Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011)

The occupation of Iraq (2003–2011) began on 20 March 2003, when the United States invaded with a military coalition to overthrow Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and continued until 18 December 2011, when the final batch of American troops left the country.

[2] According to Article 42 under Section III of the Hague Convention IV - The Laws and Customs of War on Land, "[t]erritory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1546 in 2004 looked forward to the end of the occupation and the assumption of full responsibility and authority by a fully sovereign and independent Interim Government of Iraq.

[9] On 1 May 2003, President of the United States George W. Bush declared the "end of major combat operations" in Iraq, while aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln with a large "Mission Accomplished" banner displayed behind him.

This seeming acceptance of Coalition authority stemmed from the US military continuing to pay the salaries of Saddam's former soldiers, while promising senior Iraqi officers that they would have a major role to play "in building a new Iraq."

With the growing influence of religious fanatics, the insurgency's mostly traditional tactics of sniping, small unit ambushes and planting roadside improvised explosive devices against foreign military personnel began transforming into frequent suicide bombings and death squads targeting civilians that were perceived as "loyal" to coalition forces.

The provisional government began training a security force intended to defend critical infrastructure, and the US promised over $20 billion in reconstruction aid in the form of credits against Iraq's future oil revenues.

The United States and the Coalition Provisional Authority, run by Jay Garner and three deputies, including Tim Cross, opposed allowing democratic elections at this time, preferring instead to eventually hand over power to an unelected group of Iraqis.

The 1st Armored Division along with the 2nd ACR were then shifted south, because Spanish, Salvadoran, Ukrainian, and Polish forces were having increasing difficulties retaining control over Al Kut, and Najaf.

On 28 June 2004, under the auspices of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1546, the CPA transferred limited sovereignty to a caretaker government, whose first act was to begin the trial of Saddam Hussein.

In December, 14 American soldiers were killed and over a hundred injured when an explosion struck an open-tent mess hall in Mosul, where President Bush had spent Thanksgiving with troops the year before.

[31] In early 2006, a handful of high-ranking retired generals began to demand Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's resignation due in part to the aforementioned chaos that apparently resulted from his management of the war.

"With this first transition of security responsibility, Muthanna demonstrates the progress Iraq is making toward self- governance", the statement said, adding that "Multi-National Forces will stand ready to provide assistance if needed."

"[32][33] A former presidential compound of Saddam Hussein, dubbed Forward Operating Base Courage by Coalition forces, was handed over by Charlie Company 4-11FA to the Nineveh province government on 20 July 2006.

A crowd of as many as 5,000 people, including hundreds armed with AK-47 assault rifles, ransacked Camp Abu Naji immediately after the last British soldier had departed despite the presence of a 450-member Iraqi army brigade meant to guard the base.

The 42-year-old Army Reserve specialist, Ahmed al-Taie, was abducted on 23 October when he left the Green Zone, the heavily fortified section where the United States maintains its headquarters, to visit his Iraqi wife and family.

The National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie summoned reporters to a hastily arranged news conference to announce that al Qaeda leader Hamid Juma Faris al-Suaidi had been seized some days ago.

[45] On 7 September 2006, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed a document taking control of Iraq's small naval and air forces and the 8th Iraqi Army Division, based in the south.

[46] On 11 September 2006, it transpired that Colonel Peter Devlin, chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq, had filed a secret report, described by those who have seen it as saying that the US and the Iraqi government have been defeated politically in Anbar province.

According to The Washington Post, an unnamed Defense Department source described Devlin as saying "there are no functioning Iraqi government institutions in Anbar, leaving a vacuum that has been filled by the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq, which has become the province's most significant political force."

[57] Vice President of the United States Joe Biden made his second visit to Baghdad in as many months in September 2009, and met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki even as insurgents fired mortars and rockets at the Green Zone to protest his presence.

On 11 October 2002, President Bush's senior adviser on the Middle East, Zalmay Khalilzad, released US government plans to establish an American-led military administration in Iraq, as in post-war Germany and Japan, which could last for several years after the fall of Saddam.

[70] Political activists and commentators allege that The Pentagon favoured companies like Halliburton, former employer of Vice President Dick Cheney, because they had connections to high-ranking members of the Bush administration.

An audit found that Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) may have overcharged the US government $61 million, on contracts worth billions, for bringing oil products for the US army into Iraq via a Kuwaiti subcontractor, Altanmia Commercial Marketing Co.[73] Some also argue that foreign contractors are doing work which could be done by unemployed Iraqis, which might be a factor fueling resentment of the occupation.

[79] In April 2007, the New York Times reported that US federal oversight inspectors found that "in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting, and expensive equipment that lay idle.

In a 1 June 2004, press conference, President Bush said that he was working with various world leaders to create a UN Security Council resolution endorsing the transition from the US-dominated occupation to complete autonomy for Iraq.

As of October 2008, thirteen provinces had successfully completed transition to provincial Iraqi control: Muthanna, Dhi Qar, Najaf, Maysan, Dahuk, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Karbala, Basra, Al-Qādisiyyah, Al Anbar, Babil and Wasit.

[107] Allawi condemned the rebellion and called upon the city to surrender Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of the Tawhid-e-Jihad group who is alleged to be hiding in Fallujah, or face aerial bombing by the United States.

By August 2005, al-Sadr had adopted a more conciliatory tone, along with a much lower profile, saying "I call upon all the believers to save the blood of the Muslims and to return to their homes" after an outbreak of violence between some of his followers and those of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.

The patrols require armored vehicles capable of stopping at least small arms fire of 7.62 mm machine gun rounds along with mandatory external weapons platforms and tracking equipment.