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The start of the Iraq War 20 years later in photos

WHRO
Published March 20, 2023 at 5:00 AM EDT
Eric Feferberg/AFP via Getty Images
March 20, 2003: U.S. Marines prepare themselves after receiving orders to cross the Iraqi border at Camp Shoup, in northern Kuwait.

On March 20, 2003, the U.S. carried out its first airstrikes in Iraq. Today marks the 20th anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom. We take a look at scenes from the Iraq War in pictures.

Daily Mirror Gulf/Getty Images
March 21, 2003: Fires burn in and around Saddam Hussein's Council of Ministers in Baghdad, Iraq, during a wave of attacks in the

The White House/Getty Images
March 21, 2003: President George W. Bush meets with his war council in the Situation Room of the White House. Present at the table are, from foreground, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, CIA Director George Tenet, Chief of Staff Andy Card, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard B. Myers.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images
March 26, 2003: U.S. Marines from Task Force Tarawa search for Iraqi troops in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. As night falls, the Marines are on alert for a counter attack from Iraqi troops.

Guardian Gulf/Getty Images
April 9, 2003: U.S. Marines pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in the center of Baghdad.

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