Which among the following statement is incorrect with regard to Operation Iraqi Freedom:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The US-led coalition did not face any major resistance in Iraq after the invasion.
Option (1) More than forty countries joined in the US led coalition. — True. More than forty other countries joined in the US-led ‘coalition of the willing’.
Option (2) The action was taken without the approval of the UN. — True. The countries joined the coalition after the UN refused to give its mandate to the invasion of 19 March 2003.
Option (3) The US-led coalition did not face any major resistance in Iraq after the invasion. — False. The government of Saddam Hussein fell swiftly, but the US was not able to ‘pacify’ Iraq: a full-fledged insurgency against US occupation was ignited, and the US lost over 3,000 military personnel in the war.
Option (4) The reason given for invading Iraq was to prevent it from developing weapons of mass destruction. — True. The ostensible purpose of the invasion was to prevent Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Note: This question is taken from the chapter ‘US Hegemony in World Politics’ which was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT and has been deleted from subsequent editions of NCERT, including the NCERT book (2026-27). The NCERT book (2026-27) mentions the Iraq invasion only in passing: the US-led ‘coalition of the willing’ in the chapter ‘Contemporary Centres of Power’, and Kofi Annan declaring the invasion an illegal act in the chapter ‘International Organisations’.
NCERT (2026-27): “European Union … As a supranational organisation, the EU is able to intervene in economic, political and social areas. But in many areas its member states have their own foreign relations and defence policies that are often at odds with each other. Thus, Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair was America’s partner in the Iraq invasion, and many of the EU’s newer members made up the US-led ‘coalition of the willing’ whereas Germany and France opposed American policy.…” NCERT (2026-27), chapter ‘International Organisations’: “UN SECRETARIES-GENERAL … Kofi A. Annan (1997-2006) Ghana; UN official; created the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; declared the US-led invasion of Iraq as an illegal act; established the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council in 2005; awarded the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.…” NCERT (Pre-rationalised), chapter ‘US Hegemony in World Politics’: “THE IRAQ INVASION … On 19 March 2003, the US launched its invasion of Iraq under the codename ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’. More than forty other countries joined in the US-led ‘coalition of the willing’ after the UN refused to give its mandate to the invasion. The ostensible purpose of the invasion was to prevent Iraq from developing weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Since no evidence of WMD has been unearthed in Iraq, it is speculated that the invasion was motivated by other objectives, such as controlling Iraqi oilfields and installing a regime friendly to the US. Although the government of Saddam Hussein fell swiftly, the US has not been able to ‘pacify’ Iraq. Instead, a full-fledged insurgency against US occupation was ignited in Iraq. While the US has lost over 3,000 military personnel in the war, Iraqi casualties are very much higher. It is conservatively estimated that 50,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the US-led invasion. It is now widely recognised that the US invasion of Iraq was, in some crucial respects, both a military and political failure.” |