Friendly Forces

Formed in December of 1917, the 4th Infantry Division initially went into action in July of 1918. Nearly 30 years later, the 4th ID was the first Allied unit to land on the beaches of Normandy. Going ashore, the men of the 4th suffered an onslaught of attacks for 28 days, until they were finally relieved by the 101st Airborne Division.

The 4th Infantry Division has proudly fought for America in four major wars: World War I, World War II, Vietnam, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. From various continents, the 4th has earned twenty-one campaign streamers, symbols of its success and determination in battle.

The men and women of the 4th Infantry Division soldiers in Iraq have the honor and skill needed to join the elite forces of the 101st Airborne Division and the First Cavalry to form one of the fiercest Coalition forces fighting the insurgency: Task Force Iron Horse.
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Task Force Iron Horse is a powerhouse unit comprised of more than 30,000 soldiers from 10 Army posts, including Fort Hood and Fort Carson.

Task Force Iron Horse leads the US Army in developing and testing state-of-the-art digital communications, night fighting gear and high-tech weaponry. These guys are the most lethal, modern and deployable heavy division in the world, prepared to conduct full-scale combat operations anywhere, at any time.

In January of 2003, the deployments orders began, and Task Force Iron Horse prepared to mount its unstoppable might in the Sunni Triangle. About 16,000 4th Infantry Division and a variety of attached units, including the First Cavalry Division and the 101st Airborne, flew to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and what would eventually be an intimate hunt for Saddam Hussein.

Most recently, Task Force Iron Horse has spearheaded combat operations against insurgents in Iraq: Operation Iron Fury against the Mahdi Army and aggressive patrols like Desert Scorpion, which netted 1,330 arrests, hundreds of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Task Force Iron Horse also conducted Operation Sidewinder, a flurry of raids that resulted in the detention of 32 people, including a Baath Party colonel.
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Enemy Forces

Born near Tikrit in 1937, Saddam Hussein reportedly aspired to be the next Joseph Stalin from a very early age. He managed to rise to infamy at 22 by attempting to assassinate the prime minister of Iraq, Abdel-Karim Qassem. Sentenced to death for the failed plot, Hussein fled first to Syria, then Egypt.

After the 1968 Ba'athist Coup in Iraq, Saddam Hussein came home to begin his career as Chief of Iraq's Security Services, a position he led with a ruthless iron fist. Political opponents, government officials, and thousands of political prisoners were executed on Hussein's orders. Within a year, Saddam Hussein transformed himself into one of the most feared leaders the world over.

After staging a palace coup, Hussein forced Iraq's president Bakr to resign. (Later, ex-President Bakr died under suspicious circumstances.) Hussein swore himself in as president, and took swift action to purge the Ba'ath Party of any potential enemies.

In 1980, Saddam Hussein sent 200,000 Iraqi troops across the Iranian border, initiating what will become a bloody, eight-year conflict. During the same time period, Hussein ordered the use of chemical weapons against Iranian forces. By 1988, he again waged chemical weapons-this time against his own people, the Iraqi Kurdish population.

In 1980, Saddam Hussein sent 200,000 Iraqi troops across the Iranian border, initiating what will become a bloody, eight-year conflict. During the same time period, Hussein ordered the use of chemical weapons against Iranian forces. By 1988, he again waged chemical weapons-this time against his own people, the Iraqi Kurdish population.

In 1990, Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi soldiers, and within a year, he directed a bloody suppression of Kurdish and Shi'a insurgencies in northern and southern Iraq, where an estimated 30,000 to 60,000 Iraqis were killed at his behest.

Saddam Hussein is a ruthless man of power and might, accrued through a well-placed fear of random executions and ruinous retributions against politicians, religious leaders, indigenous groups, and whole regions of his own people. Back to top