Iraq War
Dates:  Began March 20, 2003

The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein.  The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government.  An estimated 151,000 to 6000,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3 to 4 years of conflict.  The United States officially withdrew from the country in 2011, but left private security contractors in its place to continue the war.  It became re-involved in 2014 as the head of a new coalition.