The Americans called this conflict "The war of Liberation of Iraq." More than two years later they have not yet convinced the Iraqis of their so-called "good intentions" and insurgents are attacking them everyday.

For convenience, we will assume that the war started the first day the American and British planes started bombing on March 19, 2003, and that it finished when President George W Bush declared -prematurely as we will see- the end of the main hostilities on May 1, 2003. The post war will be assumed to have started on May 1, 2003.

Until May 1, 2003, the war in Iraq can be summarised as follow:
- March 17, 2003, the USA, Britain and Spain renounce to get international backing for war. President Bush gave 48 hours to President Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq.
- March 19, 2003, Wednesday, at night in the USA, President Bush declared in a message to the American nation, and to the world, that the invasion of Iraq had begun.
- On March 20, 2003, the Americans start the war. A US Marine is the first combat death.
- On March 22, two Royal Marine Navy Sea king helicopters collide. The seven members of the crew die. The senior ITN journalist, Terry Lloyd, is killed by friendly fire.
- On April 2, US Special Forces rescued Jessica Lynch, an US soldier held prisoner for 10 days after her maintenance convoy was ambushed near Nassiriya on March 23.
- An US plane bombs a convoy of US Special Forces and Kurdish fighters, near Kalak killing 18 Kurds and wounding 45.
- On April 9, US forces reach Baghdad centre. Saddam Hussein's statue is pulled down.
- On April 11, the US military authorities release a deck of cards showing Iraq's most wanted suspects.
- On April 12, looters begin to ransack government offices, embassies, hospitals, businesses and the Iraq museum.
- On April 24, Tariq Aziz, the former Deputy Prime Minister, is taken prisoner.
- On May 1, 2003, President Bush declares the end of major military operations in Iraq.