(2003) The Iraq War beginsCoalition forces from the US, UK, Australia, and Poland begin moving from the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border into Basra Province, and the invasion of Iraq is underway. The ensuing conflict will come to be known as the Iraq War. The US will officially withdraw from Iraq in 2011, only to be drawn back in three years later to lead a coalition charged with battling a persistent insurgency and tempering ongoing civil conflict.The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the next decade 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 U.S. became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition; the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The invasion occurred as part of a declared war against international terrorism and its sponsors under the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Start date: Mar 20, 2003 End date: Dec 18, 2011
Clockwise from top: Delta Force of Task Force 20 alongside troops of 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, at Uday Hussain and Qusay Hussein’s hideout.; Iraqi insurgents in northern Iraq; an Iraqi insurgent firing a MANPADS; the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Firdos Square. wiki/Iraq_War4.8.d17
(2003) The Iraq War begins
