The Iraq War • 437The invaders quickly defeated Iraq's army and drove Saddam Husayn
and the Ba'thists from power. Aerial attacks and guided missiles destroyed
many strongholds, as well as Iraqi homes, shops, schools, and roads, in a
"shock and awe" campaign. Although France, Germany, Russia, and even
Canada opposed the war, the Americans assembled a "coalition of the will¬
ing" that included at least token forces from forty countries. The coali¬
tion's initial casualties were light. No one reported on how many Iraqi
soldiers—or civilians—were killed, maimed, or missing. A statue of Sad¬
dam was pulled down in a major Baghdad square, and its pictures were
broadcast to demonstrate popular revulsion against the deposed dictator,
though in fact the demolition was largely carried out by the invaders. The
coalition set up an occupation government in one of Saddam's palaces.
Ambitious reconstruction plans were announced. The remnants of the
army and police force were dissolved. All Ba'th Party members were dis¬
missed from their jobs. These were foolish mistakes: instead of co-opting
Iraqi forces to side with the invaders, the Americans rendered them unem¬
ployed, destitute, and eager to join a militant resistance movement.
It soon turned out that the coalition, especially the Americans, had no
idea how to restore order in the country, or even in Baghdad, with its 6 mil¬
lion inhabitants. Looters broke into the Iraqi National Museum, the Na¬
tional Library and Archives, and most government offices (US troops stood
by, protecting only the Oil Ministry). Schools remained closed. Electric
power was cut off and only slowly and partially restored in Baghdad. Clin¬
ics and hospitals lacked basic medical supplies. Raw sewage flowed into the
Tigris River, as the treatment plants were wrecked. Without police protec¬
tion, gangs of toughs broke into people's houses, kidnapped civilians, stole
cars, and dishonored women and girls if they ventured into the streets. No
one guarded the storehouses of Iraqi munitions. With Iraq's borders not se¬
cured, soon volunteers from other countries were joining Iraqis who
wanted to liberate their own nation from foreign troops.
Although Bush proclaimed an end to the fighting on 1 May 2003, the in¬
surgents stepped up their resistance, and growing numbers of US and British
troops were killed. The "Sunni Triangle," a complex of towns northwest of
Baghdad that had enjoyed power under Saddam, became a major center
of resistance, and the coalition forces went in with helicopters, tanks, and
mortars. Predominantly Shi'i cities, such as Basra, Kufa, Najaf, and Sadr (for¬
merly Saddam) City also rebelled. Suicide bombers and car bombs prolifer¬
ated, as coalition troop morale plummeted. No one knew how many Iraqi
civilians had been killed or maimed, how many died from diseases due to
poor sanitation or malnutrition, how many had seen their houses broken
into or looted or destroyed, or how many sought refuge in neighboring