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xiii The Iraq War (2003–2011) has its roots in the 1991 Persian Gulf War (also known as Oper- ation Desert Storm) in which the United States, in conjunction with a co­ali­tion of forces from 35 countries, worked to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Following the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the United Nations (UN) imposed sanctions on Iraq, calling for Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to destroy the country’s arsenal of weapons of mass destruc- tion (WMD). Over the next de­cade, however, Hussein repeatedly evaded attempts by UN weapons inspectors to ensure that the sanc- tions ­were enforced. Upon assuming the U.S. presidency in January 2001, George W. Bush and his administration immediately began calling for renewed efforts ­ toward ridding Iraq of WMD—an endeavor that greatly intensified ­after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. In Bush’s 2002 State of the Union Address, he castigated Iraq for continuing to “flaunt its hostility ­ toward Amer­i­ca and to support terror” and called the ­ Middle Eastern nation part of “an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.” In the months that followed, the U.S. president increasingly spoke of taking military action in Iraq. Bush found an ally in British prime minister Tony Blair, but pressure from citizens of both countries pushed the two leaders to take the issue before the UN Security Council in the form of UN Resolution 1441, which called for UN weapons inspectors, led by Hans Blix, to return to Iraq and issue a report on their findings. On November 8, 2002, the 15-­member UN Security Council unanimously passed the resolution, and weapons inspectors began work on November 27. On December 7, Iraq delivered a 12,000-­page declaration of its weapons program, an insufficient account- ing according to Blix, and a month ­later Bush stated that “If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, we ­ will lead a co­ali­tion to disarm him.” Bush and Blair actively sought the support of the international community, but their announcement that they would cir- cumvent the UN if necessary ruffled many nations’ feathers, most notably drawing the ire of France, Germany, and Rus­sia, all of which pushed for further inspections. Spain joined with the United Kingdom and the United States to propose a second UN reso- lution declaring Iraq to be in “material breach” of Resolution 1441. Although a small number of other nations pledged their sup- port for military action in Iraq, only Austra- lia initially pledged to commit troops to fight alongside British and U.S. forces. Opting for a preemptive strategy instead of risking a potential repeat of the September 11 terror attacks—­with the added specter of Overview of the Iraq War (2003–2011)