On March 20th, 2003, the invasion of Iraq officially began. Ostensibly, the purpose of the US led attack was "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." On April 9th, 2003, the Iraqi military was officially defeated, and Baghdad fell. Saddam Hussein, the country’s deposed leader, was captured by coalition forces in December.

Fierce debate continues to rage regarding the efficacy, motivation, and legality of the invasion. Although the United States position stated that Iraq was in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which concerned ‘weapons of mass destruction’, the invasion was staged despite the absence of a UN resolution authorising the use of military force. Many opponents of the war saw this as a breech of the UN Charter, and thus a violation of international law.

This documentary addresses the confused political and military entanglement which constitutes post-war Iraq. In May 2003, as President Bush delivered his ‘mission accomplished’ speech aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, it became clear that precisely the opposite was true. Since this time, coalition forces have existed in a state of ongoing ‘asymmetric warfare’ with resistance forces.

The insurgency, which first became evident in the ‘Sunni triangle’ in the chaos of post-invasion Iraq, has continued sporadically and extremely violently ever since. Meanwhile, a ferocious sectarian war between the Shia and Sunni populations rages indefinitely.

We examine the attempts made by coalition forces to tackle insurgent activity. Firstly, we address the actions of the militant cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, specifically focussing on the August 2004 fighting between US Marines policing Najaf and al-Sadr’s ‘Mahdi Army’. The battle, which raged ferociously for three weeks, mostly centred on the Wadi as-Salam Cemetery. Before a ceasefire could be negotiated, thousands of Mahdi Army guerrillas were killed and inestimable damage was inflicted on the 1,000 year old town and cemetery.

Next, we examine the efforts by U.S. forces to establish ‘order’ in the long-suffering city of Fallujah. Finally, we travel to the northern city of Mosul where US Special Forces and 101st Airborne troops captured Saddam Hussein’s sons, Uday and Qusay.

This thought-provoking documentary provides us with a frightening image of a country which still exists in a daily state of turmoil, hatred and chaos. We witness the tragic civilian cost of this endless cycle of violence.