pdf The Report of the Iraq Inquiry. Executive Summary Popular

Title: The Report of the Iraq Inquiry. Executive Summary. Report of a Committee of Privy Counsellors

Ordered by: House of Commons

Date: 6 July 2016

Introduction: In 2003, for the first time since the Second World War, the United Kingdom took part in an opposed invasion and full‐scale occupation of a sovereign State – Iraq. Cabinet decided on 17 March to join the US‐led invasion of Iraq, assuming there was no last‐minute capitulation by Saddam Hussein. That decision was ratified by Parliament the next day and implemented the night after that. Until 28 June 2004, the UK was a joint Occupying Power in Iraq. For the next ve years, UK forces remained in Iraq with responsibility for security in the South‐East; and the UK sought to assist with stabilisation and reconstruction. The consequences of the invasion and of the conflict within Iraq which followed are still being felt in Iraq and the wider Middle East, as well as in the UK. It left families bereaved and many individuals wounded, mentally as well as physically. After harsh deprivation under Saddam Hussein’s regime, the Iraqi people suffered further years of violence.