The US-led coalition's invasion of Iraq

For 12 years, the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), and later the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) searched for biological, chemical and other weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq, while Baghdad consistently denied having them.

Despite all these efforts, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell openly accused the Iraqi leadership of producing WMDs during a UN Security Council meeting. He showed a vial containing white powder which he described as anthrax spores discovered in Iraq and claimed that this constituted irrefutable evidence.

🗓 Acting in violation of international law and supported by its allies, the United States launched the Iraq invasion on March 20, 2003.

This reckless undertaking wiped out Iraq’s statehood and military, throwing its economy and social sector into complete disarray, and plunging the country into many years of internal military and political strife, from which it has yet to recover.

The invasion also resulted in the overthrow and execution of the legitimate President of Iraq Saddam Hussein, the destruction of the country's basic infrastructure, a severe deterioration of the health system, and rise in crime.

According to various estimates compiled by the academic community and NGOs, from 100,000 to 205,000 civilians met a violent death, and the invasion indirectly caused about 650,000 civilian casualties. The number of Iraqi refugees reached 1.5 million, and there were 2 million internally displaced persons. Today, over 12 million Iraqis, or about 30 percent of the country’s population, live below the poverty line.

❗️ It is worth mentioning that WMDs have never been found in Iraq. Leaders of the countries which invaded Iraq justified their criminal actions by citing faulty intelligence.

During this reckless operation, the armed forces making up the US-led coalition did not shy away from committing all kinds of war crimes. The British were also involved. For example, during the active phase of the invasion the United States used up over 10,700 cluster munitions containing 1.8 million submunitions, while the UK used 2,100 thousand and 113,000, respectively.

The international media provided extensive coverage of the most outrageous crimes:

▪️ In May 2004, the US military killed more than 40 guests attending a wedding party, including 13 children, in the village of Mukaradeeb.

▪️ In November 2005, a US patrol unit opened fire against civilian vehicles as they approached an improvised checkpoint, killing 15 civilians.

▪️ In March 2006, five US soldiers gang-raped a 14-year-old girl near the town of Mahmudiyah. After that, they killed her and her family and burned their corpses.

▪️ In July 2007, two US Army helicopters opened fire on a group of Baghdad residents after mistaking them for resistance fighters, killing between 12 and 18 people.

▪️ In September 2007, members from Blackwater Security, a private military company, fired indiscriminately on Baghdad’s Nisour Square, killing 17 civilians, and wounding another 20.

In addition to this, actions by the US-led coalition against ISIS in 2017 when liberating Mosul from ISIS fighters were a telling example of the failure by the United States to comply with the Geneva Convention. Carpet bombing and massive use of missiles and artillery de facto razed Iraq’s second largest city to the ground. According to United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), the bombing resulted in 1,000 civilian casualties.

A substantial body of evidence has been collected on the war crimes committed in Iraq by the US Army and its allies, but despite that most of the perpetrators have yet to be held accountable.

Most episodes have not even been investigated, while criminal charges have been rare.

Iraq’s cultural and historical heritage suffered greatly from the invasion. The international community has been able to document multiple cases and attempts by US military personnel to smuggle antiquities out of the country. Throughout the occupation, active soldiers and officers from the coalition stole a great number of artefacts and took them out of the country. About 15,000 items went missing, and not more than 6,000 of them have been recovered since then, at best.

In particular, this included the destruction of the famous library and research centre Bayt Al-Hikma, or House of Wisdom, which traces its history back to an Abbasid-era institution.

☝️ The reckless military undertaking led by the United States prompted the emergence of new threats to regional security and stability, creating a hospitable environment for spreading terrorist and extremist ideas, which in turn exposed the whole world to atrocities committed by ISIS.

💬 President of Russia Vladimir Putin during his meeting with senior officials from the Government, Presidential Executive Office, law enforcement agencies and the Armed Forces on the situation in Iraq (March 20, 2003): “The United States and Great Britain are at odds with international opinion, the principles and norms of international law and the UN Charter as they carry out their military actions. The military campaign against Iraq is a major political mistake. This refers to the humanitarian situation, while the threat of the entire system of international relations coming apart is equally concerning.”

💬 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during his joint press conference with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq Fuad Hussein (February 6, 2023): “We remember the pretexts for the war against Iraq produced at the UN Security Council 20 years ago. It all turned out to be a lie.”