The “oil-for-food” program (OFFP) was the centerpiece of a long-standing U.N. Security Council effort to alleviate human suffering in Iraq while maintaining key elements of the 1991 Gulf war-related sanctions regime. In order to ensure that Iraq remained contained and that only humanitarian needs were served by the program, the program imposed controls on Iraqi oil exports and humanitarian imports. All Iraqi oil revenues legally earned under the program were held in a U.N.-controlled escrow account and were not accessible to the regime of Saddam Hussein.

The major challenges to coalition forces are now quelling a persistent Iraqi resistance movement and training sufficient Iraqi forces to assume responsibility for the nations domestic security. This report discusses military planning and operations in Iraq.

Operation Iraqi Freedom overthrew Saddam Hussein’s regime, but Iraq remains unstable because of Sunni Arab resentment and a related insurgency, compounded by Sunni-Shiite violence that a January 2007 national intelligence estimate says has key elements of a “civil war.” Mounting U.S. casualties and financial costs — without clear signs of security progress — have intensified a debate within the United States over whether to wind down U.S. involvement without completely accomplishing initial U.S. goals.

The following casualty data was compiled by the Department of Defense (DOD), as tallied from the agency's press releases. Included are statistics on fatalities during Operation Iraqi Freedom, which began on March 19, 2003, and is ongoing, as well as on the number of fatalities since May 1, 2003, plus statistics on those wounded, but not killed, since March 19, 2003. Statistics may be revised as circumstances are investigated and as all records are processed through the U.S. military's casualty system.

This report presents casualty data compiled by the Department of Defense (DOD), as tallied from the agency’s press releases.

This report discusses the current political and social climate of Iraq, specifically in regards to the influence of the U.S. military presence over recent years. This report addresses planned and possible future efforts under the Obama Administration, including the scheduled gradual troops withdrawal. This report also discusses the continued tensions between various Iraqi sociocultural groups.

None

This report discusses US military operations in Iraq. Iraq's chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons programs, together with Iraqi long-range missile development and support for al-Queda terrorism, were the primary justifications put forward for military action.