On March 20, 2003, a large contingent of United States and British combat forces invaded Iraq, precipitating the 2003 Iraq war. Forces from Australia and Poland also took part. The invasion came after the expiration of a 48-hour deadline set by U.S. President George W. Bush, demanding that Saddam Hussein and his two sons Uday and Qusay leave Iraq.
The United States, with support from 45,000 British, a little over 2,000 Australian and 200 Polish combat forces invaded Iraq primarily through their staging area in Kuwait. Coalition forces are also supporting Iraqi Kurdish militia troops (some estimates put their numbers upwards of 50,000).
The U.S. Third Division moved out westward and then northward through the desert toward Baghdad, while a U.S. marine division and a U.K. expeditionary force moved northward through marshland.
The US military code name for the 2003 invasion of Iraq is Operation Iraqi Freedom. The UK military operations in this war are being conducted under the name of Operation Telic. [1] (telic means directed towards a goal). The Australian codename is Operation Falconer.
The invasion is politically supported by a coalition that is claimed by the Bush administration to include over 30 nations, a group that is frequently referred to as the "Coalition of the willing". Several countries have in fact been added without their approval, and some, such as Hungary, have since requested their removal from the list. Very few of these countries, moreover, have offered any combat troops to the invasion. Ten other countries are known to have offered small numbers of noncombat forces, mostly either medical teams and specialists in decontamination.
The invasion has been condemned by Russia, France, China, Germany, and the Arab League.
Several nations, including Austria, have indicated that the invasion violates international law as a war of aggression since it lacks the validity of a U.N. Security Council resolution that could authorize military force. The Egyptian former United Nations Secretary General Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali has condemned the invasion as a violation of the UN Charter.
The United States and Britain maintain it is a legal invasion which they are within their rights to undertake. Canada and Israel are among the nations which agree with this interpretation of the use of sovereign force.
Related entries
See 2003 Iraq war for articles on other aspects of the war