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Summary:
The United States has attempted since the early 1990s to oust Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. Past efforts to change the regime failed because of limited U.S. commitment, disorganization of the Iraqi opposition, and the efficiency and ruthlessness of Iraq's several overlapping security services. Previous U.S. Administrations ruled out major U.S. military action to change Iraq's regime, believing such action would be risky and not necessarily justified by the level of Iraq's lack of compliance on WMD disarmament. Operation Iraqi Freedom accomplished that objective, but the post-war period has, by almost all accounts, proved more difficult than the Administration had anticipated. In his 2002 and 2003 State of the Union messages, President Bush characterized Iraq as a grave potential threat to the United States because of its refusal to verifiably abandon its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs and the potential for it to transfer WMD to terrorist groups. In September 2002, the President told the U.N. General Assembly that unless Iraq fully disarmed in cooperation with United Nations weapons inspectors, the United States would lead a coalition to achieve that disarmament militarily, making clear that this would include the ouster of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein's regime. After a November 2002 - March 2003 round of U.N. 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. In the months prior to the war, the Administration stressed that regime change through U.S.-led military action would yield benefits beyond disarmament and reduction of support for terrorism; benefits such as liberation of the Iraqi people from an oppressive regime and promotion of stability and democracy throughout the Middle East. However, escalating resistance to the U.S.-led occupation, punctuated by the August 19, 2003, truck bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, has contributed to an Administration decision to try to enlist increased foreign participation in post-war peacekeeping and reconstruction and to accelerate the building of Iraqi institutions that can maintain security. Formerly exiled opposition groups form the core of a U.S.-appointed 25-seat "governing council" that was unveiled on July 13, 2003. The Administration hopes that the formation of the council and subsequent appointment of a cabinet will signal that Iraq is moving toward self rule and calm some of the resistance against U.S. occupation forces in Iraq. See also CRS Report RL31833, Iraq: Recent Developments in Humanitarian and Reconstruction Assistance. This report will be updated as warranted by major developments.
