Iraq. Ten years later

On March 20, 2003, the United States began military operation in Iraq. The main reason for the input of the troops was information about the connection of the President of the country of Saddam Hussein with Al-Qaeda and the production of weapons of mass destruction. Later, this information was more than once refuted.

The American Civil Liability Center, together with the Fund for Independence of Journalism, calculated that from September 2001 to September 2003, the US leadership made 935 false statements for Iraq. President George Bush- 260 : 232 of them-about Hussein’s weapons of mass defeat, was made most of the most incorrect statements, 28 -about the connections of Iraq with Al-Qaeda. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell lied 254 times .

Not only the Americans fought in Iraq. As of March 2003, 49 countries participated in the coalition. The UK (45,000 soldiers), Italy (3200 soldiers), Australia (2000 soldiers), Georgia (2000 soldiers), Ukraine (1650 soldiers), Spain (1300 soldiers) and others sent their soldiers to Iraq. 250,000 military personnel participated from the USA in a military campaign.

The United States applied shells with depleted uranium - during the conflict, about 14,000 tank shells containing this component were released on enemy positions. In total, from 275 to 300 tons of impoverished uranium were used.

According to official figures , during the war in Iraq, 4488 American soldiers died, 32,227 soldiers were injured. Other military contingents lost 317 troops dead. Most of the soldiers after the United States lost the UK - 179 troops.

The listed losses do not include employees of foreign private military and security companies operating in Iraq with the permission and in the interests of the coalition countries. In the period from 2003 to 2010, up to 200,000 employees of 400 private security and military companies operated in Iraq. According to the US Department of Labor, 650 employees of these companies were killed before the beginning of December 2006.

During the period of the occupation of Iraq, foreign troops, according to the US-British non-governmental human rights organization " Iraq Body Count ", died in the country about 122,000 civilians, more than 160,000 were injured and injured. In Baghdad alone , 40.5 thousand people became victims. A quarter of the dead - women and children. These data cannot be considered complete, since IBC calculates only those deaths reported in the media. According to the Opinion Research Business, the total number of dead Iraqis was from 946,000 to 1,120,000 .

The war cost and will cost the United States a total of $ 2.2 trillion , taking into account significant material assistance to war veterans, which will be paid another 40 years .

By 2010, the United States spent $ 44.6 billion for reconstruction. Until mid -2004, coalition servicemen repaired, converted and opened 240 hospitals, 2200 clinics, 2300 educational institutions.