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The occupation of Iraq followed the Iraq war (March 19 to May 1, 2003), which was illegal under international law and with which the so-called coalition of the willing led by the United States overthrew the Iraqi government under dictator Saddam Hussein, and officially ended in December 2011 with the Withdrawal of the last remaining US combat troops from Iraq[3] after the UK had already withdrawn its troops in April 2009.[4]

On May 22, 2003, the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1483, which regulated the role of the UN and the occupying powers after the war. It is true that the political authority of the provisional coalition authority was noted, combined with the reminder that the rules of international law should be respected. But although the preamble to the resolution called for a leading role for the UN, the two powers with the veto only agreed in the final part of the resolution to appoint a UN special representative to support reconstruction. The resolution codified democratic development to form a representative government based on the rule of law, granting equal rights and justice to all Iraqi citizens regardless of ethnicity, religion or gender, and called for the previous Iraqi regime to accountable for the crimes and atrocities he committed.[5] At the beginning of the occupation, the USA, Great Britain and Poland set up three occupation zones in Iraq. The Multi-National Force Iraq, an international joint command, was responsible for the day-to-day and long-term instruction and supervision of the occupying forces. In addition, it acted as an interface between the interests of the occupying countries, the Iraqi federal government and the civilian population.

On January 30, 2005, the first free elections were held in Iraq. 275 seats were allocated in the new Iraqi parliament, at least a third of which had to go to women according to the transitional constitution. The election was overshadowed by fears of terrorism and calls for a boycott by Sunni clerics. Many Sunnis then boycotted the election, as had been feared. Nevertheless, the turnout was around 58%, since the majority of the Shiites and Kurds went to the polls.[6] The predominantly Shia United Iraqi Alliance emerged victorious with 48% of the votes, followed by the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan, and the third most votes went to the secular Iraqi list led by Iyad Allawi. The UIA and the Kurdish party alliance formed a governing coalition. On March 16, 2005, the National Assembly held its first session. After lengthy negotiations, the National Assembly nominated a speaker and his two deputies on April 4th. On April 6, the Assembly elected a President and two Vice-Presidents. Iraq's first president was Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and was succeeded by Adil Abd al-Mahdi, a Shia, and Ghazi al-Yawar, a Sunni. This presidential council nominated a prime minister, who was confirmed by the National Assembly on April 28 with his (until then incomplete) cabinet. The first Prime Minister was Ibrahim al-Jafari, a Shia, deputy Rodsch Nuri Shawais, a Kurd and Abid Mutlaq al-Djiburi, a Sunni, and Ahmad Abd al-Hadi al-Jalabi.

In 2008, the United States signed a statute of forces with Iraq aimed at gradually restoring Iraqi sovereignty. It provided for the withdrawal of occupation forces from Iraqi metropolitan areas by 2009 and the withdrawal of all combat troops by December 31, 2011. The period of occupation was characterized by a violent insurrection against the presence of the coalition of the willing, launched by a number of Iraqi and non-Iraqi actors for a variety of reasons. A political, strategic, and operational realignment of the occupying forces in 2007, encouraged by the bipartisan American Iraq Study Group implemented by General David H. Petraeus, and accompanied by shifts in Iraqi politics itself, mitigated the intensity of this violence without fully reducing it end. This reversal became known around the world as the Surge, and the United States President from 2009, Barack Obama, commissioned Petraeus with a modified implementation in Afghanistan from 2010.

Iraq was not fully politically stabilized when the United States left. In military terms, the occupation underpinned the importance of the war of insurrection and encouraged the proliferation and prominence of IEDs, while enforcing numerous political and legal challenge in the use of private military service providers.

DescriptionIraq 2003 occupation.png	English: Occupation of Iraq 2003–2011
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Author	Kpalion

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