query: part_of battle of najaf 
supports: Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges (the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains) in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine and Belarus to the east; and the Baltic Sea, Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) and Lithuania to the north. The total area of Poland is , making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe and the sixth most populous member of the European Union. Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocaw, Pozna, Gdask and Szczecin. Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraftsuch as the helicopterto seize and hold key terrain which has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces behind enemy lines. In addition to regular infantry training, air-assault units usually receive training in rappelling and air transportation, and their equipment is sometimes designed or field-modified to allow better transportation within aircraft. The Battle of Najaf was a major battle in the 2003 invasion of Iraq . The first stage of the battle was fought when the US 3rd Infantry Division fought to surround the town . The second stage was fought when soldiers from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division fought to clear and secure the city . Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, it includes the island of Great Britain (the name of which is also loosely applied to the whole country), the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign statethe Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to its east, the English Channel to its south and the Celtic Sea to its south-south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of , the UK is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants. Together, this makes it the fourth most densely populated country in the European Union. Iraq (, or ; '; '), officially known as the Republic of Iraq ('; ') is a country in Western Asia, bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest, and Syria to the west. The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds; others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish. Najaf Governorate ("An Najaf") (or Najaf Province) is a governorate in central and southern Iraq. The capital is the city of Najaf. The other major city is Al Kufah. Both cities are holy to Shia Muslims, who form the majority of the population. Prior to 1976 it was part of the Karbala Governorate. Islam (' ;) is a religion articulated by the Quran, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God ('), and, for the vast majority of adherents, the teachings and normative example (called the "sunnah", composed of accounts called "hadith") of Muhammad (5708 June 632 CE). It is the world's second-largest religion and the fastest-growing major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population, known as Muslims. Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion that upholds that God is one and incomparable and that the purpose of existence is to worship God. Muslims consider Muhammad to be the last prophet of God. Najaf (BGN: "An Najaf") is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (roughly 100 miles) south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2013 was 1,000,000 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate. It is widely considered the third holiest city of Shia Islam, the Shia worlds spiritual capital and the center of Shi'a political power in Iraq. The United States Army (USA) is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces and performs land-based military operations. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States and is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution, Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1 and United States Code, Title 10, Subtitle B, Chapter 301, Section 3001. As the largest and senior branch of the U.S. military, the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army, which was formed (14 June 1775) to fight the American Revolutionary War (17751783)before the U.S. was established as a country. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784, to replace the disbanded Continental Army. The United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775. The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 34 years of conflict. The United States officially withdrew from the country in 2011 but left private security contractors in its place to continue the war. It again became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition; the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The 101st Airborne Division ("Screaming Eagles") is an elite modular specialized light infantry division of the United States Army trained for air assault operations. It is the most potent and the most tactically mobile of the U.S. Army's divisions. The 101st Airborne at a moment's notice is able to plan, coordinate, and execute brigade-size air assault operations capable of seizing key terrain in support of operational objectives. The 101st Airborne Division is capable of working in austere environments with limited or degraded infrastructure. Its unique battlefield mobility and high level of training have kept the 101st Airborne Division in the vanguard of America's land combat forces in recent conflicts. More recently, the 101st Airborne has been performing foreign internal defense and counter-terrorism operations within Iraq and Afghanistan. Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (Arabic: ""; 28 April 1937  30 December 2006) was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organization the Iraqi Ba'ath Partywhich espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and socialismSaddam played a key role in the 1968 coup (later referred to as the 17 July Revolution) that brought the party to power in Iraq. Foreign internal defense (FID) is a term used by a number of Western nations, including the United States, France and the United Kingdom, to describe an integrated and synchronized, multi-disciplinary (and often joint, interagency, and international as well) approach to combating actual or threatened insurgency in a foreign state. This foreign state is known as the Host Nation (HN) under US (and generally accepted NATO) doctrine. The term counter-insurgency is more commonly used worldwide than FID. FID involves military deployment of counter-insurgency specialists. According to the US doctrinal manual, "Joint Publication 3-22: Foreign Internal Defense (FID)", those specialists preferably do not themselves fight the insurgents. Doctrine calls for a close working relationship between the HN government and security forces with outside diplomatic, information, intelligence, military, economic, and other specialists. The most successful FID actions suppress actual violence; when combat operations are needed, HN security forces take the lead, with appropriate external support, the external support preferably being in a noncombat support and training role alone. The 2003 invasion of Iraq lasted from 20 March to 1 May 2003 and signalled the start of the Iraq War, which was dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom by the United States (prior to 19 March, the mission in Iraq was called Operation Enduring Freedom, a carryover from the War in Afghanistan). The invasion consisted of 21 days of major combat operations, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and deposed the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein. The invasion phase consisted primarily of a conventionally fought war which included the capture of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad by American forces with the implicit assistance of the United Kingdom alongside Australia and Poland. Light infantry (or skirmishers) are soldiers whose job was to provide a skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of infantry, harassing and delaying the enemy advance. Light infantry was distinct from medium, heavy or line infantry. Heavy infantry were dedicated primarily to fighting in tight formations that were the core of large battles. Light infantry fought in open-order, often in close co-ordination with heavy infantry, where they could screen the heavy infantry from harassing fire, and the heavy infantry could intervene to protect the light infantry from attacks of enemy heavy infantry or cavalry. Heavy infantry originally had heavier arms and more armour than light infantry, but this distinction was lost as the use of armour declined and gunpowder weapons became standardized. Counter-terrorism (also spelled counterterrorism) (also called anti-terrorism) incorporates the practice, military tactics, techniques, and strategy that government, military, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or prevent terrorism. Counter-terrorism strategies include attempts to counter financing of terrorism. Baghdad is the capital of the Republic of Iraq. The population of Baghdad, , is approximately 7.216.040 making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab world (after Cairo, Egypt), and the second largest city in Western Asia (after Tehran, Iran). Shia ("Shah", from "Shatu Al", followers of Ali) is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor (Imam). Shia Islam primarily contrasts with Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor. Instead they consider Abu Bakr (who was appointed Caliph through a Shura, i.e. consensus) to be the correct Caliph. Afghanistan (Pashto/Dari: , "Afnistn"), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east; Iran in the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north; and China in the far northeast. Its territory covers , making it the 41st largest country in the world.
candidates: 2003 invasion of iraq aircraft american revolutionary war april arab arabic armed forces army asia australia baltic sea belarus body center central asia central europe christianity city congress country division english english channel equipment fire france government infrastructure iraq war ireland islam islands joint june kurdish medium military name north sea ocean part political power population publication quran religion russian shia islam south asia sovereign state sunni islam tehran the city the republic training united states armed forces united states constitution word
answer: iraq war