Multi-National Force – Iraq


The Multi-National Force – Iraq, often referred to as the Coalition forces, was a U.S.-led military command during the Iraq War from 2004 to 2009.
The vast majority of MNF-I was made up of United States Army forces. However it also supervised British, Australian, Polish, Spanish, and other countries' forces. It replaced the previous force, Combined Joint Task Force 7, on 15 May 2004. It was significantly reinforced during the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. MNF-I was reorganized into its successor, United States Forces – Iraq, on 1 January 2010.
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, which does humanitarian work and has a number of guards and military observers, has also operated in Iraq since 2003. The U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq was not a part of the MNF-I, but a separate entity. The NATO Training Mission – Iraq, was in Iraq from 2004 to December 2011, where it trained the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Police. This NATO mission was later followed by NATO Mission Iraq, which formed in 2018 at the request of the Government of Iraq to help build more sustainable, transparent, inclusive and effective Iraqi armed forces and security institutions.

History

The MNF-I's objectives, as expressed in an annex to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1546, a June 2004 letter from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to the U.N. Security Council, were stated to be:
The majority of countries that deployed forces to Iraq generally confined them to their respective military installations, due to widespread violence throughout the country.
The government of Iraq enjoyed broad international recognition, including from constituent countries of the Arab League. Jordan assisted in training of Iraqi security forces, and the United Arab Emirates donated military equipment, though purchased from Switzerland.
As of September 2008, over 545,000 Iraqi security forces have been trained.
In November 2006, the United Nations Security Council voted to extend the mandate of the multinational force in Iraq until the end of 2007. The move was requested by the Iraqi government, which said the troops were needed for another year while it built up its own security forces. In December 2007, the Security Council unanimously approved resolution 1790, which extended the mandate until December 31, 2008.
In December 2008, the American and Iraqi governments signed the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which covered only American troops. It allowed them to remain in the country until 2011, but changed the status on several issues. Iraq regains sovereignty of its airspace, gains sovereignty over American contractors U.S. forces who commit crimes, if they are both off-duty and off base. The U.S. were given until July 31, 2009 to withdraw from Iraqi cities and the whole agreement was subject to a referendum of Iraqi voters held prior to June 30, 2009. If the referendum failed to approve the agreement, the Iraqi government would have given the U.S. until July 31, 2010 to withdraw completely.
On December 18, 2008 the Iraqi government published a law that covered the status of non-U.S. foreign forces in the country from the end of the U.N.'s mandate on December 31, 2008 through to their withdrawal on July 31, 2009. The Iraqi parliament voted on Saturday December 20, 2008, after a second reading of this law, to reject it and send it back to the Iraqi cabinet. The majority of Iraqi parliamentarians wanted it to be made into a binding international agreement rather than simply presenting it as a local Iraqi law. A compromise was reached and the law passed on December 23, 2008, with the Iraqi government agreeing to then sign bilateral agreements with the affected countries.

List of countries in the coalition

Troop deployment in Iraq 2003–2011

Clandestine deployment of Canadian forces
  • – According to the U.S. State Department, a total of 15 countries participated covertly. According to leaked U.S. diplomatic cables, despite the Canadian government's official position that they would not participate in the invasion, Canadian officials allegedly promised to clandestinely support it. In addition to naval vessels and personnel already in the region, Canadian officers, Major Generals Walter Natynczyk, Peter Devlin, and Nicholas Matern, served as Deputy Commanding Generals of Multi-National Corps – Iraq. and Canadian pilots flew Boeing C-17s into Iraq to "season" the flight crews. In 2003, Prime Minister Chrétien admitted that some Canadian troops could be serving alongside U.S. and British troops in Iraq. "It's possible," he said, "but they are not in combat roles." Canadian Defense Minister John McCallum refused to give Parliament details about the locations of Canadian soldiers in Iraq.
    Notable deployment of military equipment
– contributed with ARTHUR counter-battery radar systems, which pointed out 1,500 bombing targets during" the first days of the war.

Countries that deployed troops to Iraq

2011 withdrawals

  • – 3,700 troops were in Southern Iraq, leading the Multi-National Division, which includes troops from several other countries. The deployment includes infantry, mechanized infantry and armored units as well as water-borne patrol personnel and a range of aircraft. After the invasion, approximately 8,500 troops were stationed in the south of the country, but 1,300 were withdrawn in early 2006. The British government then gradually reduced the number of troops in Iraq until May 22, 2011 when all the remaining British troops left Iraq after the Iraqi government rejected their request to stay and to extend their mission. The UK has lost 179 soldiers in Iraq as of 12 February 2009: 136 in roadside bombings, firefights, and rocket attacks. Out of the remaining 43, the cause of death included accidents, 'friendly fire' incidents, illnesses, and suicide. See Operation Telic for further information.
  • – In the cities, U.S. forces operate in support of Iraqi forces, and outside the cities U.S. forces operate in partnership with Iraqi forces. Support includes, for example, aerial surveillance, tactical advice, logistics, and intelligence, while partnership includes actual combat, for example patrolling, mine clearing, and serving arrest warrants. Additionally, a major line of operations is the logistical work of transporting millions of pieces of equipment back to the United States. On 1 January 2010 the five major command groups in the country were consolidated into a headquarters command called U.S. Forces – Iraq, and MNF–I was deactivated. Subordinate commands, responsible for detainee operations, were also deactivated in the same ceremony and their responsibilities now fall under the aegis of USF–I. In August 2010 all U.S. combat operations in Iraq ceased, and by then it is planned that all combat brigades will be AABs. In accordance with the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, all U.S. troops were withdrawn from Iraq by December 31, 2011. On October 21, 2011, President Barack Obama confirmed that all U.S. military personnel would leave Iraq by the end of 2011. As of December 6, 2011 there were 4,485 U.S. soldiers killed in combat operations within Iraq. On December 15, 2011, the United States formally ended its mission in Iraq. On December 18, 2011, the United States completed its withdrawal from Iraq.

    2009 withdrawals

  • – Australia contributed 2,000 personnel to the 2003 Iraq invasion. The largest force was the Overwatch Battle Group, which comprised 515 soldiers based at Camp Terendak in Talil, which terminated operations on June 2, 2008 along with the attached Australian Army training team. The battle group was previously known as the Al Muthanna Task Group, which had about 450 troops and was deployed on February 22, 2005 to reinforce Task Force Eagle, a British Army Battlegroup, which had recently replaced outgoing Dutch forces in Al Muthana Province. The Australian military presence in Iraq ended on July 28, 2009 per an agreement with the Iraqi government. There have been several injuries but no deaths of Australian troops in Iraq attributed to hostile action, however, a SASR operator was killed in a vehicle accident in Kuwait, and a soldier named Jacob Kovco, assigned to the Baghdad SECDET, died from an accidental discharge of his pistol.
  • – Salvadoran troops were involved in guarding convoys. The last Salvadoran troops left Iraq on January 22. El Salvador lost five soldiers in Iraq, four in hostile incidents and one in an accident. Twenty soldiers were wounded.
  • – Estonia has decided not to send a fresh troop contingent to Iraq, ending the involvement of units of up to 40 soldiers in the mission in Iraq since June 2003, Estonia's defence ministry announced in January. The mission officially ended on February 7, 2009. Their task was to conduct raids and combat patrols alongside American Forces in Baghdad and Fallujah. Two soldiers were killed in Iraq in separate insurgent attacks, 18 soldiers were wounded. Three staff officers remain with the NATO-led training mission in Iraq.
  • – Romania had originally had 730 soldiers deployed in Iraq. At its peak, it operated in three different zones. They performed a wide range of missions—prisoner interrogation at Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca in the American sector, reconnaissance and surveillance missions in the Polish sector, and training, peacekeeping missions, and base protection missions in the British sector. Romania also temporarily deployed a force of 130 soldiers to support UNAMI, a Coalition force in Iraq working under the authority of the United Nations. The force was deployed in March 2005, and withdrawn after six months. Romania reduced it, first to 501 by November 2008, and by early 2009, Romania had reduced its contingent to 350. They were stationed in Nasiriyah and Al-Kut. In an agreement signed with Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qader al-Ubeidi and the Romanian ambassador, Romania promised to withdraw its troops on July 31, 2009. It had been previously announced on November 6, 2008 that Romania would withdraw its then 501-strong contingent by the end of the year and leave a small group of advisers to assist the Iraqi authorities. In 2008, the president announced that the troops would stay until 2011. However, under the terms of the SOFA agreement between the United States and Iraq, all non-US forces must leave Iraq prior to July 31, 2009. As a result, Romania decided to withdraw. Romania formally terminated its mission in Iraq on June 4, 2009, and pulled out its troops. On July 23, 2009 the last Romanian soldiers left Iraq. Three Romanian soldiers had been killed during their mission, and at least eight were wounded.