Rich in oil, and religious hatred - the usual Middle Eastern story. In 1991 the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, decided to invade neighbor Kuwait because he owed them money, and they were stealing his oil. The Americans, backed by the English and a few other minor parties moved in nearby and asked him to move out.

He promised them the mother of all battles and the route that followed ensured his words a permanent place in the venacular, although it is usually corrupted as a variation: the mother of all defeats.

Defying everyone's expectation (and wishes) Saddam survived the onslaught because the George Bush Sr, the American president was not willing to march to Baghdad to sack his tyrannical regime once and for all. No good deed goes unpunished, and in this case the sins of the father were visited upon the son, George W. Bush, who was almost voted in because of the sympathy in voting his father out, but then won the presidency anyway through a democratic technicality.

Then, after September 11 2001, George W. Bush then, in defiance of the wishes of the UN security council, and with the military support of the UK and Australia, toppled the regime after 21 days of fighting, a little over 100 coalition military deaths, a little over 1000 Iraqi civilian deaths.

Unfortunately the US is better at defeating countries than occupying them, and thousands of US soldiers died in the insurgency in the messy aftermath. But it wasn't a total loss - they killed Saddam's psychotic sons Uday and Qusay, and caught Saddam hiding in a spider hole.