Operation Iraqi Freedom

2003 Iraq War (3/20/2003-) is presently the largest war operation in the world, started when U.S. president George W Bush launched a combat operation against Iraq, with the stated goal of deposing dictator Saddam Hussein, finding Weapons of Mass Destruction and liberating the Iraqi people. Currently the outcome of the war is unknown, and there exists a large debate over topics such as withdrawal of American forces and the role of nations in the region. The Bush administration champions the war as part of the larger U.S. led War on Terrorism, although the topic is up for debate. The Administration has been widely criticized for numerous strategic blunders in the execution of the war, including the failure to have a post-invasion plan.

Iraqi Resistance

Iraqi resistance to the occupation began almost immediately after the invasion in March 2003, and has steadily increased since then. A secret British Ministry of Defence poll conducted in late 2005 found that 82 percent of Iraqis were "strongly opposed" to the presence of Coalition soldiers in Iraq[1]. The same poll found support for Iraqi rebels at 45%, rising to 65% in Maysan province. A poll commissioned by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes in the autumn of 2006 found that Iraqi support for anti-Coalition violence had risen to 61%[2]. Similarly, a U.S. State Department poll conducted in 2006 found that "two-thirds of Iraqis in Baghdad favor an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops".[3]

Iraqi Casualties

On-the-ground academic research in Iraq has determined that approximately 600,000 more Iraqis have died since March 2003 than would have otherwise died in that time frame if the war was not raging[4]. Pro-occupation proponents dispute the numbers, but few statisticians do, as the methodology is largely sound.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have fled to neighboring Jordan and Syria since the 2003 invasion.[5]

Weapons of Mass Destruction

The weapons of mass destruction the Administration repeatedly asserted were present in the period before the war still have not been found. Apologists for the Bush Administration insist they were smuggled out of the country, possibly to Syria. Critics of the Administration insist Saddam Hussein had the country's stockpiles destroyed after the First Gulf War, and that Iraq was at least a decade away from producing more.