New American Century and its supporters developed a manifesto of neo-con thought involving foreign policy.

In essence, PNAC was a political think tank created by Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan. Of the twenty-five people who signed PNAC's founding statement of principles, ten went on to serve in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz. Observers such as Irwin Stelzer and Dave Grondin have suggested that the PNAC played a key role in shaping the foreign policy of the Bush Administration, particularly in building support for the Iraq War.

One of the PNAC's most influential publications was a 90-page report titled Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces, and Resources For a New Century. It had a quote that, "Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor." That quote certainly outlined an aggressive foreign policy position. PNAC ended in 2006. The neo-cons back then were war mongers and those who betrayed the tenets of international cooperation, international law, national law, and anti-imperialism. After the evil September 11 attacks in NYC, Pennsylvania, and Virginia (as the Pentagon is located in Northern Virginia), Dick Cheney (or the Vice President form 2001 to 2009), advocated for a war against Iraq immediately even though Iraq wasn't involved in the 9/11 attacks. Then President George W. Bush allowed inspectors into Iraq for a time. Bush used Colin Powell to give a speech in the United Nations to promote the myth that Iraq was a direct threat to the Middle Eastern region and to America. Powell later regretted that action. By 2002, Republicans and even some Democrats agreed with the authorization of force in Iraq. It was a time of massive changes in the world society.

Preparation for Catastrophe

By 2002, the war on terrorism grew. In that time, new policies came about. Our civil liberties were heavily compromised with the Patriot Act and the TSA using new, invasive searches against human beings. We had massive racial profiling against black Americans, people of color, and Muslims. Civil libertarians are right to mention that we have to defend and fight for our civil liberties. There are countless examples of  our civil rights and our civil liberties have been violated. For example, the NSA warrantless wiretapping have been documented by a wide spectrum of sources ( including those in the intelligence community and other great scholars), police brutality is a reality, and the NDAA is highly problematic in its composition. The anti-war movement was revitalized by 2002 too. Anti-war rallies were global from 2002, early 2003, and beyond. Even Barack Obama was in an anti-war rally before the Iraq War started in 2002. They refused to support a war in Iraq. While this was going on, the Bush administration was preparing for war. The Bush team used the United Nations as cover to fight Iraq for economic and geopolitical purposes. Ships traveled into the region in preparation for military combat. George W. Bush gave one final warning to Saddam Hussein on the eve of the Iraq War. Hussein was stoic in the midst of his appending, future death. George W. Bush finally made the decision in that would be the worst foreign policy blunder of the 21st century. It was one event, along with the Katrina disaster plus the financial collapse, that ultimately ended his Presidency in catastrophe. As early as July 10, 2002, the CIA was in Iraq to prepare for invasion. The CIA"s Special Activities Division was later joined by the military elite's JSOC or the Joint Special Operations Command. Bush decided to launch the Iraq War on March of 2003. Soon, some people on the left and the right would oppose it.

Shock and Awe

Then President George W. Bush wanted the Iraq War to transpire. He promoted deceptive rhetoric and the neo-conservative war hawks were aboard. He first elected to cause the military to execute the shock and awe campaign. This was about U.S. missiles targeting Iraqi targets, especially in Baghdad at the very beginning of the Iraq War. So, on March 19, 2003 at 9:43 pm. EST (or on March 20, 2003 on 5:34 am. Baghdad time), the Iraq War started. It involved a coalition of nations like America, the UK, Poland, the Kurdish Peshmerga, Italy, Canada, and the Netherlands. They were nicknamed “the Coalition of the Willing.” These nations are just as much responsible as establishing the Iraq War as America was because they supported that militaristic campaign. The shock and awe camp swept Iraq. It was the start of the Iraq War debacle. One major U.S. military leader of the Iraq War was General Tommy Franks. The official name of the war is ironically Operation Iraqi Freedom. About 248,000 soldiers came from America, 45,000 came from the UK, 2,000 came from Australia, 194 from Poland, and there were U.S. Special Forces in the area too. About 7,000 Kurdish militia members supported the invasion. General Franks admitted that the U.S. objective in the conflict was to end the Hussein regime, to get Iraqi oil fields, to get intelligence, to find WMDs, and to form a new government in Iraq. The early Iraq War was a combination of land plus water including air invasions by the “Coalition of the Willing.” The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division moved into Baghdad from the western desert. The 1st U.S. Marine Division fought in Nasiriyah to get territories. The U.S. Army 3rd Infantry defeated Iraqi forces in around Talil Airfield. On April 9, 2003, Baghdad fell ending Saddam Hussein’s 24-year rule. U.S. forces severed the Ba’ath Party ministries. When the invasion phase of the war ended, it was on the date of April 30, 2003.

Baghdad

The fall of Baghdad came about on April 10, 2003. Military forces were in the streets. The statue of Saddam Hussein came down. Many people celebrated. Yet, the celebration was premature since more problems would develop during the course of the Iraq War. By late April of 2003, an estimated 9,200 Iraqi combatants were killed by coalition forces along with an estimated 3,750 non-combatants (or civilians who didn’t take up arms). Coalition forces reported the death in combat of 139 U.S. military personnel and 33 UK military personnel. Baghdad was conquered by Western forces. There is the famous image of a Marine Corps M1 Abrams tank patrolling a Baghdad street after its fall. On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush visited the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. It was operating a few miles west of San Diego, California. At sunset, he held his national televised “Mission Accomplished” speech. It was delivered in front of sailors and airmen on the flight deck. He declared victory after Iraq’s conventional forces was defeated, but the war was definitely not over. There were still large amounts of resistance remaining. Saddam Hussein was alive during this time. Later, coalition forces saw a flurry of attacks on its troops. It started to increase in the Sunni Triangle. Back then, the Shia dominated the government. Sunnis were discriminated against. Many Iraqi insurgents were made up of both Sunnis and Shia.

The insurgents got weapons caches in the hundreds. They were given to them before by the Iraqi Army and the Republican Guard. Some of the insurgency was from the Fedayeen and the Saddam/Ba’ath Party loyalists. Later, religious extremists and Iraqis joined it since they were angry by the occupation. Many attacks existed in the provinces of Baghdad, Al Anbar, and Salah Ad Din. Those three provinces account for 35% of the population, but by December 2006 they were responsible for 73% of U.S. military deaths and an even higher percentage of recent U.S. military deaths (about 80%). The insurgency used mortars, missiles, suicide attacks, snipers, IEDs (or improvised explosive devices), car bombs, small arms fire, RPGs (rocket propelled grenades), and sabotage (like using tactics against petroleum, water, and electrical infrastructure). The Western forces desired at the same time to promote a pro-U.S. Iraqi state. They wanted Iraq to be compliant to Western interests. Coalition military forces launched many operations around the Tigris River peninsulas and in the Sunni Triangle.  Toward late-2003, the intensity and pace of insurgent attacks began to increase. A sharp surge in guerrilla attacks ushered in an insurgent effort that was termed the "Ramadan Offensive", as it coincided with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

To counter this offensive, coalition forces began to use air power and artillery again for the first time since the end of the invasion by striking suspected ambush sites and mortar launching positions. Surveillance of major routes, patrols, and raids on suspected insurgents were stepped up. In addition, two villages, including Saddam's birthplace of al-Auja and the small town of Abu Hishma were surrounded by barbed wire and carefully monitored. The Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority was a transitional government of Iraq until the democratic government being forced. It was headed by Jay Garner until May 11, 2003. This was when President L. Paul Bremer came to take over. By May 16, 2003, his first day on the job, Paul Bremer issued Coalition Provisional Authority Order 1 to exclude from the new Iraqi government and administration members of the Baathist party.

This policy, known as De-Ba'athification, eventually led to the removal of 85,000 to 100,000 Iraqi people from their job, including 40,000 school teachers who had joined the Baath Party simply to keep their jobs. U.S. Army General Sanchez called the decision a "catastrophic failure.” Bremer served until the CPA's dissolution in June 2004. This De-Ba’athification plan was one of the biggest mistakes of the Iraq War. On May 15, 2003, U.S. forces launched Operation Planet X in capturing about 260 people. By the summer of 2003, multinational forced captured the remaining leaders of the former government. On June 15, 2003, the U.S. military begins Operation Desert Scorpion, a series of raids across Iraq intended to find Iraqi resistance and heavy weapons. Six soldiers from the British Royal Military police are killed by a mob in Majar al-Kabir in southern Iraq. On July 2, 2003, George W. Bush challenged those attacking U.S. troops to "bring 'em on!" He was immediately criticized by acting provocative. The Iraqi Governing Council is established under the authority of the Coalition Provisional Authority. Uday and Qusay Hussein, Saddam Hussein's sons, were killed in Mosul on July 22, 2003.

New Battles

By August 7, 2003, the Jordanian embassy was bombed. It was the first car bombing of the occupation. Another truck bomb came at the United Nations headquarters. It killed the top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 others. The influential Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim was killed in a car blast as he left his mosque after Friday prayers. At least 84 others were killed on August 29, 2003. The first post-Saddam government existed on September 3. By September 23, 2003, Gallup poll shows majority of Iraqis expected a better life in 5 years. Around two-thirds of Baghdad residents state the Iraqi dictator's removal was worth the hardships they've been forced to endure. By October 2, 2003, the Iraq Survey Group from David Kay found no massive evidence of WMD in Iraq. Weapons inspectors in Iraq did find a clandestine "network of biological laboratories" and a deadly strain of botulinum. The US-sponsored search for WMD has so far cost $300 million and is projected to cost around $600 million more. On October 16, 2003, UN Security Council issued Resolution 1511 which envisions a multinational force and preserves Washington's quasi-absolute control of Iraq. The October 27, 2003 Baghdad bombings started which started the Ramadan Offensive. In November of 2003, there were many bombings in Iraq. 2 US Chinook helicopters are fired on by two surface-to-air missiles and one crashes near Fallujah and on its way to Baghdad airport; 16 soldiers are killed and 20 wounded. The Governing Council unveils an accelerated timetable for transferring the country to Iraqi control on November 15, 2003.

U.S. President George W. Bush made a stealthy 2003 Thanksgiving Day visit to Baghdad (the White House having announced that he would be at home with his family) in an attempt to boost morale among the troops and ordinary Iraqis. Bush is accompanied by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and he is flown in to Baghdad International Airport aboard Air Force One on November 27, 2003. On December 13, 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured via Operation Red Dawn. It was announced on the next day. The operation was conducted by the United States Army's 4th Infantry Division and members of Task Force 121. Intelligence on Saddam's whereabouts came from his family members and former bodyguards. Hussein was captured on a farm near Tikrit. By December 17, 2003, the U.S. 4th Infantry Division launched Operation Ivy Blizzard, lasting from dawn until mid-morning. The operation resulted in the arrest of several guerrilla fighters and possible terrorists. With the capture of Saddam and a drop in the number of insurgent attacks, some concluded the multinational forces were prevailing in the fight against the insurgency.

The provisional government began training the new Iraqi security forces intended to police the country, and the United States promised over $20 billion in reconstruction money in the form of credit against Iraq's future oil revenues. Oil revenue was also used for rebuilding schools and for work on the electrical and refining infrastructure. Shortly after the capture of Saddam, elements left out of the Coalition Provisional Authority began to agitate for elections and the formation of an Iraqi Interim Government. Most prominent among these was the Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The Coalition Provisional Authority opposed allowing democratic elections at this time. The insurgents stepped up their activities. The two most turbulent centers were the area around Fallujah and the poor Shia sections of cities from Baghdad (Sadr City) to Basra in the south.

The beginning of 2004 started with a relative lull in violence for a time. Insurgent forces have reorganized during this time. They studied the multinational forces’ tactics. They planned a new offensive. The Iraq Spring Fighting of 2004 saw the increase of violence. Many foreign fighters came about from al-Qaeda in Iraq led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. They helped to drive the insurgency. The insurgency grew and there was a distinct change in targeting from the coalition forces towards the new Iraqi Security Forces, as hundreds of Iraqi civilians and police were killed over the next few months in a series of massive bombings. An organized Sunni insurgency, with deep roots and both nationalist and Islamist motivations, was becoming more powerful throughout Iraq. The Shia Mahdi Army also began launching attacks on coalition targets in an attempt to seize control from Iraqi security forces. The southern and central portions of Iraq were beginning to erupt in urban guerrilla combat as multinational forces attempted to keep control and prepared for a counteroffensive. The most serious fighting of the war so far began on March 31, 2004, when Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed a Blackwater USA convoy led by four U.S. private military contractors who were providing security for food caterers Eurest Support Services.

The four armed contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona, and Michael Teague, were killed with grenades and small arms fire. Subsequently, their bodies were dragged from their vehicles by local people, beaten, set ablaze, and their burned corpses hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates. Photos of the event were released to news agencies worldwide, causing a great deal of indignation and moral outrage in the United States, and prompting an unsuccessful "pacification" (which means a brutal, imperialist conquering) of the city: the First Battle of Fallujah in April 2004. The offensive was resumed in November 2004 in the bloodiest battle of the war: the Second Battle of Fallujah, described by the U.S. military as "the heaviest urban combat (that they had been involved in) since the battle of Hue City in Vietnam."  During the assault, U.S. forces used white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon against insurgent personnel, attracting controversy. The 46 day battle resulted in a victory for the coalition, with 95 U.S. soldiers killed along with approximately 1,350 insurgents. Fallujah was totally devastated during the fighting, though civilian casualties were low, as they had mostly fled before the battle.

Abu Ghraib

Back in 2004, the Abu Ghraib torture situation was exposed to the public on April 2004. I remember that time. Many U.S. military personnel were caught taunting and abusing Iraqi prisoners. There was a 60 Minutes II new report on April 28, 2004 that reported on this story. Seymour M. Hersh wrote an article on it in the New Yorker which was posted online on April 30. It exposed torture and the evil of human degradation. Prisoners were abused and degraded in such a way that caused international condemnation. Some believed that it was turning point that causes more opposition to the war according to military correspondent Thomas Ricks. 2004 saw the start of the military transition teams in Iraq. This was when there were teams of U.S. military advisors assigned directly to New Iraqi Army units. Elections came about and a transitional government existed by 2005. On January 31, 2005, Iraqis elected the Iraqi Transitional government. They wanted to draft a permanent constitution. Some violence existed. There was a large Sunni boycott. Most of the eligible Kurd and Shia populace participated. By February 4, 2005, Paul Wolfowitz announced that 15,000 U.S. troops whose tours of duty had been extended in order to provide election security would be pulled out of Iraq by next month. From February to April 2005 was mostly peaceful months compared to November and January. Insurgent attacks averaged 30 a day from the previous 70 a day.

The Battle of Abu Ghraib took place on April 2, 2005. It started as an attack on U.S. forces at Abu Ghraib prison. It was made up of heavy mortar and rocket fire, which about 80-120 armed insurgents attacked U.S. forces. They attacked them with grenades, small arms, and two vehicles borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED). The U.S. forces’ munitions ran so low that they orders to fix bayonets were given in preparation for hand to hand combat. It was considered the largest coordinated assault on a U.S. base since the Vietnam War. Hopes for a quick end to the insurgency and a withdrawal of U.S. troops were dashed in May, Iraq's bloodiest month since the invasion. Suicide bombers, believed to be mainly disheartened Iraqi Sunni Arabic people, Syrians and Saudis, tore through Iraq. Their targets were often Shia gatherings or civilian concentrations of Shias. As a result, over 700 Iraqi civilians died in that month, as well as 79 U.S. soldiers.

The summer of 2005 saw fighting around Baghdad and at Tall Afar in northwestern Iraq as U.S. forces tried to seal off the Syrian border. This led to fighting in the autumn in the small towns of the Euphrates valley between the capital and that border. A referendum was held on October 15, 2005 in which the new Iraqi constitution was ratified. An Iraqi National Assembly was elected in December, with participation from the Sunnis as well as the Kurds and Shia. Insurgent attacks increased in 2005 with 34,131 recorded incidents, compared to a total 26,496 for the previous year.

Further Developments

The start of 2006 saw government creation talks, growing sectarian violence, and continuous anti-coalition attacks. Sectarian violence grew into a new level after the al-Askhari Mosque bombing in Samara on February 22, 2006. The explosion came against one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam. Al-Qaeda is believed to place a bomb in the mosque. No injuries came about. The mosque was severely damaged. This caused violence for many days. By February 23, over 100 dead bodies were found. At least 165 people were thought to be killed. The U.S. military calculated that the average homicide rate in Baghdad tripled from 11 to 33 deaths per day. In 2006 the UN described the environment in Iraq as a "civil war-like situation.” On March 12, 2006, five United States Army soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment raped the 14-year-old Iraqi girl Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, and then murdered her, her father, her mother Fakhriya Taha Muhasen and her six-year-old sister Hadeel Qassim Hamza al-Janabi. The soldiers then set fire to the girl's body to conceal evidence of the crime.  Four of the soldiers were convicted of rape and murder and the fifth was convicted of lesser crimes for their involvement in the events, which became known as the Mahmudiyah rape and killings. On June 6, 2006, the United States found Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He was the leader of Iraqi Al-Qaeda. He was killed in Iraq while attending a meeting in an isolated safe house. It was about 5 miles north of Baqubah.

A British UAV tracked him down. 2 U.S. Air Force F-16C jets dropped two 500 pound guided bombs and a laser guided GBU-12 and GPS-guided GBU-38 was used on the building where he was located. Six other people were killed. They were 3 males and 3 women individuals. Among those killed were one of his wives and their child.  The government of Iraq took office on May 20, 2006, following approval by the members of the Iraqi National Assembly. This followed the general election in December 2005. The government succeeded the Iraqi Transitional Government, which had continued in office in a caretaker capacity until the formation of the permanent government. The historic Iraq Study Group Report was released on December 6, 2006. It was made up of people of both major U.S. parties. They were led by co-chairs James Baker, a former Secretary of State (Republican), and Lee H. Hamilton, a former U.S. Representative (Democrat). It concluded that "the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating" and "U.S. forces seem to be caught in a mission that has no foreseeable end." The report's 79 recommendations include increasing diplomatic measures with Iran and Syria and intensifying efforts to train Iraqi troops.  By December 18, 2006, a Pentagon report found that insurgent attacks were averaging 960 a week. This was the highest since the reports had begun in 2005.

Later, Coalition forces transferred control of a province to the Iraqi government. This was the first since the war.  Military prosecutors charged eight U.S. Marines with the murders of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November 2005, 10 of them women and children. Four officers were also charged with dereliction of duty in relation to the event. Saddam Hussein was hanged and killed on December 30, 2006 after being found guilty of crimes against humanity by an Iraqi court after a yearlong trial. Hussein was an evil man including the Western imperialists who committed war crimes in Iraq too.

2007 saw the year of the troop surge. On January 10, 2007, Bush proposed (in a televised address to the U.S. public) 21,500 more troops for Iraq, a job program for Iraqis, more reconstruction proposals, and $1.2 billion to spend for these programs. In his 2007 State of the Union Address (on January 23, 2007), Bush called for more reinforcements of more than 20,000 additional soldiers and Marines in Iraq. On February 10, 2007, Petraeus was made commander of Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I), the four-star post that oversees all coalition forces in country, replacing General George Casey. In his new position, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq and employed them in the new "Surge" strategy outlined by the Bush administration. 144 Iraqi Parliamentary lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on America to set a timetable for withdrawal on May 10, 2007. On June 3, 2007, the Iraqi Parliament voted 85 to 59 to require the Iraqi government to consult with Parliament before requesting additional extensions of the UN Security Council Mandate for Coalition operations in Iraq.

The mandate was renewed on December 18, 2007 without the approval of the Iraqi parliament. This was the time when new pressure came upon the United States to withdrawal. Coalition forces start to withdrawal from Iraq. In early 2007, British Prime Minister Blair announced that following Operation Sinbad British troops would begin to withdraw from Basra Governorate, handing security over to the Iraqis. In July, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also announced the withdrawal of 441 Danish troops from Iraq, leaving only a unit of nine soldiers manning four observational helicopters. In a speech made to Congress on September 10, 2007, Petraeus "envisioned the withdrawal of roughly 30,000 U.S. troops by next summer, beginning with a Marine contingent [in September]." On September, 13, Bush backed a limited withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Bush said 5,700 personnel would be home by Christmas 2007, and expected thousands more to return by July 2008. The plan would take troop numbers back to their level before the surge at the beginning of 2007. The surge existed and its results have been debated to this very day.

The Beginning of the End of the Iraq War

By March 2008, violence in Iraq was reported curtailed by 40–80%, according to a Pentagon report. Independent reports raised questions about those assessments. An Iraqi military spokesman claimed that civilian deaths since the start of the troop surge plan were 265 in Baghdad, down from 1,440 in the four previous weeks. The New York Times counted more than 450 Iraqi civilians killed during the same 28 day period, based on initial daily reports from Iraqi Interior Ministry and hospital officials.
Historically, the daily counts tallied by The New York Times have underestimated the total death toll by 50% or more when compared to studies by the United Nations, which rely upon figures from the Iraqi Health Ministry and morgue figures.

The rate of U.S. combat deaths in Baghdad nearly doubled to 3.14 per day in the first seven weeks of the "surge" in security activity, compared to previous period. Across the rest of Iraq it decreased slightly. August 14, 2007 was when the deadliest single attack of the whole war took place. There were suicide bomb attacks killing almost 800 civilians in the northern Iraqi settlement of Kahtaniya. More than 100 homes and shops were destroyed in the blasts. U.S. officials blamed al-Qaeda. The victims were the non-Muslim Yazidi ethnic minority. The attack may have represented the latest in a feud that erupted earlier that year when members of the Yazidi community stoned to death a teenage girl called Du'a Khalil Aswad accused of dating a Sunni Arab man and converting to Islam. The killing of the girl was recorded on camera-mobiles and the video was uploaded onto the internet. On September 13, 2007, Abdul Sattar Abu Risha was killed in a bomb attack in the city of Ramadi. He was an important U.S. ally because he led the "Anbar Awakening", an alliance of Sunni Arab tribes that opposed al-Qaeda. The latter organization claimed responsibility for the attack.  A statement posted on the Internet by the shadowy Iraq called Abu Risha "one of the dogs of Bush" and described Thursday's killing as a "heroic operation that took over a month to prepare.”

There was a reported trend of decreasing U.S. troop deaths after May 2007, and violence against coalition troops had fallen to the "lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion.” These, and several other positive developments, were attributed to the surge by many analysts.
Data from the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies such as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that daily attacks against civilians in Iraq remained "about the same" since February. The GAO also stated that there was no discernible trend in sectarian violence.  However, this report ran counter to reports to Congress, which showed a general downward trend in civilian deaths and ethno-sectarian violence since December 2006.  By late 2007, as the U.S. troop surge began to wind down, violence in Iraq had begun to decrease from its 2006 highs. Sectarian violence occurred by Shias and Sunnis including in Baghdad neighborhood.  Investigative reporter Bob Woodward cites U.S. government sources according to which the U.S. "surge" was not the primary reason for the drop in violence in 2007–08. Instead, according to that view, the reduction of violence was due to newer covert techniques by U.S. military and intelligence officials to find, target and kill insurgents, including working closely with former insurgents.

In the Shia region near Basra, British forces turned over security for the region to Iraqi Security Forces. Basra is the ninth province of Iraq's 18 provinces to be returned to local security forces' control since the beginning of the occupation.  More than half of the Parliament wanted the occupation to end. In mid-2007, the Coalition began a controversial program to recruit Iraqi Sunnis (often former insurgents) for the formation of "Guardian" militias. These Guardian militias are intended to support and secure various Sunni neighborhoods against the Islamists. Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan had issues since Kurdistan gave sanctuary to the militant Kurdish secessionist group Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK.) According to reports, Iran had been shelling PEJAK positions in Iraqi Kurdistan since August 16. These tensions further increased with an alleged border incursion on August 23 by Iranian troops who attacked several Kurdish villages killing an unknown number of civilians and militants.

Bush accused Iranian forces of aiding Quds force operatives, so U.S. forces targeted and killed them. Sanctions on Iranian organizations existed by the fall of 2007. On November 21, 2007, Lieutenant General James Dubik, who is in charge of training Iraqi security forces, praised Iran for its "contribution to the reduction of violence" in Iraq by upholding its pledge to stop the flow of weapons, explosives and training of extremists in Iraq. Turkey opposed PKK forces, so they attacked them accusing them of harassing Turkish forces. Both sides had casualties. By September 17, 2007, the Iraqi government announced that it was revoking the license of the U.S. security firm Blackwater USA over the firm's involvement in the killing of eight civilians, including a woman and an infant, in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade. Blackwater to this day is known in the sense of infamy.

In the year of 2008, U.S. officials and independent think tanks pointed to improvements in the security situation according to statistics. According to the U.S. Defense Department, in December of 2008, the "overall level of violence" in the country had dropped 80% since before the surge began in January 2007, and the country's murder rate had dropped to prewar levels. They also pointed out that the casualty figure for U.S. forces in 2008 was 314 against a figure of 904 in 2007. According to the Brookings Institution, Iraqi civilian fatalities numbered 490 in November 2008 as against 3,500 in January 2007, whereas attacks against the coalition numbered somewhere between 200 and 300 per week in the latter half of 2008, as opposed to a peak of nearly 1,600 in summer 2007. The number of Iraqi security forces killed was under 100 per month in the second half of 2008, from a high of 200 to 300 in summer 2007. The Iraqi military increased its role. It launched the spring offensive against Shia militias when Prime Minster Nouri Al-Maliki had previously been criticizing for allowing to operate. He started with a March operation against the Mehdi Army in Basra. This led to fighting in Shia areas up and down the country, especially in the Sadr City district of Baghdad.

By October of 2008, one British officer in charge of Basra said that since the operation, the town was “secure” and had a murder rate comparable to Manchester in England. The U.S. military also said there had been a decrease of about a quarter in the quantity of Iranian-made explosives found in Iraq in 2008, possibly indicating a change in Iranian policy. There was Western progress in Sunni areas continued after members of the Awakening movement transferred from U.S. military to Iraqi control. In May of 2008, the Iraqi army (backed by coalition support) launched an offensive in Mosul. That was the last major Iraqi stronghold of al-Qaeda. Despite detaining thousands of individuals, the offensive failed to lead to major long-term security improvements in Mosul. At the end of the year, the city remained a major flashpoint. Turkey attacked the PKK in Northern Iraq in February 21, 2008. Turkish troops withdrew from the region on February 29. Kirkuk in northern Iraq had been debated on it future during this time. U.S. military officials met these trends with cautious optimism as they approached what they described as the "transition" embodied in the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which was negotiated throughout 2008.  The commander of the coalition, U.S. General Raymond T. Odierno, noted that "in military terms, transitions are the most dangerous time" in December 2008.

At the end of March of 2008, the coalition air support along with the Iraqi Army used an offensive called, “Charge of the Knights” in Basra. They wanted to secure the area from militias. The Mahdi Army opposed this offensive as they controlled much of the region. They were one of the militias. Fighting spread into Sadr City, Al Kut, Al Hillah, and other places in Iraq. The Iraqis faced opposition and resistance from militiamen in Basra. The Iraqi military offensive slowed down. The Sadrists went into the negotiation table. Following talks with Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Qods brigades of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the intercession of the Iranian government, on March 31, 2008, al Sadr ordered his followers to ceasefire. The militiamen kept their weapons. By May 12, 2008, Basra "residents overwhelmingly reported a substantial improvement in their everyday lives" according to The New York Times. "Government forces have now taken over Islamic militants' headquarters and halted the death squads and 'vice enforcers' who attacked women, Christians, musicians, alcohol sellers and anyone suspected of collaborating with Westerners", according to the report. However, when asked how long it would take for lawlessness to resume if the Iraqi army left, one resident replied, "one day.”

In late April roadside bombings continued to rise from a low in January—from 114 bombings to more than 250, surpassing the May 2007 high. General Davis Petraeus spoke his Congressional testimony on April 8, 2008. He wanted a delay of troop withdrawals. He said that, “I've repeatedly noted that we haven't turned any corners, we haven't seen any lights at the end of the tunnel," referencing the comments of then President Bush and former Vietnam-era General William Westmoreland. When asked by the Senate if reasonable people could disagree on the way forward, Petraeus said, "We fight for the right of people to have other opinions." Upon questioning by then Senate committee chair Joe Biden, Ambassador Crocker admitted that Al Qaeda in Iraq was less important than the Al Qaeda organization led by Osama bin Laden along the Afghan-Pakistani border. Lawmakers from both parties complained that U.S. taxpayers are carrying Iraq's burden as it earns billions of dollars in oil revenues. Iraq purchased U.S. military equipment like AK-47s and M-16 and M-4 rifles.  In 2008 alone, Iraq accounted for more than $12.5 billion of the $34 billion U.S. weapon sales to foreign countries (not including the potential F-16 fighter planes).

Iraq sought 36 F 16s, the most sophisticated weapons system Iraq has attempted to purchase. The Pentagon notified Congress that it had approved the sale of 24 American attack helicopters to Iraq, valued at as much as $2.4 billion. Including the helicopters, Iraq announced plans to purchase at least $10 billion in U.S. tanks and armored vehicles, transport planes and other battlefield equipment and services. Over the summer, the Defense Department announced that the Iraqi government wanted to order more than 400 armored vehicles and other equipment worth up to $3 billion, and six C-130J transport planes, worth up to $1.5 billion. From 2005 to 2008, the United States had completed approximately $20 billion in arms sales agreements with Iraq. The U.S. and Iraq Status of Forces Agreement was approved by the Iraqi government on December 4, 2008. It said that U.S. combat troops would withdraw from Iraqi cities on June 30, 2009. It wanted all U.S. forces to be out of Iraq by December 31, 2011. The pact was subject to possible negotiations which could have delayed withdrawal and a referendum scheduled for mid-2009 in Iraq, which might have required all U.S. forces to completely leave by the middle of 2010. The pact required criminal charges for holding prisoners over 24 hours, and required a warrant for searches of homes and buildings that are not related to combat.

U.S. contractors working for U.S. forces will be subject to Iraqi criminal law, while contractors working for the State Department and other U.S. agencies may retain their immunity. If U.S. forces commit still undecided "major premeditated felonies" while off-duty and off-base, they will be subject to the still undecided procedures laid out by a joint U.S. Iraq committee if the United States certifies the forces were off-duty. Some have talked about the agreement. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates predicted that after 2011, he would expect to see thousands of Americans troops as a residual force in Iraq. Some opposed the SOFA accord including Iraqis as prolonging the occupation thereby legitimatizing it. Some thousands of Iraqis burned an effigy of George W. Bush in central Baghdad square in protest. This was where the statue of Saddam Hussein was once torn down. Some had skeptical optimism that the U.S. would end its presence by 2011. The Iraqi Presidential council approved the security pact on December 4, 2008. A representative of the Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani wanted a referendum to decide the fate of U.S. forces in Iraq. He wanted the people of Iraq to decide instead of a ratified pact.

On January 1, 2009, the U.S. handed control of the Green Zone and Saddam Hussein's presidential palace to the Iraqi government in a ceremonial move described by the country's prime minister as a restoration of Iraq's sovereignty. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he would propose January 1 to be declared national "Sovereignty Day." "This palace is the symbol of Iraqi sovereignty and by restoring it, a real message is directed to all Iraqi people that Iraqi sovereignty has returned to its natural status", al Maliki said. The U.S. military attributed a decline in reported civilian deaths to several factors including the U.S. led "troop surge", the growth of U.S.-funded Awakening Councils, and Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's call for his militia to abide by a cease fire. Voters in Iraqi dealt with provincial elections. Much violence like political assassinations and attempted assassinations came about. By 2009, President Barack Obama was in office. Barack Obama gave a speech at Camp Lejeune on February 27, 2009 that he wanted U.S. combat mission actions in Iraq to end by August 31, 2010. He wanted a transitional force up to 50,000 troops with training the Iraqi Security Forces and conduct counter-terrorism operations, and providing support until the end of 2011. Yet, the insurgency in 2011 and the rise of ISIS in 2014 caused the war to continue. By April 9, 2009, many protesters wanted U.S. forces to end. The protesters were in Baghdad. Many Sunnis and Shias in protest opposed Western influence. Coalition forces start to withdraw massively by April 30, 2009. On that date, UK forces end combat operations.

Prime Minster Gordon Brown handed control of Basra to the United States Armed Forces. Australian forces left on July 28. The U.S. forces started to leave on June. 38 bases were handed to Iraqi forces. On 29 June 2009, U.S. forces withdrew from Baghdad. On November 30, 2009, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials reported that the civilian death toll in Iraq fell to its lowest level in November since the 2003 invasion. International oil companies were sent to gain some of Iraq’s oil fields. These corporations won bids. Operation New Dawn came in February 17, 2010 by U.S. Secretary of Defense Gates to withdrawal troops from Iraq. On April 18, 2010, U.S. and Iraqi forces killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq in a joint American and Iraqi operation near Tikrit, Iraq.  The coalition forces believed al-Masri to be wearing a suicide vest and proceeded cautiously. After the lengthy exchange of fire and bombing of the house, the Iraqi troops stormed inside and found two women still alive, one of whom was al-Masri's wife, and four dead men, identified as al-Masri, Abu Abdullah al-Rashid al-Baghdadi, an assistant to al-Masri, and al-Baghdadi's son. A suicide vest was indeed found on al-Masri's corpse, as the Iraqi Army subsequently stated. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced the killings of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri at a news conference in Baghdad and showed reporters photographs of their bloody corpses.

"The attack was carried out by ground forces which surrounded the house, and also through the use of missiles," Mr. Maliki said. "During the operation computers were seized with e-mails and messages to the two biggest terrorists, Osama bin Laden and [his deputy] Ayman al-Zawahiri", Maliki added. U.S. forces commander Gen. Raymond Odierno praised the operation. "The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency", he said. "There is still work to do but this is a significant step forward in ridding Iraq of terrorists." Bombings still continued in Iraq. Insurgents used bomb attacks to kill people. Other troops remained in Iraq until the end of 2011 as promised by the agreement. General Ray Odierno said that the U.S. still had a commitment to ally with Iraq. In October 2010, Wikileaks disclosed 391,832 classified U.S. military documents on the Iraq War. Iraqis purchase weapons from America and the UN ended its restrictions on Iraq. Muqtada al-Sadr return to Iraq to lead the Sadrist movement. 3 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq on January 15, 2011. Americans continued to die in 2011. The last U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq on December 18, 2011, although the U.S. embassy and consulates continue to maintain a staff of more than 20,000 including U.S. Marine Embassy Guards and between 4,000 and 5,000 private military contractors. The next day, Iraqi officials issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi. He has been accused of involvement in assassinations and fled to the Kurdish part of Iraq. In 2011 and beyond, the Iraqi insurgency continued in attacks. Violence was religious and sectarian or Sunnis vs. Shia. Millions of Iraqis have been displaced as a product of the war. Sectarian violence spread in 2013. Hundreds of people left Abu Ghraib jail on July 22, 2013.

ISIS

By mid-2014, the country was in chaos with the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant or ISIS taking over cities of Mosul and Tikrit. It marched almost into Baghdad.  Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked his parliament to declare a state of emergency that would give him increased powers, but the lawmakers refused. In the summer of 2014 President Obama announced the return of U.S. forces to Iraq, but only in the form of aerial support, in an effort to halt the advance of ISIS forces, render humanitarian aid to stranded refugees and stabilize the political situation.  On August 14, 2014, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki succumbed to pressure at home and abroad to step down. This paved the way for Haidar al-Abadi to take over on August 19, 2014. In what was claimed to be revenge for the aerial bombing ordered by President Obama. ISIS, which by this time had changed their name to the Islamic State, beheaded an American journalist, James Foley, who had been kidnapped two years previously. Despite U.S. bombings and breakthroughs on the political front, Iraq remained in chaos with the Islamic State consolidating its gains, and sectarian violence continuing unabated. On August 22, 2014, suspected Shia militants opened fire on a Sunni mosque during Friday prayers, killing 70 worshipers. Separately, Iraqi forces in helicopters killed 30 Sunni fighters in the town of Dhuluiya. A day later, apparently in retaliation for the attack on the mosque, three bombings across Iraq killed 35 people. It would be until 2017 and 2018 when ISIS would be mostly defeated in Iraqi territories. ISIS fighters still remain in the Anbar desert of Iraq.

Iraq in the Present


Iraq today is in a unique situation. Its national anthem is called Mawtini or My Homeland. Iraq is inhabited right now by Arabic people, Kurdish people, Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandean, Circassians, and Kawliya. The majority of the nation in about 95 percent is Muslim and the minorities of the people are Christian, Yarsan, Yezidis, and follow Mandeanism. Arabic and Kurdish languages are the official languages in Iraq. Its government is a federal parliamentary republic. Its legislature has the Council of Representatives. Right now, it has over 37 million human beings. In September 2017, a referendum was held regarding Kurdish independence in Iraq. 92% of Iraqi Kurds voted in favor of independence. The referendum was regarded as illegal by the federal government in Baghdad. In early May of 2018, an Iraqi election took place. That was the first national vote since Iraq’s declared victory over ISIL (which happened on December of 2017. Ironically, it was some Iranian-financed Shiite militias that allied with Americans in an effort to defeat ISIL). It had a record low of 44 percent of eligible voters casting ballots. No election since 2003 had turnout below 60 percent.

More than 10 million Iraqis voted. One influential cleric in Iraq with massive power is Muqtada al-Sadr. To this day, al-Sadr is a staunch nationalist and he has campaigned against government corruption. Almost 7,000 candidates from dozens of political alliances were competing for the 329 seats in Parliament. The Iraqi Constitution stated that no less than one-fourth of Parliament members must be women. Kurdish areas have higher voter turnout compared to other parts of the country. The Kurdish people want their political power respected as well. Hadi al-Ameri of the Badr Organization wants to ally with America to gain American security support in Iraq. Al-Ameri is the leader of the Badr Organization too which is the largest of the Shiite militias. Some Sunnis (mostly Sunnis were displaced in Iraq as a product of war. That is why billions of dollars are needed to repair the infrastructure of mostly Sunni areas like Anbar and Nineveh) want Iraq to be more inclusive without sectarian politics. Iraq is both an ally of America and Iran. America and Iran right now are adversaries especially with an extremist like Trump in office. The future of Iraq is uncertain. One thing is truth though. Life will never be the same again.

Conclusion

Now, it has been more than 15 years since the Iraq War has commenced. For thousands of years, Iraq has been a place where worldwide, influential civilizations have existed like the Sumerians (who had inventions like the wheel, cuneiform, etc.), the Assyrians, and the Babylonians. Diverse ethnic groups and peoples in Iraq definitely spread religion, culture, and trade for thousands of years. European imperialists traveled into Iraq during the 20th century too. The Ottoman Empire conquered Iraq for centuries. Iraq after World War II struggled in being a more progressive society. Many Iraqis back then wanted freedoms for Iraqis and others desired an authoritarian, theocratic state. The decades-long reigning Saddam Hussein was a dictator. Originally, he was heavily aided by the West including America. Rumsfeld shook hands with Saddam Hussein back in 1983. There is a picture of this too. Also, Iraq received weapons of mass destruction from America and other Western nations to fight the Iranians during the bloody Iraq-Iran war. The non-profit American Type Culture Collection and the Centers for Disease Control sold or sent biological samples of anthrax, West Nile virus and botulism to Iraq up until 1989. Then, America was an enemy of Iraq after Saddam invaded Kuwait during 1990. George H. W. Bush feared that Saddam could attack Saudi Arabia and harm oil prices internationally. So, he gathered many nations to defeat Iraq and force them out of Kuwait via the Persian Gulf War. Iraq experienced many sanctions. Also, Clinton executed air strikes in Iraq by 1998. I remember those strikes when I was in high school at the 10th grade. President Bill Clinton supported the Iraqi Liberation Act that promoted an invasion of Iraq. Neo-cons as early as the late 1990's desired a change of policy where Saddam was eliminated from power.

The PNAC document was a war blueprint for imperialistic aggression. George W. Bush supported the neo-cons and allowed the Iraq War to start in March of 2003. After the initial defeat of Saddam's forces in Baghdad by April of 2003, problems arose. They were sectarian violence, (among Sunnis and Shias), insurgent attacks against U.S. forces, torture found in Abu Ghraib (against Iraqi prisoners), ISIS, massive war crimes, and other issues. The early Iraqi government was struggling because of constant al-Qaeda attacks, religious divisions, and power struggles. The anti-war movement before, during, and after the Iraq War (which lasted from 2003-2011) grew in influence in power in such a way never seen before since the Vietnam War. Sadrists wanted power. There were war crimes in the war among both the insurgents and some U.S. forces too. Thousands of Americans died. Tons of Iraqis died as a product of war as well. Some left Iraq and traveled into America. Many Iraqi veterans suffered PTSD, and other complications. Iraqis saw their whole infrastructure destroyed and Iraqi is still recovering during the aftermath of the Iraq War. The rise of ISIS came immediately after 2011 and only recently when most of ISIS has been defeated in Iraq. The Syrian civil war continues to this very day as well. The Battle of Mosul (2016–2017) ended with the liberation of Mosul by Iraqi including Kurdish forces. Therefore, we learn lessons about the Iraq War in witnessing that any unjust war is wrong. Subsequently, we must use rational information (without deceptive rhetoric) in establishing a progressive, strong foreign policy.

By Timothy