Scope: On March 20, 2003, the United States initiated offensive military action against Iraq for the stated purpose of deposing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and preventing his use of suspected nuclear weapons (weapons of mass destruction.) British, Australian, Polish, and Danish forces participated in the invasion. U.S. led forces took control of Baghdad on April 9, 2003. There was both support and opposition to the war.
The war continued with the United States coalition forces facing increased insurgency from Shiite militants, Sunni militants, and terrorists aligned with Al Queda. The United States has had more than 150,000 troops deployed at any one time in Iraq. The Library continued with two more phases of web capturing from December, 2003 to the present. These last two phases are not yet available but will be in the future.
Included in the web archive are U.S. government sites, foreign government sites, public policy and political advocacy groups, educational organizations, religious organizations, support groups for military personnel, anti-war groups, sites that target children, and news sources.
This collection is part of a continuing effort by the Library of Congress to evaluate, select, collect, catalog, provide access to, and preserve digital materials for future generations of researchers.
Collection Period: The Iraq War Web-capture has three phases of collection. The first phase, a weekly capture, began on March 13, 2003 with the commencement of the war and ended June 30, 2003. Phase 1 has been processed and is available from this site.
Phase 2 is a weekly capture and covers December 2003 to December 2004. Phase 3, also a weekly capture, was begun in January 2005 and is ongoing as of January, 2008. Phases 2 and 3 are not yet processed.
Access the Iraq War Web Archive
Library of Congress creates Iraq War Web Archive
