On May 1, 2003, President Bush flew onto the aircraft carrier Lincoln and where he announced the end of major operations in Iraq. He added that quite a lot of "difficult work" had still to be done in Iraq and that "Our coalition will stay until our work is done". That a lot was still to be done was a big understatement.

Here is a list of some of the deadliest bomb attacks in Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein:
- August 19, 2003- A truck bomb wrecks United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 people, including UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.
- August 29, 2003 - A car bomb kills at least 83 people, including top Shiite Muslim leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf.
- February 1, 2004 - 117 people are killed when two suicide bombers blow themselves up in Arbil at the offices of the two main Kurdish factions in northern Iraq.
- March 2, 2004 - 171 people are killed in twin attacks, which involved three suicide bombers in Baghdad and a suicide bomber, hidden explosives and mortars in Kerbala on the day Iraqis marked Ashura.
- February 28, 2005 - A suicide car bomb attack on a crowd of people in Hilla, south of Baghdad, kills 125 people.
- July 16, 2005 - A suicide bomber in a fuel truck near a Shiite mosque in the town of Mussayib, near Kerbala, kills at least 98 people.
- September 14, 2005 - A suicide bomber kills 114 people and wounds 156 in a crowded Shiite district of Baghdad, while gunmen kill 17 north of the city.

Major bombing attacks in Iraq from March 2003 to January 17, 2007:
- A series of deadly attacks in Baghdad killed at least 103 people and injured more that 240 on Tuesday January 16, 2007.
- On December 2, 2006, at least 51 people were killed in three coordinated car bombings in a commercial area in central Baghdad.
- On November 23, 2006, a series of apparently coordinated bombings killed 200 people and wounded another 250 in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr city in eastern Baghdad, making it the deadliest attack in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.
- On April 7, 2006, suicide bombings inside a Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad left at least 79 dead and 160 others wounded.
- On February 22, 2006, a powerful explosion blew off the golden dome of a mosque in Samara, one of the holiest Shiite shrines in the country.
- On July 16, 2005, a suicide bomber set himself on fire near a fuel truck outside a Shiite mosque in the southern town of Musayyib, killing 98 people and wounding many more.
- On February 28, 2005, a car bomb attack at a medical centre in the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, killed more than 110 civilians and wounded around 200.
- On March 2, 2004, explosions hit Shiite Muslim shrines in Karbala and Baghdad in Iraq, killing at least 181.
- On February 1, 2004, twin suicide bombers killed 109 people in two Kurdish party offices in Irbil.
- On August 29, 2003, a car bombing killed more than 100 people, including Iraq's top Shiite Muslim leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqeral-Hakim, and injured more than 200 others in Shiite holy city of Najaf.
- On August 19, 2003, a bombing attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad killed 24 people and wounded over 100 others. The top UN envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, died in the attack.

Some of the deadliest car bombings in Iraq in 2007 (until March 11):
- March 11, 2007: A suicide car bomber in Baghdad drove into a flatbed truck carrying Shiite pilgrims returning from Karbala, setting off an explosion that killed at least 32 people.
- March 5, 2007: At least 38 Iraqis were killed and 66 wounded when a suicide car bomber struck a book market in Baghdad.
- February 24, 2007: A suicide truck bomber struck worshippers leaving a Sunni mosque in Habbaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, killing at least 52 people and wounding at least 74.
- February 18, 2007: Twin car bombs blew up in a produce market and a row of nearby shops in the Shiite area of New Baghdad, killing at least 62 people and injuring more than 129.
- February 12, 2007: Three parked cars exploded in Baghdad's oldest market, killing at least 78 people, in an attack apparently designed to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Shiite shrine in Samara.
- February 3, 2007: A suicide bomber blew up a truckload of explosives in a food market in a mainly Shiite section of Baghdad, killing at least 137 people. More than 300 people were wounded.
- January 16, 2007: Two car bombs exploded as students from Al-Mustansiriya University lined up for the ride home, killing at least 70 people and injuring at least 133.