The 20th anniversary of the United States invasion of Iraq marks a solemn occasion for reflection on the human cost of war.

Iraqi men are frisked by a British Army soldier before being allowed to re-enter the southern city of Basra March 31, 2003.

US marines, military police members from 4th Company, 4th Battalion and part of the Marine Corp. escort a group of Iraqi soldiers dressed in civilian clothes on the road north of the town of Basra, Iraq March 24, 2003.

A US Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Fox Company “Raiders” truck makes its way from the port of Umm-Qasr in southern Iraq to a port facility in near the town Az-Zubayr, south of Basra as two camels walk across the road, Iraq March 24, 2003.

An explosion rocks Baghdad during air strikes, Iraq March 21, 2003.

Thousands of crosses stand on a hillside memorial in honor of US troops killed in the Iraq war, in Lafayette, California, January 12, 2007.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney poses with US soldiers at the Taji Air Base in Iraq December 18, 2005.

Iraqi former footballer Ahmed Nasser, who lost his leg during a bomb attack in Baghdad in 2007, plays basketball with Iraq’s Paralympic team in a training session in Baghdad, Iraq February 1, 2023.

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, walk towards the Syrian border, on the outskirts of Sinjar.

A general view of Tahrir square as demonstrators take part during the ongoing anti-government protests in Baghdad, Iraq November 5, 2019.

British Army troops are covered in flames from a petrol bomb thrown during a violent protest by job seekers, who say they were promised employment in the security services, in the southern Iraq city of Basra March 22, 2004.

Pope Francis is received by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi upon disembarking from his plane at Baghdad International Airport to start his historic tour in Baghdad, Iraq, March 5, 2021.

Iraqi women gather at the scene where Iran’s Quds Force top commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in a US airstrike at Baghdad airport.

A US soldier takes a picture where Saddam was found near Tikrit.

Iraqi governing council members hold press conference in Baghdad.

An Iraqi holds up wood in the midst of goods looted from a government building in Baghdad.

US Marines take position at Martyrs Monument in Baghdad.

Residents of Basra leave city past British army tanks.