U.S. Army Soldiers, Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, run toward a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter for an extraction after completing an aerial traffic control point mission near Tall Afar, Ninawa Province, Iraq, June 5, 2006, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. (U.S. Air Force photo by STAFF SGT. Jacob N. Bailey( (Released)

Iraq War aka Operation IRAQI FREEDOM was the 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by U.S. Army General Tommy Franks, under the code-name "Operation Iraqi Freedom". 248,000 soldiers from the United States, 45,000 British soldiers, 2,000 Australian soldiers and 194 Polish soldiers from Special Forces unit GROM sent to Kuwait for the invasion. The invasion force was also supported by Iraqi Kurdish militia troops, estimated to number upwards of 70,000.