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This website was launched 15 years after the American invasion of Iraq. Even now, years since the Iraq War “ended,” nearly 3,000 American soldiers remain in the country [Eds: As of Autumn 2020].

While we (here, U.S. citizens/residents) usually mark the loss of 4,500 Americans in the conflict, we rarely make time to think about the 180,807-202,757 Iraqi civilians* who died as the result of the invasion, or the ways in which we – and much of the world – still live with the legacies of one of the most disastrous foreign policy decisions in American history.

What can we do now?

• Donate. The war(s) in Iraq have displaced millions of Iraqis inside the country and sent hundreds of thousands of people abroad as refugees. Donate to groups that support refugees and migrants, including Doctors without Borders and the International Refugee Assistance Project. Look for local groups in your area.
• Stay informed. Read history, literature, and analysis in addition to the news. Look for diverse Iraqi voices and develop your own opinion.
• Think critically. The United States remains mired in conflicts across the region, and advocates for the Iraq War have largely been rehabilitated. 72% of Americans supported the Iraq War when it began. We all have a responsibility to know more and speak out more the next time.
• Bear witness. The least we can do as Americans is acknowledge our own moral responsibility for what has happened.

This site aims to provide a non-comprehensive but curated point-of-entry for English-language articles, stories, and books relating to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The site is by no means exhaustive, but we welcome any suggestions on how to improve or expand it.

Feel free to contact us at iraq15yearson[at]gmail[dot]com – this is a work in progress, so bear with us (and feel free to help us!) as we figure out what this site should look like.

*Casualty figures for Iraqi civilians range everywhere from Associated Press estimates of 110,000 (2003-2009) based on Iraqi Ministry of Health data to over 400,000 based on household surveys. We use figures from the Iraq Body Count here.