It's been 20 years since the US-led coalition invaded Iraq, which led to violent instability evident to this day - and not just within the borders of this Middle Eastern country.
Launched on March 20, 2003, the controversial military operation quickly toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, but was followed by a long insurgency and political polarization that has persisted to this day.
Saddam managed to evade capture for nearly nine months before being captured in December 2003 and executed by order of the new Iraqi government three years later.
But what happened to the other main actors of the war, which still causes sharp polemics today?
Let's go in order.
- Donald Rumsfeld: The departure of the architect of the war in Iraq
- Colin Powell - "Desert Storm", conflict with Madeleine Albright over Bosnia and Iraq stains
- What a mark Madeleine Albright left on the Balkans
Saddam Hussein
He ruled Iraq with a firm hand from 1979 to 2003, despite a crushing defeat by the American-led coalition in the 1990-91 Gulf War. year, which failed to topple him from power, but forced him to withdraw troops from neighboring Kuwait, which he attacked in August 1990.
But then came the March 2003 invasion and his forces collapsed after three weeks.
The dictator hid until American forces captured him on December 13 of the same year.
He was executed by hanging in Baghdad in 2006.
Iraqi state television showed footage of Saddam Hussein walking into a pre-dawn burial ground in a building once used by his intelligence service for executions.
In a final act of defiance, he refused to wear the hood over his head.
George W. Bush
In 2003, George W. Bush became the second American president to lead a war against Iraq, following in the footsteps of his own father, George Bush, who was in the White House from 1989 to 1993.
In the weeks following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Bush Jr. achieved the highest approval rating of any US president (91 percent, according to Gallup), but his handling of the war in Iraq - particularly the deaths of more than 4.400 US troops, according to the US Department of Defense - led to him leaving the government in 2009 as the least popular occupant of the White House on record.
Bush, 75, has not been in the public eye much since leaving office, but in rare media appearances, he has continued to defend the decision to go to war.
"There is a constant effort by some figures in the Bush administration to present the war in Iraq as the right thing, despite what it looks like today," American journalist Thomas E. Ricks, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Fiasco: America's Military Adventure in Iraq, told the BBC.
The former US president has often claimed that part of the rationale behind the war was to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
But Ricks, who covered the invasion of Iraq, is not convinced.
"These kinds of excuses do not justify the enormous cost of the war, both to the Iraqis and to the Americans. Nor do they make up for how much the American invasion changed the Middle East."
Bush can be seen in public at state events such as presidential inaugurations and funerals, but today he spends most of his time at his ranch in Texas, where he devotes himself to hobbies that include painting - he even published a book of portraits in 2021.
Dick Cheney
George W. Bush's vice president was a vocal proponent of military action against Iraq and made numerous public statements accusing Saddam Hussein's regime of possessing weapons of mass destruction—a claim on which Washington built its case for going to war.
And while Iraq was torn apart by internal strife in 2006, Cheney himself personally participated in the violence when he accidentally shot a fellow hunter while hunting, injuring him in the face, neck and chest.
The incident led to a minor heart attack, but his friend, seventy-eight-year-old Harry Whittington, survived.
"It wasn't Harry's fault," Cheney told Fox TV.
"When all is said and done, I'm the one who pulled the trigger."
Now XNUMX years old, Cheney has behaved radically differently from Bush since he left the government: he regularly comments on political issues and even participates in campaign rallies.
He openly criticized Donald Trump for the January 2021 riots in the Capitol.
Cheney was famously played by a "transformed" Christian Bale in the 2018 satirical film The Shadow Man (Vice) - the second film to depict the Bush administration after Oliver Stone's President biopic V (2008).
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld was Bush's Secretary of Defense between 2001 and 2006.
He played a key - and controversial - role in the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Among other things, Rumsfeld was accused of providing "alternative intelligence assessments" that supported the removal of Saddam Hussein and turning a blind eye to the torture of prisoners of war by US forces.
Rumsfeld left office in 2006 amid growing public and political opposition in America to the postwar handling of Iraq.
He hasn't stepped out of the spotlight, however: He's published an autobiography, participated in a documentary about his own career, and joined other former defense secretaries in warning President Donald Trump against trying to reverse his 2020 presidential election loss.
Rumsfeld died of cancer in 2021.
Condoleezza Rice
Rice served first as national security adviser and then as secretary of state during Bush's eight-year administration, making her one of the most senior government positions held by any black woman in the history of American government.
In addition to being an advocate of the war in Iraq, she actively lobbied the American media regarding the threat posed by Saddam's regime, even telling CNN that the Iraqi leader could quickly obtain nuclear weapons.
After Bush left the White House, Rice pursued an academic career at Stanford University and remains director of the Hoover Institution's think tank, although there have been rumors of her return to politics in the past.
Paul Bremer
George W. Bush appointed Bremer as the Coalition Provisional Administrator of Iraq in May 2003, making him the country's top civilian authority.
His decision to disband the Iraqi army was widely criticized, and he faced accusations of misuse of funds during the reconstruction period.
Bremer, now eighty-one years old, lives a quiet life in the rural US state of Vermont.
He was the subject of US news in 2018, when it was revealed that he was working as a ski instructor at the resort.
(Tweet that posted a picture of Paul Brenner in ski gear at the resort)
thinking about how Paul Bremer went from de-facto President of Iraq and Mister Very Good Ideas to being a ski instructor pic.twitter.com/rhczQX7nLO
— Reconstructionist (@un_a_valeable) March 10, 2023
Colin Powell
General Powell was the US Secretary of State during the Iraq War - the first black man to hold that position - and served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1990-91 Gulf War.
Unlike other members of George W. Bush's cabinet, Powell initially opposed plans to invade Iraq, but in February 2003 he spoke at the United Nations in favor of military intervention, even presenting evidence that Saddam's regime was hiding weapons of mass destruction.
The general resigned in 2004 after admitting to Congress that the intelligence presented a year earlier was "inaccurate" and falling out of favor with the Bush administration.
He continued his career as a public speaker and for the 2008 presidential election, he left the Republican ranks to support the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama.
Powell died in 2021 from complications caused by covid at the age of 84.
Tony Blair
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's reputation probably suffered more than George W. Bush's for his support for the Iraq war.
Blair was heavily criticized during the official inquiry into the conflict, which concluded in 2016 that he had exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, sent unprepared troops to war and had "grossly inadequate" plans for the post-war period.
Blair, now 69, resigned in 2007 and has since devoted himself mostly to his NGO, the Institute for Global Change.
But Iraq still casts a large shadow over his legacy: in January last year, more than 500.000 people signed a petition against the British government knighting Blair.
Hans Blix
The Swedish diplomat and politician headed the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, which investigated Iraq for weapons of mass destruction - and ultimately found none - before the 2003 US-led invasion.
Blix currently lives in Stockholm and is still active in international security policy discussions.
He is preparing to publish a new book at the age of 94, Goodbye to Wars.
Ali Hasan Al Majid called "Chemical Ali"
The former Iraqi military commander earned the infamous nickname "Chemical Ali" for his alleged role in the poison gas attacks on Kurdish rebels that killed thousands.
Al Majid was captured by US troops in August 2003, charged with genocide and crimes against humanity and executed by hanging in January 2010.
Muhammad Sajid Al Sahaf called "Comedic Ali"
Al Sahaf was Iraq's minister of information at the time of the 2003 invasion and quickly earned the jokey nickname "Comic Ali" in the Western media due to his colorful appearances at daily press conferences - he would deliver wildly twisted versions of situations on the ground, such as promises that the American forces will be defeated.
His current whereabouts remain a mystery - he is believed to have fled to the United Arab Emirates.
Moqtada Al Sadr
The Shiite cleric rose to prominence after the US-led invasion, when his powerful Mehdi paramilitary group fought against foreign troops and he was accused of leading religious "death squads".
In the meantime, he began to present himself as a nationalist and anti-corruption fighter, and became a political gray eminence.
His Saerun coalition won the largest number of parliamentary seats in the 2018 and 2021 parliamentary elections.
Nuri Al Maliki
Al-Maliki is the first Iraqi prime minister to serve a regular term since the fall of Saddam Hussein, taking office in May 2006.
Critics accused him of alienating Sunni and Kurdish politicians, and calls for his departure began as early as 2007.
Ali Al-Maliki resigned only in 2014, after a series of defeats in the fight against the Islamic State.
This seventy-two-year-old is still active in the country's politics.
Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani
As Iraq's highest Shiite clerical authority, Al Sistani played a key role in post-invasion Iraqi politics and religion.
Unlike al-Sadr, he chose political lobbying over rebellion.
At 92, al-Sistani remains an extremely influential figure in Iraq.
Muntadar Al Zaidi
Iraqi television journalist Muntadar Al Zaidi gained international fame under bizarre circumstances: in December 2008, namely, he threw his shoes at George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad, held in honor of the US president's last visit to Iraq in office of the occupants of the White House.
"This is a farewell kiss to the Iraqi people, you dog," Al Zaidi shouted as he threw the first shoe.
The journalist served a six-month prison sentence, during which he claims he was tortured, and then after his release he moved to Lebanon.
Al Zaidi later returned to Iraq and launched an unsuccessful campaign in the 2018 Iraqi parliamentary elections.
"That scene remains as proof that one day an ordinary person found the strength to say 'no' to that arrogant person who owns all the power, tyranny, weapons, media, money and power," he recently told the Reuters news agency.
Watch the video about the Iraqi journalist:
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Bonus video:
