Quick questions on 2003 Iraq War, invasion and fall of Baghdad: HSC Modern History Conflict in the Gulf

Operation Iraqi Freedom involved around 175,000 Coalition troops at invasion: 148,000 US, 26,000 UK, 2,000 Australian, 200 Polish special forces. The main US ground force was V Corps under Lt Gen William Wallace (3rd Infantry Division, 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne) and I Marine Expeditionary Force under Lt Gen James Conway (1st Marine Division, Task Force Tarawa). The British 1st Armoured Division under Major General Robin Brims handled the Basra sector. Australian forces included the SAS Regiment.

The political ultimatum expired at 04:00 Baghdad time on 20 March 2003. The first strike came earlier than planned: at 05:34 Baghdad time on 20 March, two F-117s and 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles struck Dora Farm south of Baghdad based on CIA tips that Saddam was sleeping there. Saddam was not present.

The 3rd ID under Major General Buford Blount conducted the fastest sustained armoured advance in US Army history: around 230 kilometres in 48 hours. The Republican Guard's Medina Division was engaged at Karbala (31 March-1 April).

3rd ID reached Saddam International Airport on 3 April. The Battle for the airport on 3-4 April saw heavy Iraqi resistance. The airport was secured by 5 April.

By 9 April 2003 the Iraqi government had collapsed. Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf gave his last press conference before disappearing. Iraqi state television went off air. Saddam, his sons Uday and Qusay, and the senior regime figures dispersed.

In the absence of organised Coalition civil control, Baghdad and other cities were extensively looted from 9 to 21 April. Government ministries (except the Oil Ministry), the National Museum (around 15,000 items stolen), the National Library, universities, hospitals, ammunition dumps, and Saddam's palaces were stripped.

President Bush flew an S-3B Viking aircraft to the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on 1 May 2003. He addressed the nation from the carrier deck under a "Mission Accomplished" banner:

Lt Gen Jay Garner had run the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance from 21 April 2003. Bush replaced Garner with L. Paul "Jerry" Bremer III on 6 May 2003. Bremer arrived in Baghdad on 13 May.

Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed in a firefight at a Mosul villa on 22 July 2003. Saddam himself was captured on 13 December 2003 at Dawr near Tikrit, hidden in a six-foot underground "spider hole" by Task Force 121 and the 4th Infantry Division.

Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor (Cobra II, 2006) is the standard operational history.

Excluded the top four ranks of the Baath Party (around 30,000 senior members) from any government, military, or educational position. Removed the country's professional class.

Disbanded the Iraqi army (around 400,000), the air force, the Republican Guard, the Special Republican Guard, the Ministry of Information, and seven other regime bodies. Around 500,000 Iraqis lost employment overnight.

Major combat was over; the longer war had not begun.

The three weeks of looting caused more damage than the war.

The regular army melted; Fedayeen and Sunni irregulars provided the determined urban resistance.