The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States–led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 days of major combat operations, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq. Twenty-two days after the first day of the invasion, the capital city of Baghdad was captured by coalition forces on 9 April 2003 after the six-day-long Battle of Baghdad. This early stage of the war formally ended on 1 May 2003 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.
Jessica Dawn Lynch is an American teacher, actress, and former United States Army soldier who served in the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a private first class.
Lori Ann Piestewa was a United States Army soldier killed during the Iraq War. A member of the Quartermaster Corps, she died in the same Iraqi attack in which fellow soldiers Shoshana Johnson and Piestewa's friend Jessica Lynch were injured. A Hopi, Piestewa was the first Native American woman to die in combat while serving in the U.S. military and the first woman in the U.S. military killed in the Iraq War. Arizona's Piestewa Peak is named in her honor.
Saving Jessica Lynch is a 2003 American television film that aired on NBC and featured Canadian actress Laura Regan in the title role. The film begins with the ambush of Jessica Lynch's convoy in the middle of an Iraqi city and follows a version of events that credits an Iraqi citizen, Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief, with being responsible for helping to arrange a daring rescue by US special operations forces.
Patrick Wayne Miller is a United States Army soldier. He was a private first class during the 2003 invasion of Iraq with the U.S. Army's 507th Maintenance Company, serving as a mechanic, becoming a POW. For his actions leading up to his capture, he was awarded the Silver Star for valor. He retired from the United States Army in August 2022.
Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief is an Iraqi attorney who helped the United States armed forces rescue prisoner of war Jessica Lynch from a hospital in Nasiriyah. As reward for his assistance, the U.S. government granted him humanitarian asylum on April 28, 2003. That same year, al-Rehaief published the autobiography Because Each Life Is Precious, in which he explains why he decided to help Lynch.
The 507th Maintenance Company was a United States Army unit which was ambushed during the Battle of Nasiriyah in the rapid advance towards Baghdad during 2003 invasion of Iraq on 23 March 2003. The most well known member of the unit was Private First Class Jessica Lynch whose rescue from an Iraqi hospital received worldwide media coverage. Sergeant Donald Walters and Private First Class Patrick Miller were both awarded the Silver Star for valor. Sergeant Matthew Rose was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device. Many other members of the unit were decorated as well, receiving the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, and/or Prisoner of War Medal.
Ronald D. Young Jr. is an American former POW in the 2003 Gulf military action against Iraq who later became a contestant in the reality show The Amazing Race 7. Young is also an Eagle Scout.
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.
Major Clarke Paulus was a United States Marine Corps officer who was briefly in charge of Camp Whitehorse.
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.
The Battle of Nasiriyah was fought between the US 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, aided by the British military, and Iraqi forces from 23 March to 2 April 2003 during the US-led invasion of Iraq. On the night of 24–25 March, the bulk of the Marines of Regimental Combat Team 1 passed through the city over the bridges and attacked north towards Baghdad. However fighting continued in the city until 1 April when Iraqi resistance in the city was defeated.
The 2003 invasion of Iraq, which lasted from March 20 to May 1, 2003, resulted in a small number of U.S. and Coalition Prisoners of war.
The Karbala provincial headquarters raid was a special operation carried out on January 20, 2007, by The Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, on the U.S. contingent of the Joint Security Station located within the Iraqi Police headquarters. The assault, which left five U.S. soldiers dead and three wounded, has been called the "boldest and most sophisticated attack in four years of warfare" and is furthermore notable for being one of the few instances when any sort of militants or insurgents have actually managed to capture U.S. soldiers since the Vietnam War.
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.
Justin D. LeHew is a United States Marine who served in the War on Terror. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions on 23 and 24 March 2003 during the initial 2003 invasion of Iraq. He was hand picked to spearhead the rescue operation and recovery of the U.S. Army's 507th Maintenance Company on 23 March and subsequently was called upon again to take part in the rescue operation of US Army Private Jessica Lynch on 1 April 2003. He is also a recipient of the Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing Device denoting Valor for his heroic actions from 5 to 28 August 2004 during the Battle of Najaf.
In 2003, there were 25 suicide bombings executed by 32 attackers.
The Good Friday Ambush 2004 was an attack by Iraqi insurgents on April 9, 2004 during the Iraq War on a convoy of U.S. 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.
This article is about the role played by women in the military in the Americas, particularly in the United States and Canada from the First World War to modern times.
Nasiriyah is a city in Iraq. It is on the lower Euphrates, about 360 km south-southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. It is the capital of the Dhi Qar Governorate. Its population in 2003 was about 560,000, making it the fourth-largest city in Iraq. It had a diverse population of Muslims, Mandaeans and Jews in the early 20th century; today its inhabitants are predominantly Shia muslims.
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