by Deborah Amos with Tom Bullock

September 2003

The military victory in Iraq was stunning and swift, but months after the fall of Baghdad, the U.S. military is still fighting. On August 25, 2003, the number of American solders killed in Iraq during the occupation became greater then those killed during the war. This special report documents the early missed opportunities and cultural misunderstandings that may have contributed to the ongoing armed insurgency that continues to this day.

The Sunni Heartland

Iraq's Sunni Arab Moslems make up only 20 percent of the population, but they have been politically important for generations. What happened in this province in the days and weeks following the war jump started an armed opposition and is an example of what went wrong in post-war Iraq.

The Unexpected War

The American troops who had just fought a war had to change gears almost overnight. The rules had changed on when they could fire. The quick shift from combat to peacekeeping makes for a difficult adjustment.