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Summary of Operation Iraqi Freedom
Summary of Operation Iraqi Freedom
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Immediately following the two thousand and three invasion of Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) was in full effect. After the decline of the Iraqi government headed by Saddam Husain, The United States concluded that Iraq as a free nation was now more vulnerable than ever. American policy would not completely withdraw military forces and abandon the newly liberated Iraqi people. A reduced American Military force was left behind to aid in a smooth transition to a new government. Quickly, the coalition forces occupying the nation began to meet heavy ambushes composed of devastating Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) combined with multiple directional small arms fire. Intelligence concluded that a well trained and organized insurgent force was
targeting coalition forces in conjunction with the Iraqi people and Army. The American death toll began to skyrocket and a small surge of United States troops entered the country to combat the insurgents. Third Battalion Fourth Marines India Company was scheduled to construct a Forward Operating Base (FOB) approximately one click outside of the town Rawah Iraq. This sector of the country had experienced heavy American casualties. Prior, convoys traveling through this area were restricted to no smaller than ten vehicles strong to apply the strength in numbers concept. India Company, with just over two hundred Marines, had orders to establish (FOB) outside the town to show a strong military presence. The town and surrounding areas were to be constantly patrolled by foot and vehicles to draw out insurgents, gather intel, and win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. Surrounding areas consisting of Anah, Hadithah, and Ramadi, were also under the area of operation patrolled by India Company which was under great concern to the armed forces.
The 2nd Brigade of 101st Airborne Division found out in the summer of 2004 that they had to prepare for the war in the Middle East more particularly for Iraq. With Colonel Todd Ebel in Command of the 2nd Division with a year to prepare over 3,400 men and woman he got right to work. Colonel Ebel started by choosing his staff and who he thought was fit to take charge and lead this ever more complicated war. It was a huge religious civil war taking place in Iraq at the time with the Sunnis at war against the Shi’ite and after the capture of Saddam insurgency started uprising immediately. This uprising along with the uprising of Muqtada al-Sadr a key leader that had lots of violent followers that soon grew into a form of a militia called Mahdi Army which became another huge problem for the U.S. because the line between a legitamite populist movement and a huge theocratic organized-crime and terror ring was a thin one. The 2nd Brigade Infantry Battalions consisted of 1-502nd (First Strike) and 2-502nd (Strike Force) and 2nd brigade as a whole is known as the “Black Hearts”. Ebel’s mission was to deny insurgent’s access to Baghdad through his AO and as intelligence increased to uproot and destroy insurgent safe havens, while also training the IA so they could ensure the stability of the region later on. Ebel chose Lt. Col. Kunk as commander of “First Strike” 1-502nd and Lt. Col. Haycock as commander of “Strike Force” 2-502nd. By Ebel’s personality evaluations of Kunk and Haycock he decided that Kunk would work in the area that involved him being more engaging where populist centers were and work with local officials and Haycock more in the fighting areas. Kunk was in command of 3 rifle companies, 1 weapons company, 1 logistics company...
Operation Desert Shield was launched by President H.W. Bush to increase the amount of forces and troops in areas surrounding Kuwait and mainly in Saudi Arabia in response to the 120,000 troops and 2,000 tanks invading Kuwait. The United Nations called for the Iraqi army’s extraction from their presence in Kuwait, however Hussein went ag...
U.S. forces experienced terrible attacks on their positions that consisted of things such as mortar fire and rocket propelled grenade fire. The source of the attacks came from areas all around them. Insurgents attacked from moving vehicles, civilian houses and mosques. The U.S. forces were attacked intensely with small arms direct fire as well as grenades. The ...
The Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, believed that maintaining fixed positions against the coalition forces would be a great strategy. The ground invasion by the coalition was a conventional offensive to confront the resistance from Iraqi troops, mainly along borders with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Faced with imminent defeat, Saddam Hussein decided to burn approximately 640 Kuwait wells. The goal was to cause the most destruction possible and make the coalition mission more difficult. On 24 February, the Coalition Army infantry attack began with an invasion of soldiers backed by tanks (Zarpelão, 2010). The last phase of the ground offensive culminated with the beginning of the Battle of 73 Easting. The battle showed that even knowing the terrain, the weather, and the number of Iraqi forces, the coalition had equipment and technology superior to be successful in conventional
On March 18, 2003, Coalition forces would launch the initial attacks on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. A full invasion of the country followed, and Hussein was overthrown from power. While the end of Hussein’s oppressive reign was considered a victory for many of the Iraqi people, the Sunnis of the Ba’ath Party refused to accept his demise. Although the Sunnis were in the minority, the city of Fallujah would remain home to many of the Ba’ath Party supporters. On March 31, 2004, almost a year to date from the end of Hussein’s reign, four American Blackwater contactors working in Fallujah were attacked, brutally beaten, burned and dismembered by a group of Iraqi insurgents. Two of the bodies were hung from a bridge for all of the citizens of Fallujah to see, and a mob style celebration took place in the city. The highly publicized incident would be the igniter for the First Battle of Fallujah, known as Operation Vigilant Resolve. On May 1, 2004, the battle would end with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the city and control being turned over to the newly formed Fallujah Brigade. The mission as a whole was a failure, and the shortcomings of Operation Vigilant Resolve were ultimately a demonstration of the underestimation of the power, size, efficiency, organization and control that the Insurgent Forces had in Iraq as well as the lack of a consistent strategic plan from the American forces.
As a result of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2nd 1990, Operation Desert shield was implemented by the United States on August 7th. Trying to deter Iraq from advancing farther into the country the U.S. began staging troops, equipment and other supplies needed to sustain a military in war time. Moving resources by air and sea the American armed forces presence was made known in the region with resources being staged in the allied countries of Saudi Arabia These later we mobilized initiating operation Desert Storm on January 17th 1991 at 3am Arabia Time when the first tanks rolled across the Saudi border, this conflict would continue until the official cease fire would take effect on April 11th of the same year (Operation). During the 10 month time span of the Persian Gulf War I, Military Sealift Command had conducted the largest modern sealift operation of war materials of the American military. The ability for the United States to mobilize and sustain during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm displays America’s national security goals of forward power projection, maritime supremacy and the effective planning of their sealift strategy.
On September 11, 2001, our country was hit with enormous devastation, just after eight o’clock a.m. the first of the twin towers was struck by a suicide pilot, the second was struck slightly later. The towers fell just after ten o’clock a.m., devastating the entire country, and ruining the lives of many. A plane also hit the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and another in rural Pennsylvania causing just as much grief. The U.S. is still in mourning, but standing tall, more Americans showed their American pride in the following months than ever before. In the months to come the only thing that was on the minds of millions was: Should we go to war? War is necessary for the survival of our country. Going to war with Iraq is a fight against terrorism. Many people believed that going to war with Iraq is unjust. Some believe that there are other ways in looking at the situation.
Deliberate killings, human bombs, dozens of vicious groups, and a growing sense of insecurity trouble Iraq (Tirman). Cluster bombs and landmines’ have caused many deaths to innocent civilians. People forced from their homes in fear of their lives and their family’s lives. When some refugees tried to go home, they were killed.
On March 20, 2003, the combined military forces of the United States and Britain crossed the southern border of Iraq and Kuwait with the intent of capitulating the government of Saddam Hussein. Over the course of 21 days, the joint task force moved quickly and decisively to seize major objective cities along the road to Baghdad using aviation, armor, artillery, and infantry. Following the overwhelming success of the primary combat operations of the invasion, stability and support systems proved insufficient as sectarian violence and other criminal activity among the local population of Iraq increased.
March 19th, 2003 marked the official start to the US invasion of Iraq. Prior to this, there had been a lot of tension and conflict building up in the Middle East. Just months prior, President George W. Bush said in his state of the union address, coined a term for three countries that were seen as potentially dangerous and threaten the peace of the world. He called them the Axis of Evil, and it consisted of Iraq, Iran and North Korea, with Iraq being the major topic of discussion. He said that Saddam Hussein was carrying weapons of mass destruction and further developing chemical and nuclear weapons. He claimed that they had already used on civilians, “leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children”. He painted a grues...
The War in Iraq has sparked an abundance of criticism since its start in March of 2003. Now, four year later, the criticism has only intensified. The fact of the matter is that upon invasion of Iraq four years ago, the reasons were justifiable based on the evidence at hand. Our American troops, some 3,386 of our armed service members have given their lives for a cause that they felt was just, according to an Associated Press count that was conducted on Friday, May 11, 2007 (Associated Press, 2007). The devastating number is a cruel reminder as to how dangerous a war can be in general, but even more so when guerrilla warfare is present. In general, the majority of surveys conducted nationwide, showed that the public feel that the war has gone on a much greater period of time than anticipated, and now want the American troops to come home. The question at hand is how to withdraw the troops, safely, without leaving the country of Iraq with devastating effects. Officials may speculate amongst themselves and debate the matter in full intensity, but no answer has ever been reached.
Iraq’s history is one of both prosperity and violence, and dates back to the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia. While dominated by a variety of civilizations, the region enjoyed a relatively stable society. Since the birth of Islam, the religion has been the dominant cultural belief of the region, and has made its way into the laws and ruling of the region. (InDepth Info, 2010)
Attention: According to an article by The New Yorker entitled Did George W. Bush Create ISIS written by Dexter Filkins on May 15th, states that after the overthrow of Saddam, the Iraq army was disbanded by the US which left over two hundred thousand people humiliated and without a job (Filkins). These angry young men decided to take up arms against the United States to get revenge. This is what caused start of the Iraqi insurgency; all this could have been avoided if the United States stayed out of Iraqi Politics (Filkins).
The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a US-led coalition. The US wanted to destroy Saddam Hussein’s regime and bring democracy. To addition to that, US and its allies believed that Iraq had secret stocks of chemical and nuclear weapons, hence Iraq was a threat to the world (Axford 2010). In March 2003, US air bombed Baghdad and Saddam escaped Iraq. The invasion disarmed the government of Saddam Hussein. President Bush in March 2003 gave a premature speech, that tyrant of Iraq has fallen and US has freed its people. President Bush flew into Iraq to show the world that the war is over, even though nothing was accomplished (Kirk et al. 2014). Iraq was facing 13 years of scantions, therefore regime diverted its resources to flexible networks of patronage that kept it in power (Dodge 2007, 88). Iraq faced widespread of lawlessness and after the violent regime changed US could not control the situation. Iraqi civilians were looting, attacking ministries building and this resulted into a series of event (Kirk et al. 2014) . From a military perspective the regime was taken down, but they made no commitment to rebuild or secure the country.
Their branches consist of the Iraqi Army, Navy, Air Force, Iraqi Air Defense, and Iraqi Special Forces. A few wars they have been a part of are World War 1, 3 Persian Gulf Wars (Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom), and a Civil War (currently with ISIS). On 16 January 1991 the Gulf War started with thousands of bombing raids in an effort to evict Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi forces from Kuwait. On 23 February 1991 the ground war started; it ended in a US and multi-national forces victory after 100 hours fighting by ground forces. On September 11, 2001, militant Islamic terrorists hijacked commercial airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people (history.com). The U.S. automatically stepped up investigations into Iraq’s possible connection to the terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda, who were responsible for the attacks. In 2003, President George W. Bush declared war on Iraq and initiated Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2003 Saddam Hussein was captured and was hanged in 2006. His death marked a milestone in U.S. history and in 2011, all troops were brought home ending the War in Iraq. Currently there is a Civil War going on in the country of Iraq with a group known as