The Iraq War: Lessons Learned?

POLITICAL INSIGHT • JUNE 2023 I n March 2003, military forces led by the US and the UK invaded Iraq. The Iraq War was ostensibly launched to remove the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) posed by the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein. The invasion phase lasted little over a month, but the Iraq War dragged on for years, fundamentally changing the power balance in the Middle East and redefining US and UK foreign policy. The war had a huge impact on Iraq. The Iraqi death toll is so high it can only be estimated: the ‘Iraq Body Count’ project estimates that between 186,694 and 210,058 civilians died. The ‘Cost of War Project’ puts the figure at between 275,087 and 306,495 dead. The UK lost 179 military personnel in Iraq. The decision to join the US in invading Iraq was the most controversial decision in UK foreign policy of the past 40 years. The invasion, and the subsequent occupation of Iraq have come to define much of the The Iraq War: Lessons Learned?