Operation Iraqi Freedom accomplished a long-standing U.S. objective, the
overthrow of Saddam Hussein, but replacing his regime with a stable, moderate,
democratic political structure has run into significant difficulty. That outcome
would contribute to preventing Iraq from becoming a sanctuary for terrorists, a key
recommendation of the September 11 Commission report (Chapter 12, Section 2).
During the 1990s, U.S. efforts to change the regime covertly failed because of limited
U.S. commitment, disorganization of the Iraqi opposition, and the vigilance of Iraq’s
several overlapping security services. Previous U.S. Administrations had ruled out
a U.S. military invasion to change the regime, believing such action would be risky
and that Iraq did not necessarily pose a level of threat that would justify doing so.
President George W. Bush characterized Iraq as a grave potential threat to the United
States because of its refusal to abandon its weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
programs and its potential to transfer WMD to terrorist groups. After a November
2002-March 2003 round of U.N. WMD inspections in which Iraq’s cooperation was
mixed, on March 19, 2003, the United States launched Operation Iraqi Freedom to
disarm Iraq and change its regime. The regime fell on April 9, 2003.
