Iraq barred Americans from serving with the inspection teams in 1997. Prior to 1997 Americans were officially in Iraq.
I said the "US , UK, and others were in, near, and above Iraq since the end of the '91 Gulf War" I did not mention troops, although I would be surprized if manuvers from neighboring countries did not use some Iraqi territory occasionally.
The '91 war was not over a decade ago as there is no treaty. Like the Korean war there exists only a cease fire and therefore neither are technically over, although there is now no one now to sign a treaty for the baathists.
