Question

Option 2: What new problems did the Iraqi War cause for the U.S. and its allies around the world? What effects has it had on the U.S. economy?

Answer 1

The Iraq War, also called the Second Persian Gulf War, was a two-phase conflict in Iraq. The first of these was a short, conventionally waged war in March, April 2003, in which a joint force of US and British troops (with smaller contingents from many other countries) invaded Iraq and quickly defeated Iraqi military and paramilitary forces. It was followed by a longer second phase, in which an insurgency opposed a U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. After the deterioration of violence began in 2007, the US slowly decreased its military presence in Iraq, officially completing its withdrawal in December 2011.

The Iraqi Army is increasingly defeated by U.S., British, and other coalition forces, while loyal to Saddam Hussein who will form the center of a post-war insurgency struggle. Three weeks after the invasion, Iraqi citizens and US troops began tearing down a Saddam monument on Firdos Square in Baghdad. President Bush declares the deck of aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to end major military operations in Iraq. Lawlessness and some skirmishing in the country are written off as the desperate acts of "dead-enders" by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

With violence beginning to coalesce into organized resistance to the U.S.-led occupation, Uday and Qusay, sons of Saddam Hussein, are killed by U.S. troops during a raid in Mosul's northern city. The manhunt that led to their death had yet to locate Saddam or several of his top helpers. Acting on tips from bodyguard and family members of the dictator, U.S. troops find Saddam Hussein hiding in a one-man hole close to his Tikrit boyhood home. Military officials herald the capture as a possible turning point, and Washington is expressing hope that rising violence will diminish.