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Ten years ago this week, President George W. Bush announced that the United States and coalition forces had begun military action against Iraq.

Here's a look back at some of the people who made headlines during the war.

Jessica Lynch

Then: Lynch, a 20-year-old private first class in the U.S. Army, was a prisoner of war who became a celebrity after American troops filmed her rescue in April 2003. She returned home to a hero's welcome and was awarded the Bronze Star. A television movie, "Saving Jessica Lynch," aired in November 2003.

Now: Lynch is out of the Army, and she recently earned a college degree in elementary education. In 2007, she told a House committee that the military lied about her capture. She said she had been billed as a "little girl Rambo" who went down fighting when her convoy was ambushed. "It was not true," she said. "The truth is always more heroic than the hype."

Lynch has a young daughter, Dakota Ann, who is named in honor of Lori Ann Piestewa, Lynch's best friend who was killed in the ambush. In a 2011 interview with CNN, Lynch said the injuries she suffered in Iraq still affect her and that she wears a leg brace. She had undergone 20 surgeries and expected more to come.

Muqtada al-Sadr

Then: A Shiite cleric with an intensely loyal following in Iraq, al-Sadr has long been one of the country's leading voices of anti-American sentiment. He and his Mehdi Army clashed frequently with coalition forces in the first few years of the war.

Now: Al-Sadr disbanded the Mehdi Army in 2008, announcing that it would instead be a movement to oppose secularism and Western thought. His political bloc has become a kingmaker in Iraqi politics: Its 39 members of Iraq's parliament were key to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's winning a second term in 2010.

Al-Sadr rarely makes public appearances, but his supporters usually hold demonstrations every March to mark the anniversary of the Iraq war.

George W. Bush

Then: The 43rd president of the United States led a "coalition of the willing" into Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein and his suspected weapons of mass destruction.

Now: Bush has kept a low profile since his second term ended in 2009, and he recently said he's "pretty content" with life after the presidency.

In his memoir, "Decision Points," Bush wrote that he felt sick to his stomach when he found there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"I felt terrible about it," Bush told CNN's Candy Crowley in 2010. "On the other hand, those reports did point out that Saddam Hussein was very dangerous, that he had the capacity to make weapons. I'm convinced that if he were still in power today, the world would be a lot worse off."

Bush's presidential library, on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, opens to the public in May.

Hans Blix

Then: Blix was the United Nations' chief weapons inspector in the months before the war. He reported in January 2003 that the Iraqi government was not fully cooperating with U.N. inspectors looking for weapons of mass destruction. The United States started airstrikes two months later.

Now: Blix is chairman of an international advisory board for the United Arab Emirates, which is seeking a peaceful nuclear energy program. Since retiring from his U.N. post in 2003, Blix has written two books on Iraq and been critical of the Bush administration's decision to invade.

Lynndie England

Then: England was one of 11 U.S. soldiers convicted of crimes relating to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in 2004. The 21-year-old private first class was seen in several photographs that showed physical and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

Now: After being released from military prison halfway into a 36-month sentence, England has been trying to rebuild her life. In 2009, she told the State Journal, a newspaper in Charleston, West Virginia, that it had been hard to find work since she was dishonorably discharged from the Army: "I go on interviews. As soon as they realize who I am, I'm turned down."

England has an 8-year-old son who was conceived during her tour in Iraq.

Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf

Then: Al-Sahaf was Saddam Hussein's minister of information at the beginning of the war. He often answered foreign reporters' questions with outrageously false claims and venomous insults of the enemy. "The infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad," he once alleged. The media came up with several nicknames for al-Sahaf, including "Baghdad Bob" and "Comical Ali."

Now: Al-Sahaf has kept a low profile since the Hussein government was overthrown in 2003. In interviews with Al-Arabiya and Abu Dhabi TV, al-Sahaf said he had surrendered to U.S. forces and been released after questioning.

Donald Rumsfeld

Then: As secretary of defense under President George W. Bush, Rumsfeld managed the early part of the war in Iraq. Praised at first for the effectiveness of the campaign, he soon came under fire for his planning and execution, not to mention the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. He resigned in 2006 and was replaced by Robert Gates.

Now: Since leaving his post, Rumsfeld has been outspoken in the media, appearing numerous times on CNN to talk about foreign policy issues. In October 2011, he reflected on the Iraq war with Fareed Zakaria:

"I think the world is better off having the Iraqi people, an important country, with a constitution they drafted, with a government that's respectful of the various diverse elements in that country. Is it perfect? No. Are people still going to be killing each other from time to time in that part of the world? You bet. But it is, I think, a situation that is better today than it was then.

"Now, it's taken time. It's taken money. It's taken lives. And that is always not predictable."

Rumsfeld has written a book, "Known and Unknown: A Memoir."

Muntadhar al-Zaidi

Then: Al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, threw his shoes at President Bush during a news conference in December 2008. The defiant insult made al-Zaidi a hero in the eyes of many in the Arab world, but it also landed him a one-year prison sentence for assault.

Now: Released several months early for good behavior, al-Zaidi defended his act of protest. He said he felt compelled to act after witnessing what the U.S. invasion had wrought on his country: "I got my chance, and I didn't miss it. ... I saw my country burning." He published a memoir called "The Last Salute to President Bush."

Cindy Sheehan

Then: Sheehan became the face of the antiwar movement in 2005, when she protested for weeks outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. She said she wanted to confront the president, whom she held responsible for the death of her son, a U.S. soldier slain in Iraq.

Now: Sheehan continues to be a vocal opponent of U.S. war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. She ran for Congress in 2008 but finished a distant second behind House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in California.

Sheehan has been sued by the federal government for not paying taxes. Sheehan told CNN affiliate KXTV last year that she refuses to pay: "If they can give me my son back, then I'll pay my taxes. And that's not going to happen."

Baby Noor

Then: Seven years ago, U.S. soldiers in Baghdad came upon Noor, a 3-month-old Iraqi girl struggling with spina bifida. They brought her to the United States for life-saving medical treatment.

Now: Noor is struggling back in Iraq, a war-ravaged country where disabled children are often treated as an afterthought. She cannot walk, and she likely never will because of her condition. She's also running low on catheters and suffers from urinary tract infections that result from abnormal bladder function. Complications from such infections could be deadly.

Noor attends a school for disabled children, but the school's social researcher fears Noor is suffering from depression and low self-esteem. Much of that may stem from the abandonment of her mother, who left the family with her second child and asked for a divorce. Noor rarely sees her mother anymore. http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19/world/meast/iraq-where-are-they-now/inde
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