2003-2010

THE IRAQ WAR: OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM

BACKGROUND / GLOBAL SITUATION / CAUSES

The Iraq War

BACKGROUND / GLOBAL

SITUATION / CAUSES

• Iraq has had a long history of colonialism (markedly because of their oil) and they desire no western presence in the middle east; labeled a jihad, or holy war

• The Persian Gulf War defeats the Iraqi Army in their invasion of Kuwait, but Saddam’s regime is not removed from power and they are becoming more of a menace; defying multiple UN sanctions.

• Fear of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraqi possession.

• The conflict with Iraq is changed by the World Trade Center Attacks in 2001.

• George W. Bush announces that the “war on terrorism” will extend beyond the borders of Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom), hinting of the second war on Iraq that was to come in 2003.

• Increased civil liberties violations at the hand of Saddam’s regime

• Many people criticized the Bush Administration for going after the “wrong guy”; that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the 9/11 bombings

Many criticize interest in the region…altruism or oil???

2002 Political Cartoon depicting George W. Bush “hunting”

Commentary on the nature of Saddam’s Civil Liberty Abuses

• Terrorism is not a new thing

French Jacobinism “Subdue by terror the enemies

of liberty, and you will be right, as founders of the

Republic.” --Reign of Terror instigated by Maxmilien

Robespierre in 1793 Robespierre's sentiment laid

the foundations for modern terrorists, who believe

violence will usher in a better system

Ku Klux Klan

Chechnyan terrorism

Oklahoma City bombing

• Terrorist acts from several Middle Eastern countries

emerges in the 1970s, 1980s, & 1990s – sometimes

referred to as “religious terrorism”

Iranian Hostage Crisis (1979)

Air Plane Hijackings and Embassy Bombings

First World Trade Center bombing

Other attacks on transportation systems

TERRORISM

“The history of terrorism is as old as humans' willingness to use violence to affect politics.”

– Amy Zalman, Ph.D

TERRORISM

• Terrorism is distinguished from other acts of violence, and from war, by always having these four

characteristics:

Terrorists violate the rules of modern warfare, established in acts called the Geneva

Conventions and Hague Conventions; or they are actors (e.g., sub-state groups) who can't

declare war legitimately

Its goal is to achieve political change

Its targets are symbolic of the political issue in question

Acts of terror are designed to get attention from the public and media.

• Terrorist Activities

Car Bombings

Suicide Missions

Rocket Propelled Grenades

IEDs

Assassinations

Terrorism can be defined as “Criminal acts intended or

calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a

group of persons or particular persons for political purposes

are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the

considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial,

ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to

justify them.”

— Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism

(General Assembly resolution 49/60, paragraph 3)

ALLIANCES / LEADERS

The Iraq War

The “Coalition of the Willing”

UNITED NATIONS / COALITION FORCES

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

2003March

2003Dec

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010March

1

2010Aug.31

Total Coalition Countries

Total Coalition Countries

“Coalition of the Willing” a post-1990 political phrase used to collectively describe participants in

military or military-humanitarian interventions for which the United Nations Security Council cannot

agree to mount a full UN peacekeeping operation.

• The NATO Alliance committed itself to helping Iraq

create effective armed forces and, ultimately, provide for

its own security by establishing the NATO Training

Mission-Iraq (NTM-I) in 2004.

• It was permanently withdrawn from Iraq on 31 December

2011

• The NTM-I was set up in accordance with the UN

Security Council Resolution 1546 and at the request of

the Iraqi Interim Government.

• It was not a combat mission. The aim of NTM-I was to

help Iraq develop a democratically-led and enduring

security sector.

• NATO remains committed to this partnership and, in

April 2011, decided to grant Iraq partner status.

• Video on NATOs commitment against global terrorism

(4:41)

NATO

NOV. 2011 - About 200 experts from NATO and

partner countries gathered in Brussels on 28

November 2011 for the first conference on “New

Challenges to Global Security” organized by

NATO’s new Emerging Security Challenges

Division.

• U.S. President George W. Bush (2000-2009)

Vice President Dick Cheney (2000-2009)

Secretaries of State Colin Powell (2000-05) &

Condoleeza Rice (2005-09)

Secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

(2001-06) & Robert Gates (2006-09)

• U.S. President Barrack Obama (2009-current)

Vice President Joe Biden (2009-current)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (2009-

current)

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta (2009-

current

U.S LEADERS

President George W. Bush is seen at a National Security

Council meeting in the White House Situation Room

Monday, March 24, 2008, during a video teleconference

with General David Petraeus, Commander of the Multi-

National Force-Iraq; and Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador

to Iraq. White House photo by Eric Draper

IRAQI LEADERS

• Iraqi President Saddam Hussein

Sons Uday and Qusay Hussein

(Both killed by U.S. troops in Mosul on July 2003)

• Iraqi Playing Cards

• Leaders Today

• Chart of Current Leaders

Uday (left) and Qusay Hussein in a photograph recovered

from the Hussein family private photo lab

--BENJAMIN LOWY/CORBIS FOR TIME

TIMELINE OF MAJOR EVENTS

The Iraq War

1990-1999: THE FIRST GULF WAR AND WEAPONS

INSPECTIONS

• Invasion of Kuwait – Aug. 2, 1990 120,000 troops cross border in all out invasion

• U.S. Military Operations – Operation Desert Shield & Operation Desert Storm

• UN Resolution 687 - Iraq must unconditionally accept removal of all chemical and biological weapons and not to acquire or develop nuclear weapons

• UNSCOM & No-Fly Zones – UN Resolution 715 Iraq must submit to United Nations Special Commission; Iraq banned from using all aircraft

• Cheney’s “Quagmire” Comment - 1994 interview with the American Enterprise Institute defending decision not to invade Iraq after Persian Gulf War

• Oil-for-Food –Resolution 986 provided Iraq opportunity to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian needs and other UN services

• Operation Desert Fox – Dec. 1998 Saddam ends Iraqi corporation with UNSCOM and accuses UN of espionage; Clinton (4 days before impeachment vote) orders 4 day bombing of key military facilities…all without UN Security Council approval

• UNMOVIC – Dec. 1999, United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission replaces UNSCOM

2000-FEBURARY 2003: WEAPONS INSPECTIONS

• U.N. Weapons Inspections – Iraq says they won’t be let back in; Iraq stops exporting oil;

U.S. threatens Iraq “If anybody harbors a terrorist, they’re a terrorist.” –George W. Bush

Nov. 26, 2001 (shortly after 9/11 attacks)

• President George W. Bush’s “Axis of Evil” Speech – describes Iraq, Iran, and North Korea

• U.N. Resolution 1441 – gives Iraq a “final opportunity to comply with its disarmament

obligations under relevant resolutions of the Council.” – UN, Nov. 8, 2002

• Secretary of State Powell at United Nations – while UNMOVIC leaders report that no

“smoking gun” was found (WMDs), it did not mean they were not out there…then Sec. of

State Colin Powell presents the UN with Washington’s evidence of WMDs and terrorism

links.

2001

MARCH-DECEMBER 2003: START OF THE U.S.-

IRAQ WAR

• “Coalition of the Willing” – US State Department names 30 countries prepared to be

publically associated with US action against Iraq (mostly Great Britain and Australia as a

presence)

• Operation Iraqi Freedom - March 19, 2003, Announced to the American people the

beginning of a “broad and concerted campaign” to disarm Iraq

• “Shock and Awe” Campaign – March 21, 2003, a massive aerial assault at hundreds of

targets in Iraq

• U.S. Takes Baghdad – April 9, 2003, Iraqi civilians cheer, statue of Saddam toppled

• UNAMI – UN Resolution 1500 establishing the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq

• Saddam Hussein Captured in Operation Red Dawn - U.S. troops found him in an

underground "spider hole" near his hometown of Tikrit on December 14, 2003 after seven

months of hide-and-go-seek; Saddam's identity was quickly verified by scientific testing

CAPTURE OF BAGHDAD AND OF SADDAM

“When compared to authorized photos of the raid and its

aftermath, this picture does appear to be genuine as there

are apparently no regulations prohibiting U.S. soldiers from

carrying personal cameras into battle, so many do,

according to a CNN report. Other unofficial photographs of

the Iraq conflict have circulated widely on the Internet.” http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_saddam_capture9.htm

Saddam Statue Topples As viewers watched on television, Marine

Gunnery Sergeant Leon Lambert and Corporal

Edward Chin prepared to bring down the

statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad’s Firdos

Square. Photograph by Alexandra Boulat.

2004: YEAR ONE

• Abu Ghraib – Taguba Report (March) and Leaked pictures on internet (April)

“Early this year [2004], the senior U.S. Army commander in Iraq authorized a major investigation into the American Army’s prison system there. The fifty-three-page report that resulted, which was written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba and was not meant for public release, was devastating. Taguba found numerous instances of “sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses” of Iraqis by American soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison, located twenty miles west of Baghdad. This systematic and illegal abuse, Taguba reported, was perpetrated by members of the 320th Military Police Battalion, and also by members of the American intelligence community. There was considerable evidence to support the allegations, Taguba added, including “detailed witness statements and the discovery of extremely graphic photographic evidence”; the photographs, which were taken by American soldiers while the abuse was going on, were not included in the report, Taguba said, because of their “extremely sensitive nature.”” -http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/03/slideshow_040503#slide=2#ixzz1lqgpeOUw

• Key Excerpts from the Taguba Report

ABU GHRAIB CONTROVERSY

A hooded and wired Iraqi prisoner at Abu Ghraib prison

who reportedly was told that he would be electrocuted if

he fell off a box.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/03/slidesho

w_040503##ixzz1lqehvY7G

Two American soldiers pose behind a pyramid of

hooded and naked Iraqi prisoners

• Iraqi Interim Government – UN

endorses the reestablishment of Iraqi

sovereignty and the interim

constitution takes effect; Saddam is

given to new government

• Operation Phantom Fury – Securing

Fallujah – Nov. 2004 - a U.S. success

after 8 days

• WMD Search Ends – None found

2004: YEAR ONE (CONTINUED)

“Fighting in Fallujah”

• Iraqi Elections – 60% turn out…a great day in the history of Iraq!

• Operation Lightening – May - a move to crackdown on insurgents in Baghdad; meant to prove whether or not Iraqi troops were ready to act offensively without U.S. support

• Trial of Hussein Begins – tried for crimes against humanity committed two decades ago; pleas not guilty

• Haditha Killings – 8 U.S. Marines charged with deaths of unarmed Iraqi civilians; Evidence of a massacre never materialized, and the original reports by the news media, and Congressman John Murtha, have been thoroughly discredited. Every Marine was cleared of charges of murder and cover-up.

2005: YEAR TWO

• New Iraqi Government – some internal conflict, but Shia and Sunni’s manage to continue to compromise

• Al-Zarqawi Killed – a mastermind behind hundreds of bombings, kidnappings, and beheadings in Iraq is killed by an airstrike

• Iraq Study Group Report – December - recommends to Bush 79 things to do to try to pull Iraq back from what they have analyzed to be a situation that is “grave and deteriorating”

• Hussein Hanged - Video Footage was released from a cell phone showing him being taunted before hanging

2006: YEAR THREE

2007: YEAR FOUR

• U.S. Troop Surge – 5 additional U.S. Army brigades to Iraq to support Iraqi

army operations in and around Baghdad

• Iraq War is “civil war” – U.S National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq

admits the term “accurately describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict”

• Ba’ath Party Returns – Iraqi government approves a draft of a law allowing

some former members to return to their official posts…dangerous!

• Bush vetoes withdrawal Legislation – he said “it makes no sense to tell the

enemy when you plan to start withdrawing.”

• Deadliest Year – 899 troop deaths; surpassed 2004 when 850 died

• Iraq attacks decline – 70%

decrease since 2007

• Iraq calls for U.S. withdrawal

timetable

• Iraq sets U.S. troop

withdrawal date – Iraqi

Parliament passes law

requiring all US forces to

withdraw from Iraq no later

than December 31, 2011.

• Oversight agency cites

“massive waste” in

reconstruction of Iraq

2008: YEAR FIVE

May 2008 McCain (then presidential hopeful) Vows “No Surrender”

• U.S. hands over GREEN ZONE CONTROL to Iraqi Government – area in Baghdad including Saddam’s presidential palace

• U.S. Embassy in Iraq opens – HUGE structure with security in mind

• Obama announces end of combat mission in Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010

• Remaining Non-U.S. Coalition Forces leave Iraq – no “Multi-National Force”; US is one of the last “Coalition of the Willing” formed in 2003

• Deadliest attack of 2009 – Attack on Iraqi Foreign Ministry Building

2009: YEAR SIX

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari (2nd L), inspects

damage to his ministry building after a bombing on

Wednesday on August 22, 2009 in Baghdad, Iraq. 11

high-ranking security officials from the Iraqi army and

police were detained for investigation.

( August 21, 2009 - Photo by Muhannad Fala'ah/Getty

Images Europe)

• Multi-National Force-Iraq

becomes United States Forces-

Iraq

• Official end to U.S. Combat

operations in Iraq

• Wikileaks publishes classified

U.S. military logs on the War in

Iraq – documents suggest U.S.

commanders ignored evidence of

torture by the Iraqi authorities;

also, that civilian deaths were put

at over 66,000 of around 109,000

total deaths

2010: YEAR SEVEN

2011: YEAR EIGHT • Iraqi Leaders and al-Sadr debate U.S. troop departure – some Sunnis wanted the U.S. to stick

around for their protection fearing domination by Shiite majority

• New U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta makes first trip to Iraq

• United States declares official end to War in Iraq with Final Troop Drawdown – a small ceremony

was held

METHODS / TACTICS / TECHNOLOGY The Iraq War

One photographer’s

depiction of the

intersection of

technology and war – in

this photo, a tattered flag

flies from a cell phone

antenna.

Photo: Todd Hido

METHODS / TACTICS / TECHNOLOGY

• Network-Centric Warfare v. Guerilla Warfare

• Examples of Warfare used by the U.S.

Ground Troops / Special Operations and Conventional

Air Support / Air Raids (especially in beginning “shock and awe”)

Use of Private Military Corporations (PMCs)

Capture of Major Leaders (deck of cards approach)

Teaching / Mentoring the Iraqi Military / Propaganda

• Examples of Warfare used by Iraq

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)

Suicide Bombers

Attacks on Sunni Mosques (or other cultural / religious centers)

Internet (May 2004 – Video released of beheading of Nick Berg)

METHODS / TACTICS / TECHNOLOGY

A large IED explosion picture

from Iraq.

Note the telephone pole just

to the left of the base of the

explosion, and the Bradley

IFV farther to the left on the

road.

EFFECTS / LESSONS LEARNED / CRITICISMS

The Iraq War

ESTIMATING WAR DAMAGES*

• Cost - U.S. war damages estimated at around $1-$3 trillion

• Cost - Iraq war damages estimated at around $394.4 billion; lost 27 years of economic prosperity

• Death / Injury - 66,081 people total lost their lives (estimated 4,500 U.S. service members); 176,382 people sustained injuries (30,000 wounded)

• Displacement – 1.9 million Iraqis to emigrate, 2.65 migrated internally to avoid conflict

• Iraq has experienced free elections and has a government that is a democratic coalition of Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds (all who lived under Saddam’s vicious regime)

• Psychological Effects

• Panetta, Obama’s Secretary of Defense said to the troops at an official ceremony ending the war “You will leave with great pride – lasting pride secure in knowing that your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people to begin a new chapter in history.”

• Ultimately, historians are left to evaluate the war and it’s effectiveness / ineffectiveness in years to come

*Sources include Iraq Body Count, the Brookings Institute, NGOs, & the U.S. government

• Soldier websites

• Soldier blogs

• Easy assess to videos and

photographs (Abu Ghraib)

• Anti war web sites

• NGOs and other “watchdog” groups

looking out for civilian causalities and

keeping militaries “honest”

THE INTERNET AND OTHER “INFORMATION AGE”

TECHNOLOGY HAS CHANGED WAR

“The reaction to my photo of Major Bieger

cradling Farah, the little girl who died in his

arms [after a car bombing], provoked a

flood of messages and heartfelt responses

from caring people around the world.”

--Michael Yon, photographer, 2005.

THE INTERNET AND OTHER “INFORMATION AGE”

TECHNOLOGY HAS CHANGED WAR

“The insurgent groups are also exploiting something that US network-centric gurus [of the

early 1990s] seem to have missed: All of us are already connected to a global media grid.

Satellite television, radio, and the Internet mean that many of the most spectacular attacks

in Iraq are deliberately staged for the cameras, uploaded to YouTube, picked up by CNN,

and broadcast around the world.”

“The Army has set aside $41 million to build what it calls Human Terrain Teams: 150 social

scientists, software geeks, and experts on local culture, split up and embedded with 26

different military units in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next year. The first six HTTs are

already on the ground. The idea, basically, is to give each commander a set of cultural

counselors, the way he has soldiers giving him combat advice .”

-How Technology Almost Lost the War: In Iraq, the Critical Networks Are Social — Not Electronic By Noah Shachtman (2007)

OUR TECHNOLOGY MAY NOT OUTWIT THE

ENEMY

“Bush thinks the lesson of this reaction speed is that we should suppress information about our technology. But maybe the lesson is that we can't stop the spread of destructive technology and information, in which case we'd better concentrate on reducing the number of people who feel motivated to use it against us.”

“Human limits also limit technology. Some of our technology fails because it asks too much of us. We designed a drone to be operated remotely by troops in a trailing vehicle, only to discover that riding in one vehicle while virtually driving another made soldiers carsick. We built an IED armor kit that made vehicle doors so heavy soldiers can't open them. We developed digital surveillance programs that capture so many precise images that the officers assigned to monitor them become overloaded and zone out.”

-Technology lessons from the Iraq War By William Saletan (2007)

• Nation-building efforts take time, energy, and money

• Use of Private Military Corporations has its PROs and CONs

• Increasing troop involvement with out clear vision can be dangerous

• Americans today do not have patients for long, drawn out missions…we live in a “I want everything quick” society

• There are many other regions of instability in the world today, how will we deal with them?

Iran

Afghanistan

North Korea

• Many say we should be focusing on things at home

NATION-BUILDING IS

TRICKY BUSINESS

2008

“Nation Building in America” September 2010

• Unilateralism v Multilateralism, U.S.

criticized for being arrogant

• WMD theory turned up empty, Bush

and CIA criticized

• Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay

OUR GLOBAL SOCIETY IS QUICK TO CRITICIZE

August 2010 – parody on toppling

of Saddam statue in 2003

“Why Doesn’t the World Support Us?”

DISILLUSIONMENT OVER

THE WAR AND THE

FUTURE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• “Estimating War Damages Sustained by Iraq (2003-2010).” http://www.huffingtonpost.com

(accessed February 2012)

• ProCon.org. “Timeline, 1990-2011.” USIraq.ProCon.org.

http://usiraq.procon.org/view.resources.php?resourceID=000670 (accessed Jan 10, 2011)

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization. http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-B763088A-

82FD0184/natolive/organisation.htm (accessed February 2012)

• “Terrorism.” United Nations. http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/terrorism/ (accessed

February 2012)

• “Terrorism Issues.” About.com http://terrorism.about.com/od/t/g/Terrorism.htm (accessed

February 2012)