IRAQ (2002-21)
What triggered the US involvement: Reeling from the 2001 al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) towers in New York, the US targeted Iraq, believing that Saddam Hussain’s government possessed nuclear weapons [that was later proved wrong], which posed a threat to America. US President George W. Bush also argued that Iraq provided support to al Qaeda.
When the US and Britain were dissatisfied with Iraq’s compliance on UN nuclear inspections, Bush, on March 17, 2003, issued an ultimatum to Saddam to leave the country in 48 hours. Saddam rejected it, and on March 20, the US and its allies attacked Iraq, dragging America into an involvement that last eight years.
“At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger,” Bush declared on March 19, 2003.
Cost: $1.92 trillion. It includes Pentagon funding for the war, State Department spending, health care of Iraq War veterans, and the interest expense on debt incurred
to fund 17 years of US military involvement in Iraq.
Lives lost: 8,200 (4,500 US military personnel, 3,600 US contractors, 15 US Department of Defence civilians, killed from 2003 to 2011) and up to 200,000 Iraqis.
Circumstances leading to US withdrawal: The US forces withdrew from Baghdad and other major cities on June 30, 2009, as part of the Status of Forces Agreement, which set the stage for the end of combat operations on Aug. 31, 2010. US combat troops eventually withdrew on Dec. 18, 2011.
But they returned at the request of the Iraqi government three years later, when Daesh militants overran large parts of the country. After the Daesh defeat at the end of 2017, US forces remained to help prevent a revival of the terror group. The troops will withdraw by the end of 2021, following an agreement between Joe Biden and Iraqi PM Kadhimi. “Our role in Iraq will be ... to be available, to continue to train, to assist, to help and to deal with ISIS as it arises, but we’re not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission,” Biden said on July 27, 2021.
Final withdrawal date: December 2021.