Iraq will mark 20 years on Monday since the United States‑led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, but no official celebrations are planned. The oil‑rich nation remains traumatised by the years of war, occupation and bloody sectarian turmoil that followed the operation launched on 20 March 2003. A semblance of normalcy has returned, yet Iraq still battles entrenched challenges, from political instability and poverty to rampant corruption.
Iran, the major Shiite power and arch‑foe of the United States, now wields considerable influence in Iraq, whose Shiite majority was freed from the oppression of the Sunni strongman Saddam. Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al‑Sudani, backed by a pro‑Iranian coalition, has not spoken of the U.S. invasion but only of the “fall of the dictatorial regime” of Saddam, who was later captured, tried and executed. At a Baghdad conference on the eve of the anniversary, Sudani said: “We remember the pain and suffering of our people in those years that were dominated by senseless wars and systematic sabotage.”
The U.S. march to war began under President George W. Bush and accelerated after the September 11 2001 attacks by Osama bin Laden’s Al‑Qaeda. Bush, supported by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, argued that Saddam posed a major threat and was developing weapons of mass destruction—none of which were ever found. Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched with a ground invasion led by 150,000 U.S. and 40,000 British forces, accompanied by the “shock and awe” bombing of strategic sites. Within three weeks Saddam’s regime had collapsed, and the invasion forces seized Baghdad on 9 April. Television footage showed U.S. Marines toppling a giant statue of Saddam, followed by Bush declaring “Mission Accomplished” aboard an American warship.
The invasion sparked widespread disorder and looting, deepened by the U.S. decision to disband the Iraqi state, ruling party and military apparatus. The stated aim of bringing liberal democracy to Iraq was soon derailed by violence and sectarian conflict as Shiite militants battled Sunni groups. By the time U.S. troops withdrew in 2011, the war had claimed more than 100,000 Iraqi civilian lives, according to the Iraq Body Count, while U.S. losses reached nearly 4,500. The bloodshed gave rise to the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State, whose jihadist “caliphate” brought new horrors across Iraq and Syria before its eventual defeat by a U.S.‑led coalition.
Today Iraq holds elections, encourages political plurality and officially guarantees free expression, but in practice politics remain chaotic and marred by sectarian and ethnic conflict. Major anti‑government protests erupted in late 2019, leading to further bloodshed in the streets. Turnout was low for the legislative elections in October 2021, sparking additional infighting and violence before a government was finally formed a year later. A third of Iraq’s population lives in poverty, public services are largely absent, and the energy‑rich country suffers frequent blackouts, especially during the extreme summer heat. Nepotism and corruption are pervasive; coveted posts in a bloated state sector are often obtained through personal connections, while youth unemployment remains rampant. “Successive governments have failed to fight corruption,” laments Abbas Mohamed, a Baghdad engineer in his thirties. “We are going from bad to worse. No government has given anything to the people.” On Sunday, Sudani again pledged to “combat the pandemic of corruption,” but Baghdad day‑labourer Mohamed al‑Askari, like many Iraqis, struggles to keep any real hope alive. “We rejoiced when the regime fell because we thought Iraq would improve,” he said, “but so far we have only suffered.”
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