Free Iraqi Forces
{{Short description|Militia who served in the 2003 invasion of Iraq}}{{Infobox war faction
| name = Free Iraqi Forces (FIF)
| native_name =
| native_name_lang = ar
| caption = Flag of the Free Iraqi Forces (FIF), seen on Free Iraqi Forces militiamen’s uniform as a flag sleeve patch, and sometimes flown during the invasion of Iraq.
| logo = FIF flag.svg
| other_name =
| leader1_title = Supreme Commander
| leader1_name = Aras Habib
| leader2_title =
| leader2_name =
| leader3_title =
| leader3_name =
| active = 1991–present
| allegiance = {{flagicon|Iraq}} Iraq
| headquarters = Baghdad, Iraq
| area = Iraq
| ideology = Civic nationalism
State capitalism{{Cite web |title=Iraqi National Congress|url=http://kurds_history.enacademic.com/250/Iraqi_National_Congress |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714201855/http://kurds_history.enacademic.com/250/Iraqi_National_Congress |archive-date=14 July 2014}}
Decentralization{{Cite web |title=Iraqi National Congress|url=http://kurds_history.enacademic.com/250/Iraqi_National_Congress |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714201855/http://kurds_history.enacademic.com/250/Iraqi_National_Congress |archive-date=14 July 2014}}
Secularism{{cite web |url=http://www.iraqiparliament.info/en/node/442 |title=Iraqi National Congress | Iraqi Parliament Guide |access-date=2014-07-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726224547/http://www.iraqiparliament.info/en/node/442 |archive-date=2014-07-26 }}
Welfarism{{cite web |url=http://www.iraqiparliament.info/en/node/442 |title=Iraqi National Congress | Iraqi Parliament Guide |access-date=2014-07-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726224547/http://www.iraqiparliament.info/en/node/442 |archive-date=2014-07-26 }}
Federalism{{cite web |url=http://www.iraqiparliament.info/en/node/442 |title=Iraqi National Congress | Iraqi Parliament Guide |access-date=2014-07-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726224547/http://www.iraqiparliament.info/en/node/442 |archive-date=2014-07-26 }}
Feyli interests (alleged, denied){{cite web |url=http://www.iraqiparliament.info/en/node/442 |title=Iraqi National Congress | Iraqi Parliament Guide |access-date=2014-07-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726224547/http://www.iraqiparliament.info/en/node/442 |archive-date=2014-07-26 }}
| size = 75,000 (1991–2003)
1,000 (2025)
| allies = State allies:
{{flagicon|USA}} (1991–2006)
{{flag|Iran}}
{{flag|Iraqi Kurdistan}}
{{flag|United Arab Emirates}}
{{flag|France}}
{{flag|UK}}
{{flag|Russia}}
{{flag|Jordan}}
{{flag|Saudi Arabia}}
{{flag|Kuwait}}
{{flag|China}}
| opponents = State opponents:
{{flagicon|Iraq|1963}} Baathist Iraq
| war = {{Collapsible list|bullets=on
}}
| flag =
}}
The Free Iraqi Forces (FIF) is a militia made up of Iraqi expatriates, who served in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath, under the control of Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress government-in-exile. The specifically paramilitary branch of the program was also known as the Free Iraqi Fighting Forces (FIFF), while other elements served as interpreters or on civil affairs projects.{{cite book|author=Catherine Dale|title=Operation Iraqi Freedom: Strategies, Approaches, Results, and Issues for Congress|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1wWp97PNZAYC&pg=PT48|date=April 2011|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=978-1-4379-2030-7|pages=48–}}{{cite book|author=Nathan Hodge|title=Armed Humanitarians: The Rise of the Nation Builders|url=https://archive.org/details/armedhumanitaria00hodg|url-access=registration|date=15 February 2011|publisher=Bloomsbury USA|isbn=978-1-60819-017-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/armedhumanitaria00hodg/page/66 66]–}}
Composition
The original intent of the American Office of the Secretary of Defense was to recruit and train 3,000 Iraqi expatriates in Taszar, Hungary in preparation for the war. Recruitment, however, fell well below the target number, and were of dubious military utility, ranging from ages 18 to 55.{{cite book|author1=Sheldon Rampton|author2=John Clyde Stauber|title=Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq|url=https://archive.org/details/weaponsofmassdec00ramp|url-access=registration|year=2003|publisher=Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin|isbn=978-1-58542-276-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/weaponsofmassdec00ramp/page/61 61]–}}
Operations
File:Free Iraqi Force (FIF) coat.jpg
The program was seen as unsuccessful, with at one point some US$63 million spent to recruit and train 69 troops for the FIF, and the program was dissolved in April 2003. The FIFF never numbered more than 500 troops.{{cite book|author1=Beth K. Dougherty|author2=Edmund A. Ghareeb|title=Historical Dictionary of Iraq|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZmQYAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA299|date=7 November 2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7942-3|pages=299–}} The units were also seen as undisciplined and pro-Shia and anti-Sunni, and engaged in looting.{{cite book|author1=Anthony H. Cordesman|author2=Emma R. Davies|title=Iraq's Insurgency and the Road to Civil Conflict|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vk-QiQCSDKAC&pg=PA58|date=30 December 2007|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-34998-0|pages=58–}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Armed Iraqi groups in the Iraq War and the Iraq Civil War}}
Category:2003 establishments in Iraq