004 - Preface

In September 2013, Chief of Staff of the Army General Raymond T. Odierno tasked the Operation Iraqi Freedom Study Group with crafting a comprehensive operational history of the U.S. Armys involvement in the Iraq War from 2003 to 2011. This first volume, The United States Army in the Iraq War, 2003-2006, chronicles the U.S.-led efforts to topple Saddam Hussein and stabilize Iraq following his regimes removal. It captures the unfolding of military campaigns up to late 2006, when a pivotal shift in strategy led to the surge counteroffensive by American forces in 2007-2008, which is explored in the subsequent volume. Modeled after the Armys renowned Green Book histories of World War II, this narrative history offers an in-depth look at the operational level of war, primarily from the perspective of theater command in Baghdad and the senior commanders who shaped the course of action.