Top 10 Facts about Iraq / Afghanistan wars

the Iraqis at Salahedin camp, near Tikrit, Iraq photo by Unknown author-Wikimedia

Top 10 Facts about Iraq / Afghanistan wars

Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack, the United Nations launched the war in Afghanistan.

The Invasion of Iraq by the United State was aimed to overthrow the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein.

The Afghanistan war came like a thunderstorm to the residents of the land and at least 929,000 civilians were killed at the onset of the war.

There is no war that doesn’t come without a wave of dire consequences and, the Afghanistan war witnessed millions of lives withering and many more displaced leaving behind innocent individuals caught between powers fighting for control.

Here are the top 10 facts about Iraq / Afghanistan wars.

1. The Iraqi liberation Act was aimed at overthrowing Saddam

The Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 was a stated policy of the United States Congressional saying it should be the policy of the United Nation to remove the regime that led Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.

In October 2002, Congress granted Bush the power to decide whether to launch any military attack in Iraq.

The Iraq war was initiated on 20 March 2003. The U.S was joined by Australia, Poland, and the United Kingdom in launching overwhelming attacks against Iraqi forces.

2. Operation Viking hammer was initiated in 2003

Operation_VIking_Hammer_Peshmerga_Special_Forces_and_CIA photo by Kurdee2130-Wikimedia

The Viking Hammer Operation was an unconventional warfare operation during the Iraq war which was staged in northern Iraq.

From 2001 to 2003, the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq was in a state of conflict between autonomous Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Ansar al_ Islam group.

Taking advantage of their pre-existing conflict the U.S encouraged the Kurdish Peshmerga forces to revolt with their assistance. On the morning of March 21, 2003, Operation Viking Hammer began in northern Iraq.

The U.S launched 64 Tomahawk cruise missiles which struck Ansar and Islamic Kurdistan forces.

The Kurdistan forces surrendered by the eve of the attack but as they had lost 100 soldiers and felt demoralized, the Ansar fighters resisted the attacks.

The operation finally eliminated the two dominant northern forces and the Kurdish forces continued south to attack Saddam’s forces.

3. Former U.S president bill Clinton was against the invasion of Iraq

Former U.S president Clinton warned against the possible dangers of pre-emptive military actions against Iraq.

He spoke at a labor party in the UK and said “As a pre-emptive action today, however well justified, may come back with unwelcome consequences in the future”.

The invasion of Iraq also received criticism from Pope John Paul II who publicly condemned the invasion.

4. There was the fall of Baghdad in 2003

statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled in Firdos Square photo by Unknown author –Wikimedia

Three weeks into the invasion of Iraq the U.S army made it into Baghdad, and by then the units of the Iraqi Special Republican Guard led the defense of the city.

The U.S forces with many advantages on their side ordered Iraqi forces within Baghdad to surrender, which by then many of the officials left or conceded defeat.

By 12^th April 2003, all fighting had ceased and a total of 34 American soldiers and 2,320 Iraqi fighters were killed.

 Many Iraqis celebrated the fall of Saddam’s regime by vandalizing his many portraits and statues.

Though the Saddam regime had fallen, the fall of Baghdad saw an outbreak of violence across the country as Iraqi tribes and cities started fighting each other over old grudges.

5. The Iraqi army was disbanded in 2003

Operation_Iraqi_Freedom photo by Sgt. Canaan Radcliffe-Wikimedia

An order signed by a coalition Provisional Authority on 23 may 2003, saw to it the disbanding of the Iraqi military security and intelligence infrastructure of Saddam Hussein.

When Bremer signed the order to disband the Iraqi army, more than 400,000 armed officers and enlisted men who had aided the U.S in defeating the Saddam regime were sent home.

Some experts believe that Bremer’s may 23 edict may have provided recruits for the Insurgency by cutting off military-trained officers and the enlisted who felt betrayed by the move.

6. There was the execution of Saddam

After the fall of Baghdad, a massive manhunt for the leader of Iraq, Saddam was carried out across the country.

The operation to capture Saddam was coded” Red Dawn” and the operation was carried out by the U.S army intelligence Support Activity and the 4^th Infantry Division 1^st Brigade Combat Team. Saddam was finally captured and his execution took place on December 30, 2006.

He was sentenced to death by hanging after being convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the Dujail Massacre, which was the killing of 148 Iraqi Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982.

7. There was the 2004 Fallujah Black incident

On March 31, 2004, an Iraqi insurgency attacked a convoy containing four American contractors from a private military company known as Blackwater U.S who carried delivery for food Caterers.

The four soldiers were killed and dragged from their vehicles throughout the city before being hanged from a bridge.

This ambush motioned the first battle of Fallujah _ and led to an operation to retake control of the city.

The battle was halted for political reasons among others that were not officially stated and in November 2004, a second attempt was made to recapture the Iraqi city which was successful.

 8. The Samarra attack was the cause of sectarian violence in Baghdad

On February 22, 2006, Sunni extremists destroyed the gilded Shiite shrine in Samarra.

The attack gave rise to waves of sectarian violence in Baghdad’s Shiite district of Sadr City and spread across the country.

Over 100 dead bodies with bullet holes were found on February 23^rdand at least 165 people were thought to have been killed.

In the aftermath of the Samarra attack, the U.S military concluded that the homicide rate in Baghdad tripled from 11 to 33 deaths per day.

9. The first democratic elections were held in Iraq in 2005

Despite the violence upsurge, Iraq held its first parliamentary elections on January 30, 2005, to begin the definite process of writing a constitution.

The election was seen by some as a victory for democracy in the middle east and it represented the first general election since the United State led the invasion of Iraq.

Though the election was met with a lot of resistance, the provisional results were released on February 13, which showed the United Iraqi Alliance backed by the Shia leader Ali Sistani led by 48% of the vote.

10. The U.S forces were withdrawn from Iraq in 2011

In February 2009, a newly elected president, Barack Obama announced the US combat forces would be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of August 2010, and the remaining troop will exit by December 2011.

The security responsibilities were turned over to Iraqi forces on June 30, 2009. The United States announced in October 2011 that the last of its 39,000 troops would leave Bagdad at the end of 2011.

On December 15, the U.S military conducted a ceremony in Bagdad formally announcing the end of its mission in Iraq, and its forces departed before the end of the year.