860 Chapter 32 Shocks and Responses: 1992–Present
museums, stores, and hospitals. Saddam disappeared
and his government evaporated. By mid-April, the
Pentagon declared that major combat operations had
come to an end.
But Iraq was in chaos. There were too few U.S.
troops to preserve order. Islamist radicals, enraged by
the American occupation, joined with Saddam’s sup-
porters in ambushing occupation forces. The insur-
gents rammed trucks filled with explosives into police
stations, wired cell phones to artillery shells, and det-
onated them as Americans approached. Others sabo-
taged oil pipelines and power generators.
2004: Bush Wins a Second Term
The war became the main issue of the presidential
campaign. In December 2003 American soldiers cap-
tured Saddam, hiding in an underground bunker.
Bush’s approval rating soared.
By January, however, Senator John Kerry, a
Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was gaining
in the polls. The son of a diplomat and a graduate of
Yale, Kerry appeared accomplished and steady. He
had commanded a patrol boat during the Vietnam
War and was decorated for courage under fire. In“Mission Accomplished” proclaimed the banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln, where on May 1,
2004, President George W. Bush declared, “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.” But the
war continued for years.