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insurgency was fueled in large part by the decision of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)—the transitional government set up by the U.S. after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein—to dismiss Iraq’s army and ban former members of the Baath Party from holding government jobs. The insurgents, often led by former Baath Party members, tar- geted U.S. forces as well as Iraqi Shiites. Shiites retaliated, carrying out murderous violence against their Sunni neighbors. Shiite mili- tias also battled American soldiers. In addition, foreign fighters— some linked to the terrorist organization al-Qaeda—slipped into Iraq and carried out indiscriminate attacks against civilians. They hoped to foment a civil war and thereby make Iraq ungovernable. As the insurgency continued, the CPA and the Bush adminis- tration were blamed for the many problems that occurred during the reconstruction process. Electrical power was spotty in many places, and people had to wait in long lines for food, clean water, gasoline, and other necessities. The CPA pointed to its accomplish- ments—rebuilding schools and hospitals; connecting water, power, and telephone lines; clearing harbors and canals; and other proj- ects. However, the slow pace of reconstruction angered many Iraqis and fueled protests against the U.S. occupation. In the United States, meanwhile, critics complained that the Bush administration had created a detailed plan to win the war, but it had done scant prewar planning of how to rebuild Iraq. The administration was also widely criticized because its inspec- tors had not turned up evidence that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction—the original rationale for invading Iraq. In June of 2003, a U.S. organization called the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) took over the task of looking for the banned weapons. In October, the ISG issued a preliminary report and its leader, for- mer U.N. chief weapons inspector Dr. David Kay, told the U.S. Senate that no stocks of prohibited chemical, biological, or nuclear