Invasion of Iraq 2003 - How to Fight as a Military Coalition
In March 2003, a US led coalition invaded Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein. In this video we look at how that coalition was formed, and how British and American forces worked together.
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Carney, Stephen A. Allied Participation in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Washington, D.C.: United States Army, Center of Military History, 2013.
Fontenot, Gregory, E. J. Degen, and David Tohn. On Point: The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005.
Freedman, Lawrence. “Forgetting Allies: Writing the British out of the History of the Iraq War.” War on the Rocks, July 9, 2019. warontherocks.com/2019/07/for...
Gordon, Michael, and Bernard E. Trainor. Cobra 2.: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. London, UK: Atlantic Books, 2007.
Groen, Michael S. With the 1st Marine Division in Iraq, 2003. Quantico, VA: History Division Marine Corps University , 2006.
Lambeth, Benjamin S. The Unseen War: Allied Air Power and the Takedown of Saddam Hussein. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2013.
Rossiter, Mike. Target Basra. London, UK: Corgi Books, 2009.
Wathen, Alexander M. The Miracle of Operation Iraqi Freedom Airspace Management. Montgomery, AL: Air Force, Air University, 2005.
Wither, James K. “British Bulldog or Bush’s Poodle? Anglo-American Relations and the Iraq War.” The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters 33, no. 4 (2003). doi.org/10.55540/0031-1723.2182.
I was honored to interact with three different British Army units in West Berlin when the Wall was still up: Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, Royal Highland Fusiliers and the Black Watch. Their presence at our annual Thanksgiving dinners made them even more special. They also improved our training by letting us use their urban warfare site, Ruhleben, breaking the monotony of repeated training cycles at our own Doughboy City.
the brits were always nice, met some guys from the rifles while working as a 46s. kinda hard to understand but really nice
I was there during OIF07-09, and we continued to function professionally and respectfully with all the various coalition front-line and support units we interacted with.
I was there in 06 - 07 and while in a firefight on route Irish the brits drove in front of us while we were shooting m2 .50s across the street. Wouldn't really call that professional. We'd been fighting for half an hour they just drove right through our kill zone and didn't even bother to see if we wanted help
@@CubeInspector We had a Nat'l Guard unit do that to us during an active firefight off Baghdad Hwy 1 near Shulla. I'm certain there are exceptions, but my unit's (B Co. 1/502) limited experiences with other coalition units went smoothly.
Hoo-ah.
@CubeInspector The Brits had quite a few blue on blue incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet always find a way to criticize the US for the very same. This just confirms what I already knew. They were quick to place themselves in those situations.
Ah, a terrorist you're.
We have our differences but it's pretty cool that Britain and the US are so close.
Yes, but we drift further apart every year. Quite literally; the Atlantic is getting wider.
That's OK, the relationship is worth maintaining. What's a few extra inches per year?
Absolutely honored to call the Brits our brothers. We’re lucky to have friends like you fine lads. Cheers. Love from California
As an American, it's been US and the Brits who've done the heavy lifting since WWI.
It's because both countries are controlled by the same Rothschild central bank system.
i served as a corspman during the GWOT years- me and my marines got to work and train alongside the brits briefly- we absolutely loved them- great dudes great sense of humor too- nothing but love and respect from us
10:00 "Two coats of pain" 😂
Great metaphor, what did I miss??
@@jonfoulkes3160two coats of paint
@@jonfoulkes3160 Two thin coats, everytime
How did he manage to read a typo and include it.
@@vapeymcvape5000there have been several instances where he has spoken like he’s mocking AI
Beautifully concise and informative content! Smooth voice as well as consistent audio mixing.
After the war, the Five Eyes proceed to globally dominate the world by the name Five Guys
Best gd burgers around
In his book Michael Waltz claims that French forces were completely the opposite end. He describes French as non-cooperative, and using equipment (like radios) completely incompatible with NATO standardization agreements that would make communication difficult even if they were cooperative and there was zero language barrier. Of course, Waltz has time and again shown he's a total weasel only interest in himself, so who knows how much of the book is accurate. I'd love to hear alternate sources on the matter.
French refused to join this invasion because of the lack of evidence about chemical weapons and war crimes and instead they were calling for an independent investigation on theses matters (history show they were right). So the Bush administration went on a propaganda and economical campaign against them. This is were the « French are cowards » insult/joke came in the US media, movies and even US history books. Since the US used all the political might against them, they became isolated on the international scene and were reluctantly forced to go in Irak. Has a matter of protest they choose to don’t actively participate in this mascarade.
@@naincompetent3301so in essence the wmds that Iraq actually used in their wars with Iran and their annihilation of the Kurds, didn’t exist? Those killed by them didn’t die?
@@TheWarforged I wonder who gave it to them then ? 🤔 Who could have the possibility to create chemical weapons and a will to damage Iran…? A few countries comes in mind… Still doesn’t change the fact that 99% of the US claims about Irak and chemical weapons where fake to serve let’s say « less virtuous goal » than those highly repeated in western media at that time. Let’s imagine Irak had a least 1% of all the WMD US intelligence claimed they had, why none were found ? Why didn’t they use them ? Why did this whole operation fell like something was off ? Why did it fail to find any WMD while turning the whole middle-east in a melting pot ?
@@naincompetent3301You're at least a decade late. The phrase consisting of Cheese and eating and surrender and monkeys in that order is from _The Simpsons_ in 1995 and the reputation goes back even further.
@@naincompetent3301 Really? You blame the disgusting and shameless ultranationalism of the French people on the US? Seriously?
Fantastic as always
The greatest thing about the US-UK relationship is that we're not actually allies or friends. Were more like Brothers/Sisters in a dysfunctional family that bands together to kick ass in times of crisis.
Makes sense considering y'all speak the same language and are basically two branches of the same family tree
It's called the eternal Anglo.
Was Conways briefing to the 7th armored brigade recorded?
I can't find anything either. I'd love to hear it.
Conway was my Commandant during the first half of my time in the Corps. I can see why the Brits loved him.
@@dynasty0019 It's a beautiful thing to see someone in a job like that who actually belongs there.
Really great video.
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what me and the boys are about to do to you, for our countries." - JFK, probably.
You'd be better off quoting Smedley Butler. "I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer; a gangster for capitalism. /.../ Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."
Misson failed successfully.
@8:43 Apparently the air controllers primary system went down. All the techs are using laptops instead of their primary monitors. You don't see that in the prior photos.
2nd Lt. unplugged the system because he needed to use his vacuum cleaner.
A bit ironic how Iraq was the best cooperation between USA and UK on the ground, while everything else about it turned out to be one of the biggest betrayals of trust in the countries
Why?
@@RK-cj4oc Because the US led the UK to believe there were weapons of mass destruction, which there weren't. Basically the whole premise which made the UK agree to join the invasion turned out to be a lie.
@@FragwellFamDont let them fool you Uk definitely knew that they have their intelligence too. Probably Us gave some profits to them so they could support
@FragwellFam, I love how half of the West has deliberately decided to ignore the entirety of the 80's and the 90's era Iraqi history along with the fact that according to NATO doctrine, WMD's fall under 4 categories with only one of them being nuclear weapons. Anyone who denies Iraqs possession of and multi decade use of WMD's both in combat and against their own people is hilariously uninformed, especially for someone watching a Gulf war documentary in their free time.
There is a video in this very channel discussing the intelligence"Failures" (or intentional manipulations, depending on how you want to see it) that led up to the war, creck it out. @@RK-cj4oc
great video
2:43 that's some really good images of prime woodland camo I have never seen ever before
Babe wake up The intel report just posted
Your “babe” isn’t here. This is KZhead and you’re making a weird LOOK AT ME comment to a channel comment section. Your “babe” is likely at the motel right now.
Top notch gents
I was in high school when all this went down. I’ll never lose the love in my heart for the men and women from the UK that we’re willing to sacrifice it all as if they had been attacked themselves. Still chokes me up. Love you guys.
Iraq didn't attack the US or Britain. They hadn't attacked anyone since Kuwait
Sacrifice themselves for what?
@@blankblankity451 mostly for your mother
Iraq didn't attack us.
@@blankblankity451 to maintain geopolitical power of US and west. Wars are always about resources or maintaining power
Was there off the Kuwaiti & Saudi coast from Shield to Storm - Navy Seahawk crewman flying endless patrol missions. Returned six more times through to 1998 and my last cruise.
Plot Twist: There was no weapon of mass destruction
Just stargates and artifacts from Sumer that had special abilities and knowledge write in cuneiform -Some crackpot somewhere
Our best friends from across the pond!
It’s sometimes interesting to take a step back and consider how it wouldn’t be unimaginable for the UK and US to have gone to war in the early 20th century
Neat to see the soldier at 0:49 hope out of the humvee with a completely slick M4.
I was with Bco1-30INF 3ID during the invasion. While he was giving that speech, we were headed to the first objective. Objective Firebird ( Tallil Airbase). I remember that night every day. If you got any questions about the invasion. Ask. I know some vets don't like to talk about their experiences. But i do. It helps.
I read Tommy Franks' book, a good read
Does anyone else remember freedom fries?
Sure. And Red White & Blue pancakes at Denny's "What do they taste like?" "......'Muricah."
I remember laughing at a politician when he renamed them in governmental cafeterias and iirc wanted more restaurants to copy him just like he copied from some liitle food joint.
It was ridiculous, but hardly a new practice. The Great War led to America de-Germaning a lot of terms.
It was ridiculous, but if you look at what happened to German wording in US during/after WW1 you'll see it wasn't really a new idea.
What a total balls up
4:30 to only true battle buddy's share helmets.
They certainly forgot they were there even with bright orange panels pointing at them
My dad went to Iraq in 03 with the initial invasion. His battalion was camped with several other coalition forces, including the Brits. The brits he said were great, but he was also camped with some Poles (we’re Polish so he said it was pretty neat speaking Polish with them, but….) who had a habit of stealing their bottled water from the pallets to shower with. Which was crazy because the whole camp had running water and hot showers. Apparently they were constantly naked, at least when he and the other Marines were around (wait a minute 🤔) and when they weren’t they would use the vehicle decontamination tub as like a hot tub and would walk around in leopard print speedos. Solid fighters though all around and great guys.
I'm pretty sure the expression is "tighter than two coats of paint"
Iraq & Afghanistan were the latest examples of how well motivated insurgents will lose battles on an open field, but like the Vietnamese, ultimately win the fight in the longer term - For all of the technological superiority, and even with complete air control, there's nothing as effective as guerilla warfare fighter armed with an ak or rpg who can choose their own terms of engagement
Ironically, we were the ones who developed dynamic warfare, which included guerilla warfare when we fought for our freedom from the British Crown. #GodblesstheUSA
Iraqs insurgency was defeated.
@@mememem2m2m2 Yeah, I was gonna say... Afghanistan got the better of us, but the Iraqi insurgency wasn't successful, Iraq is still a parliamentary democracy, even if it is a weak one, it is still a democracy nonetheless.
@@mememem2m2m2 You're right, they're just a puppet of Iran now.
@@jed-henrywitkowski6470guerilla warfare goes way back before colonization of america
This Coalition had El Salvador and Mongolia in the same side lol
There are some salty comments on here. Pure bitterness and jealousy of the US and UK.
HELLO :D
the best coalition that I can recall is the 8 nations' relief forces in Peking 1900
How to waste my Tax Dollars.
@1:30- that's Bletchly Park in it's wartime form. (It was kinda ugly and a haphazard amalgamation of architectural styles, but was, behind Downing St. and the White House and the Pentagon, probably the most important place in the Allied nations since it houses GCHW. The work done there probably shortened the war by more than a year, and saved the British Empire! (Some estimates make it two, or even three years, but those are mere hyperbole, IMHO.)
As an Aussie, thank you for sharing your nuclear sub technology. We appreciate the degree of trust inherent in the AUKUS deal. Can I ask that we be allowed to purchase one or two Virginia class subs so we're not relying on our diesel Collins Class subs in 2040 that are meant to be decommissioned in 2026? We promise we'll let you in on our top secret program to weaponise our emus if you do.
Glad to have the Brits with us wherever we may roam.
I don’t think the UK truly understands how much America appreciates Britain’s support during the Iraq War. We will never forget that when called upon, Britain supported us. America has no greater friend in the world than the United Kingdom.
How to lose an illegal war for oil and tank your economy, a neo con retrospective
4:47 nice weapon?
I didn't even realize the L85 LSW actually saw combat.
"I got the coalition of the willing!! 40 nations!! There's the UK. Japan is sending their playstations. Africa Wakanda nation is providing moral support."
Using coat as analogy of cooperation is the most British thing British military can do.
I don't know if I understand. Is it like a coat you wear?
I think the quote was "as close as two coats of paint"
When things were not perfect, needed work in the US and around the world but were better than today by leaps.
Not sure about the claim that the 'special relationship' benefits the UK.
Gracias por Atocha Aznar........
1:10 KLM, a dutch plane in a Us-Uk docu. Why? Or was it just footage you found online?
How about the fact that it is footage of Churchill, the man he is talking about at that moment. I believe it is footage from his visit to the Netherland in 1946
I'm sure it was intended as a positive thing, but "I sometimes forget that my ally is there" doesn't sound like much of a compliment to me! Without the context, I would have assumed it meant that the ally in question hadn't actually contributed enough to be noticed/relevant.
It means you don't worry about the fact that they are not from your military and you can work together smoothly.
so where is the WMD?
Related to losing international credibility. That is partly why Japan helped this invasion. They sat out Desert Storm because they interpreted the Constitution as not allowing them to even engage in UN Police Actions which caused Japan to become a pariah since everyone else was joining up.
"in our common defense" while invading a foreign country lmao
Both US and UK economies rely on predictable flow of commerce. In this case, of course, cheap middle east oil. Subsequently, the peoples of the US and UK (CN, AU, NZ, etc.) rely on commerce individually. Sadaam's choices, while wholly unnecessary, invoked the response he recieved. So, yeah...sometimes the asshole lives in a foreign country.
Americans are the most brainwashed and oblivious people of allergy on earth
Hardly a mention of Australia's involvement. Very poor form!
Step 1: Ask your partner not to operate a 10 where your troops are operating
Still doesn't explain why the Brits had twenty two incidents of blue on blue amongst themselves despite having no A10s at all....
Russia could learn a thing or two here
Glad to have the Brits as allies, as well as all the others.
I wish you would dig a little deeper into the corruption behind these wars.
This doesn’t amaze me at all.
Everyone, regardless of nationality, was especially honored to work with me. I was and am a living legend.
need to look in to how the sasr had to fahgt an show waht we cod do an wen the usa let the sasr loess being some of the ferst an deepst reching guys the usa comanders did not blive the reports
can we skip to the bit where they found the WMDs?
I whole heartily disagreed with my country (UK) being a part this idiotic war of Bushes, but at least the military conducted itself with its usual professionalism and skill.
Calling it a coalition when all of the other guys combined are like 2% .. is peak level high School group assignment
I wanna greet my dead friends, Marcus Hetschel, Bryan Moslee and my brother Ryan Dalton, Marcus died on my arms, Bryan took 6 lives before being filled with bullets and my brothers head exploded infront of me by a iraqi sniper. honestly i do not regret having over 43 kills. but that sniper hunted and targeted me like a justin bieber fangirl till the war ended, we met 9 years later in Times square and almost killed ourselves. all of that because politicians wanted to be more rich
hello american rifleman
how do you keep finding me everywhere i go. please stop following me
"the invasion was a success" - too bad the occupation was an unmitigated disaster...
As a Brit, I still have to say that the "special relationship" is nothing but a far cry, driven by sentiment, ego and nostalgia similar to that of the gone times of British Empire and its naval dominance. Times have changed and so did the "special relationship". If anything, the US have special relationship with Israel and Japan (perhaps South Korean as well), but certainly not the UK. A "different" relationship in contrast to that with the rest of Europe? Sure. But not special in the sense of WW2 and immediate post-WW2 dynamics. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just rejecting the reality.
Uhh.. were you ever in the military? I met with Brits and they were fantastic to hang out with overseas.
@@Dissistheway I don't doubt, but it has nothing to do with special relationship which was a geopolitical term describing the dynamics between the US and UK. Your subjective experiences- as good as they may be- have nothing to do with it.
@@ernest1520 You sound like a bureaucrat. You wouldn’t know what special relationship is unless you were in. No hard feelings, it is what it is.
@@Dissistheway you're just mixing up the terms and the scope of what is being discussed. You're talking about cooperation, relationships, etc. with fellow allied soldiers. The term "special relationship" is a specific term coined in the geopolitical context and doesn't have much to do with what you're describing. In terms of geopolitics, "special relationship" meant a higher-level alliance and cooperation among the US and the UK. If soldiers of the allied countries are on good terms and respect each other then it's even better, but it's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
To add more to why I think that the special relationship between the UK and US is no longer a thing- the arrangements and the level of cooperation between the UK and the US are no different to that of other close US' allies. Some of them have an even closer relationship with the US. There's nothing "special" about the current US-UK ties, and that's understandable- the strategic environment is different, and the US' strategic priorities have changed. If you still don't believe it, just check how post-Brexit trade talks are going between the two countries. Why there's no special treatment from the US in that regard? Because there's no special relationship. And as I already explained, that's understandable.
The video title should be "how to do a war crime".
“How to lose as a military coalition”
oh hell yeah, third comment
Russia would have taken 5 years and 700000 casualities for the same task 😂
russia wouldve done it just as quickly but then the us guv would tell you it took them 5 years
@ 00:28 "Today in President Bush's war against Iraq..." ~ Dan Rather.
Yep. This is definite proof of U.S. military personnel not knowing how refuse an immoral order. I’m guilty of it as well. This “war” was uncalled for. Now, I want all military personnel to truly evaluate an order where the R.O.E. is deadly force against any U.S. citizen who doesn’t comply outside the terms within our Constitution. Would you enforce those terms or would you adhere to our Constitutional laws? Don’t be scared. Answer the question. Your family will literally be involved. 🇺🇸
Ugh, shut up.
First!
How to trick people into fighting for an oligarchy that hates them while laundering tax dollars*
"The Special Relationship": British euphemism to describe how the once proud empire became a colony of the American Empire. John Bulldog is gone, now is John BritPoodle.
pain? paint perhaps!
mistake
Worked well together…shame about the illegal occupation though
Pretty funny that we were fighting Israel’s enemies yet they didn’t send a single soldier.
Forward deployment of Israeli troops outside of Israel for a war started by the US would have been politically untenable. IDF shared a lot of intel with the OIF forces behind the scenes
@@PantsofVance It was their lies that sent us there, and their control over our government that facilitated it. They are the only country to benefit from our 30 years of war in the Middle East.
@@PantsofVancegood goy
@@PantsofVance It was their lies that dragged us into the war and their control of our government that facilitated it. The blame can justifiably be placed at their feet.
@@PantsofVance I can’t even respond because of their censorship.
"How to fight as a military coalition against a tiny weak country with old rusty equipment and ill-trained soldiers." There, fixed it for ya. And still, we fired on our own multiple times. Just like right now, per the USMC, 30% of the drones shot down by the IDF, belong to the IDF. They have trouble differentiating between IDF and Hamas drones in air defense.
Drones in Urban warfare on this scale is new. It is logical. In time new tactics and techs will lower that amount.
Friendly fire is inevitable in massed campaigns. Both Gulf Wars had enormous complexity and many moving parts in the broader operation that made blue-on-blue an unavoidable reality, and even still, the rates of blue-on-blue were far lower than what contemporary forces other than the Coalition could likely pull off in the same situations.
@@bluntcabbage6042 While true, why is it that American forces are behind a disproportional amount of those incidents??
@@johanmetreus1268 Are they really "disproportional" or are you neglecting to remember that the US deployed the vast majority of units in the field and would therefore, by chance, have a higher number of blue-on-blue situations? They also coordinated the vast majority of aerial assets which were a primary contributor to friendly fire, however, that is a simple fact of combined arms warfare and not some inherent inability on the Americans' part.
@@bluntcabbage6042 had the share of incidents been roughly the share of forces, it would've been proportional, wouldn't it??
When USA gives order, UK follows
Well that's what the US wants to think, in reality you guys couldn't do shit around the world without other countries either
Gotta make it about you as always.
@@derrickstorm6976I'm with you there. Having allies luke you all makes our operations a whole lot easier, even if the operations aren't always right in my opinion. Long live the British empire. I hope that's OK to say.
@@jtadevich There is no more british empire. It died after WW2, when we couldn't afford it and they increasingly wanted independence because they were industrialised nations with their own culture. I think Indian independence was what finally killed it off, but we have the Commonwealth instead now. Same countries, same monarchy, but a looser attachment mostly based around trade deals because the Empire was basically built on trade.
More like when the rothschilds give an order the US and UK follows