Opposition to the Iraq War significantly occurred worldwide, both before and during the initial 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States–led coalition, and throughout the subsequent occupation. Individuals and groups opposing the war include the governments of many nations which did not take part in the invasion, including both its land neighbors Canada and Mexico, its NATO allies in Europe such as France and Germany, as well as China and Indonesia in Asia, and significant sections of the populace in those that took part in the invasion. Opposition to the war was also widespread domestically.
Muqtada al-Sadr is a Shiite cleric, Iraqi politician and militia leader. He is the leader of the Sadrist Movement and the leader of the Peace Companies, a successor to the militia he had previously led during the American military presence in Iraq, the "Mahdi Army." In 2018, he joined his Sadrist political party to the Saairun alliance, which won the highest number of seats in the 2018 and 2021 Iraqi parliamentary elections. Al-Sadr is suspected in US news media of having ordered the assassination of rivalling Shia leader Abdul-Majid al-Khoei in 2003, a charge he denies and which remains unproven.
The Peace Companies are an Iraqi armed group linked to Iraq's Shia community. They are a 2014 revival of the Mahdi Army that was created by the Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003 and disbanded in 2008.
Camilo Ernesto Mejía is a Nicaraguan who left the United States Army during the Iraq War on conscientious objector grounds, was convicted of desertion and went on to become an anti-war activist. He is also the son of Carlos Mejia Godoy, Nicaragua songwriter.
The Downing Street memo, sometimes described by critics of the Iraq War as the smoking gun memo, is the note of a 23 July 2002 secret meeting of senior British government, defence and intelligence figures discussing the build-up to the war, which included direct reference to classified United States policy of the time. The name refers to 10 Downing Street, the residence of the British prime minister.
Cindy Lee Sheehan is an American anti-war activist, whose son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed by enemy action during the Iraq War. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended antiwar protest at a makeshift camp outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch—a stand that drew both passionate support and criticism. Sheehan ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2008. She was a vocal critic of President Barack Obama's foreign policy. Her memoir, Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism, was published in 2006. In an interview with The Daily Beast in 2017, Sheehan continued to hold her critical views towards George W. Bush, while also criticizing the militarism of Donald Trump.
Larry Chad Northern is a Former President of the Waco Realtors, and owner of a Century 21 franchise, realtor and president of a local rifle and pistol range from Waco, Texas. In August 2005 Northern was arrested and charged with criminal mischief after he drove his pickup truck through the Arlington West display of memorial crosses that had been set up at Camp Casey, the protest site organized by peace activist Cindy Sheehan near the ranch of President George W. Bush near Crawford, Texas. Northern replied in the Waco Tribune-Herald, "I have been to Arlington Cemetery in Washington D.C. It is a beautifully manicured and stately place for our honored soldiers who have given their lives for our country and freedom. There laid to rest with dignity and respect ... I feel deep compassion for them and their families. The memories of these brave men deserve the honor, care and respect afforded them there. There is no honor or respect by demeaning their service to their country or their mission by placing sticks in a ditch with their names attached with rubber bands and typing paper. Their spirit called out for someone to help them. Someone did." Waco Tribune Herald, December 2, 2006
Veterans for Peace is an organization founded in 1985. Initially made up of US military veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War, and as well as peacetime veterans and non-veterans, it has since spread overseas and has an active offshoot in the United Kingdom. The group works to promote alternatives to war.
Camp Casey was the name given to the encampment of anti-war protesters outside the Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas during US President George W. Bush's five-week summer vacation there in 2005, named after Iraq War casualty US Army Specialist Casey Sheehan.
On September 24, 2005, many protests against the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the Iraq War took place.
Forward Operating Base Hope is the current name of Camp War Eagle which was the name of the United States Army camp located at the northeast corner of the Baghdad slum known as Sadr City. It was established in May 2003 by 1st Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment and B Company, 2nd Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment which is an element of 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division. War Eagle was located on the site of a pre-war Iraqi Army base, and as such was walled and somewhat suited for use as a forward operating base.
The International Peace Conference was an anti-war conference held on December 10, 2005. It was organised by the Stop the War Coalition (StWC), and included speakers from Iraq, the United States, and Italy.
The Bring Them Home Now Tour was a rolling anti-war protest against the Iraq War in the United States, beginning in Crawford, Texas, travelling three routes across the country and culminating in a rally in Washington, D.C. in September 2005. The tour was organized by Gold Star Families for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, and Veterans For Peace. It was inspired by and featured Cindy Sheehan as a speaker at many rallies. The three tour buses were purchased with donated money.
Mary Ann Wright is a retired United States Army colonel and retired U.S. State Department official, known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. She received the State Department Award for Heroism in 1997, after helping to evacuate several thousand people during the civil war in Sierra Leone. She is most noted for having been one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Wright was also a passenger on the Challenger 1, which along with the Mavi Marmara, was part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.
Ava Lowery is an American peace activist and documentary filmmaker from Alabama who has created over 100 Flash-based animations denouncing the Iraq War, former United States President George W. Bush, policies of the Republican Party and several individual Republican politicians. She has actively demonstrated against the war, and in support of soldiers.
Matthew John Dowd is an American political pundit and consultant. He was the chief strategist for the Bush–Cheney 2004 presidential campaign and was an ABC News political analyst. On September 29, 2021, he announced a run for lieutenant governor of Texas as a Democrat against the incumbent, Dan Patrick. On December 7, 2021, Dowd announced the end of his campaign.
The September 15, 2007 anti-war protest was a march from the White House to the United States Capitol. It was organized by Veterans for Peace and the ANSWER Coalition. Volunteers were recruited for a civil disobedience action, which included a die-in. Volunteers signed up to take on the name of a soldier or civilian who died because of the war, and lay down around the Peace Monument. In attendance were public figures such as Cindy Sheehan and Ralph Nader. Police arrested more than 190 demonstrators who crossed police lines in front of the Capitol. Chemical spray was used by Capitol Police.
Events in the year 2008 in Iraq.
Margaret Ellen Mullen was an American antiwar activist who was motivated to protest after her son was killed in Vietnam by shrapnel fired from friendly artillery in 1970. She became an active opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and protested against the Gulf War and Iraq War. Her life story was made into the Emmy Award-winning 1979 film Friendly Fire starring Carol Burnett, which was based on a 1976 book of the same name by C. D. B. Bryan.
The Long Road Home is an American drama miniseries created by Mikko Alanne. It is based on the 2007 book The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family by Martha Raddatz, which tells the story of a U.S. Army unit during the first day of the siege of Sadr City in 2004. The series stars Michael Kelly, Jason Ritter, Kate Bosworth, Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto, Noel Fisher, Jon Beavers, E. J. Bonilla, Jorge Diaz, Ian Quinlan, Darius Homayoun and Patrick Schwarzenegger. The miniseries premiered on National Geographic on November 7, 2017.
