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
Nasiriyah Central Prison Nasiriyah Central Prison Nasiriyah Central Prison, also known as al-Hoot prison, is a maximum security prison near Nasiriyah in the Dhi Qar Governorate of Iraq. It is the largest prison in southern Iraq. The prison was built at a cost of roughly $49,000,000 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It opened in July 2008. According to Alkarama, a Swiss human rights organisation, "conditions of detention in Al Nasiriyah prison remain very poor and prisoners are systematically tortured on a daily basis". Iraqi officials have stated that around 1,200 of the estimated 6,000 prisoners held in Nasiriyah have been