Iraq war

Iraq War Clockwise, starting at top left: a joint patrol in Samarra; the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Firdos Square; an Iraqi Army soldier readies his rifle during an assault; an IED detonates in South Baghdad. Date March 20, 2003 – present Location Iraq Casus belli War justifications: Rationale for the Iraq War Governments' pre-war positions War on Terrorism Result Occupation Overthrow of Baath Party government and execution of Saddam Hussein. Humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Emergence of Iraqi insurgency and outbreak of civil war in Iraq.[1] Substantial civilian casualties and widespread infrastructure damage[2][3] Privatisation of Iraqi services Human rights abuses in Iraq Election of a new government Al-Qaeda terror operations in Iraq.[4] Iraqi diaspora Combatants Baathist Iraq Baath Party Loyalists Mahdi Army al-Qaeda in Iraq Other Insurgent groups United States United Kingdom Australia New Iraqi Army Iraqi Kurdistan Poland Other Coalition forces Commanders Saddam Hussein #[5] Muqtada al-Sadr Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri Ishmael Jubouri Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ☠ Abu Ayyub al-Masri George W. Bush Tommy Franks Ricardo Sanchez George Casey David Petraeus Tony Blair Gordon Brown Brian Burridge Nouri al-Maliki Strength Iraqi (under Saddam Hussein): 375,000+ regular forces. [citation needed] Post-Baathist government, multi-sided conflict: Sunni Insurgents Unknown Mahdi Army ~60,000[6][7] al Qaeda/others 1,300+[8] Coalition ~300,000 invasion ~177,000 current Contractors* ~182,000 (118,000 Iraqi, 43,000 Other, 21,000 US)[9][10] Kurdish Army 50,000 invasion 175,000 current New Iraqi Army 165,000 Iraqi Police 227,000[11] Casualties Iraqi combatant dead (during invasion period before Baathist government fell): 7,600 to 10,800[12][13] Insurgents dead (After Saddam Hussein's Baathist government fell): 13,804-20,125 listed on a representative list of reports. 19,429 According to U.S. military (26 September 2007) [14] Detainees (held by Coalition): 23,000[15][16] Detainees (held by Iraq): 37,000[15][17] Iraqi Security Forces (After Saddam. Allied with Coalition). Total police and military killed: 7,479[15][18][19] Coalition dead (3,830 US, 171 UK, 132 other): 4,133[20][21] Coalition missing or captured (US): 4[21] Coalition wounded: 28,009 US, ~300 UK.[21][22][23] Coalition injured, diseased, or other medical:** 28,645 US, 1,155 UK.[21][20][23] Contractors dead (US 231): 1,003[24][25][26] Contractors missing or captured (US 9): 17 Contractors wounded & injured: 10,569[24] All Iraqi violent deaths, Opinion Research Business. As of August 2007: 1,220,580 (range of 733,158 to 1,446,063). Causes were gunshots (48%), car bombs (20%), aerial bombing (9%), accidents (6%), another blast/ordnance (6%). [27][28][29] ***Total deaths (all excess deaths) Johns Hopkins (Lancet) - As of June 2006: 654,965 (range of 392,979 to 942,636). 601,027 were violent deaths (31% attributed to Coalition, 24% to others, 46% unknown)[30][31] War-related & criminal violence deaths (all Iraqis) Iraq Health Minister. Through early November 2006: 100,000-150,000[32][33] War-related & criminal violence deaths (civilians) Iraq Body Count - English language media only: 69,045-75,495[34] *Contractors (U.S. government) perform "often highly dangerous duties almost identical to those performed by many U.S. troops."[10] ** "injured, diseased, or other medical" - all required medical air transport. UK number includes wounded, too ("aeromed evacuations"). [21][20][23] ***Total deaths include all additional deaths due to increased lawlessness, degraded infrastructure, poorer healthcare, etc. For explanations of the wide variation in casualty estimates, see: Casualties of the Iraq War

Iraq War Invasion – Post-invasion (Insurgency – Civil war) Battles & operations – Bombings and terrorist attacks

Recent wars in the Persian Gulf Iran-Iraq War – Gulf War – Iraq War

Campaigns of the War on Terror Afghanistan – Algeria – Iraq – Saudi Arabia – Waziristan – Thailand – Israel and Lebanon – Palestinian Territories – Somalia – Lebanon Contemporaneous Wars: Philippines – Chechnya – Israel and the Palestinian Territories – Darfur – Yemen

The Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq^[35], the Second Gulf War,^[36] or Operation Iraqi Freedom,^[37] is an ongoing conflict which began on March 20, 2003 with the United States-led invasion of Iraq.

The main rationale for the Iraq War offered by U.S. President George W. Bush, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of Spain José María Aznar and their domestic and foreign supporters, was the belief that Iraq possessed and was actively developing weapons of mass destruction (WMD).^[38][39] Diplomats from countries on the U.N. Security Council that opposed the war made statements that supported this belief.^[40][41] These weapons, it was argued, posed a threat to the United States, its allies and interests.^[42] In the 2003 State of the Union Address, Bush claimed that the U.S. could not wait until the threat from Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein became imminent.^[43][44] After the invasion, however, no evidence was found of the WMD or programs the administration claimed existed. Some U.S. officials cited claims of a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. No evidence of any operational or collaborative relationship with al-Qaeda has been found.^[45]

The war began on March 20, 2003, when a largely British and American force supported by small contingents from Australia, Denmark and Poland invaded Iraq. The invasion soon led to the defeat and flight of Saddam Hussein. The U.S.-led coalition occupied Iraq and attempted to establish a new democratic government; however it failed to restore order in Iraq. The unrest led to asymmetric warfare with the Iraqi insurgency, civil war between many Sunni and Shia Iraqis and al-Qaeda operations in Iraq.^[46][47] Coalition nations have begun to withdraw troops from Iraq as public opinion favoring troop withdrawal increases and as Iraqi forces begin to take responsibility for security.^[48][49] The causes and consequences of the war remain controversial.

1991–2003: U.N. Inspectors and the no-fly zones

See also: Operation Northern Watch, and Oil-for-Food Programme

Following the 1991 Gulf War, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 mandated that Iraqi chemical, biological, nuclear, and long range missile programs be halted and all such weapons destroyed under a United Nations Special Commission control. U.N. weapons inspectors inside Iraq were able to verify the destruction of a large amount of WMD-material, but substantial issues remained unresolved after they left Iraq in 1998 due to the lack of cooperation by the Iraqi government.

In addition to the inspection regimen, the United States and the United Kingdom (along with France until 1998) engaged in a low-level conflict with Iraq by enforcing northern and southern Iraqi no-fly zones. These zones were created following the Persian Gulf War to protect Iraqi Kurdistan in the north and the southern Shia areas, and were seen by the Iraqi government as an infringement of Iraq's sovereignty. Iraqi air-defense installations and American and British air patrols regularly exchanged fire during this period.

Approximately nine months after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States initiated Operation Southern Focus as a change to its response strategy, by increasing the overall number of missions and selecting targets throughout the no-fly zones in order to disrupt the military command structure in Iraq. The weight of bombs dropped increased from none in March 2002 and 0.3 in April 2002 to between 8 and 14 tons per month in May-August, reaching a pre-war peak of 54.6 tons in September 2002.

2001–2003: Iraq disarmament crisis and pre-war intelligence

See also: Rationale for the Iraq War, Public relations preparations for 2003 invasion of Iraq, Governments' pre-war positions on invasion of Iraq, and Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda

Main articles: Iraq disarmament crisis timeline 2001-2003 and 2002 in Iraq

The original U.S. justification for the Iraq War was Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program and Saddam Hussein's alleged collaboration with the Al-Qaeda terrorist group. However, the intelligence on both these claims has been criticized and largely discredited post-invasion, with the Bush administration accused of falsely portraying the available intelligence.

The issue of Iraq's disarmament reached a crisis in 2002-2003, when President George W. Bush demanded a complete end to alleged Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction and full compliance with UN Resolutions requiring UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to suspected weapons production facilities. Previously, the UN had prohibited Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons since the 1991 Gulf War and to permit inspections confirming Iraqi compliance. During 2002, Bush repeatedly backed demands for unfettered inspection and disarmament with threats of military force. In accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1441 Iraq reluctantly agreed to new inspections in late 2002. The results of these inspections were mixed with no discovery of WMDs and American skepticism of Iraqi WMD program declarations.

In the initial stages of the war on terror, the Central Intelligence Agency, under George Tenet, was rising to prominence as the lead agency in the Afghanistan war. But when Tenet insisted in his personal meetings with President Bush that there was no connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, V.P. Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld initiated a secret program to re-examine the evidence and marginalize the CIA and Tenet. The questionable intelligence acquired by this secret program was "stovepiped" to the Vice President and presented to the public. In some cases, Cheney’s office would leak the intelligence to reporters, where it would be reported by outlets such as The New York Times. Cheney would subsequently appear on the Sunday political television talk shows to discuss the intelligence, referencing The New York Times as the source to give it credence.^[50]

Alleged weapons of mass destruction

Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson

In late February 2002, the CIA sent former Ambassador Joseph Wilson to investigate dubious claims about Iraq's attempted purchase of yellowcake uranium from Niger. Wilson returned and informed the CIA that reports of yellowcake sales to Iraq were "unequivocally wrong." However, the Bush administration continued to mention yellowcake purchases as justification for military action--most prominently in the January, 2003, State of the Union when President Bush repeated the allegation, citing British intelligence sources.^[51] In response, Wilson wrote a critical The New York Times op-ed in June 2003 explaining that the CIA had investigated these yellowcake claims and believed them to be fraudulent. Shortly after Wilson's op-ed, the identity of Wilson's wife, undercover CIA analyst Valerie Plame, was revealed in a column by Robert Novak. Since it is a felony to reveal the identity of a CIA agent Novak's column launched an investigation by the Justice Department into the source of the leak. I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff, was convicted of perjury in the Plame leak investigation. The source of the leak was found to be Richard Armitage. He was never charged.^[52]

A British government memo was published in The Sunday Times on May 1, 2005. Known as the "Downing Street memo," it contains an overview of a secret July 23, 2002 meeting among United Kingdom Labour government, defense and intelligence figures, discussing the build-up to the Iraq war—including direct reference to classified U.S. policy of the time. The memo states, "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."^[53]

According to journalist Sidney Blumenthal, on September 18, 2002, George Tenet briefed Bush that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. Blumenthal says Bush dismissed this top-secret intelligence from Saddam's inner circle which was approved by two senior CIA officers, but it turned out to be completely accurate. The information was never shared with Congress or even CIA agents examining whether Saddam had such weapons.^[54]

In September 2002, the Bush administration said attempts by Iraq to acquire thousands of high-strength aluminum tubes pointed to a clandestine program to make enriched uranium for nuclear bombs. This view was supported by the CIA and DIA but opposed by the Department of Energy (DOE) and INR which was significant because the DOE was the only department in the United States government that had expertise in gas centrifuges and nuclear weapons programs. An effort by the DOE to change Powell's comments before his UN appearance was rebuffed by the administration.^[55][56] Iraq was not permitted to import high-strength centrifuge tubes under the U.N. monitoring plan. Indeed, Colin Powell, in his address to the U.N. Security Council just prior to the war, made reference to the aluminum tubes. But a report released by the Institute for Science and International Security in 2002 reported that it was highly unlikely that the tubes could be used to enrich uranium. Powell later admitted he had presented an inaccurate case to the United Nations on Iraqi weapons, and the intelligence he was relying on was, in some cases, "deliberately misleading."^[57][58][59]

Between September, 2002 and June, 2003, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz created a Pentagon unit known as the Office of Special Plans (OSP), headed by Douglas Feith. It was created to supply senior Bush administration officials with raw intelligence pertaining to Iraq, unvetted by intelligence analysts, and circumventing traditional intelligence gathering operations by the CIA. One former CIA officer described the OSP as dangerous for U.S. national security and a threat to world peace, and that it lied and manipulated intelligence to further its agenda of removing Saddam Hussein. He described it as a group of ideologues with pre-determined notions of truth and reality, taking bits of intelligence to support their agenda and ignoring anything contrary.^[60]

Authorization for the use of force

Colin Powell holding a model vial of anthrax while giving a presentation to the United Nations Security Council

In October, 2002, a few days before the U.S. Senate vote on the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, about 75 senators were told in closed session that Saddam Hussein had the means of attacking the U.S. eastern seaboard with biological or chemical weapons delivered by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).^[61] On February 5, 2003, Colin Powell presented further evidence in his Iraqi WMD program presentation to the Security Council that UAVs were ready to be launched against the U.S. At the time, there was a vigorous dispute within the intelligence community as to whether CIA conclusions about Iraqi UAVs were accurate. The U.S. Air Force agency most familiar with UAVs, the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and the Defense Intelligence Agency denied that Iraq possessed any offensive UAV capability, saying the few they had were designed and intended for surveillance. A majority of the U.S. intelligence committee agreed that the Iraqi UAVs were used only for reconnaissance.^[62] In fact, Iraq's UAV fleet was never deployed and consisted of a handful of outdated 24.5-foot wingspan drones with no room for more than a camera and video recorder, and no offensive capability.^[63] Despite this controversy, the Senate voted to approve the Joint Resolution on 11 October 2002 providing the Bush Administration with the legal basis for the U.S. invasion.

In early 2003, the United States, United Kingdom, and Spain proposed the so-called "eighteenth resolution" to give Iraq a deadline for compliance with previous resolutions enforced by the threat of military action. This proposed resolution was subsequently withdrawn for lack of support on the U.N. Security Council. In particular, NATO members France and Germany, together with Russia, were opposed to military intervention in Iraq due to the high level of risk to the international community's security and defended disarmament through diplomacy. On January 20, 2003, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin declared "...we believe that military intervention would be the worst solution".^[64]

Opposition to invasion

Meanwhile anti-war groups across the world organised public protests. According to the French academic Dominique Reynié between the 3rd of January and 12th of April 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against war in Iraq, the demonstrations on February 15 2003 being the largest and most prolific.^[65]

In March 2003, UN weapons inspector Hans Blix reported in regard to Iraq that, "No evidence of proscribed activities have so far been found," saying that progress was made in inspections which would continue.^[66] But the U.S. government announced that "diplomacy has failed" and that it would proceed with a coalition of allied countries, named the "coalition of the willing", to rid Iraq of its alleged weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. government abruptly advised U.N. weapons inspectors to immediately pull out of Baghdad.

There are also serious legal questions surrounding the conduct of the war in Iraq and the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war. On September 16, 2004 Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, said of the invasion, "I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter. From our point of view, from the charter point of view, it was illegal."^[67]

2003: Invasion

Map of major operations and battles of the Iraq War as of 2007

Main articles: 2003 in Iraq, 2003 Iraq war timeline, and List of people associated with the 2003 invasion of Iraq

See also: Coalition military operations of the Iraq War and Iraq War order of battle

The 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by General Tommy Franks, began on March 20, under the U.S. codename "Operation Iraqi Freedom", the U.K. codename Operation Telic, and the Australian codename Operation Catalyst. Coalition forces also cooperated with Kurdish peshmerga forces in the north. Approximately forty other nations, the "coalition of the willing," participated by providing equipment, services, security, and special forces. The initial coalition military forces were roughly 300,000, of which 98% were U.S. and U.K. troops.^[68] During the invasion, the Iraqi Army was quickly overwhelmed with only the Fedayeen Saddam putting up strong resistance before melting away into the civilian population. On April 9 Baghdad fell to U.S. forces who seized the deserted Baath Party ministries and pulled down a huge iron statue of Saddam, symbolically ending his 24-year rule of Iraq. The abrupt fall of Baghdad was also symbolized by massive civil disorder through looting of government buildings and drastically increased crime.^[69] On April 13 Tikrit, Saddam's home town and the last town not under coalition control, was taken with little resistance by the Marines of Task Force Tripoli. On April 15 the coalition partners claimed that the war was effectively over.

In the invasion phase of the war (March 20-April 30), 9,200 Iraqi combatants were killed along with 7,299 civilians, primarily by US air and ground forces.^[70] Coalition forces reported the death in combat of 139 U.S. military personnel^[71] and 33 U.K. military personnel. ^[72]

Coalition Provisional Authority and Iraq Survey Group

See also: Iraqi Governing Council, International Advisory and Monitoring Board, CPA Program Review Board, Development Fund for Iraq, and Reconstruction of Iraq

Shortly after the invasion, the multinational coalition created the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) سلطة الائتلاف الموحدة, based in the Green Zone, as a transitional government of Iraq until the establishment of a democratic government. Citing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483 (22 May 2003) and the laws of war, the CPA vested itself with executive, legislative, and judicial authority over the Iraqi government from the period of the CPA's inception on April 21, 2003, until its dissolution on June 28, 2004.

The CPA was originally headed by Jay Garner, a former U.S. military officer, but his appointment lasted only until May 11, 2003. After Garner resigned, President Bush appointed L. Paul Bremer as the head the CPA and he served until the CPA's dissolution in July 2004. Another group created in the spring of 2003 was the Iraq Survey Group (ISG; its final report is commonly called the Duelfer Report.). This was a fact-finding mission sent by the multinational force in Iraq after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programmes developed by Iraq. It consisted of a 1,400-member international team organised by the Pentagon and CIA to hunt for suspected stockpiles of WMD, such as chemical and biological agents, and any supporting research programmes and infrastructure that could be used to develop WMD. In 2004 the ISG's Duelfer report stated that Iraq did not have a viable WMD program.

Bush: "end of major combat operations"

Main article: Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–2006

Further information: U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqis and Terrorist attacks of the Iraq War

The USS Abraham Lincoln returning to port carrying its Mission Accomplished banner

On May 1, 2003, President Bush staged a dramatic visit to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln operating a few miles west of San Diego, California on its way home from a long deployment which had included service in the Persian Gulf. The visit climaxed at sunset with Bush's now well-known "Mission Accomplished" speech. In this nationally-televised speech, delivered before the sailors and airmen on the flight deck, Bush effectively declared victory due to the defeat of Iraq's conventional forces. However, Saddam Hussein remained at large and significant pockets of resistance remained.

After President Bush's speech, coalition forces noticed a gradually increasing flurry of attacks on its troops in various regions, especially in the "Sunni Triangle".^[73] In the initial chaos after the fall of the Iraqi government, there was massive looting of infrastructure, including government buildings, official residences, museums, banks, and military depots. According to The Pentagon, 250,000 tons (of 650,000 tons total) of ordnance was looted, providing a significant source of ammunition for the Iraqi insurgency. The insurgents were further helped by hundreds of weapons caches created prior to the invasion by the conventional Iraqi army and Republican Guard.

May 18, 2004. Staff Sgt. Kevin Jessen checks the underside of two anti-tank mines found in a village outside Ad Dujayl,^[74] Iraq in the Sunni Triangle.

Initially, Iraqi resistance (known to the coalition as "Anti-Iraqi Forces") largely stemmed from fedayeen and Saddam/Baath Party loyalists, but soon religious radicals and Iraqis angered by the occupation contributed to the insurgency. The three provinces with the highest number of attacks were Baghdad, Al Anbar, and Salah Ad Din. Those three provinces account for 35% of the population, but are responsible for 73% of U.S. military deaths (as of December 5, 2006), and an even higher percentage of recent U.S. military deaths (about 80%).^[75] Insurgents use guerrilla tactics including; mortars, missiles, suicide attacks, snipers, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), car bombs, small arms fire (usually with assault rifles), and RPGs (rocket propelled grenades), as well as sabotage against the oil, water, and electrical infrastructure.

Post-invasion Iraq coalition efforts commenced after the fall of the Hussein regime. The coalition nations, together with the United Nations, began to work to establish a stable democratic state capable of defending itself,^[76] holding itself together^[77] as well as overcoming insurgent attacks and internal divisions.

Meanwhile, coalition military forces launched several operations around the Tigris River peninsula and in the Sunni Triangle. A series of similar operations were launched throughout the summer in the Sunni Triangle. Toward the end of 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 begin 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 wrapped in barbed wire and carefully monitored.

However, the failure to restore basic services to pre-war levels, where over a decade of sanctions, bombing, corruption, and decaying infrastructure had left major cities barely functioning, contributed to local anger at the IPA government headed by an executive council. On July 2 2003, President Bush declared that American troops would remain in Iraq in spite of the attacks, challenging the insurgents with "My answer is, bring 'em on", a widely criticized line which Bush later expressed misgivings about.^[78] In the summer of 2003, the multinational forces also focused on hunting down the remaining leaders of the former regime. On July 22, a raid by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division and soldiers from Task Force 20 killed Saddam Hussein's sons (Uday and Qusay) along with one of his grandsons. In all, over 300 top leaders of the former regime were killed or captured, as well as numerous lesser functionaries and military personnel.

Saddam Hussein captured

Saddam Hussein shortly after capture

See also: Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal and Trial of Saddam Hussein

In the wave of intelligence information fueling the raids on remaining Baath Party members connected to insurgency, Saddam Hussein himself was captured on December 13 2003 on a farm near Tikrit in Operation Red Dawn. The operation was conducted by the United States Army's 4th Infantry Division and members of Task Force 121.

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 defend 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, preferring instead to eventually hand-over power to the Interim Iraqi Government.^[79] Due to the internal fight for power in the new Iraqi government more 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.

2004: The insurgency expands

Main article: 2004 in Iraq

See also: Military operations of the Iraq War for a list of all Coalition operations for this period, 2004 in Iraq, Iraqi coalition counter-insurgency operations, History of Iraqi insurgency, United States occupation of Fallujah, Iraq Spring Fighting of 2004

The start of 2004 was marked by a relative lull in violence. Insurgent forces reorganised during this time, studying the multinational forces' tactics and planning a renewed offensive. However, violence did increase during the Iraq Spring Fighting of 2004 with foreign fighters from around the Middle East as well as al-Qaeda in Iraq (an affiliated al-Qaeda group), led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi helping to drive the insurgency.

As the insurgency grew 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 American private military contractors who were providing security for food caterers Eurest Support Services.^[80] 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, beaten, set ablaze, and their burned corpses hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates.^[81] 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" 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 so far: the Second Battle of Fallujah, described by the U.S. military as "the heaviest urban combat since the battle of Hue City in Vietnam."^[82] During the assault, U.S. forces used white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon against insurgent personnel, attracting controversy. The 10-day battle resulted in a victory for the coalition, with 54 Americans killed and approximately 1000 insurgents. Unfortunately, Fallujah was totally devastated during the fighting, though civilian casualties were low, as they had mostly been evacuated before the fight.^[83]

The other major event of this year was the revelation of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib which received international media attention in April 2004. First reports of the abuse, as well as graphic pictures showing American military personnel in the act of abusing prisoners, came to public attention from a 60 Minutes II news report (April 28) and a Seymour M. Hersh article in the The New Yorker (posted online on April 30).^[84]. According to Thomas Ricks' history of the conflict these revelations dealt a body-blow to the moral justifications for the occupation in the eyes of the Iraqis and the international community and were a turning point in the war^[85].

2005: Elections and sovereignty transferred

Main article: 2005 in Iraq

On January 31, Iraqis elected the Iraqi Transitional Government in order to draft a permanent constitution. Although some violence and widespread Sunni boycott marred the event, most of the eligible Kurd and Shia populace participated. On February 4, 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 the next month.^[86] February to April proved to be relatively peaceful months compared to the carnage of November and January, with insurgent attacks averaging 30 a day from the prior average of 70.

Hopes for a quick end to an 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 Arabs, Syrians and Saudis, tore through Iraq. Their targets were often Shia gatherings or civilian concentrations mainly 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 US 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 the that border ^[87].

A constitutional referendum was held in October and a national assembly was elected in December ^[88].

Insurgent attacks increased in 2005 with 34,131 recorded incidents, compared to a total 26,496 for the previous year ^[89].

2006: Permanent Iraqi government and civil war

Main articles: 2006 in Iraq and Civil war in Iraq

The beginning of 2006 was marked by government creation talks, growing sectarian violence, and continuous anti-coalition attacks. Sectarian violence expanded to a new level of intensity following the al-Askari Mosque bombing in the Iraqi city of Samarra, on February 22, 2006. The explosion at the mosque, one of the holiest sites in Shi'a Islam, is believed to have been caused by a bomb planted by Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Although no injuries occurred in the blast, the mosque was severely damaged and the bombing resulted in violence over the following days. Over 100 dead bodies with bullet holes were found on February 23, and at least 165 people are thought to have been killed. In the aftermath of