March 20 – April 9, 2003 · Central Iraq Theater

Operation Iraqi Freedom opens with 'Shock and Awe' — a night-time cruise missile and precision bombing campaign against Baghdad. Three US Army divisions and the 1st Marine Division drive north from Kuwait simultaneously. The 3rd Infantry Division reaches Baghdad's outskirts in 21 days. On April 5, 'Thunder Run' — a tank column charges straight through the city center — and the Republican Guard collapses. On April 9, a US military vehicle pulls down the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square before a watching world.

April 4–May 1, 2004 · Al Anbar Province Theater

After four Blackwater contractors are killed and their bodies hung from a bridge in Fallujah, the Marine Corps launches an assault on the city. Three days in, with Marines fighting street by street, US political leadership halts the operation under Arab pressure — allied Iraqi Governing Council members threaten to resign. Marines, who had taken 27 killed in three days of fighting, are ordered to halt and hand the city to an Iraqi force that promptly defects to the insurgency.

November 7 – December 23, 2004 · Al Anbar Province Theater

Operation Phantom Fury — the largest urban battle of the Iraq War. Marines and Army troops assault Fallujah in the most intense house-to-house combat since Hue City in Vietnam. The city has been fortified with IED networks, booby-trapped buildings, and interconnected tunnel systems. After six weeks of fighting, the city is cleared — 95 Marines and soldiers killed, 560 wounded, and 1,350 insurgents killed. Much of the city is destroyed.

November 10–14, 2004 · Northern Iraq Theater

While American attention focused on Fallujah, insurgents launch a coordinated uprising in Mosul. Iraqi police and security forces — 5,000 men — collapse almost entirely in 24 hours. Police stations are seized, weapons depots looted. Only about 500 of 5,000 Iraqi police officers report for duty. The 25th Infantry Division rushes to Mosul and eventually restores order, but the city falls into a cycle of insurgent control and US counter-operations.

March 25 – April 20, 2008 · Southern Iraq Theater

Operation Charge of the Knights — Prime Minister Maliki personally flies to Basra to lead Iraqi Security Forces in a major assault on the Mahdi Army, which controls large parts of southern Iraq. The initial assault goes badly — ISF units mutiny or are badly mauled. US air strikes and Special Forces trainers are rushed in. After three weeks, the Mahdi Army accepts a ceasefire. Sadr stands down his forces, claiming victory.