From the Beginning: A Look at Five Years of War

U.S. soldiers guard the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, where a massive truck bomb devastated the United Nations headquarters, in August 2003.

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Ahmad Al-Rubaye

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AFP/Getty Images

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After the fall of Baghdad in 2003, the city was eerily silent. Then, suddenly the Iraqi capital burst into chaos. Looters thronged the streets, taking whatever they could. When asked why they didn't intervene, American officers said they had no orders to do so.

The initial chaos marked the beginning of five tumultuous years in Iraq. NPR's Anne Garrels, who has traveled back and forth to Iraq since before the war began, talks to Steve Inskeep about her experiences.

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Here, a look back at a few of those key moments and memorable people of the last five years:

Baghdad, Spring 2003

Many were shocked at the lack of security after the U.S. military toppled Saddam Hussein's regime. Among them was a doctor at a major Iraqi hospital — the only doctor who dared show up for work there on the day Garrels caught up to him.

"We want a government now to help with the electricity and the water supply. This is very dangerous. It's more serious than American war itself," he said.

U.N. Headquarters Bombing, August 2003

From a distance, it might have been possible to think the situation in Iraq was under control in the summer of 2003. Then, a massive truck bombing hit the United Nations in Baghdad, killing U.N. representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 of his staff members. After that bombing — which amounted to only the second major attack on a civilian target — the United Nations all but pulled out.

Battle of Fallujah, Fall 2004

In 2004, a steady stream of violence continued. In the fall, the U.S. military decided to retake Fallujah, which had become an insurgent stronghold. As the troops readied for battle, a group of them who had never seen combat revealed to Garrels their concerns about how they would perform.

"We all don't know what it's going to be like, you know. We can't. We've never been put in that situation," one Marine said.

Two members of that group were subsequently killed in Fallujah when they stormed a house that had been booby-trapped by insurgents. American troops now have much more experience in Iraq, but multiple deployments have taken their toll.

Sectarian Violence, 2005

Months before the bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samarra that sparked an incredible outburst of sectarian killing, the violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims was already growing.

In 2005, a Shiite cleric from Samarra complained that nothing was being done to stop it.

"We keep meeting and meeting, getting nothing. These meetings are useless. No one does anything. The people need help," he said.

Shiites in Samarra were being killed, threatened and pushed out of the area, despite pleas for government help. That bubbling conflict burst into the open when the shrine was bombed in 2006.

U.S. Troop Surge, 2007

The United States increased its troop numbers and changed tactics the following year. Previously hunkered down on huge bases, soldiers began living in the communities.

Capt. Eric Peterson set up one of the first combat outposts in the Gazalia neighborhood of Baghdad. Talking about one of the Iraqis he had enlisted for help, Peterson said, "He was a part of a crowd that pretty much said, 'Hey, about 12 months ago we were actively trying to kill Americans.' I mean, he does not hide that fact."

Since then, security in the neighborhood has improved, but the situation remains fragile. More than a year into the surge, the streets of Baghdad may be safer, but it's difficult to judge just how much.

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