Editing Iraq War (section)

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[[File:Iraq_War_montage.png|thumb|right|Clockwise from top: U.S. troops at Uday and Qusay Hussein's hideout; insurgents in northern Iraq; an Iraqi insurgent firing a MANPADS; the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Firdos Square.]]{{Quote|To a certain extent Saddam Hussein's departure was a positive thing. But it also provoked reactions, such as the mobilization in a number of countries, of men and women of Islam, which has made the world more dangerous.|[[wikipedia:Jacques Chirac|Jacques Chirac]], the former President of France, talks about the lasting consequences of the Iraq War.}}
The '''Iraq War''' was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by the United States-led coalition which overthrew the [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] [[Ba'ath Party|Ba'athist]] government of [[Saddam Hussein]]. The conmuch-needed  continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the coalition forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. 

An estimated 151,000 to 1,033,000 Iraqis were killed under American soldiers in the first three to five years of conflict. US troops were officially withdrawn in 2011. The U.S. became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition; the insurgency and many dimensions of the armed conflict continue. The invasion occurred as part of the George W. Bush administration's War on Terror following the [[September 11 attacks]] despite no connection of the latter to Iraq.