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News Articles: 20th anniversary Iraq War

Talib al-Majli, 57, lives in a poor area in Baghdad. He says his detention in Abu Ghraib prison left him destitute and too physically weak and psychologically traumatized to find a reliable job. Now he works odd jobs, sometimes putting up signs for companies, earning around $30 per week.

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

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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By:
  • Ruth Sherlock and
  • Awadh Altaie
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

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.

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

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

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

The start of the Iraq War 20 years later in photos

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

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By:
  • Grace Widyatmadja and
  • Sarah Mosquera
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

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.

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By:
  • Scott Neuman and
  • Larry Kaplow