The US-Iraq War began with the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 over Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found. The invasion led to an insurgency and sectarian violence. US forces captured Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003 but violence continued. US troops withdrew from Iraq in 2011 after nearly 9 years of war that resulted in over 150,000 civilian deaths.

1. THE US-IRAQ WAR
20 March 2003 – 18 December 2011
(8 years, 8 months and 3 weeks)

2. The Iraq War was a conflict triggered by an invasion
of Iraq by the United States and the United Kingdom
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 regional allies
In 2002, the United Nations Security Council passed
Resolution which called for Iraq to completely cooperate
with UN weapon inspectors to verify that Iraq was not in
possession of WMD and cruise missiles

3. 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.
A UN weapons inspector in Iraq.

4. On March 16, 2003, the U.S. government advised the
U.N. inspectors to leave their unfinished work and exit from
Iraq
On March 20 the U.S conducted a military invasion of Iraq
without declaring war
The invasion 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

5. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
Yellowcake uranium
Before the Gulf War, in 1990, Iraq had stockpiled 550 short
tons (500 t) of yellowcake uranium at the Tuwaitha nuclear
complex

6. In late February 2002, the CIA sent former
Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson to investigate reports (later
found to be forgeries) that Iraq was attempting to
purchase additional yellowcake from Niger.
In the January 2003, State of the
Union address, in which President
Bush declared that Iraq had sought
uranium, citing British intelligence
sources

7. IRAQ WAR PREPARATIONS
Before the war during 2002 US aircraft were patrolling the no-
fly zone of Iraq and by August 2002 become an full air offensive
it was designed to degrade the Iraqi air defense system
It was found that Iraq had the means of attacking US with
biological or chemical weapon
Bush was allegedly floating the idea of painting a U-2 spyplane
in UN colors and letting it fly low over Iraq to provoke Iraqi
forces into shooting it down, thereby providing a pretext for the
United States and Britain to invade.

8. PROTESTS AGAINST THE IRAQ WAR
Beginning in 2002, and continuing after the 2003 invasion
of Iraq, large-scale protests against the Iraq War were
held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur
simultaneously around the world
In some Arab countries demonstrations were organized by
the state. Europe saw the biggest mobilization of protesters,
including a rally of three million people in Rome

9. Signs outside Brooklyn
The February 15, 2003 anti-war protest in
London

11. OPERATION RED DAWN
Operation Red Dawn was the U.S. military operation
conducted on 13 December 2003 in the town of ad-Dawr,
Iraq that captured Iraq President Saddam Hussein

12. Operation Red Dawn was launched after gaining actionable
intelligence identifying two likely locations of Saddam
The Forces involved in the operation consisted of
approximately 600 soldiers including cavalry, artillery,
aviation, engineer and special operations forces. The forces
cleared the two objectives but initially did not find the
target.
An additional suspicious site was identified and searched.
The area was a small, walled, mud hut compound with a
metal lean-to structure. Within the structure a "spider hole"
entrance, camouflaged with bricks and dirt was located. The
hole was about 6-8 feet deep with space allowing an
individual to lie down.

13. Saddam Hussein was found hiding at the bottom of the hole. He
was captured without resistance.
Items confiscated during the raid include two AK-47 rifles, a
pistol, $750,000.00 U.S. dollars and one white/orange taxi.

14. 2004: Insurgency expands
The start of 2004 was marked by a relative lull in violence.
Insurgent forces reorganized during this time, studying the
multinational forces' tactics and planning a renewed offensive.
However, violence did increase during the Iraq Spring Fighting
of 2004 with foreign fighters from around the Middle East as
well as al-Qaeda in Iraq

15. The most serious fighting of the war so far began on March 31, 2004,
when Iraqi rebellion in Fallujah ambushed a Blackwater USA convoy led by
four U.S. private military contractors who were providing security for food
caterers
The four armed contractors, were killed with grenades and small arms fire.
Subsequently, their bodies were dragged from their vehicles by local people,
and beaten and set ablaze
Photos of the event were released to news agencies worldwide, causing a
great deal of indignation and moral outrage in the United States, and
prompting an unsuccessful "pacification" of the city: the First Battle of
Fallujah in April 2004.

16. Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq
On 27 February 2009 in North Carolina, President Barack Obama
announced a deadline for the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq.
According to the president, by 31 August 2010, after nearly seven and
a half years of United States military engagement in Iraq, all but a
"transitional force" of 35,000 to 50,000 troops would be withdrawn
from the Middle Eastern nation
On 19 August 2010, the Stryker Brigade, was the last US combat
brigade to withdraw from Iraq. About 50,000 US troops will remain
in the country in an advisory capacity.
According to the US, they'll help to train Iraqi forces in a new mission
dubbed by the US as "Operation New Dawn," which will run until the
end of 2011

17. Last U.S. convoy crosses the border
from Iraq into Kuwait on December
18, 2011
U.S. and Kuwaiti
troops closing the gate
between Kuwait and
Iraq on December 18,
2011.

18. IRAQ WAR LOGS
The Iraq War documents leak is the WikiLeaks disclosure of
a collection of 3 lakh U.S Army field reports, also called the
Iraq War Logs, of the Iraq War from 2004 to 2009 to
several international media organizations and published on
the Internet by WikiLeaks on 22 October 2010
The leak resulted in the Iraq Body Count project adding
15,000 civilian deaths to their count, bringing their total to
over 150,000, with roughly 80% of those civilians
Wikileaks made the documents available to a number of
media organisations The Guardian, The New York Times, Al
Jazeera, he Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and the Iraq
Body Count project.

19. POPULAR CULTURE
Movies which are based on Iraq wars are
The A team
Body of lies
The hurt locker
The Men Who Stare at Goats

20. CASUALTIES AND LOSSES
Killed: 4,805 U.S Journalists 1,976
Wounded: 32,753+ NGOs 732
CIVILIAN DEATH-1,18,917+
Source- http://www.iraqbodycount.org/