Click to watch the trailer for "Good Night, and Good Luck" by George Clooney

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. American troops marched into the country on President Bush’s orders to topple Saddam Hussein’s repressive regime, resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties. The effects of war can still be felt throughout the country today.

In February 2003, about a month before the Iraq war started, Dustin Hoffman and George Clooney were on the stage at the Cinema for Peace Gala 2003, calling for peace which created global front-page coverage. "I ask my administration to answer the question - If we go in and use what I have read to be 30,000 pounds of bombs in 43 minutes, and that's who gets it (people of Iraq), and their mothers, fathers, I ask what happens after that," said Dustin Hoffman in his rousing speech, resonating with a global audience. Three years later, in 2006, George Clooney said while accepting his award for the film "Good Night, and Good Luck" - “I want to thank you for this award. It means a lot to me because the last time I was there for Cinema for Peace, a couple of years ago just before the Iraq war, after walking in and coming home to the United States, I was called a traitor to my own country…It made me a little angry and I wrote a film because of that. So you can honestly say that you were an active participant in us making this film.”

The 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks led to the establishment of the "war on terror". On March 19th, 2003, George W. Bush ordered American armed forces to invade Iraq as part of this counter-terrorism military campaign. The former President made claims to the American public that Saddam Hussein was harboring weapons of mass destruction, however, no evidence was found to substantiate those accusations. Nonetheless, forces did succeed in removing Hussein from power, paving the way for laborious nation-building efforts that would last for about a decade.

Today Iraq is a completely different country — it is far more liberated, free of Hussein’s dictatorship, one-party rule, and press censorship. Regardless, many Iraqis do not share a positive outlook on the country’s future, which has been marked by a period of economic fragility. According to the NY Times, despite being an oil-rich nation, "most of the country’s energy revenues have been spent primarily on the vast public sector, lost to corruption, or wasted on grand projects left unfinished."

The U.S. completed its withdrawal of forces from Iraq on December 11th, 2011. Fast forward to 2023, and the country is still scarred by civil war and the instability that comes with it. Gallup's report on the bloody anniversary highlights "the horrors of war" and how they have "defined childhood for millions of young Iraqis who have never known life in a stable state." The one thing that is clear in this rather complex situation is that there is still a long way to go, and we must play our part in supporting the Iraqi people.

Dustin Hoffman and George Clooney at the Cinema for Peace Gala in 2003

Dustin Hoffman's speech on the war in Iraq at the Cinema for Peace Gala in 2003

Click to watch the trailer for "Official Secrets" by Gavin Hood

Iraq War - 20 Years