Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–2006

The post-invasion period in Iraq, followed the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States, assisted by the United Kingdom, which overthrew the Ba'ath Party government of Saddam Hussein. The occupation of Iraq covers the period from when the U.S.-led military force invaded the country in March 2003, until when they widthdrew from the country in December 2011. A military occupation was established and run by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which later appointed and granted limited powers to an Iraq Interim Governing Council. Troops for the invasion came primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom and Poland, but twenty-nine other nations also provided some troops, and there were varying levels of assistance from Japan...