Iraq War

:For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation) The Iraq war or war in Iraq^, is both an informal and formal term for military conflicts in Iraq that began with the invasion of 2003 by the multinational coalition of American, British, and other forces. The term "Iraq War" has typically refered to the large-scale military hostilities against the Saddam Hussein government of Iraq. This conflict has also been called "The Second Gulf War" and "Gulf War II".

Terminology

Variance in the use of the 'Iraq war' term can be traced to basic differences in the operative definition for 'war' and 'occupation'; as well as the understanding of 'political authority' and 'sovereignty'. For instance, the United States never actually declared war on Iraq (which could only be done by Congress; the last time that Congress made a formal declaration of war was for World War II). However, Iraq was invaded by U.S. military forces. The term Iraq war, is often left uncapitalized to indicate the legal informality and the lack of clarity in distinguishing among various operations and violent episodes. Further definition of the term varies with usage and point of view, hence, depending on the context, the term 'Iraq War' or 'Iraq war' may refer to hostilities in Iraq that fit one of two general contexts: When capitalized, the term Iraq War typically is limited to the 2003 invasion, the hostilities against the Baathist government of Iraq, and the succeeding period of military occupation. The Iraq War in this sense began with the 2003 invasion and ended with the defeat of Saddam Hussein's government and the "old" Iraqi Army. Thus, the capital-W "War" may be seen as limited to the "multinational forces" invasion of March 2003, and the three-week period of full-scale military hostilities between the multinational forces against the established, uniformed military forces (that is, Saddam Hussein's "old" Iraqi Army). According to this view, the "War" ended with the "cessation of major hostilities" between established military forces. Alternatively, if the term includes the subsequent military occupation of Iraq, the "War" ended with the ceremonial handover of sovereignty to the new Iraqi government in June 2004. Though Coalition military officials have used the capitalized phrase Iraq War in this relatively narrow sense, they, and those politically in support of the invasion and current military presence (or 'occupation') also consistently use the terms Iraq war and war in Iraq. A derivative of this viewpoints see much of the current violence almost exclusively as expressions of the Iraqi sectarian divisions, and characterize the occupation as democratic, and preventative of a larger civil war. The informal term "Iraq war" characterizes the various series of conflicts as continuous, beginning with the 2003 invasion and include the violence which resulted as a direct consequence of the invasion and occupation. This is largely used by anti-war activists and war opponents, who also characterize the invasion and occupation as destructive, and a causal force which gave rise to the subsequent violence. (This view usually considers the current violence as both anti-colonialist and sectarian, and characterizes the occupation as anti-democratic, and exacerbating the potential for civil war.) This continuing conflict definition — ie. the references to the invasion, occupation, and post-sovergeinty handover period — includes all hostile conflict in Iraq, specifically the combat among the established military forces and, later, the clandestine, irregular forces of native Iraqi combatants (in conjunction with foreign militants and terrorists) against the multinational forces (and, later, the Iraqi government's new army). Various paramilitary and other militant groups contested the will of the military power and have struggled against the political authority in the country (such as the Coalition Provisional Authority and, more recently, the new sovereign government). Some anti-war activists and war opponents include this violence directed at the Iraqi government (characterized by some as a "rebellion") as part of the "Iraq war". (This view, though, disputes the claim that 'Iraq is now sovereign' and points to the large presence of foreign forces (eg., the multinational forces)). The term "Iraq War" has been used by war proponents, (while the term Bush's War is often used by war opponents and anti-war activists) who characterize the invasion and occupation as a smaller ("necessary") battle within the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). The official United States government designation for overall military operations in Iraq has been "Operation Iraqi Freedom" since 2003. In spite of problems with the definitions and understandings, and due to its basic economy of language, the use of the "Iraq war" term is prominent in news and opinion reports.^{[http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Iraq+war&btnG=Search+News gn]}
War rationales and debates
The more exclusive definitions of the "Iraq War" term (ie. the operations delimited to major hostilities against the Saddam Hussein government of Iraq and limited to the 2003 invasion and the succeeding period of military occupation) rest on rationalisations which tend to disagree, in various opinions, with direct or meaningful comparisons with other conflicts, though these are largely found in stated (or perceived) goals by the Coalition for the invasion and occupation. A better metric to determine precisely who the war is being waged upon should compare the number of civilian Iraqi deaths with the number of Iraqi soldiers killed in the first year of the war. Because the United States has made no effort to estimate civilian casualities, the estimates vary considerably. In contrast, individuals that believe that the "Iraq war" is a continuing conflict base their concept of "war" and "occupation" on more general concepts, as opposed to the definitions of the United Nations, International law, military laws, or political techniques for using language effectively. Being dominantly driven by the United States various critics' eyes, the conflict is characterized by a large and dominant U.S. military presence in a foreign country. To many critics, the Iraq War has parallels with past wars (in particular the Vietnam War). Opponents of the war often hold that the current insurgency conflicts are a direct consequence of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. They hold to concepts defined largely by lessons learned from American involvement in Southeast Asia. Both critics and supporters of the war have disagreed about the validity of the rationales, and over whether the ex post facto failure to find weapons "stockpiles" indicates the destruction or transportation of such weapons prior to the war or failure of intelligence (and, at an extreme, deliberate deceit). The failure of western intelligence to distinguish between these two possibilities is perceived by some as a failure of intelligence. As stated in public speakings such goals have changed notably since 2002, and views differ as to whether past statements should be considered "failed goals" (and, again at an extreme, "deceptive premises") for the war. : Related topic: Rationales of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq
War justifications
Stated or allegedly perceived goals (i.e. pretexts, or proschemata, as opposed to actual reasons, or prophases) of the invasion and occupation as stated by the United States in 2002 before the Iraq invasion are likewise controversial factors. Over time, these have varied. The first calls for war on Iraq came from the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), and the American Enterprise Institute, with arguments based largely on the disruption of the emerging modernizing Islamic Middle East, and the project of American influence into the next century. These reasons were not those originally given (before the 2003 Iraq invasion) by the Bush administration of the United States before or after the initiation of the war, which instead included: # Hussein's regime was in violation of United Nations demands for weapons inspections. The first reason was obviated by the Bush administration, who set a deadline while inspectors were active in Iraq. # the Hussein regime produced and possessed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and posed a grave threat. # Hussein had failed to comply with 19 UN resolutions requiring a full accounting of its weapons of mass destruction and full cooperation with UN inspections.. # that the Hussein regime had ties to al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations that posed a threat to international safety;; and, # promoting democratic self-government in the nearly-entirely autocratic Arab Middle East. Leaders of the multinational coalition have also pointed to human rights issues to justify the war. Saddam's regime's abuse of Iraqi citizens' human rights and the spread of democracy was cited, as articulated in US President George W. Bush 2003 State of the Union Address: : "The dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole villages — leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind, or disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions are obtained — by torturing children while their parents are made to watch. International human rights groups have catalogued other methods used in the torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning. And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country — your enemy is ruling your country. And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of your liberation." [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-19.html]
Proponents of the war
Some who have systematically defended the position for going to war have argued a "fight them over there, so we don't have to fight them over here" rationale. Others have pointed out how the terrorists are losing in Iraq (such as exposed in some of Dr. Zawahiri’s intercepted letters). Some also posit that (since September 11), the United States military has not lost a single battle, the multinational forces has removed a dictatorship, and the foundation for a new democracy in the Middle East has been set down. [http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson101405.html]
Criticisms of the war
September 11 According to opinion polls, the war was unpopular from its beginning in many Coalition countries. The war's unpopularity was reflected in widespread protests, including the largest documented worldwide protest in human history on February 15th, 2003 (eg., a day of Global protests against war in Iraq). The Iraq War was widely viewed by many critics as counterproductive. Many viewed the war as improper (being a moral and ethical violation); and illegal under international law. By the summer of 2005, there was an increase in the number of individuals in the United States that felt the same way. A decorated British Royal Air Force Officer has been court-martialled for refusing to take further part in the war. He was decorated more than once in the Iraq War, and considers that the war is illegal. He has been charged with "refusing to obey a lawful command". And then wrote a book. Since the October 2005 indictment of Lewis Libby, politicians (including some of those who saw the same intelligence that was classified and used by the executive branch in America) and some citizens have begun to question pre-war intelligence and how it may have been misused in order to "sell", in their opinion, a war to the American people.[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10043606/] On the Senate floor on Thursday, November 10 Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) expressed, : "President Bush exaggerated the threat to the American people. It was not subtle. It was not nuanced. It was pure, unadulterated fear-mongering!"
Antiwar rationales
The opponents to the wars' main rationales are, in their opinion, the "fixed intelligence" and "lack of connection to 9/11". Antiwar activists and opponents of the war draw direct parallels to the earlier actions (especially the Vietnam War and other conflicts that the US lost) via several debated elements of evidence. This includes:
- its protracted nature, being defined by the continued dominant presence of coalition soldiers (in particular, United States units),
- the previous changing status of the local government,
- the sectarian factionalism,
- changes and conflicts in the publicly stated goals of the war and later occupation,
- the colonialist character of the occupation (i.e. "colonize the government", blanket and unconditional diplomatic immunity for soldiers, etc.),
- evidence of local activity of paramilitary and militant groups (commonly known as the "insurgency" and, at other times, the "resistance"), political dissidence, and non-violent protests,
- evidence of war crimes (eg., Abu Ghraib, indiscriminate bombing, extra-judicial killings, intentional targeting of civilians, etc.), and
- evidence of fraud, incompetence, and inefficiency of the "reconstruction" (eg., Halliburton, reused MREs, etc.), among other evidence that they believe connects this war to previous military actions. Critics have cited that, economically, the various engagements in Iraq has cost the United States about USD $200,000,000,000, and still costs about USD $6,000,000,000 a month. [http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182] , with exceptionally poor accounting of how the funds are being spent. Concern is growing that corporations with ties to the Bush administration, notably Halliburton, which was provided no-bid contracts that many considered illegal due to their size, to be the primary beneficiaries of the execution of the war.
Countries against
The following countries' governments did not support the War of Iraq:
- The majority of the 114 governments of the Non-Aligned Movement
- Russia
- China
- Pakistan
- Morocco
- Germany
- France
- Canada
- New Zealand
- Belgium
Iraq Survey Group findings
In October 2003, the Iraq Survey Group released the report of interim ISG findings which indicated that small amounts of weapons of mass destruction were uncovered, (including a number of vials containing biological agents stored in the home refrigerators of Iraqi scientists, for example) as well as discoveries of non-WMD programs banned by the United Nations and concealed during the IAEA and UNMOVIC inspections that began in 2002. Kay testified on January 28, 2004 that "the effort that has been directed to this point has been sufficiently intense that it is highly unlikely that there were large stockpiles of deployed, militarized chemical weapons [in Iraq]". The Iraq Survey Group later released the final ISG report which included the following points: # Iraq had destroyed its stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons after the Gulf War [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,134625,00.html](but discoveries made by the ISG include a "clandestine network of laboratories ... that contained equipment ... suitable for continuing chemical biological weapons research"); # Saddam Hussein convinced his top military commanders that Iraq did indeed possess WMD that could be used against any U.S. invasion force, in order to prevent a coup over the prospects of fighting the U.S.-led Coalition without these weapons; # Iraq's main goal was to end sanctions while preserving the capability to reconstitute WMD production; # Iraq had intended to restart all banned weapons programs as soon as multilateral sanctions against it had been dropped, a prospect that the Iraqi government saw coming soon; # Iraq used procurement contracts allowed under the Oil for Food program to buy influence among U.N. Security Council member states; # No senior Iraqi official interviewed by the ISG believed that Saddam had forsaken WMD forever; # There was "no indication [Iraq had] resumed fissile material or nuclear weapon research and development activities since 1991" (though there was extensive amount of "documents and equipment, hidden in scientists' homes, that would have been useful in resuming uranium enrichment by centrifuge and electromagnetic isotope separation"[http://www.cia.gov/cia/public_affairs/speeches/2003/david_kay_10022003.html] and a "number of post-1995 activities that would have aided the reconstitution of the nuclear weapons program once sanctions were lifted". [http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/chap4.html]). David Kay opened his testimony during the "Kay Report" at a Senate panel by stating "We were almost all wrong" on Iraq (a quote commonly missattributed to the later head of the ISG, Charles Duelfer,[http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2004/cyb20041011.asp#2] [http://watch.windsofchange.net/themes_94.htm#wrong]). Kay went on though to say that, "Iraq was in clear violation of the terms of Resolution 1441". He stated, "the work of the Iraq Survey Group has shown that Saddam Hussein had WMD intentions, had WMD programs that did survive, and did outwit for 12 years the United Nations Security Council and the resolutions [...] in large measure." Kay did "believe that the effort that has been directed to this point has been sufficiently intense that it is highly unlikely that there were large stockpiles of deployed militarized chemical and biological weapons there". He also stated, in spite of missing stockpiles, that "the world is far safer with [...] the removal of Saddam Hussein." q[http://www.ceip.org/files/projects/npp/pdf/Iraq/kaytestimony.pdf]
War of Iraq
The War of Iraq (2003) was the war in the Middle East country of Iraq, which resulted from the the Iraq disarmament crisis of late 2002 and began with the invasion of 2003. The war was between the Iraqi military and a coalition of multinational forces. The United States and the United Kingdom were the two major components of the US-dubbed "Coalition of the willing" that invaded and deposed Saddam Hussein's regime. This was done because Hussein had failed to comply with 19 UN resolutions requiring a full accounting of its weapons of mass destruction and full cooperation with UN inspections . The forces opposing the coalition units were the conscript Iraqi Regular Army. They were reinforced and strengthened by the Republican Guard and Fedayeen Saddam, but quickly gave up. In post-invasion Iraq (2003–2005), after the Hussein regime had been overthrown, activity centered around coalition and U.N. efforts to establishing a sovereign state. According to some opinion polls, the war was unpopular from the outset in many Coalition countries. The "War of Iraq" refers to the war proper, beginning with the 2003 invasion, continuing in the occupation, and ending at the handover of sovereignty to the new Iraqi government. This conflict resulted in the defeat of the Iraqi regular Army and its supportive divisions. (ed., the details of this are cover in this article)
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Operation Iraqi Freedom — often rumored to have been originally called Operation Iraqi Liberation before being changed due to an unwanted acronym — had the following military objectives, according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: # to end the regime of Saddam Hussein. # to identify, isolate and eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. # to search for, to capture and to drive out terrorists from that country. # to collect such intelligence as we can related to terrorist networks. # to collect such intelligence as we can related to the global network of illicit weapons of mass destruction # to end sanctions and to immediately deliver humanitarian support to the displaced and to many needy Iraqi citizens. # to secure Iraq's oil fields and resources, which belong to the Iraqi people. # to help the Iraqi people create conditions for a transition to a representative self-government.
Prior to invasion
Donald Rumsfeld Prior to invasion, the United States and other coalition forces involved in the 1991 Persian Gulf War had been engaged in a low-level conflict with Iraq, enforcing Iraqi no-fly zones. Iraqi air-defense installations were engaged on a fairly regular basis after repeatedly targeting American and British air patrols. In mid-2002, the U.S. began to change its response strategy, more carefully selecting targets in the southern part of the country in order to disrupt the military command structure in Iraq. A change in enforcement tactics was acknowledged at the time, but it was not made public that this was part of a plan known as Operation Southern Watch. The weight of bombs dropped increased from none in March 2002 and 0.3 in April 2002 to between 8 and 14 tons per month in May-August, reaching a pre-war peak of 54.6 tons in September - prior to Congress' 11 October authorisation of the invasion. The September attacks included a 5 September 100-aircraft attack on the main air defence site in western Iraq. According to The New Statesman this was "Located at the furthest extreme of the southern no-fly zone, far away from the areas that needed to be patrolled to prevent attacks on the Shias, it was destroyed not because it was a threat to the patrols, but to allow allied special forces operating from Jordan to enter Iraq undetected."
Combat and occupation summary
Coalition forces managed to topple the government and capture the key cities of a large nation in only 28 days, taking minimal losses while also trying to avoid large civilian deaths and even high numbers of dead Iraqi military forces. The invasion was, in a military context, a complete success, and did not require the huge army built up for the 1991 Gulf War, which numbered half a million Allied troops. This did prove short-sighted, however, due to requirement for a much larger force to combat the irregular Iraqi forces in the aftermath of the war. The Saddam-built army had no weapons that could stand up to Coalition forces, and managed only to stage a few ambushes that gained a great deal of media attention but in reality did nothing to slow the Coalition advance. The Iraqi T-72 tanks, the heaviest armored vehicles in the Iraqi Army, were both outdated and ill-maintained, and when they did stand up to Coalition forces they were destroyed quickly, thanks in part due to the Coalition's control of the air. The U.S. Air Force and British Royal Air Force operated with impunity throughout the country, pinpointing heavily defended enemy targets and destroying them before ground troops arrived. The main battle tanks (MBT) of the Coalition forces, the U.S. M1 Abrams and British Challenger 2, proved their worth in the rapid advance across the country. Even with the large number of RPG attacks by irregular Iraqi forces, few Coalition tanks were lost and no tank crewmen were killed by hostile fire. All three British tank crew fatalities were a result of friendly fire. The only tank loss sustained by the British Army was a Challenger 2 of the Queen's Royal Lancers that was hit by another Challenger 2, killing two crewmen. The Iraqi Army suffered from poor morale, even amongst the supposedly elite Republican Guard, and entire units simply melted away into the crowds upon the approach of Coalition troops. Other Iraqi Army officers were bribed by the CIA or coerced into surrendering to coalition forces. Worse, the Iraqi Army had incompetent leadership - reports state that Qusay Hussein, charged with the defense of Baghdad, dramatically shifted the positions of the two main divisions protecting Baghdad several times in the days before the arrival of U.S. forces, and as a result the units within were both confused and further demoralized when the U.S. Army attacked. By no means did the Coalition invasion force see the entire Iraqi military thrown against it, and it is assumed that most units disintegrated to either join the growing Iraqi insurgency or return to their homes.
Invasion
On March 20 2003 at approximately 02:30 UTC (05:30 local time), about 90 minutes after the lapse of the 48-hour deadline set by the coalition for Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq, explosions were heard in Baghdad and Australian Special Air Service Regiment personnel crossed the border into southern Iraq. At 03:15 UTC, or 10:15 pm EST, U.S. President George W. Bush announced that he had ordered the coalition to launch an "attack of opportunity" against targets in Iraq. Before the invasion, many observers had expected a lengthy campaign of aerial bombing in advance of any ground action, taking as examples the Persian Gulf War or the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. In practice, U.S. plans envisioned simultaneous air and ground assaults to decapitate the Iraqi forces as fast as possible (see Shock and Awe), attempting to bypass Iraqi military units and cities in most cases. The assumption was that superior U.S. mobility and coordination would allow the U.S. to attack the heart of the Iraqi command structure and destroy it in a short time, which would minimize civilian deaths and damage to infrastructure. It was expected that the elimination of the leadership would lead to the collapse of the army and the government, and that much of the population would support the invaders once the government had been weakened. Occupation of cities and attacks on peripheral military units were viewed as undesirable distractions. Following Turkey's (muslim country) decision to deny any official use of its territory, the U.S. was forced to abandon a planned simultaneous attack from north and south, so the primary bases for the invasion were in Kuwait and other Persian Gulf nations. One result of this was that one of the divisions intended for the invasion was forced to relocate and was unable to take part in the invasion until well into the war. Persian Gulf image of Baghdad, April 2, 2003.]] 2003 The invasion was swift, with the collapse of the Iraq government and the military of Iraq in about three weeks. The oil infrastructure of Iraq was rapidly secured with limited damage in that time. Securing the oil infrastructure was considered important. Presumably, oil infrastructure was secured for financial reasons (for the Iraqi people) as well as strategic (for military operations). In the first Persian Gulf War, while retreating from Kuwait, the Iraqi army had set many oil wells on fire, in an attempt to disguise troop movements and to distract Coalition forces — a side effect of these actions were many environmental problems. The British Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade launched an air and amphibious assault on the Al-Faw peninsula during the closing hours of 20 March to secure the oil fields there; the amphibious assault was supported by frigates of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy. The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, attached to 3 Commando Brigade, attacked the port of Umm Qasr. The British 16 Air Assault Brigade also secured the oilfields in southern Iraq in places like Rumaila. In keeping with the rapid advance plan, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division moved westward and then northward through the desert toward Baghdad, while the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and 1 (UK) Armoured Division moved northward through marshland. All forces avoided major cities except when necessary to capture river crossings over the Tigris and Euphrates. The British 7 Armoured Brigade ('The Desert Rats') fought their way into Iraq's second-largest city, Basra, on 6 April, coming under constant attack by regulars and Fedayeen, while the 3rd Parachute Regiment cleared the 'old quarter' of the city that was inaccessible to vehicles. The entering of Basra had only been achieved after two weeks of conflict, which included the biggest tank battle by British forces since World War II when the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks on 27 March. The UK's control of the city was, however, limited. Element's of 1 (UK) Armoured Division began to advance north towards U.S. positions around Al Amarah on 9 April. Pre-existing electrical and water shortages continued through the conflict and looting began as Iraqi forces collapsed. While British forces began working with local Iraqi Police to enforce order, humanitarian aid began to arrive from ships landing in the port city of Umm Qasr and trucks entering the country through Kuwait. After a rapid initial advance, the first major pause occurred in the vicinity of Hillah and Karbala, where U.S. leading elements, hampered by dust storms, met resistance from Iraqi troops and paused for some days for re-supply before continuing toward Baghdad. The first Civil Affairs unit to enter Iraq, the 411th Civil Affairs Battalion, was on hand to restore basic services, distribute humanitarian aide, and begin the arduous process of building a democratic government from scratch. This unit would later play a pivotol role in the Iraqi elections when they returned to Iraq a second time. The 2nd Battalion of the U.S. 5th Special Forces Group (part of the Green Berets) conducted reconnaissance in the cities of Basra, Karbala and various other locations. In the North 10th SFG had the mission of aiding the Kurdish factions such as the Union of Kurdistan and the Democratic Party of Kurdistan. Turkey had officially forbidden any US troops from using their bases, so lead elements of the 10th had to make certain detours; their journey was supposed to take four hours but instead it took ten. However, Turkey did allow the use of its air space and so the rest of the 10th flew in. The mission was to destroy Ansar al-Islam and a Kurdish faction. The target was Sargat and after heavy fighting with both groups the special forces finally took Sargat and pushed the remaining units out of Northern Iraq. After Sargat was taken, Bravo Company along with their Kurdish Allies pushed south towards Tikrit and the surrounding towns of Northern Iraq. During the Battle of the Green Line, Bravo Company with their Kurdish allies pushed back, destroyed, or routed 13th Iraqi Armoured and Infantry Division. Bravo took Tikrit. The 173rd Airborne Brigade parachuted into H3, an Iraqi Airfield, and secured it for future use. Iraq was the largest deployment of Special Forces since Vietnam.
Fall of Baghdad
Three weeks into the invasion, U.S. forces moved into Baghdad. Initial plans were for armor units to surround the city and a street-to-street battle to commence using Airborne units. However, within days a "Thunder Run" of US tanks was launched to test Iraqi defenses, with about 30 tanks rushing from a staging base to the Baghdad airport. They met heavy resistance, including many suicide attacks, but launched another run two days later into the Palaces of Saddam Hussein, where they established a base. Within hours of the palace seizure, and television coverage of this spreading through Iraq, Iraqi resistance crumbled around the city. Iraqi government officials had either disappeared or had conceded defeat. On April 9 2003, Baghdad was formally secured by US forces and the power of Saddam Hussein was declared ended. Saddam had vanished, and his whereabouts were unknown. Many Iraqis celebrated the downfall of Saddam by vandalizing the many portraits and statues of him together with other pieces of his personality cult. personality cultOne widely publicized event was the dramatic toppling of a large statue of Saddam in central Baghdad by a US tank, while a crowd of Iraqis apparently cheered the Marines on. The spontaneity of this event has been disputed, with evidence that it was staged by US forces. More detail is available under media coverage. General Tommy Franks assumed control of Iraq as the supreme commander of occupation forces. Shortly after the sudden collapse of the defense of Baghdad, rumors were circulating in Iraq and elsewhere that there had been a deal struck (a "safqua") wherein the US had bribed key members of the Iraqi military elite and/or the Ba'ath party itself to stand down. In May 2003, General Franks retired, and confirmed in an interview with Defense Week that the U.S. had paid Iraqi military leaders to defect. The extent of the defections and their effect on the war are unclear. Coalition troops promptly began searching for the key members of Saddam Hussein's government. These individuals were identified by a variety of means, most famously through sets of most-wanted Iraqi playing cards.
Seizure of other areas
In the north, Kurdish forces opposed to Saddam Hussein had already occupied for years an autonomous area in northern Iraq. With the assistance of U.S. Special Forces and airstrikes, they were able to rout the Iraqi units near them and, on 10 April, to occupy oil-rich Kirkuk, a city of significant emotional importance to Kurds, causing further complications in U.S.-Turkish relations. Coalition special forces had also been involved in the extreme west of Iraq, attempting to occupy key roads to Syria and airbases. In one case two armored platoons were used to convince Iraqi leadership that an entire armored battalion was entrenched in the west of Iraq. On 15 April, Multinational forces mostly took control of Tikrit, the last major outpost in central Iraq, with an attack led by the U.S. Marines' Task Force Tarawa (comprised of units from 1st Marine Expeditionary Force) and followed by elements of the Army's 4th Infantry Division.
Bush's 'Mission Accomplished'
On 1 May 2003 George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in a Lockheed S-3 Viking, where he gave a speech announcing the end of major combat operations in the Iraq war. Bush's landing was criticized by opponents as an overly theatrical and expensive stunt. Clearly visible in the background was a banner stating "Mission Accomplished." It was criticized by some as premature - especially later as the guerrilla war dragged on. However, one crewmember later stated the banner referred specifically to the aircraft carrier's mission and not the war itself. In the weeks that followed Bush's dramatic aircraft carrier landing, all types of crime significantly increased in Iraq due to the end of the Saddam Hussein regime.
Rise of the insurgency
S-3 Viking In May of 2003, after the Iraqi conventional forces had been defeated, the coalition military noticed a gradually increasing flurry of attacks on the multinational troops in various regions, such as the "Sunni Triangle." In the chaos after the war, massive looting of the infrastructure, and most catastrophically, munitions occurred. According to the Pentagon, 250,000 tons (of 650,000 tons total) of ordnance were looted, providing an endless source of ammunition for the insurgents. The insurgency in Iraq was concentrated in, but not limited to, an area referred to by Western media and the occupying forces as the Sunni triangle. This location includes Baghdad [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraqi_freedom-ops-maps.htm]. Critics point out that the regions where violence was most common was also the most populated regions, but this was not entirely true. The three provinces that had the most number of attacks were Baghdad, Anbar, and Salah Ad Din. Combined they account for 32% of the population. This may be misleading because Baghdad has a low ratio of attacks per capita. This resistance has been described as a type of guerrilla warfare. Insurgent tactics include mortars, suicide bombers, roadside bombs, small arms fire, and RPGs, as well as sabotage against the oil, water, and electrical infrastructure. There is evidence that some of the resistance was organized, perhaps by the fedayeen and other Saddam Hussein or Ba'ath loyalists, religious radicals, Iraqis angered by the occupation, and foreign terrorists. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/135125876_guerrilla30.html] The insurgents are generally known to the Coalition forces as Anti-Iraqi Forces or AIF.
- Operation Planet X (15 May 2003)
Post-invasion Iraq, early- and mid-2003
The post-invasion environment began after the Hussein regime had been overthrown. It centers around Coalition and U.N. efforts to establish a democratic state capable of defending itself , versus various insurgent demands that the foreign forces leave the country Coalition military forces launched several operations around Tigris River peninsula and in the Sunni Triangle. A series of similar operations were launched throughout the summer in the Sunni Triangle. Toward the end of 2003, the intensity and pace of insurgent attacks began to increase. A sharp surge in guerilla attacks, ushered in an insurgent effort that was termed the “Ramadan Offensive,” as it coincided with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Coaliton forces brought to bear the use of air power for the first time since the end of the war. Suspected ambush sites and mortar launching positions struck from the air and with dfjmsfdgmlery fire. Surveillance of major routes, patrols, and raids on suspected insurgents were stepped up. In addition, two villages, including Saddam’s birthplace of al-Auja and the small town of Abu Hishma were wrapped in barbed wire and carefully monitored. On 22 July 2003, during a raid by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division and men from Task Force 20, Saddam Hussein's sons (Uday and Qusay) and one of his grandsons were killed.
- Operation Peninsula Strike (09 June 2003 - 12 June 2003)
- Operation Desert Scorpion (15 June 2003 - 29 June 2003)
- Operation Scorpion Sting
- Operation Spartan Scorpion
- Operation Rifles Scorpion
- Operation Sidewinder (29 June 2003 - 07 July 2003)
- Operation Soda Mountain (12 July 2003 - 17 July 2003)
- Operation Ivy Serpent (12 July 2003 - 21 July 2003)
- Operation Iron Bullet (July 2003)
- Operation Tyr (July 2004)
- Operation Ivy Lightning (12 August 2003)
- Operation Silverado (16 August 2003)
- Operation Ivy Needle (26 August 2003 - ?)
- Operation Longstreet (September 2003)
- Operation Tiger Clean Sweep (07 September 2003)
- Operation Industrial Sweep (October 2003)
- Operation Chamberlain (15 October 2003 - ?)
- Operation Sweeney (15 October 2003 - ?)
- Operation O.K. Corral (19 October 2003)
- Operation Iron Hammer (November 2003)
- Operation Eagle Curtain (November 2003)
- Operation All American Tiger (06 November 2003 - ?)
- Operation Ivy Cyclone (07 November 2003 - ?)
- Operation Ivy Cyclone II (17 November 2003 - ?)
- Operation Boothill (10 November 2003)
- Operation Rifles Blitz (20 November 2003 - ?)
- Operation Rifle Sweep (26 November 2003)
- Operation Bayonet Lightning (02 December 2003)
- Operation Bulldog Mammoth (04 December 2003 - ?)
- Operation Clear Area (06 December 2003)
- Operation Abilene (08 December 2003)
- Operation Panther Squeeze (10 December 2003)
Capture of Saddam
Operation Panther Squeeze In the wave of intelligence information fueling the raids on remaining Ba’ath Party members connected to insurgency, Saddam Hussein himself was captured on December 13 2003 on a farm near Tikrit. The operation was conducted by the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division and members of Task Force 121.
- Operation Red Dawn (13 December 2003)
Post-invasion Iraq, late-2003
With the capture of Saddam and a drop in the number of insurgent attacks (an average of 18 a day), some concluded the multinational forces were prevailing in the fight against the insurgency. With the weather growing cooler, United States forces were able to operate in full armor which reduced their casualty rate. The provisional government began training a security force intended to defend critical infrastructure, and the United States promised over $20 billion in reconstruction money in the form of credit against Iraq's future oil revenues. Of this, less than half a billion dollars had been spent in 10 months after it had been promised. Oil revenues were also used for rebuilding schools and for work on the electrical and refining infrastructure. Shortly after the capture of Saddam, elements left out of the CPA began to agitate for elections and the formation of a Iraqi Interim Government. Most prominent among these was the Shia cleric Ali al-Sistani. More insurgents stepped up their activities. The two most turbulent centers were the area around Fallujah and the poor Shia sections of cities from Baghdad to Basra in the south.
- Operation Panther Backroads (15 December 2003)
- Operation Ivy Blizzard (17 December 2003 - ?)
- Operation Arrowhead Blizzard (17 December 2003 - ?)
- Operation Iron Justice (18 December 2003 - ?)
- Operation Rifles Fury (21 December 2003 - ?)
- Operation Salm (23 December 2003)
- Operation Devil Siphon (23 December 2003 - ?)
- Operation Iron Grip (24 December 2003 - ?)
- Operation Iron Force (24 December 2003 - ?)
- Operation Choke Hold (30 December 2003)
Military occupation, early-2004
Early 2004 was marked by a relative lull in violence. Insurgent forces reorganized during which the multinational forces' tactics were studied and a renewed offensive planned. Guerilla attacks were less intense. During the early occupation, a number of widely-cited humanitarian, tactical, and political errors by United States and United Kingdom planners and forces led to a growing armed resistance, usually called the "Iraqi insurgency" (such as the mainstream media and coalition governments). The anti-occupation forces are believed to be predominantly, but not exclusively, Iraqi Sunni Muslim Arabs, plus some foreign Arab and Muslim fighters, some of the latter tied to al-Qaeda. Several minor coalition members have pulled out of Iraq; this has been widely considered a political success for the anti-occupation forces. The failure to restore basic services to above pre-war levels, where over a decade of sanctions, bombing, corruption, and decaying infrastructure had left major cities functioning at much-reduced levels, also contributed to local anger at the IPA government headed by an executive council. On 2 July 2003, President Bush declared that American troops would remain in Iraq in spite of the attacks, challenging the opponents with "My answer is, Bring 'em on," a line the President later expressed misgivings about having used. In the summer of 2003, the multinational forces focused on hunting down the remaining leaders of the former regime, culminating in the shooting deaths of Saddam's two sons in July. In all, over 200 top leaders of the former regime were killed or captured, as well as numerous lesser functionaries and military personnel.
Increased terrorism and the Mahdi Army
Terroristic acts increased during the beginning of 2004. Hundreds of Iraqi civilians and police were killed over this period in a series of massive bombings. The bombings indicated that as the relevance of Saddam Hussein and his followers was diminishing, radical Islamists, both foreign and Iraqi. An organized Sunni insurgency, with deep roots and both nationalist and Islamist motivations, was becoming clearer. The Mahdi Army also began launching attacks on coalition targets and to seize control from Iraqi security forces. The southern and central portions of Iraq were beginning to erupt in urban guerilla combat as multinational forces attempted to keep control and prepared for a counteroffensive.
- Operation Warhorse Whirlwind (January 2004)
- Operation Iron Resolve (January 2004)
- Operation Market Sweep (13 January 2004)
- Operation Saloon (14 January 2004)
- Operation Rock Slide (15 January 2004)
- Operation Final Cut (28 January 2004 - ?)
- Operation Saber Turner II (February 2004)
- Operation Tomahawk (February 2004)
- Operation Trailblazer (February 2004)
- Operation Eagle Liberty 3 (19 February 2004)
- Operation Devil Clinch (21 February 2004)
- Operation Rocketman (26 February 2004)
Fallujah and the Shiite south
The coalition and the Coalition Provisional Authority decided to face the growing insurgency with a pair of assaults: one on Fallujah, the center of the "Mohammed's Army of Al-Ansar", and another on Najaf, home of an important mosque, which had become the focal point for the Mahdi Army and its activities. Just before the attack on Fallujah, four private military contractors, working for Blackwater USA, were ambushed and their corpses mutilated by a large crowd, receiving a great deal of media attention. mutilate After four private military contractors were killed and mutilated, preperation took place for the US Marines to take over responsibility for al-Anbar province in which Fallujah is located. On April 4, the multinational forces began assaults to clear Fallujah of insurgents. On April 9, the multinational force allowed more than 70,000 women, children and elderly residents to leave the besieged city, reportedly also allowing males of military age to leave. On April 10, the military declared a unilateral truce to allow for humanitarian supplies to enter Fallujah. Troops pulled back to the outskirts of the city; local leaders reciprocated the ceasefire, although lower-level intense fighting on both sides continued. A new documentary released by an Italian Newspaper documents the reported "indiscriminate" use of white phosphorus on insurgents. At least one member of the military confirmed the use of the incendiary weapon against enemy combatants. He state that there was a "technique [of firing] a white phosphorus round into the position because the combined effects of the fire and smoke - and in some case the terror brought about by the explosion on the ground - will drive them out of the holes so that you can kill them with high explosives". This weapon was reportedly directed at insurgents. If true, this use of white phosphorous weapons is a violation of the Geneva convention. The city of Fallujah remained under insurgent control despite the Marine's attempt to recapture it in Operation Vigilant Resolve. In the April battle for Fallujah, Coalition troops killed about 600 insurgents and a number of civilians, while 40 Americans died and hundreds were wounded in a fierce battle. The coalition forces were unable to dislodge the insurgents, and instead suffered repeated attacks on its own rear and flank. The Marines were ordered to stand-down and cordon off the city, maintaining a perimeter around Fallujah. A compromise was reached in order to ensure security within Fallujah itself by creating the local "Fallujah Brigade". While the Marine Division attacking had clear superiority in ground firepower and air support, it decided to accept a truce and a deal which put a former Baathist general in complete charge of the town. This compromise soon fell apart and insurgent control returned. By the end of the spring uprising, the cities of Fallujah, Samarra, Baquba, and Ramadi had been left under guerilla control with coalition patrols in the cities at a minimum. Meanwhile, the fighting continued in the Shiite south. The marines were then shifted south, because Italian and Polish forces were having increasing difficulties retaining control over Nasiriya and Najaf. The marines relieved the Poles and Italians, and put down the overt rebellion, but were unable to reestablish control over the centers of the towns. British forces in Basra were faced with increasing insurgency and became more selective in the areas they patrolled

Iraq war (disambiguation)
right The Iraq war or war in Iraq (and conflict in Iraq) is a colloquial reference to the overall series of different conflicts in Iraq, usually refering to one of the following:
- The War of Iraq (eg., the Iraq War) in the Middle East, which began with the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and ended with the defeat of Saddam Hussein's government and the old Iraqi army.
- The Iraqi insurgency, which resulted from the above "war" or else is within the scope of sectarian violence in Iraq, which began with the post-invasion period, and continues to the present.
Other contexts
Other conflicts that may be intended include:
- The Iraqi uprising of 1920-22 against the British Mandate.
- The Anglo-Iraqi War (1941)
- The Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988)
- The Gulf War (1990–1991), also known as the Persian Gulf War or the First Gulf War prqqweqweqecipitated by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
Other concepts
Other concepts include:
- The Iraq War, a book about the 2003 invasion of Iraq by British historian John Keegan, released in 2004.

Technical writing

A technical writer creates documentation for a field or technology. Their responsibility, like a graphic designer's, is to effectively communicate a message. A technical writer is responsible for writing text that is helpful to their intended audience: accurate, readable, and accessible.

Technical communication

Technical writing, a subset of technical communication, is used in fields as diverse as computer hardware and software, chemistry, the aerospace industry, robotics, consumer electronics, and biotechnology. At the beginning of a project, the technical writer identifies the audience for the documentation. For example, a writer might be documenting how to use a VCR for a non-technical person of average literacy, who needs to know how to set the time and record television shows or for a technician, who must diagnose, repair, or replace internal components. Technical writers often have a certified degree in English, technical writing, the technical field for which they are writing, or a combination of these. It is most important that they have enough expertise to understand their audience's background and needs. Writers who develop documentation for software APIs, microcontroller operation, and other technical subjects are often paid more than those who write guides for a nontechnical audience (for example, how to use email), because it is difficult to find good writers with advanced technical knowledge. After the documentation is written using a desktop publishing tool or a help authoring tool, it is normally reviewed for accuracy by one or more "Subject Matter Experts" (SMEs). Technical writers are known in the United Kingdom and some other countries as technical authors. In the United States, technical writers are sometimes known as information developers.

Technical Writing

The entire point of Technical writing is to communicate and disseminate useful information. Technical communications are created and distributed by most employees in service organizations today, especially by professional staff and management. Writing well is difficult and time-consuming, and writing in a technical way and about technical subjects compounds the difficulties. To be useful, information must be understood and acted upon. Fortunately, tools and techniques are available to make writing more accessible and easy to understand. Effective communications require quality content, language, format, and more. To present the appropriate content, it is imperative to understand one’s audience and writing purpose. If a document does not communicate the information that the writer intends and what he or she wants the reader to understand, then the communication is meaningless. The writer has a self-interest in making the extra effort: looking credible is as important as being credible and getting results in business. Respect and credibility of the writer/speaker are integral to effective communications. Readers will not trust the information from an author if they do not believe that author is a valuable source of information or the purveyor of worthwhile ideas. Furthermore, being respected is essential to being persuasive, a key ingredient in business.

What is Technical Writing?

Technical writing is communication, the primary aim of which is to convey a particular piece of information to a particular reader or group of readers for a particular purpose. It is exposition essentially about scientific subjects and various technical subject associated with sciences. Stated another way, technical writing is "translating technical ideas into words a specific audience will understand."

A "Technical" Approach to Writing

How one writes is as important as what one writes. So, language itself is important to enable readers to understand and believe the written text. Language affects a reader's ability to comprehend and assimilate what a writer is presenting. Furthermore, people can, and do, judge things by outward appearances all the time; it is essential to make good impressions when communicating in a business setting. When one communicates (whether writing, giving a speech, or talking on the phone), information must be presented effectively and, to a large degree, attractively. These elements strongly affect perceived writer and organizational credibility and professionalism -- highly sought-after commodities for individual and organizational success. Format, organization, and style are important in that they make information available, accessible, and readable. Format and the like are the "how" of a written presentation. Format choices can give a document the highly sought-after technical or business "look" organizations hope for. In essence, this is part of "corporate identity" promotion.

Definitions

There are many definitions of technical writing. It is seen as its own species of business writing. Technical writing is a specialized, structured way of writing, where information is presented in a format and manner that best suits the cognitive and psychological needs of the readers, so they can respond to a document as its author intended and achieve the purpose related to that document. Thus, it is writing formatted and shaped to make reading as simple, poignant, unequivocal, and enjoyable as possible (i.e., "user friendly"). It so happens that most technical writing positions are still primarily offered to those who can write effective end-user manuals, system design documents, Web sites, and the like for engineering and IT firms. A good technical writer can write about a complicated technical subject or task in ways that almost anyone can clearly understand. Precision in technical writing tends to be critical because if anything is described incorrectly, readers may act improperly on what is said, causing mistakes and problems at work. The Society for Technical Communication is probably the largest technical writing association. STC defines technical communication as "The process of gathering information from experts and presenting it to an audience in a clear, easily understandable form. "Technical writing and editing is an umbrella term for any sort of professional communication. It's the interface between your ideas and the rest of the world". "Technical writing is the presentation of information that helps the reader solve a particular problem. Technical communicators write, design, and/or edit proposals, manuals, web pages, lab reports, newsletters, and many other kinds of professional documents." It is interesting to note that outside the U.S. the definition of technical writing tends to stay very consistent. A [http://www.e-words.co.uk/technical-writing.htm UK-based firm] asserts that "technical writing is the presentation of information on any scientific, engineering, or technological topic in the form most suited to its user".

Notable Faculty Past and Present

- Shirley Thomas - University of Southern California

Deliverables

Technical writing is most often associated with online Help and user manuals; however, there are other forms of technical content created by technical writers, including:
- White papers
- User guides
- Application programming interface programmers' guides
- Network configuration guides
- Network administrators' guides
- Network recovery guides
- Site preparation guides
- Reference documents
- Training materials
- Installation guides
- Alarm-clearing procedures
- Hardware maintenance and repair procedures
- Troubleshooting guides
- Specifications
- Proposals
- Magazine articles
- Policies and Procedures
- Requirements documentation
- Certification and Accreditation activities
- Procedures
- Release Notes
- Corporate Disclaimers

Associations

- Society for Technical Communication (USA-based)
- Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (UK-based)

External links

;Technical writers
- [http://www.attw.org/ The Association of Teachers of Technical Writing]
- [http://www.docsymmetry.com/ Docsymmetry]
- [http://tc.eserver.org/ EServer Technical Communication (and Technical Writing) Library]
- [http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/index.php3 TECHWR-L, The Internet Forum for Technical Communication]
- [http://www.cherryleaf.com/news_and_information.htm Articles on trends in technical writing]
- [http://www.istc.org.uk/ Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators, The professional body for UK Technical Authors]
- [http://www.keycontent.org/ KeyContent.org] ;Technical writing
- [http://www.docsymmetry.com/ Docsymmetry]
- [http://tc.eserver.org/ EServer Technical Communication (and Technical Writing) Library]
- [http://www.fchcomm.com/whatis.html FCH Communications: What is Technical Writing?]
- [http://www.gnosisvector.com/ Outsourcing Your Documentation to Bangalore]
- [http://www.epictrends.com/resources/technical-writing/hiringtechnicalwriter.shtml Outsourcing Your Documentation]
- [http://www.williamrice.com/content/view/21/ Writing User Manuals from the Middle Out]
- [http://www.cherryleaf.com/article_death.htm The death of the Technical Author?] Category:Technical communication

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded¹ from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the col