2003 invasion of Iraq facts for kids

Quick facts for kids

2003 invasion of Iraq

Part of the Iraq War

From left to right: Marines of the U.S. 1st Marine Regiment escort Iraqi prisoners of war; a convoy of U.S. military vehicles in a sandstorm; U.S. soldiers watch an enemy building in Baghdad burn; Iraqi civilians cheer as a statue of Saddam Hussein is toppled.

Date

20 March – 1 May 2003
(1 month, 1 week and 4 days)

Location

Iraq

Result

Coalition operational success

Iraqi Ba'athist government deposed
Occupation of Iraq until 2011
New Iraqi government established
Beginning of the Iraq War

Belligerents

Coalition forces:
United States
United Kingdom
Australia
Poland

With military support from:
Iraqi National Congress
Peshmerga

Iraq

Arab volunteers

MEK (until ceasefire in 2003)

Ansar al-Islam

Commanders and leaders

George W. Bush
Dick Cheney
Donald Rumsfeld
Tommy Franks
Tony Blair
Brian Burridge
John Howard
Peter Cosgrove
Aleksander Kwaśniewski

Masoud Barzani

Babakir Zebari

Jalal Talabani

Kosrat Rasul Ali
Ahmed Chalabi

Saddam Hussein

Qusay Hussein

Uday Hussein

Abid Hamid Mahmud

Ali Hassan al-Majid

Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri

Ra'ad al-Hamdani

Taha Yassin Ramadan

Tariq Aziz

Muqtada AlSadr

Strength

United States: 466,985 personnel
United Kingdom: 45,000 troops

Australia: 2,000 troops
Poland: 194 Special Forces

Peshmerga: 70,000

Iraqi National Congress: 620

Iraqi Armed Forces: 538,000 active
650,000 reserves
2,000 tanks
3,700 APCs and IFVs
2,300 artillery pieces
300 combat aircraft
Special Iraqi Republican Guard: 12,000
Iraqi Republican Guard: 70,000–75,000
Fedayeen Saddam: 30,000
Arab volunteers: 6,000

Shia Al Mahdi Army: 1600–2800

Casualties and losses

Coalition: 214 killed
606 wounded (U.S.)
Peshmerga:
24+ killed

Total:
238 dead, 1,000+ wounded

Estimated Iraqi combatant fatalities: 30,000 (figure attributed to General Tommy Franks)

7,600–11,000 (4,895–6,370 observed and reported) (Project on Defense Alternatives study)

13,500–45,000 (extrapolated from fatality rates in units serving around Baghdad)
Total: 7,600–8,000 killed

Estimated Iraqi civilian fatalities:
7,269 (Iraq Body Count)

3,200–4,300 (Project on Defense Alternatives study)

The famous statue of Saddam Hussein being knocked down by US forces

The 2003 invasion of Iraq (March 20, 2003 - May 1, 2003) was the war fought by the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and some other countries against Iraq, to end the rule of Saddam Hussein. The main reason that the war started was because the British and American Governments believed that Iraq had dangerous weapons of mass destruction (such as chemical or nuclear weapons) that could be used against other countries. This turned out after the invasion to not be true.

Another reason for the start of the war was that many people thought that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the leaders of al-Qaeda, was hiding in Iraq after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Though Saddam Hussein was not involved in the planning of the September 11 attacks, many people accused him of giving al-Qaeda a safe place to hide from the United States. The war was extremely controversial and led to a lot of negative feeling towards British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the American President, George W. Bush.

4,734 Nato soldiers were killed in Iraq war including 4,416 U.S. servicemen, 179 UK servicemen and 139 Other NATO soldiers. 31,882 U.S. servicemen and over 3,600 UK servicemen were wounded in Iraq. More than 100,000 Iraqi civilians who were not soldiers were also killed.

Images for kids

Gen. Anthony C. Zinni briefs reporters at The Pentagon following Operation Desert Fox, 21 December 1998
A UN weapons inspector in Iraq, 2002.
Two US F-16 Fighting Falcons prepare to depart Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia for a patrol as part of Operation Southern Watch, 2000.
George W. Bush addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations on 12 September 2002 to outline the complaints of the United States government against the Iraqi government.
From left: French President Jacques Chirac, US President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi at the G8 Summit at Evian, France. Chirac opposed the invasion; the other three leaders supported it.
Anti war protest in London, 2002
60,000–200,000 protesters of various ages demonstrated in San Francisco, 15 February 2003
José Manuel Durão Barroso, Tony Blair, George W. Bush and José María Aznar on 16 March 2003
U.S. President George W. Bush meets with his top advisors on 19 March 2003 just before the invasion
Colin Powell holding a model vial of anthrax while giving presentation to the United Nations Security Council on 5 February 2003 (still photograph captured from video clip, The White House/CNN)
President George Bush, surrounded by leaders of the House and Senate, announces the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, 2 October 2002.
President George W. Bush addresses the nation from the Oval Office, 19 March 2003, to announce the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Tony Blair (left) and George W. Bush at Camp David in March 2003, during the build-up to the invasion of Iraq
Kurdish areas in Northern Iraq
US Marine M1A1 tank is off-loaded from a US Navy LCAC in Kuwait in February 2003
T-72 Lion of Babylon (Asad Babil)
US invasion: 20–28 March 2003
US invasion: 29 March – 7 April 2003
Routes and major battles fought by invasion force and afterwards
Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2) mission briefing aboard Constellation (CV-64), 21 March 2003.
Wingtip vortices are visible trailing from an F-15E as it disengages from midair refueling with a KC-10 during Operation Iraqi Freedom
NASA Landsat 7 image of Baghdad, 2 April 2003. The dark streaks are smoke from oil well fires set in an attempt to hinder attacking air forces
A U.S. amphibious fighting vehicle destroyed near Nasiriyah
A U.S. soldier stands guard duty near a burning oil well in the Rumaila oil field, 2 April 2003
Destroyed Iraqi T-72 tank on Highway 9 outside Najaf
British soldiers engage Iraqi Army positions with their 81mm Mortars south of Basra, 26 March 2003.
A Lion of Babylon tank abandoned after facing the final US thrust into Baghdad
The northern front during March and April 2003
Aftermath of Battle
Peshmerga, U.S. Special Operations
The destroyed remains of Iraqi tanks and other armored vehicles litter an Iraqi military complex west of Diwaniyah
A combat camera video shows the 1 April 2003 footage of PFC Jessica Lynch on a stretcher during her rescue from Iraq.
A T72 Asad Babil abandoned after facing the final U.S. thrust into Baghdad
U.S. Army M1A1 Abrams tanks and their crews pose for a photo in front of the "Victory Arch" monument at Baghdad's Ceremony Square in November 2003.
An American M1 Abrams tank destroyed in Baghdad
Marines from 1st Battalion 7th Marines enter a palace during the Battle of Baghdad
USS Abraham Lincoln returning to port carrying its Mission Accomplished banner
Members of the RAN Clearance Diving Team Three and an Australian Army LCM-8 inspecting camouflaged mines, 21 March 2003.
Polish GROM troops pose immediately after the port's capture during the Battle of Umm Qasr.
Aircraft of the USAF 379th Air Expeditionary Wing and UK and Australian counterparts stationed together at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, in southwest Asia, fly over the desert on 14 April 2003. Aircraft include KC-135 Stratotanker, F-15E Strike Eagle, F-117 Nighthawk, F-16CJ Falcon, British GR-4 Tornado, and Australian F/A-18 Hornet
Poland was part of the "coalition of the willing"

2003 invasion of Iraq facts for kids

Images for kids

See also