1/ On 20 March 17 years ago, a coalition, including the UK, began the US-led invasion of Iraq with a campaign of aerial bombardment

The reason for the war was based on allegations that then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was harbouring weapons of mass destruction (WMD)

2/ After the attacks in the US on 11 September 2001, US President George W Bush labelled Iraq as part of an “axis of evil” and called on the country to disarm or face “serious consequences”

3/ In the lead up to the invasion, people globally took to the streets to denounce the impending military action. In London, an estimated two million people protested the government’s role in what is believed to be the largest demonstration in UK history

4/ Three days before the invasion began, Saddam Hussein was given 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war

By 9 April 2003, Saddam’s government lost control over the capital Baghdad and US forces advanced into the city centre

Under a month later, Bush announced victory

5/ Over half a million Iraqis are estimated to have died in the war, with the worst casualties suffered in the violence between 2006 and 2007. From the start of the war in 2003 until 30 September 2015, the US allegedly spent a total of over $819 billion on war costs in Iraq

In the UK, a government dossier released in 2002 alleging Iraq had WMD was called into question in May 2003 after the government’s weapons expert, Dr David Kelly, revealed to the BBC that the Iraq dossier was “sexed up”. Two months later, Kelly was found dead

7/ On 13 December 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured by US troops in a cellar in the city of Tikrit as fighting between insurgent groups and US-backed forces continued. By 2007, daily suicide bombings and sectarian fighting had massively increased the violence and death toll

8/ On 30 December 2006, Saddam Hussein, Iraq's president since 1979, was found guilty of killing Shi’as in the 1980’s and was hanged. Footage of his final moments where he was taunted was aired widely. His defence lawyers later claimed the hanging was simply "victors' justice"

9/ Subsequent inquiries into the Iraq war found:

•The UK and US had used flawed intelligence to justify the invasion

•Iraq had posed no immediate national security threats

•The US and its allies acted militarily before all diplomatic options had been exhausted

10/ : AFP