Iraq actively researched and employed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from 1962 to 1991, after which it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile and halted its biological and nuclear weapon programs as required by the United Nations Security Council. The fifth president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was internationally condemned for his use of chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians and military targets during the Iran–Iraq War. Saddam pursued an extensive biological weapons program and a nuclear weapons program, though no nuclear bomb was built. After the Gulf War, the United Nations located and destroyed large quantities of Iraqi chemical weapons and related equipment and materials; Iraq ceased its chemical, biological and nuclear programs.
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion began on 20 March 2003 and lasted just over one month, including 26 days of major combat operations, in which a United States-led combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded the Republic of Iraq. Twenty-two days after the first day of the invasion, the capital city of Baghdad was captured by coalition forces on 9 April after the six-day-long Battle of Baghdad. This early stage of the war formally ended on 1 May when U.S. President George W. Bush declared the "end of major combat operations" in his Mission Accomplished speech, after which the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was established as the first of several successive transitional governments leading up to the first Iraqi parliamentary election in January 2005. U.S. military forces later remained in Iraq until the withdrawal in 2011.
The United States Central Command is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF).
Endgame, Endgames, End Game, End Games, or similar variations may refer to:
David D. McKiernan is a retired United States Army four-star general who served in Afghanistan as Commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). He served concurrently as Commander, United States Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from October 6, 2008, to June 15, 2009.
Task Force Tripoli (TFT) was a United States Marine Corps air-ground task force formed after the fall of Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This ad-hoc formation was tasked with continuing the attack north to secure the city of Tikrit. It was commanded by Brigadier General John F. Kelly, then Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Marine Division. Within 12 hours of tasking, the Marines were able to put together a convoy of 600 vehicles and 4,000 troops for the mission. The unit was composited on April 12, 2003, in a staging area east of Baghdad and had secured Tikrit by April 15. It is the first time that the Marine Corps ever employed an entire LAV regiment and marked the farthest inland that Marine Forces had ever advanced.
Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq is a 2006 book written by Michael R. Gordon, chief military correspondent for The New York Times, and Bernard E. Trainor, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general, which details the behind-the-scenes decision-making leading to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It then follows, in depth, the invasion itself and the early months of the occupation through summer 2003.
The Iraq War, also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict persisted as an insurgency arose against coalition forces and the newly established Iraqi government. US forces were officially withdrawn in 2011. In 2014, the US became re-engaged in Iraq, leading a new coalition under Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, as the conflict evolved into the ongoing insurgency.
Bernard E. Trainor was an American journalist and a United States Marine Corps lieutenant general. He served in the Marine Corps for 39 years in both staff and command capacities. After retiring from the Marine Corps, he began working as the chief military correspondent for The New York Times. He was subsequently a military analyst for NBC. With Michael R. Gordon, he was the author of three accounts of American wars in Iraq, The Generals War (1995); Cobra II (2006); and Endgame (2012).
The Battle of Najaf was fought between United States and Iraqi forces on one side and the Mahdi Army led by Muqtada al-Sadr on the other in the Iraqi city of Najaf in August 2004.
Raymond Thomas Odierno was an American military officer who served as a four-star general of the United States Army and as the 38th chief of staff of the Army. Prior to his service as chief of staff, Odierno commanded United States Joint Forces Command from October 2010 until its disestablishment in August 2011. He served as Commanding General, United States Forces – Iraq and its predecessor, Multi-National Force – Iraq, from September 2008 through September 2010.
Al-Faw Palace is a palace located in Baghdad approximately 5 km from the Baghdad International Airport, Iraq. Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein commissioned its construction in the 1990s to commemorate the Iraqi forces' re-taking of the Al-Faw Peninsula during the Iran-Iraq War. It was said that Saddam used the palace for duck hunting.
Multi-National Forces West (MNF-W) or United States Forces West (USF-W) was one of the coalition headquarters under Multi-National Force-Iraq. It was headquartered by either I or II U.S. Marine Expeditionary Force that rotated on a 12-month basis. Their area of operations was primarily the Al Anbar province which includes the cities of Ar Ramadi, Fallujah, Al-Qa'im, and Haditha. The force was the most important U.S. unit to take part in the Iraq War in Al Anbar Governorate.
Al Tarmia or Tarmiyah is a town on the Tigris river 50 km north of Baghdad, in the Salah al-Din Governorate of Iraq. It has a population of 91,284. The area is a sparsely populated farming community. The population is made up of mostly Sunni people from various local tribes including the Dulaym, Shammar, Al Bu Farraj and the Al Ddury.
The Counter Terrorism Service is an Iraqi security and intelligence agency tasked with counterterrorism. The Service’s operational arm is called the Iraqi Special Operations Forces. They are an elite special operations force composed of three brigades based in several governorates, and who are often collectively referred to as the Golden Division.
The Basic Strategic Art Program (BSAP) is an academic program taught at the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. The course was designed to support the educational requirements for Functional Area FA59 (FA59), U.S. Army Strategist, formerly called Strategic Plans and Policy. The first course began in 2003 and the school continues to teach three 16-week courses per year.
Ammar al-Saffar was the Deputy Health Minister of Iraq from 2003 until his kidnapping and likely death in 2006. On November 19, 2006, he became the highest-ranking Iraqi official to be kidnapped when he was seized by men in police uniforms.
On December 15, 1981, the Iraqi Shi'a Islamist group al-Dawa carried out a suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. The explosion leveled the embassy and killed 61 people, including Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon, and injured at least 100 others.
Mark J. O'Neil is a retired United States Army major general who last served as the commander of U.S. Army Alaska. He previously served as the commanding officer of Delta Force from July 2, 2009 to August 2011. He has participated in numerous combat operations, such as; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He assumed his final assignment on July 12, 2017, before retiring in 2019.
In April 2003, as the coalition advanced further into Iraq, Mosul became a significant objective due to its size and strategic location. Coalition forces, including U.S. Special Forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters under the leadership of Masoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, planned to engage Iraqi forces defending the city.
