On 20 Mar 2003, the US and their allies invaded Iraq aiming to remove dictator Saddam Hussein from power.
George W Bush accused Hussein of possessing weapons of mass destruction, something that was later found to be untrue.
20 years after the invasion The Independent looks back on the timeline of events leading up to, and during the war that changed the world.
The invasion was and still is controversial given that no weapons were ever found, yet hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians died.
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