US INVADERS: Iraq 20 years on | RT Documentary

20 years ago, the US Army and its allies invaded Iraq on the pretext that Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction. Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched to disarm Iraq of perceived WMD, and to end Saddam Hussein’s rule. However, Iraq had been found to have no biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. US troops captured Saddam in December 2003, and the war in Iraq dragged on until 2011. An estimated half a million people died in Iraq during that time. More deaths followed after the emergence of the Islamic State in the country – a direct result of the US occupation.

The documentary reflects on the legacy of the US invasion of Iraq through the eyes of medical student Ammar, former refugee Mukhalid, and other ordinary Iraqi citizens. While George Bush proclaimed Iraqis were free, they witnessed a different picture: their country slid into poverty and chronic instability. In the documentary, experts and historians weigh in on why the US intervention didn’t bring democracy, and only intensified internal tensions.