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The start of the Iraq War 20 years later in photos

  • By Grace Widyatmadja, Sarah Mosquera/NPR
CAMP SHOUP, KUWAIT:  US Marines from the 2nd battalion/8 MAR, prepare themselves after receiving orders to cross the Iraqi border at Camp Shoup, northern Kuwait, 20 March 2003. US marines and army infantry have advanced 40 kilometers (20 miles) inside Iraq since storming across the Kuwaiti border overnight, a marine officer said early today.    AFP PHOTO/Eric FEFERBERG  (Photo credit should read ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP via Getty Images)

CAMP SHOUP, KUWAIT: US Marines from the 2nd battalion/8 MAR, prepare themselves after receiving orders to cross the Iraqi border at Camp Shoup, northern Kuwait, 20 March 2003. US marines and army infantry have advanced 40 kilometers (20 miles) inside Iraq since storming across the Kuwaiti border overnight, a marine officer said early today. AFP PHOTO/Eric FEFERBERG (Photo credit should read ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP via Getty Images)

On March 20, 2003, the U.S. carried out its first airstrikes in Iraq. Today marks the 20th anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom. We take a look at scenes from the Iraq War in pictures.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ – MARCH 21: (USA and Canada SALES ONLY) Fires burn in and around Saddam Hussein’s Council of Ministers during the first wave of attacks in the “shock and awe” phase of “Operation Iraqi Freedom” on March 21, 2003 in Baghdad, Iraq. (Photo by Mirrorpix/Getty Images) GETTY IMAGES HAS EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO THIS IMAGE IN NORTH AMERICA

 

WASHINGTON – MARCH 21: U.S. President George W. Bush meets with his war council in the Situation Room of the White House March 21, 2003 in Washington, DC. Present at the table are from foreground, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, CIA Director George Tenet, Chief of Staff Andy Card, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard B. Myers. (Photo by Eric Draper/White House/Getty Images)\

NASIRIYAH, IRAQ – MARCH 26: U.S. Marines from Task Force Tarawa search for Iraqi troops March 26, 2003 in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. As night falls on the city, the Marines are on 100 percent alert for a counter attack from Iraqi troops. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

IRAQ – ARPRIL 1: (VIDEO CAPTURE) In this handout image from night-scope video, U.S. military personnel carry U.S. Private First Class Jessica Lynch off of a helicopter April 1, 2003 at an undisclosed location in Iraq. According to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Lynch was rescued from a hospital in Nasiriya, Iraq. Lynch had been missing since March 23 when she and members of her unit, the U.S. Army 507th Maintenance Company, were ambushed by Iraqi forces. (Photo by CENTCOM/Getty Images)

BAGHDAD, IRAQ – APRIL 9: (U.S. AND CANADA SALES ONLY) U.S. Marines pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in the centre of Baghdad. (Photo by Sean Smith/Getty Images)

FILE – Iraqi women line up for a security check by British soldiers on the outskirts of Basra, as they try to flee from this southern Iraqi town on March 30, 2003. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

BAGHDAD, IRAQ – APRIL 13: Iraqi National Museum Deputy Director Mushin Hasan holds his head in his hands as he sits on destroyed artifacts April 13, 2003 in Bagdhad, Iraq. The museum was severely looted in recent days. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

FILE – President George W. Bush speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast on May 1, 2003. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

AL MUSAYYIB, IRAQ – MAY 31: Iraqi men check a body list as sheets containing the remains of bodies excavated from a mass grave lie in the desert May 31, 2003 on the outskirts of Al Musayyib, approximately 50 km (31 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq. The bodies will be transported to a school where other bodies have been brought to try and have family members identify the remains. Locals excavated approximately twenty-three new bodies today, bringing the number of bodies found at this site to 659 since May 17. Locals state that the mass grave contains the remains of hundreds of Shiite Muslims allegedly executed by Saddam Hussein’s regime after their uprising following the 1991 Gulf War. (Photo by Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images)

AD DAWR, IRAQ – DECEMBER 15: The entrance to the “spider hole” where Saddam Hussein was hiding when he was captured is seen from inside the space December 15, 2003 in Ad Dawr, Iraq. Iraq’s notorious dictator was captured in a raid at the compound on December 13. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

NASHVILLE, TN – JANUARY 28: A photo of the capture of Saddam Hussein, subdued during his capture by U.S. Special Forces translator Samir (who uses only his first name), is displayed by a companion of Samir near an Iraqi-election polling place January 28, 2005 in Nashville, Tennessee. Today he enjoyes celebrity status among Iraqis as “the man who found Saddam.” Samir, who now lives in St. Louis, Missouri, traveled twice this week to Nashville – once to register and once to vote. “This is a historic day for my country,” he told reporters. “We have waited for this day for many, many years, and it is finally here. Now is a time to celebrate.” (Photo by Rusty Russell/Getty Images)Images)

BAGHDAD, IRAQ – JANUARY 28: A boy stands at the scene of a car bombing in front of a hotel, that killed at least three people January 28, 2004 in Baghdad, Iraq. A suicide bomber blew up the explosive packed car in front of the Shaheen hotel that is frequented by many westerners and where Iraq’s labor minister lives. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

KARBALA, IRAQ – MARCH 3: Iraqi mourners carry the coffins of those killed the day before in a series of bomb explosions March 3, 2004 in Karbala, Iraq. The day after a series of bomb explosions killed dozens and injured hundreds during the Ashura ceremony in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, Shiite Muslims began burying their dead. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Iraqi insurgents wave their national flag as they celebrate in front of a burning US military tanker after attacking it with rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) 09 April 2004 in Abu Gharib, 15 kms west of Baghdad. A US military convoy was attacked on the road leading Baghdad to Fallujah. AFP PHOTO/Antonio SCORZA (Photo credit should read ANTONIO SCORZA/AFP via Getty Images)

FILE – This late 2003 file image obtained by The Associated Press shows an unidentified detainee standing on a box with a bag on his head and wires attached to him, at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. (AP Photo, File)

FALLUJAH, IRAQ – MAY 3: People look at rows of graves at an overflowing cemetery built in a soccer arena, on May 3, 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. An estimated 1,300 Iraqis have been killed during the month-long siege of Fallujah and the death toll continues to rise as residents return home to find more bodies. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

NAJAF, IRAQ – AUGUST 7: Iraqi Shiite militiamen prepare to fire their weapons during clashes with U.S. Marines August 7, 2004 in Najaf, Iraq. Fighting continued for the third day between Iraqi combatants and multinational forces in the holy city of al-Najaf. (Photo by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Getty Images)

NAJAF, IRAQ – AUGUST 27: Iraqi Shiite faithfuls queue outside the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf, today August 27 today August 27, 2004 to mark the end of conlict. The rebel leader Moqtada al-Sadr today ordered his fighters to lay down their arms in a peace deal brokered by Iraq’s most revered Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. (Photo by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Getty Images)

FALLUJAH, IRAQ – NOVEMBER 10: U.S. Marines of the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) company, as part of 1st Battalion 3rd Marines, search houses for insurgents November 10, 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. It is reported that U.S. forces have taken 70 percent of the city. (Photo by Scott Peterson/Getty Images)

FALLUJAH, IRAQ – NOVEMBER 22: US Marines of the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) company, as part of 1st Battalion 3rd Marines, use explosive to open rooftop doors, as they search houses for insurgents on November 22, 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. US commanders hope that seizing control of the insurgent nerve center of Fallujah before January elections in Iraq will decapitate the anti-US rebellion across the country. (Photo by Scott Peterson/Getty Images)

TAL AFAR, IRAQ – JANUARY 17: Spc. Franklin Smith pulls away as a 120mm mortar blasts out of a tube January 17, 2005 at the edge of the US airbase in Tal Afar, Iraq. US mortaring teams frequently fire “harassment and interdiction” mortar fusillades from the base to suspected enemy positions or watched areas nearby. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

BAGHDAD – JANUARY 30: Voters look over their ballots before voting behind a cardboard screen on Election Day in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad January 30, 2005 in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq ‘s first multiparty elections in half a century began at 7am on Sunday. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

BAGHDAD, IRAQ – MAY 12: The scene of a car bomb explosion May, 12, 2005 in eastern Baghdad, Iraq. The device exploded near a busy marketplace in a mainly Shiite district of eastern Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and injuring 20 according to the Iraqi police. The attack came only one day after a wave of attacks which killed at least 69 and wounded 160. (Photo by Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images)

FILE – In this Feb. 22, 2006 file photo, Iraqis gather at the ruins of the al-Askari mosque in Samarra, Iraq. A car bomb killed eight pilgrims Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011, on the road to one of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines, a highly sensitive site still being rebuilt after a 2006 attack that sheered off its gleaming golden dome and engulfed the country in years of sectarian bloodshed. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed, File)

TOPSHOT – US soldiers of the 3rd battalion 2nd Stryker cavalry regiment patrol in the village of al-Wajihiya, 30 kms away from the restive city of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, 04 January 2008. Diyala, one of the most dangerous areas of the country, has been hit by a spate of shootings, suicide attacks and roadside bombings in recent days. AFP PHOTO / ALI YUSSEF (Photo by ALI YUSSEF / AFP) (Photo by ALI YUSSEF/AFP via Getty Images)

TOPSHOT – An Iraqi boy watches as US soldiers from 3rd Squadron 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment patrol through his neighbourhood in the restive Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, on March 19, 2008. On the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, US President George W. Bush today defended his decision to go to war, vowing no retreat as he promised the battle against extremists would end in victory. AFP PHOTO/DAVID FURST (Photo by DAVID FURST / AFP) (Photo by DAVID FURST/AFP via Getty Images)

BAGHDAD, IRAQ, APRIL 27: An Iraqi woman walks with her children on April 27, 2008 during a sandstorm in Baghdad, Iraq. Approximately 8 rockets hit Baghdad’s Green Zone today as militants used the sandstorm’s cover to launch one of their largest recent attacks. (Photo by Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images)

BAGHDAD, IRAQ – OCTOBER 18: Shiite demonstrators carry Iraqi flags during a protest against a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact October 18, 2008 in Baghdad, Iraq. Supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr protested against the agreement which would replace the existing U.N. mandate authorizing the U.S.-led forces in Iraq. The new agreement would require American forces to leave by December 31, 2011 unless the Iraqi government asked them to stay. (Photo by Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images)

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY PRASHANT RAO Iraqi prisoners hold their hands to their heads as they are escorted by US soldiers from one unit to another at a US-run detention centre in Camp Cropper on the outskirts of Baghdad on June 23, 2009. US combat troops may have left Iraq’s towns and cities but the yellow jumpsuit-clad inmates currently behind bars will remain in US-run prisons for months to come. At Camp Cropper, where 3,500 detainees are held, US commanders acknowledge there is much work to be done when it comes to training Iraqis to operate their own prison system. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

An Iraqi weeps as he walks away from the ministries of justice and labour following a suicide bombing on October 25, 2009. Twin suicide car bombs blasted the justice ministry and the provincial offices in central Baghdad killing at least 90 people and injuring 600 others. AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit should read AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

The national flag flutters as Iraqi Shiite Muslims take part in Friday noon prayers in Baghdad’s impoverished Sadr City on November 28, 2009. Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr today declared three days of mourning across Iraq in the wake of parliament’s approval of a security pact with the United States. Sadr called on his supporters to “put up black flags, organise mourning ceremonies across the country and hold peaceful demonstrations. AFP PHOTO / ALI AL-SAADI (Photo by ALI AL-SAADI / AFP) (Photo by ALI AL-SAADI/AFP via Getty Images)

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – JANUARY 05: U.S. Army National Guard Specialist Jose Guillen-Verde of the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team hugs his mother, Denia Metivier, during a deployment ceremony on January 5, 2010 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The ceremony, honoring the Florida National Guard�s 1st Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment, is the first in a series of company-level and battalion-level deployment ceremonies taking place this week throughout the Florida. The event honored 600 of the nearly 2,500 members of the Florida National Guard’s 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team who are being deployed to Kuwait and Iraq, the largest single-unit deployment of Florida National Guard since World War II. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

BAGHDAD, IRAQ, JANUARY 26: A crater marks the site of yesterday’s car bomb explosion on January 26, 2010 near the Al-Hamra hotel in Baghdad, Iraq. Three car bombs exploded on January 25, 2010 targeting hotels used by foreign journalists and businessmen in Baghdad, Iraq. The Bombings killed at least 36 people and injuring many more. (Photo by Muhannad Fala’ah/Getty Images)

Iraqi men carry the coffin of one of the victims of yesterday’s southern Baghdad pool hall triple bombing attack outside a mortuary in the Iraqi capital on April 25, 2010. At least three people were killed and 19 were wounded on April 24 when three bombs exploded in and around the pool hall in Al-Amel, a mostly Shiite district of Baghdad, according to interior ministry officials. AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit should read AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Smoke billows from a burning car in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on July 23, 2010 following a blast which seriously wounded the city’s police chief Borhan Habib Tayeb and killed his son. AFP PHOTO/MARWAN IBRAHIM (Photo credit should read MARWAN IBRAHIM/AFP via Getty Images)

An Iraqi man sits on the rubble of his destroyed home on September 20, 2010, a day after two near-simultaneous car bombs rocked the Iraqi capital, killing 29 and wounding 111 in the city’s deadliest day in a month. AFP PHOTO/KHALIL AL-MURSHIDI (Photo credit should read KHALIL AL-MURSHIDI/AFP via Getty Images)

NASIRIYAH, IRAQ – DECEMBER 17: Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division board a C-17 transport plane to depart from Iraq at Camp Adder, now known as Imam Ali Base, on December 17, 2011 near Nasiriyah, Iraq. Around 500 other troops from the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division ended their presence on Camp Adder, the last remaining American base, and departed in the final American military convoy out of Iraq, arriving into Kuwait in the early morning hours of December 18, 2011. All U.S. troops were scheduled to have departed Iraq by December 31st, 2011. At least 4,485 U.S. military personnel died in service in Iraq. According to the Iraq Body Count, more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died from war-related violence. (Pool photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

NASIRIYAH, IRAQ – DECEMBER 18: Iraqis wave behind a U.S. flag on the dashboard of a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division as part of the last U.S. military convoy to leave Iraq on December 18, 2011 near Nasiriyah, Iraq. All U.S. troops were scheduled to have departed Iraq by December 31st, 2011. At least 4,485 U.S. military personnel died in service in Iraq. According to the Iraq Body Count, more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died from war-related violence. (Photo by Lucas Jackson-Pool/Getty Images)

 

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