The main battlefield of the Gulf War is not in Iraq. The United States was authorized by the United Nations in the Gulf War. In the Iraq war, the United Nations repeatedly refused to pass the resolution that the United States entered the war, but the United States bypassed the United Nations and directly launched the war. In other words, this war is illegal. More examples can be cited about this degree of problem.
On March 20, 2003, the United States and Britain-based joint forces formally declared war on Iraq. The armies of Australia and Poland also took part in this joint military operation. This military operation began after the expiration of the ultimatum issued by US President George W Bush to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, demanding that he and his son leave Iraq within 48 hours.
The joint force consists of 65,438+200,000 American troops, 45,000 British troops, 2,000 Australian troops and 200 Polish troops, in addition to about 50,000 Iraqi rebels. They officially launched a military strike against Iraq through the US military base stationed in Kuwait, and received the support of a large number of air-based and sea-based aviation in the Gulf region.
Accompanied by 10 1 air assault division and some troops of the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States, the 3rd Infantry Division of the United States advanced from the desert in the northwest of Kuwait to Baghdad. On the other hand, in the southeast of Iraq, the First Expeditionary Force of the United States Marine Corps and the British Expeditionary Force (including the 4th and 7th armored brigades and the 1st armored division composed of several marines) launched a pincer-like offensive to open the sea passage in Iraq. Two weeks after the war, the US military invested 173 airborne brigade and special forces in the northern mountainous areas of Iraq, and formed an alliance with local Kurdish armed forces. However, due to the opposition of the Turkish parliament, the Fourth Infantry Division, which the United States expected to invest in the north, failed to participate in the fighting there.
After two weeks of fierce fighting, the British army first took control of Basra, an oil town in southern Iraq and the second largest city in Iraq. Humanitarian crises such as water and electricity cuts have occurred from time to time in various parts of Iraq. Many international humanitarian organizations send relief supplies to Iraq. Most of these aid materials entered Iraq from Umm Qasr controlled by Coalition forces, and some of them entered Iraq from Kuwait.
About three weeks after the war broke out, the US military successfully entered the urban area of Baghdad without any stubborn resistance on the way. Iraqi officials suddenly disappeared and their whereabouts were unknown, and a large number of Iraqi troops surrendered to the US military. After that, Iraqi cities such as Baghdad and Basra fell into anarchy one after another. There are frequent robberies in Baghdad, and the urban order is in chaos. The Baghdad Museum was ransacked, tens of thousands of precious cultural relics disappeared, and a large number of ancient relics were destroyed in the war. Some Iraqis criticized the US military for not trying to maintain the security in Baghdad.