For fighting between insurgent groups, see Civil war in Iraq.

Qusay Hussein (K.I.A.) Uday Hussein (K.I.A.) Tariq Aziz

Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri Abu Omar al-Baghdadi (K.I.A.) Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (K.I.A.) Abu Ayyub al-Masri (K.I.A.) Muqtada al-Sadr Abu Deraa Ishmael Jubouri Abu Abdullah al-Shafi'i (P.O.W.)

Murat Karayilan

Contractors ~161,000 (85,000 Iraqi, 45,500 Other, 27,400 US) Awakening militias ~94,000

Total: 1,344,970+

Turkish Armed Forces: ~3,000-10,000

Sunni Insurgents ~70,000 (as of 9/07) Mahdi Army ~60,000 al Qaeda/others 1,300+

Total: 131,300+

PKK: ~4,000

Coalition Forces Killed: 4,708 (4,390 US, 179 UK, 139 other) Missing or captured (US): 2 Wounded: 31,716 US, 315 UK Injured/diseased/other medical:** 47,541 US, 3,598 UK

Contractors Killed: 1,323 (US 244) Missing or captured: 16 (US 5) Wounded & injured: 10,569

Awakening Councils Killed:760+

Turkish Armed Forces: 27 killed (Turkish claim) 125 (PKK claim)

Insurgents (post-Saddam): ~55,000

Detainees: 8,300 (U.S.-held) 24,200 (Iraqi-held)

PKK: 537 killed (Turkish Claim), 9 killed (PKK Claim), 230 (official army figures claim)

Total excess deaths, (Lancet) – December 2009: 1,366,350*** (highest estimate)

For more information see: Casualties of the Iraq War

The Iraq War, also known as the Occupation of Iraq, The Second Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom, or Operation New Dawn is an ongoing military campaign which began on March 20, 2003, with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom.

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. The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) found no evidence of WMD, but could not verify the accuracy of Iraq's weapon declarations. Lead weapons inspector Hans Blix advised the UN Security Council that while Iraq was cooperating in terms of access, Iraq's declarations with regards to WMD still could not be verified.

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. Although some degraded remnants of misplaced or abandoned chemical weapons from before 1991 were found, they were not the weapons which had been the main argument to justify the invasion. Some US officials also accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, but no evidence of a meaningful connection was ever found. Other proclaimed 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.

The invasion of Iraq led to an occupation and the eventual capture of President Hussein, 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 October 2006, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Iraqi government estimated that more than 365,000 Iraqis had been displaced since the 2006 bombing of the al-Askari Mosque, bringing the total number of Iraqi refugees to more than 1.6 million. By 2008, the UNHCR raised the estimate of refugees to a total of about 4.7 million (~16% of the population). The number of refugees estimated abroad was 2 million (a number close to CIA projections) and the number of internally displaced people was 2.7 million. In 2007, Iraq's anti-corruption board reported that 35% of Iraqi children, or about five million children, were orphans. The Red Cross stated in March 2008 that Iraq's humanitarian situation remained among the most critical in the world, with millions of Iraqis forced to rely on insufficient and poor-quality water sources.

In June 2008, U.S. 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 U.S. and Iraqi governments approved a Status of Forces Agreement effective through January 1, 2012. The Iraqi Parliament also ratified a Strategic Framework Agreement with the U.S., aimed at ensuring cooperation in constitutional rights, threat deterrence, education, energy development, and other areas.

In late February 2009, new 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". General Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said he believes all U.S. troops will be out of the country by the end of 2011, while UK forces ended combat operations on April 30, 2009. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said he supports the accelerated pullout of US forces.