Mar 19, 2003
On this day in 2003, the United States, along with coalition forces primarily from the United Kingdom, initiates war on Iraq. Just after explosions began to rock Baghdad, Iraq's capital, U.S. President George W. Bush announced in a televised address, "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." President Bush and his advisors built much of their case for war on the idea that Iraq, under dictator Saddam Hussein, possessed or was in the process of building weapons of mass destruction.
Hostilities began about 90 minutes after the U.S.-imposed deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or face war passed. The first targets, which Bush said were "of military importance," were hit with Tomahawk cruise missiles from U.S. fighter-bombers and warships stationed in the Persian Gulf. In response to the attacks, Republic of Iraq radio in Baghdad announced, "the evil ones, the enemies of God, the homeland and humanity, have committed the stupidity of aggression against our homeland and people."
Though Saddam Hussein had declared in early March 2003 that, "it is without doubt that the faithful will be victorious against aggression," he went into hiding soon after the American invasion, speaking to his people only through an occasional audiotape. Coalition forces were able to topple his regime and capture Iraq's major cities in just three weeks, sustaining few casualties. President Bush declared the end of major combat operations on May 1, 2003. Despite the defeat of conventional military forces in Iraq, an insurgency has continued an intense guerrilla war in the nation in the years since military victory was announced, resulting in thousands of coalition military, insurgent and civilian deaths.
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Remember the lives lost?
2003 4862004 8492005 8462006 8232007 9042008 3142009 1492010 602011 542012 1total4,486
I know I've told you about this before Kathie, but my son called me from Italy and voice echoing due to being in a large hanger. He wanted to tell me he loved me, that something was about to happen but that he would be ok and to not worry about him. Then he admitted he was in the hanger, that at the gates of the base they were on there were thousands of people protesting the US going into Iraq, and the only tv they could get in English were channels like CNN, which of course were only showing the protests here, vs. the many of us showing our love and support of our troops. Whether or not we believed this should happen I never, ever wanted my son to experience what his father did coming home, and for a long time after serving in Vietnam. It broke my heart when he asked me if it was true that our own American's hated them for being part of OIF. I was crying but trying not to show it when I told him the news was not showing all the thousands on the sides of roads, the interstates, on top of bridges and more with huge signs showing support our troops. Being 173rd Airborne, and what they do I knew enough to not ask what was going to happen but knew he needed to know this before it did, and prayed he believed me. I fell asleep with the news on, and woke up to this: http://anysoldier.com/brian/Iraq/. It was a couple months before I heard anything from him, but knowing the military no news was good news. Those years, and all we've been through since due to his two tours with the Sky Soldiers, and then PsyOps, and now a Wounded Warrior, but so proud of his service and helping other vets has had it's impact. We are so very proud of him.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you my dear friend.
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