Combat· Iraq War (Op IRAQI FREEDOM)
Baghdad Falls
The fall of Baghdad marked the effective collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime as Coalition forces seized the Iraqi capital and organized resistance disintegrated.
As the Army drove in from the west and south and the Marines pushed into the city from the east, the regime's defenses gave way, its forces dissolving or fleeing, and the symbols of Saddam's rule fell one after another. The Marines moved through the eastern and central districts, securing government and palace complexes as the capital came under Coalition control. The toppling of the dictator's statue in the city became the indelible image of the regime's end. The fall of Baghdad concluded the conventional phase of the war and the rule of the Baathist government, a swift result achieved weeks after the invasion began. For the Marines it was the destination of their rapid march from Kuwait, though the occupation and insurgency that followed would prove far longer and harder than the conquest.
Record no. 746