THIS DAY IN HISTORY – War in Iraq begins – 2003

Via History.com

On this day in 2003, the United States, along with coalition forces primarily from the United Kingdom, initiates war on Iraq. Just after explosions began to rock Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, U.S. President George W. Bush announced in a televised address, “At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.” President Bush and his advisors built much of their case for war on the idea that Iraq, under dictator Saddam Hussein, possessed or was in the process of building weapons of mass destruction.

Hostilities began about 90 minutes after the U.S.-imposed deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or face war passed. The first targets, which Bush said were “of military importance,” were hit with Tomahawk cruise missiles from U.S. fighter-bombers and warships stationed in the Persian Gulf. In response to the attacks, Republic of Iraq radio in Baghdad announced, “the evil ones, the enemies of God, the homeland and humanity, have committed the stupidity of aggression against our homeland and people.”

Though Saddam Hussein had declared in early March 2003 that, “it is without doubt that the faithful will be victorious against aggression,” he went into hiding soon after the American invasion, speaking to his people only through an occasional audiotape. Coalition forces were able to topple his regime and capture Iraq’s major cities in just three weeks, sustaining few casualties. President Bush declared the end of major combat operations on May 1, 2003. Despite the defeat of conventional military forces in Iraq, an insurgency has continued an intense guerrilla war in the nation in the years since military victory was announced, resulting in thousands of coalition military, insurgent and civilian deaths.

After an intense manhunt, U.S. soldiers found Saddam Hussein hiding in a six-to-eight-foot deep hole, nine miles outside his hometown of Tikrit. He did not resist and was uninjured during the arrest. A soldier at the scene described him as “a man resigned to his fate.” Hussein was arrested and began trial for crimes against his people, including mass killings, in October 2005.

In June 2004, the provisional government in place since soon after Saddam’s ouster transferred power to the Iraqi Interim Government. In January 2005, the Iraqi people elected a 275-member Iraqi National Assembly. A new constitution for the country was ratified that October. On November 6, 2006, Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. After an unsuccessful appeal, he was executed on December 30, 2006.

No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.

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The Modern Chronicler
The Modern Chronicler

An unmitigated, colossal, and utterly preventable disaster. George W. Bush and the neocon cabal who surrounded him led the United States into an unnecessary war over WMDs that did not exist and support for terror that was likewise a fiction.

MrLiberty
MrLiberty

War crime #2. A hell of a lot more were to follow.

Pequiste
Pequiste

Sorry Admin. I must disagree completely with the title of this article. I think it is disinformation which does disservice to the fact that American military units have been actively engaged in Iraq since August 1990.

Military operations by the U.S.A. in Iraq commenced soon after the invasion of Kuwait by the forces of Saddam Hussein way back on 2 August 1990 when the Iraqi Army invaded and occupied Kuwait. It was eventually called the First Iraq War or The First Gulf War.

Operation Desert Shield commenced immediately with Desert Storm proceeding from there on 17 Jan 1991 with a full-scale military operation by the USA, NATO and Arab allied forces to remove and destroy Iraqi military units in Kuwait. Allied forces defeated Iraqi units and entered Iraqi pushing within 150 miles of Baghdad before Geo. Bush Sr. declared a cease fire.

At no time was there any resolution of the conflict and as a result U.S. and allied forces continued military operations in and around Iraq , enforcing a “no-fly zone” under Operation Southern Watch which lasted until the commencement of The Second Iraq War. Missiles were fired by both side the entire time. Reconnaissance aircraft flew missions every day and night. Aircraft were shot down, , casualties ,while low in number were happening, due to military operations. During that time approximately 153,000 sorties over southern Iraq had been flown by coalition pilots. Read that number – 153,000 again, out loud.

Then suddenly in 2003, Saddam Hussein’s regime was “known” to have “weapons of mass destruction”. Just ask Bush Jr., Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld; they said so. *

The full invasion and occupation of Iraq commenced as History.com recounts on Mar 20, 2003. After a turkey shoot Hussein was toppled on and the rest, as they say is history. ” Mission accomplished” said G. W. Bush on May 1, 2003 with the “end of the conflict” listed officially as Dec 18, 2011.

American military units have remained in Iraq since then fighting various and sundry forces of Sunnis, Shiites, ISIS, Syrians, Iranians….

After 28 years the US military is still there; the beat goes on; as we are still Bringing Them Democracy whether they like it or not.

*See “The Project For The New American Century” for details.
http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=project_for_the_new_american_century

TampaRed
TampaRed

i’m ambivalent about whether or not we should have gone in but bush was determined to go in b4 he was elected–
during potus election seasons,c span sometimes replays old debates–during the ’08 or ’12 election season,don’t remember which,i was bored & pounding thru the channels–
i stopped on cspan for a minute & it was re showing the foreign policy debate of bush & gore–after watching for a few minutes,combined w/what we knew then about the iraq war,i realized he was determined to go in no matter what–

TampaRed
TampaRed

not about iraq but a good history article–
do you remember when china attacked the soviets in 1969 & hundreds were killed?
good short article–

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/forgotten-battle-fifty-years-ago-russia-and-china-slugged-it-out-damansky-island-47677

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