June 19, 2013

Posts Comments

Looking Back Part 3, The Invasion

December 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment
BAKWA, AFGHANISTAN - MARCH 26: U.S. Marine Sg...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The invasion of Iraq really began in 2002 when an invasion team of CIA agents infiltrated the country to prepare for traditional troops. The purpose of these operatives was to persuade various military groups within Iraq to surrender and not resist the American troops. One important skirmish was against Ansar al-Islam, which led to finding chemical weapons in Sargat.

The real invasion began on March 20, 2003. Other countries besides the U.S. helped with the invasion and included 248,000 soldiers from the U.S., 45,000 soldiers from Britain, 2,000 soldiers from Australia, and 194 special forces soldiers from Poland, as well as about 70,000 soldiers from Iraqi Kurdish militia troops.

The objectives of the war were as follows:

• End Hussein’s regime
• Destroy an weapons of mass destruction found
• Eliminate Islamist militants
• Gather intelligence about any militant networks
• Distribute aid
• Secure the infrastructure for Iraq’s petroleum
• Create a democratic government that uses representatives

One of the first early successes of the war was on April 9 when the city of Baghdad (Iraq’s capital) fell and a statue of Hussein was torn down. Finally, after 24 years of ruling, Hussein’s empire was ended. Many citizens were grateful the end of this tyranny, but without a firm leader to take over and lead the country, there were riots and looting and increased crime.

After this initial victory, President Bush declared in a speech in San Diego that the war was essentially won. Hussein was still at large and there were pockets of resistance, but overall, he believed the war to be won.

Then religious radicals and other Iraqi citizens joined in the resistance. They were angered because of the invasion and having U.S. troops on their land. Most of the resistance came in the form of guerrilla tactics — suicide bombings, snipers, IEDs, car bombs, missiles, RPGs, and more.

During this time, a post-invasion Iraq coalition was formed in an effort to establish a new form of government that used democratic ideals. The United Nations helped in establishing this government as well.

More to come . . .

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Educational Reference, Media Workers, News, War Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Looking Back Part 4, War Continues

December 8, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Downtown Fallujah, December 2003
Image via Wikipedia

The summer of 2003 was spent trying to uncover leads of Hussein’s regime. On July 22, Hussein’s sons were found and killed by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division as well as soldiers from Task Force 20. In total, over 300 of the top leaders from Hussein’s regime were captured or killed.

Then on December 13, 2003, finally the leader of the regime, Saddam Hussein himself was found and captured. His hideout was on a farm near Tikrit. His hiding place was leaked by members of Hussein’s family members and his former bodyguards.

The beginning of 2004 led to insurgency groups picking a new target: the Iraqi Security Forces, a group of Iraqis who were created to police the country. Hundreds of these police officers, as well as Iraqi civilians, were killed using a series of bombings.

On March 31, 2004, insurgents ambushed some private military contractors in Fallujah who were protecting caterers. These U.S. contractors were killed and their bodies set on fire and hung over a bridge that crosses over the Euphrates River. As a response, the U.S. started a battle called the First Battle of Fallujah in April 2004 to try and pacify the city. The effort was unsuccessful.

In November 2004, a second battle began lasting 46 days. This battle was won by the multinational group of soldiers, but resulted in the loss of 95 U.S. soldiers as well as 1,350 insurgents. Luckily civilian casualties were low because most of them had abandoned the city before the second battle began.

With Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech given in May 2003, many would have thought that the war would have been over by the end of 2004, especially since the provisional government set up to run Iraq was signed over to Iraqi’s Interim Government on June 28, 2004. But with the insurgents continuing to fight and with the government so unstable, Bush’s administration most likely felt that pulling out now would likely cause more problems than it would help. So the fighting continued as the rebuilding effort of the cities and government began.

Stay tuned . . .

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Educational Reference, Media Workers, News, War Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Looking Back Part 7, Transitioning

October 9, 2010 by Leave a Comment
BABIL PROVINCE, IRAQ - JANUARY 25: An Iraqi el...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

In March 2008, Pentagon reported that violence in Iraq had been reduced by as much as 80 percent, but assessments by independent sources felt that number was inaccurate. Supposedly, there had only been 265 deaths since the “Surge” plan began 28 days previously, and yet the New York Times estimated that at least 450 civilians in Iraq had been killed in that same time period (and their estimates were typically lower that the actual number by as much as 50 percent).

Violence continued to die down throughout 2008, but it was found that this was not so much due to U.S. troops. In the years of 2006 and 2007, there were mini-battles going on in Baghdad for control of the city between the Shia and Sunni. The Shia basically kicked the Sunni out of the city and if any of them tried to come back to reclaim their homes, they were assassinated. Once that pretty much ended and the Shia were in control of the city, violence died down, with no involvement from the U.S. military.

On February 21, 2008, troops from Turkey entered Iraq soil, in the Quandeel Mountains region, to fight the PKK, a group that is fighting Turkey to become free and sovereign from Turkey and create their own country called Kurdistan. The Iraqi cabinet, as well as the Kurdistan regional government, called for the troops to withdraw immediately from the area. The Turkish troops withdrew only eight days after they entered the area.

The year of 2008 saw much of the control held by the U.S. being transferred to Iraq’s police and military. In the spring, the Iraqi military launched an offense against Shia militias that needed to be shut down. First began an operation against the Mehdi Army in Basra during the month of March. By October, that area was said to be secure. In May, the Iraqi army, which was supported by the coalition (that included soldiers from all nations involved to help), launched a fight in Mosul — the last major location of al-Qaeda within Iraq.

More to come as we look back.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Educational Reference, Media Workers, News, War Tagged With: , , , , , , ,