Learn about the Iraq War, the capture and trial of Saddam Hussein, and the rise of ISIL
Overview of the Iraq War, the capture and trial of Saddam Hussein, and the state...
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Transcript
ANAND NAIDOO: Saddam Hussein was captured by American soldiers on December 13th, 2003, just over eight months after his regime was toppled by a US-led invasion. The former Iraqi president had stayed in Baghdad until the city was about to fall. He was eventually found hiding in what was described as a "spider hole" on a farm near his hometown of Tikrit. In a few moments we'll talk with the CIA agent tasked with questioning the former Iraqi leader-- but first, some background. Here's CGTN's Jessica Stone.
GEORGE W. BUSH: Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing.
JESSICA STONE: Two days after this warning, US President George W. Bush launched Operation Iraqi Freedom. Baghdad was soon taken. Within weeks, Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled-- but that was the easy part.
The coalition found a country divided by sectarian and ethnic rivalries. Nevertheless, the coalition decided to disband the Iraqi army, releasing tens of thousands of former soldiers who quickly became ripe for recruitment to the insurgency. Casualties among the coalition forces mounted, reaching 4,000 by 2008.
But the Iraqis paid the highest price for the violence. Public squares became the backdrop for indiscriminate bombings, and thousands more were killed in coalition military operations. By April 2009, the Associated Press reported more than 110,000 Iraqi civilian lives were gone.
Saddam Hussein was found in 2003, put on trial in 2005, and hanged in 2006. Despite going to war under the pretext of Hussein's alleged possession of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, none of these weapons were ever found. In April 2004, photographs of prisoner abuse surfaced from the Abu Ghraib prison. 17 US troops were removed from duty, and most were eventually tried in military courts.
In 2008, Barack Obama won the White House, in part on a promise to end the war in Iraq. Two weeks later, the Iraqi parliament ratified a Status of Forces Agreement with Washington. It set a timeline for US troop withdrawal by the end of 2011.
When the last American troops left, the US had spent more than $1 trillion and lost more than 4,400 lives. Within two years, the insurgency linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq morphed into the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL. It took territory in Iraq and Syria, often taking over American military equipment left behind when the Iraqi military was overtaken.
By the summer of 2014, ISIL had taken the major Iraqi city of Mosul. The US began airstrikes later that year. By June 2015, ISIL took Ramadi, and the Obama administration authorized up to 500 military trainers to Iraq. In the fall of 2016, US trainers began to prepare Iraqi troops to retake Mosul, culminating in its liberation in March of 2017.
The new US president, Donald Trump, has publicly called for the total destruction of ISIL. Washington has launched a review of its counter-ISIL strategy, but there have been no announcements of how the new US president will pursue his stated goal.
Jessica Stone, CGTN, Washington.
GEORGE W. BUSH: Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing.
JESSICA STONE: Two days after this warning, US President George W. Bush launched Operation Iraqi Freedom. Baghdad was soon taken. Within weeks, Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled-- but that was the easy part.
The coalition found a country divided by sectarian and ethnic rivalries. Nevertheless, the coalition decided to disband the Iraqi army, releasing tens of thousands of former soldiers who quickly became ripe for recruitment to the insurgency. Casualties among the coalition forces mounted, reaching 4,000 by 2008.
But the Iraqis paid the highest price for the violence. Public squares became the backdrop for indiscriminate bombings, and thousands more were killed in coalition military operations. By April 2009, the Associated Press reported more than 110,000 Iraqi civilian lives were gone.
Saddam Hussein was found in 2003, put on trial in 2005, and hanged in 2006. Despite going to war under the pretext of Hussein's alleged possession of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, none of these weapons were ever found. In April 2004, photographs of prisoner abuse surfaced from the Abu Ghraib prison. 17 US troops were removed from duty, and most were eventually tried in military courts.
In 2008, Barack Obama won the White House, in part on a promise to end the war in Iraq. Two weeks later, the Iraqi parliament ratified a Status of Forces Agreement with Washington. It set a timeline for US troop withdrawal by the end of 2011.
When the last American troops left, the US had spent more than $1 trillion and lost more than 4,400 lives. Within two years, the insurgency linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq morphed into the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL. It took territory in Iraq and Syria, often taking over American military equipment left behind when the Iraqi military was overtaken.
By the summer of 2014, ISIL had taken the major Iraqi city of Mosul. The US began airstrikes later that year. By June 2015, ISIL took Ramadi, and the Obama administration authorized up to 500 military trainers to Iraq. In the fall of 2016, US trainers began to prepare Iraqi troops to retake Mosul, culminating in its liberation in March of 2017.
The new US president, Donald Trump, has publicly called for the total destruction of ISIL. Washington has launched a review of its counter-ISIL strategy, but there have been no announcements of how the new US president will pursue his stated goal.
Jessica Stone, CGTN, Washington.