SPONSORED BY:

To Topple a Tyrant

March 25, 2007:Marine Capt. Alan Rowe sent these audio recordings to his family. (Video: Jennifer Molina, Jon Groat)

 

Email To A Friend

Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.

Separate multiple addresses with commas

SPONSORED BY
 

It's easy to forget how daunting and dangerous everything seemed on the eve of the Iraq War. U.S. forces were braced for the worst. Hardly anyone believed Iraq's claims that it no longer possessed any weapons of mass destruction—untold stockpiles of lethal biological and chemical agents—and there was no doubt that Saddam Hussein would use whatever he had. And American servicemen and -women spent months enduring real and simulated gas attacks. Hadn't the Butcher of Baghdad already gassed entire Iraqi villages in the 1980s when they had defied his rule?

March 25, 2007:Marine Capt. Alan Rowe sent these audio recordings to his family. (Video: Jennifer Molina, Jon Groat)

But as American forces raced across the desert to Baghdad, they encountered a far different threat—mostly scattered militias, often in civilian clothes, attacking strung-out supply lines with AK-47s and car bombs. The pinprick attacks were unsettling. Still, they hardly seemed a threat to the mighty war machine America had assembled. Less than two months after the initial "shock and awe" bombing runs, President Bush would announce from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln an end to major combat operations, under a banner declaring MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

In the fall of 2002, Congress authorized the attack on Iraq. While debate raged at the United Nations, troops readied themselves for war.

Army National Guard Spc. Michael G. Mihalakis
Nov. 2, 2002, Fort Leonard Wood, MO. (Basic Training)

Label

Newsweek Top Stories
Visions of a Decade
Visions of a Decade

From 2000-2009, one photo per month.

The Failure of Copenhagen
The Failure of Copenhagen

Why there could be a silver lining in a failed climate treaty.

Sex Scandals of the 2000s
Sex Scandals of the 2000s

From John Edwards to Mark Sanford, the decade's memorable affairs.

118 Days in Hell
118 Days in Hell

A NEWSWEEK journalist recounts his captivity in Iran.

Discuss

Sponsored by

Member Comments

  • Posted By: nikirobbs @ 03/15/2009 10:58:48 PM

    Most often the difficult thing is doing the right and proper way...

  • Posted By: Karenn1 @ 05/10/2008 8:32:27 AM

    Since the beginning this war was immoral.Quit looking for justification from americans,cause this war was unamerican .

Reply

Report Abuse

Enter comments if any for reporting abuse

My Take

Customize the NEWSWEEK homepage
to feature your favorite columnists.

Customize Now