ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and its aftermath. Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched against Iraq on March 19, 2003, with a massive air attack, an assault referred to with overcharged bravado as Operation Shock and Awe. The United States offered three reasons for invading Iraq. First, the United States was concerned about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs. A second rationale for going to war was Iraq's purported ties to terrorism. In addition to the administration's concerns about Iraq possessing WMD and having established ties with al-Qa'ida, President Bush and his advisers had a third reason for going to war with Iraq. It was their intention to topple the autocratic regime of Saddam Hussein and democratize Iraq, so that it could then sow the seeds of democracy more broadly in the Middle East. Millions of people in the Middle East and around the world believed that the war was about oil.
