Two days after storming the Diyala Bridge the same Marine regiment pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad – the iconic image that, at the time, was seen as marking the end of the war. It had taken just 21 days to topple the regime and in the years that have followed a myth has become established – that the initial invasion was a startling success, a triumph of speed and daring, undermined only by the mistakes of the occupation. In fact, the origins of the Iraqi tragedy were all too visible during those first three weeks and the legacy of incidents like that at the Diyala Bridge would weigh heavily on the Americans for years to come.