History.com: This Day In History (March 19-2003): Invasion of Iraq begins

To remember

• March 19, 2003 > United States + coalition forces primarily from the United Kingdom, initiates war on Iraq.
• U.S. President George W. Bush announced early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people &  to defend the world from grave danger.
• built much of their case for war on specious claim that Iraq, under dictator Saddam Hussein, possessed or was in process of building weapons of mass destruction.
• No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.
• Saddam Hussein went into hiding soon after the American invasion > speaking to his people only through an occasional audiotape.
• U.S. soldiers found Saddam Hussein hiding in a six-to-eight-foot deep hole, nine miles outside his hometown of Tikrit => executed on December 30, 2006

Levant's Agora

By History.com Editors.

On March 19, 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 specious claim 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…

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