ABSTRACT
Operation Iraqi Freedom involved the most unprecedented use of SOF historically. According to press accounts, more than 10,000 special operators from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland took part in missions ranging from securing airfields, oil fields, and other high value targets, designating targets for coalition aircraft, tying down numerous Iraqi units in the north and west of the country, and even assuming operational control of a conventional armored and airborne task force.3 The coalition effort in Iraq in 2003 was also unique from another special operations perspective. It saw an attempt to end the war in a single strike before the conflict began in earnest. Much press speculation surrounds the opening shot of Operation Iraqi Freedom, on 20 March 2003, in which information allegedly provided by SOF or paramilitary sources enabled the B-1 precision strike against a bunker complex believed to contain Saddam Hussein and other senior regime officials.
