OnMarch 18, 2003, President George W. Bush of the United States of America set a deadline for the ruler of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, and his two sons, Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein to leave the country, or face military action. This was the consequence of a period of failed United Nations diplomacy. By the time of the ultimatum, political and military preparations for the invasion were well advanced.
Political preparation for war began in earnest during the period of weapons inspections in Iraq over the winter of 2002-2003, carried out by a team led by Hans Blix with the authority of UN Security Council Resolution 1441. The U.S. and its principal allies, the United Kingdom and Spain, maintained a sceptical position on the results of the inspections procedure. By 2003, the U.S. was keen to invade Iraq and secure the goal some argued it had ultimately been pursuing all along - the toppling of Saddam Hussein. Under pressure from his Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and his main ally, the U.K., President Bush decided to try and obtain UN backing for an invasion. The so-called "second resolution" (the first being 1441) was eventually drafted and presented to the UN Security Council. It was a tough resolution, calling for immediate compliance with the previous resolutions requiring disarmament, and setting a 10-day deadline for compliance. Critics saw it as an unrealistic ultimatum designed to provide the U.S. with a cause for war, and it met considerable opposition in the security council, with opponents including the permanent members France, China and Germany. After a period of intense diplomacy, President Bush met with his British and Spanish counterparts, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Prime Minister José María Aznar in the AzoresonMarch 15 and 16. Declaring that "diplomacy had failed", he announced the intention to drop the proposed resolution. Subsequently, both the U.S. and the U.K. accused France of effectively blocking the negotiations by threatening to veto the proposed resolution "whatever the circumstances", but France maintained that its position had been intentionally misconstrued. Lacking the "second resolution", the U.S. and the U.K. announced their intention to attack Iraq regardless if Saddam Hussein did not abdicate.
The U.S.' rationale for war depended on several contentions. Firstly, it contended that Iraq was in possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction, which it claimed he might be willing to supply to terrorists. It accused Iraq of supporting terrorism, notably through payments to families of Palestinian suicide bombers. In this way, the U.S. contended, Iraq presented a threat that it would be justified in removing, placing this as a new interpretation of the doctrine of self-defence. It further argues that the U.S. is legally justified in taking military action by previous UN resolutions, most notably 1441 which states that "serious consequences" would result from a failure to disarm on Iraq's part. Some have also argued that the invasion can be considered a resumption of the 1991 Gulf War, which ended with a conditional ceasefire that (they contend) Iraq has subsequently breached.
This position has been criticised on several grounds, including opposition to the claims that:
Military preparations for a possible invasion began in late 2002, with a steady flow of U.S. forces into the Gulf region. By March 17, 2003, around 270,000 U.S. and British troops were in the region. The U.S. forces consisted of:
The planning for the invasion were remarkable for the relative openness of the debate. The main disagreement concerning tactics was between civilian Pentagon officials who prefered a military plan similiar to the U.S. action in Afghanstan involving light forces and mobility, and military officers who preferred a variation of Desert Storm with intense air bombardment followed by a massive ground attack.
The resulting plan was a combination of both approaches and was summarized in a classified document detailing military options for an invasion was prepared for President Bush by American military planners prior to his speech on September 12, 2002 at the United Nations calling for a UN Security Council resolution. [1] Military planning for an invasion seems to have focussed on a short intensive bombing campaign followed by a land invasion by troops based in Kuwait.
To some extent, the air war over Iraq began when the United States and Great Britain enforced "no-fly zones" over the north and the south of the country. The zones were imposed to prevent the Iraqi military from launching helicopter or aircraft strikes on Shi'ite Muslim regions of the south, as Iraq did immediately after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and the Kurdish autonomous zone in the north of the country. Iraq states the imposition of these zones is a violation of national sovereignty. Iraqi anti-aircraft units fire on U.S. and British aircraft; these two nations, in turn, respond with attacks on Iraqi defense sites.
As mentioned above, the plan for the invasion proper called for a massive aerial bombardment to begin, possibly intended to produce a shock and awe effect. Unlike Desert Storm, the air war was planned to use a yet untested doctrine known as effects based air war. Instead of generally destroying targets, the air war was to focus primarily at targets whose destruction is time critical and aim at disrupting and paralyzing the Iraqi army rather than outright destruction of units. US military forces spoke extensively on this part of the war. The development of precision guided munitions, especially the JDAM series of munitions, changed American doctrine on an attack in Iraq. Targets were to be similar to those struck in 1991 - air defense radars, missiles, and command-and-control posts, power distribution, and the road network in Iraq - but JDAM munitions allow a greater degree of precision, and an ability to bomb through cloud cover. In addition, precision guided munitions are intended to reduce civilian causalities.
Prior to the invasion, B-2 Spirit bombers of the 509th Bomb Wing, from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, were moved to Diego Garcia, a British dependency in the Indian Ocean which is leased by the United States. The B-2s were able to carry 2,000-pound precision-guided bombs. Each bomb was guided individually by the Global Positioning System satellite system. Press reports stated that Iraq purchased several hundred GPS jammers to throw off the aim of these bombs.
Wings of B-1 Lancer bombers and F-15 Eagle fighters were alerted for deployment.
In addition to the use of the B-2s, RQ-4 Global Hawk and RQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicles were expected to provide real-time observation of the Iraqi battlefield. The Iraqi Air Force downed a Predator in late December 2002. The UAV, however, is easily replaceable. The E-8 JSTARS radar system was intended to allow American and Coalition observers to track individual Iraqi tanks and trucks and to identify where units are going.
The U.S. government stated that if Iraq used chemical or biological weapons, it may be countered by American nuclear weapons, as per American military doctrine.
