war+in+iraq+jh

=**__THE WAR IN IRAQ__**=

===The **Iraq War** (also known as the **Occupation of Iraq**,the **Second Gulf War**,and **Operation Iraqi Freedom** is a military campaign that began on March 20, 2003,with the invasion of Iraq by a multinational force led by troops from the United States and the United Kingdom. The last U.S. combat brigade left Iraq on August 19, 2010. On August 31, U.S. president Barack Obama declared an end to combat operations. Approximately 50,000 U.S. troops still remain in the country in an "advise and assist" capacity.=== ===Prior to the invasion, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom asserted that the possibility of Iraq employing weapons of mass destruction threatened their security and that of their coalition/regional allies. In 2002, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1441 which called for Iraq to completely cooperate with UN weapon inspectors to verify that it was not in possession of WMD and cruise missiles. Availed of access through such cooperation the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission found no evidence of WMD. More conclusively accurate verification of Iraq's compliant disarmament requiring some additional months of inspections was not undertaken. Lead weapons inspector Hans Blix advised the UN Security Council that while Iraq was cooperating in terms of access, Iraq's declarations with regards to WMD could not be verified at the time, but the confirmation of disarmament through inspections could be achieved within "months".===