Nation & World

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Will Iraq war last another five years? 3/16/08 • Witnessing friend's death drives home true cost of Iraq war 3/16/08 • What images will sum up this war? 3/16/08 • For some, war has changed little; for some it's changed everything 3/16/08 • Many Iraqis remain exiled from their homes 3/16/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Sunday, March 16, 2008 Timeline of key events in Iraq Key events in Iraq 2003: INVASION March 17: President Bush gives Saddam Hussein a 48-hour deadline to give up power. March 20: The U.S.-led invasion is launched. May 1: On the USS Abraham Lincoln, under a "Mission Accomplished" banner, Bush declares "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." July 13: Governing Council of U.S.-selected Iraqi officials takes office. Dec. 13: Hussein is captured. 2004: RISE OF INSURGENCY April: Photos surface of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. March 31: Four private security employees are killed in Fallujah and their bodies hung on a bridge. U.S. forces later attack the city in some of the first major urban battles against Sunni insurgents. June 28: U.S.-led occupation authority turns over formal power to interim government. September: U.S. military deaths reach 1,000. Oct. 6: U.S. arms inspector in Iraq finds no evidence that Hussein's regime produced weapons of mass destruction after 1991. 2005: ELECTIONS Jan. 30: Iraqis elect National Assembly in the country's first national elections since Hussein's fall. Shiite Muslim-dominated coalition wins 48 percent, Kurdish alliance 26 percent. Most Sunni Arabs boycott vote. April 6: National Assembly elects Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as president. Aug. 31: At least 1,000 Shiite pilgrims are killed in a bridge stampede caused by rumors of a suicide bomber in Baghdad. Oct. 15: Iraqi voters approve constitution in referendum, with strong Shiite and Kurdish support. Sunni Arabs are largely opposed and win a promise that the next parliament will consider amendments. October: U.S. military deaths reach 2,000. Dec. 15: Iraqis elect new parliament with Shiite parties winning biggest bloc. 2006: VIOLENCE SPREADS Feb. 22: In Samarra, suspected Sunni insurgents detonate two bombs inside the revered Shiite Askariya shrine, blowing the top off its landmark golden dome. The attack sharply escalates sectarian bloodshed and increases fears of a civil war. June 8: American airstrike outside Baqouba kills al-Qaida-linked insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his spiritual adviser, Sheik Abdul-Rahman. Nov. 5: Hussein is sentenced to death by Iraqi court. Dec. 6: The Iraq Study Group calls for a change in U.S. policies in Iraq, saying conditions are "grave and deteriorating." It recommends a gradual handover of combat role to Iraqi forces. Dec. 30: Hussein is hanged. Dec. 31: U.S. troop deaths reach 3,000. 2007: TROOP BUILDUP Jan. 10: Bush announces that more than 20,000 additional U.S. troops will be sent to Baghdad and Anbar province. Jan. 16: United Nations reports that 34,452 Iraqi civilians were slain in 2006, nearly three times more than government reports. June 24: Hussein's cousin, known as "Chemical Ali," and two other former regime officials are sentenced to hang for atrocities against Kurds in the 1980s. Aug. 14: Four suicide bombers hit a Kurdish Yazidi community in northwest Iraq, killing at least 520. Sept. 10: Gen. David Petraeus tells Congress he envisions the withdrawal of roughly 30,000 troops from Iraq by mid-2008. 2008: DRAWDOWN? Jan. 9: The World Health Organization and Iraqi government estimate that about 151,000 Iraqis died from violence in the three years after the U.S. invasion. Jan. 25: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announces plans for a "decisive" offensive against al-Qaida in Iraq in the northern city of Mosul after two days of bombings kill nearly 40 people. Feb. 1: Two women carrying explosives enter pet markets in Baghdad, killing nearly 100 people. Feb. 25: The Pentagon says U.S. troop levels in Iraq will be about 140,000 -- higher than the 132,000 before the surge.

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