Iraq War documents leak

Largest disclosure in United States military history

Not to be confused with 2004 Iraq document leak.

The Iraq War documents leak is the disclosure to WikiLeaks of 391,832[1] United States Army field reports, also called the Iraq War Logs, of the Iraq War from 2004 to 2009 and published on the Internet on 22 October 2010.[2][3][4] The files record 66,081 civilian deaths out of 109,000 recorded deaths.[3][4][5][6][7] The leak resulted in the Iraq Body Count (IBC) project adding 15,000 civilian deaths to their count, bringing their total to over 150,000, with roughly 80% of those civilians.[8] It is the biggest leak in the military history of the United States,[2][9] surpassing the Afghan War documents leak of 25 July 2010.[10]

## Contents

[edit]

The logs led to news reports of previously unknown or unconfirmed events that took place during the war.

### Civilian casualties

[edit]

The Iraq Body Count project estimated 15,000 civilian deaths that had not been previously admitted by the US government based on an extrapolation of a sample of the deaths found in about 800 logs. Although American and British officials had denied any official record of civilian deaths, the logs released by WikiLeaks showed 66,081 civilian deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities for the period from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2009.[11][9][12] As of 2 January 2013, the IBC has added a total of 3,334 of these previously unrecorded civilian deaths to its database from their ongoing analysis of the war logs.[13][14]

Some civilian deaths were classified as enemy casualties, such as the July 12, 2007, Baghdad airstrike by US helicopter gunships which killed two Reuters journalists along with several men thought to be armed and suspected to be insurgents. They, including the journalists, were listed as "enemy killed in action".[3]

According to Al Jazeera English, some of the leaked documents describe how almost 700 civilians were killed by US troops for coming too close to checkpoints, including pregnant women and the mentally ill. At least a half-dozen incidents involved Iraqi men transporting pregnant family members to hospitals.[15]

The New York Times said the reports contain evidence of many abuses, including civilian deaths committed by contractors. The New York Times points out some specific reports, such as one which says "after the IED strike a witness reports the Blackwater employees fired indiscriminately at the scene."[16] In another event on 14 May 2005, an American unit "observed a Blackwater PSD shoot up a civ vehicle" killing a father and wounding his wife and daughter.[16]

### Iraqi - Western coalition human rights abuses

[edit]

The logs corroborate previous allegations that the US military handed over many prisoners to the Iraqi Wolf Brigade which was accused of beating prisoners, torturing them with electric drills, and executing suspects.[17] According to The Guardian, the logs also show that "US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers."[3] The coalition, had "a formal policy of ignoring such allegations", unless the allegations involved coalition forces.[3]

Wired Magazine reported that abuse of prisoners or detainees by Iraqi security forces continued even after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse incident came to light in 2004. In one recorded case, US troops confiscated a "hand cranked generator with wire clamps" from a Baghdad police station, after a detainee claimed to have been brutalised there.[9]

One report analysed by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism seemed to show a US military Apache helicopter gunship open fire on Iraqi insurgents who were trying to surrender.[18]

According to Dagbladet Information, Danish soldiers "passed on responsibility for a much higher number of prisoners to Iraqi police than had previously been made public. The practice continued even though the coalition witnessed, and was repeatedly warned of widespread torture and mistreatment of prisoners in the hands of the Iraqi police."[19]

### Foreign training and support for insurgents

[edit]

According to Wired Magazine, "WikiLeaks may have just bolstered one of the Bush administration's most controversial claims about the Iraq war: that Iran supplied many of the Iraq insurgency's deadliest weapons and worked hand-in-glove with some of its most lethal militias. The documents indicate that Iran was a major combatant in the Iraq war, as its elite Quds Force trained Iraqi Shiite insurgents and imported deadly weapons like the shape-charged explosively formed penetrator bombs into Iraq for use against civilians, Sunni militants and U.S. troops."[9]

It was reported in the Boston Globe that the documents show Iraqi operatives being trained by Hezbollah in precision military-style kidnappings. Reports also included incidents of US surveillance aircraft lost deep in Iranian territory.[20][21]

### Miscellaneous

[edit]

According to The Australian, a document from December 2006 described a plan by a Shia militia commander to kidnap US soldiers in Baghdad in late 2006 or early 2007. The Australian also reported that "detainee testimony" and "a captured militant's diary" are cited among the documents, in order to demonstrate "how Iran provided Iraqi militias with weapons such as rockets and lethal roadside bombs."[22]

According to The New York Times, the trove of documents released by WikiLeaks in October 2010 "portrays the long history of tensions between Kurds and Arabs in the north of Iraq and reveals the fears of some American units about what might happen after American troops leave the country by the end of 2011."[23]

An analysis published by The Jerusalem Post argued the leaked documents indicates a double standard in the international community views of human rights towards Israel's military policy:[24]

An editorial in The Washington Post said that the leak "mainly demonstrates that the truth about Iraq 'already has been told', while it 'has at least temporarily complicated negotiations to form a new government'". The editor also charged that "claims such as those published by the British journal The Lancet that American forces slaughtered hundreds of thousands are the real 'attack on truth.'"[25]

After criticism over the Afghan War documents leak, WikiLeaks redacted more information from the Iraq War documents. Julian Assange explained that this was to stop people distracting from the message contained in the material.[26]

## Responses

[edit]

### Media coverage

[edit]

WikiLeaks made the documents available under embargo to a number of media organisations: Der Spiegel, The Guardian, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, Le Monde, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and the Iraq Body Count project.[27] In October 2010, it was reported that WikiLeaks was planning to release up to 400,000 documents relating to the Iraq War.[28] Julian Assange initially denied the reports, stating: "WikiLeaks does not speak about upcoming releases dates, indeed, with very rare exceptions we do not communicate any specific information about upcoming releases, since that simply provides fodder for abusive organizations to get their spin machines ready."[29] The Guardian reported on 21 October 2010 that it had received almost 400,000 Iraq war documents from WikiLeaks.[30] On 22 October 2010, Al Jazeera was the first to release analyses of the leak, dubbed The War Logs. WikiLeaks posted a tweet that "Al Jazeera have broken our embargo by 30 minutes. We release everyone from their Iraq War Logs embargoes." This prompted other news organisations to release their articles based on the source material.

Upon the lifting of the embargo, the media coverage by these groups was followed by further coverage by other media organisations. The Guardian said that "the New York Times, Washington Post and other papers were accused by web publications and some bloggers of downplaying the extent to which the documents revealed US complicity in torture and provided evidence that politicians in Washington "lied" about the failures of the US military mission". Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com commented that "media outlets around the world prominently highlighted this revelation, but not The New York Times",[31][32] calling their coverage of the document leak "subservient" to the Pentagon.[33] UK papers including The Independent and The Daily Telegraph called the War Logs an indictment of the war that "must be investigated not ignored for the sake of political expediency".[34][35][36]

Slate wrote the "bigger finding" was that "most Iraqi civilian deaths were caused by other Iraqis" and that "while some American guards behaved horrendously toward Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison, Iraqi police and soldiers have behaved much worse".[37][36] Other writers said the War Logs highlighted the danger of Iran in Iraq and "may well derail the formation of a government by implicating caretaker prime minister Nuri al-Maliki in running death squads".[36] Max Boot wrote that the documents "don't tell us much that we didn't already know in broad outline".[36][38]

### International organisations

[edit]

The UN's chief investigator on torture, Manfred Nowak, states that "if the files released through WikiLeaks pointed to clear violations of the United Nations Convention Against Torture the Obama administration had an obligation to investigate them."[39] The convention, according to Nowak, forbids the US from turning over detainees to the Iraqi government, if doing so meant they might be subjected to torture.[39] The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay said that "the US and Iraq should investigate claims of abuse contained in files published on the WikiLeaks website". In addition, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak called "for a wider inquiry to include alleged US abuses."[40]

Hamit Dardagan, co-founder of the Iraq Body Count project, said that the publication of the Iraq War logs had revealed specific details about 15,000 previously unreported violent deaths of Iraqi civilians. Dardagan said that, for some of the deaths, WikiLeaks provided "hitherto undisclosed identifying details including their names — no small matter when so many Iraqi families were still desperately searching for their missing loved ones".[41]

### Countries

[edit]

In preparation for the leak, the Pentagon created an Information Review Task Force to look for names, keywords and other issues that would be particularly sensitive, comprising 120 people led by the Defense Intelligence Agency.[42] A spokesperson for the Pentagon said the reports were considered to be simple observations and reports by military personnel and civilian informants, but nevertheless called their release a "tragedy" while the US Department of Defense requested the return of the documents.[43] US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the leak, saying that it "puts the lives of United States and its partners' service members and civilians at risk."[42]

The US military responded to the information in the documents about civilian deaths, saying that "it did not under-report the number of civilian deaths in the Iraq war or ignore prisoner abuse by Iraqi forces". Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan added that "the US military never claimed to have an exact count of the number of civilians killed in Iraq."[44] He also added that both WikiLeaks and the Pentagon had the same database to collate a civilian death toll and was further sceptical WikiLeaks "made any new discovery." General George Casey, the army chief of staff, said US forces went to morgues to collect data and he did not "recall downplaying civilian casualties."[45]

In response to the allegations of torture by Iraqi soldiers under US oversight, US General George Casey, in command of the Iraq War between 2004 and 2007, said that "[o]ur policy all along was if American soldiers encountered prisoner abuse, to stop it and report it immediately up the US chain of command and up the Iraqi chain of command."[46] Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg also expressed his support for an investigation into the "allegations of killings, torture and abuse" in the documents, having stated, "We can bemoan how these leaks occurred, but I think the nature of the allegations made are extraordinarily serious".[47]

Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki dismissed the records as politically timed smear and as a series of "media games and bubbles" as a defence against the information contained in the documents, which included "allegations [his administration] had permitted the abuse of prisoners and other misuses of power." This was echoed by Hassan al-Sneid, a "leader of Maliki's governing State of Law coalition", who stated, in terms of the images contained in the documents, "These are all just fakes from the Internet and Photoshop".[48] The Iraqi Government stated that it planned to investigate the role of private contractors, specifically Blackwater Worldwide, in deaths that occurred during the war and were revealed in the logs.[49]

The Iraqi News Network stated that "The WikiLeaks documents revealed very important secrets, but the most painful among them are not those that focus on the occupier, but those that reveal what the Iraqi forces, Iraqi government and politicians did against their citizens. Those leaders who returned to remove Iraq from oppression toppled the dictator but then carried out acts that were worse than Saddam himself. If these documents make the US apologise to Iraqis, they should compel Mr Maliki to leave the political arena altogether and apologise to everyone."[31]

Spokesman for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying, "Serious ambiguity and doubt linger regarding the intentions behind the suspicious release of WikiLeaks documents," and that Iran will "confront this mischievous act".[50]

During an interview with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on the radio version of Democracy Now!, host Amy Goodman discussed the response from Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen, who had promised that "all allegations according to which Danish soldiers may have knowingly handed over detainees in Iraq to mistreatment at the hands of local authorities are regarded as very serious." However, he also "rejected calls by the opposition to establish an independent commission to investigate the claims."[51] In response to Rasmussen, an investigation by the Danish military was ordered by the minister of defence, Gitte Lillelund Bech.[52] The military also requested the original unedited documents from WikiLeaks for their investigation.[53]

### Non-government organisations

[edit]

Amnesty International said that the actions taken by American and coalition troops in turning over prisoners from American to Iraqi custody when it was known that the prisoners were likely to be tortured may have broken international law.[54] An Amnesty official said that the organisation had "concern[s] that the U.S. authorities committed a serious breach of international law when they summarily handed over thousands of detainees to Iraqi security forces who they knew were continuing to torture and abuse detainees on a truly shocking scale."[54]

The Iraq Body Count project, commenting on the projected additional 15,000 civilian casualties revealed by the logs, said that "[i]t is totally unacceptable that for so many years the US government has withheld from the public these essential details about civilian casualties in Iraq."[55]

### Other reactions

[edit]

Retired U.S. General Stanley McChrystal was quoted as saying, "I think it's sad. The decision to leak classified information is something that is illegal, and individuals are making judgments about threats and information they are not qualified to make. There is a level of responsibility toward our people that needs to be balanced with a right or need to know. It's likely that a leak of that information could cause the death of our own people or some of our allies."[56]

After the documents were released, US Iraq War resisters seeking refuge in Canada, including Joshua Key and the 17-year veteran Chuck Wiley, said that the October 2010 round of military documents released by WikiLeaks offers further support of their claims. Joshua Key, author, with Lawrence Hill, of The Deserter's Tale[57] (a book chronicling his service in Iraq and his subsequent departure from military life[58]), said, "It’s the truth actually being told. These [WikiLeaks] documents coming out now are right from the level of the soldiers. I guess (the brass) never realized how much the Internet would take a part in the [Iraq] war."[59]

## Total death count

[edit]

See also: Casualties of the Iraq War

While the U.S. tally of Iraqi and US-led Coalition deaths in the war logs is 109,000, a widely quoted[60] 2006 study published in The Lancet used a cross-sectional cluster sample to estimate about 650,000 deaths were due to the Iraq war increasing mortality.[61] Another study by the World Health Organization called the Iraq Family Health Survey estimated 151,000 deaths due to violence (95% uncertainty range, 104,000 to 223,000) from March 2003 through June 2006.[62] The Iraq Body Count reviewed the war logs data in three reports in October 2010 and concluded that the total recorded death toll, civilian and combatant, would be more than 150,000.[12]

## See also

[edit]

* Internet portal
* Iraq portal
* United States portal

* United States documents leak of the War in Afghanistan
* Chelsea Manning
* Niger uranium forgeries
* Pentagon Papers

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Iraq War logs". WikiLeaks. 22 October 2010. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
2. ^ a b "The WikiLeaks Iraq War Logs: Greatest Data Leak in US Military History". Der Spiegel. 22 October 2010. Archived from the original on 23 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
3. ^ a b c d e Davies, Nick; Steele, Jonathan; Leigh, David (22 October 2010). "Iraq war logs: secret files show how US ignored torture". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 30 July 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
4. ^ a b Carlstrom, Gregg (22 October 2010). "WikiLeaks releases secret Iraq file". Al Jazeera English. Archived from the original on 23 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
5. ^ "WikiLeaks website publishes classified military documents from Iraq". CNN. 22 October 2010. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
6. ^ "Enthüllung von US-Geheimdokumenten: Die Irak-Protokolle". Der Spiegel (in German). 22 October 2010. Archived from the original on 24 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
7. ^ "Nya dokument avslöjas från Irak-kriget" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. 22 October 2010. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
8. ^ Paul Reynolds (27 October 2010). "Wikileaks: Iraq war logs increase pressure for openness". BBC. Archived from the original on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
9. ^ a b c d Ackerman, Spencer; Shachtman, Noah (22 October 2010). "Chemical Weapons, Iranian Agents and Massive Death Tolls Exposed in WikiLeaks' Iraq Docs". Wired. Archived from the original on 24 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
10. ^ Stewart, Phil (23 October 2010). "WikiLeaks data shows U.S. failed to probe Iraqi abuse cases". Reuters. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
11. ^ "Five bombshells from WikiLeaks' Iraq war documents". The Christian Science Monitor. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
12. ^ a b "Iraq War Logs: What the numbers reveal". Iraq Body Count project. Archived from the original on 2 December 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
13. ^ ""Iraqi deaths from violence in 2012" by Iraq Body Count, 1 January 2013". Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
14. ^ ""Incidents added to the IBC database from the Iraq War Logs released by WikiLeaks, as of 2 January 2012" by Iraq Body Count". Archived from the original on 6 January 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
15. ^ Carlstrom, Gregg (23 October 2010). "Iraq files reveal checkpoint deaths". Al Jazeera English. Archived from the original on 23 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
16. ^ a b Glanz, James; Lehren, Andrew (23 October 2010). "Use of Contractors Added to War's Chaos in Iraq". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
17. ^ Leigh, David; O'Kane, Maggie (24 October 2010). "Iraq war logs: US turned over captives to Iraqi torture squads". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 23 August 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
18. ^ "US Apache guns down surrendering insurgents". The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (en-GB). Retrieved 5 November 2023.
19. ^ Gjerding, Sebastian (23 October 2010). "Danish forces involved in giving over detainees to abusive police". Dagbladet Information. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
20. ^ Gordon, Michael R.; Lehren, Andrew W. (23 October 2010). "Leaks shine light on Iran's role as backer of Iraq's Shi'ite militias". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
21. ^ "Hizbullah trained Iraqis how to kidnap soldiers". The Jerusalem Post. 23 October 2010. Archived from the original on 24 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
22. ^ "WikiLeaks confirms influences on Iraq". The Australian. 25 October 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2010. [dead link]
23. ^ Gordon, Michael R. (23 October 2010). "Tensions High Along Kurdish-Arab Line". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
24. ^ Katz, Yaakov (29 October 2010). "Analysis: Lies, leaks, death tolls & statistics". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 30 October 2010. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
25. ^ "Wikileaks's leaks mostly confirm earlier Iraq reporting". The Washington Post. 26 October 2010. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
26. ^ Shaughnessy, Larry (23 October 2010). "WikiLeaks redacted more information in latest documents release". CNN. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
27. ^ "The Iraq war logs: nearly 400,000 files document the war on a daily basis". Bureau of Investigative Journalism. 22 October 2010. Archived from the original on 29 October 2010. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
28. ^ "WikiLeaks May Release 400,000 Iraq War Documents". CBS News. 16 October 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
29. ^ Assange, Julian (18 October 2010). "Where do all these claims about WikiLeaks doing something on Iraq today (Monday) come from?". WikiLeaks. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
30. ^ Davies, Nick; Steele, Jonathan; Leigh, David (22 October 2010). "Iraq war logs: secret files show how US ignored torture". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
31. ^ a b Chulov, Martin; McGreal, Chris; Eriksen, Lars; Kington, Tom (28 October 2010). "Iraq war logs: media reaction around the world". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 28 August 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
32. ^ Greenwald, Glenn (25 October 2010). "NYT v. the world: WikiLeaks coverage". Salon.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2010. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
33. ^ Greenwald, Glenn (27 October 2010). "More on the media's Pentagon-subservient WikiLeaks coverage". Salon.com. Archived from the original on 30 October 2010. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
34. ^ "Leading article: The 'unknowns' were knowable". The Independent. 23 October 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
35. ^ "Wikileaks: Release has exposed the terrifying reality of the Iraq War". The Telegraph. 24 October 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
36. ^ a b c d Eichler, Alex (24 October 2010). "The Impact of the WikiLeaks War Logs". The Atlantic. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
37. ^ Kaplan, Fred (22 October 2010). "WikiLeaks' Iraq War Scoops". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
38. ^ "Commentary » Blog Archive » The New York Times Hearts WikiLeaks, Again". 19 November 2010. Archived from the original on 19 November 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
39. ^ a b Batty, David; Doward, Jamie (23 October 2010). "Iraq war logs: UN calls on Obama to investigate human rights abuses". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 28 August 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
40. ^ "UN urges US and Iraq to probe Wikileaks torture claims". BBC News. 26 October 2010. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
41. ^ Jaay, Charlie (12 February 2024). "If Julian Assange is extradited it will have huge implications for human rights and press freedom around the world". Left Foot Forward. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
42. ^ a b Fallon, Amy (22 October 2010). "Iraq war logs: disclosure condemned by Hillary Clinton and Nato". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2010. "I can't comment on the details of the exact impact on security, but in general I can tell you that such leaks ... may have a very negative security impact for people involved"
43. ^ "Wikileaks: Iraq war logs 'reveal truth about conflict'". BBC News. 23 October 2010. Archived from the original on 24 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
44. ^ Stewart, Phil; Shalal-Esa, Andrea (25 October 2010). "U.S. says did not under-report Iraq civilian deaths". Reuters. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
45. ^ "US defends Iraq record". Al Jazeera English. 26 October 2010. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
46. ^ "US rebuffs Wikileaks Iraq torture claims". BBC News. 25 October 2010. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
47. ^ Spencer, Richard (24 October 2010). "Wikileaks: Nick Clegg backs calls for investigation". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
48. ^ Healy, Jack (25 October 2010). "WikiLeaks' Iraq logs put Maliki in a tight spot". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
49. ^ Cockburn, Patrick (25 October 2010). "Baghdad to investigate role of Blackwater in deaths". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
50. ^ "Iran slams 'mischievous' WikiLeaks". News24. 26 October 2010. Archived from the original on 28 October 2010. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
51. ^ Goodman, Amy (26 October 2010). "WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange on Iraq War Logs, "Tabloid Journalism" and Why WikiLeaks Is "Under Siege"". Democracy Now!. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
52. ^ "Forsvaret får lækkede krigsdokumenter". Ekstra Bladet (in Danish). 3 November 2010. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
53. ^ "Forsvaret opfordrer WikiLeaks til at udlevere "Irak"-dokumenter" (in Danish). Ministry of Defence of Denmark. 3 November 2010. Archived from the original on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
54. ^ a b Cloud, David S.; Parker, Ned (23 October 2010). "WikiLeaks documents indicate U.S. forces failed to stop prisoner abuse by Iraqis". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 24 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
55. ^ "US soldiers killed unarmed civilians, WikiLeaks claim". Financial Times. 22 October 2010. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
56. ^ Farber, Dan (22 October 2010). "Gen. McChrystal: WikiLeaks a Sad Situation". CBS News. Archived from the original on 23 October 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
57. ^ Key, Joshua; Hill, Lawrence (June 2007). The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq. Atlantic Monthly. ISBN 978-0-87113-954-2.
58. ^ Hill, Lawrence (24 November 2007). "Just desertions". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
59. ^ Infantry, Ashante (24 October 2010). "U.S. war resisters praise WikiLeaks". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
60. ^ David Leigh (22 October 2010). "Iraq war logs reveal 15,000 previously unlisted civilian deaths". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 30 July 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
61. ^ Burnham G, Lafta R, Doocy S, Roberts L (October 2006). "Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey". The Lancet. 368 (9545): 1421–8\. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.88.4036. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69491-9. PMID 17055943. S2CID 23673934. Archived from the original on 14 May 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2010.`{{cite journal}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
62. ^ "New study estimates 151 000 violent Iraqi deaths since 2003 invasion" Archived 13 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. 9 January 2008 news release. World Health Organization. See right sidebar for related links.

## External links

[edit]

Wikinews has related news:

* WikiLeaks releases Iraq War logs

* Baghdad War Diary. WikiLeaks.
* The War Logs. The New York Times.
* Iraq: The war logs. The Guardian.
* Iraq War Logs. Der Spiegel.
* Secret Iraq Files. Al Jazeera English.
* iraqwarlogs.com. Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
* Warlogs crowdsourcing interface. OWNI.
* WikiLeaks Prepares Largest Intel Leak in US History with Release of 400,000 Iraq War Docs – video report by Democracy Now!, 22 October 2010
* Iraq War Logs Expose US-Backed Torture \- video report by Democracy Now!

* v
* t
* e

Iraq War (2003–2011)

Beginning of the Iraqi conflict

Prelude

| Background|

| Pre-1990|

* 17 July Revolution
* Iranian Revolution
* 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge
* Iran–Iraq War
* British / U.S. support for Iraq
* Chemical attacks against Iran
* Anfal campaign
* Iran–Contra affair

|

1990–2003|

* Gulf War
* Invasion of Kuwait
* Nayirah testimony
* Sanctions against Iraq
* No-fly zones
* 1991 uprisings
* UNSCOM
* Arms-to-Iraq affair
* Oil-for-Food Programme
* Investigations
* September 11 attacks
* Aftermath
* War on terror
* 2001 anthrax attacks
* U.S. War in Afghanistan
* Invasion

Rationale|

* WMD claims
* Yellowcake uranium
* Aluminum tubes
* Biological weapons
* Chemical weapons
* "Curveball"
* Mobile weapon labs
* Saddam–al-Qaeda conspiracy theory
* Anthrax claims
* Prague
* Ricin claims
* Oil as a possible rationale

Issues|

* American imperialism
* Bush Doctrine
* Wolfowitz Doctrine
* Colin Powell's UN presentation
* Disarmament crisis
* UNMOVIC
* Failed peace initiatives
* Iraq resolution / UK parliament's support for invasion
* Iraqi–Kurdish conflict
* Legality
* Legitimacy of the invasion
* Media coverage
* Military analyst program
* Rapid response operation
* Saddam's alleged shredder
* Preemptive war
* Saddam Hussein and human rights

Dossiers
and memos|

* Habbush letter
* Downing Street memo
* September Dossier
* Vilnius letter
* Letter of the eight
* Bush–Blair 2003 memo
* February Dossier
* Bush–Aznar memo

Overview

| Key events|

* Invasion (2003)
* Occupation (2003–2011)
* Insurgency
* 2003–06 period
* Anbar campaign
* Fallujah
* Capture of Saddam Hussein
* Interrogation
* Trial
* Execution / Reactions
* 2006 al-Askari mosque bombing
* Civil war (2006–08)
* 2007 U.S. troop surge
* timeline
* U.S. withdrawal
* Status of forces agreement

|

Invasion
(2003)|

* Timeline
* Preparations for invasion
* Multi-National Force
* Battle of Nasiriyah
* Fall of Baghdad
* Battle of Debecka Pass
* Firdos Square statue
* Mission Accomplished speech
* US public opinion

Occupation
(2003–2011)|

* Occupation of Ramadi
* De-Ba'athification
* 100 Orders
* CPA Order 2
* CPA Order 17
* U.S. military bases
* Blackwater
* Reconstruction
* Development Fund
* Economic reform
* UNAMI
* Al Qa'qaa high explosives
* U.S. kill or capture strategy

| Replacement
governments|

* Coalition Provisional Authority
* Iraqi Governing Council
* Interim Government
* 2005 parliamentary elections
* Transitional Government
* Constitution
* Ratification

|

Participants

| Countries|

* Australia
* Ba'athist Iraq
* Denmark
* El Salvador
* Georgia
* Iran
* Italy
* Japan
* Poland
* South Korea
* Thailand
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom
* United States

|

Insurgent
groups|

| Sunni
groups|

* Islamic Army in Iraq
* 1920 Revolution Brigades
* Jaish al-Rashideen
* Islamic Front for the Iraqi Resistance
* Hamas of Iraq
* Jeish Muhammad
* Mujahideen Shura Council
* Islamic State of Iraq
* Al-Qaeda in Iraq
* Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah
* Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad
* Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna
* Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan
* Black Banner Organization
* Wakefulness and Holy War
* Abu Theeb's group
* Abu Bakr Al-Salafi Army
* Mujahideen Army

|

Shia
groups|

* Mahdi Army
* Abu Deraa's militia
* Badr Organization
* Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq
* Sheibani Network
* Soldiers of Heaven
* Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq
* Promised Day Brigade
* Kata'ib Hezbollah

Ba'ath
loyalists|

* Fedayeen Saddam
* Al-Awda
* Popular Army
* Al-Abud Network
* Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order
* Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation

Battles and operations

| Operations|

| 2003|

* Ancient Babylon
* Catalyst
* Desert Scorpion
* Desert Thrust
* Falconer
* Iron Hammer
* Iron Justice
* Ivy Blizzard
* Northern Delay
* Airborne Dragon
* Panther Squeeze
* Peninsula Strike
* Planet X
* Capture of Saddam Hussein (Red Dawn)
* Telic

|

2004|

* Baton Rouge
* Bulldog Mammoth
* Iron Saber
* New Dawn (Al Fajr)
* Phantom Fury
* Phantom Linebacker
* Plymouth Rock
* Vigilant Resolve
* Warrior's Rage

2005|

* Cyclone
* Iron Hammer
* Matador
* New Market
* Spear (Romhe)
* Squeeze Play
* Steel Curtain

2006|

* Al Majid
* Gaugamela
* Iron Triangle
* Sinbad
* Swarmer
* Together Forward

2007|

* Alljah
* Arbead II
* Ardennes
* Black Eagle
* Commando Eagle
* Forsythe Park
* Imposing Law
* Leyte Gulf
* Marne Avalanche
* Marne Torch
* Mawtini
* Phantom Strike
* Phantom Thunder
* Saber Guardian
* Sledgehammer
* Stampede 3
* Tiger Hammer
* Valiant Guardian (Harris Ba'sil)

2008|

* Defeat Al Qaeda in the North
* Augurs of Prosperity
* Phantom Phoenix

2009–2011|

* New Dawn

Battles|

| 2003|

| Invasion|

* Umm Qasr
* Al Faw
* Basra I
* Nasiriyah
* Karbala I
* Haditha Dam
* Najaf I
* Samawah I
* Karbala II
* Al Kut
* Hillah
* Karbala Gap
* Debecka Pass
* Baghdad I

|

* Majar al-Kabir
* Ramadan Offensive

2004|

* Spring fighting
* Karbala City Hall
* Fallujah I
* Siege of Sadr City
* Ramadi I
* Good Friday ambush
* Baghdad International Airport
* Husaybah
* Danny Boy
* Najaf II
* CIMIC House
* Samarra
* Fallujah II
* Mosul

2005|

* Lake Tharthar
* Abu Ghraib
* Al-Qa'im
* Hit convoy
* Haditha
* Tal Afar

2006|

* Baghdad II
* Ramadi II
* Diwaniya
* Al Rumaythah
* Amarah
* Turki

2007|

* Haifa Street
* Karbala provincial HQ
* Najaf III
* Shurta Nasir
* Basra II
* Baqubah
* Route Bismarck
* Donkey Island
* Karbala III

2008|

* Spring fighting
* Iraqi Day of Ashura
* Nineveh
* Basra III
* Al-Qaeda offensive

2009–2011|

* Palm Grove (2010)

Related events|

* Turkish incursions into northern Iraq
* 2007
* 2008
* Abu Kamal raid

War crimes

| Occupation forces|

| Killings and
massacres|

* During the 2003 invasion
* U.S. killings of journalists
* Fallujah killings
* Killing of Nadhem Abdullah (2003)
* Murder of Muhamad Husain Kadir
* Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre (2004)
* Haifa Street helicopter incident (2005)
* Tal Afar shootings (2005)
* Basra prison incident (2005)
* Haditha massacre (2005)
* Mahmudiyah rape and killings (2006)
* Ishaqi massacre (2006)
* Baghdad detainee killings (2006)
* Hamdania incident (2006)
* Iraqi bodyguard killing (2006)
* Iron Triangle Murders (2006)
* Baghdad airstrike (2007)
* Nisour Square massacre (2007)
* Iraq War Logs (2010)

|

Chemical
weapons|

* Use of white phosphorus by the United States (2004–05)

Torture
and abuse|

* Abu Ghraib prison (2003–06)
* Camp Bucca (2003–09)
* Camp Nama (2003–04)
* Balad Air Base (2003–2011)
* Death of Nagem Hatab (2003)
* Killing of Baha Mousa (2003)
* Death of Abed Hamed Mowhoush (2003)
* Killing of Manadel al-Jamadi (2003)
* Death of Fashad Mohamed (2004)

§ Other killings
and bombings|

| 2003|

* Jordanian embassy
* Canal Hotel
* Imam Ali mosque bombing
* Baghdad October 2003

|

2004|

* Erbil 2004
* Ashura massacre
* Basra 2004
* Mosul 2004
* 2004 church bombings
* Baghdad bombings
* 14 September
* 30 September
* Karbala and Najaf bombings
* Baqubah 2004
* Kufa mosque bombing

2005|

* Al Hillah 2005
* Erbil 2005
* Musayyib bombing
* Baghdad bombings
* August
* September
* Balad 2005
* Khanaqin bombings

2006|

* Karbala and Ramadi
* Al-Askari mosque 2006
* Buratha mosque bombing
* Sadr City bombings
* July
* November
* Hayy Al-Jihad massacre

2007|

* Mustansiriya University
* Baghdad bombings
* 22 January
* 3 February
* 12 February
* 18 February
* 29 March
* 18 April
* 26 July
* 1 August
* Al Hillah 2007
* Tal Afar 2007
* Iraqi Parliament
* 2007 Karbala mosque bombings
* Massacres of Yazidis
* April massacre
* Qahtaniyah bombings
* Makhmour
* Abu Sayda
* Al-Askari mosque 2007
* Al-Khilani mosque bombing
* Amirli bombing
* Kirkuk 2007
* Al Amarah bombings

2008|

* Bagdad bombings
* February
* March
* June
* Balad 2008
* Karbala 2008
* Al-Karmah
* Dujail bombing
* Balad Ruz bombing
* Attacks on Christians in Mosul

2009|

* Bagdad bombings
* March
* 6 April
* June
* August
* October
* December
* Baghdad–Miqdadiyah
* Taza bombing
* Kirkuk 2009
* Tal Afar 2009

2010|

* Nationwide attacks
* 10 May
* 25 August
* Bagdad bombings
* January
* February
* April
* August
* September
* November
* Baqubah 2010
* Baghdad church massacre

2011|

* Nationwide attacks
* January
* August
* Bagdad bombings
* January
* August
* October
* Arba'een bombings
* Tikrit assault
* Al Hillah 2011
* Samarra bombing
* Al Diwaniyah bombing
* Taji bombings
* Karbala 2011
* Basra 2011

Other war crimes|

* Raid on Camp Ashraf (2011)
* Archaeological looting
* Chlorine bombings
* Torture by the Wolf Brigade (2004–2011)

Prosecution|

* United States and the International Criminal Court
* Hague Invasion Act
* Prosecution for the 2003 invasion
* Abtan v. Blackwater
* Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
* Saleh v. Bush
* Taguba Report

§ All attacks listed in this group were either committed by insurgents, or have unknown perpetrators

Impact

| General|

* Casualties
* Iraq Body Count
* Iraq Family Health Survey
* Lancet surveys
* ORB survey
* Damage to Baghdad
* Al-Aimmah Bridge disaster
* Human rights
* Humanitarian crisis
* 2007 cholera outbreak
* Financial cost
* Refugees
* Iraqi Christians
* Mandaeans
* Violence against Iraqi academics

|

Political
controversies|

* Post-invasion WMD conjecture
* Iraq scandal in Finland
* Dixie Chicks comments
* Plame affair
* Hood event
* Death of David Kelly
* Hutton Inquiry
* Kidnapping of Angelo dela Cruz
* 2004 document leak
* Al Jazeera bombing memo
* Scott Thomas Beauchamp controversy
* MoveOn.org ad controversy
* Six Days in Fallujah
* Role of Canada
* War resisters

| Investigations|

* Senate Report on WMD Intelligence
* Duelfer Report
* Chilcot Inquiry

|

Reactions|

| Pre-war|

* Pre-war international reactions
* Khuy Voyne!
* Saddam Hussein interview

|

* Views on the invasion
* U.S. public opinion
* Opposition
* Criticism
* United Nations
* Oprah's Anti-war series
* Iraqi map pendant
* Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan
* Photo Op
* A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq
* Bush shoe-throwing incident

Protests|

* Halloween 2002
* February 15, 2003
* March 20, 2003
* Bring Them Home Now Tour
* January 20, 2005
* September 24, 2005
* January 27, 2007
* March 17, 2007
* 2007 Port of Tacoma
* September 15, 2007
* March 19, 2008

Aftermath in Iraq|

* The rise of ISIL
* Insurgency (2011–13)
* War in Iraq (2013–17)
* War against ISIL (2014–present)
* U.S.-led intervention in Iraq (2014–2021)
* Insurgency (2017–present)

Miscellaneous

| Terminology|

* Axis of evil
* Outposts of tyranny
* "Baghdad Bob"
* "Chemical Ali"
* Coalition of the willing
* Dead checking
* Embedded journalism
* Freedom fries
* Friedman Unit
* "Mother of All Bombs"
* "Mrs. Anthrax"
* Old Europe and New Europe
* Regime change
* Shock and awe
* "Sixteen Words"
* "Smoking gun / mushroom cloud"
* Star Spangled Ice Cream
* Strategic reset
* "There are unknown unknowns"
* Triangle of Death
* "Yo, Blair"

| Critical|

* Global arrogance
* Inverted totalitarianism
* "The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time"

|

Memorials|

* Afghan–Iraqi Freedom Memorial (Salem, Oregon)
* Al-Shaheed Monument
* Iraq and Afghanistan Memorial (London)
* Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial
* Old North Memorial Garden
* Saving Iraqi Culture

Lists|

* Assassinations
* Aviation shootdowns and accidents
* Bombings
* Coalition military operations
* Documentaries
* Iraqi security forces fatality reports
* Most-wanted Iraqi playing cards
* Private contractor deaths

Timeline|

* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011

Related

* Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
* Chelsea Manning
* CIA black sites
* Efforts to impeach George W. Bush
* "Enhanced interrogation techniques"
* Torture in the United States
* Extraordinary rendition
* Green Zone
* Guantanamo Bay detention camp
* Gulf of Tonkin incident
* Resolution
* Military–industrial complex
* Neoconservatism
* Patriot Act
* Petrodollar warfare theory
* Post-9/11
* Special Relationship
* The Iraq War: A Historiography of Wikipedia Changelogs
* Unilateralism
* Unitary executive theory
* U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East
* WikiLeaks
* Ba'ath Party archives

Outline /  Category /  Wikinews /  Multimedia

* v
* t
* e

WikiLeaks

Leaks|

* List of material published by WikiLeaks
* Baghdad airstrike video
* Afghan war documents leak
* Iraq War documents leak
* Cables leak
* Guantanamo Bay files leak
* Stratfor email leak
* Syria Files
* DNC email leak
* Podesta emails
* Vault 7
* Fishrot Files

Cables leak|

* Contents
* National leaders analyses
* Reactions

Related people|

* Jacob Appelbaum
* Julian Assange
* Daniel Domscheit-Berg
* Rudolf Elmer
* Phineas Fisher
* Rop Gonggrijp
* Guccifer 2.0
* Sarah Harrison
* Kristinn Hrafnsson
* Birgitta Jónsdóttir
* Chelsea Manning
* Andy Müller-Maguhn
* Joshua Schulte
* Israel Shamir
* Edward Snowden
* Gottfrid Svartholm
* Sigurdur Thordarson

Legal|

* Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority
* Bank Julius Baer v. WikiLeaks
* Democratic National Committee v. Russian Federation

* Kunstler v. Central Intelligence Agency
* Twitter court orders
* United States v. Assange
* United States v. Manning
* list of charges

Related topics|

* Anonymous
* Cypherpunks
* HBGary
* Operation Payback
* Reception of WikiLeaks
* Risk
* We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks
* WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy
* WikiLeaks Party
* World Tomorrow

Related websites|

* Cryptome
* Distributed Denial of Secrets
* Truth & Transparency Foundation

* Category

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