{
  "id": "iraq-2003-2011",
  "title": "Iraq War · 2003–2011",
  "startDate": "2003-01-01",
  "endDate": "2011-12-31",
  "reviewedAt": "2026-10-30",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "bush-2003-03-17",
      "title": "President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours",
      "publisher": "White House; National Archives historical archive",
      "date": "2003-03-17",
      "url": "https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030317-7.html",
      "locator": "17 March 2003 address, paragraph beginning “Intelligence gathered”",
      "notes": "Contemporaneous statement of the administration's position; evidence that the claim was made, not independent proof of its substance."
    },
    {
      "id": "bush-2003-03-19",
      "title": "President Bush Addresses the Nation",
      "publisher": "White House; National Archives historical archive",
      "date": "2003-03-19",
      "url": "https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-17.html",
      "locator": "19 March 2003, 10:16 p.m. EST; opening two paragraphs",
      "notes": "The page uses the U.S. announcement date. It was already 20 March in Iraq."
    },
    {
      "id": "wmd-commission-2005",
      "title": "Report to the President: Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction",
      "publisher": "U.S. WMD Commission; National Archives White House archive",
      "date": "2005-03-31",
      "url": "https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/wmd/report.html",
      "locator": "Overview, Introduction; Chapter One, Iraq, opening assessment and ISG findings",
      "notes": "Retrospective official review. Its summary of Iraq Survey Group findings distinguishes stockpiles and renewed production from historical capabilities and intentions."
    },
    {
      "id": "anaconda-fa-2006",
      "title": "Joint Tactical Targeting for Base Security in Iraq",
      "publisher": "U.S. Army Field Artillery magazine; Douglas W. Winton and Patrick M. Antonietti",
      "date": "2006-10-31",
      "dateLabel": "September–October 2006 issue (publication day unknown)",
      "datePrecision": "issue-interval",
      "url": "https://tradocfcoeccafcoepfwprod.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/fires-bulletin-archive/2006/SEP_OCT_2006/SEP_OCT_2006_FULLVERSION.pdf#page=45",
      "locator": "September–October 2006, printed pp. 40–43; incident paragraph on printed p. 43",
      "notes": "Later participant-authored Army professional-journal account, not a contemporaneous incident report. Exact publication day unknown; 31 October is only a conservative availability cutoff. The government archive URL currently fails DNS retrieval. A verified U.S. Field Artillery Association mirror of this issue is linked below; its header and incident text match the indexed Army article, but byte identity with the unavailable government copy has not been established.",
      "alternateUrls": [
        {
          "url": "https://assets.noviams.com/novi-file-uploads/usfaa/pdfs-and-documents/Field_Artillery_Journals/2006-5-7cc3b221.pdf#page=45",
          "label": "Read the issue — USFAA publisher mirror (not a government host)",
          "publisher": "U.S. Field Artillery Association",
          "kind": "publisher-mirror",
          "verifiedAt": "2026-10-30T22:55:47.333Z",
          "sha256": "4dc409ba9bbba28f08c878b1b00cf2720363261369528069df086229305081df"
        }
      ],
      "availability": {
        "status": "primary-url-unavailable",
        "checkedAt": "2026-10-30",
        "note": "Legacy government archive endpoint DNS retrieval failed; accessible publisher mirror provided."
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "gao-07-612t",
      "title": "Stabilizing Iraq: Factors Impeding the Development of Capable Iraqi Security Forces",
      "publisher": "U.S. Government Accountability Office",
      "date": "2007-03-13",
      "url": "https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-07-612t",
      "locator": "Highlights; report section on sectarian and militia influences",
      "notes": "Product page lists publication and public release as 13 March 2007. Accessible-text wrapper says released 14 March; use catalog date and retain this discrepancy. Reports DIA's November 2006 assessment, not incident-level attacker identification."
    },
    {
      "id": "gao-07-1195",
      "title": "Iraqi Government Has Not Met Most Legislative, Security, and Economic Benchmarks",
      "publisher": "U.S. Government Accountability Office",
      "date": "2007-09-04",
      "url": "https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-07-1195",
      "locator": "Report Highlights, “What GAO Found”; assessment as of 30 August 2007; PDF at https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-07-1195.pdf",
      "notes": "GAO's assessment of achievement differs from the administration's statutory task of reporting satisfactory progress. State and DOD disagreed with some benchmark assessments."
    },
    {
      "id": "gao-12-856t",
      "title": "Mission Iraq: State and DOD Face Challenges in Finalizing Support and Security Capabilities",
      "publisher": "U.S. Government Accountability Office",
      "date": "2012-06-28",
      "url": "https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-12-856t",
      "locator": "“Why GAO Did This Study,” first paragraph",
      "notes": "Later government account establishes the 18 December 2011 transition date; a diplomatic mission continued. Publication falls outside this map's event period."
    }
  ],
  "events": [
    {
      "id": "iraq-wmd-claim-2003",
      "title": "WMD possession claim before the invasion",
      "date": "2003-03-17",
      "dateBasis": "Date of the contemporaneous presidential address. Comparison finding was published 31 March 2005.",
      "kind": "claim",
      "summary": "A prewar possession claim can be compared with the later official intelligence review.",
      "geography": {
        "type": "region",
        "featureId": "IRQ",
        "label": "Iraq — countrywide scope",
        "precision": "National scope; no control-area inference"
      },
      "claim": {
        "text": "President Bush asserted that intelligence established Iraq's continued possession and concealment of lethal weapons.",
        "date": "2003-03-17",
        "sourceIds": [
          "bush-2003-03-17"
        ]
      },
      "finding": {
        "text": "The commission reported that ISG found no substantial chemical stockpiles, no biological-agent stockpiles or mobile production facilities, and no evidence of nuclear-program reconstitution after 1991.",
        "date": "2005-03-31",
        "sourceIds": [
          "wmd-commission-2005"
        ],
        "relationship": "contradicts"
      },
      "confidence": {
        "level": "high",
        "basis": "Both the original address and later official review are directly available; confidence concerns this documented comparison."
      },
      "attribution": {
        "status": "not-applicable",
        "text": "Policy and intelligence claim; no attacker attribution.",
        "sourceIds": []
      },
      "limitations": "This comparison addresses prewar stockpile and program claims. It does not imply Iraq never had chemical weapons or that every historical munition was absent.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "bush-2003-03-17",
        "wmd-commission-2005"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "iraq-opening-announcement-2003",
      "title": "U.S. announces opening military operations",
      "date": "2003-03-19",
      "dateBasis": "U.S. date printed on the 10:16 p.m. EST announcement; already 20 March in Iraq.",
      "kind": "milestone",
      "summary": "The White House announced that American and coalition military operations had begun.",
      "geography": {
        "type": "region",
        "featureId": "IRQ",
        "label": "Iraq — countrywide scope",
        "precision": "National scope; no control-area inference"
      },
      "claim": {
        "text": "The address described strikes against selected military targets and the opening stage of a broader campaign.",
        "date": "2003-03-19",
        "sourceIds": [
          "bush-2003-03-19"
        ]
      },
      "finding": {
        "text": "This is an official announcement of operations, not a geographic record of unit movements.",
        "date": "2003-03-19",
        "sourceIds": [
          "bush-2003-03-19"
        ],
        "relationship": "context"
      },
      "confidence": {
        "level": "high",
        "basis": "Dated, contemporaneous White House transcript."
      },
      "attribution": {
        "status": "source-reported",
        "text": "The president identified American and coalition forces as conducting the operations.",
        "sourceIds": [
          "bush-2003-03-19"
        ]
      },
      "limitations": "Country shading marks the scope of the announcement. It does not show strike locations, occupied territory, or troop routes.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "bush-2003-03-19"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "anaconda-mortars-2005-09-05",
      "title": "Reported mortar attacks on LSA Anaconda",
      "date": "2005-09-05",
      "dateBasis": "Incident date explicitly stated in a later September–October 2006 Army journal account; publication day unknown.",
      "kind": "incident",
      "summary": "An Army journal article describes two mortar-cell attacks before sunrise on this date.",
      "geography": {
        "type": "point",
        "coordinates": [
          44.37,
          33.94
        ],
        "label": "LSA Anaconda / Balad air base — approximate location",
        "precision": "Approximate Balad/base orientation point using NASA geodesy metadata; not firing coordinates, a base boundary, or an exact impact site. See map provenance for the geographic reference.",
        "mapLabel": "LSA Anaconda"
      },
      "claim": {
        "text": "The participant-authored account reports two separate mortar attacks against LSA Anaconda and a radar-assisted response.",
        "date": "2006-10-31",
        "dateLabel": "September–October 2006 issue; publication day unknown",
        "sourceIds": [
          "anaconda-fa-2006"
        ]
      },
      "finding": {
        "text": "The article calls the crews insurgents but does not establish a named organizational affiliation.",
        "date": "2006-10-31",
        "dateLabel": "September–October 2006 issue; publication day unknown",
        "sourceIds": [
          "anaconda-fa-2006"
        ],
        "relationship": "qualifies"
      },
      "confidence": {
        "level": "moderate",
        "basis": "A specific dated incident appears in an official Army professional journal, but this is one later participant account without independent incident-record corroboration here."
      },
      "attribution": {
        "status": "unresolved",
        "text": "Mortar crews are source-reported; their group affiliation remains unknown in this record.",
        "sourceIds": [
          "anaconda-fa-2006"
        ]
      },
      "limitations": "This may help a veteran identify a possible incident, but cannot establish their presence or link their memory to this attack. No attacker identity, firing coordinates, or route is inferred.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "anaconda-fa-2006"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "gao-security-forces-2007",
      "title": "GAO reports divided loyalties in security forces",
      "date": "2007-03-13",
      "dateBasis": "GAO product-page publication date. Describes conditions and assessments from 2006–early 2007, not a single day's attack.",
      "kind": "finding",
      "summary": "An oversight report describes overlapping state, sectarian, and militia influences.",
      "geography": {
        "type": "region",
        "featureId": "IRQ",
        "label": "Iraq — countrywide scope",
        "precision": "National scope; no control-area inference"
      },
      "claim": {
        "text": "GAO describes the U.S. goal of developing capable Iraqi forces able to assume security responsibilities.",
        "date": "2007-03-13",
        "sourceIds": [
          "gao-07-612t"
        ]
      },
      "finding": {
        "text": "GAO reported divided loyalties and cited DIA's assessment of Badr Organization and Mahdi Army infiltration in the Interior Ministry and police.",
        "date": "2007-03-13",
        "sourceIds": [
          "gao-07-612t"
        ],
        "relationship": "qualifies"
      },
      "confidence": {
        "level": "high",
        "basis": "High confidence that GAO reported these assessments; this does not independently verify every underlying intelligence judgment."
      },
      "attribution": {
        "status": "source-reported",
        "text": "Named militia influences are attributed to GAO's reporting of DIA, not assigned to the Anaconda incident.",
        "sourceIds": [
          "gao-07-612t"
        ]
      },
      "limitations": "Organizational context cannot identify an attacker at another time or place, or justify treating all Iraqis, civilians, women, or children as combatants.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "gao-07-612t"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "gao-benchmarks-2007",
      "title": "GAO assesses Iraq's reconstruction benchmarks",
      "date": "2007-09-04",
      "dateBasis": "Report publication date; benchmark status assessed as of 30 August 2007.",
      "kind": "finding",
      "summary": "A documented assessment separates policy targets from measured outcomes.",
      "geography": {
        "type": "region",
        "featureId": "IRQ",
        "label": "Iraq — countrywide scope",
        "precision": "National scope; no control-area inference"
      },
      "claim": {
        "text": "The law required reporting against 18 benchmarks; this is a policy framework, not a claim that all were achieved.",
        "date": "2007-09-04",
        "sourceIds": [
          "gao-07-1195"
        ]
      },
      "finding": {
        "text": "GAO assessed three as met, four as partially met, and eleven as unmet as of 30 August 2007.",
        "date": "2007-09-04",
        "sourceIds": [
          "gao-07-1195"
        ],
        "relationship": "context"
      },
      "confidence": {
        "level": "high",
        "basis": "The report provides the assessment and an explicit observation cutoff."
      },
      "attribution": {
        "status": "not-applicable",
        "text": "Oversight findings; no incident-level perpetrator identified.",
        "sourceIds": []
      },
      "limitations": "Achievement and satisfactory progress used different statutory standards; a difference in these ratings alone is not proof of deception. State and DOD disputed some assessments.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "gao-07-1195"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "usfi-withdrawal-2011",
      "title": "Last U.S. Forces–Iraq units leave",
      "date": "2011-12-18",
      "dateBasis": "Underlying event date stated by GAO in testimony published 28 June 2012.",
      "kind": "milestone",
      "summary": "GAO dates the transition from a DOD-led military presence to a State-led diplomatic mission to this day.",
      "geography": {
        "type": "region",
        "featureId": "IRQ",
        "label": "Iraq — countrywide scope",
        "precision": "National scope; no control-area inference"
      },
      "claim": {
        "text": "The later GAO testimony reports that the last U.S. Forces–Iraq units left Iraq on 18 December 2011.",
        "date": "2012-06-28",
        "sourceIds": [
          "gao-12-856t"
        ]
      },
      "finding": {
        "text": "The same account describes a continuing diplomatic mission; withdrawal is not a claim that all American presence ended.",
        "date": "2012-06-28",
        "sourceIds": [
          "gao-12-856t"
        ],
        "relationship": "qualifies"
      },
      "confidence": {
        "level": "high",
        "basis": "A dated GAO account states the event date and transition scope."
      },
      "attribution": {
        "status": "source-reported",
        "text": "U.S. Forces–Iraq is the named withdrawing organization.",
        "sourceIds": [
          "gao-12-856t"
        ]
      },
      "limitations": "No convoy route is represented. This 2003–2011 collection does not cover later U.S. operations in Iraq.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "gao-12-856t"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "viewport": {
    "west": 36,
    "north": 38,
    "scaleX": 52,
    "scaleY": 55,
    "left": 70,
    "top": 35
  }
}