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. While the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia were the largest contributors to the coalition, 29 other countries, such as Japan, were involved in the Iraq War in a lesser capacity. Additionally, several private military contractors took part in enforcing the occupation.
The First Battle of Fallujah, code-named Operation Vigilant Resolve, was an operation against militants in Fallujah as well as an attempt to apprehend or kill the perpetrators of the killing of four U.S. contractors in March 2004.
Hot Shots! Part Deux is a 1993 American parody film directed by Jim Abrahams. It stars Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Richard Crenna, Brenda Bakke, Miguel Ferrer, Rowan Atkinson, and Jerry Haleva. Sheen, who portrays a spoof of John Rambo, went through a tough weight lifting/training program to gain the physique needed to play the role of an action hero. A sequel to Hot Shots! (1991) and the second installment in the Hot Shots franchise, the movie primarily spoofs the 1980s action films Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Rambo III (1988).
Insurgency weapons and tactics (IWAT) are weapons and tactics, most often involving firearms or explosive devices, intended for use by insurgents to engage in guerrilla warfare against an occupier, or for use by rebels against an established government. One type of insurgency weapon are "homemade" firearms made by non-professionals, such as the Błyskawica (Lightning) submachine gun produced in underground workshops by the Polish resistance movement. One weapon that is part of the conventional military arsenal but which has been taken up to great effect by insurgents, is the RPG. Two examples of an improvised weapon used by insurgents would be the improvised explosive devices used in Iraq and the Molotov cocktails used against vehicles and tanks. Two tactics used by many insurgents are assassinations and suicide bomb attacks. The latter tactic is used when an insurgent has a bomb strapped to them or in their car, which provides a low-tech way for insurgents to get explosives close to critical enemy targets.
A gun truck is an armored vehicle with one or more crew-served weapons, typically based on a military truck. Gun trucks often have improvised vehicle armor, such as scrap metal, concrete, gravel, or sandbags, which is added to a heavy truck.
Leigh Ann Hester is a United States Army National Guard soldier. While assigned to the 617th Military Police Company, a Kentucky Army National Guard unit out of Richmond, Kentucky, Hester received the Silver Star for her heroic actions on 20 March 2005 during an enemy ambush on a supply convoy near the town of Salman Pak, Iraq.
Lewis E. Welshofer Jr. is a United States Army soldier, convicted of homicide of an Iraqi prisoner of war on November 23, 2003 in al-Qaim. Welshofer was then serving as a Chief Warrant Officer in the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment.
The Haditha massacre was a series of killings on November 19, 2005, in which a group of United States marines killed 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians. The killings occurred in the city of Haditha in Iraq's western province of Al Anbar. Among the dead were men, women, elderly people and children as young as three years old, who were shot multiple times at close range. The massacre took place after an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded near a convoy, killing a lance corporal and severely injuring two other marines. In response the marines executed five men from a nearby taxicab and 19 others inside four nearby homes.
Home of the Brave is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Irwin Winkler starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel, Brian Presley, Curtis Jackson, Christina Ricci and Chad Michael Murray that follows the lives of four Army National Guard soldiers in Iraq and their return to the United States. The film was shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco and in Spokane, Washington. It was a critical and box office bomb.
The Security Detachment Iraq was the final component of Australia's contribution to coalition operations in Iraq. SECDET was based on an Australian Army combined arms combat team consisting of an infantry company group and a troop of cavalry which operated the Australian Light Armoured (ASLAV) vehicles. There was also a three man EOD Team from various Combat Engineer Regiments. The force's duties included static security guarding at the Australian Embassy in Baghdad and the protection of Australian diplomats by the 1st MP Bn (CPPT) and Cavalry (RAAC) escort/protection, also vehicle convoys. SECDET was withdrawn in August 2011, with the firm Unity Resources Group becoming responsible for providing security for Australia's diplomatic presence in Iraq.
Redacted is a 2007 American war film written and directed by Brian De Palma. It is a fictional dramatization, loosely based on the 2006 Mahmudiyah killings in Mahmoudiyah, Iraq, when U.S. Army soldiers raped an Iraqi girl and murdered her along with her family. This film, which is a companion piece to an earlier film by De Palma, Casualties of War (1989), was shot in Jordan.
The May 2007 abduction of American soldiers in Iraq occurred when Iraqi insurgents attacked a military outpost in Al Taqa, Iraq, killing four U.S. Army soldiers and an Iraqi soldier before capturing Private Byron Wayne Fouty, Specialist Alex Ramon Jimenez, and Private First Class Joseph John Anzack Jr. on May 12, 2007.
In the Valley of Elah is a 2007 American crime drama film written and directed by Paul Haggis. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon. Its title refers to the Biblical valley where the battle between David and Goliath took place.
The 2008 Nineveh campaign was a series of offensives and counter-attacks between insurgent and Coalition forces for control of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq in early-to-mid-2008. Some fighting also occurred in the neighboring Kirkuk Governorate.
The Hurt Locker is a 2008 American war action thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce. The film follows an Iraq War Explosive Ordnance Disposal team who are targeted by insurgents and shows their psychological reactions to the stress of combat. Boal drew on his experience during embedded access to write the screenplay.
The 2004 Good Friday ambush was an attack by Iraqi insurgents on April 9, 2004 during the Iraq War on a convoy of United States supply trucks during the Battle of Baghdad International Airport. It happened in the midst of the Iraq spring fighting of 2004, which saw intensified clashes throughout the country.
Soldiers of Fortune is a 2012 American action film directed by Maksim Korostyshevsky and starring Christian Slater, Dominic Monaghan, Sean Bean, James Cromwell and Ving Rhames. It was shot in Ukraine.
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is a 2016 war drama film directed by Ang Lee and written by Jean-Christophe Castelli, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Ben Fountain. The film stars Joe Alwyn, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Vin Diesel, Steve Martin, and Chris Tucker. Principal photography began in April 2015 in Georgia. The film is a co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom, and China.
Sand Castle is a 2017 American war drama film directed by Fernando Coimbra and written by Chris Roessner. The film stars Nicholas Hoult, Logan Marshall-Green, Henry Cavill, Glen Powell, Tommy Flanagan, Beau Knapp, and Neil Brown Jr. The film centers on Matt Ocre, a young soldier in the United States Army, who is tasked with restoring water to a village in Iraq. It is inspired by Roessner's experience as a soldier in the Iraq War. It was released on April 21, 2017, on Netflix.
Al Kameen is a 2021 Emirati action-war film directed by Pierre Morel and written by Brandon Birtell and Kurtis Birtell. The film is based on the true story of a 2018 ambush of Emirati soldiers by insurgents. As of December 2021, it is highest-grossing Emirati and Arabic-language film ever in the UAE, grossing over $5 million worldwide.
