The 2003 invasion of Iraq, which began on March 18 to May 1, 2003, was led by the United States, backed by British forces and smaller contingents from Australia and Poland. Other countries were involved in its aftermath. The invasion launched the Iraq War, which is ongoing.The objectives of the invasion, according to U.S. President George W. Bush and U.K. former PM Tony Blair were "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." Bush said the actual trigger was Iraq's failure to take a “final opportunity” to disarm itself of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that U.S. and coalition officials called an immediate and intolerable threat to world peace.No such weapons were found. In January 2005, the Iraq Survey Group concluded that Iraq had ended its WMD programs in 1991 and had no WMD at the time of the invasion; although some misplaced or abandoned remnants of pre-1991 production were found, U.S. government spokespeople confirmed that these were not the weapons for which the U.S. "went to war". However, while the search for WMDs came up empty, suspicion of Iraq's innocence had risen over time, as Iraq could not offer credible proof that their weapons program had really been shut down. Some believed that Iraq's lack of compliance with U.N. sanctions and inspections meant they were simply hiding the weapons, or removed them from the country.The invasion of Iraq was opposed by some traditional U.S. allies, including France and Germany. Their leaders argued there was no real evidence of WMD and that a war in Iraq was not justified in the context of UNMOVIC's February 12, 2003 report. On Feb.15, 2003, a month before the invasion, there were many worldwide protests against the Iraq war, including a rally of 3 million people in Rome, which is listed in the Guiness Book of Records as the largest ever anti-war rally. According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war.In preparation for the invasion, 100,000 U.S. troops were assembled in Kuwait by February 18. The United States supplied the vast majority of the invading forces, but also received support from Kurdish troops in northern Iraq.