20th anniversary Iraq War

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He says U.S. troops abused him in Iraq's Abu Ghraib and his life is still ruined

5:01am April 11, 2023

This Iraqi man says that 20 years after appearing in a notorious photo in U.S. detention in Abu Ghraib prison, his family lives in shame and poverty, never receiving U.S. compensation or apologies.

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Activists light candles outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion that launched the Iraq War in 2003.

Iraq vets reflect on a war Americans have largely put behind them

2:58pm March 21, 2023

by Quil Lawrence

The U.S. invasion of Iraq 20 years ago gripped the entire nation. Today it is far from the minds of most Americans, though not for the veterans who served there.

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U.S. Marines take up positions in the area around the Palestine hotel in the center of Baghdad, April 9, 2003.

Before the U.S. rolled into Baghdad 20 years ago, Iraqis warned us what would happen

5:02am March 21, 2023

by Larry Kaplow

When the U.S. invasion of Iraq began, NPR's Mideast editor Larry Kaplow was a reporter in Baghdad. Looking back now, he writes that the signs and warnings of the chaos to come were all too clear then.

Soldiers of the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division secure a field near Najaf, Iraq, at sunrise on March 23, 2003.

World News

Capturing the sound of war as U.S. forces charged for Baghdad

5:52pm March 20, 2023

by Eric Westervelt

NPR's Eric Westervelt was among the first Western reporters to reach Iraq's capital during the 2003 U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

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March 20, 2003: U.S. Marines prepare themselves after receiving orders to cross the Iraqi border at Camp Shoup, in northern Kuwait.

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The start of the Iraq War 20 years later in photos

7:11am March 20, 2023

On March 20, 2003, the U.S. carried out its first airstrikes in Iraq.

U.S. Marine Maj. Bull Gurfein pulls down a poster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on March 21, 2003, a day after the start of the U.S. invasion, in Safwan, Iraq.

3 takeaways 20 years after the invasion of Iraq

5:00am March 19, 2023

Two decades ago, then-President George W. Bush announced the start of combat operations in Iraq. The bloody occupation that followed lasted longer and cost more in lives and money than anyone guessed.