The Iraq War, or the War in Iraq , was a conflict that occurred in Iraq from March 20, 2003 to December 18, 2011, though sectarian violence continues since and caused hundreds of fatalities.
Prior to the war, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom claimed that Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed a threat to their security and that of their coalition/regional allies. In 2002, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1441 which called for Iraq to completely cooperate with UN weapon inspectors to verify that Iraq was not in possession of WMD and cruise missiles