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In the aftermath of the Gulf War Iraq increasingly became an isolated [[pariah state]] among much of the international community. The [[United Nations]] implemented [[economic sanctions]] against the country, designed as leverage to press for Iraqi disarmament, but these achieved at best mixed results. Some observers have blamed the sanctions for the deaths of thousands of Iraqi children during the period, while others have similarly argued that many of the targeted officials of the Iraqi regime actually ''benefited'' from them, through corrupt deals such as the [[UN Oil for Food Scandal]]. During the period of the sanctions the U.S. and the U.K. declared [[no-fly zone]]s over Kurdish northern and Shiite southern Iraq to protect the Kurds and southern Shiites. US and UK aircraft would occasionally engage in bombing raids and exchange gunfire with the Iraqi military.
Iraq's relations with the United States continued to worsen following the appointment of George W. Bush as President of the United States, and in March of 2003 Iraq was invaded and occupied by the [[United States]] and two allies (see [[2003 Iraq War]]) on the grounds that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction. However, prior to the invasion the UN and many western nations announced serious misgivings as to the efficacy of such a claim. Saddam Hussein was deposed, and later captured and tried for [[war crimes]]. Following a six-month intensive search, the CIA-led Iraqi Survey Group found there were no traces of an illegal arsenal in the country [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0925-01.htm]
In Saddam Hussein's place, the US and its allies established a [[Coalition Provisional Authority]] to govern Iraq. Government authority was then transferred to an [[Iraqi Interim Government]] in 2004.
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