Today In History

March 19 in History

2003 – US-led invasion of Iraq begins

By Editor_1

The United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq, the first stage of the Iraq War began on this day in 2003 and lasted just over one month, including 26 days of major combat operations, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq.

The coalition sent 160,000 troops into Iraq during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from March 19 to May 1. About 73% or 130,000 soldiers were American, with about 45,000 British soldiers (25%), 2,000 Australian soldiers (1%), and 194 Polish soldiers (0.1%). Thirty-six other countries were involved in its aftermath. In preparation for the invasion, 100,000 US troops assembled in Kuwait by February 18. The coalition forces also received support from the Peshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan.

According to US President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, the coalition aimed “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction [WMD], to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people”, even though the UN inspection team led by Hans Blix had declared it had found no evidence of the existence of WMDs just before the start of the invasion. Others place a much greater emphasis on the impact of the September 11 attacks, on the role this played in changing US strategic calculations, and the rise of the freedom agenda. According to Blair, the trigger was Iraq’s failure to take a “final opportunity” to disarm itself of alleged nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that US and British officials called an immediate and intolerable threat to world peace.

The invasion was strongly opposed by some long-standing US allies, including the governments of France, Germany, and New Zealand. Their leaders argued that there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that invading that country was not justified in the context of UNMOVIC‘s February 12, 2003 report. About 5,000 chemical warheads, shells or aviation bombs were discovered during the Iraq War, but these had been built and abandoned earlier in Saddam Hussein’s rule before the 1991 Gulf War. The discoveries of these chemical weapons did not support the government’s invasion rationale. In September 2004, Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General at the time, called the invasion illegal under international law and said it was a breach of the UN Charter.

On February 15, 2003, a month before the invasion, there were worldwide protests against the Iraq War, including a rally of three million people in Rome, which the Guinness World Records listed as the largest-ever anti-war rally. According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war.

The invasion was preceded by an airstrike on the Presidential Palace in Baghdad on March 20,. The following day, coalition forces launched an incursion into Basra Governorate from their massing point close to the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. While special forces launched an amphibious assault from the Persian Gulf to secure Basra and the surrounding petroleum fields, the main invasion army moved into southern Iraq, occupying the region and engaging in the Battle of Nasiriyah on March 23. Massive air strikes across the country and against Iraqi command and control threw the defending army into chaos and prevented effective resistance. On March 26, the 173rd Airborne Brigade was airdropped near the northern city of Kirkuk, where they joined forces with Kurdish rebels and fought several actions against the Iraqi Army, to secure the northern part of the country.

The main body of coalition forces continued their drive into the heart of Iraq and were met with little resistance. Most of the Iraqi military was quickly defeated and the coalition occupied Baghdad on 9 April. Other operations occurred against pockets of the Iraqi Army, including the capture and occupation of Kirkuk on April 10, and the attack on and capture of Tikrit on April 15. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the central leadership went into hiding as the coalition forces completed the occupation of the country. On May 1, President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations: this ended the invasion period and began the period of military occupation.

-Wikipedia

 

Photo Caption – US Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment escort captured enemy prisoners of war to a holding area in the desert of Iraq on March 21, 2003, during Operation Iraqi Freedom –Wikipedia

Editor_1
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