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Definition: Iraq War from The Macquarie Dictionary
1.

a military conflict in Iraq, beginning with the invasion of that country by a coalition of forces led by the US and Britain in mid-2003, leading to the overthrow of the government of president Saddam Hussein, and continuing during the subsequent occupation of Iraq by a coalition of US, British and other forces which was aimed at controlling insurgency and putting in place a new government based on presidential and parliamentary elections; final US forces withdrew in 2011.

Iraq, War in

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
The decision to use force against Iraq developed quickly in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. Strong advocates of the war were Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. The justifications for the war given by the Bush administration were the charges of Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction and ties between the regime of Saddam Hussein and international terrorists, particularly al Qaeda, headed by Osama bin Laden. Al Qaeda was responsible for the September 11 attacks. In September of 2002, President George W. Bush attempted to gain United Nations support for military action, working closely with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who became the United States's main ally in the war in Iraq. Within the U.N., the issue was the lack of ongoing inspections for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The U.N. group, …
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Full text Article Iraq War

From Chambers Dictionary of World History
A war precipitated by the perceived failure of Iraq to comply with the UN 's proposed inspections and monitoring of its arms programme following the 1991 Gulf War . Although a 1998 bombing campaign was believed to have destroyed Iraq's remaining nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, by 2002 US…
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Full text Article Iraq War 2003

From Encyclopedia of Intelligence & Counterintelligence
An Iraqi missile is decommissioned after the...
Central to the justification of war against Iraq in March 2003 were the assertions that Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, was embarking on building weapons of mass destruction (WMD) on the scale that he had been following before the Persian Gulf War of 1990-91. Yet as American, British, …
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Full text Article Iraq War

From The Great American History Fact-Finder
U.S. and British invasion of Iraq, leading to the collapse of the Iraqi government. Ground forces from Australia and Poland, and naval forces from Denmark and Spain also took part, as well as Iraqi Kurdish militia troops supported by the coalition forces. The war, dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom, …
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Full text Article Iraq War

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(2003–11) War in Iraq that consisted of two phases: a brief conflict in 2003 between Iraq and a combined force of troops largely from the U.S. and Great Britain; and a subsequent U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and protracted Iraqi armed insurgency against it. The trade embargo and weapons-inspection…
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Full text Article Iraq War

From Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
One of the most controversial conflicts in American history, the Iraq War began in March 2003 with a U.S.-led invasion that ousted the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein. The George W. Bush administration justified the war on several grounds: Hussein's brutality against his own people and his…
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Full text Article Iraq War

From Encyclopedia of the American Presidency
On March 20, 2003, the U.S. military launched...
Also known as: Operation Iraqi Freedom In the spring of 2003 the United States, after failing to gain United Nations support for an invasion of Iraq, launched an invasion with what President George W. Bush called a "coalition of the willing." Iraq had long been a thorn in the side of the United…
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Also known as: “Operation Iraqi Freedom”; Second Gulf War 2003–2011 The invasion of Iraq officially began on March 20, 2003, under the name “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” The stated justification for the invasion was that Saddam Hussein, ruler of Iraq, had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and…
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Full text Article Iran-Iraq War

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(1980–88) Protracted and indecisive conflict prompted by Iraq’s invasion of its eastern neighbour. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the Iraqi leadership sought to exploit Iran’s military and political chaos in order to resolve border disputes, gain control of Iran’s oil-rich western (largely…
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Full text Article Iraq War

From Reference Guide to the Major Wars and Conflicts in History: Wars in the Contemporary World (1950 to Present)
On March 20, 2003, the U.S. military launched...
Also known as: Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003–2011 PRINCIPAL COMBATANTS: United States and Great Britain vs. Iraq PRINCIPAL THEATER(S): Iraq DECLARATION: No formal declaration, but the war commenced pursuant to a U.S. presidential ultimatum of March 16, 2003. MAJOR ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES: U.S. …
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Full text Article Iraq War

From Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy
Also known as: Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003 On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In its wake President George W. Bush proclaimed a global war against terrorists and those who aided and abetted them. While the initial focus of American military…
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