CVMA STYLE VETERAN EMBROIDERED PATCH

OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF)

IRAQ

1" X 3 1/2" EMBROIDERED PATCH - Merrowed Edge, Wax Backing

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IRAQ VETERAN

  

IRAQ

The Iraq War was an armed conflict in Iraq that  consisted of two phases. The first was an invasion of Iraq starting on 20  March 2003 by an invasion force led by the United States. It was followed by  a longer phase of fighting, in which an insurgency emerged to oppose the  occupying forces and the newly formed Iraqi government. Roughly 96.5 percent  of the casualties suffered by the U.S.-led coalition were suffered during  the second phase, rather than the initial invasion. The U.S. completed its  withdrawal of military personnel in December 2011, during the ninth year of  the war. However, the insurgency is ongoing and continues to cause thousands  of fatalities. Throughout the armed conflict, the United States never  formally declared war on Iraq, making the war a military action.

Prior to the war, the  governments of the United States and the United Kingdom claimed that Iraq's  alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed a threat to  their security and that of their coalition/regional allies. In 2002, the  United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1441 which called for Iraq  to completely cooperate with UN weapon inspectors to verify that Iraq was  not in possession of WMD and cruise missiles. Prior to the attack, the  United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC)  found no evidence of WMD, but could not yet verify the accuracy of Iraq's  declarations regarding what weapons it possessed, as their work was still  unfinished. The leader of the inspectors, Hans Blix, estimated the time  remaining for disarmament being verified through inspections to be "months".

After investigation  following the invasion, the U.S.-led Iraq Survey Group concluded that Iraq  had ended its nuclear, chemical and biological programs in 1991 and had no  active programs at the time of the invasion, but that they intended to  resume production if the Iraq sanctions were lifted. Only degraded remnants  of misplaced and abandoned chemical weapons were found. Paul R. Pillar, the  CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East from 2000  to 2005, said "If prewar intelligence assessments had said the same things  as the Duelfer report, the administration would have had to change a few  lines in its rhetoric and maybe would have lost a few member's votes in  Congress, but otherwise the sales campaign—which was much more about  Saddam's intentions and what he "could" do than about extant weapons  systems—would have been unchanged. The administration still would have  gotten its war." Even Dick Cheney later cited the actual Duelfer report as  support for the administration's pro-war case. George J. Tenet, the former  director of central intelligence, stated Vice President Cheney and other  George W. Bush administration officials pushed the country to war in Iraq  without ever conducting a "serious debate" about whether Saddam Hussein  posed an imminent threat to the United States.

Some U.S. officials also  accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda,  but no evidence of a meaningful connection was ever found. Other stated  reasons for the invasion included Iraq's financial support for the families  of Palestinian suicide bombers, Iraqi government human rights abuses, and an  effort to spread democracy to the country.

On 16 March 2003, the U.S.  government advised the U.N. inspectors to leave their unfinished work and  exit from Iraq. On 20 March the American-led coalition conducted a surprise  military invasion of Iraq without declaring war. The invasion led to an  occupation and the eventual capture of Saddam, who was later tried in an  Iraqi court of law and executed by the new Iraqi government. Violence  against coalition forces and among various sectarian groups soon led to the  Iraqi insurgency, strife between many Sunni and Shia Iraqi groups, and the  emergence of a new faction of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

In June 2008, US  Department of Defense officials claimed security and economic indicators  began to show signs of improvement in what they hailed as significant and  fragile gains. Iraq was fifth on the 2008 Failed States Index, and sixth on  the 2009 list. As public opinion favoring troop withdrawals increased and as  Iraqi forces began to take responsibility for security, member nations of  the Coalition withdrew their forces. In late 2008, the American and Iraqi  governments approved a Status of Forces Agreement effective through 1  January 2012. The Iraqi Parliament also ratified a Strategic Framework  Agreement with the United States, aimed at ensuring cooperation in  constitutional rights, threat deterrence, education, energy development, and  other areas.

In late February 2009, newly elected U.S.  President Barack Obama announced an 18-month withdrawal window for combat  forces, with approximately 50,000 troops remaining in the country "to advise  and train Iraqi security forces and to provide intelligence and  surveillance". UK forces ended combat operations on 30 April 2009. Iraqi  Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he supported the accelerated pullout of  U.S. forces. In a speech at the Oval Office on 31 August 2010 Obama declared  "the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is  over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of  their country." Beginning 1 September 2010, the American operational name  for its involvement in Iraq changed from "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to  "Operation New Dawn". The remaining 50,000 U.S. troops were designated as  "advise and assist brigades" assigned to non-combat operations while  retaining the ability to revert to combat operations as necessary. Two  combat aviation brigades also remain in Iraq. In September 2010, the  Associated Press issued an internal memo reminding its reporters that  "combat in Iraq is not over", and "U.S. troops remain involved in combat  operations alongside Iraqi forces, although U.S. officials say the American  combat mission has formally ended".

On 21 October 2011,  President Obama announced that all U.S. troops and trainers would leave Iraq  by the end of the year, bringing the U.S. mission in Iraq to an end. On 15  December 2011, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta officially declared the  Iraq War over, at a flag lowering ceremony in Baghdad. The last U.S. troops  left Iraqi territory on 18 December 2011 at 4:27 UTC. A total of 4,486 U.S.  troops were killed in Iraq between 2003 and 2012.

Since the U.S. military's  withdrawal, significant violence has continued in Iraq. The Shia-dominated  administration of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki moved to arrest important  Sunni political leaders prior to and following the U.S. withdrawal, and  Sunni militant groups stepped up attacks targeting the country's majority  Shia population, undermining confidence in the Shia-led government. As of  mid-June 2014 the internationally-recognized government of Iraq is reported  to have lost control of large areas of the country's north including the  provincial capitals of Mosul and Tikrit. Large scale warfare between the  supporters of the Shia led government and Sunni militants composed of Ba'ath  loyalists and ISIS is underway. As of 17 June 2014 ISIS or ISIL has taken  control of Iraq's second largest city. They have posted videos on line of  them massacring hundreds of civilians and soldiers.

The invasion

The first Central  Intelligence Agency invasion team entered Iraq on 10 July 2002. This team  was composed of members of the CIA's Special Activities Division and was  later joined by members of the US military's elite Joint Special Operations  Command (JSOC). Together, they prepared for the invasion of conventional  forces. These efforts consisted of persuading the commanders of several  Iraqi military divisions to surrender rather than oppose the invasion, and  to identify all of the initial leadership targets during very high risk  reconnaissance missions.

Most importantly, their  efforts organized the Kurdish Peshmerga to become the northern front of the  invasion. Together this force defeated Ansar al-Islam in Iraqi Kurdistan  before the invasion and then defeated the Iraqi army in the north. The  battle against Ansar al-Islam led to the death of a substantial number of  militants and the uncovering of a chemical weapons facility at Sargat.

At 5:34 a.m. Baghdad time  on 20 March 2003 (9:34 p.m., 19 March EST) the surprise military invasion of  Iraq began. There was no declaration of war. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, led  by US Army General Tommy Franks, began under the codename "Operation Iraqi  Liberation",later renamed "Operation Iraqi Freedom", the UK codename  Operation Telic, and the Australian codename Operation Falconer. Coalition  forces also cooperated with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the north.  Approximately forty other governments, the "US-led coalition against Iraq,"  participated by providing troops, equipment, services, security, and special  forces, with 248,000 soldiers from the United States, 45,000 British  soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers and 194 Polish soldiers from Special  Forces unit GROM sent to Kuwait for the invasion. The invasion force was  also supported by Iraqi Kurdish militia troops, estimated to number upwards  of 70,000.

According to General Tommy Franks, the objectives  of the invasion were, "First, end the regime of Saddam Hussein. Second, to  identify, isolate and eliminate Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Third,  to search for, to capture and to drive out terrorists from that country.  Fourth, to collect such intelligence as we can related to terrorist  networks. Fifth, to collect such intelligence as we can related to the  global network of illicit weapons of mass destruction. Sixth, to end  sanctions and to immediately deliver humanitarian support to the displaced  and to many needy Iraqi citizens. Seventh, to secure Iraq’s oil fields and  resources, which belong to the Iraqi people. And last, to help the Iraqi  people create conditions for a transition to a representative  self-government."

The invasion was a quick and decisive operation  encountering major resistance, though not what the US, British and other  forces expected. The Iraqi regime had prepared to fight both a conventional  and irregular war at the same time, conceding territory when faced with  superior conventional forces, largely armored, but launching smaller scale  attacks in the rear using fighters dressed in civilian and paramilitary  clothes. Since the initiation of the war in Iraq, numerous programs were  created to "enhance psychological resilience and prevent psychological  morbidity in troops."

Coalition troops launched air and amphibious  assault on the Al-Faw peninsula to secure the oil fields there and the  important ports, supported by warships of the Royal Navy, Polish Navy, and  Royal Australian Navy. The United States Marine Corps' 15th Marine  Expeditionary Unit, attached to 3 Commando Brigade and the Polish Special  Forces unit GROM attacked the port of Umm Qasr, while the British Army's 16  Air Assault Brigade secured the oil fields in southern Iraq.

The heavy armor of the US 3rd Infantry Division  moved westward and then northward through the western desert toward Baghdad,  while the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force moved more easterly along Highway 1  through the center of the country, and 1 (UK) Armoured Division moved  northward through the eastern marshland. The US 1st Marine Division fought  through Nasiriyah in a battle to seize the major road junction and nearby  Talil Airfield. The United States Army 3rd Infantry Division defeated Iraqi  forces entrenched in and around the airfield.

With the Nasiriyah and  Talil Airfields secured in its rear, the 3rd Infantry Division supported by  101st Airborne Division continued its attack north toward Najaf and Karbala,  but a severe sand storm slowed the coalition advance and there was a halt to  consolidate and make sure the supply lines were secure. When they started  again they secured the Karbala Gap, a key approach to Baghdad, then secured  the bridges over the Euphrates River, and the American forces poured through  the gap on to Baghdad. In the middle of Iraq, the 1st Marine Division fought  its way to the eastern side of Baghdad, and prepared for the attack into  Badhdad to seize it.

In the north, OIF-1 used the largest special  operations force since the successful attack on the Taliban government of  Afghanistan just over a year earlier.

On April 9, Baghdad fell,  ending Saddam's 24-year rule. US forces seized the deserted Ba'ath Party  ministries and stage-managed the tearing down of a huge iron statue of  Saddam, photos and video of which became symbolic of the event, although  later controversial. Not seen in the photos or heard on the videos, shot  with a zoom lens, was the chant of the inflamed crowd for Muqtada al-Sadr,  the radical Shiite cleric. In November 2008, Iraqi protesters staged a  similar stomping on and burning of an effigy of George W. Bush. The abrupt  fall of Baghdad was accompanied by a widespread outpouring of gratitude  toward the invaders, but also massive civil disorder, including the looting  of public and government buildings and drastically increased crime.

According to the Pentagon,  250,000 short tons (230,000 t) (of 650,000 short tons (590,000 t) total) of  ordnance was looted, providing a significant source of ammunition for the  Iraqi insurgency. The invasion phase concluded when Tikrit, Saddam's home  town, fell with little resistance to the US Marines of Task Force Tripoli.

In the invasion phase of  the war (19 March–April 30), an estimated 9,200 Iraqi combatants were killed  by coalition forces along with an estimated 3,750 non-combatants, i.e.  civilians who did not take up arms. Coalition forces reported the death in  combat of 139 US military personnel and 33 UK military personnel.

Post-invasion phase

On 1 May 2003, President Bush staged a dramatic  visit to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln operating a few miles west  of San Diego, California. 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 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". The initial Iraqi insurgents  were supplied by hundreds of weapons caches created before the invasion by  the Iraqi army and Republican Guard.

Initially, Iraqi  resistance (described by the coalition as "Anti-Iraqi Forces") largely  stemmed from fedayeen and Saddam/Ba'ath 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 as of 5 December 2006, were responsible for 73% of U.S.  military deaths and an even higher percentage of recent U.S. military deaths  (about 80%.)

Post-invasion Iraq  coalition efforts commenced after the fall of Saddam's regime. The coalition  nations, together with the United Nations, began to work to establish a  stable, compliant democratic state capable of defending itself from  non-coalition forces, as well as overcoming 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 surrounded by barbed wire and carefully monitored.

Coalition Provisional  Authority and the 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, which has resulted in  the debellatio of Iraq, the multinational coalition created the Coalition  Provisional Authority (CPA; Arabic: ???? ???????? ????????), 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 21 April 2003, until its  dissolution on 28 June 2004.

The CPA was originally  headed by Jay Garner, a former US military officer, but his appointment  lasted only until 11 May 2003, when President Bush appointed L. Paul Bremer.  Bremer served until the CPA's dissolution in July 2004.

Another group created by  the multinational force in Iraq post-invasion was the 1,400-member  international Iraq Survey Group who conducted a fact-finding mission to find  Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programmes. In 2004 the ISG's  Duelfer Report stated that Iraq did not have a viable WMD program.

2007: U.S. troops surge

Further information: 2007  in Iraq, Iraq War troop surge of 2007, Timeline of the Iraq War troop surge  of 2007 and Strategic reset

In a 10 January 2007, televised address to the US  public, Bush proposed 21,500 more troops for Iraq, a job program for Iraqis,  more reconstruction proposals, and $1.2 billion for these programs. On 23  January 2007, in the 2007 State of the Union Address, Bush announced  "deploying reinforcements of more than 20,000 additional soldiers and  Marines to Iraq".

On 10 February 2007, David Petraeus was made  commander of Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I), the four-star post that  oversees all coalition forces in country, replacing General George Casey. In  his new position, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq and employed  them in the new "Surge" strategy outlined by the Bush administration. 2007  also saw a sharp increase in insurgent chlorine bombings.

On 10 May 2007, 144 Iraqi  Parliamentary lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the  United States to set a timetable for withdrawal. On 3 June 2007, the Iraqi  Parliament voted 85 to 59 to require the Iraqi government to consult with  Parliament before requesting additional extensions of the UN Security  Council Mandate for Coalition operations in Iraq. Despite this, the mandate  was renewed on 18 December 2007, without the approval of the Iraqi  parliament.

Pressures on US troops were compounded by the  continuing withdrawal of coalition forces. In early 2007, British Prime  Minister Blair announced that following Operation Sinbad British troops  would begin to withdraw from Basra Governorate, handing security over to the  Iraqis. In July Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also announced  the withdrawal of 441 Danish troops from Iraq, leaving only a unit of nine  soldiers manning four observational helicopters.

beyond 2011, where  they would not be granted any immunity from the Iraqi government, on 21  October 2011, President Obama announced at a White House press conference  that all remaining U.S. troops and trainers would leave Iraq by the end of  the year as previously scheduled, bringing the U.S. mission in Iraq to an  end. The last American soldier to die in Iraq before the withdrawal was  killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on 14 November.

In November 2011, the U.S.  Senate voted down a resolution to formally end the war by bringing its  authorization by Congress to an end.

The last U.S. troops  withdrew from Iraq on 18 December, although the US embassy and consulates  continues to maintain a staff of more than 20,000 including US Marine  Embassy Guards and between 4,000 and 5,000 private military contractors. The  next day, Iraqi officials issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni  Vice-President Tareq Al-Hashemi. He has been accused of involvement in  assassinations and fled to the Kurdish part of Iraq.