2003 invasion of Iraq 2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was the first stage of the Iraq War (also called "Operation Iraqi Freedom"). The invasion phase began on 20 March 2003 and lasted just over one month, including 21 days of major combat operations, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq. This early stage of the war formally ended on 1 May 2003 when U.S. President George W. Bush declared the "End of Major Combat Operations", after which the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was established as the first of
Public opinion in the United States on the invasion of Iraq of President Bush and his decisions in Iraq during the major combat phase of the war. This number of those approving of Bush's dealing with Iraq reached 80% in April 2003, its highest point in the war. But in the summer of 2003, after the major combat had ended but U.S. troops continued to take casualties, those numbers began to wane. The period from November 2003 to October 2004 the public opinion on the war varied noticeably. Public support went "from a high of more than 55% in mid-December immediately after the capture of Saddam Hussein, to a low of