Seven Years in Iraq
2003 Shock and Awe
Invasion Invasion in Iraq On March 20, 2003, American and British troops poured into Iraq from bases in Kuwait, crossing the Iraqi border to the east near Safwan. The American Third Infantry Division used armored bulldozers to create wide gaps in the Iraqi defensive line. 3
Many in Iraq Thrilled to be rid of Saddam Hussein "Touch me, touch me, tell me that this is real, tell me that the nightmare is really over." an unidentified Iraqi man, tears running down his face, as quoted in The New York Times
2003 - Attack on UN in Iraq "Nothing can excuse this act of unprovoked and murderous violence against men and women who went to Iraq... to help the Iraqi people." UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan US soldier among ruins of UN HQ in Iraq
Looting of the Iraqi Museum
Capture of Saddam Hussein
Chaos Unleashed
Iraqi prisoner in Abu Ghraib 2004
Nick Berg, Just Before Beheading Jewish American businessman. Kidnapped and beheaded in response to Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse.
Iraqi Chieftain brandishes gun
"It turns out that we were all wrong," Survey Group's final report, Sept 2004 No weapons of mass destruction were ever found.
November 2004 -- Fallujah Iraqi resistance fighters were able to claim the city a year later, before they were ousted by a siege and two re-invasions by US forces. These events caused widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis in the city and surrounding areas. As of 2004, the city is largely ruined, with 60% of buildings damaged or destroyed, and the population at 30% 50% of pre-war levels.
November 2004 -- Fallujah
MOUT U.S. Marines and Iraqi Special Forces conduct a security patrol in the war-torn city of Falluja, November 23, 2004. The brutal fighting there made it clear that defeating the Iraqi insurgency would be a tougher battle for American forces than the overthrow of Saddam Hussein s government. 15
Under Sniper Fire...
"We are defeating the terrorists as we are coming here."
March 2005 "The intelligence community was dead wrong in almost all of its prewar judgments." From the findings of the Silbermann-Robb commission
Sep 2005 Colin Powell as Secretary of State Many considered him the likely first African American president but he lost credibility when he supported allegations of WMD before the UN.
Sep 2005
Sep 2005 Allegedly told George W Bush on war plans to invade Iraq: You break it, you buy it.
There is no sectarian war...
"And they say there is no sectarian war? What do you call this?"
"Democracy assassinated the family that was here."
Army Chief Warrant Officer Aaron Weaver Memorial service in 2004. He had survived 1993 Battle of Mogadishu.
Chaos Focused "The Iraq conflict has become the 'cause celebre' for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement." Excerpt from "Trends in Global Terrorism," a classified National Intelligence Estimate
An Iraqi insurgent holds a modified launcher for surface-to-air missiles.
"Al-Qaeda in Iraq wants to poison the next generation of Iraqis." Rear Adm. Gregory Smith commenting on a video showing masked, armed boys that the U.S. military says is a training and recruiting tool in Iraq
Other Controversies: Halliburton "(A)s the number one war profiteer, Halliburton has taken U.S. taxpayers for a ride through a systemic pattern of waste, fraud and abuse."
Other Controversies: Contractors Blackwater contractors riding a helicopter scan the center of Baghdad on February 5, 2005.
Other Controversies: Civilians
December 2006 "I have saved you from destitution and misery and destroyed your enemies, the Persian and Americans...God damn you." Saddam Hussein, to his guards, shortly before being executed
A Sunni Arab great-grandmother, who thinks she is about 100, lives with her family in a tent city after being driven out of Baghdad
MAY 2007
Oct 2007
Sunni Woman Casts Her Vote "This time we won't let those people who have let us down in the past reach power again." Lubna Naji, a Baghdad medical student planning to vote in Iraq's provincial elections, to the BBC.
February 2009 --Exit Strategy "What we will not do is let the pursuit of the perfect stand in the way of achievable goals. We cannot rid Iraq of all who oppose America or sympathize with our adversaries. We cannot police Iraq's streets until they are completely safe, nor stay until Iraq's union is perfected..." President Barack Obama, as he announces his Iraq troop withdrawal plan.
April 2009 "You have given Iraq the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country. That is an extraordinary achievement." President Barack Obama in a speech to U.S. troops in Baghdad, April 7.
Kurds A largely Sunni Muslim people with their own language and culture, most Kurds live in the generally contiguous areas of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Armenia and Syria a mountainous region of southwest Asia generally known as Kurdistan ("Land of the Kurds").
"What's happening now isn't terrorism, it's gangsters... They kidnap, they demand money. Maybe they used to be insurgents, but now they're just criminals."
An End But Not The End At the end of 2011, U.S. troops remained in Iraq and the new Iraqi government continued to struggle. 44
Credits: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/ 0,28757,1967340,00.html