20 years ago, the United States and its allies invaded Iraq without the authorization of the UN Security Council. The operation was called "Shock and Trembling".

The fighting began with high-precision strikes by the naval forces and the Air Force on military and state facilities of the Arab country. Following this, after artillery training, the US ground forces crossed the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. Taking advantage of the military-technical superiority, the Americans quickly suppressed the organized resistance of the Iraqi army and on April 9 occupied Baghdad. On May 1, U.S. President George W. Bush announced the end of the operation and the beginning of the military occupation of Iraq.

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein took refuge in one of the houses near his hometown of Tikrit (about 200 km from the capital). He was taken prisoner in late 2003 and executed by hanging on December 30, 2006.

In a comment to RT, vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, said that the intervention showed Washington's readiness and ability to interfere in the affairs of sovereign countries with the use of military force, completely destroying their statehood.

"The United States has demonstrated that it is an absolute hegemon and is free to decide the fate of even very large states at its discretion. With the help of the Iraq campaign, the United States clearly made it clear to the whole world that only their own interests are important to them and that they are ready to eliminate those who are undesirable to them, "said Bruter.

"Preserve hegemony"

The main reason for the invasion of Iraq was accusations of the development of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

At the end of January 2002, in a speech to Congress, the US president announced the existence of the so-called axis of evil, uniting Iraq, Iran and North Korea. Bush Jr. claimed that these countries produce WMD and are accomplices of terrorism. In the fall, the head of the White House moved to open threats against Hussein and authorized a sharp increase in the military budget.

  • RT - about the reasons for the US invasion of Iraq

On February 5, 2003, US Secretary of State Colin Powell at the UN Security Council announced that the Hussein regime had chemical weapons. As evidence, the official demonstrated a test tube with a white substance, saying that these are samples of WMD.

Powell said that the Iraqis allegedly produce biological weapons in some mobile laboratories. Earlier, such information was published in the report of the scientist-microbiologist, adviser to the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain on the problems of biological weapons David Kelly.

However, the scientist after the invasion of coalition forces in Iraq admitted that he was guided by erroneous information. He stated that Hussein did not have any mobile laboratories. In July 2003, his body was found 8 km from his home in Oxfordshire. According to investigators, Kelly committed suicide.

During the occupation of Iraq, the coalition also did not provide any evidence of the development of weapons of mass destruction. And already in 2010, the Pentagon publicly acknowledged the fact of the inconsistency of the suspicions that served as a pretext for invading the Arab country.

According to Vladimir Bruter, the far-fetched accusations were necessary to demonize the image of Hussein both at the national and global level. Thus, Washington and London hoped to justify their aggressive actions. However, this plan failed - many NATO countries refused to participate in hostilities, and the Americans staged large-scale anti-war protests, the analyst recalls.

Experts believe that the main goal of the overthrow of Hussein is Washington's desire to destroy the dynamically developing integration processes in the Middle East. To do this, as American strategists believed, it was necessary to eliminate the Iraqi statehood and destabilize the situation in other countries of the region.

"In the bush administration, they talked a lot about the importance of protecting freedom and democratic values, but in reality they proceeded from the idea that the key to preserving the global hegemony of the United States should be a course to destroy integration processes that are beyond Washington's control," Dmitry Zhantiev, candidate of historical sciences, associate professor of the Department of History of the Near and Middle East of the ISAA of Moscow State University, said in an interview with RT.

In his opinion, the invasion of Iraq was aimed primarily at stopping the integration of Arab countries within the framework of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC).

  • U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell at the Un Security Council, February 5, 2003
  • AP
  • © Elise Amendola

A similar point of view is shared by the arabist political observer Vyacheslav Matuzov. In a comment to RT, he explained that the dismantling of Iraqi statehood allowed the United States to weaken cooperation between the countries of the Persian Gulf and launch the process of "redrawing the political contour of the entire region."

"After Yugoslavia, the main "enemy" of America was Islam and the Islamic world. Against him, Washington mobilized large resources. Americans needed revolutionary transformations that would be expressed in disintegration, destabilization, regime change, and the chaos of interfaith and civil wars. Unfortunately, much of this plan has been implemented," Matuzov said.

Thus, the reforms initiated by the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, Paul Bremer, led to the fact that a significant part of the new political elite of the country was Made up of Shiites. This caused strong discontent among the local Sunnis, who constituted the numerical majority and held high-ranking positions under Hussein.

Earlier, the ruling Ba'ath Party was outlawed, and its members, including privates, were deprived of the opportunity to work in civil service bodies and hold previous positions.

"Millions of people in occupied Iraq have found themselves without means of subsistence. It wasn't just law enforcement officers. Due to nominal affiliation with the Baath, many doctors, teachers, and engineers became unemployed overnight. The discontent of Sunnis and former Baath members eventually resulted in a powerful insurgency that opposed the Americans and the new authorities," Zhantiev said.

Moreover, the destruction of Iraqi statehood was one of the reasons for the radicalization of Sunnism and the birth of the "Islamic State"*, the ranks of which were joined by former Baathists and tribal alliances of southwestern Iraq.

Despite the deterioration of the situation for the new government of the country, the US military was not going to maintain a large-scale military presence there. In 2008, Washington and Baghdad agreed on the gradual withdrawal of coalition troops from the republic over the next three years. This process was completed in December 2011.

Since the beginning of the operation, the US army has lost more than 4.4 thousand people. There are no exact data on the death of the Iraqi military and civilian population. According to the World Health Organization, other structures and the media, hundreds of thousands of people could become victims of hostilities during the invasion and during the occupation.

The Iraqi scenario

According to experts, the departure of the American army led to a rapid degradation of the situation in Iraq. Sunni groups have become noticeably more active, and the security forces trained and armed by the Pentagon have been unable to counter them.

In the summer of 2014, militants under the black banners of isIS occupied about 40% of the territory of Iraq. In August of that year, U.S. President Barack Obama authorized a new operation in Iraq to fight the Islamic State, protect Yazidi Kurds and the U.S. consulate in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

  • IS MILITANT
  • Gettyimages.ru

Dozens of states were involved in the operation called "Unshakable Resolve". At the same time, the United States did not deploy its own ground forces, but relied on fire support for local armed groups.

"Unwavering determination" extended to the territory of Syria - in this Arab republic there was also a strong ISIS and there were Kurds opposing terrorists. However, for a long time, the Americans could not achieve serious success.

The situation has changed significantly only during the Syrian operation, which was launched by Russia at the end of September 2015. The strikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the offensive of local ground forces led to the defeat of ISIS and other terrorist groups, experts say.

According to Matuzov, it is the United States that bears the main responsibility for the rampant terrorism throughout the Middle East.

"Washington has created conditions for an already turbulent region to burst into flames. The invasion of Iraq was just the beginning. In 2010-2011, the so-called Arab Spring took place, when mass protests and riots swept almost the entire Middle East. In some countries, civil wars have begun, the influence of terrorists has noticeably strengthened," Matuzov said.

The expert calls the destruction of Libyan statehood a tragedy for the Middle East. Recall that in 2011, the United States and its allies provided military support to the rebels. The rebels were able to achieve significant military successes and brutally dealt with Muammar Gaddafi. The death of the Libyan leader was enthusiastically received by Hillary Clinton, who at that time held the post of US Secretary of State.

"In Libya, in fact, the same thing happened as in Iraq. Gaddafi was an independent politician who advocated the integration of the Arab world. As a result, the statehood of Libya was destroyed, its leader was killed. Libya could not withstand the shocks provoked by the grossest external intervention. The country is still divided, does not have the opportunity to develop normally," Matuzov stressed.

From the point of view of Vladimir Bruter, the civil conflict in Iraq itself is far from over – there are periodically unrest on religious and political grounds.

In addition, the situation in Iraq is complicated by the fact that the United States maintains a limited military presence there, using it mainly to fight Iran, says Bruter. So, in early January 2020, in Baghdad, the US Armed Forces killed General of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qasem Soleimani with the help of a UAV strike.

  • Iraqis share their stories with RT 20 years after the U.S. invasion

"The situation in Iraq after 20 years remains tense and characterized by political instability. And the United States is not trying to solve the country's problems. Moreover, they use their military presence there to counter Iran. The Americans are playing their own game, interfering in the affairs of the country, putting pressure on the local political elite thanks to such levers of influence as Sunnis and independence-seeking Kurds," Bruter explained.

Dmitry Zhantiev also believes that the United States still has significant influence over Iraq. At the same time, according to him, even the politicians of the republic loyal to Washington do not have confidence in the United States.

"Under the pretext of fighting ISIS, the Americans returned part of the troops to Iraq and increased their influence on the country's leadership. Baghdad is trying to balance and avoids conflicts with Washington. There are loyal forces in Iraq, but even they do not trust the Americans. From my point of view, with the invasion of 2003 and the subsequent policy, the United States showed itself in the Middle East as a force that can only destroy and impose its interests," Zhantiev concluded.

* "Islamic State" (IG, ISIS) - the organization was recognized as a terrorist organization by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 29.12.2014.