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This year marks the somber 20th anniversary of the Iraq War, initiated by the Coalition of the Willing led by the U.S. and the U.K.

Middle-East Arab News and Opinion - Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities

The painful reality is that Washington’s hastily cobbled together ethno-sectarian political system for post-2003 Iraq ended up doing the opposite of what it intended. The regional domino effect was also the opposite of what the U.S. had hoped for, as Iraq became a cautionary tale that regimes could use to undermine the democratic desires of their own populations.

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Editor's note: On March 20, 2003, the United States launched a military invasion of Iraq, the second time it fought a war in that country in a little more than 10 years. Now, two decades after war broke out, China Daily reviews how the US broke a unified state at the heart of the Arab world with falsehoods, opening a power vacuum and leaving oil-rich Iraq a wounded nation in the Middle East.

It's been 20 years since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began. Here are some key dates from the invasion and following developments.

The painful reality is that Washington’s hastily cobbled together ethno-sectarian political system for post-2003 Iraq ended up doing the opposite of what it intended. The regional domino effect was also the opposite of what the U.S. had hoped for, as Iraq became a cautionary tale that regimes could use to undermine the democratic desires of their own populations.

Baghdad throbbing with life, residents enjoying peaceful interlude in painful history

It’s been 20 years since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began March 20, 2003

Pages from war diaries prove how the situation on the ground is often at a variance from what the Western media reports