<P> On 11 April an advanced element from FOB 102 numbering no more than 30 Green Berets advanced into Mosul, the advanced had followed several days of heavy airstrikes on three Iraqi divisions defending Mosul; on 13 April, 3rd Battalion 3rd SFG and a battalion from the 10th Mountain Division were ordered to Mosul to relieve the 10th SFG and their Peshmerga allies . Further reinforcing operations in Northern Iraq, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), serving as Landing Force Sixth Fleet, deployed in April to Erbil and subsequently Mosul via Marine KC - 130 flights . The 26 MEU (SOC) maintained security of the Mosul airfield and surrounding area until relief by the 101st Airborne Division . </P> <P> The Battle of Haditha Dam occurred on the 24th March 2003, Rangers from 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, conducted a combat parachute drop onto H - 1 Air Base, securing the site as a staging area for operations in the west . Delta Force recce operators drove through Iraqi lines around the Haditha Dam on customised ATVs, marking targets for Coalition airstrikes resulting in the eventual destruction of a large number of Iraqi armoured vehicles and antiaircraft systems . Delta's reconnaissance of the dam indicated that a larger force would be needed to seize it, so a request was made and approved for a second Delta squadron from Fort Bragg to be dispatched with a further Ranger battalion, along with M1A1 Abrams tanks from C Company, 2nd Battalion 70th Armor. C - 17 flew the company from Talil to H - 1 and then to MSS (Mission Support Site) Grizzly - a desert strip established by Delta Force located between Haditha and Tikrit; C Squadron, Delta Force was flown directly to MSS Grizzly . </P> <P> On 1 April, C squadron, Delta Force and 3 / 75th Ranger Regiment conducted a night - time ground assault in their Pinzgauers and GMVs against the Haditha Dam complex . Three platoons of Rangers seized the dams' administrative buildings with little initial opposition, while a pair of AH - 6M Six Guns orbited overhead, soon after daybreak, a Ranger sniper shot and killed 3 Iraqis carrying RPGs on the western side of the dam and Rangers on the eastern side engaged a truck carrying infantry, which led to an hour - long contract . South of the dam, another Ranger platoon was securing the dam's power station and electricity transformer against sabotage, another platoon was occupied establishing blocking positions on the main road into the dam complex . The blocking positions came under the sporadic mortar fire, resulting in the AH - 6Ms flying multiple gun runs to silence the mortar positions, another mortar team, firing from a small island was engaged and silenced by a Ranger Javelin team . For five days, Iraqi forces continued to harass the Rangers at the dam, principally with episodic artillery and mortar fire along with several infantry counterattacks against the blocking positions; the HIMARS rocket system saw its first combat deployment at the dam--firing counter-battery missions, 3 Rangers were killed on 3 April by a VBIED at the blocking positions, the car was driven by a pregnant Iraqi woman acting distressed and asking for water . Rangers captured an Iraqi forward observer dressed as a civilian after sinking his kayak with . 50cal fire, the observer had maps of the Rangers positions . </P> <P> Intelligence indicated that chemical and biological weapons stocks may have been located at a complex known as al Qadisiyah Research Centre along the shore of the al Qadisiyah reservoir among government and residential buildings, on the evening of 26 March, a DEVGRU assault element supported by B Company, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment assaulted the complex (codenamed Objective Beaver). Whilst the first of four MH - 60Ks inserted the Rangers into their blocking positions, it was engaged by small arms fire from a nearby building, an AH - 6M spotted the muzzle flashes and fired a 2.75 inch rocket into the location silencing the small arms fire, the second MH - 60K was also struck by small arms fire but its door gunner suppressed it . A-10As engaged nearby electricity transformers successfully blacking out the area, but it resulted in a series of explosions and a resulting fire at the stations that dramatically lit the sky--pinpointing the orbiting helicopters from enemy gunmen . Small arms fire increased as the final two MH - 60Ks inserted their blocking teams, one Ranger was wounded, the two pairs of AH - 6Ms and MH - 60L DAPs supporting the mission continued to suppress targets as the four MH - 47Es carrying the DEVGRU main assault force inserted under heavy enemy small arms fire whilst DEVGRU sniper teams aboard a pair of MH - 6Ms engaged numerous gunmen and vehicles, one Nightstalker crew was wounded as the MH - 47Es lifted off . The SEALs conducted a hasty SSE while the Ranger blocking positions received and returned fire, the AH - 6Ms and the aerial snipers continued to engage enemy gunmen whilst the DAPs pushed further out to ensure no reinforcements approached - engaging and destroying numerous Fedayeen armed technicals . The SSE took longer than expected owing to the size and maze - like structure of the building, the mission completed after 45 minutes, later tests of the material recovered by DEVGRU showed no evidence of chemical or biological weapons at the Objective Beaver . </P>

Which of the following was not a reason the united states attacked iraq in 2003