Timeline Iraq (B) 2000-2005
Iraq A
Return to home
2000 Jan 9, Iraqi TV reported that US and British air strikes in southern Iraq wounded 3 people.
(SFC, 1/10/00, p.A11)
2000 Jan 26, The UN appointed Hans Blix of Sweden to be the new weapons inspector for Iraq.
(SFC, 1/27/00, p.A12)
2000 Jan 27, The execution of 26 political prisoners at the Abu Gharib prison reportedly took place. Another 13 political detainees were later reported to have died there in the last 2 months from torture neglect and malnutrition.
(SFC, 2/19/00, p.C1)
2000 Feb 13, In Iraq top UN official Hans von Sponeck quit in protest that sanctions were undermining humanitarian efforts.
(SFC, 2/17/00, p.D16)
2000 Feb 15, In Iraq a 2nd UN official, Jutta Burghardt, quit in protest that sanctions were undermining humanitarian efforts.
(WSJ, 2/16/00, p.A1)(SFC, 2/17/00, p.D16)
2000 Feb 28, It was reported that Iraq and Syria had established diplomatic ties that were cut in Aug 1980 when Damascus sided with Iran just before the Iran-Iraq war.
(SFC, 2/28/00, p.C2)
2000 Mar 15, In Iraq US and British warplanes hit southern targets and Iraq reported that one civilian was killed and 6 injured.
(SFC, 3/16/00, p.A15)
2000 Mar 21, In Iraq a mortar attack on a Baghdad apartment building killed 4 people and injured 38. Persian agents were blamed.
(SFC, 3/23/00, p.D2)
2000 Mar 24, The US agreed to double the amount of money Iraq was allowed to spend to repair its oil industry and lifted holds on over $100 million in equipment.
(SFC, 3/25/00, p.A10)
2000 Mar 31, The UN Security Council decided to let Iraq spend more money to repair its oil industry, an investment intended to boost the amount of food and medicine Baghdad could buy through the UN humanitarian program.
(SFC, 4/1/00, p.A12)(AP, 3/31/01)
2000 Mar 28, Odai Hussein (35), the eldest son of Saddam Hussein, won a victory in parliamentary elections.
(SFC, 3/29/00, p.A16)
2000 Apr 3, Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)
2000 Apr 4, In Iraq US and British warplanes bombed military sites in the south and Iraqi news reported 2 civilians killed and 2 wounded.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.A11)
2000 Apr 6, In Iraq US and British warplanes bombed military sites in the south and Iraqi military reported 14 civilians killed and 19 wounded.
(SFC, 4/7/00, p.D2)
2000 May 17, In Iraq a US-British air attack killed Omran Harbi Jawair (13), a shepherd boy, near Toq al-Ghazalat. 4 other shepherds were injured. Some 300 Iraqis were killed and 800 wounded over the last 18 months from US and British bombing.
(SFC, 6/23/00, p.A18)
2000 Jun 8, The UN voted (Resolution 1302) to extend Iraq’s oil for food program. Over the next 2 years the extensions were repeated every 180 days.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
2000 Jun 28, In Iraq 2 UN staffers were shot and killed in a UN building in Baghdad. Fowad Hussein Haydar (38) was arrested in the attack which he staged to protest int’l. sanctions.
(SFC, 6/29/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 29, Iraq said US and British warplanes bombed North Rumeila and killed a woman shepherd and injured her husband.
(SFC, 6/30/00, p.A18)
2000 Jul 26, The US Navy reported that an F-14 Tomcat jet crashed in Saudi Arabia during a training flight. Iraqi air defense later reported that Iraqi units had shot down a US Air Force F-14 over southern Iraq in mid July and that the Navy report was a coverup.
(SFEC, 8/20/00, p.B16)
2000 Jul, Iraq’s 1st Internet café opened with surfing censored.
(NW, 9/23/02, p.39)
2000 Aug 10, In Baghdad Pres. Chavez of Venezuela held talks with Pres. Saddam Hussein in support of upcoming oil talks in Caracas.
(SFC, 8/11/00, p.A15)
2000 Aug 11, British and US bombers struck southern Iraq and Iraqi military reported 2 people killed and 19 injured.
(SFC, 8/14/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 12, British and US bombers struck southern Iraq for a 2nd day and Iraqi military reported 3 people injured.
(SFC, 8/14/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 15, US warplanes bombed air defense sites in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 8/16/00, p.A18)
2000 Aug 21, Iraq threatened to retaliate against Turkey over airstrikes that left some 40 civilians dead.
(WSJ, 8/22/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug 25, German intelligence confirmed that it had discovered a secret Iraqi missile factory near Baghdad. Some 250 technicians were reported working on ARABIL-100 short-range missiles.
(SFC, 8/26/00, p.A9)
2000 Aug 28, Iraq charged that 311 of its citizens had been killed and 927 wounded by US and British warplanes since the bombing campaign began in Dec 1998.
(WSJ, 8/28/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug, Iraq reopened its international airport.
(SFC, 9/23/00, p.A8)
2000 Sep 22, France allowed a chartered aircraft with humanitarian personnel to fly to Baghdad.
(SFC, 9/23/00, p.A8)
2000 Sep 27, Jordan planned a flight to Iraq regardless of clearance from the UN sanctions committee.
(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A15)
2000 Oct 4, Tunisia flew a plane carrying humanitarian aid and a soccer team to Iraq.
(SFC, 10/9/00, p.a10)
2000 Oct 9, Turkey became the 9th nation to send a token humanitarian flight to Iraq.
(SFC, 10/10/00, p.A13)
2000 Oct 14, A Saudi jetliner was hijacked with over 100 people and landed in Baghdad. 2 hijackers were arrested.
(SFEC, 10/15/00, p.A10)
2000 Oct, Pres. Hussein called for volunteers for the "Jerusalem Army," a force to wrest control of Jerusalem from Israel.
(SFC, 3/12/01, p.A12)
2000 Nov 2, A US and British air strike in southern Iraq wounded 3 people.
(SFC, 11/3/00, p.A18)
2000 Nov 5, In Iraq passenger flights resumed in the no-fly zones in a challenge to US and British imposed sanctions.
(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 8, Saudi Arabia opened its border with Iraq and signed export contracts to nearly $600 million under exceptions to US sanctions.
(WSJ, 11/8/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 14, In Iraq a bomb killed 6 people in Irbil.
(SFC, 11/17/00, p.D6)
2000 Nov, Syria opened a pipeline to Iraq’s oil that generated at least $2 per day for Saddam Hussein’s regime.
(SFC, 1/23/01, p.A11)
2000 Dec 1, Iraq halted oil production due to the UN’s refusal to authorize a new payment arrangement for the oil-for-food program. Production was resumed after 2 days.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.A12)
2000 Dec 11, In Iraq Saddam Hussein sent troops into the northern Kurdish zone. Kurds and other non-Arab Iraqis were being displaced further north.
(WSJ, 12/12/00, p.A1)(SFC, 12/13/00, p.B6)
2000 Richard Butler, former chief UN weapons inspector, authored "Saddam Defiant."
(SFC, 5/26/00, p.A14)
2000 Iraq began levying an illegal surcharge of 50 cents a barrel on its oil-for-food sales in order to create a revenue stream directly back to Baghdad instead of the UN’s humanitarian fund.
(WSJ, 9/18/02, p.A1)
2000 The Czech Security Information Service (BIS) learned that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein planned to use an anti-tank rocket to attack the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague and warned Hussein that they were aware of his plans.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2000 Ukraine’s Pres. Kuchma authorized the sale of an advanced $100 million radar system to Iraq in violation of UN sanctions. Evidence of the sale emerged in 2002.
(SFC, 4/16/02, p.A7)
2000 By this time Saddam Hussein’s policy to drain the wetlands of Iraq reduced the area by 85%. Hundreds of thousands of native Madans had left leaving as few as 20,000. After the fall of Hussein scientists reflooded the area and by 2007 about 50% was restored. Madan residents rose to about 90,000.
(WSJ, 3/21/07, p.B11)
2001 Jan 3, Iraq denied reports that Pres. Saddam Hussein was hospitalized with a stroke following a parade Dec 31.
(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A12)
2001 Jan 4, It was reported that Saddam Hussein had sent moral support and distributed some 270 checks for $10,000 each to the families of Palestinians killed in clashes with Israelis since Nov.
(SFC, 1/5/01, p.A17)
2001 Jan 7, Iraqi Kurdish officials reported that at least 500 Turkish troops had pushed 100 miles into northern Iraq in response to a call for help from the PUK. The PUK was fighting the PKK and had lost 200 soldiers in recent weeks. Some 10,000 Turkish troops had entered northern Iraq since Dec 20.
(SFC, 1/8/01, p.A9)
2001 Jan 20, The Iraqi government said US and British warplanes killed 6 citizens in air attacks over southern Al-Muthana province.
(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.D4)
2001 Feb 16, Two dozen US and British aircraft bombed 5 radar and other anti-aircraft sites around Baghdad with guided missiles. A number of new guided bombs, AGM-154A priced from $250-700k, missed their targets.
(SFC, 2/17/01, p.A1)
2001 Feb 18, The Iraqi press referred to Pres. Bush as "son of the snake" and "the new dwarf" following the Feb. 16 bombing attacks.
(SFC, 2/19/01, p.A9)
2001 Apr 18, Iran launched 56 Scud missiles against an Iraq-based opposition group. At least 3 People’s Mujahideen camps were hit.
(WSJ, 4/19/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 22, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, an Iraqi diplomat, was expelled from the Czech Republic. He was later reported to have met with Mohamed Atta and planned an attack on Radio Free Europe. Five others were expelled in March 2003.
(SFC, 11/10/01, p.A5)(AP, 11/30/09)
2001 Jun 1, The Bush administration removed curbs on the sale of $800 million in goods to Iraq. A UN oil-for-food exchange was extended for 1 month rather than the normal 6 months. Iraq responded by saying it wouldn’t resume oil exports.
(SFC, 6/2/01, p.A9)(WSJ, 6/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Jun 19, Iraq claimed that 23 civilians were killed when Western planes bombed a soccer field during a match in the northern town of Tall Afar. US and Britain denied responsibility and blamed a malfunctioning Iraqi anti-aircraft missile.
(WSJ, 6/21/01, p.A1)(SFC, 6/21/01, p.A12)
2001 Jun 25, In southern Iraq a US Navy fighter jet attacked an anti-aircraft site in response to artillery fire.
(SFC, 6/26/01, p.C2)
2001 Jul 3, Muhammad al-Humaimidi, a high-ranking Iraqi diplomat, asked for asylum in NYC.
(SFC, 7/4/01, p.A10)
2001 Jul 5, Iraq accepted a 5-month UN extension for the oil-for-food program.
(SFC, 7/6/01, p.D6)
2001 Aug 10, About 20 US and British jets bombed air-defense installation south of Baghdad in retaliation for increased anti-aircraft activity. Iraqis claimed 1 civilian was killed and 11 wounded.
(SFC, 8/11/01, p.A8)
2001 Aug 14, US warplanes attacked an Iraqi air defense system modernized with fiber optics by Chinese technicians.
(WSJ, 8/15/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 27, An unmanned US reconnaissance aircraft, Predator, was reported shot down over southern Iraq near Basra. In northern Iraq US planes attacked a missile and Iraq claimed 1 civilian was killed.
(SFC, 8/28/01, p.A7)(WSJ, 8/28/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 30, US warplanes bombed an Iraqi radar site near Basra’s airport.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 10, Iraq said it shot down a 2nd US spy plane. The US reported an unmanned plane missing.
(SFC, 9/12/01, p.C3)
2001 Sep 27, US and British warplanes struck 2 artillery sites in Iraq’s southern no-fly zone.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D6)
2001 Oct 10, An unmanned US spy plane was lost over southern Iraq, the 3rd since Aug 27.
(WSJ, 10/11/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 24, A Greek captain provided the UN Security Council with a letter that admitted the illegal export of 500,000 barrels of Iraqi crude oil during 2 trips in May and August.
(SFC, 10/26/01, p.D4)
2001 Oct 25, Ismat Kittani, Iraqi diplomat, died at age 71. He served in the UN under 5 secretaries-general and was president of the 36th UN General Assembly from 1981-1982.
(SFC, 10/26/01, p.D7)
2001 Oct, Mohammad F. Abdul Razak, the 1st secretary at the Iraqi Embassy in Romania, was asked to leave for unsavory practices.
(WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A12)
2001 Nov 17, Two US sailors, Benjamin Johnson and Vincent Parker, were missing after the oil tanker Samra sank in the northern Persian Gulf. The ship was suspected of smuggling Iraqi oil.
(SFC, 11/19/01, p.A14)(SSFC, 11/25/01, p.A20)
2001 Nov 29, The UN Security Council extended for 6 months the sanctions program that let Iraq sell some oil to buy civilian goods. The US and Russia agreed to overhaul the program before the next vote.
(WSJ, 11/30/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 20, It was reported that Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri, a defector from Iraq, said he worked on renovations of secret facilities for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq before fleeing a year ago.
(SFC, 12/20/01, p.A5)
2001 Dec, Oscar Wyatt (81), chairman of Coastal Corp., agreed to a surcharge of about $200,000 to be paid to bank account in Jordan controlled by officials of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization. This was in violation of the UN’s oil-for-food program. Wyatt was arrested in 2005 at his home in Houston. In 2007 Wyatt was sentenced to over a year in jail after admitting approval of the surcharge.
(SFC, 10/22/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 11/28/07, p.B10)
2001 Saddam Hussein authored the novel "Zabibah and the King." It was released as a "novel by its author." A rape scene was set on Jan 17, 1991, the bombing of Baghdad during Operation Desert Storm.
(SSFC, 6/23/02, p.D2)
2001 Saddam Hussein built the Hussein Al-Majid Mosque in Tikrit over the grave of his father.
(SFC, 1/10/04, p.A10)
2001 Ansar al-Islam, blamed for attacks in Iraq and supported by a network of members in Europe, was founded in late 2001 in Kurdish part of northern Iraq by Mullah Krekar, who had lived as refugee in Norway since 1991.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2002 Jan 4, The WSJ quoted Ali K. Shukri, retired Jordanian general: a strike on Iraq "is not a question of whether it’s going to happen, but when—and it is coming." Action in the Spring was suggested.
(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A6)
2002 Jan 5, It was reported that funds for the Iraqi National Congress (INC), the leading opposition group to Saddam Hussein, were suspended due to accounting problems.
(SFC, 1/5/02, p.15)
2002 Jan 27, Iran’s Pres. Khatami met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri in Tehran as part of an effort to restore ties.
(SFC, 2/1/02, p.A18)
2002 Jan 27, Iraq admitted an int’l. nuclear-inspection team (IAEA) on a 4-day mission to a site near Baghdad.
(WSJ, 1/28/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 29, Pres. Bush made his 1st State of the Union address and declared that the "war against terror is only beginning." Bush singled out Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil."
(SFC, 1/30/02, p.A1)(SFC, 1/31/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 12, Sec. of State Colin Powell said the Bush administration was considering a variety of options to topple Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 2/12/02, p.A17)
2002 Mar 11, It was reported that the US CIA and State Dept. was interviewing former Iraqi generals for a possible overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 3/12/02, p.A12)
2002 Mar 13, Pres. Mubarek of Egypt said he would press Iraq to readmit UN weapons inspectors and had received indications of agreement.
(SFC, 3/14/02, p.A6)
2002 Mar 29, Iraq expressed interest in resuming relations with Kuwait.
(SFC, 3/30/02, p.A11)
2002 Apr 4, It was reported that Saddam Hussein of Iraq had raised financial payments to the relatives of suicide bombers from $10k to $25k.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A10)
2002 Apr 4, Pres. Bush responded to British TV journalist Trevor McDonald’s question "Have you made up your mind that Iraq must be attacked?" by saying: "I made up my mind that Hussein needs to go."
(SFC, 6/15/02, p.A13)
2002 Apr 7, Saddam Hussein pledged to defeat the US if attacked and promised to continue supplying Palestinians to defend against Israel.
(SFC, 4/8/02, p.A9)
2002 Apr 7, Pres. Bush ended weekend talks with Britain’s PM Tony Blair in Texas. Blair said he would back a US military action against Iraq.
(SFC, 4/8/02, p.A9)
2002 May 2, A report on Iraq’s oil sales showed that illegal surcharges allowed Iraq to siphon off large amounts for its war chest.
(WSJ, 5/2/02, p.A1)
2002 May 5, Iraq voted to resume oil exports.
(SFC, 5/6/02, p.A3)
2002 May 14, The UN Security Council revamped its sanctions against Iraq in order to ease the delivery of civilian goods and tighten controls on military items.
(SFC, 5/15/02, p.A12)
2002 Jun 9, Iraq and Qatar signed a free-trade agreement to drop customs duties and ease the flow of goods between the two Arab countries, further mending relations damaged by the 1990-91 Gulf War.
(AP, 6/9/02)
2002 Jun 16, The Bush administration revealed a secret plan to for the CIA to undermine and possibly kill Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein. [see Apr 4]
(SFC, 6/17/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 4, American warplanes bombed an Iraqi air defense system after coming under attack from Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery.
(AP, 7/4/02)
2002 Jul 6, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan arrived in Baghdad for a two-day visit Saturday to discuss steps that could be taken to avert a possible U.S. military campaign against Iraq.
(AP, 7/6/02)
2002 Jul 13, In southern Iraq 7 civilians were reported injured in U.S. air raids.
(AP, 7/14/02)
2002 Jul 19, US and British warplanes destroyed a military communications facility in southern Iraq. Iraq said the strike killed 5 people including a couple and their children.
(SFC, 7/20/02, p.A11)
2002 Jul 21, In Iraq executions of 15 political dissidents took place in the Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, and the bodies were buried at night in a mass grave at al-Karkh cemetery in Baghdad. The Iraqi opposition group Center for Human Rights reported this Sep 30.
(AP, 9/30/02)
2002 Jul 23, A memo from 10 Downing St. described an earlier meeting of Sir Richard Dearlove, head of British Intelligence, with US officials in Washington in which he noted a shift in attitude in the Bush administration, which saw military action as inevitable in Iraq and that it would be justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. The memo became public in 2005.
(SFC, 7/4/05, p.B6)
2002 Jul 28, Aircraft from U.S.-British air patrols over southern Iraq bombed an Iraqi communications site, the sixth strike this month in retaliation for what the Pentagon says were hostile actions by Iraq.
(AP, 7/29/02)
2002 Jul, Alexander Downer, Australia’s foreign minister, accused Saddam Hussein of developing weapons of mass destruction. Iraq soon after announced that it would cut its wheat purchases from Australia. Directors of AWB, Australia's wheat exporter, flew to Iraq and struck a new deal for wheat shipments.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.42)
2002 Aug 1, Opponents of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein shot and wounded his younger son, Qusai (35), in an assassination attempt in Baghdad. The Iraqi National Congress opposition group reported the event 2 weeks later.
(AP, 8/14/02)
2002 Aug 2, Facing an increasing possibility of U.S. military action, Iraq gave the first solid indication in nearly four years that it will allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return and invited the chief inspector to Baghdad for talks.
(AP, 8/2/02)
2002 Aug 8, Saddam Hussein organized a big military parade and then warned "the forces of evil" not to attack Iraq as he sought once more to shift the debate away from world demands that he live up to agreements that ended the Gulf War.
(AP, 8/8/03)
2002 Aug 12, Iraq's information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf told the Arabic satellite television station Al-Jazeera that there was no need for U.N. weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad and branded as a "lie" allegations that Saddam Hussein still had weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 8/12/03)
2002 Aug 14, Aircraft from the U.S.-British coalition patrolling southern Iraq bombed two Iraqi air defense sites.
(AP, 8/15/02)
2002 Aug 16, Russia and Iraqi officials planned to sign a 5-year $40 billion economic cooperation agreement.
(SFC, 8/17/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 16, Sabri al-Banna, aka Abu Nidal (65), Palestinian guerrilla commander and head of the Fatah-Revolutionary Council, died from gunshot wounds in his Baghdad home. Iraqi officials said he killed himself.
(Reuters, 8/19/02)(WSJ, 8/20/02, p.A18)(AP, 8/21/02)
2002 Aug 20, In Germany 5 members of the Iraqi Opposition of Germany took over the Iraqi embassy for 5 hours to protest against Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 8/20/02, p.A7)
2002 Aug 23, U.S. warplanes bombed an air defense site in northern Iraq after being targeted by an Iraqi missile guidance radar system.
(AP, 8/23/02)
2002 Aug 25, Iraq said US and British bombing killed 8 people near Basra. A U.S.-British air raid in southern Iraq destroyed a major military surveillance site that monitors American troops in the Persian Gulf
(WSJ, 8/26/02, p.A1)(AP, 8/27/02)
2002 Aug 26, US VP Cheney said that there is "no doubt" that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is amassing weapons of mass destruction for use against America and its allies.
(SFC, 8/27/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 30, For the 6th time in a week, coalition aircraft bombed an Iraqi defense facility in one of the no-fly zones patrolled by U.S. and British pilots.
(AP, 8/30/02)
2002 Sep 1, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the US should first seek a return of U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq before taking any further steps.
(AP, 9/1/02)
2002 Sep 2, Russia urged Iraq to admit U.N. weapons inspectors to avoid a war that could jeopardize multibillion-dollar economic deals between the trading partners.
(AP, 9/2/02)
2002 Sep 3, Iraq said it was ready to discuss a return of U.N. weapons inspectors, but only in a broader context of ending sanctions and restoring Iraqi sovereignty over all its territory.
(AP, 9/3/02)
2002 Sep 5, The U.S. military stated that American and British planes attacked an air defense command and control facility at a military airfield 240 miles southwest of Baghdad.
(AP, 9/6/02)
2002 Sep 7, Pres. Bush met with British PM Tony Blair at Camp David, Md., to work out a strategy for taking action against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.
(SSFC, 9/8/02, p.A3)
2002 Sep 9, Allied aircraft struck Iraq for the third time in a week, bombing a military facility southeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 9/9/02)
2002 Sep 12, Pres. Bush addressed the UN and laid out his case against Iraq’s Pres. Saddam Hussein. Bush was expected to announce US plans to rejoin Unesco, headquartered in Paris. France favored a demand for weapons inspectors in Iraq along with force if Iraq resisted.
(WSJ, 9/12/02, p.A1,4)(SFC, 9/13/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 13, Iraq will pay up to $5,000 each to Palestinians whose home is demolished in the Israeli campaign against suspected militants, a pro-Iraqi group said Friday, hinting also that Iraq is supplying weapons to the Palestinians.
(AP, 9/13/02)
2002 Sep 13, A top Iraqi official said Baghdad opposes the return of U.N. weapons inspectors and President Bush’s speech to the United Nations was "full of lies." Iraq will attack Israel if it takes part in a U.S. strike against President Hussein’s government, an Iraqi minister said in published remarks.
(AP, 9/13/02)
2002 Sep 13, Foreign ministers of the U.N. Security Council’s permanent five nations said that Iraq’s refusal to obey past U.N. resolutions "is a serious matter and that Iraq must comply." Russia, Europe and key Arab states piled pressure on Iraq on Friday to readmit U.N. weapons inspectors to avert possible U.S.-led military action.
(AP, 9/13/02)(Reuters, 9/13/02)
2002 Sep 15, U.S. and British warplanes bombed Iraqi installations in the southern no-fly zone. Major air defense sites were being targeted.
(AP, 9/15/02)(SFC, 9/17/02, p.A12)
2002 Sep 15, At least 5 Iraqi agents graduated from a 2-week course in surveillance techniques at the "Special Training Center" in Moscow.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.A1)
2002 Sep 16, Iraq said it would allow UN weapons inspectors unconditional access to suspected weapons sites. Naji Sabri, Iraq’s minister of foreign affairs, addressed the letter to UN Sec. Gen. Kofi Annan. The inspection commission, headed by Hans Blix, is responsible for overseeing the destruction of Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons and the long-range missiles to deliver them. Core staff: 63 people from 17 nations.
(SFC, 9/17/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/17/02, p.A3)(AP, 9/18/02)
2002 Sep 17, Weapons inspectors and Iraqi officials agreed to meet in Vienna in 10 days to complete arrangements for the inspectors’ return. The UN said Iraq had abandoned its illegal surcharges in the oil-for-food program.
(AP, 9/17/02)(WSJ, 9/18/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 21, Iraq rejected U.S. efforts to secure a U.N. resolution threatening war, with Iraqi state-run radio announcing Baghdad will not abide by unfavorable new resolutions adopted by the U.N. Security Council.
(AP, 9/21/02)
2002 Sep 24, Iraq dismissed a British government report that said Saddam Hussein is pursuing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
(AP, 9/24/02)
2002 Sep 24, Allied aircraft struck Iraqi air defense facilities again in a double strike at two southeastern installations. Precision-guided weapons were aimed at a radar facility near Al Amarah about 165 miles southeast of Baghdad and a defense communications facility at Tallil, about 170 miles southeast of the capital.
(AP, 9/25/02)
2002 Sep 27, Three U.S. lawmakers, all Democrats, arrived in Baghdad to gauge the possible effects of war on ordinary Iraqi citizens. The visit by Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington and fellow House Democrats David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California followed a Sept. 14 visit by a delegation led by Rep. Nick Rahall, a West Virginia Democrat.
(AP, 9/27/02)
2002 Sep 28, Iraq rejected a U.S.-British plan for the United Nations to force President Saddam Hussein to disarm and open his palaces for weapons searches.
(AP, 9/28/03)
2002 Sep 28, U.S. jets raided the Basra civilian airport for the second time inside a week, targeting its radar systems and the passenger terminals.
(AP, 9/29/02)
2002 Oct 1, Allied aircraft launched an airstrike in the southern no-fly zone over Iraq after Iraqi aircraft penetrated the restricted area. Iraq agreed to a plan for the return of UN weapons inspectors for the first time in nearly four years, but ignored US demands for access to Saddam Hussein's palaces and other contested sites. Iraq said it expected an advance party in Baghdad in two weeks.
(AP, 10/1/07)(AP, 10/2/02)
2002 Oct 2, Iraq said it would not accept any new U.N. resolution to cover the operations of arms inspectors on its soil and vowed it would hit back hard against any U.S. attack on Baghdad.
(AP, 10/2/02)
2002 Oct 4, Hans Blix, UN weapons inspector, endorsed a US demand that Iraq make a full declaration of its weapons program before inspections resume.
(SFC, 10/5/02, p.A7)
2002 Oct 7, In a somber address to the nation to support his action against Iraq, President Bush labeled Saddam Hussein a "homicidal dictator" and said the threat from Iraq was unique and imminent: "We refuse to live in fear."
(SFC, 10/8/02, p.A1)(AP, 10/7/03)
2002 Oct 10, Allied planes bombed radar and missile sites in the southern no-fly zone over Iraq, targeting President Saddam Hussein’s air defenses for the third time this week.
(AP, 10/10/02)
2002 Oct 10, The US Congress gave Pres. Bush authorization to use armed forces against Iraq. The House voted 296-133 in favor.
(SFC, 10/11/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/11/02, p.A1)
2002 Oct 15, In Iraq Saddam Hussein won the presidential referendum for another 7-year term. He claimed a 100% victory the next day.
(SFC, 10/16/02, p.A9)
2002 Oct 15, Allied planes bombed a military command facility in the southern no-fly zone over Iraq after taking fire from Iraqi forces.
(AP, 10/15/02)
2002 Oct 16, The US offered a compromise proposal at the UN that called for serious consequences if Iraq does not comply with weapons inspections.
(SFC, 10/17/02, p.A1)
2002 Oct 16, President Bush signed a congressional resolution authorizing war against Iraq.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2002 Oct 18, Five trucks carrying looted Kuwaiti archives left the Iraqi capital, bound for Kuwait.
(AP, 10/18/02)
2002 Oct 20, In Iraq President Saddam Hussein issued an amnesty to all political prisoners and exiles to mark his perfect 100 percent uncontested election.
(AP, 10/20/02)
2002 Oct 21, President Bush said he would try diplomacy "one more time," but did not think Saddam Hussein would disarm, even if doing so would allow the Iraqi president to remain in power.
(AP, 10/21/03)
2002 Oct 22, Allied planes bombed a military air defense site in the northern no-fly zone over Iraq after taking fire from Iraqi forces.
(AP, 10/22/02)
2002 Oct 23, Allied planes bombed two military air defense sites in the southern no-fly zone over Iraq in the third round of strikes in a week.
(AP, 10/23/02)
2002 Oct 24, In Iraq officials told many foreign journalists to leave due to coverage of recent protests.
(SFC, 10/25/02, p.A3)
2002 Oct 30, Allied warplanes bombed Iraqi defense systems in the northern no-fly zone over Iraq after being fired upon during routine patrols.
(AP, 10/30/02)
2002 Nov 2, Pres. Bush called Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein a "dangerous man" with links to terrorist networks, and said that UN inspections for weapons of mass destruction were critical.
(AP, 11/2/03)
2002 Nov 8, The UN Security Council unanimously approved a tough new Iraq resolution, aimed at forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences." Iraq has until Nov. 15 to accept its terms and pledge to comply. Iraq has until Dec. 8 to provide weapons inspectors and the Security Council with a complete declaration of all aspects of its chemical, biological and nuclear programs. Weapons inspectors have until Dec. 23 to resume their work in Iraq. Weapons inspectors are to report to the Security Council 60 days after the start of their work. If inspectors resume their work on Dec. 23, the latest they would be able to report to the council would be Feb. 21, 2003.
(AP, 11/8/02)
2002 Nov 8, Pres. Bush said the new UN Resolution 1441 presented the Iraqi regime "with a final test."
(AP, 11/8/03)
2002 Nov 10, U.S. warplanes flying from an aircraft carrier in the Gulf struck missile sites in southern Iraq in response to hostile acts.
(AP, 11/11/02)
2002 Nov 11, Iraqi lawmakers denounced a new UN resolution on weapons inspections as dishonest, provocative and worthy of rejection. But the Iraqi parliament said it ultimately would trust whatever President Saddam Hussein decided.
(AP, 11/11/03)
2002 Nov 13, Iraq accepted a tough new U.N. resolution that will return U.N. weapons inspectors to the country after nearly four years.
(AP, 11/13/02)
2002 Nov 15, US aircraft exchanged fire with Iraqi ground forces near An Najaf, about 85 miles south of Baghdad.
(SFC, 11/16/02, p.A6)
2002 Nov 16, In an open letter to the Iraqi Parliament, Pres. Saddam Hussein said he had no choice but to accept a tough new UN weapons inspection resolution because the US and Israel had shown their "claws and teeth" and declared unilateral war on the Iraqi people.
(AP, 11/16/03)
2002 Nov 18, UN inspectors returned to Iraq after a 4-year hiatus to resume the search for weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 11/18/03)
2002 Nov 21, The 19 NATO leaders demanded that Iraq "fully and immediately" comply with a UN resolution to disarm. It was at the NATO Summit in Prague that the NATO Response Force initiative was announced together with the other major military transformation initiatives, the Prague Capabilities Commitment and the fundamental revision of the NATO military command structure. The NRF concept was approved by Ministers of Defense in June 2003 in Brussels.
(AP, 11/21/02)(http://www.nato.int/issues/nrf/index.html)
2002 Nov 24, In a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Iraqi government complained that the small print behind upcoming weapons inspections would give Washington a pretext to attack.
(AP, 11/24/03)
2002 Nov 26, Iraqi air defense units fired at American and British warplanes that carried out dozens of sorties in the country.
(AP, 11/26/02)
2002 Nov 27, International arms monitors searched a military missile-testing range and a state factory outside Baghdad, starting a new round of inspections that could determine the future of peace in the Middle East.
(AP, 11/27/02)
2002 Dec 3, U.N. weapons inspectors made their first unannounced visit to one of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces.
(AP, 12/3/03)
2002 Dec 4, Iraqi forces shot at allied aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone and U.S. planes retaliated by bombing part of the country’s air defense system.
(AP, 12/4/02)
2002 Dec 4, Kurdish militiamen of the PUK battled Islamic militants (Ansar al-Islam) believed to be linked to al-Qaida in northern Iraq, and as many as 30 militiamen were killed or wounded.
(AP, 12/4/02)(SFC, 12/6/02, p.A18)
2002 Dec 7, The Iraqi government presented to the rest of the world a 12,000 page declaration detailing its nuclear, chemical and biological activities and formally declaring to the UN that it has no weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein grudgingly apologized to Kuwaitis for invading their country in 1990.
(AP, 12/7/02)(SSFC, 12/8/02, p.A1)
2002 Dec 8, Iraq's massive dossier detailing its chemical, biological and nuclear programs arrived in New York; the U.N. Security Council agreed to give full copies to the United States and the four other permanent council members — Britain, France, Russia and China.
(AP, 12/8/03)
2002 Dec 9, The United States received a copy Monday of Saddam Hussein’s massive arms declaration as inspectors began combing the dossier for clues about whether Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 12/9/02)
2002 Dec 10, A U.S. F-16 fighter bombed an Iraqi surface-to-air missile system after Iraq moved it deep into the southern no-fly zone.
(AP, 12/10/02)
2002 Dec 17, Iraqi exiles in London declared they want to build a "new Iraq" and agreed on a power-sharing plan that for the first time recognizes the political clout of Shiite Muslims, a majority in a nation long controlled by Sunni Muslims such as Saddam Hussein. Some delegates walked out of the London meeting warning of possible civil war if they were sidelined in any new government.
(AP, 12/17/02)(Reuters, 12/17/02)
2002 Dec 17, Mohammed Jawad allegedly attacked US troops with a grenade. He was arrested and later transferred to Guantanamo Bay. US authorities claimed he was at least 16-years old at the time of his arrest, but it later emerged he may have been as young as 12.
(SFC, 7/31/09, p.A5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Jawad)
2002 Dec 19, U.N. weapons inspectors reported that Iraq’s new arms declaration contained inconsistencies and contradictions and didn’t answer key questions about its nuclear, chemical and biological programs.
(AP, 12/19/02)
2002 Dec 19, US Secretary of State Colin Powell declared Iraq in "material breach" of a U.N. disarmament resolution.
(AP, 12/19/03)
2002 Dec 20, U.N. weapons inspectors put Iraq on notice that it must provide far more evidence about its weapons of mass destruction. Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix urged the United States and Britain to hand over any evidence they have about Iraq’s secret weapons programs so U.N. inspectors can check it on the ground. The US began sharing sensitive information with the UN.
(AP, 12/20/02)(AP, 12/21/02)(SFC, 12/21/02, p.A7)
2002 Dec 20, U.S. jets fired on two Iraqi air defense sites in the southern no-fly zone after an Iraqi jet entered the restricted air space.
(AP, 12/20/02)
2002 Dec 23, Iraqi aircraft shot down a U.S. unmanned surveillance drone over southern Iraq.
(AP, 12/23/02)
2002 Dec 24, Saddam Hussein said in an address read on television that Iraqis were ready to fight a holy war against the United States.
(AP, 12/24/03)
2002 Dec 24, Israeli PM Sharon said Saddam Hussein had transferred chemical and biological weapons to Syria.
(SFC, 12/25/02, p.A16)
2002 Dec 28, Iraq delivered a list to UN officials naming over 500 scientists who have worked on nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programs.
(AP, 12/28/02)
2002 Dec 30, British and US warplanes flying multiple missions attacked Iraq air defense facilities after an Iraqi fighter jet penetrated the southern no-fly zone.
(AP, 12/31/02)
2002 Dec 30, The UN passed a resolution by a 13-0 vote with Russia and Syria abstaining that put new limits on Iraq for purchases of certain communications equipment and antibiotics.
(AP, 1/2/03)
2002 Curt Coughlin authored "Saddam: King of Terror."
(SSFC, 11/24/02, p.M1)
2002 Saddam Hussein authored a 2nd novel "The Impregnable Fortress." 2 million copies were printed and his son Udai ordered 250,000 copies.
(SSFC, 6/23/02, p.D2)
2002 Sandra Mackey authored "The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein."
(SSFC, 6/30/02, p.M1)
2002 Kenneth M. Pollack authored "The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq."
(WSJ, 10/10/02, p.D10)
2002 The US opened formal contacts with Daawa leader Ibrahim al Jaafari after clearing him in embassy bombings.
(WSJ, 4/28/05, p.A1
2003 Jan 1, U.S. and British warplanes attacked an Iraqi mobile radar system after it entered the southern no-fly zone.
(AP, 1/1/03)
2003 Jan 6, U.S. warplanes bombed two Iraqi anti-aircraft radars that threatened pilots patrolling the southern no-fly zone.
(AP, 1/7/03)
2003 Jan 6, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein accused U.N. inspectors of engaging in "intelligence work" instead of searching for suspected nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in his country.
(AP, 1/6/04)
2003 Jan 6, Thousands of Marines, sailors and soldiers headed for the Persian Gulf region, shipping out from California, Georgia and Maryland as the buildup for a possible war with Iraq accelerated sharply.
(AP, 1/6/04)
2003 Jan 9, UN weapons inspectors said there's no "smoking gun" to prove Iraq has nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, but they demanded that Baghdad provide private access to scientists and fresh evidence to back its claim that it had destroyed its weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 1/9/08)
2003 Jan 10, The European Union proposed a diplomatic initiative to avoid war against Iraq and increased pressure on Washington to pursue a peaceful solution to the crisis over Iraq’s arms programs.
(AP, 1/10/03)
2003 Jan 10, Iraq blocked all e-mail services following a batch of messages from disguised US agencies urging dissent and military defections. Some service was restored the next day.
(SSFC, 1/12/03, p.A14)
2003 Jan 13, US warplanes struck an anti-ship missile launcher in southern Iraq. US planes also dropped leaflets over An Najaf, about 85 miles southeast of Baghdad. It was the 14th drop in 3 months.
(AP, 1/13/03)
2003 Jan 13, U.N. inspectors took their hunt for banned arms to science and technology colleges in Baghdad, and the top nuclear inspector said his teams’ mission would take several more months.
(AP, 1/13/03)
2003 Jan 13, It was reported that Iraq has experienced a dramatic increase in child cancers in recent years. Blame was cast on the US use of depleted uranium during the 1991 Gulf War.
(SFC, 1/13/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 17, On the 12th anniversary of the Gulf War, a defiant Saddam Hussein called on his people to rise up and defend the nation against a new U.S.-led attack.
(AP, 1/17/04)
2003 Jan 17, Iraq and Russia signed three oil agreements for exploration and development of oil fields in southern and western Iraq.
(AP, 1/17/03)
2003 Jan 18, UN officials warned Iraq it was running out of time to cooperate and avoid war.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2003 Jan 19, Hans Blix and Mohamed El Baradei, the chief U.N. arms inspectors, sat down for urgent talks with Iraqi officials.
(AP, 1/19/03)
2003 Jan 19, Syria and Iran support Turkey’s proposal for a regional summit to seek a peaceful way out of the Iraq standoff. Turkey has offered to hold the summit where Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria would discuss the standoff over Iraq.
(AP, 1/19/03)
2003 Jan 20, The chief U.N. arms inspectors and Iraqi officials agreed on practical steps to greater Iraqi cooperation in the U.N. disarmament program, including Baghdad’s encouragement of weapons scientists to submit to private U.N. interviews.
(AP, 1/20/03)
2003 Jan 22, France and Germany joined forces to prevent any U.S.-led war on Iraq.
(Reuters, 1/22/03)
2003 Jan 24, American warplanes bombed an Iraqi air defense site, the 12th strike in the southern flight interdiction zone this month.
(AP, 1/24/03)
2003 Jan 27, The Bush administration moved toward a military showdown with Iraq and suggested a decision could come as early as next week after UN inspectors credited Iraq with only limited cooperation in the search for weapons. Meanwhile, chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix charged that Iraq had never genuinely accepted U.N. resolutions demanding its disarmament and warned that "cooperation on substance" was necessary for a peaceful solution.
(AP, 1/27/03)(SFC, 1/28/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 28, Pres. Bush in his State of the Union vowed to use the "full force and might of the U.S. military" if needed to disarm Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Bush pledged of $15 billion for AIDS assistance in Africa, a domestic agenda of tax cuts, medical malpractice caps and a ban on certain late abortions. Bush also announced a $1.2 billion hydrogen fuel initiative.
(www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030206-2.html)(AP, 1/29/03)(WSJ, 1/29/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 31, Top U.N. arms inspectors said they would not agree to new talks in Baghdad unless Iraq demonstrated more cooperation and met unspecified conditions.
(AP, 1/31/03)
2003 Jan, Pres. Bush received classified reports from the National Intelligence Council that an American-led invasion of Iraq would increase support for political Islam and result in a deeply divided Iraqi society prone to violent internal conflict.
(SFC, 9/28/04, p.A3)
2003 Jan, In Baghdad, Iraq, Hayder Mounthir staged his play "Where Is the Government." The entire cast was briefly jailed after one performance. He re-staged the play at the National Theater with a new ending in Nov.
(WSJ, 11/10/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan, An environmental assessment on Iraq was finalized for the US government. It indicated that Iraqis had ordered 8 million pounds of sodium dichromate, a deadly toxin, to keep water pipes from corroding. Months later US soldiers were sickened after they arrived at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant. Oregon Nat’l. Guard soldiers sued military contractor KBR in 2009. KBR said it only knew of the presence of the toxin July 2003.
(SFC, 4/5/12, p.A8)
2003 Feb 3, It was reported that the US and Britain had mapped out a strategy to limit arms inspections in Iraq to no more than 6 more weeks.
(SFC, 2/3/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 3, A new British report said Iraqi security agents have bugged every room and telephone of the U.N. weapons inspectors based in Baghdad and have hidden documents in Iraqi hospitals, mosques and homes.
(AP, 2/4/03)
2003 Feb 5, Secretary of State Colin Powell, made his case that Iraq had defied all demands that it disarm, presented tape recordings, satellite photos and statements from informants that he said was "irrefutable and undeniable" evidence that Saddam Hussein is concealing weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 2/5/03)(SFC, 2/6/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 8, The chief UN arms inspectors arrived in Baghdad for a new round of crucial talks with Iraqi officials.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2003 Feb 8, In Iraq gunmen posing as defectors from an Islamic extremist group killed Gen. Shawkat Haji Mushir, a political leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and two other Kurdish officials.
(AP, 2/9/03)
2003 Feb 10, Iraq agreed to allow U-2 surveillance flights over its territory, meeting a key demand by U.N. inspectors searching for banned weapons; President Bush, however, brushed aside Iraqi concessions as too little, too late.
(AP, 2/10/04)
2003 Feb 11, A group of around 50 Western anti-war activists received visas to enter Iraq where they plan to form "human shields." Iraq said it would allow U-2 surveillance flights.
(Reuters, 2/11/03)(SFC, 2/11/03, p.A10)
2003 Feb 13, American Special Forces were reported to be in various parts of Iraq for what seemed to be the initial phases of a ground war.
(SFC, 2/12/03, p.A14)
2003 Feb 14, Saddam Hussein banned all weapons of mass destruction from Iraq, meeting a long time U.N. demand.
(AP, 2/14/03)
2003 Feb 14, UN weapons inspectors haven’t found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but chief inspector Hans Blix said many proscribed materials remain unaccounted for.
(AP, 2/14/03)(SFC, 2/15/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 15, American warplanes bombed two anti-aircraft missile sites in southern Iraq.
(AP, 2/15/03)
2003 Feb 15, Rattled by an outpouring of anti-war sentiment, the US and Britain began reworking a draft resolution to authorize force against Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 2/15/03)
2003 Feb 15, Millions of protesters, many of them marching in the capitals of America’s allies, demonstrated against possible US plans to attack Iraq.
(AP, 2/15/03)(AP, 2/16/03)
2003 Feb 21, It was reported that Iraq had recently begun shipping large quantities of oil through its Khor al Amaya port.
(WSJ, 2/21/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 21, Chief UN inspector Hans Blix ordered Baghdad to begin destroying dozens of illegal missiles and their components by March 1.
(AP, 2/22/03)(SFC, 2/22/03, A1)
2003 Feb 23, In Iraq Saddam Hussein met separately with Russian Yevgeny Primakov and former US attorney gen’l. Ramsay Clark. Clark said Hussein feared that Pres. Bush had made up his mind to attack and that there was nothing he could do to prevent it.
(SFC, 2/25/03, A10)
2003 Feb 23, The UN Children’s Fund and Iraqi health teams began a five-day campaign to vaccinate 4 million Iraqi children against polio.
(AP, 2/23/03)
2003 Feb 24, Dan Rather interviewed Saddam Hussein via satellite and Hussein proposed a live debate with Pres. Bush. Hussein said he would rather die than leave his country and that he would not destroy its wealth by setting fire to its oil wells in the event of a U.S.-led invasion.
(SFC, 2/25/03, A10)(AP, 2/26/03)
2003 Feb 24, Seeking U.N. approval for war against Iraq, the United States, Britain and Spain submitted a resolution to the Security Council declaring that Saddam Hussein had missed "the final opportunity" to disarm peacefully and indicating that he had to face the consequences.
(SFC, 2/25/03, A1)(AP, 2/24/04)
2003 Feb 25, Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq was showing new signs of real cooperation, but President Bush was dismissive, predicting Saddam Hussein would try to "fool the world one more time."
(AP, 2/25/04)
2003 Feb 25, Iraq provided new information about its weapons and reported the discovery of 2 bombs, including one possibly filled with a biological agent.
(AP, 2/25/03)
2003 Feb 26, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin warned that waging war against Iraq now, would split the international community and "be perceived as precipitous and illegitimate."
(AP, 2/26/03)
2003 Feb 27, Iraq agreed in principle to destroy its Al Samoud Two missiles, two days before a U.N. deadline.
(AP, 2/27/04)
2003 Feb 28, Iraq agreed to begin destroying its Al Samoud 2 missiles within 24 hours.
(AP, 2/28/03)
2003 Feb, Saddam Hussein accepted an 11th-hour offer to flee into exile weeks ahead of the U.S.-led invasion, but Arab League officials scuttled the proposal. The exile initiative was spearheaded by the late president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, at an emergency Arab summit held in Egypt. This was not made public until 2005 when Sheik Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the son of Sheik Zayed, reported it in an interview aired by Al-Arabiya TV.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2003 Mar 1, Iraq destroyed 4 of over 100 Al Samoud 2 missiles and agreed with the UN on a timetable to dismantle the rest of the missile program.
(AP, 3/1/03)(SSFC, 3/2/03, A1)
2003 Mar 1, Arab leaders held a summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The UAR became the 1st Arab country to call for Saddam Hussein to step down.
(SSFC, 3/2/03, A8)
2003 Mar 1, Turkey's parliament failed to approve a bill allowing in American combat troops to open a northern front against Iraq. Lawmakers voted 264-250 in favor of stationing US troops but that was 3 votes shy of a constitutionally mandated simple majority.
(AP, 3/2/03)(AP, 3/1/08)
2003 Mar 2, Iraq crushed another six Al Samoud II missiles, as ordered by UN weapons inspectors. Iraqi scientist Mahmud Faraj Bilal al-Samarrai, implicated in Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (WMD), surrendered to the CIA. He was freed in 2012.
(AP, 3/2/08)(AFP, 4/15/12)
2003 Mar 4, Iran called for UN-supervised elections in neighboring Iraq and urged the divided Iraqi opposition to reconcile with Pres. Saddam Hussein as part of a plan aimed at averting a US-led war on Iraq.
(AP, 3/4/03)
2003 Mar 4, It was later reported that CNN top people found out that the US war on Iraq would begin Mar 19.
(SFC, 4/3/03, p.W2)
2003 Mar 4, In northern Iraq Kurdish soldiers killed 5 Muslim men in a possible case of mistaken identity.
(AP, 3/4/03)(SFC, 3/5/03, p.A10)
2003 Mar 6, President Bush held a new conference and warned that he was prepared to go to war soon in Iraq with or without U.N. backing.
(AP, 3/7/03)(SFC, 3/7/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 6, Britain offered to compromise on a US-backed resolution by giving Saddam Hussein a short deadline to prove he has eliminated all banned weapons or face an attack.
(AP, 3/6/03)
2003 Mar 7, Kazem al-Sahir (41), Iraqi pop singer with over 30 million records sold, scheduled a benefit concert at the Berkeley Community Theater. His US tour was set to raise medical and school supplies for Iraqi children.
(SSFC, 3/2/03, A28)(SFC, 3/6/03, p.F1)
2003 Mar 7, The US and its allies moved to set March 17 as the final deadline for Saddam Hussein to prove he has given up his weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 3/8/03)(SFC, 3/8/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 7, Mohamed ElBaradei, UN chief nuclear weapons inspector, expressed frustration at the quality of US information on Iraqi weapons and charged that some documents may have been faked.
(SFC, 3/8/03, p.A11)
2003 Mar 8, Iraq resumed the destruction of banned Al Samoud 2 missiles after taking a day off and called on the UN to lift sanctions after arms inspectors gave a positive assessment of Baghdad’s cooperation. Iraq also demanded that the UN strip Israel of weapons of mass destruction, require withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territory and that the UN brand the US and Britain as liars.
(AP, 3/8/03)(SSFC, 3/9/03, p.A8)
2003 Mar 8, Former US president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter condemned preparations for a unilateral US attack on Iraq.
(AP, 3/9/03)
2003 Mar 8, Thousands of US women staged "Code Pink" marches against a possible war with Iraq. Some 4,000 marched near the White House.
(SSFC, 3/9/03, p.A3)
2003 Mar 8, In Romania 5 Iraqi diplomats were expelled for "activities incompatible with their status." Last week the US expelled two U.N.-based Iraqi diplomats and identified 300 Iraqis in 60 countries, some operating as diplomats out of Iraqi embassies, whom it wanted expelled.
(AP, 3/10/03)
2003 Mar 9, In Rawalpindi, Pakistan, hundreds of thousands of people protested a possible US war with Iraq.
(SFC, 3/10/03, p.A11)
2003 Mar 10, Facing almost certain defeat, the United States and Britain delayed a vote in the U.N. Security Council to give Saddam Hussein an ultimatum to disarm.
(AP, 3/10/04)
2003 Mar 10, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov warned the Kremlin would vote against the US and British resolution that gives Saddam Hussein a March 17 deadline to disarm.
(AP, 3/10/03)
2003 Mar 11, Iraq destroyed more Al Samoud 2 missiles raising the total destroyed to 52 of some 100.
(AP, 3/11/03)
2003 Mar 11, Kofi Annan said military action against Iraq without support of the UN security council would be out of conformity with the UN charter. The US and Britain considered a short extension past March 17, but rejected a 45-day deadline back by 6 council members.
(SFC, 3/11/03, p.A1)(SFC, 3/12/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 11, A top Australian intelligence adviser resigned to protest the government’s hardline policy on Iraq. Andrew Wilkie, one of its senior intelligence analysts argued that, based on U.S. and other intelligence information he has seen, there is currently no justification for a war on Iraq.
(IPS, 3/12/03)
2003 Mar 12, Brittain proposed compromise language giving Saddam Hussein until Mar 17 to take 6 concrete disarmament steps.
(WSJ, 3/13/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 15, Many thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched in SF, Washington DC and around the world against plans for a war with Iraq.
(SFC, 3/16/03, p.A1)(AP, 3/15/08)
2003 Mar 17, Pres. Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to go into exile or face military onslaught.
(SFC, 3/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 16, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein warned that if Iraq were attacked, it would take the war anywhere in the world "wherever there is sky, land or water."
(AP, 3/16/04)
2003 Mar 17, In Denmark Nizar Al-Khazraji, former Iraqi general, disappeared.
(WSJ, 4/9/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 17-May 25, Iraq was scheduled to take over as chairman of the UN disarmament organization, but declined the position.
(SSFC, 2/9/03, p.A16)
2003 Mar 18, Some $900 million in US bills and as much as 100 million in euros was taken from Iraq's Central Bank by Saddam Hussein and his family. The New York Times reported on May 5 that Saddam ordered the money taken from the Central Bank and sent his son Qusai in the middle of the night. This became the largest cash theft in recent history.
(AP, 5/6/03)(AP, 2/28/06)
2003 Mar 19, President Bush ordered the start of war against Iraq. Because of the time difference, it was early March 20 in Iraq. Operation Iraqi Freedom began with a few US targeted strikes in Baghdad against Saddam Hussein, targeting him personally with a barrage of cruise missiles and bombs as a prelude to invasion. Iraq responded hours later, firing missiles toward American troops positioned just across its border with Kuwait. The codename for the invasion of Iraq was Cobra II. In 2006 Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor authored “Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq.
(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.W12)(AP, 3/19/04)(Econ, 4/8/06, p.82)
2003 Mar 19, It was reported that Iraq had some 10 million land mines.
(WSJ, 3/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 20, Hundreds of thousands of people marched on American embassies in world capitals to protest the war against Iraq.
(AP, 3/20/03)
2003 Mar 20, Operation Iraqi Freedom began with a few targeted strikes in Baghdad against Saddam Hussein, targeting him personally with a barrage of cruise missiles and bombs as a prelude to invasion. Iraq responded hours later, firing missiles toward American troops positioned just across its border with Kuwait. US Sec. of State Rumsfeld warned that the attack in Iraq would be "of a force and scope and scale that is beyond what has been seen before." A "shock and awe" strategy was planned based on a 1996 "rapid dominance" strategy. The US seized $1.74 billion in frozen Iraqi assets and declared it would be used for humanitarian purposes. Saddam Hussein appeared on state-run television accusing the United States of a "shameful crime" and urging his people to "draw your sword" against the invaders. Iraq set fire to at least 10 oil wells.
(SFC, 3/20/03, p.W1)(SFC, 3/21/03, p.W11)(WSJ, 3/21/03, p.A1)(AP, 3/20/04)
2003 Mar 20, UN Sec. Gen’l. Kofi Annan asked to be put in charge of a humanitarian program to aid Iraq.
(SFC, 3/21/03, p.W14)
2003 Mar 20-2003 Apr 9, At least 1,700 Iraqi civilians were killed and over 8,000 injured in the battle for Baghdad.
(SSFC, 5/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 21, In the 3rd day of Operation Iraqi Freedom the "shock and awe" air campaign began. 2 days of US air attacks killed 4 civilians in Baghdad and left some 242 injured.
(SSFC, 3/23/03, p.W10)(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.W12)
2003 Mar 21, A CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait and killed 12 British and 4 US soldiers. US Marines captured the strategic port in the southern Iraqi city of Umm Qasr.
(AP, 3/21/03)
2003 Mar 22, In the 4th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom intermittent explosions were heard throughout the day in Baghdad and by late afternoon at least 12 huge columns of smoke could be seen rising from all along the southern horizon of the city. US and British forces reached half way to Baghdad and British forces were left surrounding Basra.
(AP, 3/22/03)(SSFC, 3/23/03, p.W1)
2003 Mar 22, A 4-man ITN TV crew drove into a war zone near Az Zubayr, Iraq, and reporter Terry Lloyd (50) was killed. 2 men went missing and one escaped.
(WSJ, 5/2/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 23, In the 5th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US-led warplanes and helicopters attacked Republican Guard units defending Baghdad while ground troops advanced to within 50 miles of the Iraqi capital. Pres. Bush put a $75 billion price tag on a down payment for the war. The 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed after it made a wrong turn into Nasiriya; 11 soldiers were killed, seven were captured, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch. Lori Piestewa (23) was killed, with the gruesome distinction of being the first native American in the US army to be killed in combat. Lynch was rescued on April 1, 2003.
(AP, 3/24/03)(SFC, 4/14/03, p.A1)(www.nativeweb.org/weblog/piestewa/)(AP, 3/23/08)
2003 Mar 23, Iraqi state television showed two men said to have been the US crew of an Apache helicopter forced down during heavy fighting in central Iraq. Iraqi forces captured at least 5 soldiers of an Army maintenance company. US Central Command reported 12 missing. About 20 Americans were captured or killed at Nasiriyah.
(AP, 3/24/03)(SFC, 3/24/03, p.W1)(WSJ, 3/24/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 23, A US bomb struck a bus at a service area in al-Rutba, Iraq, enroute from Baghdad to Syria. 5 people were killed.
(SFC, 3/25/03, p.W7)
2003 Mar 23, A British Royal Air Force Tornado jet was shot down by a U.S. Patriot missile in the first reported incident of "friendly" fire in Iraq.
(AP, 3/23/03)
2003 Mar 23, Arab nations called for an emergency Security Council meeting to demand an end to the US-led war against Iraq and the withdrawal of all invading forces.
(AP, 3/24/03)
2003 Mar 24, Saddam Hussein appeared on Iraqi TV telling his nation that "victory is soon."
(SFC, 3/24/03, p.W1)
2003 Mar 24, In the 6th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US forces began strikes against the Medina Division of the Republican Guard guarding Baghdad. Hussein appeared on Iraqi TV as coalition forces held over 3,000 prisoners. 10 Marines were killed in combat around Nasiriya.
(WSJ, 3/25/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.W12)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C2)
2003 Mar 25, In the 7th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US aircraft dropped more than 2,000 precision-guided bombs on Iraq since the war's start. The "smart" bombs were produced for a relatively cheap $20,000 each. Sandstorms slowed coalition movement and air missions. US officials reported 150-200 Iraqi soldiers were killed near Najaf.
(AP, 3/25/03)(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.W12)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C2)
2003 Mar 25, Six satellite jamming devices, which Iraq was using to try to thwart American precision guided weapons, were destroyed in the last 2 nights.
(AP, 3/25/03)
2003 Mar 25, Some 150-500 Iraqi fighters were killed in fighting east of Najaf.
(AP, 3/25/03)(SFC, 3/26/03, p.W1)
2003 Mar 25, Saudi Arabia contacted the United States and Iraq with a peace proposal and was still awaiting a response.
(AP, 3/25/03)
2003 Mar 26, In the 8th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom Baghdad officials said two cruise missiles hit a residential area, killing 14 people. Iraq said 36 civilians were killed and 215 wounded in US airstrikes on Baghdad. Some 1,000 US paratroopers jumped into northern Iraq as sandstorms eased.
(AP, 3/26/03)(AP, 3/27/03)(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.W12)
2003 Mar 27, In the 9th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom a British armored unit destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks trying to break out of the besieged city of Basra. A sea-borne relief operation was postponed after discovering Iraqi mines in the shipping channel leading to the recently captured Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. Heavy bombing on Baghdad destroyed a main telephone exchange.
(AP, 3/27/03)(SFC, 3/28/03, p.W1)
2003 Mar 27, The Bush administration seized $1.62 billion in Iraqi assets already frozen in the US. The money would be used to help rebuild Iraq once Saddam Hussein is ousted.
(AP, 3/28/03)
2003 Mar 28, In the 10th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom the biggest bombs dropped on Baghdad so far, two 4,700-pound "bunker busters," struck a communications tower. In the south, Iraqi fighters defending the besieged city of Basra fired on hundreds of civilians trying to flee. The British supply ship Sir Galahad docked at the port of Umm Qasr. The Bush administration said fighting might not be over for months. At least 58 people were killed in a crowded market in northwest Baghdad by what local officials called a coalition bombing. A US pilot was heard saying "I'm going to be sick," then "we're in jail, dude," after firing on the British convoy in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull was killed by American pilots.
(AP, 3/28/03)(SFC, 3/29/03, p.W1)(AP, 2/6/07)(Econ, 2/10/07, p.58)
2003 Mar 29, In the 11th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom a suicide bomber driving a taxi killed four American soldiers at a checkpoint near Najaf, Iraq. US jets destroyed a building in Basra where paramilitary fighters were meeting and 200 were reported killed.
(AP, 3/29/03)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Mar 29, A low-flying Iraqi missile avoided the detection of US defense systems and landed just off the coast of Kuwait City, shattering windows at the seaside Souq Sharq shopping mall.
(AP, 3/29/03)(SFC, 3/29/03, p.W5)
2003 Mar 30, In the 12th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom an Iraqi general, captured by British forces in southern Iraq, was pressed to provide information. A British TV correspondent covering the war in Iraq died after apparently falling from a hotel roof.
(AP, 3/30/03)
2003 Mar 31, In the 13th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US-led troops fought pitched battles with Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard within 50 miles of the capital. B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers struck communication and command centers in Baghdad, and cruise missiles set Iraq's Information Ministry ablaze. Casualties from the war to date US total: 40 dead, 7 captured, 18 missing; British total: 25 dead. Of 8,000 precision bombs dropped since the war began, 3,000 fell in the last 3 days. Port operations at Umm Qasr looked to be delayed for weeks.
(AP, 3/31/03)(WSJ, 4/1/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 31, US troops between Karbala and Najaf shot and killed 10 Iraqi civilians including women and children, when the driver of a van failed to stop at a checkpoint. The Pentagon reported 7 killed.
(AP, 4/1/03)(SFC, 4/1/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 31, NBC said it severed its relations with reporter Peter Arnett after he told Iraqi television that the US war plan against Saddam Hussein had failed. Arnett was quickly hired by London’s Daily Mirror.
(AP, 3/31/03)(WSJ, 4/1/03, p.B1)
2003 Mar, In 2007 British media reported that Iran had offered to cut off aid and support for the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas, and promised full transparency on its nuclear program in a secret letter to the US soon after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Iran also offered to use its influence to support stabilization in Iraq, and in return asked for a halt in hostile American behaviour, an abolition of all sanctions, and the pursuit and repatriation of members of the Mujahedeen Khalq (People's Mujahedeen MKO). Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, said: “As soon as it got to the Vice-President's (Dick Cheney) office, the old mantra of 'we don't talk to evil' ... reasserted itself."
(AFP, 1/18/07)
2003 Mar-Apr, US warplanes dropped firebombs similar to napalm on Iraqi troops to clear the way for troops headed to Baghdad.
(SFC, 8/6/03, p.A3)
2003 Apr 1, In the 14th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom American soldiers on the road to Baghdad fought bloody street-to-street battles with militants loyal to Saddam Hussein. The US opened the assault on Karbala. US cluster bombs reportedly killed 11 civilians in Hilla.
(AP, 4/1/03)(WSJ, 4/2/03, p.A1)(SFC, 4/3/03, p.W1)
2003 Apr 1, Pfc. Jessica Lynch (19), part of the 507th Maintenance Company captured on Mar 23, was rescued in a U.S. commando raid on an Iraqi hospital in Nasiriyah. 11 bodies were also recovered and 8 were identified as US personnel. It was later reported that Iraqi troops had already left the hospital. Later in the year Rick Bragg authored "I Am A Soldier, Too," an account of the Lynch story. About the same time Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief and Jeff Coplon authored "Because Each Life Is Precious." Rehaief, a former Iraqi lawyer, disclosed Lynch's location to US forces and provided detailed information prior to her rescue.
(AP, 4/2/03)(SFC, 5/29/03, p.A3)(WSJ, 11/14/03, p.W8-9)
2003 Apr 2, In the 15th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom American forces crossed the Tigris River in the drive toward the Iraqi capital and destroyed the Baghdad Division of Iraq's Republican Guard. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, supported the war plan along with Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld against criticism. US Marines took Numaniya, a city of 80,000. American forces fought their way to within sight of the Baghdad skyline; Iraqi soldiers discarded their military uniforms by the roadside to hide their identity.
(SFC, 4/2/03, p.A1)(SFC, 4/4/03, p.W1)(AP, 4/2/08)
2003 Apr 2, Saddam Hussein declared that "victory is at hand," and issued a new statement urging Iraqis to fight on and defend their towns according to a broadcast on Iraqi satellite television.
(AP, 4/2/03)
2003 Apr 2, In Iraq a US B-52 bomber dropped 2 new CBU-105 bombs, made by Textron Defense Systems, on the first 30 vehicles of an Iraqi armored convoy approaching a small American reconnaissance unit. The bombs each released 10 submunitions, each of which ejected 4 disks that used infra-red scanners to locate the vehicles. Soldiers in the remaining 70 vehicles surrendered immediately.
(Econ, 1/30/10, p.88)
2003 Apr 2, A Navy F/A-18C Hornet after his fighter jet went down during a bombing run over Karbala. In 2004 it was reported that the jet was shot down by an Army Patriot missile. 7 US Army soldiers were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter was shot down.
(AP, 4/3/03)(SFC, 4/3/03, p.A1)(SFC, 12/11/04, p.A12)
2003 Apr 2, Polish troops fighting with the US-led coalition in Iraq reported encountering many Iraqi combatants in civilian clothes.
(AP, 4/2/03)
2003 Apr 3, In the 16th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US Marines and infantry moved with surprising speed toward Baghdad. Central Command said there was "increasing evidence" that Saddam Hussein's regime had lost control of its fighting forces. US troop casualty totaled: 51 dead, 16 missing and 7 captured. A power blackout in Baghdad coincided with heavy artillery fire. US forces attacked Saddam Int'l. Airport.
(AP, 4/3/03)(SFC, 4/4/03, p.W1)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Apr 3, A car exploded at a US checkpoint in western Iraq, killing 3 coalition soldiers, a pregnant woman and the car's driver. Banditry and plundering were reported across the countryside. Atlantic magazine editor Michael Kelly (46), became the first American journalist to be killed while covering the war when his Army Humvee came under fire and rolled into a canal.
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A1)(AP, 4/4/03)(AP, 4/3/08)
2003 Apr 4, On the 17th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom thousands of Iraqis fled Baghdad as US forces seized the international airport to the west and armored convoys pressed in from the south. Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith was killed in the battle. In 2005 Pres. Bush awarded him the 1st US Medal of Honor of the Iraq campaign. A Marine unit found concentrations of cyanide and mustard-gas agents in the Euphrates River near Nasiriyah.
(AP, 4/4/03)(SFC, 4/5/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 4/7/03, p.A7)
2003 Apr 4, Peter Arnett, fired by NBC earlier this week for giving an interview to state-run Iraqi television, began reporting for pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya. Atlantic Monthly journalist Michael Kelley was killed in a humvee accident near Baghdad.
(AP, 4/5/03)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Apr 5, In the 18th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US 3rd Infantry troops entered Baghdad for the first time. Coalition troops took several objectives surrounding the capital in the north and northwest. US warplanes hit Iraqi positions near the commercial center of Mosul. Up to 3,000 Iraqi fighters were killed as American armored vehicles moved into Baghdad.
(AP, 4/5/03)(AP, 4/6/03)(SSFC, 4/6/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 5, Ali Hassan al-Majid (king of spades), Saddam Hussein’s 1st cousin and dubbed "Chemical Ali" by opponents for ordering a 1988 poison gas attack that killed thousands of Kurds, was reported killed by an airstrike on his house in Basra. Majid was captured in August.
(AP, 4/7/03)(SFC, 4/26/03, A14)(AP, 8/21/03)
2003 Apr 6, In the 19th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom 18 Kurdish fighters were killed and 45 wounded in northern Iraq when a US warplane mistakenly bombed a convoy. The 1st US transport plane landed at Baghdad Airport. US forces near Baghdad reportedly found a weapons cache of around 20 medium-range Rockets, BM-21 missiles, equipped with sarin and mustard gas and "ready to fire." David Bloom (39), NBC correspondent, died of a pulmonary embolism south of Baghdad. Ahmed Chalabi, Iraqi exile leader, was airlifted by the US along with 700 "freedom fighters" to southern Iraq to join coalition troops and form the nucleus of a new national army.
(AP, 4/6/03)(SFC, 4/7/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/7/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/8/03, p.A10)(AP, 4/6/08)
2003 Apr 6, The Int'l Committee of the Red Cross said the number of casualties in Baghdad was so high that hospitals have stopped counting the number of people treated. A convoy of Russian diplomats, including the ambassador, came under fire as the group was evacuating Baghdad. British forces made their deepest push into Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.
(AP, 4/6/03)(AP, 4/6/08)
2003 Apr 7, In the 20th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US forces in tanks and armored vehicles stormed into the center of Baghdad, seizing Saddam Hussein's Sijood and Republican palaces. As many as 5 marines were killed. Many Iraqis died in constant suicidal attacks. It was later speculated that the US and the Baath regime arranged a secret deal (safqua) to hand over Baghdad.
(AP, 4/7/03)(SFC, 4/7/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/8/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/20/03, p.D3)
2003 Apr 7, A US warplane dropped 4 precision-guided 2,000-pound JDAMs and left a smoking crater 60 feet deep in the upscale al-Mansour section of western Baghdad, where Saddam Hussein was believed to have been in a meeting with top officials.
(AP, 4/8/03)(SFC, 4/8/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 7, Capt. Harry Alexander Hornbuckle on the road to Baghdad led 80 US soldiers against 300 Iraqi and Syrian fighters. 200 enemy were killed with no US casualties.
(WSJ, 11/11/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 7, Ahmad Chalabi, head of the exiled Iraqi National Congress, returned to Iraq.
(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Apr 8, In the 21st day of Operation Iraqi Freedom George W. Bush and Tony Blair met in Northern Ireland and endorsed a "vital role" for the United Nations when fighting ends in Iraq.
(AP, 4/8/03)
2003 Apr 8, In Iraq 2 cameramen and one other journalist were killed and at least 3 others wounded when an American tank hit the Hotel Palestine where they were staying. An Al-Jazeera journalist was killed by US fire. In 2005 a Spanish judge issued an arrest warrant for the 3-member US tank crew, for the death of Jose Couso, who worked for the Spanish television network Telecinco. Khalid Ibrahim Sa'id, Iraqi physicist, was killed in Baghdad by a US tank crew as he rode in a car to check on his home. British forces began establishing the first post-war administration, putting a local sheik into power in the southern city of Basra. Looting erupted shortly after their troops took control of the city. A US warplane was shot down near Baghdad. US forces seized Rasheed military airport.
(AP, 4/8/03)(AP, 4/9/03)(SFC, 4/9/03, p.A1)(AP, 10/19/05)(SSFC, 11/9/03, p.A14)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)(SSFC, 3/6/11, p.F6)
2003 Apr 8, A US errant rocket struck in Iran near the Iraqi border and killed a 13-year-old boy.
(SFC, 4/9/03, p.A21)
2003 Apr 9, In the 22nd day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US commanders declared Saddam Hussein's rule over Baghdad over and jubilant crowds swarmed into the streets here, dancing, looting, cheering and bringing down images of the Iraqi leader. No more than 150 Iraqis gathered in Farbus Square to watch American Marines, not Iraqis, pull down a statue of Hussein.
(AP, 4/9/03)(SFC, 4/10/03, p.A1)(AP, 4/16/03)
2003 Apr 10, In the 23rd day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US and Kurdish troops seized oil-rich Kirkuk without a fight and held a second city within their grasp as opposition forces crumbled in northern Iraq. Looting in Baghdad prompted orders for US Marines to crack down on thieves. Over 40 suicide vests were found in a Baghdad school. Looting in Kirkuk stripped the North Oil Co. facilities and pumping of 850,000 barrels a day ceased.
(AP, 4/10/03)(SFC, 4/11/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.W8)(SSFC, 4/20/03, p.A3)
2003 Apr 10, In Najaf clerics Haider al-Kadar, a widely hated loyalist of Saddam, and Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a high-ranking Shiite cleric and son of one of the religion's most prominent spiritual leaders, were hacked to death at the shrine of Imam Ali by a crowd during a meeting of reconciliation. Majid al-Khoei had been give as much as $13 million by the CIA to cultivate supporters.
(AP, 4/10/03)(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A14)
2003 Apr 11, In the 24th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom the northern city of Mosul fell into US and Kurdish hands after an entire corps of the Iraqi army surrendered. The Pentagon said no major military forces remain in the country. Defense Sec. Rumsfeld called Iraqi looting and chaos a natural "untidiness" that accompanies the transition from tyranny to freedom. The US military issued a most-wanted list in the form of a deck of 55 cards.
(AP, 4/11/03)(SFC, 4/12/03, p.A10)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Apr 12, In the 25th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US officials said 1,200 police and judicial officers will go to Iraq to help restore order. In western Iraq, US forces stopped a busload of men who had $630,000 in cash and a letter offering rewards for killing American soldiers. Baghdad Museum lost some 50,000 artifacts after 48 hours of looting. Unesco later reported 150,000 items lost with a combined value in the billions. It was later reported that losses were minimal and that curators had put away most valuables into vaults before the war began.
(AP, 4/12/03)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.W1)(WSJ, 4/16/03, p.B1)(WSJ, 6/12/03, p.D8)
2003 Apr 12, Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi (7 of diamonds), Saddam Hussein's science adviser, surrendered to US military authorities. He insisted Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and that the invasion was unjustified.
(AP, 4/12/03)
2003 Apr 13, In the 26th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US troops pushed into Tikrit. Army engineers worked to help restore electricity in Baghdad. US-led forces announced the capture of Watban Ibrahim Hasan, a half-brother of and adviser to Saddam Hussein. After three weeks of captivity, seven US POW's, including Army Specialist Shoshana Johnson, were released by Iraqi troops near Tikrit, Iraq.
(AP, 4/13/03)
2003 Apr 14, In the 27th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US troops poured into Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and fought pockets of hard-core defenders. Iraqis and US troops began jointly patrolling the streets of Baghdad to quell the lawlessness. US commandos in Baghdad captured Abul Abbas, the leader of the violent Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner Achille Lauro in 1985. Abbas died in 2004 while in US custody.
(AP, 4/14/03)(AP, 4/15/03)(AP, 4/14/04)
2003 Apr 15, US forces about this time cut off oil flow from Iraq to Syria. Oil flow had reached 130,000 barrels a day providing both countries over $10 million a month in profits.
(SFC, 4/11/03, p.A18)
2003 Apr 15, In the 28th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom selected Iraqi leaders met with retired US Lt. Gen. Jay Garner to shape a new government with 13 goals, the 1st being "Iraq must be democratic." Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States has no plans to go to war with Syria. Looters and arsonists ransacked and gutted Iraq's National Library and the principal Islamic library. Marines came under fire while seizing an airstrip on the outskirts of Tikrit. 7 Iraqis died when American troops opened fire to keep an angry crowd from storming a government complex in Mosul. US troops in Baghdad arrested Abul Abbas, head of the Palestinian terrorist group that attacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985.
(AP, 4/15/03)(SFC, 4/16/03, p.A1, A16)(AP, 4/15/04)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Apr 15, US forces signed a cease-fire agreement with the People's Mujahedeen (Mujahedeen Khalq), a designated terrorist organization. The Iranian group had an estimated 10,000 members and was led by a woman.
(SFC, 4/29/03, A10)
2003 Apr 16, In the 29th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom shooting in Mosul killed three people and wounded at least 11 and some Iraqis blamed US troops. War casualties totaled 121 US soldiers with 16 from friendly fire; 31 British troops with at least 4 from friendly fire; at least 3,160 Iraqi soldiers dead along with over 1,250 Iraqi civilians.
(AP, 4/16/03)(WSJ, 4/16/03, p.A8)
2003 Apr 17, In the 30th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom American forces released more than 900 Iraqi prisoners, beginning the process of sorting through the thousands detained in the war. Coalition forces still held 6,850 prisoners. The Bush administration planned to send in a 1,000-man team to search for weapons of mass destruction. US Special Forces captured Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti (5 of clubs), a half brother of Saddam Hussein. He was 3rd the list of 55 former Iraqi officials wanted by the US. The US Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha (MET Alpha) found an Iraqi scientist who led them to sites that contained precursors for a banned toxic agent. A riot broke out at a Baghdad bank after thieves blew a hole in the vault and dropped children in to bring out fistfuls of cash. US troops calmed the situation by arresting the thieves and removed $4 million in US dollars for safekeeping.
(AP, 4/17/03)(AP, 4/18/03)(WSJ, 4/17/03, p.A3)(SFC, 4/18/03, p.A12)(SFC, 4/21/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 17, Bechtel was awarded a contract for up to $680 million to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure.
(SFC, 4/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 18, Iraqi opposition leader Ahmad Chalabi said he expects an Iraqi interim authority to take over most government functions from the US military in "a matter of weeks rather than months." Protesters marched in Baghdad denouncing US presence. Kurds were reported expelling Arab families from towns and villages where they had lived decades ago. Samir Abd al-Aziz al-Najim (4 of clubs), a senior leader of the shattered Baath party, was handed over to US forces overnight by Iraqi Kurds near the northern city of Mosul. Iraqi police captured Hikmat Ibrahim al-Azzawi (8 of diamonds), a deputy prime minister and number 45 on an American list of the 55 most wanted Iraqis. US troops in Baghdad uncovered numerous boxes of UC currency estimated at $650 million. Videotape was shot by a Minnesota television crew traveling with US troops in Iraq when they first opened the bunkers at the Al-Qaqaa munitions base nine days after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The tape shows what appears to be high explosives still in barrels and bearing the markings of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
(AP, 4/18/03)(SFC, 4/19/03, p.A1,A10)(AP, 10/29/04)
2003 Apr 19, US forces captured Abd al-Khaliq Abd al-Ghafar (4 of hearts), Saddam's scientific research minister.
(AP, 4/21/03)
2003 Apr 20, It was reported that the US planned a long-term military relationship with the emerging government in Iraq to include access to military bases in the region. US Army forces took control of Baghdad from the Marines in a changing of the guard that thinned the military presence in the capital. Celebrating Easter, the Reverend Emmanuel Delly, a longtime Iraqi bishop, pleaded for safeguards against the persecution of Christians in the new Iraq.
(SSFC, 4/20/03, p.A3)(AP, 4/20/04)
2003 Apr 21, The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was established as the temporary governing body of Iraq. Retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, Pres. Bush’s appointed post-war administrator, arrived in Baghdad. His priority was to restore basic services such as water and electricity.
(AP, 4/21/03)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2003 Apr 21, Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaydi (queen of spades), was captured by the Iraqi opposition. He was known as Saddam's "Shiite Thug" for his role in Iraq's bloody suppression of the Shiite Muslim uprising of 1991.
(AP, 4/22/03)(SFC, 4/26/03, A14)
2003 Apr 22 American soldiers in Baghdad found $112 million sealed inside 7 animal kennels.
(SFC, 4/23/03, A12)
2003 Apr 22, Hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims marched to the holy shrine in Karbala, where Hussein, the grandson of Muhammad, was killed in the 7th century Battle of Karbala between a small group of his followers and the Umayyad Army.
(AP, 4/22/03)
2003 Apr 22, France proposed that the UN suspend economic sanctions against Iraq, but continue to operate the oil-for-food program.
(SFC, 4/23/03, A8)
2003 Apr 23, US forces captured 4 more former Iraqi government officials, including 3 on the top wanted list: Muzahim Sa'b Hassan al-Tikriti (queen of diamonds), Gen. Zuhayr Talib Abd al-Sattar al-Naqib (7 of hearts), and Muhammad Mahdi al-Salih (6 of hearts).
(SFC, 4/24/03, A14)(SFC, 4/26/03, A14)
2003 Apr 24, Tariq Aziz (8 of spades), Iraqi deputy prime minister, surrendered to US forces.
(AP, 4/25/03)(SFC, 4/25/03, A1)
2003 Apr 25, Farouk Hijazi, who once helped run Saddam Hussein's intelligence service and was linked to al-Qaida, was delivered by Syria to US forces.
(AP, 4/25/03)(SFC, 4/26/03, A1)
2003 Apr 26, In Iraq attackers fired into an ammunition dump guarded by Americans on Baghdad's southeastern outskirts, setting off thunderous explosions that killed at least six Iraqis and wounded four. As many as 40 were thought killed.
(AP, 4/26/03)(SSFC, 4/27/03, A18)
2003 Apr 27, In Iraq Lt. Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin al-Yasin (6 of clubs), chief Iraqi liaison with UN weapons inspectors, surrendered to US forces. The US military arrested the self-anointed mayor of Baghdad, Mohammed Mohsen al-Zubaidi, reflecting US determination to brook no interlopers in its effort to build a consensus for administering Iraq.
(AP, 4/28/03)(AP, 4/27/04)
2003 Apr 28, On Saddam Hussein's 66th birthday, some 300 prominent Iraqis met in Baghdad under US direction to convene a national conference to create an interim government.
(SFC, 4/29/03, A1)(AP, 4/28/04)
2003 Apr 28, US soldiers opened fire on Iraqis at a nighttime demonstration against the American presence here after people shot at them with automatic rifles. The director of the local hospital said 13 people were killed and 75 injured. Amer Mohammed Rashid (6 of spades), known to UN weapons inspectors as the "Missile Man" and ranked 47th on the US most-wanted list of 55 members of Saddam's inner circle, surrendered.
(AP, 4/29/03)
2003 Apr 30, Donald Rumsfeld visited Iraq and hailed its liberation. US soldiers fired on anti-American protesters in the city of Fallujah; the mayor said two people were killed and 14 wounded.
(AP, 4/30/03)(SFC, 5/1/03, A1)
2003 Apr, Ali Shahin Brisam, general director of irrigation for Nasiriya, ordered the demolition of one dam and opened regulators in others to return water to the dried marshlands of southern Iraq. After 8 months marsh recovery jumped from about 7% of their original size to about 16%.
(SSFC, 12/28/03, p.A6)
2003 Apr, Officials at the Iraqi Embassy in Prague handed over weapons to Czech authorities. Iraqi spies had used a diplomatic vehicle to smuggle in the weapons for an attack on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The weapons included an RPG-7 anti-tank missile, six machine guns and ammunition.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2003 May 1, Pres. Bush, standing on a Navy aircraft carrier in San Diego, announced that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.A22)
2003 May 1, Three top members of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime: Mizban Khadr Hadi (military commander), Abdel Tawab Mullah Huweish (director of the Office of Military Industrialization and a deputy prime minister in charge of arms procurement), and Taha Muhie-eldin Marouf (a Kurd who served as one of two ceremonial vice presidents), were captured.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 3, The US picked a new head of Iraq's Health Ministry on Saturday, a Baath Party member, whose appointment was so critical that US officials designated the announcement "Public Notice No. 1."
(AP, 5/4/03)
2003 May 3, In Baghdad, Iraq, schools re-opened for the 1st time since the start of war.
(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.A11)
2003 May 4, Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash (49), a top biological weapons scientist and among the top 55 most wanted members of Saddam Hussein's fallen regime, was taken into custody.
(AP, 5/5/03)
2003 May 6, Ghazi Hammud, Baath regional chairman in the Kut district, was put in custody. He is No. 32 on Central Command's list of the 55 most-wanted members of Saddam's regime.
(AP, 5/7/03)
2003 May 9, The US and its allies asked the UN Security Council to legitimize their occupation of Iraq and sought permission to use revenue from the world's second-largest oil reserves to rebuild the war-battered country.
(AP, 5/9/03)
2003 May 9, In northern Iraq 3 U.S. soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed into the Tigris River.
(AP, 5/9/03)
2003 May 10, The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite Muslim group, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, returned triumphantly to his U.S.-occupied homeland after two decades in Iranian exile.
(AP, 5/10/04)
2003 May 12, L. Paul Bremer, the new American civilian administrator, took over the task of piecing Iraq together. He replaced retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner. In 2006 Bremmer with Malcolm McConnell authored “My Year in Iraq."
(AP, 5/12/03)(WSJ, 1/13/06, p.P10)
2003 May 12, US officials said Rihab Rashid Taha, called "Dr. Germ" for her work with germ warfare agents, was reported to be in coalition custody. Ibrahim Ahmad Abd al Sattar Muhammad, No. 11 on the most-wanted list, was also reported in custody.
(USAT, 5/13/03, p.11A)
2003 May 13, L. Paul Bremer, the new US administrator in Iraq, reportedly authorized troops to shoot looters on sight. Rumsfeld said muscle would be used to stop looting.
(SFC, 5/14/03, p.A3)(WSJ, 5/15/03, p.A1)
2003 May 14, In Iraq villagers pulled body after body from a mass grave in Mahaweel, exhuming the remains of up to 3,000 people they suspect were killed during the 1991 Shiite revolt against Saddam Hussein's regime.
(AP, 5/14/03)
2003 May 14, A Belgian attorney filed suit against US Gen. Tommy Franks and Col. Brian P. McCoy for war crimes in the war in Iraq. The use of some 1,500 cluster bombs in Iraq was part of the suit.
(SFC, 5/15/03, p.A6)
2003 May 15, The Development Fund for Iraq was established to fund reconstruction projects with Iraqi oil revenue.
(WSJ, 10/28/03, p.A4)
2003 May 15, US Army forces stormed into a village near the northern city of Tikrit before dawn, seizing more than 260 prisoners, including one man on the most-wanted list of former Iraqi officials.
(AP, 5/15/03)
2003 May 17, In Iraq US forces arrested Kamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti, former secretary of the Republican Guard (listed as No. 10 and the queen of clubs). Univ. students and teachers returned to their campuses.
(SSFC, 5/18/03, p.A12)
2003 May 18, In Kirkuk, Iraq, a weekend of Arab-Kurdish violence left at least 11 people dead and a U.S. soldier wounded.
(AP, 5/20/03)
2003 May 19, In central Iraq 4 US Marines on a resupply mission were killed when their Ch-46 Sea-Knight helicopter crashed into a canal and a fifth drowned trying to save them.
(AP, 5/20/03)
2003 May 21, In Iraq US forces captured Aziz Saleh Numan, former Baath regional command chairman for west Baghdad. He was No. 8 on the most wanted list.
(SFC, 5/23/03, p.A20)
2003 May 21, NATO's 19 nations agreed unanimously to start planning to help Poland lead a multinational peacekeeping force in Iraq.
(AP, 5/21/03)
2003 May 22, The UN Security Council overwhelmingly approved an end to 13-year-old sanctions against Iraq and gave the United States and Britain extraordinary powers to run the country and its lucrative oil industry. Security Council Resolution 1483 identified the US and Britain as “occupying powers" in Iraq.
(AP, 5/22/03)(Econ, 4/19/08, p.102)
2003 May 23, US defense officials reported that American troops had confiscated gold bars valued at $34 million from a truck in northern Iraq.
(AP, 5/23/03)
2003 May 24, Coalition forces captured two more wanted Iraqis: Sayf al-Din al-Mashadani, No. 46 on the list and Sad Abd al-Majid al-Faysal, No. 55. The US-led coalition ordered Iraqis to give up their weapons by mid-June.
(AP, 5/27/03)(AP, 5/24/04)
2003 May 27, In Iraq a US weapons-inspection team arrived at Al Qaqaa weapons site and found that the IAEA seals were broken and the high explosives missing. Two Iraqis shot and killed two American soldiers in Fallujah, a hotbed of support for Saddam Hussein.
(WSJ, 10/27/04, p.A3)(AP, 5/27/08)
2003 May 29, US forces in Iraq numbered some 200,000. An extended stay was expected.
(SFC, 5/29/03, p.A12)
2003 May 31, American forces arrested 15 members of Saddam Hussein's banned Baath Party as they met at a police college in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/31/03)
2003 May, Alleged British mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners took place at an aid camp near Basra, Iraq. Photographs of prisoner abuse were made public in 2004. In 2005 court martial proceedings began. In 2006 3 British soldiers were cleared of manslaughter charges in the death of Ahmad Jabbar Kareem (15), who drowned in the Shatt al-Basra canal in Basra.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.51)(AP, 6/6/06)
2003 May, In Iraq a Jewish archive was found when US troops looking for weapons of mass destruction got a tip to check out the basement of a building of the Mukhabarat, Saddam's secret police. In a flooded basement they found books, photos and papers floated in the murky water. Accumulated over the years were photos, parchments and cases to hold Torah scrolls; a Jewish religious book published in 1568; 50 copies of a children's primer in Hebrew and Arabic; books in Arabic and English, books printed in Baghdad, Warsaw and Venice, the lost heritage of what was once one of the largest Jewish communities in the Middle East, dating to the 6th century B.C. The collection was saved and soon taken to the US for preservation.
(AP, 1/17/10)
2003 Jun 2, Thousands of sacked Iraqi soldiers marched on the U.S.-led administration and threatened to launch suicide attacks on American troops in Baghdad unless they were paid wages and compensation.
(AP, 6/2/03)
2003 Jun 6, An Iraqi prisoner (52) of war was found dead at a camp run by the 1st Marine Division near Nasiriyah. On Oct 8 Marine reservists stationed at Camp Pendleton were charged in connection with his death.
(AP, 10/18/03)
2003 Jun 10, An AP tally of civilian deaths in Iraq totaled at least 3,240, with 1,896 dead in Baghdad. Allied deaths were 205 from Mar 20-Apr 20.
(WSJ, 6/11/03, p.A1)(SFC, 6/11/03, p.A3)
2003 Jun 10, In Iraq US forces launched Operation Peninsula Strike aimed at rounding up Hussein loyalists around Thuluya, 45 miles north of Baghdad.
(SFC, 6/12/03, p.A7)
2003 Jun 11, The US military launched a massive operation to crush opposition north of Baghdad and captured nearly 400 suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists in a bid to end daily attacks against American soldiers.
(AP, 6/11/03)
2003 Jun 12, A US helicopter gunship was shot down in western Iraq, just hours after US fighter jets bombed "a terrorist training camp" in central Iraq. US troops stormed through Sunni Muslim towns, seeking Saddam Hussein loyalists in one of the biggest American military assaults since the war began.
(AP, 6/12/03)(AP, 6/12/08)
2003 Jun 13, US forces killed 27 Iraqi fighters in a ground and air pursuit after the Iraqis attacked an American tank patrol north of Baghdad, bringing the opposition death toll in four days of skirmishes to about 100.
(AP, 6/13/03)
2003 Jun 13, Five Iraqi civilians were shot by American troops who apparently mistook them for militants fleeing after attacking a U.S. tank patrol.
(AP, 6/14/03)
2003 Jun 15, With a deadline passed for Iraqis to hand in heavy weapons, U.S. forces fanned out across Iraq to seize arms and put down potential foes.
(AP, 6/15/04)
2003 Jun 16, Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, No. 4 on the wanted list, surrendered at a private home in Tikrit following informants' tips. Nearby US soldiers found two boxes, each counting $4 million in bundled hundred-dollar bills, along with hundreds of pieces of jewelry, a sniper rifle and two pounds of plastic explosive.
(AP, 6/19/03)(SFC, 6/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 18, A demonstration by former Iraqi army officers demanding back pay turned violent after an American soldier fired into the crowd. 2 Iraqis were killed. One American was killed in a drive-by shooting in south Baghdad.
(SFC, 6/19/03, p.A16)
2003 Jun 19, In Iraq The special "Task Force 20" commando team was joined in the convoy operation by an AC-130 gunship and other air support, attacking by ground and air along a known escape and smuggling route near the western city of Qaim.
(AP, 6/24/03)(SFC, 6/25/03, p.A18)
2003 Jun 22, Iraq returned to world oil markets with its first crude oil exports since the U.S.-led invasion. A fuel pipeline exploded and caught fire west of Baghdad, a possible act of sabotage that sent flames high into the sky.
(AP, 6/22/03)
2003 Jun 23, The US-led civil administrators announced the creation of a new Iraqi army.
(AP, 6/23/03)
2003 Jun 24, In Majar al-Kabir, Iraq, British troops in the Shiite south killed 4 Iraqis in a gunbattle. In response a 400-strong Iraqi mob descended on the police station and murdered 6 British troops. 8 suspects were later detained. One was released in 2009 and cases against 5 were dropped in 2010. Two suspects were held for trial. On Oct 10, 2010, a Baghdad court cleared two Iraqi men accused of taking part in the mob slaying.
(WSJ, 6/25/03, p.A1)(BS, 6/26/03, 12A)(AP, 8/15/10)(AP, 10/10/10)
2003 Jun 29, In Iraq US forces launched a massive operation to crush insurgents and capture senior figures from the ousted regime.
(AP, 6/29/03)
2003 Jun 30, American troops detained the U.S.-appointed mayor of Najaf, Iraq, accusing him of kidnapping and corruption.
(AP, 6/30/04)
2003 Jun 30, In Iraq 10 people died in a masque blast in Fallujah. US military later said the blast was due to an accident during a "bomb manufacturing class." US ground commanders said there was no evidence of a bomb factory and residents blamed a US war plane.
(WSJ, 7/2/03, p.A1)(SFC, 7/2/03, p.A14)(SFC, 7/3/03, p.A10)(SFC, 7/4/03, p.A17)
2003 Jun, Libya announced it was breaking off diplomatic ties with Iraq and closing its embassy shortly after the US-led invasion of the country earlier this year.
(AFP, 3/23/12)
2003 Jul 1, In Iraq US troops killed 4 people who failed to stop at checkpoints.
(WSJ, 7/2/03, p.A1)(SFC, 7/2/03, p.A14)
2003 Jul 3, The US government put a $25 million bounty on Saddam Hussein and $15 million on his sons. US troops killed 11 Iraqis who ambushed a convoy outside Baghdad.
(AP, 7/3/03)(AP, 7/4/03)
2003 Jul 4, US forces raided a Turkish special forces office in northern Iraq and detained 11 soldiers on reports that Turks were plotting to kill the governor of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
(AP, 7/5/03)
2003 Jul 4, A voice purported to be Saddam Hussein's, aired on the Arab television station Al-Jazeera, said he is in Iraq directing attacks on American forces and called on Iraqis to help the resistance against the US-led occupation.
(AP, 7/4/03)(SFC, 7/5/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 5, In Ramadi, Iraq, an explosion struck a ceremony for Iraqi policemen graduating from US training, killing at least seven recruits and wounding dozens. In Baghdad a British TV journalist was shot dead near the national museum.
(AP, 7/5/03)(WSJ, 7/7/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 8, In Iraq Mizban Khadr Hadi (No. 23), a high-ranking member of the Baath Party regional command and Mahmud Diab al-Ahmed (No. 29), the former interior minister, were taken into custody. The capture of Al-Ahmed was reported in error. He surrendered Aug 8.
(AP, 7/9/03)(AP, 8/10/03)
2003 Jul 9, It was reported that occupation authorities had eliminated all import taxes in Iraq and accelerated the closure of hundreds of local factories unable to compete with foreign goods. At the same time hundreds of millions of dollars was pumped in as cash payments to government workers. 2 U.S. soldiers were killed and a third wounded in separate attacks on their convoys near Mahmudiyah and Tikrit.
(SFC, 7/9/03, p.A1)(AP, 7/10/03)
2003 Jul 9, Pres. Bush met with South African President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria for discussions on AIDS, the war on terror, trade issues and to seek common ground in their attempts to deal with the political and economic crisis in neighboring Zimbabwe. Pleading for patience, President Bush, continuing his Africa tour, said the United States would "have to remain tough" in Iraq despite attacks on U.S. soldiers. Bush said he was "absolutely confident" in his actions despite the discovery that one claim he'd made about Saddam Hussein's weapons pursuits was based on false information.
(AP, 7/9/03)(SFC, 7/10/03, p.A3)(AP, 7/9/04)(AP, 7/9/08)
2003 Jul 9, US Defense Sec. Rumsfeld increased the estimate of military costs in Iraq to $3.9 billion a month.
(SFC, 7/9/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 11, Spain, a leading U.S. ally during the war to oust Saddam Hussein, agreed to send 1,300 soldiers to Iraq.
(AP, 7/12/03)
2003 Jul 13, In Iraq a 25-member interim Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) of prominent Iraqis from diverse political and religious backgrounds was named at an inaugural meeting, the first national body since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The council abolished a number of old holidays and established April 9, the fall of Baghdad and Saddam's regime, as a new national holiday.
(AP, 7/13/03)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2003 Jul 14, Iraq's new governing council, in its first full day on the job, voted to send a delegation to the U.N. Security Council and assert its right to represent Baghdad on the world stage.
(AP, 7/14/04)
2003 Jul 17, A new Iraq Trade Bank was established to provide letters of credit for big shipments to Iraq.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Bank_of_Iraq)(WSJ, 10/28/03, p.A4)
2003 Jul 17, The US combat death toll in Iraq hit a milestone as the Pentagon acknowledged its casualties from hostile fire reached 147, the same number of troops who died at enemy hands in the first Gulf War. Gen. John Abizaid, head of central command, said loyalists are fighting an increasingly organized "guerrilla-type campaign."
(AP, 7/17/03)
2003 Jul 20, American generals said a new Iraqi civil defense force would be created over the next 45 days with some 7,000 militia members.
(SFC, 7/21/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 20, Two soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were killed and another wounded when their convoy came under rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire in northern Iraq.
(AP, 7/20/03)
2003 Jul 22, Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai were killed in a fiery battle at a Mosul mansion. Sheik Nawaf al-Zaydan Muhhamad informed US troops of their presence in his home and became $30 million richer.
(AP, 7/23/03)(AP, 7/24/03)
2003 Jul 23, A new audiotape, purported to be of toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and dated to Jul 20, was broadcast by an Arab satellite station. It called on former soldiers to rise up against the American occupation.
(AP, 7/23/03)
2003 Jul 24, In northern Iraq 3 US soldiers died in the 2nd fatal attack on troops from the 101st Airborne Division since they tracked down and killed Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusai.
(Reuters, 7/24/03)
2003 Jul 26, In Iraq a grenade attack killed 3 US soldiers and wounded four while they guarded a children's hospital in Baqouba.
(AP, 7/26/03)
2003 Jul 29, American soldiers in Tikrit overpowered and arrested a bodyguard who rarely left Saddam Hussein's side.
(AP, 7/29/03)
2003 Jul 30, Iraq's U.S.-picked interim government named its first president: Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite Muslim from the Daawa party banned by Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 7/30/04)(WSJ, 4/28/05, p.A1)
2003 Jul, Joseph Wilson, former American ambassador, alleged that Pres. Bush had falsely accused Iraq of trying to buy uranium from Niger. Two White House officials soon called at least 6 Washington journalists and told them that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was a undercover CIA agent who had worked in Niger.
(Econ, 8/21/04, p.28)
2003 Aug 3, As of this day 249 U.S. soldiers have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2003 Aug 7, In Iraq a car bomb shattered a street outside the walled Jordanian Embassy, killed 19 people — including two children.
(SFC, 8/9/03, p.A1)(AP, 8/7/08)
2003 Aug 8, Mahmud Dhiyab Al-Ahmad, Saddam Hussein's former interior minister, (No. 29 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis) surrendered to coalition forces.
(AP, 8/10/03)
2003 Aug 11, British troops restored badly needed electricity to parts of Basra and supervised distribution of gasoline after two days of protests over fuel and power shortages.
(AP, 8/11/03)
2003 Aug 13, Iraq began pumping crude oil from its northern oil fields for the first time since the start of the war.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2003 Aug 13, In Iraq British Private Jason Smith (32) died of heat stroke as the local temperature passed the limits of available thermometers. An inquest in 2007 ruled that troops were not adequately advised on how to cope with high temperatures. In 2009 the British Ministry of Defense upheld an earlier judgment that the military had breached Smith’s right to life.
(Econ, 5/23/09, p.58)(www.operations.mod.uk/telic/smith.htm)
2003 Aug 14, The UN Security Council approved a resolution welcoming the Iraqi Governing Council and created a mission to oversee UN efforts to help rebuild the country and establish a democratic government.
(AP, 8/14/03)
2003 Aug 15, Saboteurs blew up a major pipeline and stopped all oil flow from Iraq to Turkey, just three days after the pipeline between the two countries was reopened. A following fire raged into the next day. The 600-mile pipeline runs from the northern city of Kirkuk to the Turkish city of Ceyhan.
(AP, 8/16/03)
2003 Aug 17, Saboteurs blew a hole in a giant Baghdad water main, forcing engineers to cut off water to the capital. Two ferocious blazes raged out of control along the pipeline that exports Iraq's oil to the north.
(AP, 8/17/03)
2003 Aug 17, Mazen Dana (43), a Palestinian cameraman for Reuters, was shot dead by US troops in Iraq while he filmed outside Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad. Soldiers mistook his camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The official judgment of the US Military, given five weeks later, was that The Rules of Engagement required no warning and the tank crew were justified in shooting Mazen Dana, seeing his TV camera as a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, or RPG. No disciplinary action was taken against any US serviceman. Mazen was the 18th foreign journalist to be killed in Iraq since the occupation by the U.S. Military on March 20, 2003 and the second Reuters cameraman to be killed.
(Reuters, 8/18/03)(www.truthout.org/docs_2005/030605A.shtml)(http://tinyurl.com/lxu5b)
2003 Aug 19, In Baghdad a car bomb exploded in front of the hotel housing the UN headquarters, collapsing the front of the building. UN Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello (55) of Brazil and 22 other people were killed. UNICEF said that its program co-coordinator for Iraq, Canadian Christopher Klein-Beekman, was among the dead. In 2008 Samantha Power authored “Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World." In 2010 a court sentenced two Iraqis to life in jail for taking part in the bombing and the kidnap of two French journalists a year later.
(SFC, 8/20/03, p.A12)(AP, 8/21/03)(SSFC, 2/10/08, p.M1)(AFP, 9/22/10)
2003 Aug 19, Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former Iraqi vice president known as "Saddam's knuckles" for his ruthlessness and No. 20 on the US list of most-wanted Iraqis, was turned over to US forces in Mosul.
(AP, 8/19/03)(SFC, 8/20/03, p.A13)
2003 Aug 21, The US military reported that Ali Hassan al-Majid, No. 5 on the list of most-wanted Iraqis, had been captured. [see Apr 5]
(AP, 8/21/03)
2003 Aug 23, In Iraq a guerrilla attack killed 3 British soldiers and seriously wounded one in the southern port city of Basra.
(AP, 8/23/03)(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.A6)
2003 Aug 26, In northern Iraq the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Iraqi Turkmen Front signed an agreement in Kirkuk aimed at preventing ethnic violence after clashes left 11 people dead last week.
(AP, 8/28/03)
2003 Aug 26, The toll of U.S. troops killed in postwar Iraq surpassed the number killed in major combat, reaching 139.
(AP, 8/26/03)
2003 Aug 27, In Iraq 2 more US soldiers were killed in combat, and the international relief agency Oxfam said it pulled its foreign staff out of Iraq because of the increasing danger.
(AP, 8/27/03)
2003 Aug 29, In Najaf, Iraq, a massive car bomb exploded at the Imam Ali mosque during prayers, killing Mohammed Bakir al-Hakim, one of Iraq's most important Shiite clerics, and at least 85 other people. Two Iraqis and two Saudis were caught soon after. Attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at two U.S. convoys in separate ambushes, killing one American soldier and wounding six.
(SFC, 9/1/03, p.A1)(AP, 8/29/08)
2003 Sep 1, The U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council named a new Cabinet.
(AP, 9/1/04)
2003 Sep 1, Arab TV broadcast an audiotape purportedly from Saddam Hussein denying any involvement in a bombing in Najaf, Iraq, that killed a beloved Shiite cleric.
(AP, 9/1/04)
2003 Sep 10, In Irbil, Iraq, a suicide car bomber struck the US intelligence headquarters, killing three Iraqis, including a 12-year-old boy.
(AP, 9/10/03)(WSJ, 9/11/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 12, US soldiers mistakenly opened fire on uniformed Iraqi policemen chasing highway bandits at night, killing eight officers and a Jordanian security guard in Fallujah.
(AP, 9/12/04)
2003 Sep 13, Angry mourners swarmed Fallujah, Iraq, a day after eight Iraqi police were killed in a friendly fire incident involving U.S. troops; the U.S. military apologized for the deaths.
(AP, 9/13/04)
2003 Sep 14, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the US military commander in Iraq, authorized the use of loud rock music, "to create fear, disorient ... and prolong capture shock." The tactic became common in the US war on terror, with forces systematically using loud music on hundreds of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
(AP, 12/10/08)
2003 Sep 14, In Iraq a roadside bomb attack on a convoy in the troubled city of Fallujah killed one US soldier and injured three others.
(AP, 9/14/03)
2003 Sep 15, In Iraq guerrillas killed a US soldier in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in central Baghdad.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 16, Baha Mousa (26), an Iraqi hotel receptionist, died after being beaten at a British military camp in Basra. An autopsy said he died of asphyxia, caused by a stress position that soldiers forced him to maintain. He was arrested, along with nine other Iraqis, at the Haitham Hotel in Basra 2 days earlier by members of the 1st Battalion The Queen's Lancashire Regiment (QLR). In 2006 Corp. Donald Payne pleaded guilty to a charge of inhumane treatment of Iraqi civilians, but denied manslaughter. Payne, who became Britain's first convicted war criminal, was dismissed by the army and jailed for a year over the killing. In 2008 the British Ministry of Defense agreed to pay just under $6 million to the family of Mousa and 9 others who suffered injuries while in the custody of British forces. In 2009 Britain opened a public inquiry into the case and Britain's military apologized for its treatment of Mousa. On Sep 8, 2011, an inquiry concluded that British soldiers beat Mousa to death in an act of unjustified violence that left a "very great stain" on Britain's armed forces.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8143982.stm)(Econ, 9/23/06, p.66)(AP, 7/10/08)(AP, 7/13/09)(AP, 9/21/09)(Reuters, 9/8/11)
2003 Sep 18, Iraqi guerrillas ambushed an American patrol in Al Auja, Saddam Hussein's native village, killing 3 US soldiers. The number of US killed since the start of war in March reached 297.
(SFC, 9/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 19, Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former Iraqi vice president known as "Saddam's knuckles" for his ruthlessness and No. 20 on the US list of most-wanted Iraqis, was turned over to US forces in Mosul. Ramadan was tried and convicted in November 2006 of murder, forced deportation and torture, and sentenced to life in prison. The court agreed to turn it to a death sentence in March 2007. Ramadan was hanged before dawn on Tuesday, March 20, 2007, for his role in the killing of 148 Shia Iraqis in Dujail.
(AP, 8/19/03)(SFC, 8/20/03, p.A13)(www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/15720)
2003 Sep 20, In central Iraq 3 American soldiers were killed and 13 injured in a mortar attack and a bombing.
(AP, 9/21/03)
2003 Sep 20, In Iraq gunmen attacked and wounded Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women on Iraq's Governing Council and a leading candidate to become the country's representative at the United Nations.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2003 Sep 21, In Iraq corporate and personal income taxes were capped at 15%. All foreign government entities and their employees were declared exempt.
(WSJ, 10/28/03, p.A4)
2003 Sep 22, A suicide bomber, his body wrapped in explosives and his car filled with 50 pounds of TNT, struck a police checkpoint outside UN headquarters in Baghdad, killing an Iraqi policeman who stopped him and wounding 19 people.
(AP, 9/22/03)
2003 Sep 23, US forces in Iraq killed 3 civilians in an aerial attack on a farming village.
(SFC, 9/24/03, p.A3)
2003 Sep 25, A mortar blast tore through a market in Baqouba, Iraq, killing nine civilians and injuring more than a dozen others. Townspeople suspected American soldiers stationed nearby may have been the target. Aquila al-Hashimi (50), the first member of Iraq's American-picked Governing Council to be targeted for assassination, died, five days after she was shot in an ambush.
(AP, 9/26/03)(AP, 9/25/03)(WSJ, 9/26/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 26, US troops fired on two cars at a checkpoint in Fallujah, killing four Iraqis and injuring five others. Over 4 days Sheikh Mishkhen al Jumaili lost 9 relatives including his son.
(AP, 9/27/03)(SFC, 10/6/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep, Sadr City chose an alternative assembly to the US-approved group.
(WSJ, 10/20/03, p.A9)
2003 Sep-2004 Apr, In 2005 it was reported that members of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division beat and abused prisoners at Camp Mercury, an operating base near Fallujah. “We kept it to broken arms and legs."
(SFC, 9/24/05, p.A3)
2003 Oct 3, In Iraq US Army Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits began photographing Iraqi prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. He was under instruction from MP Cpl. Charles A. Graner to not say anything. In 2007 Lt. Col. Steven Lee Jordan (50), who ran the interrogation center at Abu Ghraib, was court-martialed on 8 charges including cruelty and maltreatment of prisoners. In 2008 Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris authored “Standard Operating Procedure" and produced a documentary film covering the Abu Ghraib abuses. [See Jan 13, 2004]
(SFC, 5/14/04, p.A12)(SFC, 1/27/07, p.A9)(Econ, 5/17/08, p.102)
2003 Oct 6, Roadside bombings in central Iraq killed three U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter and wounded six other service members.
(AP, 10/7/03)
2003 Oct 9, A suicide car bomber crashed a white Oldsmobile into a police station in Sadr City, Iraq's largest Shiite Muslim enclave, killing himself, 8 others and wounding as many as 45. Kirk von Ackerman (37), US army contractor, disappeared between Tikrit and Kirkuk. It was later reported that Von Ackerman was about to report on kickbacks to a US Army officer in Iraq. On Dec 14 Ackerman’s associate Ryan Manelick was shot to death near Camp Anaconda. Jose Antonio Bernal Gomez, Spanish military attache, was shot to death in Baghdad.
(AP, 10/9/03)(SFC, 10/10/03, p.A1)(AP, 10/9/04)(AP, 10/9/08)(SFC, 11/11/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 2/13/05, p.A14)
2003 Oct 10, In Sadr City, Iraq, 2 Americans and 2 Iraqis were killed in a gunfight.
(SFC, 10/11/03, p.A12)
2003 Oct 12, In Baghdad a suicide attacker, stopped from reaching a hotel full of Americans, detonated his car bomb on a commercial avenue, killing six bystanders and wounding dozens.
(AP, 10/12/03)
2003 Oct 14, In Baghdad a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives near the Turkish Embassy, killing the driver and wounding more than a dozen others.
(AP, 10/14/03)
2003 Oct 15, In Iraq the new dinar was launched graced with the likeness of an ancient ruler and a 10th century mathematician. The Iraqi central bank had no tools to regulate currency value. Exchange of the old currency was set to end Jan 15.
(SFC, 10/16/03, p.A12)(WSJ, 11/7/03, p.A10)
2003 Oct 15, Japan pledged $1.5 billion in reconstruction aid next year for Iraq and more down the line despite economic woes at home.
(AP, 10/15/03)
2003 Oct 16, Iraqi police backed by American tanks forced out the renegade Sadr City council.
(WSJ, 10/20/03, p.A9)
2003 Oct 16, The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution aimed at attracting aid to stabilize Iraq and putting it on the road to independence.
(AP, 10/16/03)
2003 Oct 17, In Iraq the deaths of 4 soldiers brought to 101 the number killed since Pres. Bush declared the end of major combat on May 1.
(SFC, 10/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 18, In Iraq 2 U.S. soldiers were killed and one was wounded in an ambush north of Baghdad.
(AP, 10/19/03)
2003 Oct 20, Bush administration officials said some $3 billion of Saddam Hussein's former government was being held in Syria and Lebanon.
(AP, 10/21/03)
2003 Oct 22, It was reported that pirated fuel from Iraq totaled some 2,000 tons for a daily loss of $250,000.
(SFC, 10/22/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 23, A bomb exploded near a pipeline in northern Iraq, killing two Iraqi Civil Defense Corps members and wounding 10 others.
(AP, 10/23/03)
2003 Oct 24, Iraq's postwar reconstruction received a boost as nations from Japan to Saudi Arabia pledged $13 billion in new aid on top of more than $20 billion from the US. But the figure fell well short of the estimated $56 billion needed to rebuild the country.
(AP, 10/24/03)
2003 Oct 24, Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four were wounded in a mortar attack on their base north of Baghdad.
(AP, 10/24/03)
2003 Oct 26, Iraqi insurgents attacked the heavily guarded al Rashid hotel with a missile barrage that killed an American colonel, wounded 18 other people. The 462-room hotel, housing civilian officials of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority and US military personnel, is seen as symbol of the occupation.
(AP, 10/26/03)(SSFC, 10/26/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 27, In Iraq suicide car bombers on the 1st day of Ramadan struck the international Red Cross headquarters and three police stations across Baghdad, killing 43 people and wounding at least 224.
(AP, 10/27/03)(SFC, 10/28/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2003 Oct 28, In Iraq a car bomb exploded near a police station on a major street in the tense city of Fallujah, killing at least four people.
(AP, 10/28/03)
2003 Oct 28, In Iraq 2 American soldiers were killed when their Abrams battle tank was damaged by resistance fighters 45 miles north of Baghdad. Total US deaths reach 115 and surpassed the 114 killed during the initial war Mar 20-May 1.
(AP, 10/29/03)
2003 Oct 28, In southern Iraq 7 Ukrainian peacekeepers were wounded when militants attacked their patrol. 1,650 Ukrainian troops served in the Polish-led stabilization force.
(AP, 10/29/03)
2003 Oct 29, International organizations continued their exodus from Iraq in the wake of car bombings in the capital and attacks against coalition troops.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2003 Oct 30, The UN ordered all its non-Iraqi staff to leave Baghdad.
(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2003 Oct, Sean O'Sullivan (39), American documentary filmmaker, arrived in Iraq and formed JumpStart Int'l., a private non-profit effort to clean up bombed and burned sites in Baghdad using Iraqi labor.
(SSFC, 4/4/04, p.A3)
2003 Nov 1, In Iraq a roadside bomb killed at least two US soldiers in Mosul.
(AP, 11/1/03)
2003 Nov 1, It was reported that over a dozen members of Saddam Hussein's government have been shot dead in the streets of Basra over the last month.
(SFC, 11/1/03, p.A8)
2003 Nov 2, In central Iraq insurgents shot down a US Chinook helicopter as it carried troops headed for R&R, killing 16 soldiers and wounding 21. Attacks on US troops reached 33 a day.
(SSFC, 11/2/03, p.A1)(AP, 11/2/08)
2003 Nov 6, Two American soldiers were killed near Baghdad and along the Syrian border. Polish forces suffered their first combat death when a Polish major was fatally wounded in an ambush south of the capital.
(AP, 11/6/03)
2003 Nov 7, In Tikrit, Iraq, an Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed, apparently shot down by insurgents, killing all six U.S. soldiers aboard. 2 other soldiers were killed near Mosul.
(AP, 11/7/03)
2003 Nov 8, In Iraq insurgents killed two US paratroopers and wounded another west of Baghdad. In Tikrit US F-16s battered suspected targets. 5 Iraqis were killed and 16 taken custody in "Operation Ivy Cyclone."
(AP, 11/8/03)
2003 Nov 9, In Iraq a US military police soldier was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack south of Baghdad. In Sadr City Muhamad al-Kaabi, a US-appointed district chairman, was shot dead following an argument with a US soldier guarding his council's headquarters.
(AP, 11/10/03)(WSJ, 11/12/03, p.A16)
2003 Nov 11, In Iraq US troops opened fire on a truck carrying live chickens near the tense town of Fallujah, killing 5 civilians aboard the vehicle, including a father and his two sons.
(AP, 11/12/03)
2003 Nov 11, In Iraq an explosion on a road frequently used by British troops killed 6 civilians in Basra. The military detained about 20 people suspected of links to al-Qaida.
(AP, 11/11/03)
2003 Nov 12, In Iraq a suicide truck bomber attacked the headquarters of Italy's paramilitary police in Nasiriyah, killing 31 people, including 18 Italians, and possibly trapping others.
(AP, 11/12/03)(AP, 11/13/03)
2003 Nov 13, Pres. Bush said the US wants Iraqis to take more responsibility for governing their troubled country and said coalition forces are determined to prevail over terrorists.
(AP, 11/13/03)
2003 Nov 14, The Bush administration announced that it intends to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis by June 30, 2004.
(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.A22)
2003 Nov 14, Near Tikrit, Iraq, an Apache helicopter attacked and killed 7 people believed to have been preparing a rocket attack on a US base.
(AP, 11/14/03)
2003 Nov 15, The Iraqi Governing Council and the US-led occupation administration in Iraq signed an agreement to speed up the transfer of power to the IGC by July, 2004, after a transitional government is selected and assumes sovereignty.
(AP, 11/15/03)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2003 Nov 15, Two US Army Black Hawk helicopters collided under fire and crashed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing at least 17 soldiers.
(AP, 11/16/03)(SSFC, 11/16/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 15, In Iraq insurgents and looters overran US bases in Samara when soldiers left in an effort to let Iraqis handle security.
(WSJ, 11/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 19, In Ramadi, Iraq, a car bomb exploded late outside the home of a pro-American tribal leader, killing one child.
(AP, 11/19/03)
2003 Nov 20, In Kirkuk, Iraq, a bomb apparently hidden in a pickup truck exploded at the offices of a US-allied Kurdish political party, killing five people and wounding 40.
(AP, 11/20/03)
2003 Nov 21, More than a dozen rockets fired from donkey carts slammed into Iraq's Oil Ministry and two downtown Baghdad hotels used by foreign journalists and civilian defense contractors.
(AP, 11/21/04)
2003 Nov 22, In Iraq suicide attackers detonated bomb-packed vehicles at 2 police stations in Kahn Bani Saad and Baquoba. 11 police officers and 5 civilians were killed.
(AP, 11/22/03)(SSFC, 11/23/03, p.A18)
2003 Nov 22, A DHL Airbus cargo jet transporting mail in Iraq was struck and damaged by a MANPAD. Though hit in the left fuel tank, the plane was able to return to the Baghdad airport and land safely.
(AP, 6/11/13)
2003 Nov 23, In Iraq the Governing Council named Rend Rahim Francke, an Iraqi-American woman and veteran lobbyist who has criticized Washington as being shortsighted in Iraq, as its ambassador to the United States.
(AP, 11/23/03)
2003 Nov 23, In Iraq gunmen killed two American soldiers driving through Mosul, and then a crowd swarmed the scene, looting the soldiers' vehicle and pummeling their bodies. Another soldier was killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/23/03)
2003 Nov 24, The US-appointed government raided the offices of Al-Arabiya television, banned its broadcasts from Iraq for broadcasting an audiotape a week ago of a voice it said belonged to Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 11/24/03)
2003 Nov 24, Gunmen in Mosul ambushed US soldiers on patrol with a roadside bomb then opened fire on them, wounding one.
(AP, 11/24/03)
2003 Nov 26, Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, an air defense general captured Oct. 5 in a raid near the Syrian border, died. He was being questioned while in American custody in Qaim near the Syrian border when he lost consciousness after complaining he didn't feel well. In 2004 4 US soldiers were charged with murder.
(AP, 11/27/03)(SFC, 10/5/04, p.A3)
2003 Nov 27, Pres. Bush flew to Iraq under extraordinary secrecy and security to spend Thanksgiving with US troops.
(AP, 11/28/03)
2003 Nov 29, In Iraq US senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jack Reed met with local officials in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk. Attackers in Mahmudiyah killed 7 members of a Spanish intelligence team as it returned from a mission. In northern Iraq gunmen ambushed and murdered two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver.
(AP, 11/29/03)(SSFC, 11/30/03, p.A1)(AP, 11/30/03)
2003 Nov 30, In western Iraq guerrillas killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded a third in an ambush. Gunmen shot and killed 2 South Korean electricians and wounded 2 others as they drove apparently to a power transmission plant they were working at in Tikrit.
(AP, 11/30/03)
2003 Nov 30, The US military said 54 Iraqis were killed in the northern city of Samarra as US forces used tanks and cannons to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes while delivering new Iraqi currency to banks. Residents said the next that the casualty figure was much lower and that the dead were mostly civilians.
(AP, 12/1/03)(SFC, 12/2/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 30, A bus carrying Kuwaitis returning from the funeral of a Shiite Muslim religious leader overturned in southern Iraq, killing at least 15 people.
(AP, 11/30/03)
2003 Nov, At least 104 soldiers were killed in Iraq this month including 79 Americans.
(SFC, 12/2/03, p.A18)
2003 Nov, Cpl. Dustin Berg, a national Guardsman from Indiana, killed an Iraqi police officer and then shot himself in the stomach to give the impression of a gunfight to block investigation. In 2005 Berg pleaded guilty to negligent homicide. His sentence included 18 months in prison and a bad conduct discharge.
(SFC, 7/26/05, p.A6)
2003 Dec 2, US troops have captured or killed a "big fish" in a large military operation in Kirkuk. American soldiers arrested dozens of people there in an overnight raid.
(AP, 12/2/03)
2003 Dec 3, The head of the Iraqi Governing Council renewed his demand that a proposed transitional legislature be elected by Iraqi voters, a move opposed by U.S. occupation officials. Leaders of the top political parties agreed with the US-led administration to create a militia picked by the parties and governing council.
(AP, 12/3/03)(SFC, 12/4/03, p.A16)
2003 Dec 5, Syria continued to reject US pressure to hand over an estimated $250 million that Saddam Hussein's regime had deposited there.
(WSJ, 12/5/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 7, Insurgents attacked a U.S. military patrol in northern Iraq, killing one soldier and wounding two.
(AP, 12/7/03)
2003 Dec 9, In Talafar, Iraq, a suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives at the gates of a military barracks, injuring 41 American troops and six Iraqi civilians. Hours earlier, 3 soldiers died in a road accident in central Iraq, and 3 civilians died when a Baghdad mosque was rocketed.
(AP, 12/9/03)
2003 Dec 10, U.S. allies that opposed the war in Iraq were angered and surprised by Deputy Sec. of Defense Paul Wolfowitz's decision to bar their companies from bidding for $18.6 billion worth of reconstruction contracts, with France questioning its legality and Canada threatening to halt aid. The 63-nation eligibility list excluded Germany, France, Russia and China.
(AP, 12/10/03)(WSJ, 12/10/03, p.A1)(Econ, 12/13/03, p.30)
2003 Dec 10, Iraq's U.S.-installed interim government established a special tribunal to deal with crime against humanity committed by Saddam Hussein's regime.
(AP, 12/10/03)
2003 Dec 10, Iraq's Health Ministry has ordered a halt to a count of civilians killed during the war and told its statistics department not to release figures compiled so far.
(AP, 12/10/03)
2003 Dec 10, In Mosul, Iraq, 2 US soldiers were killed. In a Baghdad suburb armed men robbed a government bank of almost $1.4 billion dinars ($800,000).
(SFC, 12/11/03, p.A17)
2003 Dec 10, Journalist Michael Weisskopf (57) was seriously wounded when a grenade thrown into an Army Humvee exploded as he attempted to throw it back out.
(SFC, 12/12/03, p.A22)
2003 Dec 11, US officials delayed a conference for companies seeking $18.6 billion in reconstruction contracts in Iraq by eight days until Dec. 19.
(AP, 12/11/03)
2003 Dec 11, Pentagon officials said efforts to create a new Iraqi army to help take over the country's security have suffered a setback with the resignations of a third of the soldiers trained.
(AP, 12/11/03)
2003 Dec 11, In Iraq a suicide bomber killed 1 US soldier and wounded 14 others at a military base in Ramadi.
(SFC, 12/12/03, p.A22)
2003 Dec 12, Insurgents detonated a bomb alongside a U.S. military convoy west of Baghdad on Friday, killing one soldier and wounding two others.
(AP, 12/12/03)
2003 Dec 12, Pres. Bush said that Halliburton, VP Dick Cheney's former company, should repay the government if it overcharged for gasoline delivered in Iraq under a prewar contract.
(AP, 12/12/03)(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 13, American forces captured a bearded and haggard-looking Saddam Hussein in an underground hide-out on a farm in Adwar near his hometown of Tikrit. 2 other Iraqis were arrested. Small arms and $750,000 in bills were also seized. The 55 most-wanted Iraqis and their status, according to U.S. Central Command: 39 were in custody, 13 remained at large, 2 were confirmed killed and one was reported killed.
(AP, 12/14/03)(SFC, 12/15/03, p.A13)
2003 Dec 14, In Baghdad a suspected suicide attacker detonated a car bomb killing at least 17 people and wounding 35 others. A US soldier was killed trying to diffuse a roadside bomb. Ryan Manelick, A US contract worker for Ultra Services, was shot to death near Camp Anaconda. He was an associate of Kirk von Ackerman, who disappeared Oct 9. Manelick had told Army investigators kickbacks were being made to a US Army officer.
(SFC, 12/15/03, p.A15)(SSFC, 2/13/05, p.A14)
2003 Dec 15, In Iraq a suicide bomber driving a four-wheel drive taxi killed eight Iraqi policemen in an attack on a station in Baghdad's northern outskirts.
(AP, 12/15/03)
2003 Dec 16, U.S. special envoy James A. Baker III said France, Germany and the US agreed to seek reductions in Iraq's foreign debt within the Paris Club of creditor nations.
(AP, 12/16/03)(SFC, 12/17/03, p.A18)
2003 Dec 16, U.S. troops killed 11 guerrilla attackers, some of whom released a flock of pigeons to signal the Americans' approach, in an ambush in a town north of Baghdad.
(AP, 12/16/03)
2003 Dec 17, In Baghdad an explosives-laden truck speeding toward a police station slammed into a bus and blew up before dawn, killing at least 10 Iraqis.
(AP, 12/17/03)
2003 Dec 17, In Iraq guerrillas ambushed a U.S. military patrol with small arms fire, killing one soldier at al-Karmah in northwest Baghdad. The soldier's death brings the number of U.S. soldiers killed in combat to 314 since the war started on March 20.
(AP, 12/18/03)
2003 Dec 17, Suspected followers of Saddam Hussein shot to death Muhammad al-Hakim a representative of a major Shiite political party and a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution.
(AP, 12/18/03)
2003 Dec 19, U.S. troops mistakenly shot and killed three Iraqi police officers and wounded two others, thinking they were bandits.
(AP, 12/20/03)
2003 Dec 20, Insurgents attacked pipelines and an oil storage depot in three parts of Iraq, setting fires that blazed for hours and lost millions of gallons of oil.
(AP, 12/21/03)
2003 Dec 22, In Iraq a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military convoy, killing two American soldiers and an Iraqi translator.
(AP, 12/22/03)
2003 Dec 22, Russia agreed to write off 65% of the debt owed by Iraq.
(WSJ, 12/23/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 24, In Iraq a string of separate bombings killed 6 civilians and 3 American soldiers.
(AP, 12/24/03)
2003 Dec 25, In Iraq leaders of Sunni Muslim groups agreed to form a State Council for the Sunnis in order to speak with a unified voice during the transition to Iraqi governance.
(SFC, 12/26/03, p.A9)
2003 Dec 26, In Iraq an American soldier died in a rebel ambush and two others were killed in bomb explosions.
(AP, 12/26/03)
2003 Dec 27, In Iraq insurgents launched 3 coordinated attacks in the southern city of Karbala, killing 13 people, including six Iraqi police officers, 2 Thai soldiers and 5 Bulgarians.
(AP, 12/28/03)(SSFC, 12/28/03, p.A3)(WSJ, 12/29/03, p.A1)(AP, 12/27/04)
2003 Dec 28, A roadside bomb killed an American soldier and two Iraqi children in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/28/03)
2003 Dec 29, Rebels lobbed a grenade and fired on U.S. soldiers searching homes for insurgents in the northern city of Mosul, triggering a firefight that left three Iraqis dead and two U.S. soldiers wounded.
(AP, 12/29/03)
2003 Dec 29, Japan pledged to forgive "the vast majority" of its Iraqi debt if other Paris Club nations do the same. China later said it would consider the idea.
(AP, 12/29/03)
2003 Dec 31, In Iraq gunfire erupted in Kirkuk as hundreds of Arabs and Turkmen marched in protest over fears of Kurdish domination in the oil-rich northern city.
(AP, 12/31/03)(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.A1)
2003 Dec 31, A New Year's Eve car bombing at the upscale Nabil restaurant in Baghdad killed 8 people and injured 35.
(AP, 1/1/04)(SFC, 1/1/04, p.A1)
2003 Iraqna, a unit of Egypt-based Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, launched cell phone service in Iraq.
(WSJ, 7/19/05, p.B1)
2003 The US Navy sent several dolphins to Iraq to clear the Umm Qasr harbor of mines.
(SFC, 5/18/10, p.C2)
2004 Jan 2, A U.S. military helicopter crashed west of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding another.
(AP, 1/2/04)
2004 Jan 2, In central Iraq insurgents hit a U.S. base with mortar shells, killing one American soldier and wounding two others. A US helicopter was shot down near Fallujah killing one American soldier.
(AP, 1/3/04)(SFC, 1/2/04, p.A5)
2004 Jan 3, In Tikrit, Iraq, American soldiers opened fire with a machine gun on a taxi, killing four Iraqi civilians, including a 7-year-old boy.
(AP, 1/10/04)
2004 Jan 5, In Iraq 2 French contractors, working on electricity projects, were killed in a drive-by shooting near Fallujah.
(WSJ, 4/1/04, p.A10)
2004 Jan 6, Iraqi police opened fire on hundreds of stone-throwing former Iraqi soldiers demanding monthly stipends promised by the U.S.-led coalition, and reporters saw at least four protesters shot in the southern town of Basra.
(AP, 1/6/04)
2004 Jan 7, L. Paul Bremer, the top American civilian official in Iraq, said U.S. authorities will release 506 low-level Iraqi prisoners while increasing the bounties for fugitives suspected of major roles in attacks against coalition forces.
(AP, 1/7/04)
2004 Jan 8, In Iraq a US Black Hawk medivac helicopter crashed near Fallujah killing all nine soldiers aboard.
(AP, 1/8/04)
2004 Jan 9, In Baqouba, Iraq, an explosion ripped through a busy street as worshippers streamed out of a Shiite Muslim mosque, killing 5 people and wounding dozens of others. US soldiers in Kirkuk killed 2 Iraqi police officers.
(AP, 1/9/04)(SFC, 1/10/04, p.A8)(SSFC, 1/11/04, p.A7)
2004 Jan 9, US Officials said Pentagon lawyers had determined that former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein was a prisoner of war since his capture.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2004 Jan 11, U.S. paratroopers captured Khamis Sirhan al-Muhammad, a former regional Baath Party chairman and militia commander a former Baath Party official who was No. 54 on the list of 55 most-wanted figures from Saddam Hussein's regime.
(AP, 1/14/04)
2004 Jan 11, Danish and Icelandic troops reported a cache of 36 shells buried in the Iraqi desert, and preliminary tests showed they contained a liquid blister agent. The 120mm mortar shells are thought to be left over from the eight-year war between Iraq and neighboring Iran, which ended in 1988.
(AP, 1/11/04)
2004 Jan 12, A roadside bomb explosion in Baghdad killed one U.S. soldier and wounded two, bringing the American death toll to nearly 500 since the start of fighting in March. US soldiers killed an Iraqi man and a boy driving in a car behind a convoy after a roadside bomb went off nearby.
(AP, 1/12/04)(SFC, 1/13/04, p.A10)
2004 Jan 13, Joe Darby, a US soldier at Abu Ghraib prison, reported US abuses of Iraqi prisoners. Criminal charges were lodged against 6 soldiers on Mar 20. In 2005 Spc. Charles Graner was convicted on 5 counts of assault and sentenced to 10 years in a military stockade. Graner said he had operated under orders from superior officers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Darby)(SFC, 5/6/04, p.A17)(AP, 1/13/05)(SSFC, 1/16/05, p.A1)
2004 Jan 13, Hostile fire brought down a U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter in Iraq, but the two crew members escaped injury.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2004 Jan 14, The US Army launched an inquiry into conditions at Abu Ghraib prison a day after photos of abused prisoners were passed up the chain of command.
(WSJ, 5/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 14, In Iraq a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at a police station in Baquoba that killed 2 passers-by and wounded 26 others.
(SFC, 1/15/04, p.A8)
2004 Jan 15, Iraqi bank notes bearing Saddam Hussein's portrait became obsolete as a three-month period to exchange old bills for new ones came to an end. The new currency required 27 flights of 747 planes for delivery.
(AP, 1/15/04)(WSJ, 1/20/04, p.A14)
2004 Jan 16, Paul Bremmer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, said the US will revise its plan to create self-rule in Iraq, following consultations with President Bush.
(AP, 1/16/04)
2004 Jan 16, The US Army awarded Halliburton a 2-year contract worth up to $1.2 billion to rebuild the oil industry in southern Iraq.
(SFC, 1/17/04, p.A8)
2004 Jan 17, A roadside bomb exploded near Baghdad, killing three U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi civil defense troopers. The number of American service members who have died since the Iraq war began reached 500.
(AP, 1/17/04)
2004 Jan 17, An explosive device being transported in a car exploded near a U.S. Army patrol in Tikrit, killing two men in the vehicle, one of them a relative of Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 1/18/04)
2004 Jan 18, A suicide bomber blew up a pickup truck packed with 1,000 pounds of explosives outside the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition, killed at least 31 people and injuring about 120, most of them Iraqis.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2004 Jan 19, Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims marched peacefully in Baghdad to demand an elected government.
(AP, 1/19/04)
2004 Jan 21, In central Iraq a barrage of mortar fire struck a US military encampment, killing 2 American soldiers and critically wounding a third. In separate incidents, gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying Iraqi women who worked in the laundry at a US military base, killing 4 of them,
(AP, 1/22/04)
2004 Jan 22, In Iraq gunmen firing from a van killed two Iraqi policemen and wounded three others in an attack on a checkpoint between Fallujah and Ramadi.
(AP, 1/22/04)
2004 Jan 23, A bomb planted in a meeting room exploded after a gathering of the Iraqi Communist Party, killing two men in an apparent attack on supporters of the U.S.-backed government
(AP, 1/23/04)
2004 Jan 24, A car bomb exploded in Khaldiya, a town west of Baghdad, killing three American soldiers and injuring six soldiers and several Iraqi civilians. A series of bombings killed 5 U.S. soldiers in the Sunni Triangle.
(AP, 1/25/04)(WSJ, 2/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 25, In northern Iraq a US helicopter crashed while searching for a river patrol boat that had capsized on the Tigris. A soldier and 2 pilots were missing. 4 Iraqi policemen manning a checkpoint outside Ramadi west of Baghdad were killed in a drive-by shooting. Gunmen also killed three policemen at another checkpoint in Ramadi. US soldiers arrested nearly 50 people and confiscated weapons in several raids in Iraq's volatile Sunni Triangle. Another soldier died of wounds from the previous day's attacks.
(AP, 1/25/04)(AP, 1/26/04)
2004 Jan 27, Roadside bombs killed 6 US soldiers in 2 blasts outside Baghdad. 2 CNN employees were killed in an ambush as their crew returned to Baghdad from southern Iraq.
(AP, 1/27/04)(SFC, 1/28/04, p.A9)
2004 Jan 27, In central Iraq US soldiers killed 3 members of a suspected guerrilla cell linked to the former Baathist regime.
(AP, 1/27/04)
2004 Jan 28, In Iraq some ten thousand Shiite Muslims protested in the south to demand the resignation of the U.S.-appointed provincial governor.
(AP, 1/29/04)
2004 Jan 28, In Iraq a suicide bomber blew up a van disguised as an ambulance in front of the Shaheen Hotel after speeding through a security barrier in the heart of Baghdad, killing three people, including a South African, and injuring 17.
(AP, 1/28/04)(SFC, 1/28/04, p.A9)
2004 Jan 28, David Kay, former head of the CIA's weapons search team in Iraq, told Congress no weapons of mass destruction had been found and that prewar intelligence was "almost all wrong." In 2007 Bob Drogin authored “Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War." Curveball was the code name for an Iraqi chemical engineer who turned up in Germany in 1999 and served as the source for Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons pro-grams. In 2011 Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, identified as the informer called "Curveball," said he is proud that he lied about his country developing mobile biological warfare labs.
(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.A22)(WSJ, 10/13/07, p.W8)(Econ, 11/3/07, p.100)(AP, 2/16/11)
2004 Jan 29, In central Iraq a roadside bomb exploded in Baqouba, wounding 11 Iraqis.
(AP, 1/29/04)
2004 Jan 31, In Iraq a car bomb targeting a police station in Mosul killed nine people and injured 45 others, while three American soldiers died when a roadside bomb ripped through their convoy near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
(AP, 1/31/04)
2004 Feb 1, In Irbil, Iraq, 2 suicide bombers struck the offices of two U.S.-backed Kurdish parties in near-simultaneous attacks as hundreds of Iraqis gathered to celebrate a Muslim holiday. At least 101 people were killed and more than 235 were wounded. Also about 20 Iraqis were killed when they accidentally set off an explosion while looting a former Iraqi munitions dump in the Polish-controlled south-central region of the country.
(AP, 2/2/04)(WSJ, 2/4/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 5, U.S. and Iraqi forces captured more than 100 suspected guerrillas in raids across the country, arresting one of Saddam Hussein's intelligence chiefs and another Iraqi believed involved in a suicide bombing last month, a U.S.
(AP, 2/5/04)
2004 Feb 8, In Suwayrah, Iraq, a bomb inside a police station exploded soon after the morning roll call, killing 3 police officer and injuring 11 others.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2004 Feb 8, A UN team met with Iraqi leaders to discuss the feasibility of early legislative elections, and its leader pledged to do "everything possible" to help the country regain its sovereignty.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2004 Feb 10, In Iskandariyah, Iraq, a car bomb exploded at a police station south of Baghdad as dozens of would-be recruits lined up to apply for jobs, and a hospital official said at least 53 people were killed and 50 others wounded.
(AP, 2/10/04)(WSJ, 2/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 11, In Iraq a suicide attacker blew up a car packed with explosives in a crowd of hundreds of Iraqis waiting outside a Baghdad army recruiting center, killing 47 people in the second bombing in two days.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2004 Feb 14, In Iraq guerrillas launched a bold daylight assault on an Iraqi police station and security compound west of Baghdad, freeing prisoners and sparking a gunbattle that killed 23 people and wounded 33.
(SSFC, 2/15/04, p.A1)(AP, 2/14/05)
2004 Feb 15, Iraqi police arrested No. 41 on the American military's most-wanted list, Baath Party official Mohammed Zimam Abdul-Razaq.
(AP, 2/15/04)
2004 Feb 16, In Iraq 3 U.S. soldiers were killed in roadside bomb blasts. A bomb exploded in a schoolyard in a Shiite Muslim neighborhood in Baghdad, killing at least one child and wounding three other people,
(AP, 2/16/04)(SFC, 2/17/04, p.A3)
2004 Feb 17, In Iraq roadside bombs killed 2 U.S. soldiers in separate attacks in Baghdad and Sunni Muslim areas to the north of the capital.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 18, In Iraq 2 trucks packed with explosives blew up outside Hilla, Polish-run base south of Baghdad, after coalition forces opened fire on the suicide bombers racing toward them. 11 Iraqi civilians were killed and at least 64 people were wounded.
(AP, 2/18/04)(SFC, 2/19/04, p.A14)
2004 Feb 19, In Iraq an explosion ripped through an infantry patrol in an insurgent center west of Baghdad, killing two U.S. soldiers and injuring another.
(AP, 2/19/04)
2004 Feb 21, The International Red Cross visited former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was in U.S. custody.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2004 Feb 22, Gunmen attacked Iraqi police in two northern Iraqi cities, sparking clashes that killed two attackers. Meanwhile, jailed former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein wrote a letter to his family for the international Red Cross to deliver.
(AP, 2/22/04)
2004 Feb 23, In Iraq a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-packed vehicle outside an Iraqi police station in a Kurdish neighborhood of Kirkuk, killing at least seven people and wounding at least 35 others.
(AP, 2/23/04)
2004 Feb 25, Two American soldiers were killed when their Kiowa helicopter crashed in a river west of Baghdad. Witnesses indicated that it was shot down. Gunmen assassinated the deputy police chief in Mosul.
(AP, 2/25/04)(WSJ, 2/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 28, Iraq's U.S.-picked leaders failed to meet a deadline for adopting an interim constitution.
(AP, 2/28/05)
2004 Feb, Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai (1971-2019), aka al-Baghdadi, was detained by US troops and spent 10 months in the Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq. He eventually assumed control of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida linked group founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant killed in a US airstrike in Iraq in 2006.
(AP, 10/27/19)
2004 Feb, Mohammad Munim al-Izmerly (65), Iraqi weapons scientist, died while in US custody. His body was delivered to Al-Kharkh Hospital in Baghdad. The Egyptian-born scientist had been in US detention since April 2003. The Americans enclosed a death certificate saying he died of "brainstem compression." An Investigation into his death was opened in 2005.
(AP, 3/25/05)
2004 Mar 1, Iraqi politicians agreed on an interim constitution with 2 official languages, a wide ranging bill of rights and a single chief executive, bridging a gulf between members over the role of Islam in the future government.
(AP, 3/1/04)(WSJ, 3/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 2, Attacks on Shiite Muslims in Iraq killed at least 180 people as multiple explosions hit Shiite shrines in Baghdad and Karbala on the Shia festival of Ashura. An Iranian vice president blamed al-Qaida for the attacks.
(AP, 3/3/04)(SSFC, 2/20/05, p.A14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_2004)
2004 Mar 5, The signing of Iraq's interim constitution was delayed indefinitely after five Shiite members of the Governing Council rejected concessions made to Kurds and the makeup of the presidency.
(AP, 3/5/04)
2004 Mar 7, In Iraq insurgents in a car fired rocket-propelled grenades at a police station in Mosul, and two Iraqi civilians were killed.
(AP, 3/7/04)
2004 Mar 8, Iraq's Governing Council signed a landmark interim constitution after resolving a political impasse sparked by objections from the country's most powerful cleric.
(AP, 3/8/04)
2004 Mar 8, Abul Abbas (56), the Palestinian who planned the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro passenger ship in which a wheelchair-bound American tourist was killed and thrown overboard, died of natural causes in Baghdad while in U.S. custody.
(AP, 3/10/04)
2004 Mar 9, In Iraq 2 US civilians and their Iraqi interpreter were killed. 4 Iraqis were arrested and appeared to be active Iraqi police officers working with a Saddam Hussein loyalist.
(WSJ, 3/12/04, p.A1)(SFC, 3/13/04, p.A3)
2004 Mar 11, In Iraq 2 American soldiers were killed when the Humvee they were riding in struck a homemade bomb.
(AP, 3/12/04)
2004 Mar 13, In Tikrit, Iraq, a roadside bomb killed two American soldiers and wounded three. 3 American soldiers died in two bomb explosions in Baghdad. A 4th died from his injuries the next morning.
(AP, 3/13/04)(AP, 3/14/04)
2004 Mar 15, In Iraq 4 American missionary relief workers were killed in a drive-by shooting in Mosul.
(SFC, 3/16/04, p.A14)(AP, 3/15/05)
2004 Mar 16, Two contractors, German and Dutch, working on a water-supply project south of Baghdad were shot to death, and their deaths brought to six the number of foreigners killed in drive-by shootings in the past 24 hours.
(AP, 3/16/04)(WSJ, 4/1/04, p.A10)
2004 Mar 17, In Iraq a car bomb tore apart the five-story Mount Lebanon Hotel in central Baghdad, killing 7 people. In northeastern Iraq gunmen opened fire on a minibus, killing three Iraqi journalists and wounding nine other employees of a coalition-funded TV station. Insurgents killed two U.S. Marines who were on patrol in al-Anbar province. In Mosul 4 US Baptist missionaries were killed in a drive-by shooting.
(AP, 3/18/04)(SFC, 3/18/04, p.A1)(AP, 3/19/04)(WSJ, 4/1/04, p.A10)
2004 Mar 18, In Iraq a car bomb exploded at a hotel in the southern city of Basra as a British military patrol passed by, killing five Iraqi bystanders. US Army soldiers shot 2 al-Arabiya television network employees. [see Mar 19]
(AP, 3/18/04)(SFC, 3/30/04, p.A3)
2004 Mar 19, The US Justice Dept. issued a draft opinion that authorized the agency to transfer detainees out of Iraq for interrogation.
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 19, In Iraq a reporter for Arab satellite television station Al-Arabiya died from his wounds after U.S. soldiers shot him hours earlier along with a cameraman, who died at the scene.
(AP, 3/19/04)(SFC, 3/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 21, In western Iraq insurgents fired a rocket at U.S. troops, killing two soldiers, while in Baghdad rockets fired toward the U.S.-led coalition headquarters killed two Iraqi civilians and injured a U.S. soldier.
(AP, 3/21/04)
2004 Mar 22, A car bomb blew up near a U.S. Air Force base north of Baghdad, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding 25 others. The U.S. military said a bomb killed a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi interpreter in Baghdad.
(AP, 3/22/04)
2004 Mar 22, The Finnish Foreign Ministry said two Finnish businessmen were shot and killed in Baghdad.
(AP, 3/22/04)
2004 Mar 23, In Iraq gunmen opened fire on a van filled with police recruits south of Baghdad, killing nine. Other assailants shot and killed two policemen, twin brothers, north of the capital.
(AP, 3/23/04)
2004 Mar 24, In Iraq a gun battle with insurgents killed one American soldier and three rebels.
(AP, 3/25/04)
2004 Mar 24, Insurgents bombed an oil well in northern Iraq, sparking a fire that raged for 24 hours before being extinguished.
(AP, 3/26/04)
2004 Mar 25, A U.S. soldier died in a bombing north of Baghdad amid warnings that attacks will likely increase with fewer than 100 days left before the coalition hands over sovereignty.
(AP, 3/25/04)
2004 Mar 26, West of Baghdad, U.S. Marines and gunmen fought an hour-long battle that left four Iraqis dead and six wounded. A U.S. Marine and an ABC freelance cameraman were killed during a bitter, hours-long firefight between American troops and Iraqi insurgents in the city of Fallujah, while 18 people died in violence elsewhere across Iraq.
(AP, 3/26/04)(AP, 3/27/04)
2004 Mar 28, In Iraq US soldiers in the northern city of Mosul shot and killed four rebels suspected of involvement in attacks in the region. Gunmen in Mosul killed 2 British and Canadian electrical engineers. Coalition forces closed Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's newspaper, claiming it incited anti-US violence.
(AP, 3/29/04)(WSJ, 4/1/04, p.A10)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2004 Mar 30, In Iraq a suicide bombing outside the house of a police chief killed the attacker and wounded seven others. Elsewhere, a U.S. soldier died in a bomb blast, and Spanish soldiers and Iraqi police quelled a riot by jobseekers.
(AP, 3/30/04)
2004 Mar 31, In Fallujah, Iraq, jubilant residents dragged the charred corpses of 4 American private security guards, from Blackwater Security Consulting, through the streets and hanged them from a bridge spanning the Euphrates River. 5 American soldiers died in a roadside bombing nearby. In 2011 a judge tossed a lawsuit that blamed Blackwater for the deaths of the 4 contractors.
(AP, 3/31/04)(SFC, 4/1/04, p.A1)(SFC, 4/2/04, p.A16)
2004 Mar, The US Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $40 million contract to global construction and engineering firm Parsons to design and build an 1,800-inmate lockup in Iraq to include educational and vocational facilities. Work was set to begin May 2004 and finish November 2005. The US government pulled the plug in June 2006, citing "continued schedule slips and ... massive cost overruns." Parsons got $31 million and the other contractors got $9 million. As of 2008 it was unused with much of the construction deemed substandard.
(AP, 7/28/08)
2004 Mar-2004 Apr, US forces in Baghdad detained Pakistani national Dilshad Ahmad. He had served as a commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba between 1997 and 2001.
(WSJ, 12/8/08, p.A6)
2004 Apr 1, In Iraq insurgents attacked a U.S. military convoy and a Humvee was burned near Fallujah, a day after the grisly killing and mutilation of four American contract workers in the city.
(AP, 4/1/04)
2004 Apr 1, A gas explosion ripped through a refinery in Iraq while it was being inspected by Czech engineers, killing one and injuring two others.
(AP, 4/5/04)
2004 Apr 3, In Iraq 2 attacks on Iraqi police south of Baghdad killed four people. Col. Wissam Hussein, the police chief of Mahmudiyah, was shot to death by gunmen dressed as police.
(AP, 4/3/04)(SSFC, 4/4/04, p.A3)
2004 Apr 4, Muqtada al-Sadr issued a call to his followers to "terrorize your enemy." Gunmen opened fire on the Spanish garrison in the holy city of Najaf during a huge demonstration by followers of al-Sadr, an anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric. An American and Salvadoran soldier were killed along with 22 Iraqis. More than 130 people were wounded. A car bomb exploded in Kirkuk, killing three civilians and wounding two others. 7 US soldiers were killed in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/4/04)(SFC, 4/5/04, p.A8)(WSJ, 4/5/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2004 Apr 5, Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, declared a radical Shiite cleric an "outlaw" after his supporters rioted in Baghdad and four other cities in fighting that killed at least 52 Iraqis, eight U.S. troops and a Salvadoran soldier. A warrant was issued for al-Sadr related to the murder of a rival Shiite leader in 2003.
(AP, 4/5/04)(WSJ, 4/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 6, Insurgents and rebellious Shiites mounted a string of attacks across Iraq's south and U.S. Marines launched a major assault on the turbulent city of Fallujah. Up to a dozen Marines were killed in Ramadi. Two more coalition soldiers were reported killed. US warplanes firing rockets destroyed four houses in the besieged city of Fallujah. A doctor said 26 Iraqis, including women and children, were killed and 30 wounded in the strike. British troops killed 15 Iraqis in Amara. In Nasiriya 15 Iraqis were killed in fighting with Italian troops
(AP, 4/6/04)(SFC, 4/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 7, U.S. Marines in a fierce battle for this Sunni Muslim stronghold fired rockets that hit a mosque compound filled with worshippers, and witnesses said as many as 40 people were killed. Shiite-inspired violence spread to nearly all of the country.
(AP, 4/7/04)
2004 Apr 7, Militiamen loyal to al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric, clashed with Polish troops in Karbala, and Muntadhir al-Mussawi, an aide to the cleric, was killed.
(AP, 4/7/04)
2004 Apr 7, In Iraq 2 German counter-terrorism GSG-9 security agents were ambushed and went missing while on a routine trip from Jordan to Baghdad.
(AP, 4/10/04)
2004 Apr 8, Shiite Muslim militias held partial control over three southern Iraqi cities, Kufa, Kut and Najaf. Sunni insurgents killed a U.S. Marine in the battle for Fallujah. In escalating violence, gunmen kidnapped eight South Korean civilians. The US military announced 5 deaths. The estimated Iraqi toll was 460.
(AP, 4/8/04)(SFC, 4/9/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 8, In a dramatic video, Iraqi insurgents revealed they had kidnapped 3 Japanese and threatened to burn them alive in 3 days unless Japan agrees to withdraw its troops. The hostages were later released unharmed.
(AP, 4/9/05)
2004 Apr 9, US forces partially reoccupied Kut, the southern city seized by a rebellious Shiite militia, but an American-declared halt in Fallujah was undercut by bursts of gunfire on the first anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. 2 soldiers and a Marine died in separate incidents. Rebels attacked a convoy near Baghdad's airport and kidnapped 2 US soldiers and 7 construction employees of Halliburton subsidiary KBR. 4 bodies were found in the area a few days later. The body of civilian truck driver William Bradley was found in January 2005; Thomas Hamill escaped his captors in May 2004; Timothy Bell remains unaccounted for. Army reservist Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin (20) of Batavia, Ohio, was captured when his fuel convoy, part of the 724th Transportation Co., was ambushed west of Baghdad. Maupin's remains were found in March on the outskirts of Baghdad, about 12 miles from where the convoy was ambushed.
(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.A22)(SFC, 4/13/04, p.A1)(SFC, 4/14/04, p.A15)(AP, 4/9/05)(AP, 6/17/06)(WSJ, 4/28/08, p.A2)
2004 Apr 10, Iraqi government negotiators entered the besieged city of Fallujah as fierce battles raged elsewhere in central Iraq, including Baghdad. In Baqouba 40 Iraqis were killed. A top Iraqi Red Crescent official and his wife were killed in an apparent attack on their car in northern Iraq.
(AP, 4/10/04)
2004 Apr 11, Gunmen shot down a U.S. attack helicopter during fighting in western Baghdad, killing its two crew members. The bloodied bodies of two men, purportedly Americans killed during fighting in Fallujah, were shown on Arab TV. US forces and insurgents agreed to a cease-fire in Fallujah.
(AP, 4/11/04)(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.A23)
2004 Apr 12, Gunfire was largely silenced in the second day of a truce in Fallujah, where Iraqi doctors said 600 people, including many civilians, were killed.
(AP, 4/12/04)
2004 Apr 13, A 2,500-strong U.S. force, backed by tanks and artillery, pushed to the outskirts of the Shiite holy city of Najaf for a showdown with a radical cleric. One soldier was killed enroute. US forces in Fallujah killed over 100 insurgents.
(AP, 4/13/04)(SFC, 4/15/04, p.A17)
2004 Apr 13, Four Italians working as private security guards for a U.S. company in Iraq were reported missing, and an Arab satellite TV broadcaster said they were kidnapped by insurgents.
(AP, 4/13/04)
2004 Apr 14, In Iraq U.S. warplanes and helicopters hammered gunmen in Fallujah, straining a truce there. A 2,500-strong U.S. force massed on the outskirts of the holy city of Najaf for a showdown with radical cleric al-Sadr. Militants executed an Italian captive. A platoon of US Marines came under assault in Anbar Province. In 2005 Michael M. Phillips authored “The Gift of Valor," portraits of the men in action on this day. Cpl. Jason Dunham saved the lives of two of his fellow Marines by jumping on a grenade during an ambush in Karabilah. Dunham died 8 days later. In 2006 Pres. Bush awarded Dunham a posthumous Medal of Honor.
(AP, 4/14/04)(WSJ, 5/31/05, p.D10)(AP, 4/15/04)(http://tinyurl.com/yzc8gh)(WSJ, 1/6/06, p.A1)
2004 Apr 14, The UN emissary to Iraq proposed a caretaker government to replace the Governing Council on June 30 to shepherd the country to free election in Jan 2005.
(SFC, 4/15/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 14, Russia said it will begin the evacuation of some of its citizens from Iraq on in light of the deteriorating security situation in that country.
(AP, 4/14/04)
2004 Apr 15, In Iraq 3 Japanese hostages who had been threatened with death unless Tokyo withdrew its troops from Iraq were released.
(AP, 4/15/04)
2004 Apr 15, Gunmen killed a high-ranking Iranian diplomat in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/15/04)
2004 Apr 15, A U.S. businessman was abducted from his hotel in the southern city of Basra by kidnappers disguised as policemen.
(AP, 4/16/04)
2004 Apr 16, Pres. Bush said he is handing over the lead role in the Iraqi political transition to the UN's top envoy. Pres. Bush and British PM Tony Blair, meeting in Washington, endorsed giving the UN broad control over Iraq's political future.
(SFC, 4/17/04, p.A1)(AP, 4/16/05)
2004 Apr 16, Videotape broadcast on the Arab TV station Al-Jazeera showed Army Pvt. 1st Class Keith M. Maupin, abducted during an attack on a fuel truck convoy near Baghdad a week earlier. Arab television reported June 29, 2004, that Maupin had been killed; he is listed as missing by the U.S. military.
(AP, 4/16/05)
2004 Apr 16, In Iraq U.S. military and civilian officials met with leaders from Fallujah, the first known direct negotiations between Americans and city representatives since the siege of Fallujah began April 5.
(AP, 4/16/04)
2004 Apr 16, Two Iraqi civilians were killed and four wounded when 122 mm rockets fired by insurgents fell short of a military camp and hit a civilian area.
(AP, 4/18/04)
2004 Apr 17, Ten U.S. troops were killed in combat across Iraq, including five U.S. Marines killed in pitched battles near the Syrian border, and an eleventh soldier died in a tank rollover.
(AP, 4/19/04)
2004 Apr 17, Iraqi gunmen opened fire on a coalition military patrol outside of the encircled southern city of Najaf, killing one soldier. 2 gunmen were killed.
(AP, 4/17/04)
2004 Apr 19, In Iraq US officials and local leaders in Fallujah agreed to a number of measures to reduce tensions.
(SFC, 4/20/04, p.A1)(AP, 11/20/08)
2004 Apr 19, Honduras President Ricardo Maduro announced the pullout of his 370 troops from Iraq "in the shortest time possible."
(AP, 4/20/04)(WSJ, 4/20/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 20, In Iraq a barrage of 18 mortars hit a Baghdad jail, killing 21 prisoners.
(AP, 4/20/04)
2004 Apr 21, In Basra, Iraq, 5 suicide attackers detonated simultaneous car bombs against 3 police buildings during rush hour, killing at least 74 people, including 23 children.
(AP, 4/21/04)(SFC, 4/22/04, p.A1)(AP, 4/21/05)
2004 Apr 21, U.S Marines backed by tanks and helicopter gunships battled insurgents in northern Fallujah, killing nine.
(AP, 4/21/04)
2004 Apr 22, The Iraqi health minister said that 576 Iraqi insurgents and civilians had died during the sharp upturn in violence since April 1 that has also taken the lives of at least 100 U.S. soldiers.
(AP, 4/22/04)
2004 Apr 22, A gunman in traditional Arab robe and headdress shot and killed a South African security guard in a Baghdad shop after accusing him of being a Jew.
(Reuters, 4/22/04)
2004 Apr 23, Paul Bremmer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, announced an easing of the ban on members of Saddam Hussein's disbanded party, a move that will allow thousands of former Baathists to return to their positions in the military and government bureaucracy.
(AP, 4/23/04)
2004 Apr 24, Insurgents struck a U.S. military base north of Baghdad with rockets at dawn, killing 4 American soldiers. A rocket crashed into a crowded market in the Iraqi capital, killing at least three people. In addition up to 12 Iraqis were killed in several attacks, including an apparent suicide car bombing in Tikrit. At least 33 Iraqis died this day in multiple incidents.
(AP, 4/24/04)(SSFC, 4/25/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 24, Three small dhows, a boat often used in the Gulf, exploded in the Gulf waters off Iraq's port of Umm Qasr when approached by teams sent to intercept them. Oil terminals at al-Basra and Khawr al-Amaya were targeted. The dhow near Khawr al-Amaya flipped over a U.S. Navy interception craft, killing 2 US sailors and wounding five others. Al Qaeda later claimed responsibility
(AP, 4/25/04)(WSJ, 4/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 25, A roadside bomb exploded by a U.S. patrol in Baghdad, killing a U.S. soldier and sparking a gunbattle.
(AP, 4/25/04)
2004 Apr 26, In Baghdad, Iraq, an explosion leveled part of a building as American troops searched it for suspected production of "chemical munitions." 2 soldiers were killed and 5 wounded in the blast. In a Fallujah suburb 1 Marine was killed along with 8 insurgents.
(AP, 4/26/04)(SFC, 4/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 26, Iraqi kidnappers said they would kill 3 Italian hostages unless Italians rally against Italy's participation in the occupation of Iraq.
(SFC, 4/27/04, p.A8)
2004 Apr 27, It was reported that ten US contractors in Iraq have paid over $300 million in penalties since 2000 to resolve various allegations.
(SFC, 4/27/04, p.C1)
2004 Apr 27, US troops fought gunbattles with militiamen overnight near the city of Najaf, killing 64 gunmen and destroying an anti-aircraft system belonging to the insurgents.
(AP, 4/27/04)
2004 Apr 27, Iraqi police moved into the streets of the besieged city of Fallujah following hours of pounding by US warplanes and artillery on Sunni insurgents.
(AP, 4/27/05)
2004 Apr 28, In Iraq a series of explosions and gunfire rocked Fallujah in new fighting the day after a heavy battle in which U.S. warplanes and artillery pounded the city in a show of force against Sunni insurgents. Elsewhere 1 US and 2 Ukrainian soldiers were killed.
(AP, 4/28/04)(WSJ, 4/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 28, CBS broadcast photos on “60 Minutes" showing US abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
(SFC, 5/6/04, p.A17)
2004 Apr 29, U.S. Marines announced an agreement to end a bloody, nearly month long siege of Fallujah, saying American forces will pull back and allow an all-Iraqi force commanded by one of Saddam Hussein's generals to take over security. Elsewhere 10 U.S. soldiers were killed, 8 of them from a car bomb south of Baghdad.
(AP, 4/29/04)(WSJ, 4/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 30, Graphic photographs were shown on TV screens across the Middle East of naked Iraqi prisoners being humiliated by smiling U.S. military police. Pres. Bush condemned the mistreatment of prisoners, saying it "does not reflect the nature of the American people."
(AP, 4/30/04)
2004 Apr 30, Iraqi troops led by Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh (49), one of Saddam Hussein's generals, replaced U.S. Marines and raised the Iraqi flag at the entrance to Fallujah under a plan to end the month long siege of the city. A suicide car bomb on the outskirts killed two Americans and wounded six. Saleh was replaced May 3 by Muhammad Latif, a former Iraqi intelligence officer.
(AP, 4/30/04)(SFC, 5/4/04, p.A11)
2004 Apr 30, U.S. troops and radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed to a three-day truce in negotiations to end the standoff at Najaf.
(AP, 4/30/04)
2004 Apr 30, The Associated Press found that around 1,361 Iraqis were killed from April 1 to April 30, 10 times the figure of at least 136 U.S. troops who died during the same period.
(AP, 4/30/04)
2004 Apr, Thamir Mubarak Atrouz, the mastermind behind 2 deadly suicide attacks, August 19 and 29, 2003, was killed in Fallujah. Al-Qaida in Iraq reported his death in November 2005.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2004 May 1, Photos were widely published showing abuse by US soldiers of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Nov and Dec of 2003.
(SFC, 5/1/04, p.A12)
2004 May 1, In Iraq US top commander Lt. Gen. Sanchez notified 6 officers of his intent to issue a memorandum of reprimand for the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.
(SFC, 5/4/04, p.A1)
2004 May 2, American hostage Thomas Hamill, kidnapped three weeks ago in an insurgent attack on his convoy, was found by U.S. forces south of Tikrit after he apparently escaped from his captors.
(AP, 5/2/04)
2004 May 2, Shiite militiamen attacked a U.S. convoy in southern Iraq, killing two soldiers and setting vehicles on fire. Two other American soldiers were killed in Baghdad. At least 9 US soldiers were killed across central and northern Iraq.
(AP, 5/2/04)(SFC, 5/3/04, p.A1)
2004 May 3, Militiamen pounded a U.S. base in the most intense attacks yet on U.S. troops in the Shiite city of Najaf. US troops killed 20 Shiite militiamen in Najaf. Insurgents opened fire in the Baghdad, killing one American soldier and wounding two others.
(AP, 5/3/04)(WSJ, 5/4/04, p.A1)
2004 May 4, Shiite militiamen fired several mortar shells at a U.S. base in Najaf and at a city hall guarded by Bulgarian troops in another Shiite city. Elsewhere, four U.S. soldiers died after their Humvee overturned during a combat patrol.
(AP, 5/4/04)
2004 May 4, The US Army disclosed that the deaths of 10 prisoners and abuse of 10 more in Iraq and Afghanistan were under criminal investigation, as US commanders in Baghdad announced interrogation changes.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2004 May 5, Pres. Bush gave interviews to 2 Arab-language networks saying he and the American people were appalled by the revelations of prisoner mistreatment in Iraq.
(SFC, 5/6/04, p.A1)
2004 May 5, Coalition forces raided buildings used by a militia loyal to a radical Shiite cleric in two southern cities and clashed with militiamen elsewhere in fighting that killed 15 Iraqis.
(AP, 5/5/04)
2004 May 6, Pres. Bush told King Abdullah II of Jordan that he was sorry for the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by US guards.
(SFC, 5/7/04, p.A1)
2004 May 6, An audio recording attributed to Osama bin Laden offered rewards in gold for the killing of top U.S. and U.N. officials in Iraq or of the citizens of any nation fighting there.
(AP, 5/7/04)
2004 May 6, A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside the so-called Green Zone that houses the U.S. headquarters in Baghdad, killing five Iraqi civilians and a U.S. soldier. U.S. soldiers backed by tanks and armored fighting vehicles seized control of the governor's office from Shiite militiamen in the city of Najaf. As many as 41 Iraqis were killed in Najaf.
(AP, 5/6/04)(SFC, 5/7/04, p.A17)
2004 May 7, Army Pvt. 1st Class Lynndie England, shown in photographs smiling and pointing at naked Iraqi prisoners, was charged by the military with assaulting the detainees and conspiring to mistreat them, becoming the seventh soldier charged in the scandal.
(AP, 5/7/05)
2004 May 7, In Iraq gunmen ambushed a Polish TV crew south of Baghdad, killing a producer and a correspondent who was Poland's best-known war reporter.
(AP, 5/7/04)
2004 May 8, Gunmen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rampaged through Basra and Amarah, attacking British patrols and government buildings. Witnesses in Basra reported 9 militiamen killed in the fighting. One child was killed when his house was struck by a projectile. Attackers in Habhab set off a bomb outside the house of a police official killing three members of his family and wounding three others. A pipeline was bombed and slowed the flow of export oil by as much as 25%.
(AP, 5/8/04)(SFC, 5/11/04, p.A9)
2004 May 9, U.S. and British troops clashed with forces of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for a second day. 4 Iraqis were killed in an explosion in a Baghdad market. Militants loyal to al-Sadr took over Sadr City.
(AP, 5/9/04)(SFC, 5/10/04, p.A1)(SFC, 5/11/04, p.A9)
2004 May 10, A U.S. aircraft destroyed a Baghdad office of Muqtada al-Sadr. His followers said two people were killed and six injured. US military said as many as 35 Al-Sadr supporters were killed. Gunmen fired on a vehicle in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, killing two foreign construction workers and their Iraqi driver.
(AP, 5/10/04)(SFC, 5/11/04, p.A9)(USAT, 5/11/04, p.7A)
2004 May 10, In Iraq one Russian worker was killed and two were taken hostage 18 miles south of Baghdad.
(AP, 5/11/04)
2004 May 11, A video, posted on an al-Qaida-linked Web site, showed the beheading of Nick Berg, an American civilian in Iraq. The execution was carried out to avenge abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, aka Ahmad Fadhil al Khalayeh, was later identified as the beheader. Nick Berg (26) was from West Chester, Pa.
(AP, 5/11/04)(SFC, 5/12/04, p.A1)(SFC, 5/14/04, p.A13)(ST, 5/14/04, p.A17)
2004 May 11, A bomb in a crowded market in Kirkuk killed 4 Iraqis and wounded 3.
(WSJ, 5/18/04, p.A3)
2004 May 12, In Iraq US soldiers backed by tanks and helicopters battled fighters loyal to a radical cleric near a mosque in Karbala, hours after Iraqi leaders agreed on a proposal that would end his standoff. As many as 25 insurgents were killed.
(AP, 5/12/04)
2004 May 14, The Pentagon announced that Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top US commander in Iraq, had banned virtually all coercive interrogation practices on Iraqi prisoners.
(SFC, 5/15/04, p.A1)
2004 May 14, Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper published a front-page apology after photographs purportedly showing British forces abusing Iraqi prisoners turned out to be fake.
(AP, 5/14/05)
2004 May 14, In Iraq 4 people were detained in Salaheddin province for the killing of American Nicholas Berg, whose decapitation was captured on videotape. The informant who tipped off authorities was killed by unidentified gunmen the day after the arrests.
(AP, 5/21/04)
2004 May 14, In Iraq British troops engaged in a battle near the town of at Al Majar Al Kabir. In 2008 lawyers released evidence that they said shows British soldiers may have tortured and executed up to 20 Iraqis after the battle of Danny Boy. On Feb 4, 2013, Britain’s Al-Sweady Inquiry began oral hearings in the case.
(AP, 2/22/08)(AP, 3/4/13)
2004 May 15, U.S. forces fought militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Karbala, while insurgents in the northern city of Mosul attacked an Iraqi army recruiting center, killing four people and wounding 19.
(AP, 5/15/04)
2004 May 15, In Iraq a U.S. soldier was killed and another was wounded in a roadside bombing. The death brought to 776 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the start of military operations in Iraq last year. Of those, 566 died from hostile action and 210 died of non-hostile causes. At least 38 Iraqis were killed over the last 24 hours.
(AP, 5/16/04)(SSFC, 5/16/04, p.A3)
2004 May 15, In Iraq a US patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad that contained the nerve agent sarin. This was the first case of an IUD used to disperse a nerve agent. In 2014 Staff Sgt. James Burns and Pfc. Michael Yandell, wounded in the attack, shared their story in a NY Times report.
(SSFC, 12/7/14, p.A19)
2004 May 16, Gunmen In Baghdad fired on a minibus, killing two Iraqi women who worked for the U.S.-led coalition. Assailants in a southern city killed a coalition translator and critically injured another.
(AP, 5/16/04)
2004 May 17, Abdel-Zahraa Othman, also known as Izzadine Saleem, the head of the Iraqi Governing Council, was killed in a suicide car bombing near a checkpoint outside the coalition headquarters in central Baghdad. 8 others were also killed.
(AP, 5/17/04)(WSJ, 5/18/04, p.A3)
2004 May 17, Two Russian workers held hostage in Iraq for a week were freed.
(AP, 5/17/04)
2004 May 18, Before dawn U.S. troops killed nine fighters loyal to al-Sadr in Karbala. Ten Iraqi fighters were wounded in the clashes near the city's Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas shrines. At least five Iraqi insurgents were killed during clashes in Karbala later in the day.
(AP, 5/18/04)
2004 May 19, US Army Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits received the maximum penalty, one year in prison, reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge, in the first court-martial stemming from mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.
(AP, 5/19/04)
2004 May 19, In Iraq US bombing killed up to 45 people, mostly women and children from the Bou Fahad tribe, at Mogr el-Deeb near the Syrian border. Witnesses said the site was a wedding celebration while US officials called it a way station for infiltrators.
(AP, 5/20/04)(SFC, 5/20/04, p.A1)
2004 May 20, Iraqi police backed by American soldiers raided the home and offices of Ahmad Chalabi, a prominent Iraqi politician.
(AP, 5/20/04)
2004 May 21, American AC-130 gunships and tanks bombarded militia positions near two shrines in the holy city of Karbala, killing 18 fighters loyal to a rebel cleric.
(AP, 5/21/04)
2004 May 22, In Baghdad a car bomb exploded outside the home of a deputy interior minister, wounding him and killing at least five people, including four police.
(AP, 5/22/04)
2004 May 23, In Iraq US troops battled fighters loyal to a radical Muslim cleric in his stronghold of Kufa, and at least 32 insurgents and three civilians were killed. Gunmen killed a police captain and a university student who were headed by car to Baghdad from Baqouba. Insurants loyal to al-Sadr gave up control of central Karbala.
(AP, 5/23/04)(SFC, 5/24/04, p.A1)
2004 May 24, In Iraq an explosion destroyed a civilian car with armor plating near an entrance to the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition, killing four people including two British civilians. An Associated Press survey found that more than 5,500 Iraqis died violently in just Baghdad and three provinces in the first 12 months of the occupation.
(AP, 5/24/04)
2004 May 24, Pres. Bush offered a 5 step plan in Iraq: 1) hand over authority to a sovereign Iraqi government; 2) Help establish security; 3) Continue rebuilding the infrastructure; 4) Encourage more int’l. support; 5) Move toward a national election.
(SFC, 5/25/04, p.A1)
2004 May 25, In Iraq with U.S. Marines gone and central government authority virtually nonexistent, Fallujah resembles an Islamic mini-state and anyone caught selling alcohol is flogged and paraded in the city.
(AP, 5/25/04)
2004 May 25, A sacred shrines in Najaf suffered minor damage during clashes between U.S. forces and radical Shiite militiamen that killed at least 13 Iraqis, some of them civilians.
(AP, 5/25/04)
2004 May 26, U.S. troops captured a key lieutenant of radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr during overnight clashes in Najaf that killed 24 people and wounded nearly 50.
(AP, 5/26/04)
2004 May 26, In Iraq masked gunmen attacked Russian technicians heading to work at a major electric power station, killing two of them. In Moscow, the firm's executive director, Alexander Rybinsky, announced the full evacuation of company personnel from Iraq. Some 241 employees are expected to start leaving.
(AP, 5/26/04)
2004 May 27, The U.S.-led coalition agreed to suspend offensive operations in Najaf after local leaders struck a deal with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end a bloody standoff.
(AP, 5/27/04)(SFC, 5/28/04, p.A1)
2004 May 27, In Iraq gunmen south of Baghdad attacked a car carrying Japanese journalists Shinsuke Hashida (61) and his nephew, Kotaro Ogawa (33). The vehicle burst into flames and both were killed.
(AP, 5/28/04)
2004 May 28, The Iraqi Governing Council nominated one of its own members, Iyad Allawi, a Shiite Muslim physician who spent years in exile, to become prime minister of the new government to take power June 30.
(AP, 5/28/04)
2004 May 31, U.S. troops clashed with Shiite militiamen in the holy city of Kufa for a second day in fighting that killed two Americans. In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near the headquarters of the U.S. coalition, killing at least two people and injuring more than 20.
(AP, 5/31/04)
2004 Jun 1, Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, a tribal chief, was named interim president of Iraq.
(AP, 6/1/04)
2004 Jun 1, In Iraq bombs exploded in central Baghdad and near a U.S. military base in the northern city of Beiji. At least 14 people were killed.
(AP, 6/1/04)(SFC, 6/2/04, A13)
2004 Jun 2, Militants loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr clashed with U.S. forces near a mosque in Kufa and in Baghdad. Officials said 6 Iraqis were killed and 40 others wounded.
(AP, 6/2/04)
2004 Jun 3, Several mortar shells were fired at the Italian Embassy in Baghdad, causing some Iraqi deaths.
(AP, 6/3/04)
2004 Jun 4, American and Shiite militia forces agreed to withdraw from the holy cities of Najaf and Kufa and turn over security to Iraqi police. 5 Americans were killed and 5 wounded in 3 clashes in Sadr City. US combat deaths reached 601.
(AP, 6/4/04)(SFC, 6/5/04, A1)
2004 Jun 5, In Iraq a roadside bomb killed an American soldier and wounded 3 others in the 2nd fatal attack on U.S. troops in Baghdad in as many days. Iraq's new leader called for a halt to attacks on foreign troops.
(AP, 6/5/04)
2004 Jun 5, In Iraq 8 people stormed into a police station south of Baghdad, opened fire and killed seven officers before planting explosives to destroy the building.
(AP, 6/6/04)
2004 Jun 6, A car bomb exploded near the gate to a U.S.-run base north of Baghdad, killing six people and injuring 20 others. Assailants ambushed a convoy of security contractors traveling to Baghdad's airport, killing 2 Americans and 2 Poles working for a U.S. security company. The US military free 320 prisoners at Abu Ghraib leaving some 3,100. Attacks over the last 24 hours killed at least 21 people.
(AP, 6/6/04)(SFC, 6/7/04, A10)
2004 Jun 7, In Iraq 9 militias agreed to disband in exchange for veteran’s pensions, jobs and other rewards. The Mahdi Army of al-Sadr was not included.
(SFC, 6/8/04, A6)
2004 Jun 8, Iraqi officials declared that the interim government has assumed full control of the country's oil industry.
(AP, 6/8/04)
2004 Jun 8, In Iraq 3 Italians and a Polish contractor who'd been abducted were freed by US special forces.
(AP, 6/8/05)
2004 Jun 8, In Iraq 2 car bombs exploded in Mosul and Baquoba, killing at least 14 Iraqis and one U.S. soldier. 6 coalition soldiers, two Poles, three Slovaks and a Latvian, were killed in an explosion while defusing mines in Suwayrah.
(AP, 6/8/04)
2004 Jun 8, The UN voted 15-0 to accept a US and British resolution to end the formal co-occupation of Iraq on June 30.
(SFC, 6/9/04, A1)
2004 Jun 9, Kurdish parties warned that they might bolt Iraq's new government if Shiites gain too much power. Saboteurs blew up an oil pipeline, forcing a 10 percent cut in electricity output.
(AP, 6/9/04)
2004 Jun 9, In Fallujah a mortar attack killed 12 members of the Iraqi security force.
(WSJ, 6/10/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 10, In Iraq Shiite gunmen seized a police station in Najaf. 4 Iraqis were killed and 13 were injured.
(AP, 6/10/04)
2004 Jun 11, In Iraq gunmen stormed a police station south of Baghdad, drove off the poorly armed police and blew up the building in the 4th such attack against Iraqi security installations over the last week.
(AP, 6/11/04)
2004 Jun 11, Al-Sharqiya (The Eastern), a privately owned TV operation, began broadcasting in Iraq. Founder Saad al-Bazzaz (54) invested $30 million in start-up costs.
(WSJ, 8/22/05, p.B1)
2004 Jun 12, In Iraq gunmen killed Bassam Salih Kubba, a deputy foreign minister as he went to work in Baghdad.
(AP, 6/12/04)
2004 Jun 12, A Lebanese Foreign Ministry official said Iraqi gunmen had kidnapped three Lebanese in Iraq and killed one of them.
(AP, 6/12/04)
2004 Jun 13, A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb near a U.S. military camp in Baghdad, killing at least 12 people, and wounding 13. Gunmen killed a senior Education Ministry official in the second assassination of a government figure in as many days.
(AP, 6/13/04)
2004 Jun 14, The US military released hundreds of prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison.
(AP, 6/14/04)
2004 Jun 14, A car bomb tore through a convoy in central Baghdad, killing at least 12 people, including an American and four other foreigners working to rebuild Iraq's power plants.
(AP, 6/14/04)
2004 Jun 14, The bodies of 6 Shiite truck drivers were found at a morgue in Ramadi, west of Fallujah. They had sought refuge in a police station but were handed over to a hard-line Sunni cleric because they were Shiites.
(AP, 6/15/04)
2004 Jun 15, Iraq's interim government received a boost when its neighbors welcomed the transfer of sovereignty in that country at the end of June. Two explosions on pipelines in southern Iraq shut down the main export terminal. At least 4 contract workers were killed in a convoy ambush near Baghdad Int’l. Airport.
(AP, 6/15/04)(SFC, 6/16/04, p.A18)
2004 Jun 16, Saboteurs blasted a southern pipeline for the 2nd time in as many days, shutting down Iraq's oil exports. Gunmen killed a security chief for the state-run Northern Oil Co.
(AP, 6/16/04)
2004 Jun 17, In Iraq 2 car bombings killed 41 people and wounding 142. A sport utility vehicle packed with artillery shells blew up in a crowd of people waiting to volunteer for the Iraqi military. Another car bomb north of the capital killed six members of the Iraqi security forces.
(AP, 6/17/04)(WSJ, 6/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 18, Insurgents clashed with U.S. forces northeast of Baghdad for the second time in as many days, and two of the militants were killed.
(AP, 6/18/04)
2004 Jun 19, A US military plane fired missiles into a residential neighborhood in Fallujah, killing 26 people and leveling houses. The target was a hideout of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network. 23 of the 26 killed were foreign terrorists. 3 Iraqis were among the dead.
(AP, 6/19/04)(SFC, 6/21/04, p.A7)
2004 Jun 20, In Iraq a roadside bomb exploded along a highway leading to Baghdad's airport, killing two Iraqi soldiers and wounding 11 others.
(AP, 6/20/04)
2004 Jun 20, The Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape purportedly from al-Qaida-linked militants showing Kim Sun Il (33), a South Korean hostage, begging for his life and pleading with his government to withdraw troops from Iraq.
(AP, 6/21/04)(SFC, 6/21/04, p.A7)
2004 Jun 20, Iraq resumed oil exports of about 1 million barrels a day through its southern Basra terminal after completing repairs to pipelines sabotaged by insurgents.
(AP, 6/21/04)
2004 Jun 21, In Iraq ambushes in Ramadi left 4 US soldiers dead. A roadside bomb south of Mosul killed 5 Iraqi contractors.
(SFC, 6/22/04, p.D1)
2004 Jun 22, Islamic militants beheaded a South Korean who pleaded in a heart-wrenching videotape that "I don't want to die" after his government refused to pull its troops from Iraq. Hours later, the United States launched an airstrike in Fallujah, where residents said the strike hit a parking lot. 3 people were killed and 9 wounded. Elsewhere 2 American soldiers were killed and one wounded in an attack on a convoy near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad. In 2006 it was reported that Spc. Patrick Ryan McCaffrey and 2nd Lt. Andre Demetrius Tyson had been killed by Iraqi soldiers patrolling alongside US soldiers near Balad.
(AP, 6/22/04)(SFC, 6/21/06, p.A1)
2004 Jun 23, In Iraq Polish forces purchased 17 rockets for a Soviet-era launcher and two mortar rounds containing the nerve agent cyclosarin for an undisclosed sum.
(AP, 7/2/04)
2004 Jun 24, Western advisers completed their handover Iraq’s remaining government ministries. The final 11 of 25 were handed over 6 days before the official end of coalition occupation.
(SFC, 6/25/04, p.A13)
2004 Jun 24, Insurgents launched coordinated attacks against police and government buildings across Iraq. The strikes killed over 105 people, including three American soldiers. In Mosul alone 4 car bombs killed 62 people.
(AP, 6/24/04)(SFC, 6/25/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 25, US air strikes hit Fallujah and up to 25 people were killed. Al-Sadr announced a unilateral cease fire.
(SFC, 6/26/04, p.A13)
2004 Jun 26, Insurgents launched attacks in the strife-ridden city of Baqouba, and nine people died, six of them insurgents. Attacks occurred in other cities north and south of Baghdad.
(AP, 6/26/04)
2004 Jun 26, In Iraq explosions that rocked the center of the predominantly Shiite Muslim city of Hillah killed 40 people and injured 22.
(AP, 6/27/04)
2004 Jun 27, Insurgents threatened to behead Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, a U.S. Marine who'd vanished in Iraq, in a videotape that aired on Arab television. However, Hassoun contacted American officials in his native Lebanon the following month; after being reunited with his family in Utah, Hassoun disappeared in December.
(AP, 6/27/05)
2004 Jun 28, The U.S.-led coalition in a surprise move, transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days early.
(AP, 6/28/04)
2004 Jun 28, NATO leaders agreed to help train Iraq's armed forces just hours after the new government in Baghdad took over sovereignty from the U.S.-led administration.
(AP, 6/28/04)
2004 Jun 30, The Iraqis took legal custody of Saddam Hussein and 11 of his top lieutenants, a first step toward the ousted dictator's expected trial for crimes against humanity.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2004 Jul 1, A defiant Saddam Hussein rejected charges of war crimes and genocide in a court appearance, telling a judge "this is all theater, the real criminal is Bush."
(AP, 7/1/04)
2004 Jul 1, In Iraq US jets pounded a suspected safehouse of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Fallujah.
(AP, 7/1/04)
2004 Jul 3, Insurgents attacked an Iraqi checkpoint south of the capital, killing five national guard soldiers and wounding five more.
(AP, 7/3/04)
2004 Jul 4, The Army's 1st Armored Division stowed its flags and prepared to head home after the longest tour in Iraq of any American combat command — 15 months.
(AP, 7/4/04)
2004 Jul 5, US-led coalition forces launched an air strike in the restive city of Fallujah on a suspected safe house used by followers of al-Zarqawi. The attack killed 15 people.
(AP, 7/6/04)
2004 Jul 5, Rwaida Al Shemre (33), an Iraqi interpreter for the US 3rd Batalion, was assassinated as she was driven to work.
(SSFC, 8/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 6, A group of armed, masked Iraqi men threatened to kill Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi if he did not immediately leave the country, accusing him of murdering innocent Iraqis and defiling the Muslim religion.
(AP, 7/6/04)
2004 Jul 6, In Iraq a car bomb exploded in the town of Khalis, killing 13 people attending a wake for the victims of a previous attack.
(AP, 7/6/04)
2004 Jul 7, The Iraqi government issued a long-anticipated package of security laws to help crush insurgents, including a provision allowing interim PM Iyad Allawi to impose martial law. 4 Iraqi National Guard soldiers were killed and 20 injured from a gunbattle in central Baghdad.
(AP, 7/7/04)(SFC, 7/8/04, p.A15)
2004 Jul 8, In Iraq insurgents hit a military compound in Samarra with a car bomb and mortar fire. 5 US soldiers were killed and 20 wounded.
(SFC, 7/9/04, p.A14)
2004 Jul 9, In Baghdad, Iraq, 2 mortar shells targeting a hotel housing foreigners in the capital hit a house instead, killing a child and wounding three others.
(AP, 7/9/04)
2004 Jul 9, Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun (24) arrived in Germany from Lebanon, where he had turned up at the US Embassy in Beirut a day earlier. He had been missing since June 20 from his base near the troubled Iraqi city of Fallujah. The Pentagon announced that Hassoun would be charged with desertion, larceny and wrongful disposition of military property in connection with his service-issued M9 pistol that disappeared with him and never turned up. On January 4, 2005, he was again labeled a deserter after failing to return to his base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina from authorized leave. He was reportedly in Lebanon.
(AP, 7/10/04)(SFC, 7/9/04, p.A1)(www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/01/05/hassoun.case/index.html)
2004 Jul 10, In Iraq US Marines clashed with insurgents in Ramadi, a city known as a stronghold of Saddam Hussein supporters, killing 3 of the attackers and wounding 5 others. Saboteurs attacked a natural gas pipeline that feeds into a northern power station.
(AP, 7/10/04)
2004 Jul 10, Four U.S. Marines were killed in a vehicle accident while conducting security operations in Anbar, an area of western Iraq.
(AP, 7/11/04)
2004 Jul 11, Insurgents ambushed 2 US military patrols north of Baghdad and killed 3 US soldiers and an Iraqi civilian.
(AP, 7/11/04)(SSFC, 7/11/04, p.A8)
2004 Jul 11, Gunmen killed the head of a regional office of one Iraq's largest Shiite parties in a drive-by shooting south of the capital.
(AP, 7/12/04)
2004 Jul 12, Iraqi police in Baghdad jailed over 500 criminal suspects in a large anti-crime offensive. 1 suspect was killed in the crime-ridden Bab al-Sheikh neighborhood.
(USAT, 7/4/04, p.5A)
2004 Jul 13, American troops in Afghanistan numbered about 17,000 with some 140,000 serving in Iraq.
(WSJ, 7/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 14, In Iraq a suicide attacker detonated a massive car bomb at a checkpoint near the British Embassy and the interim government's headquarters in Baghdad, killing 11 people.
(SFC, 7/14/04, p.A12)(AP, 7/14/05)
2004 Jul 14, Militants in Iraq said they killed a captive Bulgarian truck driver and threatened to put another hostage to death in 24 hours.
(AP, 7/14/04)
2004 Jul 14, Gov. Osama Youssef Kashmoula, a university professor, was gunned down as his convoy traveled to Baghdad for meetings with police officials on improving security.
(AP, 7/15/04)
2004 Jul 14, Mortar fire destroyed a cigarette filter factory in Baghdad putting some 1,200 Iraqis out of work.
(SFC, 7/22/04, p.A13)
2004 Jul 15, In Iraq attackers detonated a car bomb near police and government buildings in the western city of Haditha, killing 10 people. PM Alawi announced the formation of a new national security agency to fight the insurgency.
(AP, 7/15/04)(SFC, 7/16/04, p.A12)
2004 Jul 17, A car bomb struck the Iraqi justice minister's convoy as it passed through western Baghdad, killing four of his bodyguards. The minister was unhurt in the blast. A roadside bomb hit a U.S. convoy, killing one U.S. soldier.
(AP, 7/17/04)
2004 Jul 18, Militants killed Essam al-Dijaili, the head of Iraq’s military's supply department, in a drive-by shooting as he walked into his house in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 18, American jets hit a position in Fallujah purportedly used by foreign militants, demolishing a house and killing 14 people.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 19, Iraq announced the appointment of 43 new ambassadors in its first move to re-engage with the world.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 19, An Egyptian truck driver held hostage for two weeks by insurgents in Iraq was freed and taken to the Egyptian Embassy.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 19, A suicide bomber in a fuel truck blew it up at a police station in southwest Baghdad, killing nine people and wounding about 60.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 19, The Philippines said that it has completed the withdrawal of its peacekeeping contingent from Iraq.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 20, A Filipino truck driver held hostage in Iraq for nearly two weeks was freed, a day after his nation withdrew its final peacekeepers from Iraq.
(AP, 7/20/04)
2004 Jul 20, A bomb attack on an Iraqi minibus killed four civilians and injured two others near Baqouba.
(AP, 7/20/04)
2004 Jul 21, Insurgents in Iraq said they have kidnapped 6 more foreign hostages, 3 Indians, 2 Kenyans and an Egyptian. They threatened to behead one every 72 hours unless their employer shuts down operations in Iraq.
(SFC, 7/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 21, Fighting between US troops and insurgents in Ramadi left 25 Iraqis dead and 17 wounded. A decapitated corpse was found in Baiji.
(SFC, 7/23/04, p.A3)
2004 Jul 22, It was reported that over 200 doctors had been kidnapped in Iraq since the end of the war and that an estimated 10-30 kidnappings take place every day, mostly in Baghdad.
(WSJ, 7/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 23, Gunmen in Mosul attacked a retired Iraqi general as he headed to a mosque to pray, killing him and another man. Maj. Gen. Salim Majeed Blesh (58) had worked for the former U.S. occupation government.
(AP, 7/23/04)
2004 Jul 23, Iraqi insurgents in Baghdad kidnapped Muhammad Mamdouh Qutb, a 3rd ranking official of the Egyptian Embassy, demanding his country abandon any plans it had to send security experts to Iraq.
(SFC, 7/24/04, p.A13)(AP, 7/23/05)
2004 Jul 23, A van carrying Iraqi civilians collided with a U.S. tank near Baghdad, killing nine people and injuring 10.
(AP, 7/23/04)
2004 Jul 24, Gunmen kidnapped the head of an Iraqi government-owned construction company in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/24/04)
2004 Jul 25, American and Iraqi forces clashed with insurgents in a battle that escalated from gunfire to artillery barrages north of Baghdad, killing 13 Iraqi militants.
(AP, 7/25/04)
2004 Jul 25, Gunmen killed Brig. Khaled Dawoud, a former regional official who worked under Saddam Hussein's government, and his son in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/25/04)
2004 Jul 26, Al-Qaida-linked Islamic militants threatened to "shake the earth" everywhere in Italy if Rome does not withdraw troops from Iraq. The Internet statement, attributed to the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, was the 2nd such threat against the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in two weeks.
(AP, 7/26/04)
2004 Jul 26, A suicide car bomber attacked near a U.S. base in the northern city of Mosul, killing three Iraqis. Assassins gunned down a senior Interior Ministry official and militants said they kidnapped two Jordanian truck drivers in spiraling violence in Iraq. Basra gunmen shot 2 women dead and wounded 3 who were on their way to cleaning jobs at Bechtel.
(AP, 7/26/04)(WSJ, 7/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 26, Attackers shot and killed Col. Musab al-Awadi, the ministry's deputy chief of tribal affairs, and 2 of his bodyguards in a drive-by shooting at the official's Baghdad home.
(AP, 7/26/04)
2004 Jul 26, An Egyptian diplomat held hostage by militants in Iraq for three days was released and was in good condition.
(AP, 7/26/04)
2004 Jul 27, A Baghdad mortar barrage killed an Iraqi garbage collector and injured 14 coalition soldiers.
(AP, 7/27/04)
2004 Jul 27, The chief executive of a Jordanian firm working for the U.S. military in Iraq said he was withdrawing from the country to secure the release of two employees who have been kidnapped by militants.
(AP, 7/27/04)
2004 Jul 28, A suicide car bomb exploded on a downtown boulevard in Baqouba, shredding a bus full of passengers and nearby shops and killing 70 people, almost all Iraqi civilians.
(AP, 7/28/05)
2004 Jul 28, A fierce battle between insurgents and Iraqi soldiers fighting alongside multinational forces in the south-central city of Suwariyah left 7 Iraqi soldiers and 35 insurgents dead.
(AP, 7/28/04)
2004 Jul 29, Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi met with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Saudi Arabia and urged Muslim nations to dispatch troops to Iraq to help defeat an insurgency that he said threatens all Islamic countries.
(AP, 7/29/04)(WSJ, 7/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 30, In Iraq fierce overnight fighting between U.S. Marines backed by fighter aircraft and insurgents using small arms and mortars killed 13 Iraqis in Fallujah overnight.
(AP, 7/30/04)
2004 Jul 31, Gunmen killed the head of a state-run teacher's institute as he left a mosque after prayers, an attack in apparent retribution for his refusal to stop working for Iraqi authorities.
(AP, 7/31/04)
2004 Aug 1, A roadside bombing near the town of Samarra killed one U.S. soldier and wounded two others. A car bomb exploded outside a police station in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing at least five people and injuring 53 others. The blast followed a night of clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents that killed 12 Iraqis and wounded 39 others in Fallujah. Car bombings in Baghdad targeted at 4 churches and at least 11 people including 2 children were killed.
(AP, 8/1/04)(SFC, 8/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 1, A militant group claiming links to al Qaeda has given Italy a 15-day deadline to withdraw its troops from Iraq or face attacks.
(AP, 8/1/04)
2004 Aug 1, A Kenyan government spokesman said 7 truck drivers taken hostage in Iraq have been released.
(AP, 8/1/04)
2004 Aug 1, A Lebanese hostage was freed unharmed after Iraqi police raided his kidnappers' hideout in an operation that ended with the arrest of three terror suspects.
(AP, 8/2/04)
2004 Aug 2, Masked gunmen killed a Turkish hostage with three gunshots to the head, according to a video posted on the Internet, and the Turkish truckers' union said it would stop bringing supplies to U.S. forces in Iraq. A car bomb in Baquba killed at least 3 Iraqi national guardsmen. 6 American service members were reported killed over the last 24 hours.
(AP, 8/2/04)(SFC, 8/4/04, p.A3)
2004 Aug 3, Fierce gunbattles broke out between Iraqi police and dozens of masked militants roaming the northern city of Mosul, killing 12 Iraqis and wounding 26 others.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2004 Aug 4, Fighting between insurgents and Iraqi security forces in Mosul left at least 22 dead. At least 14 of the dead were civilians.
(SFC, 8/5/04, p.A12)
2004 Aug 5, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on his supporters to rise against US-led security forces. Fighting quickly spread to other Shiite areas, threatening a shaky two-month-old truce. Insurgents blew up a bomb in a minibus and opened fire on a crowd outside a police station south of Baghdad, killing at least five people and wounding 21
(AP, 8/5/04)(SFC, 8/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 6, Abdul Karim Rawi, gov. of Iraq’s Anbar province, resigned under pressure from insurgents who had kidnapped his 3 sons.
(SFC, 8/7/04, p.A13)
2004 Aug 6, There was intense fighting in Najaf. The U.S. military said 300 militants were killed in the past two days. Assailants in Iraq killed 3 US servicemen, one in the capital and two in the south.
(AP, 8/6/04)(AP, 8/7/04)
2004 Aug 7, Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi signed a long-awaited amnesty law that would pardon Iraqis who have played minor roles in the country's 15-month-long insurgency. The Iraqi government closed the Iraqi offices of the Arab television station Al-Jazeera for 30 days, accusing it of inciting violence.
(AP, 8/7/04)
2004 Aug 7, Clashes between US-led forces and fighters loyal to al-Sadr continued for a 3rd day in Najaf and Sadr City. 23 civilians were killed and 121 wounded in the day’s fighting.
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 8, Iraq reinstated capital punishment for people guilty of murder, endangering national security and distributing drugs.
(AP, 8/8/04)
2004 Aug 8, Iraq's chief investigating judge said Ahmad Chalabi, a former Governing Council member with strong U.S. ties, was wanted in Iraq on counterfeiting charges, while Salem Chalabi, head of the special tribunal in charge of trying Saddam, faced an arrest warrant for murder.
(AP, 8/9/04)
2004 Aug 8, Militants in Iraq said they had taken a top Iranian diplomat hostage. Faridoun Jihani was identified as the "consul for the Islamic Republic of Iran in Karbala."
(AP, 8/8/04)
2004 Aug 9, Al Sadr, whose loyalists battled U.S. troops for a fifth straight day, vowed to fight to the death. A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb northeast of Baghdad, killing six people and wounding the deputy governor who was the intended target.
(AP, 8/9/04)
2004 Aug 9, Four masked, black-clad men who said they belong to a group that has claimed responsibility for kidnappings and killings in Iraq beheaded a man identified only as a Bulgarian in a video posted on the Internet.
(AP, 8/9/04)
2004 Aug 11, Ahmad Chalabi, former Iraqi Governing Council member who fell out of favor with the United States, returned to Iraq to face counterfeiting charges, but was never arrested. Charges were later dropped citing lack of evidence. Chalabi regained enough credibility to be made deputy prime minister on April 28, 2005. At the same time he was made acting oil minister. Since then he has thrived in becoming invaluable to the Iraqi government.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Chalabi#Falling_out_with_the_U.S..2C_2004-5)(AP, 8/11/04)
2004 Aug 11, An Islamic Web site carried a videotape that appeared to show militants in Iraq beheading a man identified as a CIA agent. The authenticity of the videotape could not be verified immediately.
(AP, 8/11/04)
2004 Aug 11, U.S. jet fighters bombed the turbulent city of Fallujah, killing four people and injuring four others.
(AP, 8/11/04)
2004 Aug 12, In Najaf thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers launched a major assault on militiamen loyal to a radical Shiite cleric al-Sadr. Fighting in Kut left 72 dead.
(AP, 8/12/04)(WSJ, 8/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 12, The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution extending the U.N. mission in Iraq for a year.
(AP, 8/12/04)
2004 Aug 12, The Iraqi soccer team defeated Portugal in a preliminary match outside Athens.
(SFC, 8/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 13, Iraqi officials and aides to a radical Shiite cleric negotiated to end fighting that has raged in the holy city of Najaf for 9 days, after American forces suspended an offensive against Muqtada al-Sadr's militia.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 13, An Islamic Web site posted still pictures that purportedly show Iraqi militants beheading an Egyptian man they claim was spying for the U.S. military.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 14, Truce talks between Shiite militants and Iraqi officials broke down, raising the prospect of a return to the fierce fighting between militiamen and U.S-Iraqi forces.
(AP, 8/14/04)
2004 Aug 14, U.S. warplanes bombed the Sunni city of Samarrah. Iraqi hospital officials said several people died, while the U.S. military said 50 militants were killed.
(AP, 8/14/04)
2004 Aug 15, In Iraq hundreds of delegates from across Iraq gathered in Baghdad at a three-day national conference intended to bring a taste of democratic debate.
(AP, 8/15/04)
2004 Aug 15, US armored vehicles and tanks rolled back into the streets of Najaf and troops battled Shiite militants in a resumption of fighting after the collapse of negotiations. 2 US soldiers were killed in Najaf when troops came under attack by militiamen loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
(AP, 8/15/04)(AP, 8/16/04)
2004 Aug 18, Iraq's new air force took to the skies for the 1st time since the 2003 US invasion. The limited operations were intended to protect infrastructure facilities and borders.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2004 Aug 18, In Iraq a rocket slammed into a busy market in the northern city of Mosul, killing at least five civilians. U.S. forces clashed with insurgents southeast of Baghdad in fighting that left up to five civilians dead.
(AP, 8/18/04)
2004 Aug 19, In Iraq PM Allawi gave what he said was a final warning to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to disarm and the leave the holy shrine in Najaf.
(SFC, 8/20/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 20, A bioethicist charged in The Lancet medical journal charged that doctors working for the U.S. military in Iraq collaborated with interrogators in the abuse of detainees at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, profoundly breaching medical ethics and human rights.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2004 Aug 20, Freelance French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot were kidnapped in an area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death." They were eventually released by the Islamic Army and returned home to Paris in December that same year.
(AFP, 9/22/10)
2004 Aug 21, Iraq celebrated their national soccer team's startling 1-0 victory over Australia in the Olympic quarterfinal.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2004 Aug 21, In Najaf, Iraq, militants loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr kept their hold on a revered shrine, and clashes flared.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2004 Aug 22, U.S. warplanes bombed Najaf's Old City and gunfire rattled amid fears a plan to end the standoff with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr could. A car bomb exploded north of Baghdad, killing two people and injuring four others, including a deputy provincial governor.
(AP, 8/22/04)
2004 Aug 22, Attackers killed one Turkish citizen and two Iraqis on a road north of Baghdad.
(AP, 8/23/04)
2004 Aug 24, In Iraq a car bomb killed at least 2 people in Baghdad. In Najaf US forces intensified fighting against rebels loyal to al-Sadr.
(SFC, 8/24/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 25, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani returned to Iraq from a hospital stay in London and called for a mass demonstration to end the fighting in Najaf.
(SFC, 8/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 25, Militants said they had kidnapped the brother-in-law of Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan and demanded he end all military operations in the holy city of Najaf.
(AP, 8/26/04)
2004 Aug 25, Saboteurs attacked about 20 oil pipelines in southern Iraq, reducing exports from the key oil producing region by at least one third.
(AP, 8/26/04)
2004 Aug 26, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani arranged a peace pact with Muqtada al-Sadr. The 5-point plan called for Kufa and Najaf to be declared weapons-free.
(SFC, 8/27/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 8/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 26, A mortar barrage hit a mosque in Kufa filled with Iraqis preparing to join a march in Najaf by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, killing 27 people and wounding 63.
(AP, 8/26/04)
2004 Aug 26, The Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera reported it had received a video that appeared to show the killing of Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni (56).
(AP, 8/27/04)
2004 Aug 27, Al-Sadr's followers handed over the keys to the Imam Ali Shrine to religious authorities loyal to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Militants, who had been holed up in the site, left it after Iraq's top Shiite cleric brokered a peace deal to end three weeks of fighting. Iraqi police discovered about 10 bodies in a maverick religious court run by rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's followers.
(AP, 8/27/04)
2004 Aug 27, In Iraq saboteurs hit a pipeline that runs within the West Qurna oilfields, 90 miles north of the southern city of Basra.
(AP, 8/28/04)
2004 Aug 28, Shiite militants and U.S. forces battled in the Baghdad's Sadr City slum and a mortar barrage slammed into a busy eastern neighborhood in a new round of violence in the capital that left 10 people dead and dozens wounded. U.S. warplanes carried out airstrikes for the second straight day in the city of Fallujah.
(AP, 8/28/04)(AP, 8/29/04)
2004 Aug 29, Saboteurs blew up a pipeline in southern Iraq in the latest attack. Al-Sadr called on his followers to lay down arms and get involved in politics.
(AP, 8/29/04)(WSJ, 8/31/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 29, Muslim leaders in France condemned the kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq and said the government should not capitulate to militant demands to revoke a law that bans the wearing of Islamic head scarves in schools.
(AP, 8/29/04)
2004 Aug 30, Rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for his followers across Iraq to end fighting against U.S. and Iraqi forces and is considering joining the political process.
(AP, 8/30/04)
2004 Aug 31, A video purporting to show the methodical, grisly killings of 12 Nepalese construction workers kidnapped in Iraq was posted on a Web site linked to a militant group operating in Iraq.
(AP, 8/31/04)
2004 Aug 31, In northern Iraq Ibrahim Ismael, head of Kirkuk’s education department, was killed in a drive-by shooting as he drove to work.
(AP, 8/31/04)
2004 Sep 1, In Fallujah, Iraq, US bombing reportedly killed 17 people.
(WSJ, 9/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 1, Militants in Iraq freed seven employees of a Kuwaiti trucking firm after their employer paid $500,000 in ransom.
(AP, 9/1/05)
2004 Sep 2, Kidnappers handed over two French journalists in Iraq to an Iraqi Sunni Muslim opposition group. A militant group in Iraq said it had killed three Turkish captives. Gunmen ambushed an Associated Press driver, riddling his car with bullets and killing him near his home in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/2/04)
2004 Sep 4, Insurgents clashed with American and Iraqi troops in northern Iraq, and local officials said eight Iraqis were killed and more than 50 wounded. A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside a police academy in the northern city of Kirkuk as hundreds of trainees and civilians were leaving for the day, killing 17 people and wounding 36. Saboteurs blew up an oil pipeline in southern Iraq.
(AP, 9/4/04)(SSFC, 9/5/04, p.A3)
2004 Sep 5, Iraqi forces reportedly captured Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the King of Clubs and most wanted member of Saddam Hussein's ousted dictatorship. DNA evidence revealed that the suspect was only a cousin of al-Douri. An ensuing battle left as many as 70 people dead. A mortar attack killed 2 US soldiers.
(AP, 9/5/04)(SFC, 9/6/04, p.A3)
2004 Sep 5, A Turkish company said it was withdrawing from Iraq a day after Iraqi militants threatened to behead its employee unless it ceased operations there.
(AP, 9/5/04)
2004 Sep 6, An apparent suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed vehicle on the outskirts of Fallujah, killing seven U.S. Marines and three Iraqi national guardsmen.
(AP, 9/6/04)
2004 Sep 7, US forces battled insurgents loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, in clashes that killed 34 people, including one American soldier. The US death toll in Iraq topped 1,000 since military operation began in March 2003. In private estimates Iraqi deaths ranged from 10,000 to 30,000 killed across the nation.
(AP, 9/7/04)(SFC, 9/8/04, p.A1)(AP, 9/9/04)
2004 Sep 7, An Italian aid organization said that two Italian women were kidnapped from its office in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/7/04)
2004 Sep 8, US warplanes launched strikes in the insurgent-held city of Fallujah, hitting at suspected militant hideouts used to plan attacks on American forces. At least 2 people were killed.
(AP, 9/8/04)
2004 Sep 8, Insurgents kidnapped the family of an Iraqi National Guard officer and set fire to his home northeast of the capital.
(AP, 9/11/04)
2004 Sep 9, US jets pounded the rebel stronghold of Fallujah, and American and Iraqi forces entered the central city of Samarra for the first time in months to try to reseat the city council and regain control. US and Iraqi security forces launched attacks to flush out insurgents in northern Iraq, killing 12 people
(AP, 9/9/04)
2004 Sep 10, Two Lebanese men were shot dead in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/10/04)
2004 Sep 11, In Iraq US Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class David A. Cedergren (25) of South St. Paul, Minn., died of electrocution while showering. As of 2009 his death was one of among 18 electrocution deaths, 16 US service members and two military contractors, under review as part of a Department of Defense Inspector General inquiry.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2004 Sep 12, Militants pounded central Baghdad with intense mortar barrages, targeting the Green Zone and destroying a U.S. vehicle along a major street. At least 25 people were killed, including an Arab television journalist, some of them when a US helicopter fired at crowds around the burning vehicle. The death toll across Iraq reached 59.
(AP, 9/12/04)(SFC, 9/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 12, Three Polish soldiers were killed in Iraq when they were attacked with grenades and machine-gun fire as they returned to their base from a demining operation.
(AP, 9/12/04)
2004 Sep 13, US warplanes pounded a suspected hideout of al-Qaida-linked militants in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, killing 20 people including women and children.
(AP, 9/13/04)(SFC, 9/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 13, Two Australians and two East Asians have been kidnapped in Iraq, said a statement purportedly from the Islamic Secret Army handed out in the Sunni Muslim insurgent bastion of Samarra. A video posted on a Web site in the name of the militants purportedly showed the beheading of a kidnapped Turkish truck driver.
(AP, 9/13/04)(AP, 9/13/05)
2004 Sep 14, A car bomb ripped through a busy market near a Baghdad police headquarters where Iraqis were waiting to apply for jobs on the force killing 47 and wounding 114. Gunmen opened fire on a van carrying police home from work in Baqouba, killing 12 people.
(AP, 9/14/04)(SFC, 9/15/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 14, Saboteurs blew up a junction where multiple oil pipelines cross the Tigris River in northern Iraq, setting off a chain reaction in power generation systems that left the entire country without power.
(AP, 9/14/04)
2004 Sep 15, Security forces discovered three beheaded bodies on a road north of Baghdad, and a car bomb exploded in a town south of the capital, killing two people.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, Pres. Bush requested shifting $3.46 billion in reconstruction money for Iraq to security.
(WSJ, 9/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 16, Gunmen abducted two Americans and a Briton, Kenneth Bigley (62), in a brazen attack on a house in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood. The US military said it killed 60 in Fallujah and Ramadi strikes. The number of foreigners kidnapped during the Iraq insurgency reached at least 100. All 3 were beheaded. Bigley’s decapitation was confirmed on Oct 10, 2004.
(AP, 9/16/04)(WSJ, 9/17/04, p.A1)(AP, 9/16/05)(AP, 4/22/06)
2004 Sep 17, A suicide car bomber slammed into a line of police cars sealing off a Baghdad neighborhood as American troops rounded up dozens of suspected militants, capping a day of violence across Iraq that left at least 53 dead. Sheikh Abu Anas al-Shami, a spiritual leader of a group of militants, was killed when a missile hit the car in which he was traveling.
(AP, 9/17/04)(SFC, 9/18/04, p.A1)(SFC, 9/23/04, p.A18)
2004 Sep 18, Militants threatened to decapitate two Americans and a Briton being held hostage unless their demands were met within 48 hours. In Kirkuk a car bomb near a crowd of recruits killed 19 people and wounded 67.
(AP, 9/18/04)(SSFC, 9/19/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 19, A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb near a joint U.S.-Iraqi checkpoint, killing 3 people and wounding 7, including four U.S. soldiers in the northern city of Samarra. US warplanes and artillery pounded the guerrilla stronghold of Fallujah. A militant group posted a video showing the beheading of 3 Kurdish hostages.
(AP, 9/19/04)(SFC, 9/20/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 20, A car bomb exploded in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, killing three people. Gunmen killed a Sunni Muslim cleric as he entered a mosque in Baghdad to perform noon prayers. At least two people were killed and three wounded in explosions that rocked the rebel-held city of Fallujah. An Islamic group posted a video showing the beheading of US contract employee Eugene Armstrong.
(AP, 9/20/04)(SFC, 9/21/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 21, A posting on an Islamic Web site claimed that the al-Qaida-linked group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has slain US hostage Jack Hensley.
(AP, 9/21/04)(WSJ, 9/23/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 21, A Turkish construction company announced that it was halting operations in neighboring Iraq in a bid to save the lives of 10 employees kidnapped by militants.
(AP, 9/21/04)
2004 Sep 22, In Iraq kidnappers seized 4 Egyptians and four Iraqis working for the country's mobile phone company.
(AP, 9/24/04)
2004 Sep 22, Suicide attackers detonated a car bomb near an Iraqi National Guard recruiting center in west Baghdad, killing at least six people and injuring 54. US aircraft and tanks attacked Shiite militia positions in fierce fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, killing 10 people and injuring 92 others.
(AP, 9/22/04)
2004 Sep 23, President Bush denied painting too rosy a picture about Iraq, and said he would consider sending more troops if asked; Iraq's interim leader, Ayad Allawi, standing with Bush in the White House Rose Garden, said additional troops weren't needed. Allawi declared that his country is succeeding in its effort to move past the war that ousted Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 9/23/04)(AP, 9/23/05)
2004 Sep 23, US warplanes fired on insurgent targets in the east Baghdad slum of Sadr City. Iraqi doctors said one person was killed and 12 were injured, many of them children. Gunmen in Mosul killed a senior official of Iraq's North Oil Co.
(AP, 9/23/04)
2004 Sep 23, A militant group falsely claimed in a Web posting that two Italian women taken hostage in Iraq had been killed. [see Sep 28]
(AP, 9/23/04)
2004 Sep 23, In Iraq kidnappers seized 2 more Egyptian construction engineers working for the country's mobile phone company.
(AP, 9/24/04)(SFC, 9/25/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 24, Iraq's interim PM Ayad Allawi appealed to world leaders at the UN General Assembly to unite behind his country's effort to rein in spiraling violence, lighten the foreign debt and improve security ahead of the January elections. PM Allawi and President Bush declared that Iraq is on the road to stability, with the Iraqi leader saying elections would be possible in all but 3-4 of Iraq's 18 provinces.
(AP, 9/24/04)(AP, 9/24/05)
2004 Sep 25, A film about Iraqi children victims of war "Turtles can fly" directed by Iranian Bahman Ghobadi won the Concha de Oro (Golden Shell) at the prestigious San Sebastian film festival.
(AFP, 9/25/04)
2004 Sep 25, US warplanes, tanks and artillery units struck the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, killing at least 8 people and wounding 15. The US military announced the deaths of four Marines and a soldier. Five mortar shells struck the Iraqi Oil Ministry headquarters in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/25/04)
2004 Sep 25, An Internet posting claimed that an al-Qaida-linked group has killed British hostage Kenneth Bigley.
(AP, 9/25/04)
2004 Sep 26, Suicide attackers detonated a pair of car bombs outside an Iraqi National Guard compound west of the capital, wounding American and Iraqi forces. A rocket hit a busy Baghdad neighborhood, killing at least one person and wounding eight.
(AP, 9/26/04)
2004 Sep 27, U.S. jets pounded suspected Shiite militant positions in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, killing at least five people and wounding 40. Elsewhere, insurgents detonated car bombs and fired rockets, killing at least 7 National Guardsmen, in separate attacks.
(AP, 9/27/04)(WSJ, 9/28/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 28, In Iraq kidnappers released two female Italian aid workers and five other hostages. A $1 million ransom was alleged. In 2005 it was reported that Italy's Red Cross treated four Iraqi insurgents and hid them from U.S. forces in exchange for the freedom of two Italian aid workers kidnapped in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/28/04)(WSJ, 9/30/04, p.A1)(AP, 8/25/05)
2004 Sep 29, A video surfaced showing Kenneth Bigley, a British hostage held by Iraqi militants, pleading for help between the bars of a makeshift cage. Bigley was later killed.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2004 Sep 30, Three bombs exploded at a neighborhood celebration in western Baghdad, killing 35 children and seven adults as US troops handed out candy at a government-sponsored celebration. Hours earlier, a suicide car bomb killed a U.S. soldier and two Iraqis on the capital's outskirts. Across Iraq insurgent attacks left 51 dead.
(WSJ, 10/1/04, p.A1)(AP, 9/30/05)
2004 Sep 30, The Arab news network Al-Jazeera showed video of 10 new hostages seized in Iraq by militants.
(AP, 9/30/04)
2004 Sep, Iraq’s 1st irregular brigade, the Special Police Commandos, was founded by Gen. Adnan Thavit (63), uncle of Iraq’s interim interior minister. Other brigades soon followed.
(WSJ, 2/16/05, p.A12)
2004 Oct 1, U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a major assault to regain control of the insurgent stronghold of Samarra, trading gunfire with rebel fighters as they pushed toward the city center. The US said over 100 insurgents were killed.
(AP, 10/1/04)(SFC, 10/2/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 1, In Iraq hospital officials said at least seven civilians were killed and 13 wounded during a US bombing attack in Falluja.
(AP, 10/2/04)
2004 Oct 2, A militant group in Iraq claimed in an Internet statement that it abducted and beheaded an Iraqi construction contractor who worked on a U.S. military base.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 2, About 100,000 Kurds demonstrated outside provincial government offices, demanding that the turbulent, oil hub of Kirkuk be made part of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
(AP, 10/2/04)
2004 Oct 3, Iraqi security forces and U.S. troops claimed success in wresting control of Samarra from Sunni insurgents in fierce fighting.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 3, National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, interviewed on ABC's "This Week" program, defended her characterization of Saddam Hussein's nuclear capabilities in the months before the Iraq invasion.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2004 Oct 4, Insurgents unleashed a pair of powerful car bombs near the symbol of U.S. authority in Iraq, the Green Zone, where the U.S. Embassy and key government offices are located as well as hotels occupied by hundreds of foreigners. Two other explosions brought the day's bombing toll to at least 26 dead and more than 100 wounded.
(AP, 10/4/04)(SFC, 10/5/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 5, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said negotiators hammered out the basis for an agreement to end fighting with followers of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. 2 car bombs exploded in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, killing four Iraqis and prompting clashes between U.S. troops and gunmen. 10 Iraqi policemen, including a lieutenant colonel, were killed in two separate attacks south of Baghdad
(AP, 10/5/04)
2004 Oct 6, Followers of renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have agreed to a cease-fire with Iraq's interim government aimed at ending weeks of fighting in the vast Baghdad slum of Sadr City.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 6, Charles Duelfer, the chief U.S. weapons hunter, reported that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programs had deteriorated into only hopes and dreams by the time of the U.S.-led invasion last year.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 6, A car bomb exploded at an Iraqi military camp northwest of Baghdad, killing 10 Iraqis and wounding more than 20.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 7, US authorities, meanwhile, raised the security alert in the heavily guarded Green Zone after an improvised bomb was found in front of a restaurant there. 2 American soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in separate attacks involving roadside bombs.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 8, In Iraq kidnappers displayed a video of the beheading of British hostage Kenneth Bigley (62) following an unsuccessful escape attempt.
(AP, 10/8/04)(SFC, 10/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 8, American warplanes struck a building where the U.S. command said leaders of al-Zarqawi's network were meeting. Residents said the house was full of people who had gathered for a wedding. The attack killed 13 people, including the groom.
(AP, 10/8/04)
2004 Oct 9, Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said they will begin handing weapons over to Iraqi police next week.
(AP, 10/9/04)
2004 Oct 10, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited Iraq. In Baghdad 2 car bombs shook the capital in quick succession, killing at least 11 people, including an American soldier, and wounding 16.
(AP, 10/10/04)(WSJ, 10/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 10, Iraq's Ministry of Science and Technology told the UN nuclear agency that 377 tons of explosives had disappeared from the Al-Qaqaa facility. The Iraqis say the materials were stolen after the April 9, 2003, fall of Baghdad because of a lack of security.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 11, In Iraq followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr trickled in to police stations in Baghdad's Sadr City district to hand in weapons. Two soldiers from Task Force Baghdad were killed and five wounded in a rocket attack in southern Baghdad.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 11, An Arabic language television station broadcast video showing three hooded gunmen threatening to behead a Turkish hostage within three days unless the Americans release all Iraqi prisoners and all Turks leave Iraq.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 12, A videotape surfaced on the Internet showing what was said to be the confession and beheading of an Arab Shiite Muslim, presumably Iraqi, who was accused of serving the U.S. Army by "assassinating Sunni leaders." US warplanes hit Fallujah and knocked out the celebrated Haji Hussein kebab restaurant killing the owner’s son and nephew.
(AP, 10/12/04)(SFC, 10/13/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 13, In Iraq roadside bombings killed 4 American soldiers in Baghdad.
(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 14, Insurgents struck deep inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, setting off bombs at a market and a popular cafe that killed at least 10 people, including four Americans.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, In Iraq up to 19 members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company were detained for refusing to deliver fuel under conditions that they deemed unsafe.
(SFC, 10/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 14, Video that appeared on an Islamic Web site showed militants in Iraq beheading a man identified as a kidnapped Turkish driver.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 15, US Marines launched air and ground attacks on the insurgent bastion Fallujah after city representatives suspended peace talks with the government over PM Ayad Allawi's demand to hand over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. US officials said 10 people, including a family of four, were killed when a car bomb exploded near a Baghdad police station.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 15, Car bombs killed five US troops in Iraq.
(AP, 10/16/04)
2004 Oct 16, In Iraq a Fallujah delegation offered to resume peace talks with the government if the US ceases attacks against the city and releases the chief negotiator.
(AP, 10/16/04)
2004 Oct 16, In Iraq a Fallujah delegation offered to resume peace talks with the government if the US ceases attacks against the city and releases the chief negotiator. 2 US Army helicopters crashed in Baghdad and 2 soldiers were killed.
(AP, 10/16/04)(SSFC, 10/17/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 17, US forces battled insurgents around Fallujah. Militants ambushed and killed nine Iraqi policemen returning from training in Jordan. A suicide driver in Baghdad killed at least 7 people. More than 200 detainees were released from Abu Ghraib prison after a security review deemed them no longer a threat.
(AP, 10/17/04)(SFC, 10/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 17, The Tawhid and Jihad group, a militant group led by terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, declared its allegiance to Osama bin Laden.
(AP, 10/18/04)
2004 Oct 18, Iraqi PM Allawi said that an exchange of weapons for cash will be extended across the country. A militant group in Iraq said it had executed two Macedonian men accused of spying for the US. Macedonia has 32 soldiers stationed in Taji, north of Baghdad. Saboteurs attacked a key oil pipeline in northern Iraq, setting it on fire.
(AP, 10/18/04)(AP, 10/19/04)(SFC, 10/19/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 19, Margaret Hassan, the British director of CARE International's operations in Iraq, was abducted from her car in Baghdad. She was killed on Nov 16. In 2005 Iraqi forces arrested 5 suspects who confessed to kidnapping and murdering Margaret Hassan. In June, 2006, Mustafa Mohammed Salman al-Juburi was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of aiding and abetting the kidnappers. His sentence was later reduced on appeal. In 2008 Ali Lutfi al-Rawi was arrested after he allegedly phoned the British Embassy in Baghdad to demand $1 million in exchange for information about the location of Hassan's remains. In 2009 a judge sentenced Ali Lutfi al-Rawi (36) to life in prison after a one-day trial in Baghdad. He faced charges of kidnapping, murder and extortion. In 2010 Ali Lutfi al-Rawi escaped from prison.
(AP, 10/19/04)(AFP, 5/1/05)(AP, 6/5/06)(AP, 6/2/09)(AP, 4/5/10)(AFP, 8/22/10)
2004 Oct 19, A mortar attack on an Iraqi National Guard headquarters north of Baghdad killed four guardsmen and wounded 80 others.
(AP, 10/19/04)
2004 Oct 20, US forces fired rockets in central Fallujah early, hitting a teacher's college and leveling a house, killing six people.
(AP, 10/20/04)
2004 Oct 20, Reservist Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick (38), the highest-ranking soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib scandal pleaded guilty to 5 charges of abusing Iraqi detainees, as a 2-day court-martial opened in Baghdad.
(SFC, 10/21/04, p.A1)(AP, 10/20/05)
2004 Oct 21, Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick, the highest-ranking U.S. soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison case, was sentenced to eight years in prison.
(AP, 10/21/04)
2004 Oct 22, A videotape of Margaret Hassan, the kidnapped director of CARE International in Iraq, appeared on Al-Jazeera, weeping and pleading with British PM Tony Blair to withdraw troops from Iraq "and not bring them to Baghdad" because "this might be my last hours."
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Oct 23, The U.S. military arrested a "senior leader" in the network run by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, along with five others during overnight raids in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 23, A suicide car bomber set off an explosion at a police station near Khan al-Baghdadi in western Iraq, killing at least 16 policemen and wounding 40 other people. A 2nd car bomb killed 4 Iraqi guardsmen at Ishaqi near Samarra. 2 foreign truck drivers were fatally shot in Mosul.
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 23, Some 50 unarmed Iraqi soldiers were killed in eastern Iraq as they headed home on leave after basic training. Many were shot execution style with gunshots to the back of the head.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 23, Gunmen opened fire on a convoy of Turkish trucks in Mosul, killing two Turkish drivers and wounding two others.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 24, A US Marine warplane bombed suspected militants trying to rebuild a command post in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, and witnesses said six people were killed.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 25, The UN nuclear agency warned that insurgents in Iraq may have obtained nearly 400 tons of missing explosives that can be used in the kind of car bomb attacks that have targeted U.S.-led coalition forces for months.
(AP, 10/26/04)
2004 Oct 25, In Iraq bombs hit 4 coalition and Iraqi convoys killing at least 12 including an American and Estonian. Saboteurs blew up a pipeline feeding Iraq’s biggest refinery.
(WSJ, 10/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 26, A US airstrike in Fallujah killed an aide to Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. An Iraqi insurgent group, meanwhile, said on a Web site it had taken 11 Iraqi National Guard soldiers hostage.
(AP, 10/26/04)
2004 Oct 28, An armed group claimed in a video to have obtained a large amount of explosives missing from a munitions depot facility in Iraq and threatened to use them against foreign troops.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 28, Militants released a grisly video that showed the killing of 11 Iraqi troops held hostage for days, beheading one, then shooting the others execution-style. Another group released a video of a kidnapped Polish woman, demanding Warsaw pull its troops from Iraq.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 28, A survey of deaths in Iraqi households estimates that as many as 100,000 more people may have died throughout the country in the 18 months after the U.S. invasion than would be expected based on the death rate before the war.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 29, Hundreds of British soldiers arrived at their base near Baghdad in a deployment aimed at provide cover for U.S. troops considering a new assault on Iraqi insurgents.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 29, Iraqi civilian deaths from the current war were estimated at almost 100,000 by the British medical journal Lancet. The study claimed 90% certainty for at least 40,000 deaths.
(Econ, 11/6/04, p.81)
2004 Oct 30, Eight American Marines were killed in fighting west of Baghdad. A car bomb killed at least seven people in attack on an Arab television network in Baghdad. Iraqi troops fired wildly on civilian vehicles, killing at least 14 people.
(AP, 10/30/04)
2004 Oct 30, The decapitated body of a Japanese backpacker (Shosei Koda) was found wrapped in an American flag in northwestern Baghdad; the militant group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi later claimed responsibility. In 2006 Hussein Fahmi (28), an operative for al-Qaida in Iraq, confessed to carrying out 116 beheadings, including that of 24-year-old Japanese backpacker Shosei Koda.
(WSJ, 11/1/04, p.A1)(AP, 10/30/05)(AP, 3/2/06)
2004 Oct 31, In Iraq a rocket attack in Tikrit killed 15 Iraqis and wounded 8.
(SFC, 11/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 1, Iraqi gunmen in Baghdad seized an American, a Nepalese and 4 Iraqi hostages working for a Saudi supplier to the US military. American contract worker Roy Hallums was one of several people kidnapped during an armed assault on the Baghdad compound where he lived; Hallums was rescued by coalition forces on Sept. 7, 2005.
(WSJ, 11/2/04, p.A1)(AP, 11/1/05)
2004 Nov 1, Gunmen killed Hatim Kamil, deputy governor of Baghdad, on his way to work.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Nov 1, Diaa Najm, an Iraqi freelance television cameraman, was killed while filming clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents in Ramadi.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Nov 2, A car bomb exploded near the Ministry of Education in a busy Baghdad commercial area, killing at least eight people and wounding 29 others. A car bomb in Mosul killed 4 civilians. Insurgents blew up a northern oil export pipeline.
(AP, 11/2/04)(SFC, 11/3/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 3, Gunmen abducted a Lebanese-American contractor who worked with the U.S. Army from his Baghdad home. 4 Jordanian truck drivers were seized by assailants in a separate kidnapping. Gunmen also killed an Oil Ministry official, Hussein Ali al-Fattal, in a driveby shooting.
(AP, 11/3/04)
2004 Nov 4, In Iraq US jets pounded parts of Fallujah, targeting insurgents in a city where American forces were said to be gearing up for a major offensive.
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 4, In Iraq SCIRI (Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq) militants dressed as police abducted and executed 12 Iraqi National Guards traveling home to Najaf.
(AP, 11/7/04)
2004 Nov 4, Three British soldiers of the Black Watch regiment, recently moved northward, were killed in a suicide bombing.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 4, The international medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was closing its operations in Iraq because of escalating violence.
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 5, US warplanes pounded Fallujah in what residents called the strongest attacks in months, as more than 10,000 American soldiers and Marines massed for an expected assault.
(AP, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 6, Insurgents set off at least two car bombs and attacked a police station in the central Iraqi town of Samarra, killing at least 29 people and wounding 40. Over 50 people were killed across central Iraq including nearly 2 dozen Americans.
(AP, 11/6/04)(SSFC, 11/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 6, In an open letter to the Iraqi people and posted on the Internet, 26 Saudi scholars and religious preachers stressed that armed attacks launched by militant Iraqi groups on U.S. troops and their allies in Iraq were "legitimate" resistance.
(AP, 11/6/04)
2004 Nov 7, The Iraqi government declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout most of the country, as US and Iraqi forces prepared for an all-out assault on rebels in Fallujah.
(AP, 11/7/04)
2004 Nov 8, In Iraq some 10,000 US and Iraqi troops fought their way into the western outskirts of Fallujah. A car bomb hit a civilian convoy belonging to coalition forces on the main highway to Baghdad's airport.
(AP, 11/8/04)(SFC, 11/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 9, Iraqi authorities imposed the first nighttime curfew in more than a year on Baghdad and surrounding areas. US Army and Marine units thrust through the center of the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, fighting bands of guerrillas in the streets and conducting house-to-house searches on the 2nd day of a major offensive. Some US artillery used white phosphorous rounds that melted skin. At least 10 American and 2 Iraqi soldiers were killed in the assault. In 2008 a civilian jury acquitted former Marine Jose Luis Nazario Jr. of voluntary manslaughter in the killings of 4 unarmed Iraqi detainees during the Fallujah battle. In 2009 Marine Sgt. Ryan Weemer was acquitted of murder charges in the killing of an unarmed detainee in Fallujah.
(AP, 11/9/04)(SFC, 11/10/04, p.A1,14)(AP, 8/29/08)(SFC, 4/10/09, p.A6)
2004 Nov 9, In a backlash over the Fallujah assault the Iraqi Islamic Party withdrew from the interim government and a leading group of Sunni clerics called for Iraqis to boycott nationwide elections.
(SFC, 11/10/04, p.A15)
2004 Nov 10, Kidnappers abducted two members of PM Ayad Allawi's family in Baghdad and said they would be beheaded in two days if militant’s demands were not met. US forces bottled up insurgents in a narrow strip of Fallujah after a stunningly swift advance that seized control of 70 percent of the militant stronghold. Insurgents said 20 Iraqi soldiers were captured. Explosions shook the center of Ramadi and US troops clashed with insurgents.
(AP, 11/10/04)(WSJ, 11/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 11, Iraqi security forces, backed by US troops, arrested Sheik Mahdi al-Sumaidaei, a hardline Sunni cleric and about two dozen others, after a raid of his Baghdad mosque uncovered weapons caches along with photographs of recent attacks on American troops. In Mosul guerrillas attacked at least five police stations and political party offices there in what could be a bid to relieve pressure on their allies in Fallujah.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 11, US and Iraqi forces, backed by an air and artillery barrage, launched a major attack into the southern half of Fallujah squeezing Sunni fighters into a smaller and smaller cordon. The military estimated 600 insurgents killed thus far in the offensive. Insurgents in Mosul overwhelmed several police stations and clashed with U.S. and Iraqi troops.
(AP, 11/11/04)
2004 Nov 12, In Iraq a gunbattle broke out in Mosul between gunmen and guards at the main headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Guards killed six attackers and captured four others before the rest fled.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 13, US troops launched a major attack against insurgent holdouts in southern Fallujah. The US Army diverted an infantry battalion from Fallujah and sent them back to Mosul after an uprising there by insurgents. Video was recorded of a US Marine shooting an unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a Mosque.
(AP, 11/13/04)(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A9)
2004 Nov 14, The US military occupied Fallujah after six days of fighting. The military said 31 Americans have been killed in the siege. US Marines found the mutilated body of what they believe was a Western woman during a sweep of a street in central Fallujah.
(AP, 11/14/04)
2004 Nov 15, Fierce battles between insurgents and US and Iraqi forces killed at least 16 people in Baqouba. Sgt. Rafael Peralta reportedly smothered a grenade to save the lives of other Marines during an exchange of fire in Fallujah. In 2015 a new US navy destroyer was named after Peralta.
(AP, 11/15/04)(SFC, 3/7/12, p.A10)(SSFC, 11/1/15, p.A8)
2004 Nov 15, US Congressional investigators said Saddam Hussein’s regime made over $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting the oil for food program. This was more than double the previous estimates.
(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A9)
2004 Nov 16, US and Iraqi troops pushed into insurgent-heavy neighborhoods and stormed police stations in Mosul. US forces arrested a senior member of an influential Sunni political party after a dawn raid on his Baghdad home. The US military said it was investigating the videotaped fatal shooting of a wounded and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner by a US Marine in a mosque in Fallujah. Sunni Muslims in Iraq expressed anger over videotape showing the fatal shooting of a wounded and apparently unarmed man in a Fallujah mosque by a US Marine. In 2007 the marine Corps charged a Marine sergeant with unpremeditated murder in the killing of the unarmed Iraqi prisoner in Fallujah. Another Marine was also charged in the same incident. In 2008 Sgt. Ryan Weemer became the 3rd person charged in the shooting.
(AP, 11/16/04)(AP, 11/16/05)(SFC, 8/21/07, p.A13)(SFC, 3/19/08, p.A4)
2004 Nov 16, In Iraq a blindfolded woman, believed to be aid worker Margaret Hassan (59), was the shown being shot in the head by a hooded militant on a video obtained but not aired by Al-Jazeera television.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2004 Nov 17, A car bomber rammed a US convoy in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, during clashes with militants that killed 10 people.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2004 Nov 18, Insurgents detonated a car bomb near a US military convoy in Baghdad and a roadside bomb exploded at a job recruiting center in the northern city of Kirkuk, in attacks that killed four people.
(AP, 11/18/04)
2004 Nov 18, US troops discovered four decapitated bodies and captured dozens of militants during operations to purge northern Mosul of insurgents.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 19, Iraqi forces, backed by US soldiers, stormed one of the major Sunni Muslim mosques in Baghdad after Friday prayers, opening fire and killing at least 3 people. A suicide car bomber rammed into a police patrol in Baghdad, killing one policeman.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 20, In Baghdad insurgents attacked a US patrol and a police station, assassinated 4 government employees and detonated several bombs. One American soldier was killed and 9 were wounded during clashes that left 3 Iraqi troops and a police officer dead.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, The bodies of nine Iraqi soldiers, all shot execution-style and seven of them decapitated, were discovered in the northern city of Mosul.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, Germany and the United States agreed on a proposal to write off as much as 80 percent of Iraq's debt.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, A Polish woman abducted from her apartment in Baghdad reappeared in Poland after being suddenly released.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 21, Iraq's Electoral Commission set national elections for January 30.
(AP, 11/21/04)
2004 Nov 23, Some 5,000 US Marines, British troops and Iraqi commandos launched raids and arrested suspected insurgents aimed at clearing a swath of insurgent hotbeds south of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/23/04)
2004 Nov 24, In Fallujah the US military uncovered the largest arms cache yet inside the mosque of an insurgent leader. 5 Arab foreign fighters who had escaped from Fallujah were arrested near southern Basra. They were planning to attack coalition bases and police stations.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 24, An Iraqi woman, working as a translator, was shot and killed by 2 US soldiers playing with a firearm. In 2005 Spc. Charley Hooser was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and Spc. Rami Dajani of accessory after the fact.
(SSFC, 1/23/05, p.A5)
2004 Nov 25, A mortar attack killed four employees of a British security firm and wounded 15 others in the Baghdad's Green Zone. Two Marines were killed and 3 others wounded when they came under fire during house-clearing operations in Fallujah. 3 rebels were killed in response.
(AP, 11/26/04)
2004 Nov 25, An Iraqi official said more than 2,000 people have been killed so far in the U.S.-Iraqi operation against the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 26, In Mosul 17 more Iraqi bodies were found following 15 discovered a day earlier. 65 bodies were reported found over the last 8 days with 20 confirmed as members of the new Iraqi security forces.
(SFC, 11/27/04, p.A13)
2004 Nov 28, Iraq's most feared terror group claimed responsibility for slaughtering members of the Iraqi security forces in Mosul, where dozens of bodies had been found.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2004 Nov 29, In western Iraq a car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint, killing seven government security force members and injuring nine.
(AP, 11/29/04)
2004 Nov 30, A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives next to a US convoy on Baghdad's dangerous airport road leaving several casualties.
(AP, 11/30/04)
2004 Dec 1, The US military command said multinational troops have arrested 210 suspected militants in a weeklong crackdown against insurgents in an area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death."
(AP, 12/1/04)
2004 Dec 1, Unidentified gunmen in Iraq killed 5 leading members of a Kurdish group that led a 15-year rebellion in southern Turkey.
(WSJ, 12/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 2, In Iraq a mortar barrage hammered the heavily fortified Green Zone and elsewhere in central Baghdad, killing at least one person.
(AP, 12/2/04)
2004 Dec 3, Insurgents launched two major attacks against a Shiite mosque and a police station in Baghdad, killing 30 people, including at least 16 police officers.
(AP, 12/3/04)
2004 Dec 3, In Germany 3 Iraqi citizens of Kurdish origin were arrested for plotting to kill Iraqi PM Ayad Allawi. In 2008 the 3 men were convicted and sentenced to prison. The Stuttgart state court convicted the three men of attempted participation in murder and membership in terrorist organization Ansar al-Islam, a radical Islamic group linked to al-Qaida.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2004 Dec 4, Suicide attackers carried out a string of car bombings against Iraqi policemen in Baghdad and Kurdish militiamen in the north, killing 14 people and wounding at least 59.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 4, Two US soldiers were killed and four wounded when their patrol came under attack in the northwestern city of Mosul.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 5, Gunmen opened fire at the bus as it dropped off Iraqis employed by coalition forces at a weapons dump in Tikrit. 17 people died and 13 were wounded. A suicide car bomber drove into an Iraqi National Guard checkpoint in Beiji. 3 guardsmen, including a company commander, were killed and 18 wounded. Guerrillas ambushed a joint Iraqi-coalition patrol in Latifiyah and attacked Iraqi National Guardsmen patrolling near Samarra. 2 Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 6, In Iraq 5 U.S. troops were reported killed in separate clashes in a volatile western province. Insurgents blew up part of a domestic oil pipeline in northern Iraq.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 7, A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi National Guard patrol south of Baghdad, killing three guardsmen and wounding 11.
(AP, 12/7/04)
2004 Dec 8, In Iraq gunmen attacked the police headquarters in Samarra, killing an Iraqi policemen and a child who was caught in the cross fire. Insurgents detonated a car bomb in southern Baghdad, causing an unspecified number of casualties. 18 young Iraqi Shiites, aged 14-20, were shot and killed while seeking work at a U.S. base near Mosul. Their bodies were discovered Jan 5. Dale Stoffel, an American arms dealer and contractor, was killed along with Joe Wemple. Before Stoffel was shot dead in Baghdad, he had told of corruption and payoffs to senior military officers in the country’s reconstruction program. Stoffel and Wemple were reported to have been working on a $40 million dollar project in Iraq for a military facility in Taji which involved the arming of the 1st Iraqi Armored Brigade. Insurgents from the Brigades of the Islamic Jihad claimed they were responsible for the murder. However, the murders remain uninvestigated and unsolved.
(AP, 12/8/04)(AP, 1/6/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Stoffel)(SSFC, 2/15/09, p.A10)
2004 Dec 9, In Iraq insurgent mortar fire in Baghdad left 3 people dead.
(SFC, 12/10/04, p.A20)
2004 Dec 10, Staff Sgt. Johnny M. Horne Jr. (30) of Wilson, N.C., was sentenced to three years in prison for killing severely wounded Qasim Hassan (16) in Sadr City on Aug 18.
(AP, 12/11/04)(SFC, 12/11/04, p.A13)
2004 Dec 11, In Iraq insurgents killed 5 Iraqi police officers in Baghdad. A US Marine was killed in Anbar province.
(SSFC, 12/12/04, p.A10)
2004 Dec 12, A US soldier died of wounds sustained when a roadside bomb hit his patrol in Baghdad. 8 US Marines with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force died while conducting "security and stabilization operations" in Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar province.
(AP, 12/12/04)(SFC, 12/13/04, p.A9)
2004 Dec 13, In Baghdad a suicide car bomber killed 13 people and injured at least 15 near the Harthiyah entrance on the western edge of the Green zone. Clashes resumed in Fallujah.
(AP, 12/13/04)(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 14, It was reported that air cargo planes used by American subcontractors in Iraq were linked to Victor bout, a reputed Russian arms trafficker.
(SFC, 12/14/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 14, In Iraq a suicide car bomber killed seven people at a Green Zone checkpoint, the second attack in two days near the same gate.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 15, Iraqi militants said they shot and killed an Italian citizen after he tried to break through a guerrilla roadblock on a highway outside the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi. A document from the Italian Embassy in Beirut seeking an Iraqi visa for Salvatore Santoro called him an aid worker helping Iraqi children.
(AP, 12/16/04)
2004 Dec 16, Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein met with a lawyer for the first time since his capture a year earlier.
(AP, 12/16/05)
2004 Dec 16, Rebel strikes across Baghdad killed 10 people, including three paramilitary policemen and a government official. A US Marine was killed in Anbar province.
(AP, 12/16/04)(SFC, 12/17/04, p.A12)
2004 Dec 17, The US completely forgave $4.1 billion in debt Iraq owed it and urged other nations not part of an international debt relief agreement to follow suit.
(AP, 12/18/04)
2004 Dec 17, Gunmen attacked a car in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing four male passengers, and witnesses said three of the victims were foreigners.
(AP, 12/17/04)
2004 Dec 18, The former Iraqi general known as “Chemical Ali," Ali Hassan al-Majid, went before a judge in the first investigative hearings of former members of his regime.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2004 Dec 18, Insurgents claiming to represent three Iraqi militant groups issued a videotape saying they had captured 10 Iraqis working for an American security and reconstruction company and would kill them if the firm did not leave this turbulent country. A clash in Mosul left an Iraqi child dead. An insurgent attack in Mosul left one Iraqi dead. National Guardsmen there killed 3 insurgents.
(AP, 12/19/04)(SSFC, 12/19/04, p.A12)
2004 Dec 19, Car bombs rocked Najaf and Karbala, Iraq's two holiest Shiite cities, killing 67 people and wounding more than 120. In downtown Baghdad dozens of gunmen carried out a brazen ambush that killed three Iraqi employees of the organization running next month's elections.
(AP, 12/19/04)(WSJ, 12/21/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 20, Thousands of mourners attended funerals and Iraqi authorities detained 50 suspects in connection with an explosion in the Shiite holy city of Najaf that killed at least 54 people and wounded 142.
(AP, 12/20/04)
2004 Dec 21, British PM Tony Blair made a surprise visit to Baghdad, urging Iraqis to support national elections and describing violence here as a "battle between democracy and terror."
(AP, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 21, A suicide bombing on a base near Mosul killed 22 people and wounded 72 at Forward Operating Base Marez as US soldiers sat down to lunch. Halliburton Co. lost four employees in the attack at the military base. A radical Muslim group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, claimed responsibility. 2 French reporters held hostage for 4 months in Iraq were released.
(WSJ, 12/22/04, p.A1)(AP, 12/21/05)
2004 Dec 22, Poland's PM Marek Belka and Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski arrived in Iraq for a Christmas visit to Polish troops.
(AP, 12/22/04)
2004 Dec 23, US Marines battled insurgents in Fallujah with warplanes dropping bombs and tanks shelling suspected guerrilla positions, causing deaths on both sides. Three U.S. Marines were killed. 24 guerrillas, most of them non-Iraqi Arabs, were killed in battles according to a posting on an Islamic web site the next day. The 1st Fallujah residents were allowed to return. A bomb killed a US soldier in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/24/04)(SFC, 12/24/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/24/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 24, A suicide bomber blew up a gas tanker in Baghdad in an attack that killed at least nine people.
(AP, 12/25/04)
2004 Dec 24, US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, bearing gifts of praise and encouragement, paid a surprise Christmas Eve visit to US troops in some of the most dangerous areas of Iraq.
(AP, 12/24/05)
2004 Dec 25, Video footage aired on Turkish television showed a Turkish ship owner saying he and a ship captain were being held hostage in Iraq and that kidnappers demanded a $25 million ransom.
(AP, 12/25/04)
2004 Dec 26, Masked gunmen assassinated a high-ranking Iraqi police officer in southwestern Baghdad and wounded his bodyguards.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 27, A suicide bomber detonated his car at the gate of the home of the leader of Iraq's biggest political party and most powerful Shiite political group, killing 15 people and injuring dozens. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's, was unharmed.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 27, The Iraqi Islamic Party, the biggest Sunni political group, pulled out of the Jan. 30 elections citing the deteriorating security situation.
(AP, 12/28/04)
2004 Dec 28, Insurgents launched multiple attacks on Iraqi police across the dangerous Sunni Triangle, killing at least 33 police officers and national guardsmen. 12 of the policemen near Tikrit had their throats slit.
(AP, 12/28/04)(SFC, 12/29/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 28, Insurgents lured police to a house in west Baghdad with an anonymous tip about a rebel hideout, then set off explosives, killing at least 29 people and wounding 18.
(AP, 12/29/04)(SFC, 12/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 29, Insurgents tried to ram a truck with half a ton of explosives into a U.S. military post in the northern city of Mosul then ambushed reinforcements in a huge gunbattle in which 25 rebels and one American soldier were killed.
(AP, 12/30/04)(SFC, 12/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 30, In Iraq all 700 employees of the electoral commission in Mosul resigned following threats by militant groups.
(SFC, 12/31/04, p.A3)
2004 Hans Blix, former UN chief weapons inspector, authored “Disarming Iraq: The Search for Weapons of Mass Destruction."
(Econ, 3/13/04, p.83)
2004 Noah Feldman authored “What We Owe Iraq."
(WSJ, 11/10/04, p.A1)
2004 Steven Vincent authored “In the Red Zone," a look at Iraqi life outside the Green Zone.
(WSJ, 12/17/04, p.W8)
2004 The new Iraqi government priced local petrol at one American cent per liter. The policy caused severe shortages as large amounts leaked over to the black market where prices were significantly higher.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.64)
2004 Naguib Sawiris, Egyptian businessman, started the Middle East’s 1st non-government, non-satellite television station in Iraq.
(WSJ, 4/18/05, p.B1)
2005 Jan 1, Al-Qaida's arm in Iraq released a video showing its militants lining up five captured Iraqi security officers and executing them in the street.
(AP, 1/1/05)
2005 Jan 1, Iraq was forecast for 10.3% annual GDP growth with a population at 26.5 million and GDP per head at $1,380.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.94)
2005 Jan 2, A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb north of Baghdad, killing at least 22 Iraqi soldiers. 10 Iraqis were killed in attacks elsewhere.
(AP, 1/2/05)(WSJ, 1/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 3, In Iraq 3 suicide car bombs, including one that exploded near the Iraqi prime minister's party headquarters in Baghdad, along with a roadside explosion, rifle fire and an explosive rigged to a dead body killed at least 20 people.
(AP, 1/3/05)(SFC, 1/4/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 4, Insurgents assassinated the highest-ranking Iraqi official in eight months, gunning down the governor of Baghdad province and six of his bodyguards. A suicide truck bomber killed 10 people at an Interior Ministry commando headquarters. 5 US soldiers were killed in assaults elsewhere.
(AP, 1/4/05)(WSJ, 1/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 5, Iraq's intelligence chief said as many as 30,000 well-trained terrorists are actively operating throughout Iraq at the behest of former regime leaders based in Syria.
(AP, 1/6/05)
2005 Jan 5, A car bomb exploded outside a police academy south of Baghdad during a graduation ceremony, killing at least 20 people. Hours earlier, another car bomb killed two Iraqis in Baghdad. A 2nd car bomber killed five Iraqi policemen in Baqouba.
(AP, 1/5/05)(AP, 1/6/05)
2005 Jan 5, The bodies of 18 young Iraqi Shiites taken off a bus and executed in December 2005 were found in a field near Mosul.
(AP, 1/5/06)
2005 Jan 6, In Iraq 7 US soldiers were killed in Baghdad when their Bradley hit a car buried bomb. 2 Marines were killed in western Iraq.
(WSJ, 1/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 8, In Iraq officials said Militants had abducted three senior Iraqi officials, beheaded a man who worked for the U.S. military and killed at least four others.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 8, The US military acknowledged 5 people were killed when it bombed the wrong house during a search operation in northern Iraq. The owner of the house, Ali Yousef, said 14 people were killed when the 500-pound GPS-guided bomb hit at about 2 a.m. in the town of Aitha, 30 miles south of Mosul. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said seven children and seven adults died.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2005 Jan 9, American troops opened fire after their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing at least 8 people.
(AP, 1/9/05)(SFC, 1/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 9, In Iraq 7 Ukrainian soldiers and one Kazakh serving with the U.S.-led coalition were killed in an explosion while loading bombs that could be used by warplanes.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2005 Jan 10, In Iraq gunmen assassinated Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son. A huge roadside bomb in southwestern Baghdad destroyed a U.S. armored vehicle and killed two American soldiers.
(AP, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 11, PM Allawi acknowledged that parts of Iraq will not be safe enough for people to vote on Jan 30. A roadside bomb that missed a passing U.S. military convoy killed 7 Iraqis and wounded one south of Baghdad. A suicide car bomb at police headquarters in Tikrit killed 6. Insurgent attacks across Iraq left 19 people dead.
(AP, 1/11/05)(SFC, 1/12/05, p.A1)(SFC, 1/12/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 11, The Ukrainian parliament called for an immediate withdrawal of the nation's peacekeepers from Iraq. The vote was non-binding but reflected growing national dismay over the mission.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 12, Insurgents launched a string of attacks in the northern city of Mosul killing two Iraqi National Guardsmen and wounding two others in a car bombing. Sheik Mahmoud Finjan was shot to death as he headed home after evening prayers in a mosque at the town of Salman Pak southeast of Baghdad. Attackers also killed Finjan's son and four bodyguards. Sunni Muslim militants claimed responsibility.
(AP, 1/12/05)(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 13, In Iraq gunmen opened fire on a minibus picking up a Turkish businessman from the Bakhan Hotel in central Baghdad, killing six Iraqis and kidnapping the Turk, who reportedly ran a construction company that worked with U.S.-led occupation authorities.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 13, In Iraq's western Anbar province 2 U.S. Marines were killed in action, and a soldier died near the restive northern city of Mosul. Gunmen killed three officials of a leading Kurdish political party in an ambush in the volatile northern city of Mosul.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 13, In Iraq 28 prisoners held by Iraqi authorities for common crimes escaped as they were being transported by bus from the Abu Ghraib prison to another facility. 10 were quickly recaptured.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 14, An Iraqi bus collided with a U.S. tank that was on patrol, killing six of the bus passengers and injuring eight.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 14, Attackers fired on a bus carrying Iraqi national guard members west of Baghdad, kidnapping 15 guardsmen and leaving the bus in flames.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 15, Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf, also known as Abu Omar al-Kurdi, was arrested during a raid in Baghdad. On Jan 24 authorities announced the arrest of Al-Jaaf, an al-Qaida figure allegedly behind the vast majority of the car bombings in Baghdad.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 15, A military court at Fort Hood, Texas, sentenced Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr. to 10 years behind bars for physically and sexually mistreating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Graner (42) was released from prison In Leavenworth, Kansas, on Aug 6, 2011.
(AP, 1/15/06)(SSFC, 8/7/11, p.A10)
2005 Jan 16, In Iraq a total of 17 people were killed in the Baghdad area, including three Iraqi policemen and three Iraqi National Guard soldiers killed in separate attacks. As mourners gathered for the policemen's funeral, a suicide bomber killed another seven people.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 17, Iraqi expatriates in 14 countries began registering to vote in Iraq's Jan. 30 elections.
(AP, 1/17/06)
2005 Jan 17, Gunmen killed 8 Iraqi National Guardsmen at a checkpoint northeast of Baghdad, and 8 people died in a suicide car bombing at a police station outside the capital. Two Iraqi government auditors were shot to death after armed gunmen stopped their car in an area southeast of Baghdad. In Ramadi, officials found four bodies, three civilians and one Iraqi soldier. They bore handwritten signs declaring them collaborators.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 18, In Iraq a suicide bombing killed three people outside the offices of a leading Shiite political party. Insurgents released a video showing 8 Chinese workers held hostage by gunmen who claim the men are employed by a construction company working with U.S. troops, in the latest abduction of foreigners in Iraq. 2 US soldiers died elsewhere.
(AP, 1/18/05)(WSJ, 1/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 18, U.S. soldiers opened fire on a car as it approached their checkpoint in northern Iraq, killing 2 civilians in the vehicle's front seats. 6 children riding in the backseat were unhurt.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 19, A wave of car bombings shook the Iraqi capital, killing 26 people. Other attacks were reported north and south of the capital. The al-Qaida in Iraq terror group claimed that it carried out a truck bombing at the Australian Embassy in Baghdad that killed two people. A militant group posted a video on the Web showing gunmen killing execution-style two Iraqis said to have set up an Internet system in northern Iraq. American soldiers on patrol in Mosul killed three insurgents who fired on them from a car. A British security worker and an Iraqi colleague were killed in an ambush near the Beiji power station complex. Joao Jose Vasconcellos (50), a Brazilian engineer, was kidnapped in Baghdad. His remains were returned to Brazil in 2007.
(AP, 1/19/05)(SFC, 1/20/05, p.A10)(AP, 1/20/05)(AP, 6/14/07)
2005 Jan 20, North of Baghdad 3 Iraqi army soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the city of Samarra. US troops launched Mosul raids. 5 suspected insurgents were killed.
(AP, 1/20/05)(WSJ, 1/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 21, A car bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque in Baghdad where worshippers were celebrating a major Muslim holiday, killing at least 14 people and wounding 40. A suicide bomber left 7 people dead at a Shiite wedding party near Youssufiya.
(AP, 1/21/05)(SFC, 1/22/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 22, Insurgents said they had executed 15 kidnapped Iraqi National Guardsmen for cooperating with U.S. forces. Insurgents decided to release 8 Chinese construction workers taken hostage in Iraq after China pledged to discourage its citizens from traveling to Iraq.
(AP, 1/22/05)
2005 Jan 23, Lebanon's finance minister played down the transfer by Iraq's Defense Ministry of $500 million in cash to a financial institution in Beirut, saying he would expect such a transfer to be legal if it was made by the Iraqi government. Iraqi officials in early January sent some $300 million on a charter jet to Lebanon to purchase weapons from int’l. arms dealers.
(SFC, 1/22/05, p.A10)(AP, 1/23/05)
2005 Jan 23, In Iraq fire swept through the general hospital in Nasiriyah, killing 14 people and injuring 75.
(AP, 1/23/05)
2005 Jan 24, Authorities in Iraq said Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf, an al-Qaida lieutenant in custody, had confessed to masterminding most of the car bombings in Baghdad.
(AP, 1/24/06)
2005 Jan 24, A suicide driver detonated a car bomb outside the prime minister's party headquarters, injuring at least 10 people in a blast claimed by the al-Qaida affiliate in Iraq.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 25, In Iraq gunmen assassinated a senior judge. Roy Hallums, an American hostage kidnapped in November, pleaded for his life with a rifle pointed at his head in a newly released video. Hallums was rescued by coalition troops on Sept. 7, 2005. 11 Iraqi police died in clashes. 6 US soldiers died, including 5 in a vehicle crash north of Baghdad.
(WSJ, 1/26/05, p.A1)(AP, 1/25/06)
2005 Jan 26, A US military transport helicopter crashed in bad weather in Iraq's western desert, killing 31 people, all believed to be Marines. Insurgents killed five other American troops.
(AP, 1/26/05)
2005 Jan 26, A suicide car bomber attacked an office of a major Kurdish party, killing or injuring at least 20 people.
(AP, 1/26/05)
2005 Jan 27, Eleven Iraqis and one US Marine were killed as insurgents clashed with US troops and blew up a school slated to serve as a polling center. Authorities found the bodies of four Iraqi National Guardsmen who had been shot dead in Ramadi, capital of the troubled Anbar province.
(AP, 1/27/05)(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 28, Iraq battened down for the 1st free balloting in half a century, imposing a 7 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew and closing Baghdad Int’l Airport. 5 US soldiers were killed in the capital and insurgents blasted polling stations across the country. Iraqi expatriates began voting.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 28, Authorities in Iraq said they have arrested three close associates of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In southern Iraq a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi police vehicle, killing one officer. 2 American soldiers were killed in two separate incidents in Baghdad.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 29, A suicide bomber attacked a police station in a Kurdish town, killing 8 people, and insurgents blasted polling places in several cities on the eve of landmark elections.
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Jan 30, Iraqis voted to elect 275 members of a transitional national assembly, which will write a constitution; 111 members of the Kurdish legislature; and local councils in Iraq’s 18 provinces. Insurgents struck polling stations with a string of suicide bombings and mortar volleys, killing at least 44 people, including 9 attackers. 5 people were killed and 17 injured when a suicide attacker blew himself up aboard a minibus bound for a polling station in central Iraq. 260 attacks left 34 people dead. Security problems in Mosul kept some 15,000 from polls.
(AP, 1/30/05)(SFC, 2/1/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/8/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 30, A British C-130 military transport plane crashed north of Baghdad in Iraq killing 10 troops. An Iraqi insurgent group claimed responsibility for shooting down the plane in an Internet statement.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, Iraq's interim leader, called on his countrymen to set aside their differences, while local precincts finished a first-phase count of millions of ballots from the weekend election.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, US guards in southern Iraq opened fire on prisoners during a riot at the detention facility for security detainees at Umm Qasr, killing 4 of them. 6 other prisoners were injured.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Feb 1, A group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed to have captured the four Iraqi National Guard soldiers after Sunday's elections.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 2, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the Shiite Muslim who heads the ticket expected to have won the largest number of parliamentary seats in Iraq's election, indicated that his group wants the post of prime minister in the new government. Leading Sunni Muslim clerics said the country's landmark elections lacked legitimacy because large numbers of Sunnis did not participate in the balloting, which the clerics had asked them to boycott.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, In Iraq 2 civilians were killed and six injured when insurgents fired mortar shells at a U.S. base in Tal Afar, 30 miles west of Mosul.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, Insurgents struck back with a vengeance following a post-election lull, waylaying a minibus carrying new Iraqi army recruits, firing on Iraqis heading for work at a U.S. base and gunning down an Iraqi soldier in the capital. At least 18 people, including 2 Marines, died in insurgent-related incidents..
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 4, Gunmen seized Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist in central Baghdad, in a hail of gunfire after she had been interviewing people who fled the US assault last year on the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 5, Sunni rebels killed three U.S. troops and at least 33 Iraqis in a string of attacks.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 6, Four Egyptians working for a mobile phone company were abducted by gunmen in Baghdad, and Islamic militants threatened to kill an Italian journalist Feb 7 unless Italy agrees to withdraw its troops.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 Feb 7, Insurgents struck at Iraqi police forces with a suicide bomb, a car bomb and mortars in the cities of Mosul and Baqouba, killing 31 people.
(AP, 2/7/05)(SFC, 2/8/05, p.A6)
2005 Feb 7, US troops manning a checkpoint found 4 Egyptian technicians who had been kidnapped the previous day in Baghdad, freeing them and arresting some of the abductors.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 8, A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of Iraqis outside an army recruitment center, killing 21 other people and injuring 27 more.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 8, A Web posting in the name of a militant group in Iraq claimed to have executed Italian female journalist Giuliana Sgrena.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 9, Gunmen killed an Iraqi journalist working for a U.S.-funded television station and his son as they left their home in the southern city of Basra. Gunmen also killed 3 members of a Kurdish political party and a Housing Ministry official. The US military announced the deaths of 4 US soldiers.
(AP, 2/9/05)(SFC, 2/10/05, p.A9)
2005 Feb 10, A car bomb detonated by remote control exploded in a crowded central Baghdad square moments after an American military convoy passed, killing at least two Iraqis and wounding two others. Insurgents attacked Iraqi police in Salman Pak and killed at least 6.
(AP, 2/10/05)(SFC, 2/11/05, p.A20)
2005 Feb 11, A car bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens. Masked men sprayed gunfire into a crowd at a bakery in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in the capital, killing 11 people. A US Marine and an Army soldier were killed in separate traffic accidents.
(AP, 2/11/05)(AP, 2/12/05)
2005 Feb 12, In Iraq a car bomb exploded in front of a hospital in a mostly Shiite town south of Baghdad, killing 17 people and wounding 21 others. A prominent Iraqi judge was assassinated by two gunmen on a motorcycle in the southern port city of Basra. In Mosul the bodies of 6 Iraqi and 6 Kurdish guards were dumped. US troops in Mosul killed 9 insurgents.
(AP, 2/12/05)(SSFC, 2/13/05, p.A12)
2005 Feb 13, Results from Iraq's elections were released and showed that majority Shiite Muslims won 48% of the votes, giving the long-oppressed group significant power but not enough to form a government on its own.
(AP, 2/13/05)(SFC, 2/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 13, Insurgents attacked a US convoy and a government building near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, leaving at least four people dead. Two Iraqi National Guard troops were also killed while trying to defuse a roadside bomb. Gunmen ambushed a car carrying an Iraqi general in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad, killing him and two companions.
(AP, 2/13/05)
2005 Feb 14, A roadside bomb killed three Iraqi National Guard troops. Insurgents blew up an oil pipeline near Kirkuk and killed two senior police officers in Baghdad.
(AP, 2/14/05)
2005 Feb 17, Iraq's electoral commission certified the results of the Jan. 30 elections and allocated 140 of 275 National Assembly seats to the United Iraqi Alliance, giving the Shiite-dominated party a majority in the new parliament.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 18, Explosions ripped through Baghdad, killing about 3 dozen people and injuring dozens on the eve of Ashura, Shiite Islam's most important holiday.
(AP, 2/18/05)(SFC, 2/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 19, Eight suicide bombings in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq killed over 50 people, including a US soldier, and injured 150 as Shiite Muslim worshippers around the country celebrated Ashura, their holiest day of the year.
(AP, 2/19/05)(SSFC, 2/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 20, Iraqi and US security forces surrounded the city of Ramadi in an effort to confront a simmering insurgency there.
(SFC, 2/21/05, p.A8)
2005 Feb 20, Iraqi forces captured Talib Mikhlif Arsan Walman al-Dulaymi (aka Abu Qutaybah), a key aide to Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who leads an insurgency affiliated with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
(AP, 2/25/05)
2005 Feb 21, In Iraq a roadside bomb in southwestern Baghdad killed 3 US soldiers.
(SFC, 2/22/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 22, Interim Iraqi Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari was chosen as his Shiite ticket's candidate for prime minister after Ahmad Chalabi dropped his bid.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 22, PM John Howard said Australia will send an extra 450 troops to Iraq to help protect a Japanese humanitarian mission and bolster the country's transition to democracy.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 23, In Iraq a car bomb exploded in Mosul, killing 2 people and wounding 14 others.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 24, A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew up his car at police headquarters in Tikrit, killing at least 15 people in Saddam Hussein's hometown in the bloodiest of several attacks that claimed 30 lives. Two American soldiers were among the dead.
(AP, 2/24/05)
2005 Feb 25, In Iraq a roadside bomb blast killed three US soldiers and wounded eight others north of Baghdad. Saboteurs blew up an oil pipeline in northern Iraq. In Mosul the body of Raiedah Mohammed Wageh Wazan, a female Iraqi television presenter kidnapped last week, was found dead from 4 gunshots to the head.
(AP, 2/25/05)(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 26, Iraqi security forces captured a son of one of Saddam Hussein's half brothers, who allegedly financed the insurgency, in a raid on suspected militants near Tikrit. Ayman Sabawi is the son of Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a half brother of Saddam's, who served as a presidential adviser before the US-led invasion.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 Feb 26, In Baghdad a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle alongside an M1 Abrams tank and killed himself and two Iraqis. A US soldier died during a sweep for insurgents west of Baghdad. A car bomb in the Mussayyib district south of Baghdad killed an Iraqi soldier.
(AP, 2/26/05)(SSFC, 2/27/05, p.A10)
2005 Feb 27, Iraqi security forces reported the capture of Saddam Hussein's half-brother and former adviser. Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, the 6 of diamonds, was No. 36 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. Syria captured al-Hassan and 29 other fugitives and handed them over to Iraqi security. 2 American soldiers were killed in an ambush in the capital.
(AP, 2/27/05)(SFC, 2/28/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 28, In Iraq a suicide car bomber blasted a crowd of police and national guard recruits as they gathered for physicals outside a medical clinic in Hillah, south of Baghdad, killing 125 people and wounding 132.
(AP, 3/1/05)(AP, 2/28/06)
2005 Feb, An Iraqi TV program began airing confessions of alleged insurgents. The program later came under criticism from Iraqi lawyers, former detainees and families of suspects who accused security officials of abusing suspects to extract the confessions.
(AP, 7/6/05)
2005 Mar 1, French journalist Florence Aubenas, looking pale and distraught, appealed for help on a video in her first since she went missing in Iraq on Jan. 5.
(AP, 3/1/05)
2005 Mar 1, In northern Baghdad's Azamyiah district gunmen killed judge Barwez Mohammed Mahmoud (59) and his lawyer son, members of Iraq’s war crimes tribunal.
(AP, 3/2/05)(SFC, 3/2/05, p.A12)
2005 Mar 1, Ukraine’s top security body decided to Ukrainian troops from Iraq.
(SFC, 3/2/05, p.A12)
2005 Mar 2, Two car bombs killed at least 14 Iraqi soldiers in separate attacks, and the al-Qaida group in Iraq claimed responsibility for one.
(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A6)(WSJ, 3/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 3, In Iraq car bombs killed six policemen and wounded 15 in new attacks on security services as political factions wrangled over putting together a government.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 4, In Iraq Pvt. Gardi Gardev, a Bulgarian soldier, was killed by friendly fire." President Georgi Parvanov summoned U.S. Ambassador James Pardew on Mar 7 and complained about the lack of coordination between coalition troops in Iraq.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 4, American troops fired on a car taking Giuliana Sgrena to Baghdad's airport and wounded her. Nicola Calipari, the Italian intelligence officer who negotiated her freedom, was hit by the gunfire and died in her arms. Sgrena returned to Italy the next day. In 2007 an Italian court threw out the case against the US soldier charged in the shooting of Calipari.
(AP, 3/5/05)(AP, 10/25/07)
2005 Mar 7, In Iraq guerrillas launched a series of attacks that left 33 people dead and dozens wounded.
(AP, 3/7/05)(SFC, 3/8/05, p.A10)
2005 Mar 8, In Iraq clashes erupted between US troops and insurgents in the city of Ramadi, leaving at least two people dead.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 9, Iraqi officials said that 41 bodies, some bullet-riddled, others beheaded, have been found at two separate sites. They believe some of the corpses are Iraqi soldiers kidnapped and killed by insurgents. 4 people were killed in Baghdad when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-packed truck into a hotel used by US contractors.
(AP, 3/9/05)(WSJ, 3/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 10, Iraq's main Shiite party and a Kurdish bloc reached a deal that sets the stage for a new government to be formed when the National Assembly convenes next week.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 10, The UN panel overseeing compensation for victims of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait approved new awards worth $265 million, mostly to families of people who died in Iraqi detention.
(AP, 3/11/05)
2005 Mar 10, In Baghdad, Iraq, gunmen killed 2 district police chiefs and 2 others Iraqis. A suicide attacker in Mosul set off a bomb that tore through a funeral tent jammed with Shiite mourners. The attack killed 47 and wounded more than 100.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 12, In Iraq gunmen shot to death three policemen and wounded a 4th at a funeral procession in the northern city of Mosul. 2 US security contractors were killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad.
(AP, 3/12/05)(WSJ, 3/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 12, Ukraine withdrew 150 servicemen from Iraq, starting a gradual pullout that officials have said will be completed by October.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 15, Three car bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing at least 5 people.
(AP, 3/15/05)
2005 Mar 15, Pres. Berlusconi announced that Italy would begin pulling its 3,300 troops out of Iraq in September. The next day he said the withdrawal date was merely a hope.
(AP, 3/16/05)(Econ, 3/19/05, p.56)
2005 Mar 16, Iraq's first freely elected parliament in half a century began its opening session after a series of explosions targeted the gathering.
(AP, 3/16/05)
2005 Mar 19, In Iraq attackers gunned down a police officer in Kirkuk, then bombed a funeral procession carrying his corpse, killing three other policemen and wounding two.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 19, In Iraq a previously unknown militant group posted a video on the Internet on purporting to show 2 Egyptian engineers kidnapped for allegedly supporting US forces.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 19, Tens of thousands of anti-war protesters demonstrated across Europe to mark the second anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, with 45,000 marching from London's Hyde Park past the American Embassy.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 20, Insurgents targeted Iraqi security forces and government buildings with gunfire, suicide bomb attacks and mortar rounds, leaving at least five people dead. A bomb blast near Kirkuk killed a U.S. soldier and wounded three. US troops killed 26 militants following an attack on a convoy SE of Baghdad.
(AP, 3/20/05)(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, Insurgent attacks across Iraq left seven civilians and three Iraqi soldiers dead.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, Iraqi officials at the morgue in the southeastern city of Kut said the facility received the bodies of six slain Iraqi army soldiers, five collected together, one separately.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 22, Militants targeted a US patrol with a roadside bomb that killed four nearby civilians in the northern city of Mosul. In Baghdad private citizens struck an insurgent patrol carrying grenades and killed 3 in a gun battle.
(AP, 3/22/05)(SFC, 3/23/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 22, Iraqi and US forces killed 80 militants in a battle west of Tikrit.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 23, Iraqi commandos backed by US forces raided a suspected guerrilla training camp and reportedly killed 85 fighters. Insurgents said only 11 were killed. 7 Iraqi commandos were killed.
(AP, 3/23/05)(SFC, 3/25/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 24, Iraqi police mistook a group of Iraqi soldiers for insurgents and opened fire, sparking a 10-minute gunbattle that killed five in the northern town of Rabia.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 24, A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the central city of Ramadi, killing 11 Iraqi police commandos and injuring 14 other people including 2 US soldiers. In an eastern Baghdad neighborhood, attackers killed 5 female translators working for the US military. Police found 2 decapitated bodies clad in Iraqi army uniforms west of Baghdad.
(AP, 3/25/05)
2005 Mar 26, In Iraq a car bomb struck a US military patrol in Baghdad, killing two U.S. soldiers and injuring two others.
(AP, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 25, In Iraq Maj. Gen. Salman Muhammad, head of an Iraqi national guard division in Basra, was assassinated on route to a funeral. One of 2 sons was also killed.
(SFC, 3/26/05, p.A11)
2005 Mar 27, Iraqi security officials opened fire on a crowd of protesters outside a government building, killing one. Al-Qaida's arm in Iraq posted a video purportedly showing an Iraqi Interior Ministry official being killed.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 28, In Iraq 3 Romanian journalists and their translator were abducted near their Baghdad hotel. The journalists were freed by US forces on May 22. In 2015 Iraqi-born Mohammad Munaf, sentenced in absentia to 10 years prison in 2008 by the Bucharest Appeals Court, was brought to Romania. Munaf was the journalists' guide at the time of the kidnapping and had been held by the US military since May 2005. A Syrian businessman was serving a 20-year sentence in Romania for masterminding the kidnapping.
(AP, 3/29/05)(SSFC, 10/15/06, p.A20)(AP, 8/27/15)
2005 Mar 29, A video surfaced on the Internet showing three drivers who said they worked for a Jordanian trucking company being shot by gunmen claiming to belong to a militant Islamic group in Iraq.
(AP, 3/30/05)
2005 Mar 30, In Iraq two US soldiers died in separate clashes. A car bomb exploded in western Baghdad, killing one person and injuring at least six others. Gunmen also opened fire on a truck carrying faithful near Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad. One person was killed.
(AP, 3/30/05)(AP, 3/31/05)
2005 Mar 31, A suicide bomber blew up his car south of Kirkuk, killing two Iraqi army soldiers and three bystanders. A second car bomber attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in the center of Samarra, killing three people and injuring more than a dozen others. Bombings and ambushes across Iraq left at least a dozen Iraqis and one USD soldier dead.
(AP, 3/31/05)(SFC, 4/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 31, A US presidential commission reported that US intelligence agencies were dead wrong in their prewar assessment of Iraq’s nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
(SFC, 4/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 1, Influential Sunni scholars encouraged Iraqis to join the country's security forces and protect the country, issuing an edict that departed sharply from earlier warnings against participating in the fledgling police and army.
(AP, 4/1/05)
2005 Apr 2, In central Iraq a car bomb exploded, killing five people, including 4 police officers on patrol. A gunmen killed an education official in Baghdad. A US Marine was killed in Ramadi. 40-60 insurgents attacked the Abu Ghraib prison but were repelled by US forces.
(AP, 4/2/05)(SSFC, 4/3/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 3, Iraqi lawmakers elected Sunni Arab Hachem Hassani as parliament speaker and Shiite and Kurdish leaders as his deputies, ending days of deadlock.
(AP, 4/3/05)(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 4, A joint US-Iraqi attack on dozens of insurgents in eastern Diyala province left two American soldiers and one Iraqi soldier dead. A suicide bomber blew himself up near the gates of Abu Ghraib prison.
(AP, 4/5/05)(SFC, 4/5/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 5, In Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood, an abandoned taxi exploded on an expressway near a U.S. patrol, killing a US soldier and wounding four others. A US Marine was killed by an explosion in the sprawling, western province of Anbar.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 5, Zalmay Khalilzad, a former White House official who has served as US ambassador in his native Afghanistan, was named to take over the post in Iraq.
(AP, 4/6/05)
2005 Apr 6, The Iraqi parliament chose Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as the country's new interim president, reaching out to a long-repressed minority and bringing the country closer to its first democratically elected government in 50 years.
(AP, 4/6/05)
2005 Apr 7, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, was named Iraq's interim prime minister; Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was sworn in as interim president.
(AP, 4/7/06)
2005 Apr 8, In Iraq 4 children collecting trash were killed by a homemade bomb in Baghdad, and masked gunmen killed an Iraqi Army officer in a restaurant in the southern city of Basra.
(AP, 4/8/05)
2005 Apr 8, Fadhil al-Shawky, a senior al-Sadr official who had arrived from Karbala to take part in a protest, was gunned down in the New Baghdad neighborhood.
(AP, 4/9/05)
2005 Apr 9, Tens of thousands of Shiites marked the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with a protest against the American military presence at the square where Iraqis and U.S. troops toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein two years ago.
(AP, 4/9/05)
2005 Apr 9, Militants in Iraq kidnapped Malik Mohammed Javed, a Pakistani diplomat, on his way to a mosque for prayers. The Omar bin Khattab group, a previously unknown group, claimed responsibility for the abduction.
(AP, 4/10/05)
2005 Apr 10, In Iraq Pres. Talabani called for extending amnesty to insurgents, but excluded clemency for al Qaeda and other armed foreign groups.
(SFC, 4/11/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 11, In Iraq people were killed in Samarra when a bomb went off near a passing US convoy. An American contractor was abducted.
(WSJ, 4/12/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 12, The Iraqi government said it captured Fadhil Ibrahim Mahmud Al-Mashadani, a former member of Saddam Hussein's regime who was believed to be funding the insurgency. Al-Mashadani was a high-ranking member of Saddam's Baath Party and was "among the main facilitators of many terrorist attacks. Militants ambushed a convoy carrying Iraq's deputy interior minister, killing a bodyguard and wounding the deputy's son and two other people.
(AP, 4/12/05)
2005 Apr 13, Al-Jazeera showed video of Jeffrey Ake, who the US Embassy said appeared to be the American kidnapped earlier this week in Baghdad. A bomb exploded while being defused near a Kirkuk pipeline and 11 members of the Facilities Protection Service were killed. A suicide bomber killed 5 Iraqis when he drove his car into a US convoy down Baghdad’s airport road. 4 US contract workers were injured.
(AP, 4/13/05)(SFC, 4/14/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 14, In Iraq 2 car bombs tore through a crowded street in front of the Interior Ministry in central Baghdad, killing 18 people and wounding three dozen others. Seven gunmen in northern Iraq fired on a police station just south of Kirkuk, killing 5 police officers and one civilian. A suicide bomber blew himself up near an Iraqi police checkpoint in Mahawil, 50 miles south of Baghdad, killing 4 policemen and wounding 6 others.
(AP, 4/14/05)
2005 Apr 15, Sunni militants seized a 35-50 Shiite hostages in the central Iraqi town of Madain and threatened to kill them unless all Shiites leave.
(AP, 4/16/05)
2005 Apr 16, Bombings around Iraq killed 24 people. 11 detainees upset about their treatment by US captors escaped from the military's largest detention center in Iraq by climbing through a hole in the fence. Armed militants tried to force their way into Camp Blue Diamond near Ramadi and some suffered casualties.
(AP, 4/16/05)(AP, 4/17/05)
2005 Apr 16, Marla Ruzicka (28), California-based founder of CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims of Conflict), died in a car bombing in Iraq, where she had been on and off since the March 2003 invasion began, conducting door-to-door surveys to determine the number of civilian casualties.
(AP, 4/18/05)(SFC, 4/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 17, Iraqi security forces raided a town in central Iraq where Sunni militants were holding dozens of Shiite Muslims hostage and threatening to kill them. 3 American soldiers were killed and 7 service members wounded overnight when insurgents fired mortar rounds at a US Marine base near Ramadi.
(AP, 4/17/05)
2005 Apr 18, Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. military, swept into Madain, a town south of Baghdad, but found no hostages despite reports that Sunni militants had kidnapped as many as 100 Shiites there.
(AP, 4/18/05)
2005 Apr 19, A suicide car bomb outside an Iraqi army recruitment center and other attacks killed a dozen people and wounded more than 50.
(AP, 4/19/05)
2005 Apr 20, Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani said the bodies of more than 50 people have been recovered from the Tigris River and have been identified. The bodies were believed to have been those of hostages seized in the Madain (Madaen) region earlier this month.
(AP, 4/20/05)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.19)
2005 Apr 20, The bodies of 19 Iraqis were left in a soccer stadium in Haditha 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. 3 suicide car bombs, including one targeting a U.S. convoy, and several shootings left at least six Iraqis dead in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/20/05)
2005 Apr 21, A commercial helicopter contracted by the US Defense Department was shot down by missile fire north of Baghdad. 11 people aboard, including 6 American bodyguards, were killed. A roadside bomb exploded on the highway leading to Baghdad's airport morning, heavily damaging 3 SUVs carrying civilians. Police said 2 foreigners were killed and 3 others wounded.
(WSJ, 4/22/05, p.A1)(AP, 4/21/06)
2005 Apr 22, A car bomb exploded during prayers at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 20. A militant group claimed responsibility for shooting down a Russian-made helicopter carrying 11 civilians and released a video purportedly showing insurgents shooting the crash's lone survivor.
(AP, 4/22/05)
2005 Apr 22, Al Jazeera television reported that insurgents gave Romania 4 days to withdraw its troops from Iraq in order to save the lives of 3 journalists kidnapped last month.
(Reuters, 4/22/05)
2005 Apr 23, Iraqi insurgents struck across the country with bomb attacks, killing at least 16 people, including an American soldier. US forces captured six men suspected in the downing of a civilian helicopter and the shooting death of the lone survivor.
(AP, 4/23/05)
2005 Apr 23, A television cameraman working for The Associated Press was killed when gunfire broke out after an explosion in the northern city of Mosul. An AP photographer was wounded in the same incident.
(AP, 4/23/05)
2005 Apr 24, A car bomb exploded outside a police academy in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. Another one went off moments later as authorities rushed to the scene, killing at least six Iraqis and wounding 33. Deaths from car bombings targeting police and civilians in Tikrit and Baghdad rose to 29.
(AP, 4/25/05)
2005 Apr 24, A US soldier was killed when a roadside bomb exploded as his convoy passed west of Baghdad.
(AP, 4/26/05)
2005 Apr 27, Lamia Abed Khadouri al-Sagri, a member of the National Assembly and of outgoing premier Ayad Allawi's Iraqi List party, was killed in her house in the Hay Aour neighborhood in eastern Baghdad.
(AP, 4/27/05)
2005 Apr 28, In Iraq Ahmad Chalabi captured a key position in the new government, a deputy prime minister's spot and temporary control of the lucrative oil ministry.
(AP, 4/28/05)
2005 Apr 28, Lt. Col. Ala'a Khalil Ibrahim, who worked in the visa section of the Interior Ministry, was shot dead on the way to work by gunmen in Baghdad's eastern section of al-Shaab. A suicide car bomb exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint, wounding four Iraqi soldiers, three U.S. soldiers and seven Iraqi civilians.
(AP, 4/28/05)
2005 Apr 28, Four US soldiers were killed and two wounded when a Task Force Freedom convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Tal Afar city, 90 miles east of the Syrian border.
(AP, 4/30/05)
2005 Apr 28, Islamic militant group Army of Ansar al-Sunna said it shot dead six abducted Sudanese drivers working for U.S. forces in Iraq, according to a video posted on the Internet.
(AP, 4/28/05)
2005 Apr 28-2005 Oct 14, At least 3,663 Iraqis were killed in war-related violence during this period leading up to the vote on a new constitution according to an Associated Press count.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Apr 29, An audiotape purportedly by America's most-wanted insurgent in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, posted on the Internet and threatened more attacks against U.S. forces and urges followers to be wary of any American attempts at dialogue.
(AP, 4/29/05)
2005 Apr 29, Insurgents set off at least 17 bombs in Iraq, killing at least 50 people, including 5 US soldiers, in a series of attacks aimed at shaking Iraq's newly formed government.
(SFC, 4/30/05, p.A1)(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 Apr 30, Insurgents launched fresh attacks in Baghdad and northern Iraq, killing at least 10 Iraqis and wounding more than 30.
(AP, 4/30/05)
2005 May 1, In Iraq insurgents launched a 3rd straight day of attacks, including ambushes, car bombs and a drive-by shooting, killing nine Iraqis and wounding more than 20.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, Five suspects were arrested by Iraqi forces and confessed to the kidnapping and murder of British aid worker Margaret Hassan.
(AFP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, In northern Iraq a car bomb obliterated a tent packed with mourners at the funeral of a Kurdish official, killing 25 people and wounding more than 50 in the single deadliest attack since insurgents started bearing down on Iraq's newly named government late last week.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, A videotape released by Iraqi militants showed Douglas Wood (63), a kidnapped an Australian man living in California, who pleaded for U.S.-led coalition forces to leave Iraq to save his life.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 2, A car bomb exploded in an upscale shopping district of Baghdad, killing at least six Iraqis and setting fire to an apartment building.
(AP, 5/2/05)
2005 May 2, Coalition soldiers fought suspected insurgents near Qaim, a Syrian border town, in a battle that killed 12 militants, injured a 6-year-old girl and wounded six coalition soldiers.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 3, Shiite Arab leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari was sworn in as prime minister as Iraq's first democratically elected government took office.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 3, Insurgents attacked coalition forces in Ramadi, setting off a battle that killed 12 militants, an Iraqi soldier and two Iraqi civilians.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 3, Two American soldiers died in roadside bomb attacks by insurgents in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 May 4, An Iraqi carrying hidden explosives detonated them outside a police recruitment center in Arbil where people were applying for jobs, killing at least 60 Iraqis and wounding some 100. The Iraqi militant group Ansar al-Sunnah claimed responsibility for the bombing saying in a Web statement the attack was revenge for the Kurds' alliance with US forces.
(AP, 5/4/05)(SFC, 5/5/05, p.A1)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.19)
2005 May 4, Japanese media reported Japan will withdraw its 550 soldiers from their non-combat mission in Iraq in December.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 May 4, The Danish government said that the mission of Denmark's 530 troops in southern Iraq would be extended until Feb 1.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 May 5, Insurgents killed at least 20 people in three separate attacks targeting Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, including one by a man who blew himself up while waiting in line outside an army recruitment center.
(AP, 5/5/05)
2005 May 6, Arab television station al-Jazeera said militants holding an Australian engineer hostage have issued a 72-hour ultimatum for Australia to start pulling troops out of Iraq.
(AP, 5/6/05)
2005 May 6, Insurgent car bombs struck a market in Suwayrah killing 17 civilians, and a police bus in Tikrit, killing at least 8 policemen.
(AP, 5/6/05)
2005 May 6, At least a dozen bodies were found buried at a garbage dump on the outskirts of Baghdad, some of them blindfolded and shot in the head.
(AP, 5/6/05)
2005 May 6, Romania's foreign minister said his government would keep its troops in Iraq supporting postwar operations despite the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists.
(AP, 5/6/05)
2005 May 7, In Iraq US forces began Operation Matador, aimed at clearing a region believed to be a haven for foreign fighters slipping into Iraq from Syria.
(AP, 5/13/05)
2005 May 7, In Iraq gunmen stopped a minibus in which the 6 men were carrying the coffin of a relative to a funeral service in the Shiite city of Najaf. The 6 men, 3 of them brothers, were kidnapped and killed, and the attackers threw the coffin into the nearby Euphrates River.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 7, Two suicide car bombs exploded in a central Baghdad square, killing 22 people, including two American contract workers. 3 US Marines and one sailor were killed in a bombing and firefight in Haditha.
(AP, 5/7/05)(SFC, 5/9/05, p.A1)
2005 May 8, Iraq's parliament approved six Cabinet nominees, handing four more posts to the disaffected Sunni Arab minority. Iraq's newly approved human rights minister turned down the job, saying he was selected only because he was a Sunni Arab.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Iraq gunmen shot and killed a senior official in Iraq's Transportation Ministry in Baghdad. Zoba Yass, director general of the ministry's projects, and his driver were killed.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In central Iraq 3 US soldiers were killed in separate attacks.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Iraq the Ansar al-Sunnah Army kidnapped Akihiko Saito (44), after ambushing a group of five foreign contractors. It later said Saito was "seriously injured" in the fighting and that the others had died.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 8-9, American troops backed by helicopters and war planes launched a major offensive against insurgents in a remote desert area near the Syrian border, and about 100 militants were killed in the first 24 hours.
(AP, 5/9/05)(SFC, 5/10/05, p.A1)
2005 May 10, Gunmen kidnapped the governor of Iraq's western Anbar province and told his family he would be released when US forces withdraw from Qaim, the site of a major new offensive against followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Gov. Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi was later killed.
(AP, 5/10/06)
2005 May 10, US forces backed by helicopter gunships and warplanes swept through western Iraq near the Syrian border for a third day, raiding desert outposts and safe houses belonging to insurgents.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 11, In Hawija, Iraq, a man with explosives strapped to his body killed at least 30 people at a recruitment center. A wave of explosions and gunfire across Iraq killed at least 39 more people.
(AP, 5/11/05)
2005 May 11, In western Iraq 4 Marines were killed when their troop transporter was struck by a bomb near Karabilah, a village close to the Syrian border, during Operation Matador.
(AP, 5/14/05)
2005 May 12, Militants assassinated a general and a colonel who were en route to work, and a car bomb exploded near a busy market and movie theater in eastern Baghdad, part of a wave of attacks that killed at least 21 Iraqis and wounded more than 70.
(AP, 5/12/05)
2005 May 13, Iraq announced it has renewed its state of emergency for another 30 days following two weeks of insurgent-led violence that killed hundreds of people.
(AP, 5/13/05)
2005 May 14, In Iraq insurgents staged a series of attacks, killing at least 9 people. The US military wrapped up Operation Matador, a major offensive in a remote desert region near the Syrian border.
(AP, 5/14/05)(AP, 5/14/06)
2005 May 15, The bodies of 46 men shot execution-style were found dumped at an abandoned chicken farm, a trash-strewn lot and an insurgent stronghold west of the capital. Gunmen in two cars shot dead Industry Ministry official Col. Jassam Mohammed al-Lahibi and his driver in western Baghdad's Ghazaliyah neighborhood. attackers killed Shiite cleric Sheik Qassim al-Gharawi and his nephew in the capital's New Baghdad neighborhood. 2 explosions detonated about five minutes apart in a busy street as residents were heading to work in Baqouba killing four people and wounding 37.
(AP, 5/15/05)(SFC, 5/16/05, p.A1)
2005 May 15, Gunmen freed the kidnapped governor of Iraq's western Anbar province after US troops ended a weeklong offensive in the region. 125 insurgents were reported killed along with 9 US soldiers in Operation Matador.
(AP, 5/15/05)(WSJ, 5/16/05, p.A1)
2005 May 15, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice paid a surprise visit to Iraq to express support for its new government.
(AP, 5/15/06)
2005 May 16, In Iraq 8 more bodies were found executed by insurgents. Attacks left at least 24 Iraqis dead.
(WSJ, 5/17/05, p.A1)(SFC, 5/17/05, p.A1)
2005 May 17, In Baghdad gunmen killed a Shiite Muslim cleric, and two missing Sunni clerics were found shot dead. Gunmen abducted and killed former Baath Party member Kanis Mohammed al-Janabi and his three sons, aged 17 to 25 in Tunis.
(AP, 5/17/05)
2005 May 17, Cyrus Kar, Iranian-American filmmaker, was arrested by Iraqi security forces after washing machine timers were found in the trunk of a taxi in which he was traveling. He was in Iraq to film footage on the ancient Persian king Cyrus the Great. Kar was released July 10. In 2006 Kar sued US military officials for his 55-day detention.
(SFC, 7/7/05, p.A18)(AP, 7/10/05)(SFC, 7/8/06, p.A3)
2005 May 18, Insurgents gunned down a senior Iraqi Interior Ministry official and the bodies of seven men shot in the head were found dumped west of Baghdad.
(AP, 5/18/05)
2005 May 19, Iraq's prime minister called on Syria to block the infiltration of foreign fighters trying to start a civil war. 25 Iraqis, including an Oil Ministry engineer, and 4 US soldiers were reported killed in the ongoing daily bloodshed. Oil Ministry employee Ali Hamid Alwan al-Dulaimy (31) walked out of his house toward his car when three men firing pistols from a minivan killed him.
(AP, 5/19/05)(WSJ, 5/20/05, p.A1)
2005 May 20, Thousands of Shiites, many waving Islam's holy book over their heads, protested the US presence in Iraq. Sunnis shut down places of worship elsewhere in a show of anger over alleged sectarian violence against the minority.
(AP, 5/20/05)
2005 May 21, Sunni groups joined forces to form a political and religious organization to represent the minority as it seeks to gain influence in Iraq's new Shiite-dominated government.
(AP, 5/21/05)
2005 May 22, Seven Iraqi battalions backed by US forces launched an offensive in Baghdad in an effort to stanch the violence that has killed more than 550 people in less than a month.
(AP, 5/22/05)
2005 May 22, In Iraq gunmen killed a top trade ministry official while aides of a radical Shiite cleric met with a key Sunni group seeking to ease sectarian tensions.
(AP, 5/22/05)
2005 May 22, In Iraq 3 Romanian journalists and their Iraqi-American guide were freed after nearly two months in captivity. Mohammed Munaf, their Iraqi-American translator, was later tried and convicted on charges that he assisted in the kidnapping. In 2006 Munaf was sentenced to death.
(AP, 5/22/05)(SSFC, 10/15/06, p.A20)
2005 May 23, A string of car bombs and suicide attacks across Iraq killed at least 49 Iraqis and wounded more than 130. Militants assassinated a top national security official. Five US troops were killed by roadside bombs and a vehicle accident.
(AP, 5/23/05)(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, In Iraq a car bomb exploded near a Baghdad junior high school for girls, killing six people. 3 US soldiers were killed in central Baghdad when a car bomb exploded next to their convoy. A US soldier sitting in the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle at an observation post was shot to death by gunmen in a passing car.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, A Web site that acts as the clearinghouse for messages from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said that Iraq's most-wanted militant had been wounded "for the sake of God" and asked Muslims to pray for his recovery.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 25, About 1,000 US Marines, sailors and soldiers encircled Haditha city in the troubled Anbar province.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 26, The Iraqi government announced that a security cordon of 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and police will ring Baghdad starting next week to try to halt a spree of insurgent violence. Attacks left 15 Iraqis and one Marine dead.
(AP, 5/26/05)(WSJ, 5/27/05, p.A1)
2005 May 26, The Iraqi government arrested Musaab Kasser Abdul Rahman Hassan, known as Abu Younis, a suspected member of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq. The government claimed he was responsible for building car bombs and carrying out more than 60 bombings around the capital. The arrest was not announced until June 19.
(AP, 6/19/05)
2005 May 26, In central Iraq 2 US soldiers were killed when their helicopter was shot down and crashed.
(AP, 5/27/05)
2005 May 27, An Internet posting said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is in good health and is running his terror organization.
(AP, 5/28/05)
2005 May 27, In Iraq gunmen shot and killed a moderate Sunni Muslim tribal leader with close ties to Iraqi Kurds in the northern city of Kirkuk. Sheik Sabhan Khalaf al-Jibouri, 52, died in a hail of machine-gun fire outside his home.
(AP, 5/28/05)
2005 May 28, In Iraq 2 suicide attackers detonated car bombs in northern Iraq, killing at least five Iraqis, and the government confirmed the death of a Japanese hostage abducted earlier this month. Attacks killed at least 45 Iraqis over the past 2 days including 10 people returning from a religious pilgrimage in Syria. A US Marine was killed when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle in northwestern Iraq.
(AP, 5/28/05)(AP, 5/30/05)
2005 May 28, More than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, backed by American troops and air support, began “Operation Lightning" against insurgents in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/11/05)
2005 May 29, In Iraq suicide bombings and ambushes killed at least 30 people, including a British soldier. Iraqi forces swept through Baghdad, erecting checkpoints and searching vehicles as they launched the largest offensive of its kind since Saddam Hussein's ouster.
(AP, 5/29/05)(SFC, 5/30/05, p.A1)
2005 May 29, In Iraq Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Barazanchi, the director of internal affairs of Kirkuk province and a former police chief, was shot several times. He died the next day.
(AP, 5/30/05)
2005 May 29, The body of Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi, governor of Anbar province, was found killed. Insurgents had abducted him May 10.
(AP, 5/31/05)
2005 May 30, In Iraq 2 suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of police officers in Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing 31 people and wounding 108, while US forces mistakenly detained a Sunni political leader on the 2nd day of an Iraqi-led security sweep in the capital.
(AP, 5/30/05)(SFC, 5/31/05, p.A1)
2005 May 30, In Iraq separate air crashes killed 4 American and 4 Italian troops.
(AP, 5/31/05)
2005 Jun 1, A suicide bomber attacked the main checkpoint to Baghdad International Airport, wounding at least 15 Iraqis.
(AP, 6/1/05)
2005 Jun 2, In northern Iraq 3 suicide car bombings struck within an hour. In Kirkuk a car bomb targeting a restaurant where bodyguards of Iraq's Kurdish deputy prime minister were eating killed nine people and wounded 25. A car bomb attack killed the deputy head of Diyala provincial council and three of his bodyguards. 2 parked motorcycles exploded in Mosul killing 5 Iraqis. Gunmen in speeding cars opened fire on a crowded market in Baghdad. The series of attacks killed at least 34 people.
(AP, 6/2/05)
2005 Jun 2, A suicide car bomber targeted a home where a group of people had gathered, killing at least 10 Iraqis and wounding 10 more in Saud, a remote village north of Baghdad.
(AP, 6/3/05)
2005 Jun 3, Iraqi insurgent commanders "apparently came face to face" with four American officials during meetings on June 3 and June 13 at a summer villa near Balad, about 25 miles north of Baghdad.
(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun 3, Gunmen killed a city council official in Kirkuk. Gunmen also killed Razzouq Mohammed Ibrahim, an Iraqi contractor in charge of renovating a mosque in western Samarra. Two Iraqi civilians, including a child, were killed when their car swerved into a US Bradley fighting vehicle near Khalis.
(AP, 6/3/05)
2005 Jun 4, Iraqi police arrested Mutlaq Mahmoud Mutlaq Abdullah, also known as Abu Raad, a key aide to the leader of the Mosul branch of the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group. A suicide car bomber blew himself up at an Iraqi police checkpoint on a main road connecting northern Mosul with the nearby city of Tal Afar, killing two officers and wounding four. Iraqi and US troops discovered 50 weapons and ammunition caches and a huge underground bunker west of the capital fitted out with air conditioning, a kitchen and showers.
(AP, 6/5/05)
2005 Jun 7, A Sunni Arab politician said two insurgent groups were willing to negotiate with the government, possibly opening a new political front in embattled Iraq.
(AP, 6/7/05)
2005 Jun 7, Iraqi security forces captured Jassim Hazan Hamadi al-Bazi, also known as Abu Ahmed. a reputed key member of Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group who is accused of building and selling cars used by suicide bombers.
(AP, 6/14/05)
2005 Jun 7, In northern Iraq 4 apparently coordinated bombings in seven minutes killed 18 people and wounded 39, while a car bomb in Baghdad injured 28.
(AP, 6/7/05)
2005 Jun 7, A convoy of trucks believed to be carrying supplies to a U.S. military base west of Baghdad was ambushed, and reporters who arrived after the attack said they saw the bodies of at least seven people.
(AP, 6/8/05)
2005 Jun 7, Two US commanders were killed at a base near Tikrit. The US military later charged a Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez of Troy, N.Y. National Guard with murdering Capt. Philip Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis Allen, in what is believed to be the 1st case of a US soldier in Iraq accused of killing his superiors. Martinez was acquitted of murder on Dec 4, 2008.
(AP, 6/17/05)(AP, 11/1/05)(SFC, 10/23/08, p.A7)(SFC, 12/5/08, p.A6)
2005 Jun 8, An American-Iraqi offensive killed at least 10 militants, including four blown apart by their own car bomb.
(AP, 6/8/05)
2005 Jun 9, Iraqi Pres. Jalal Talabani said Sunni Muslim Arabs will be given up to 25 seats on the committee drafting Iraq's new constitution.
(AP, 6/9/05)
2005 Jun 9, Clementina Cantoni (32), an Italian aid worker kidnapped at gunpoint in the Afghan capital three weeks ago, was released.
(AP, 6/10/05)
2005 Jun 10, In Iraq militants killed five US Marines and authorities found 21 bodies in civilian clothes scattered near Qaim, a town close to the Syrian border. 11 were shot in the head and another was beheaded.
(AP, 6/10/05)
2005 Jun 11, In Iraq a suicide bomber dressed as a policeman blew himself up during roll call at the heavily guarded headquarters of an elite commando unit killing 5 people. Gunmen attacked a busload of construction workers south of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 11 and wounding three others. Attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 23 people.
(AP, 6/11/05)
2005 Jun 11, US fighter planes equipped with precision-guided missiles launched airstrikes on an Iraqi town near the Syrian border, killing about 40 insurgents who were stopping and searching civilian cars.
(AP, 6/11/05)
2005 Jun 11, French journalist Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi assistant were freed and in good health after nearly five months in captivity in Iraq.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 12, The US military announced the killing of 4 more soldiers, pushing the American death toll past 1,700. Iraqi police found the bullet-riddled bodies of 28 people, many thought to be Sunni Arabs, buried in shallow graves or dumped streetside in Baghdad.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 12,The Kurdish Parliament elected veteran guerrilla leader Massoud Barzani the first president of Iraq's northern Kurdistan region.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 12, British troops arrested a group of Iraqi insurgents suspected of carrying out separate roadside bombings that killed two British soldiers.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 13, Iraqi insurgent commanders "apparently came face to face" with four American officials during meetings on June 3 and June 13 at a summer villa near Balad, about 25 miles north of Baghdad.
(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun 13, In Iraq 4 suicide car bombings and other insurgent attacks killed 10 people, and at least 16 Iraqis were wounded after militants opened fire on authorities trying to evacuate the injured from one of the blasts.
(AP, 6/13/05)
2005 Jun 14, A bomb exploded outside a bank in Kirkuk, killing 23 people, including child street vendors and pensioners waiting for their checks. In Baghdad, the bodies of 24 men killed in ambushes were brought to a hospital. 5 Iraqi and 3 US soldiers were killed.
(AP, 6/14/05)(WSJ, 6/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 14, A senior US military official said up to 20 percent of suicide car bombers in Iraq are from Algeria, a sign of growing cooperation between Islamic extremists in northern Africa and like-minded Iraqis.
(AP, 6/14/05)
2005 Jun 15, Iraqi troops, backed by US forces, freed Douglas Wood, an Australian-born contract engineer, after six weeks in captivity. The release came as a suicide bomber dressed in an Iraqi army uniform blew himself up in a mess hall north of Baghdad, killing at least 25 Iraqi soldiers and injuring 27. A suicide car bomber slammed into 3 police cars on patrol in eastern Baghdad, killing 8 officers. Brutal attacks across Iraq killed more than 50 people.
(AP, 6/15/05)(SFC, 6/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 16, A roadside bomb attack killed five US Marines, and gunfire killed an American sailor in a western Iraqi town. A suicide car bomber slammed into a truck that was carrying policemen along the main road connecting Baghdad with its airport, killing at least eight officers and injuring at least 25.
(AP, 6/16/05)
2005 Jun 17, The US military launched a major combat operation with 1,000 Marines and Iraqi soldiers in the hunt for insurgents and foreign fighters in a volatile western province straddling Syria.
(AP, 6/17/05)
2005 Jun 17, In Iraq 2 US soldiers were killed and one was wounded during a small-arms skirmish with insurgents in Karabilah. A car bomb blew up outside a mosque in the western town of Habaniyah, killing four people and injuring another 15.
(AP, 6/17/05)(AP, 6/18/05)
2005 Jun 18, Iraqi forces and US Marines battled insurgents on two fronts in a restive western province, killing about 50 militants. It was the 2nd day of Operation Spear, Romhe in Arabic.
(AP, 6/18/05)
2005 Jun 18, In Baghdad a 10-year-old Iraqi girl was killed and 2 people were injured when a roadside bomb missed a passing American military convoy and detonated near the child.
(AP, 6/18/05)
2005 Jun 19, A suicide bombing ripped through a popular Baghdad kebab restaurant at lunchtime, killing 23 people and wounding 36. A suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi military checkpoint north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and one civilian, officials said. Thirteen others were wounded.
(AP, 6/19/05)(SFC, 6/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 20, In Iraq a suicide car bomber killed at least 15 traffic police and wounded about 100 more outside the unit's headquarters in the northern Kurdish city of Irbil. Suicide attacks left 37 dead.
(AP, 6/20/05)(WSJ, 6/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 21, In Iraq 3 US soldiers were killed by small-arms fire during combat operations in Ramadi.
(AP, 6/22/05)
2005 Jun 22, In Iraq gunmen killed a former judge whose name once was on a list of Sunni Arabs joining a parliamentary committee to draft Iraq's new constitution. Separately, a Filipino hostage was released after almost eight months in captivity. 4 car bombs exploded at dusk, killing at least 23 people, including sidewalk diners and passengers at a bus station in Baghdad. In all, at least 32 people were killed across Iraq, including a prominent Sunni law professor assassinated by gunmen.
(AP, 6/22/05)
2005 Jun 23, Four apparently synchronized car bombs in the Karada district of Baghdad killed 15 and wounded 50. A sniper killed 2 soldiers in western Baghdad. US troops backed by Iraqi troops and helicopters killed 7 insurgents who opened fire on the patrol from a home in western Baghdad's Jamiaa. A web statement said Abdullah Mohammed Rashid al-Roshoud, one of Saudi Arabia's most-wanted militants, was killed by a US airstrike in northwestern Iraq. A suicide car bomb in Fallujah and ensuing small-arms fire killed 6 US troops including 3 women. 11 of 13 wounded were female.
(AP, 6/23/05)(SFC, 6/24/05, p.A18)(AP, 6/28/05)
2005 Jun 24, Three separate roadside bombs exploded near US military convoys and a police patrol. Iraqi security forces discovered the bodies of eight beheaded men in 2 villages north of Baghdad.
(AP, 6/24/05)
2005 Jun 24, The UN Security Council approved the transfer of $200 million in oil-for-food revenue to the Development Fund for Iraq and said an additional $20 million can be used to pay Iraq's past UN dues.
(AP, 6/24/05)
2005 Jun 25, Mohammed Al-Sumaidaie (21), a university student, was killed when he took Marines doing house-to-house searches to a bedroom to show them where a rifle which had no live ammunition was kept. When the Marines left, he was found in the bedroom with a bullet in his neck. Iraq's UN ambassador later accused U.S. Marines of killing his unarmed young cousin in what appeared to be "cold blood" and demanded an investigation and punishment for the perpetrators.
(AP, 7/2/05)
2005 Jun 25, A suicide car bomber blew himself up outside an Iraqi police officer's home north of Baghdad, killing at least six people and wounding at least a dozen. 3 evening mortar rounds struck a crowded cafe in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, killing 5 civilians and wounding 7.
(AP, 6/25/05)(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun 26, In Iraq a suicide bomber with explosives hidden beneath watermelons in a pickup truck slammed into a police station near a market in Mosul killing 10 police officers and 2 civilians. In Sadiya 6 Iraqi soldiers were gunned down outside their base. A bomber in Al Kasik killed 16 Iraqi civilians arriving for work on an army base. In Mosul a suicide bomber killed 5 Iraqi police. One US soldier was killed in Baghdad by a homemade bomb.
(AP, 6/26/05)(SSFC, 6/26/05, p.A7)
2005 Jun 26, Jordan barred publication of Saddam Hussein's fourth novel, titled "Get Out, Damned One," due to political concerns. Saddam's eldest daughter, Raghad, said her father finished the novel March 18, 2003, a day before the U.S.-led war on Iraq began
(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun 27, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said that two years would be "more than enough" to establish security in his country, a task Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld believes may take up to 12 years.
(AP, 6/27/05)
2005 Jun 27, The US military said it planned to expand its prisons across Iraq to hold as many as 16,000 detainees.
(SFC, 6/28/05, p.A3)
2005 Jun 27, A US Apache attack helicopter crashed north of Baghdad, killing both pilots. A car bomb exploded between a movie house and mosque in eastern Baghdad, killing at least four people and injuring 16.
(AP, 6/27/05)
2005 Jun 27, A meeting in Istanbul of the World Tribunal on Iraq, the culmination of 20 meetings around the world over the last 2 years, called the invasion and occupation of Iraq illegal. The symbolic tribunal sought the immediate withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq and payment of reparations for the damage caused during the conflict.
(AP, 6/27/05)
2005 Jun 28, US troops allegedly killed an Iraqi television director when he drove near a US convoy. A suicide car bomb killed Sheikh Dhari Ali al-Fayadh, an Iraqi Shiite legislator, his son and two bodyguards near Baghdad as they were headed to a parliamentary session in the capital. A suicide bomber near Balad killed a US soldier. A car bomb near Tikrit killed another US soldier. In Samara police fired on a crowd demanding jobs and one person was killed. A car bomb in Baquba killed on e person. A suicide bomber in Musayyib killed a police officer. Bloodshed killed at least 18 people throughout Iraq. In Kirkuk a suicide car bomber slammed into a convoy killing a bodyguard of traffic police chief Brig. Gen. Salar Ahmed.
(AP, 6/29/05)(SFC, 6/29/05, p.A15)
2005 Jun 28, More than 1,000 U.S. troops and Iraqi forces launched Operation Sword on Tuesday in a bid to crush insurgents and foreign fighters in western Iraq, the third major offensive in the area in recent weeks.
(AP, 6/28/05)
2005 Jun 29, A propaganda video, purportedly made by al-Qaida-linked terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was posted on militant Web sites. It showed suicide attacks against US soldiers and Iraqi forces and emphasizes that the war being waged by Iraqi insurgents is in retaliation for America's war against Islam.
(AP, 7/2/05)
2005 Jun 30, The UN panel overseeing compensation for victims of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait approved its final claims, bringing the total award to $52.5 billion.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2005 Jun, In Iraq construction began about this time on a new US embassy complex with a target completion date of June 2007. The 21 building complex on 104 acres will be the largest US embassy in the world. Cost was estimated at over $1 billion.
(AP, 4/14/06)
2005 Jul 1, In Iraq gunmen killed Shiite cleric Kamal Ezz al-Deen al-Ghuraifi, an aide to Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, and 2 bodyguards in a drive-by shooting outside a Baghdad mosque. A suicide bomber detonated his car outside the party offices of PM Ibrahim al-Jaafari, killing one guard.
(AP, 7/1/05)
2005 Jul 2, Ihab al-Sherif, an Egyptian envoy, was kidnapped in Baghdad, weeks after arriving in the country. He was expected to become Iraq's first Arab ambassador since Iraq's new government took office. Al-Qaida later announced it had killed him.
(AP, 7/3/05)(AP, 7/2/06)
2005 Jul 3, A car bomb killed three Iraqi policemen north of Baghdad. 2 US soldiers were wounded in a suicide attack near a checkpoint in the western city of Ramadi.
(AP, 7/3/05)
2005 Jul 4, US and Iraqi forces raided suspected insurgent safe houses near Baghdad International Airport, arresting at least 100 suspected militants, including foreign fighters.
(AP, 7/4/05)
2005 Jul 5, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi issued an audiotape announcing the formation of the Omar Brigade to kill Shia. Sunni clerics had recently accused the Shia Badr Brigade of sending hit squads against Sunnis.
(Econ, 7/16/05, p.41)
2005 Jul 5, At least 100 suspected insurgents, including foreigners, were arrested in a new military operation by US and Iraqi security forces. Insurgents mounted attacks against Arab and Muslim diplomats in Iraq, wounding Bahrain's top envoy in a kidnapping attempt. Pakistan's ambassador also escaped an assault on his convoy.
(AP, 7/5/05)
2005 Jul 5, A US soldier from Task Force Liberty was killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb northeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 7/5/05)
2005 Jul 6, In Iraq gunmen killed 4 policemen and wounded at least 9 more in separate attacks in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/6/05)
2005 Jul 7, Iraq's president called for national unity as mortar attacks killed 4 civilians in the northern city of Mosul and police opened fire on demonstrators in Saddam Hussein's hometown Tikrit, wounding 4.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 7, Al-Qaida in Iraq said in a Web statement that it has killed Ihab al-Sherif, Egypt's top envoy in Iraq, posting a video of the blindfolded diplomat identifying himself.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 7, Egypt recalled its staff to Cairo and said it will temporarily shut its diplomatic mission in Iraq.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 7, About 600 US Marines and Iraqi soldiers launched Operation Scimitar near Fallujah, the fourth counterinsurgency operation in less than a month.
(AP, 7/9/05)
2005 Jul 7, Ali Shakir, the head of Iraq's karate union, was kidnapped south of Baghdad.
(AP, 7/9/05)
2005 Jul 7, Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer quit the Iraqi dictator's Jordan-based legal team, saying some of the team's American members were trying to control the defense and tone down his criticism of the U.S. presence in Iraq.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 9, Khamis Farhan Khalaf Abd al-Fahdawi (known as Abu Seba), a senior lieutenant of al-Qaida in Iraq, was arrested following operations in the Ramadi. He was a key suspect in the kidnap-slaying of an Egyptian envoy and attacks on senior diplomats from Pakistan and Bahrain.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 9, It was reported that a recent Internet announcement said that Ibrahim Youssef al-Shammari would serve as official spokesman for the Islamic Army of Iraq and the Army of the Mujahideen, 2 groups thought to be linked to the former Baath Party.
(Econ, 7/25/05, p.39)
2005 Jul 10, In Iraq Abdullah Ibrahim Mohammed Hassan al Shadad (or Abu Abdul Aziz), another al-Qaida in Iraq lieutenant, was captured.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 10, A man strapped with explosives blew himself up at an Iraqi military recruiting center in Baghdad killing 25 people. 2 US Marines were killed by indirect fire in Hit. 4 insurgents were killed in Tal Afar. 2 suicide car bombers killed at least 7 Iraqi customs officials along the Syrian border. 8 members of a Shiite family, including a 2-year-old, were shot to death in their sleep. The father suspected it was a sectarian crime. The body of kidnapped Iraqi karate association chief Ali Shakir was found floating in the Tigris river southeast of Baghdad. An Iraqi commando brigade detained 10 Sunnis, who were later found tortured and suffocated in a container. Attacks left over 50 people dead.
(AP, 7/10/05)(SFC, 7/11/05, p.A1)(SFC, 7/12/05, p.A3)
2005 Jul 11, In Iraq US troops killed 10 more insurgents in the northern city of Tel Afar. 6 civilians were reported killed in the Tal Afar fighting. Insurgents stormed an Iraqi army checkpoint north of Baghdad, killing 12 people, including 9 soldiers.
(AP, 7/11/05)(Reuters, 7/11/05)(SFC, 7/12/05, p.A3)
2005 Jul 12, In Iraq armed men stormed a house in Baghdad, killing 4 Iraqi human rights activists and wounding another.
(AP, 7/12/05)
2005 Jul 13, The US military filed charges against 11 US soldiers for assaulting detainees in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/16/05)
2005 Jul 13, In Iraq a suicide car bomber sped up to American soldiers distributing candy to children and detonated his explosives, killing up to 27 other people. One US soldier and 7 children were among the dead.
(AP, 7/13/05)
2005 Jul 14, In Iraq 2 US Marines were killed by roadside bomb near the Jordanian border.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 14, In Iraq 2 suicide bombers struck near the Green Zone in central Baghdad, but a third was wounded and captured by US and Iraqi security forces, officials said. At least 9 people were wounded in the blasts.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 15, In Iraq a frenzy of attacks killed at least 30 people in 12 suicide bombings. 2 US Marines were killed in a roadside bombing near the Jordanian border. A suicide car bomb exploded on a bridge overlooking the home of President Jalal Talabani, killing three of his guards. In Nasiriyah, judge Nurredin Ahmed, a Kurd from the northern oil centre of Kirkuk, was shot dead at his home. Akram Ahmed Rasul al-Bayati, a major general in the old regime's disbanded military, and his son Ali, a policeman, were killed after being arrested by police commandos on July 10.
(AP, 7/16/05)(AFP, 7/16/05)(SFC, 7/16/05, p.A3)
2005 Jul 16, In Baghdad a suicide car bomber attacked police commandos in the southern district of Dura, killing one commando and three civilians, two of them children. A 2nd Baghdad suicide bomber blew up a car in an attack targeting a passing US military convoy. One civilian was killed. A 3rd bomber blew himself up in a police station in Mosul, killing 4 policemen and wounding 18 more. A 4th bomber blew himself up in the Jabala area, when Iraqi police tried to arrest him. The explosion wounded two policemen and four civilians. 3 British soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in a rare attack in the relatively stable southern part of the country.
(AFP, 7/16/05)
2005 Jul 16, In Iraq a suicide bomber blew up a fuel truck near a crowded vegetable market outside a Shi'ite mosque in Musayyib killing 98 people. A suspected mastermind of the attack in Musayyib, which killed nearly 100 people, was captured later during a raid by Iraqi forces in which two of his associates were killed.
(Reuters, 7/17/05)(AP, 7/23/05)
2005 Jul 17, In Iraq The Iraqi Special Tribunal filed its first criminal case against Saddam Hussein for a 1982 massacre of Shiites. Adel Karim, a deputy minister for industrial development, said Iraq wants to launch a privatization program that would end state monopolies over industry. Suicide strikes killed 22 people in the Baghdad area.
(AP, 7/17/05)(AP, 7/17/06)
2005 Jul 18, Bayan Jabr, Iraq's interior minister, accused Syria of not making a serious effort to crack down on insurgents in its territory or prevent them from crossing into Iraq, adding that he had pictures and addresses of militant leaders in Syria.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, Insurgents killed 8 police and government workers in seven separate shootings across central Iraq.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 19, One of the Sunni Arabs appointed to a committee to draft Iraq's constitution was assassinated in a drive-by shooting. Mijbil Issa was gunned down, along with two bodyguards, in the Karradah area of Baghdad. Gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying Iraqi workers to a U.S. airbase in central Iraq, killing 13.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 19, US Army soldier Lavena Johnson (b.1985) of Missouri was apparently raped and murdered while on duty in Iraq. A DOD report said she had killed herself.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaVena_Johnson)(Econ, 10/19/13, p.35)
2005 Jul 19, A top Turkish general said the US had given direct orders for the capture of rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leaders in Iraq.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 20, Sunni Muslim members on a committee drafting Iraq's new constitution suspended their participation in the wake of a colleague's assassination, saying they need more security. A suicide bomber blew himself up outside an army recruiting center in central Baghdad, killing at least 10 people.
(AP, 7/20/05)
2005 Jul 21, The chief of Algeria's diplomatic mission, Ali Belaroussi, and fellow envoy Azzedine Belkadi were seized at gunpoint from the upscale Mansour district of western Baghdad. In an Internet statement 2 days later al-Qaida in Iraq said it was responsible. Al-Qaida later announced it had killed the diplomats.
(AP, 7/23/05)(AP, 7/21/06)
2005 Jul 21, A Kurdish party official said Kurdish leaders have presented a redrawn map with a larger Kurdistan to the Iraqi National Assembly for consideration in the new constitution.
(AP, 7/21/05)
2005 Jul 22, Insurgents targeted two Iraqi police patrols in Baghdad, leaving at least five people dead.
(AP, 7/22/05)
2005 Jul 24, Iraqi police said a suicide attacker slammed a truck loaded with explosives into sand barriers outside a Baghdad police station, killing at least 39 people and wounding 30. A US Marine was killed in combat operations near Rutbah. 4 US troops were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/24/05)(SFC, 7/25/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 7/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 25, In Iraq Sunni Arab members of a committee drafting Iraq's new constitution ended their boycott, six days after they walked out to protest the assassinations of two fellow Sunni constitution framers. A US soldier was killed when a roadside bomb exploded under his vehicle near Samarra north of Baghdad.
(AP, 7/25/05)
2005 Jul 25, Baghdad was hit by twin suicide car bombs that killed at least 8 people as Australian PM John Howard made a surprise visit there.
(AFP, 7/25/05)
2005 Jul 26, Al-Qaida in Iraq said it had condemned to death two Algerian diplomats who were abducted in Baghdad. A video made public showed the men blindfolded and in captivity.
(AP, 7/26/05)
2005 Jul 27, Iraqi commandos captured Hamdi Tantawi, an Egyptian said to be an associate of Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's 2nd in command. Iraq's most feared terror group said it had killed two kidnapped Algerian diplomats.
(AP, 7/27/05)(AP, 7/27/06)
2005 Jul 27, The US charged Iraqi-born Wasem al Delaema (32), a Dutch citizen, with conspiring to kill Americans in Iraq and asked the Dutch government to extradite him for prosecution. Authorities alleged al Delaema was one of several men calling themselves the Fighters of Fallujah who plotted attacks near that Iraqi city in October 2003. In 2010 a Dutch court reduced his sentenced to 8 years and released him.
(AP, 7/30/05)(AP, 10/13/10)
2005 Jul 28, ICANN transferred the Internet .iq name to Iraq’s telecommunications regulator. InfoCom Corp., which sold computers and Web services in the Middle East, got the .iq assignment in 1997, but was indicted in 2002 for funneling money to a member of Hamas. InfoCom was convicted in April 2005.
(SFC, 8/6/05, p.C2)
2005 Jul 28, Insurgents launched coordinated attacks against Iraqi army checkpoints northeast of Baghdad, killing 6 Iraqi soldiers, police said. Roadside bombs killed 2 US soldiers. A bomb ignited a train carrying fuel in the south of Iraq's capital and 2 people were killed. In western Iraq 2 US Marines were killed by insurgent gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades. The Marines reported killing 9 insurgents, 5 believed to be Syrians, during an engagement in the same small village.
(AP, 7/28/05)(WSJ, 7/29/05, p.A1)(AP, 7/29/05)
2005 Jul 28, Jamie Leigh Jones, a Halliburton/KBR employee in Baghdad, Iraq, was allegedly drugged, raped and held against her will at Camp Hope by seven KBR employees. On May 16, 2007, she filed a lawsuit against the company and the employees which the Department of Justice failed to act upon. On December 19, 2007, she testified before Congress. The Department of Justice had been subpoenaed to also testify; they failed to appear or send a reason for declining to appear. In 2011 Jones (26) lost her lawsuit against KBR.
(www.jamiesfoundation.org/Jamie.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/2tm4g4)(AP, 7/8/11)
2005 Jul 29, A suicide attacker detonated an explosives belt in a crowd of Iraqi army recruits in Rabiya near the Syrian border, killing at least 52 and wounding 93. After the blast, US and Iraqi troops opened fire believing they were under attack. Some of the army recruits were killed by the gunfire.
(AP, 7/29/05)(SFC, 7/30/05, p.A3)(AP, 7/31/05)
2005 Jul 30, In southern Iraq 2 British contractors guarding a consulate convoy were killed by a roadside bomb. A car bomb exploded near the National Theater in Baghdad, killing 5 people, including 3 policemen. Assailants in military garb tried to assassinate a prominent Sunni Arab leader. 5 US soldiers were killed by roadside bombs in two separate incidents in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/30/05)(AP, 7/31/05)
2005 Jul 31, A car bomb exploded south of Baghdad, killing five civilians and wounding 10, including two policemen.
(AP, 7/31/05)
2005 Jul, Nearly 700 of the 1,100 bodies brought to Baghdad's central morgue had fatal gunshot wounds. Iraqi government statistics showed that targeted killings had almost doubled over the last 12 months despite increases in the numbers of policemen on the streets and Iraqi national guard patrols.
(LAT, 9/11/05)
2005 Aug 1, Iraq announced that it will begin rationing gasoline over the next few months to cope with a continuing fuel shortage.
(SFC, 8/2/05, p.A5)
2005 Aug 1, In western Iraq six US Marines were killed in Haditha. A 7th Marine was killed by a car bomb in Hit.
(AP, 8/2/05)
2005 Aug 2, A roadside bomb targeting a US military convoy exploded at the entrance to a tunnel in central Baghdad, and at least 29 civilians were wounded. American freelance journalist Steven Vincent was found shot to death in Basra after being abducted by armed men. Vincent had been shot multiple times after he and his Iraqi translator were abducted at gunpoint hours earlier. He had been writing about the rise of conservative Shiite Islam and the corruption of the Iraqi police.
(www.nytimes.com/2005/08/03/international/middleeast/03cnd-iraq.html?_r=1)(AP, 8/2/05)(AP, 8/2/06)
2005 Aug 3, An Iraqi Airways plane landed at Istanbul airport and then took off again for Baghdad, inaugurating its Iraq-Turkey route after a 14-year hiatus.
(AP, 8/4/05)
2005 Aug 3, A Marine amphibious assault vehicle on patrol during combat operations near the Syrian border hit a roadside bomb. 14 Marines and a civilian interpreter were killed. Steven Vincent, an American freelance journalist, was found dead in Basra. Vincent had been shot multiple times after he and his Iraqi translator were abducted at gunpoint hours earlier.
(AP, 8/3/05)
2005 Aug 3, A US Marine was killed by small-arms fire in Ramadi. 3 US soldiers died in a roadside bombing in Baghdad.
(AP, 8/4/05)
2005 Aug 4, A car bomb hit members of a radical Shiite militia in northern Iraq as attacks nationwide killed at least 11 people. Unidentified gunmen attacked an Iraqi army patrol in a town north of Baghdad, killing four Iraqi troops. An American soldier assigned to a unit in Mosul was killed in action.
(AP, 8/4/05)(AP, 8/6/05)
2005 Aug 5, US and Iraqi troops repelled a series of coordinated insurgent attacks in southern Baghdad, killing six rebels and capturing 12. At nearly the same time, a suicide attacker drove a truck loaded with explosives into a nearby Iraqi army checkpoint, killing an Iraqi soldier. A suicide car bomber tried to attack another Iraqi position in the area, but a US tank fired and hit the car, killing the driver and causing the car bomb to explode prematurely.
(AP, 8/6/05)
2005 Aug 6, Sunni Arab members of the committee drafting Iraq's new constitution rejected Kurdish demands for a federal state.
(AP, 8/6/05)
2005 Aug 6, In Iraq a US patrol with Task Force Liberty was hit in the city of Samarra. All the soldiers were transported to a coalition medical facility where two of them died from wounds.
(AP, 8/7/05)
2005 Aug 7, In central Iraq a suicide bomber driving an empty fuel tanker detonated his vehicle near a police station, killing at least two people. Three Iraqi soldiers and two Oil Ministry employees were killed in two separate drive-by shootings in Baghdad.
(AP, 8/7/05)
2005 Aug 9, A suicide bomber struck near a US convoy in Baghdad and gunmen opened fire on police patrols around the city in attacks that killed at least 16 people.
(AP, 8/9/05)
2005 Aug 9, In Iraq 4 American soldiers were killed when insurgents attacked their patrol in the northern city of Beiji, and a car bomb targeting a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in Baghdad killed seven people, including one US soldier.
(AP, 8/10/05)
2005 Aug 10, Gunmen kidnapped Brig. Gen. Khudayer Abbas, a senior Iraqi Interior Ministry official, as he drove his car in central Baghdad. A suicide bomber killed six people and wounded 14 when he drove a car at a police patrol in the Ghazaliya district of western Baghdad.
(AP, 8/10/05)(Reuters, 8/10/05)
2005 Aug 11, In Iraq gunmen killed at least 16 people in attacks across the country, including one that left a young girl wounded and her parents dead.
(AFP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, The UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend its mission in Iraq, reaffirming its leading role in helping to promote a national dialogue which is crucial for the country's political stability and unity.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, El Salvador sent its fifth contingent of 380 soldiers to Iraq for humanitarian missions. President Tony Saca said it was in the same spirit as the countries that helped El Salvador during its 12-year civil war.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 12, In Iraq Sunni Arab leaders rejected calls for a Shiite federal region to be enshrined in the constitution.
(AP, 8/12/05)
2005 Aug 12, In Iraq a US soldier was found dead of a gunshot wound.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 13, In Iraq 3 soldiers were killed and one other wounded in a roadside bombing near Tuz Khormato, 95 miles north of Baghdad. Another soldier was killed at another roadside bombing.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 13, An Italian newspaper reported that more than 100 Italian troops whose tours in southern Iraq have ended are not being replaced, apparently marking the beginning of the country's withdrawal from Iraq ahead of schedule.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 14, In Iraq a US soldier on a patrol was killed and 3 others wounded in a blast east of Rutbah, 250 miles west of Baghdad. 30 bodies were found in a grave south of Baghdad that was 10-14 days old. One insurgent was killed in the raid that led to the grave and 13 others were detained.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 15, Iraq’s parliament failed to meet a key deadline for finishing a new constitution and voted to give itself another week on a new draft constitution.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.37)(AP, 8/15/06)
2005 Aug 16, Iraqi leaders, a day after failing to meet their deadline, expressed confidence they would overcome differences over key issues like the role of Islam and the power of regional governments and finish the new constitution by next week.
(AP, 8/16/05)
2005 Aug 17, In Iraq 3 car bombs exploded near a bus station and hospital in Baghdad, killing at least 43 people and wounding 89 in the deadliest attacks in the capital in weeks. A series of insurgent attacks also killed 11 Iraqis, including six soldiers assigned to protect oil pipelines in northern Iraq.
(AFP, 8/17/05)
2005 Aug 18, In Iraq 4 American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad. Jasim Waheeb, an investigative judge from Baghdad, was shot to death with his.
(AP, 8/18/05)(SFC, 8/19/05, p.A3)
2005 Aug 19, In Iraq gunmen in Mosul abducted and publicly executed 3 Sunni Arab activists working to encourage voter participation.
(SFC, 8/20/05, p.A7)
2005 Aug 20, In Iraq a US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 22, Hours before a midnight deadline, Shiites and Kurds reached an agreement on a draft constitution and were trying to persuade Sunni Arabs to go along with their compromises.
(AP, 8/22/05)
2005 Aug 22, Iraq's oil exports were shut down by a power cut due to sabotage attacks 2 days earlier. The shut down darkened parts of central and southern Iraq, including the country's only functioning oil export terminals.
(AP, 8/22/05)
2005 Aug 23, Iraq's al-Qaida wing claimed responsibility for the Aug 19 rocket attack that barely missed U.S. warships docked in the Jordanian port of Aqaba.
(AP, 8/23/05)
2005 Aug 23, A US soldier, an American contractor and five Iraqis were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in a city north of Baghdad.
(AP, 8/23/05)
2005 Aug 24, Sunni insurgents killed 13 people in a series of raids in Baghdad. Sadr fighters attacked pro-government Badr militia and fighting raged in 5 cities.
(WSJ, 8/25/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 24, US military said the Pentagon has ordered 1,500 additional troops to Iraq to provide security in advance of two upcoming votes.
(AP, 8/24/05)
2005 Aug 25, The bodies of 36 men were discovered in Kut, southeast of Baghdad, on a road leading to Iran. On Aug 29 a leader of Iraq's largest Sunni political group blamed Shiite-led security forces for the deaths of 36 Sunnis found shot in the head and said such acts could have unforeseen consequences.
(AP, 8/25/05)(SFC, 8/26/05, p.A12)(AP, 8/29/05)
2005 Aug 26, Shiite negotiators, prodded by Pres. Bush, offered what they called their final compromise proposal to Sunnis Arabs to try to break the impasse over Iraq's new constitution.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, In Iraq US warplanes launched multiple airstrikes against a suspected "terrorist safe house" in the western Anbar province, destroying the building where up to 50 militants were believed to be hiding.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 27, Sunni negotiator Fakhri al-Qaisi said that the Sunnis have submitted counter-proposals on the constitution to the parliament speaker and will meet later with the U.S. ambassador.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2005 Aug 27, The US military has released nearly 1,000 prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison after Iraqi authorities requested that they be set free.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2005 Aug 28, Iraqi negotiators finished the country's new constitution without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs who helped prepare it, dealing a blow to the Bush administration and setting the stage for a bitter campaign leading up to an October referendum.
(AP, 8/28/05)
2005 Aug 28, A Reuters television sound technician was killed and a cameraman was injured while trying to cover a Baghdad gunbattle involving insurgents and US troops. Police said the men were fired on by American forces. In 2008 a Pentagon report concluded that death of the Reuters journalist was justified.
(AP, 8/28/05)(WSJ, 6/18/08, p.A1)
2005 Aug 29, Thousands of Sunni demonstrators rallied in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit to denounce Iraq's new constitution a day after negotiators finished the new charter without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs.
(AP, 8/29/05)
2005 Aug 29, In northern Iraq a US Army helicopter made a forced landing under hostile fire, and one soldier was killed and another injured.
(AP, 8/29/05)
2005 Aug 30, US warplanes launched strikes in western Iraq which killed an al Qaeda militant named Abu Islam among other fighters. A hospital source said at least 47 people were killed.
(Reuters, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, UN officials said the 9 UN agencies involved in the oil-for-food program have agreed to pay Iraq about $40 million in oil proceeds they received in 2003 to finish their work but never spent.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 31, In Iraq panic engulfed thousands of Shiites marching across a bridge in a religious procession after rumors spread that a suicide bomber was about to attack, triggering a stampede that killed as many as 953 people. Hundreds of thousands of Shiites had been marching across the bridge, which links Baghdad's Shiite Kazimiyah district with heavily Sunni Azamiyah. They were heading for the tomb of Imam Mousa al-Kadhim (d.799), an 8th century Shiite saint, about a mile from the span.
(AP, 9/1/05)(Econ, 9/3/05, p.42)
2005 Aug 31, In Iraq a US soldier was shot to death in Iskandariya.
(SFC, 9/3/05, p.A3)
2005 Aug, Iraq’s interim administration under Ibrahim al-Jaafari passed Decree 8750, which provided for state control of the finances of all of Iraq’s trade unions.
(Econ, 5/6/06, p.47)
2005 Sep 1, Iraq hanged three convicted murderers, the first executions since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein. 2 US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/1/05)(SFC, 9/3/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 2, Some 5,000 US and Iraqi troops launched an assault at Tal Afar and at least 30 insurgents were killed.
(SFC, 9/3/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 2, Bulgaria said it has begun preparations to withdraw its 400 troops from Iraq.
(AP, 9/2/05)
2005 Sep 3, Insurgents launched a series of assaults in Baquba, Kirkuk and Samarra, killing at least 28 people.
(AP, 9/3/05)(SSFC, 9/4/05, p.A22)
2005 Sep 4, In Iraq US troops killed 7 insurgents in Tal Afar, including six who fired at the Americans from a mosque.
(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 5, Insurgents launched a surprise attack on Baghdad's heavily guarded Interior Ministry building, killing two police officers and wounding several others. In southern Iraq, two British soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb. In the northern city of Tal Afar, bodies of 3 district leaders were found. The 3 had turned down demands by insurgents to cooperate in their fight with US and Iraqi forces. 8 Iraqi civilians, including 5 children, were killed in fighting there. Another 25 Iraqi civilians died in other incidents in Baghdad, Baqouba and elsewhere.
(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 6, In Iraq US Marine jets attacked two bridges across the Euphrates River near the Syrian border to prevent insurgents from moving foreign fighters and munitions toward Baghdad and other cities. 2 US troops were reported killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/6/05)(WSJ, 9/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 7, Iraqi and US forces encircled the insurgent stronghold of Tal Afar, and the Iraqi military announced the arrest of 200 suspected insurgents, most of them foreign fighters.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 7, In Iraq a roadside bomb struck a convoy of American security guards in the southern city of Basra, killing four US contractors. A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car outside a takeout restaurant in Basra, killing at least 10 people and wounding 15.
(AP, 9/7/05)
2005 Sep 8, In Iraq US jets dropped 500-pound J-Dam bombs on the insurgent-controlled neighborhood of Sarai in Tal Afar, where most of the 200,000 population had fled. Iraqi police reported finding 17 bullet-riddled bodies near Baghdad.
(SFC, 9/9/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 8, A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives-laden BMW in the center of Baghdad targeting a passing convoy of private American security agents.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 8, The UN raised the alarm about mounting violence in Iraq blamed on pro-government militias and urged the authorities to look into reports of systematic torture in police stations.
(Reuters, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 9, The Baghdad International Airport, the country's only reliable link to the outside world, closed in an embarrassing pay dispute between the government and a British security company.
(AP, 9/9/05)
2005 Sep 10, Baghdad International Airport, Iraq's only reliable and relatively safe link to the outside world, reopened after being closed for a day in a payments dispute between the government and a British security firm.
(AP, 9/10/05)
2005 Sep 10, More than 500 U.S.-trained Georgian soldiers left for Iraq as part of a regular rotation of troops by the former Soviet republic.
(AP, 9/10/05)
2005 Sep 11, About 5,000 Iraqi soldiers, backed by a 3,500-strong American armored force, reported 156 insurgents killed and 246 captured. The force discovered a big bomb factory, 18 weapons caches and the tunnel network in the ancient Sarai neighborhood of Tal Afar. A US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb near Samarra. US deaths to date since the start of the war in March, 2003, numbered 1,897. Britain reported at least 96 dead.
(AP, 9/11/05)(SFC, 9/12/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 11, A British serviceman was killed and three injured in a late-morning bomb attack in Iraq's southern Basra province.
(AP, 9/11/05)
2005 Sep 12, A huge car bomb exploded outside a popular restaurant in Baghdad's upscale Mansour neighborhood. At least one person was killed and 17 were wounded.
(AP, 9/12/05)
2005 Sep 13, US forces along the Euphrates River attacked the insurgent stronghold of Haditha, capturing a militant with ties to al-Qaida in Iraq and killing four others.
(AP, 9/13/05)
2005 Sep 14, A leading Shiite lawmaker said Iraq's draft constitution has been finalized and will be sent to the United Nations to be printed.
(AP, 9/14/05)
2005 Sep 14, It was reported that Iraqi government subsidies accounted for 51% of the gross domestic product. A foreign debt of $190 billion, inherited from Saddam Hussein, was reported as a 2nd major weakness and impediment to economic growth.
(WSJ, 9/14/05, p.A20)
2005 Sep 14, More than a dozen explosions ripped through Baghdad in rapid succession, killing at least 160 people and wounding 570 in a series of attacks that began with a suicide car bombing that targeted laborers assembled to find work for the day. Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility.
(AP, 9/14/05)(SFC, 9/15/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 14, Gunmen wearing military uniforms surrounded a village north of Baghdad and executed 17 men.
(AP, 9/14/05)
2005 Sep 15, Iraq’s PM Ibrahim al-Jaafari, speaking at a news conference in Dearborn, Mich., condemned the latest round of bombings that left scores of his countrymen dead, and vowed that his government's "rational, political struggle" would prevail over "criminal acts."
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Two suicide car bombers struck within a minute of each other and a half-mile apart in southern Baghdad, killing 7 policemen and raising the day's death toll from blasts in the capital to at least 31.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, A US Marine was killed in an “indirect fire explosion" at Camp Ramadi in the western province of al-Anbar.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 16, A suicide car bomber struck as worshippers were leaving a Shiite mosque in the northern Iraqi town of Tuz Khormato killing 11 people. Militants killed at least 14 more people across the country as the Sunni-dominated insurgency pressed its "all-out war" to destabilize the country.
(AP, 9/16/05)(SFC, 9/17/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 16, In Iraq 3 US soldiers were killed near Baghdad.
(SFC, 9/20/05, p.A14)
2005 Sep 16, Premier Silvio Berlusconi declared Italy's mission in Iraq "an absolute and total" success, and said Italy would continue to reduce its military presence there.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 17, The US military said that coalition forces in Mosul had arrested two alleged leaders of the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group. The military also said that Iraqi forces and US troops killed two insurgents and captured six in the city of Tal Afar.
(AP, 9/17/05)
2005 Sep 17, In Iraq a suicide car bomb wrecked three vehicles in a US convoy near Abu Ghraib prison, and insurgents fired seven mortar shells at the jail and used grenades to damage three armored vehicles in another American convoy in the area.
(AP, 9/17/05)
2005 Sep 17, A car bomb near an outdoor market in a Shiite village east of Baghdad killed at least 30 people. At least 40 people were killed across Iraq.
(SSFC, 9/18/05, p.A14)
2005 Sep 17, In Iraq insurgents assassinated Faris Nasir Hussein, a Kurdish member of parliament.
(AP, 9/18/05)
2005 Sep 18, Iraq's parliament signed off on revisions to the country's draft constitution as a leading lawmaker declared that acceptance of the new charter was a matter for the people.
(AP, 9/18/05)
2005 Sep 18, In Iraq police found 20 bodies shot to death and dumped in the Tigris River north of the capital, where there was no major violence for the first time in five days. 4 more were found handcuffed and shot in east Baghdad.
(AP, 9/18/05)
2005 Sep 18, Armed Shiite militiamen from the outlawed Mahdi Army demonstrated in central Basra after British soldiers arrested their local leader on charges of terrorism. British forces confirmed they had arrested "three prominent individuals".
(AP, 9/19/05)(Econ, 9/24/05, p.55)
2005 Sep 18, Fakher Haider (38), an Iraqi journalist working for The New York Times, was abducted him from his home in the southern city of Basra by men claiming to be police officers. His body was found the next day.
(AP, 9/19/05)
2005 Sep 19, In Iraq a nephew of Saddam Hussein was sentenced to life in prison for funding Iraq's violent insurgency and for bomb-making.
(AP, 9/19/05)
2005 Sep 19, Four US soldiers died in two roadside bombings near the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 19, Iraqi police detained two British soldiers in the southern port city of Basra, following a shooting incident. British forces smashed jail walls to free 2 British commandos detained earlier in the day by Iraqi police. Iraqi officials said at least 2 civilians were killed.
(AP, 9/19/05)(SFC, 9/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 19, A new report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said that of the estimated 3,000 foreign fighters in Iraq, the largest number, about 20 percent, comes from Algeria, followed by Syria and Yemen with about 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively. About 15 percent come from Sudan, 12 percent from Saudi Arabia, 5 percent from Egypt, and the rest from other countries.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, In Iraq a child died and another was injured when terrorists used them as human shields during Coalition raids of three terrorist safe houses in Mosul. The bureau chief of an Iraqi daily newspaper and a woman working for Iraq's state-run television were shot and killed by assailants in separate attacks in Mosul. An angry mob of insurgents attacked a convoy of American contractors when they got lost in Duluiyah, a town north of Baghdad, killing four and wounding two. A US soldier died in a roadside blast north of Baghdad. Total US troop deaths reached 1,904.
(AP, 9/20/05)(AP, 9/21/05)(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Sep 21, At least eight people were killed in a gun battle in Baghdad between troops and insurgents.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 21, About 500 civilians and policemen, some waving pistols and AK-47s, rallied in the southern city of Basra and denounced "British aggression" following London's decision to use force to free two of its soldiers being held by Iraqi police.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 21, Gunmen in Mosul shot to death Ahlam Youssef, an engineer who works for al-Iraqiya television, and her husband, said Bassem al-Fadli, a manager at the station's headquarters in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 21, The UN World Food Program warned that its emergency operations in Iraq, which feed about 3 million people, were at risk because donors have only come up with 44 percent of the necessary money.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 22, British troops in the city of Basra greatly reduced their presence in the streets, apparently responding to a provincial governor's call to sever cooperation until London apologized for storming a police station to free two of its soldiers.
(AP, 9/22/05)
2005 Sep 22, About 150 clerics and tribal leaders from Iraq's Sunni Arab minority called for the rejection of the country's draft constitution in an upcoming referendum, saying that it would lead to the fragmentation of Iraq. Small arms fire in Ramadi killed one US soldier.
(AP, 9/22/05)(SFC, 9/24/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 23, A suicide bomber detonated hidden explosives on a small bus in Baghdad, killing 6 people. 2 American soldiers died in separate attacks. A roadside bomb killed a US Army soldier whose convoy was patrolling Baghdad. A suicide bomber in southern Iraq killed an Iraqi soldier. Another suicide bomber attacked a checkpoint north of Karbala killed a child and left 4 people wounded.
(AP, 9/23/05)(SFC, 9/24/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 24, A suicide car bomber driving at high speed exploded his vehicle near an Iraqi army checkpoint in downtown Baghdad, killing three soldiers and an Iraqi civilian.
(AP, 9/24/05)
2005 Sep 24, In Iraq 2 insurgents from al-Qaida in Iraq were captured during raids in the Baghdad. They were identified as Walid Muhammad Farhan Juwar al-Zubaydi, also known as "the Barber," and Ibrahim Muhammad Subhi Khayri al-Rihawi.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Sep 25, A suicide car bomber struck an Interior Ministry convoy in Baghdad, killing seven police commandos and two civilians. Earlier, a bomb mounted on a bicycle blew apart a music store in Hillah, south of the capital, killing one. US forces in Sadr City killed at least eight Shiite gunmen and wounding five. In western Iraq a US soldier was killed when his vehicle rolled over during a patrol.
(AP, 9/25/05)
2005 Sep 25, Iraqi and US authorities killed Abdullah Abu Azzam (Abdullah Najim Abdullah Mohamed Al-Jawari), the No. 2 official in the al-Qaida in Iraq organization, in a raid in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 26, The US military freed 500 Iraqi detainees from Abu Ghraib prison, a goodwill gesture requested by the Iraqi government ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, An al-Qaeda leader in the northern city of Mosul surrendered to the Iraqi military. Abu Nasser, another al-Qaeda leader, died along with several others in a raid on the group's headquarters in Karabila. A US Marine was killed by a roadside bomb in the town of Khaldiyah, west of Baghdad.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 26, Roadside bombs killed three US soldiers in two separate attacks. A suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint guarding several government ministries, killing at least six people and wounding 13. Elsewhere five teachers and their driver who were shot to death in a classroom by suspected insurgents disguised as policemen.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, A US Marine commander said insurgents loyal to al-Zarqawi had taken over at least 5 Iraqi towns on the border with Syria, ordering residents to leave of face death.
(SFC, 9/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 26, A military court in Texas convicted Pfc. Lynndie England on 6 of 7 counts of conspiracy and maltreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
(SFC, 9/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 27, A suicide bomber attacked Iraqis applying for jobs as policemen in Baqouba, 30 miles north of Baghdad, killing nine and wounding 21. US and Iraqi authorities said their forces had killed Abdullah Abu Azzam, the No. 2 official in the al-Qaida in Iraq organization, in a weekend raid in Baghdad, claiming to have struck a "painful blow" to the country's most feared insurgent group.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 27, In Iraq NATO's top brass opened a long-awaited training academy for the Iraqi military that the alliance say will significantly increase its role in the country.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 27, In southern Iraq police found the bodies of 22 Iraqi men who had been shot in the head and dumped in a deserted area of Badrah district northeast of Kut and 100 miles southeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 28, A woman strapped with explosives and disguised as a man blew herself up outside an Iraqi army recruiting center in the northern town of Tal Afar, killing 7 other people and wounding at least 35 in the first known attack by a female suicide bomber in the country's bloody insurgency.
(AP, 9/28/05)(SFC, 9/29/05, p.A12)
2005 Sep 28, In Najaf, Iraq, an attacker set off an explosion in the home of a bodyguard of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, killing two people and wounding five others.
(AP, 9/28/05)
2005 Sep 28, In Iraq 5 US soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in Ramadi.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2005 Sep 29, In Baghdad US forces raided the homes of two officials from a prominent Sunni Arab organization, arresting bodyguards and confiscating weapons. 12 Iraqis were killed in a number of shootings and other attacks in the capital.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2005 Sep 29, Three suicide attackers exploded near-simultaneous car bombs in the heart of Balad, a mainly Shiite town, killing at least 60 people and wounding 70 amid a new surge of violence before an Oct. 15 referendum on Iraq's constitution.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2005 Sep 30, Sunni-led insurgents killed at least nine people with a car bomb in a crowded vegetable market this Friday, the Muslim day of worship.
(AP, 9/30/05)
2005 Sep, In Iraq army recruits traveling by bus from Karbala to Qaim were stopped by gunmen and taken away. In 2008 a mass grave was found near Qaim containing the remains of 34 people, including 2 women, believed to be the army recruits abducted in 2005.
(SFC, 10/23/08, p.A11)
2005 Oct 1, The US military released about 500 Iraqi detainees from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, completing its plan to free a total of more than 1,000 this week in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 1, In Iraq US Marines began a 3-day offensive dubbed Iron Fist that included a sweep of the insurgency stronghold of Karabila.
(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.A1)(www.atsnn.com/story/174319.html)
2005 Oct 2, Hundreds of U.S. troops combed through a village near the Syrian border, breaking into houses and fighting sporadic gun battles with gunmen on the second day of a new offensive against al-Qaida insurgents. At least eight militants were killed.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 2, Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed to have captured two US Marines participating in an offensive in western Iraq, threatening in a Web statement to kill them within 24 hours. The US military said the claim appeared to be fake.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 3, In western Iraq 2 US soldiers and a Marine were killed.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, Iraqi lawmakers approved the death penalty for anyone financing or "provoking" terrorism.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, A suicide car bomb exploded at a checkpoint at the main entrance of Baghdad's Green Zone, killing two Iraqi policemen and wounding one.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, In western Iraq some 2,500 U.S. troops along with Iraqi forces launched their second major offensive in a week, sweeping into three towns to take them back from insurgents who had killed Marines there last month.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 5, Iraq's parliament voted to reverse last-minute changes to rules for next week's referendum on a new constitution after the UN said they were unfair. Sunni Arabs responded by dropping their threat to boycott the vote and promised to reject the charter at the polls.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 5, A bomb exploded at the entrance of a Shiite Muslim mosque south of Baghdad as hundreds of worshippers gathered for prayers on the first day of Ramadan and for the funeral of a man killed in an earlier bombing. At least 25 people were killed and 87 wounded. In Kirkuk assassins killed Nabiel Sharaf Aldeen, a retired police official.
(AP, 10/5/05)(SFC, 10/7/05, p.A14)
2005 Oct 5, A video showing two Iraqi men being beheaded for allegedly spying for the United States was posted on a militant Islamic Web site, and the Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed it had carried out the executions.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 6, Insurgents using suicide and roadside bombs killed at least 13 people, including a U.S. soldier, and wounded 19 in the latest of a series of attacks aimed at wrecking Iraq's constitutional referendum next week. Insurgents attacked an Oil Ministry convoy killing 6 officers.
(AP, 10/6/05)(SFC, 10/7/05, p.A14)
2005 Oct 6, Bomb blasts killed six Marines in western Iraq. US forces killed 29 militants in offensives aimed at uprooting al-Qaida insurgents.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, At least seven Iraqi civilians were killed in shootings around the city, and at least two bodies were found dumped in the capital.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, In Iraq insurgents killed Haj Abdul Bajid Ahmed Al-Jibori, a member of the local district council, in a drive-by shooting southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk. West of Baghdad, a drive-by shooting killed police Capt. Haqi Ismael, who worked with the Ministry of Interior.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 7, The Senate voted to give President Bush $50 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and US military efforts against terrorism, money that would push total spending for the operations beyond $350 billion.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 8, In Iraq insurgents killed two Iraqis and wounded 12 with roadside bombs and drive-by shootings.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 9, A suicide car bomb killed 2 people outside an apartment building used by the Iranian-backed Badr Brigade, a Shiite militia linked to one of the main parties in the Iraqi government.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 10, An Iraqi official said an arrest warrant has been issued for Hazem Shaalam, a former Iraqi defense minister, accused of corruption and abuse of power while working in the previous interim government, which was installed by the United States last year.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, In Iraq insurgents launched a new salvo of attacks five days ahead of a crucial constitutional referendum, killing at least 12 Iraqis and a US soldier with suicide car bombs, roadside explosives and drive-by shootings.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 11, The British government said it will pay unspecified compensation for injuries and damage caused when its army stormed a police station in the southern Iraqi city of Basra last month to release two soldiers.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, In Iraq an IED killed 2 US soldiers in Ramadi.
(WSJ, 10/12/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 12, Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani and other top politicians praised as "historic" the last-minute compromises that negotiators reached on the draft constitution and urged Iraqis to vote "yes" in this weekend's referendum.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, A suicide bomber killed 30 Iraqis at an army recruiting center. An explosion shut down an oil pipeline near the northern city of Beiji.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 13, In Iraq a US soldier died when by a roadside bomb hit his combat patrol.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 14, Sunni insurgents launched five attacks against the largest Sunni Arab political party on the eve of Iraq's crucial referendum, bombing and burning offices and the home of one of its leaders in retaliation after the group dropped its opposition to the draft constitution.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 15, Iraq's deeply divided Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds voted under heavy guard Saturday to decide the fate of a new constitution. A roadside bomb killed three Iraqi soldiers in northeast Iraq, and seven people were wounded during attacks by insurgents near five of Baghdad's 1,200 polling stations.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 15, In Iraq 5 American soldiers were killed by a bomb blast on referendum day.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 16, Iraq's constitution seemed assured of passage despite strong opposition from Sunni Arabs, who voted in surprisingly high numbers in an effort to stop it.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 17, Iraq's former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and other secular leaders announced a new coalition they said unites moderate Sunnis, Shiites and other political groups to run in December's parliamentary elections.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, In western Iraq 2 US Marines were killed in fighting near the Jordanian border. Insurgents shot and killed Ayed Abdul Ghani, an adviser to one of Iraq's top Sunni Arab officials, as he drove to work in Baghdad.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 17, US warplanes and helicopters bombed two western villages, killing an estimated 70 militants near a site where five American soldiers died in a weekend roadside blast, the military. Residents said at least 39 of the dead were civilians.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 18, A roadside bomb hit a US Army patrol south of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding two others. A US soldier died from a non-hostile gunshot wound at a forward operating base near Mosul.
(AP, 10/19/05)(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 18, A British soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in southern Iraq.
(AFP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, A defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent to charges of murder and torture as his long-awaited trial began with the one-time dictator arguing about the legitimacy of the court and scuffling with guards.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Iraq’s trial of Saddam Hussein on war crimes charges was adjourned to Nov 28 shortly after it began.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Iraqi police arrested Saddam Hussein's nephew in Baghdad, charging that he served as the top financier of Iraq's rampant insurgency. 3 US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 19, Sunni-led insurgents killed 26 people in Iraq, including six Shiites who were lined up at a factory and gunned down in front of their fellow workers.
(AP, 10/19/05)(SFC, 10/20/05, p.A15)
2005 Oct 19, Rory Carroll, 33, an Irish citizen who is the London Guardian's Baghdad correspondent, was kidnapped while on assignment. Carroll was released the next day.
(AP, 10/19/05)(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, An Iraqi Airways plane landed in Cairo, making the first regular flight between Iraq and Egypt in 15 years.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, In northern Iraq insurgents using explosives set fire to the main oil pipeline. Militants riding in a car opened fire on civilians outside a food shop in the southern Dora area of Baghdad, killing two. The militants then stopped, rushed into the store and gunned down a third Iraqi. A rocket hit a public school for students aged 12 to 15 in the western al-Mansour neighborhood of the capital, killing one child and wounding five. A nearby shopkeeper also was killed. A suicide car bomb exploded in front of a provincial government building in the city of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Three people were killed and 14 wounded.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi, a defense lawyer in Saddam Hussein's mass murder trial, was found dead soon after being kidnapped. His body was dumped near a Baghdad mosque with two gunshots to the head. 4 US service members were killed in two attacks. An American soldier was killed in the northwestern town of Hit by "indirect fire," a term that usually means a mortar or rocket attack.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 21, Iran's supreme leader, long a critic of the United States, praised the U.S.-backed constitutional referendum in Iraq as "blessed" and urged Iraqis to participate December's parliamentary elections.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 22, US soldiers and warplanes killed 20 insurgents and destroyed five "safe houses" during an operation against militants who shelter foreign fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq near the Syrian border.
(AP, 10/22/05)
2005 Oct 23, A suicide bombing in a Baghdad square killed 4 people. Another suicide car bomber killed 2 civilians in Kirkuk. In Tikrit a bomb killed a police colonel and his 2 sons. 2 girls (7 and 9) in a nearby car were also killed in the explosion. Drive-by shootings around Baquba killed 5 people. Gunmen killed 3 Iraqis driving a water truck to an army base near Taji. Insurgents killed the head of a Shiite anti-Saddam Hussein group and his driver outside Amara.
(SFC, 10/24/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 24, Triple suicide bombings at the Palestine and Sheraton hotels in Baghdad killed as many as 17 people. The next day Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility. A US soldier shot and killed one of three suicide bombers who attacked the Palestine Hotel complex before he could reach his intended target and that probably saved lives in the building.
(AP, 10/25/05)(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 25, Election officials said Iraq's constitution was adopted by a majority in a fair vote during the Oct. 15 referendum, as Sunni Arab opponents failed to muster enough support to defeat it.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, In southern Iraq an American soldier was killed in a vehicle accident near Camp Bucca. The death raised to at least 2,001 the number of members of the US military who have died since the beginning of the in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25, Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said it had abducted two Moroccan embassy employees who had gone missing on their way from Jordan to Baghdad, according to a statement on a Web site.
(Reuters, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, In Iraq 3 mostly Sunni Arab political parties announced that they have formed a coalition to run in Iraq's parliamentary election in December.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, In Iraq 3 American soldiers died in separate attacks.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, More than 2,000 companies paid about $1.8 billion in illicit kickbacks and surcharges to Saddam Hussein's government through extensive manipulation of the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq, according to key findings of a UN-backed investigation obtained by The Associated Press.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, Some 200 Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr clashed with Sunni militants in fighting that killed over 20 people in Medayna, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 10/27/05)(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Oct 27, The 18-month Independent Inquiry Committee under former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker issued a final 623-page report on corruption in the UN oil-for-food program. It claimed that between 1997 and 2003 the Iraqi government sold $64 billion of oil to 248 companies and bought $34.5 billion worth of humanitarian goods. The report accused more than 2,200 companies from some 40 countries of colluding with Saddam's regime to bilk the humanitarian program in Iraq of $1.8 billion.
(AP, 10/27/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.28)(AP, 1/26/08)
2005 Oct 29, In Iraq insurgents killed 3 US soldiers and wounded four, and American forces attacked two towns near the Syrian border, killing at least 10 militants. Witnesses said some of the victims were civilians.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 29, US troops backed by helicopters and a jet attacked insurgents planning a nighttime ambush near an American base north of Baghdad, killing six militants and wounding and capturing five. A US jet dropped a bomb north of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, killing three insurgents who were planting a roadside bomb. The corpses of three handcuffed and blindfolded Iraqis were found in Baghdad. A truck bombing in a Shiite farming village north of Baghdad killed 30 people and left 42 wounded.
(AP, 10/30/05)(Reuters, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct 30, Insurgents killed seven Iraqi civilians in scattered attacks. An Iraqi cabinet adviser was killed when gunmen attacked his car in northern Baghdad, and a deputy trade minister was wounded in a separate attack. A US Army soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in central Iraq.
(AP, 10/30/05)(Reuters, 10/30/05)(SFC, 11/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 30, It was reported that the US military had begun tracking the deaths of Iraqi civilians. Estimates of those killed and wounded averaged 26 per day from early 2004 and rose to 63 per day by the end of August, 2005. Attacks against Americans and Iraqis were reported to be averaging 85 a day for much of the past year.
(SSFC, 10/30/05, p.A21)
2005 Oct 31, The US military said 6 American soldiers were killed in two bombings, making October one of the deadliest months for U.S. troops in Iraq this year. A car bomb exploded in a commercial district of Basra, killing at least 20 with 40 injured.
(AP, 10/31/05)(AP, 11/1/05)(SFC, 11/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 1, In Iraq 500 prisoners walked free from the US military's Abu Ghraib jail, released in a goodwill gesture to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 2, Iraq's defense minister invited officers of Saddam Hussein's army up to the rank of major to join the new Iraqi army, an overture to disaffected Sunni Arab ex-soldiers, many of whom joined the insurgency after the Americans abolished the armed forces in 2003. A US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb during combat operations in Ramadi.
(AP, 11/2/05)(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 2, Four US troops were killed, two in a helicopter crash, and two from a roadside bomb, as American ground forces fought insurgents around the city of Ramadi. At least 23 people were killed and 46 were wounded when a car bomb exploded outside a Shiite Muslim mosque in the Iraqi town of Musayyib.
(AP, 11/2/05)(Reuters, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 3, The al-Qaida in Iraq militant group said that it has sentenced to death two Moroccan embassy employees kidnapped last month in Iraq, the insurgents' latest attempt to scare Arab nations from sending diplomats.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 4, Sunni-led insurgents killed 11 Iraqi security forces and wounded 14 in two separate attacks, as Shiites began celebrating a major Muslim holiday.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 5, The New York Times reported that a UN auditing board has recommended the United States pay as much as 208 million dollars to Iraq for overbilling or shoddy work performed by a subsidiary of the US oil services firm Halliburton.
(AFP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 5, American and Iraqi forces launched a major offensive, Operation Steel Curtain, near the porous Syrian border aimed at destroying al-Qaida in Iraq's ability to smuggle foreign fighters, money and equipment through the region.
(AP, 11/5/05)(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 6, Dozens of people fled Husaybah, an Iraqi town on the Syrian border, during a lull in fighting between 3,500 US and Iraqi troops and suspected al-Qaida insurgents armed with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, Iran said it supported a stable Iraq and called for expediting the construction of an oil pipeline and railway between the two neighbors.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 7, Iraqi and US battled insurgents house to house, the third day of an assault against al-Qaida-led insurgents in a town near the Syrian border. US military said one Marine and at least 36 insurgents had died in the assault.
(AP, 11/7/05)(WSJ, 11/8/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 7, A suicide bomber blew up his vehicle at a checkpoint south of Baghdad and killed four American soldiers. The US command also announced five soldiers from the elite 75th Ranger Regiment were charged with kicking and punching Iraqi detainees.
(AP, 11/7/05)(SFC, 11/8/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 8, Iraqi Pres. Jalal Talabani met with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, a strong supporter of the US-led war in Iraq. Talabani is on a weeklong visit to Italy, which includes talks with the country's top officials and a meeting at the Vatican with Pope Benedict XVI.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, Three gunmen in a speeding car killed a defense lawyer in the Saddam Hussein trial and wounded another, raising doubts whether Iraqis can conduct such a sensitive prosecution in the midst of insurgency and domestic turmoil.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, The UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the nearly 180,000-strong multinational force in Iraq for a year, a move the United States called a significant signal of international commitment to Iraq's political transition.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 9, An employee of the Sudanese embassy in Iraq was shot dead by armed men who opened fire on his car in the west of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, Muriel Degauque, a Belgian national married to a Moroccan man, detonated explosives strapped to her body in a failed attack against US troops.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Nov 10, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with Pope Benedict XVI amid tight security that closed down the main boulevard leading to the Vatican.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, In Iraq 2 suicide bombers blew themselves up in a restaurant frequented by police, killing 35 people and seriously injuring 25. A car bomb killed seven army recruits in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.
(AP, 11/10/05)(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 10, In western Iraq 3 American troops were killed, including one along the Syrian border during a major push to take control of the frontier from insurgents. US forces raided an insurgent cell responsible for suicide bombings in which seven men were killed, including one wearing a vest loaded with explosives.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 10, A UN agency said thousands of contaminated industrial and military sites left over from wars in Iraq must urgently be cleaned up to stop them from further harming people's health and the environment.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 11, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a surprise visit to Iraq, pressed for unity among the country's religious factions. In Baghdad gunmen opened fire on the compound of the Embassy of Oman, killing two people and wounding two others. 3 Iraqi police officers were killed when their vehicle was ambushed near Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/11/05)(AP, 11/11/06)
2005 Nov 11, Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed that four Iraqis, including a husband and wife, carried out the Nov 9 suicide bombings against three Amman hotels, and police arrested 120 Jordanians and Iraqis in the hunt for anyone who might have aided them.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, An Internet report said Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the highest ranking leader still at-large from Saddam Hussein's regime, died. The report was not validated.
(AP, 11/12/05)(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 12, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan met with Iraqi leaders to call for reconciliation ahead of upcoming elections.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, At least four people were killed and 24 wounded when a car bomb exploded near a busy vegetable market in southeastern Baghdad.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, In Iraq 2 U.S. Marines were killed in combat and an American soldier died in a vehicle accident.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, In Iraq Sunni Arab leaders demanded that U.S. and Iraqi troops suspend military operations in heavily Sunni areas, accusing the Shiite-led government of trying to divide the nation ahead of next month's legislative elections.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, Some 1,100 Iraqi lawyers issued a statement on withdrawing from Saddam Hussein's defense team, citing insufficient protection following the slayings of two peers representing co-defendants of the ousted Iraqi leader.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister. said he is less worried that US policies in Iraq will bring on a civil war there, and pledged anew to contribute $1 billion for rebuilding that war-ravaged country's shattered infrastructure.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, Jordanian security forces arrested Sajida ubarak Atrous al-Rishawi (35), an Iraqi woman, whose husband is suspected of blowing up one of three Amman hotels. This followed a tip off by an al-Qaida claim that a husband-and-wife team participated in the attacks that killed 57 other people. Her husband was Ali Hussein Ali Shamari. The 2 other bombers were identified as Rawad Jassem Mohammed Abed (23) and Safaa Mohammed Ali (23). The bombers were from Fallujah.
(AP, 11/13/05)(SFC, 11/14/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 14, Iraqi and US troops, trying to stem the flow of insurgent fighters from Syria, launched a dawn assault on a border town killing some 50 militants. This continued Operation Steel curtain begun on Nov 5. Police in Baghdad said a car bomb detonated near one of their patrols outside a gate leading into the fortified Green Zone, killing two South Africans.
(AP, 11/14/05)(SFC, 11/15/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 14, Six people were killed and 30 wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near two coaches in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi.
(Reuters, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, A UN report said the Iraqi army and multinational forces violated international law during military operations in western Iraq last month by arresting doctors and occupying medical facilities.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 15, Iraq’s PM Ibrahim al-Jaafari said more than 170 malnourished Iraqi detainees found at an Interior Ministry detention center appear to have been tortured. The Interior Ministry is controlled by Shiites. Sunni leaders have accused Shiite-dominated security forces of detaining, torturing and killing hundreds of Sunnis simply because of their religious affiliation.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, Iraqi and US forces fighting insurgents near the Syrian border ran into fierce resistance, with troops encountering dozens of explosive booby traps and killing at least 30 insurgents.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 16, Philip H. Bloom, an American businessman living overseas, was charged for paying kickbacks to U.S. occupation authorities to win reconstruction contracts in Iraq.
(AP, 11/17/05)(SFC, 11/18/05, p.A15)
2005 Nov 17, It was reported that Syria had detained 4 Australian-Iraqi women at the Damascus airport for allegedly trying to take gun parts hidden in a child's toy onto a plane bound for Australia.
(AFP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, Pennsylvania Democratic congressman John Murtha argued that it was time to bring US troops home from Iraq.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.35)
2005 Nov 17, Robert Stein of North Carolina, arrested on Nov 14, was charged with accepting kickbacks and bribes during his tenure as a controller and financial officer of the US occupation authority in Iraq. He steered construction contracts to Philip Bloom, who was charged with a range of crimes on Nov 16.
(SFC, 11/18/05, p.A15)
2005 Nov 18, In eastern Iraq suicide bombers killed at least 75 worshippers at two mosques including 2 suicide bombers who detonated themselves inside a Shiite mosque in Khanaqin, a town near the Iranian border, killing at least 35 people. In Baghdad two car bombs targeted a hotel housing foreign journalists and killed eight Iraqis.
(AP, 11/18/05)(AP, 11/19/05)(SFC, 11/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 18, South Korea announced plans to pull a third of its troops out of Iraq, a day after President Bush met with his South Korean counterpart and praised him as a staunch ally in the Iraq conflict.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 19, A car bomb exploded among shoppers at an outdoor market in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in southeast Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding about 20 others. A suicide bomber detonated his car in a crowd of Shiite mourners north of Baghdad, killing at least 50 people. 5 US soldiers were killed and 5 others were wounded in a pair of roadside bombings in northern Iraq. An ambush on a joint US-Iraqi patrol northwest of Baghdad left 15 civilians, 8 insurgents and a US Marine dead from a roadside bomb and the firefight that followed. It was later reported that Marines killed 24 civilians including women and children in retaliation for the death of a Marine in a roadside bombing in Haditha. In 2006 four Marines were charged with murder and 4 officers were charged with crimes related to their alleged failure to investigate and report the slayings. The four Marines charged with murder for the Haditha deaths were: Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich; Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz; Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt; and Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum. In 2007 murder charges were dropped against Dela Cruz after he agreed to provide testimony in the case. All charges against Sharratt and Stone were dropped on Aug 9. In 2008 charges of involuntary manslaughter against Tatum were dropped. In 2008 Charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who was accused of failing to investigate the killings, were also dismissed. In 2012 Wuterich pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and was sentenced to 3 months confinement. Under the plea deal he was discharged under honorable conditions.
(AP, 11/20/05)(Econ, 6/3/06, p.27)(SFC, 12/22/06, p.A1)(AP, 1/6/07)(SFC, 4/18/07, p.A9)(SFC, 8/10/07, p.A7)(SFC, 3/29/08, p.A3)(WSJ, 6/18/08, p.A2)(SFC, 1/24/12, p.A4)(SFC, 2/22/12, p.A7)
2005 Nov 19, Iraqi and US forces raided a farmhouse in northern Iraq at dawn, searching for suspected members of al-Qaida in Iraq. Eight insurgents and four Iraqi policemen were killed. In Mosul 2 US soldiers were killed by small-arms fire.
(AP, 11/19/05)(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 20, In Iraq a car bomb exploded by a convoy carrying the mayor of Madaen killing 5 civilians. 3 bodies, all blindfolded and shot in the head, were found in Sadr City. A headless body was found south of Baghdad. A policeman was shot dead in Baghdad. A roadside bomb in Baghdad killed a child and wounded 5 others. A US soldier was killed by small arms fire north of Baghdad. A US marine died from wounds suffered the previous day in Karma.
(SFC, 11/21/05, p.A6)
2005 Nov 21, In Egypt Iraqi leaders backed a Sunni call for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces and said Iraq's opposition had a "legitimate right" of resistance. The announcement concluded a reconciliation conference backed by the Arab League.
(AP, 11/22/05)(SFC, 11/22/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 21, US forces mistakenly fired on a civilian vehicle outside an American base in a city north of Baghdad, killing 5 people, including 2 children. Gunmen in Tarmiya killed 4 police officers. In Basra gunmen killed a Sunni cleric. A US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb near Habaniya.
(AP, 11/21/05)(SFC, 11/22/05, p.A13)(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 22, Iraqi and US troops launched an operation in predominately Sunni western Iraq to prevent insurgents from stopping the vote in that city.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 22, In Iraq insurgents in Kirkuk exploded a car bomb amid a police convoy killing 21 people including at least 9 police officers.
(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 11/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 23, Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms broke into the home of Khadim Sarhid al-Hemaiyem, a senior Sunni leader, and killed him, his three sons and son-in-law.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 24, In central Iraq a suicide car bomber targeting US troops handing out toys to children at a hospital killed 34 people, including 4 police guards, 3 women and 2 children.
(AP, 11/24/05)(Reuters, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, A suicide car bomber attacked a crowded market in Hilla, south of Baghdad, on Thursday killing at least 4 people and wounding 23 others.
(Reuters, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, Japan finalized an agreement to forgive $6.1 billion of Iraqi debt, or about 80% of the total owed by Baghdad.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 25, Susanne Osthoff, a German aid worker and archaeologist, was kidnapped in Iraq; she was released more than three weeks later.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2005 Nov 26, In Iraq a suicide bomber drove his pickup truck into a crowded gas station north of Baghdad and killed 12 people. A 2nd car bomb targeting a convoy of foreigners killed four others in the capital.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 26, A US Marine died when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb near Camp Taqaddum, 45 miles west of Baghdad. Iraqi police arrested 8 Sunni Arabs in the northern city of Kirkuk for allegedly plotting to assassinate the investigating judge who prepared the case against Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 26, In Iraq 4 humanitarian workers, including two Canadians, were kidnapped. Canadian hostages James Loney (41), and Harmeet Singh Sooden (32); Tom Fox (54), of Clear Brook, Va., and Norman Kember (74), of London, had been warned repeatedly by Iraqi and Western security officials before being abducted that they were taking a grave risk by moving around Baghdad without bodyguards. Fox’s body was found Mar 9, 2006.
(CP, 11/27/05)(AP, 1/28/06)(AP, 3/11/06)
2005 Nov 28, In Iraq the trial of Saddam Hussein resumed with the former Iraqi president trying to take command of the courtroom and angrily complaining about being shackled and mistreated by foreign guards.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, Sheik Bashir Hadi Fakhreddine, Sunni imam of Bilal al-Habashi mosque in Kirkuk, kidnapped 10 days ago in eastern Baghdad along with his friend Seif Abdullah, were found dead in Baghdad.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 29, Iraq's interior ministry banned all non-Iraqi Arabs from entering the country until further notice as part of security measures for the Dec. 15 general elections. Al-Jazeera broadcast video of four Western peace activists held hostage by a previously unknown group, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. 3 of the hostages were later released, but one of them, American Tom Fox, was killed. Photos broadcast showed a blindfolded German woman being led away by armed captors in the latest kidnapping of a Westerner in Iraq. Six Iranian pilgrims, meanwhile, were abducted by gunmen north of Baghdad. Two US soldiers were killed when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad.
(AP, 12/02/05)(AP, 11/29/06)
2005 Nov 30, Iraqi and US troops launched a joint operation in an area west of Baghdad used to rig car bombs. American soldiers rounded up 33 suspected insurgents in southern parts of Baghdad. Gunmen shot to death 9 Shiite Muslim laborers near Baquba.
(SFC, 12/1/05, p.A17)
2005 Dec 1, In Iraq 10 Marines on foot patrol were killed and 11 wounded by a roadside bomb near Fallujah in one of the deadliest attack on American troops in recent months.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, In Iraq 3 US soldiers from the 48th Brigade Combat Team were killed in a traffic accident south of Baghdad.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, Former Iraqi PM Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaydi (67), one of the top Saddam Hussein-era leaders captured in Iraq, died at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 3, In Iraq insurgents ambushed an Iraqi patrol northeast of Baghdad, detonating a roadside bomb and then firing on the patrol, killing 19 and wounding two.
(Reuters, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 4, Unidentified gunmen killed a parliamentary candidate and an Iraqi police commander in separate attacks while a bomb that detonated as a police patrol passed through central Baghdad killed three civilians.
(AP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 5, In Iraq unidentified gunmen abducted Bernard Planche, a French engineer, as he was on his way to work in Baghdad. He was later freed. The trial of Saddam Hussein resumed in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/05/05)(AP, 12/5/06)
2005 Dec 6, In Iraq 2 suicide bombers struck Baghdad's police academy, killing at least 43 people and wounding at least 72 more. Al-Jazeera broadcast an insurgent video claiming to have kidnapped a US security consultant.
(SFC, 12/7/05, p.A1)(AP, 12/6/06)
2005 Dec 6, Kyodo News said Japan plans to extend its humanitarian military mission to Iraq into 2006 but could pull its ground forces in the middle of the year if the British and Australian troops guarding them leave.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 7, In Iraq gunmen killed three police officers when they burst into a hospital in the northern city of Kirkuk and freed a wounded man who had been arrested for plotting to kill a judge in the Saddam Hussein trial.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, In Iraq gunmen kidnapped the 8-year-old son of a bodyguard for a judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 8, In Iraq a suicide bomber who jumped on a bus after security checks had been completed detonated an explosives belt among passengers heading to a Shiite city, killing 32 people and wounding 44.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, An Iraqi insurgent group said in an Internet posting that it killed a U.S. security consultant it had taken hostage.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, In Iraq a US soldier attached to a Marine unit died while on guard duty at a base near the town of Fallujah.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 9, In Iraq the American military arrested Amir Khalaf Fanus, also known in the Ramadi area as "the Butcher." Fanus, a high-ranking member of al-Qaida in Iraq, was wanted for criminal activities including murder and kidnapping.
(AP, 12/9/05)
2005 Dec 10, In Iraq 4 American soldiers were killed in separate attacks in the Baghdad area, the day kidnappers of four Christian peace activists set as a deadline for killing the hostages unless US and Iraqi authorities released all prisoners. North of Tikrit Egyptian engineer Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hilali (46)found dead after being snatched by gunmen a day earlier. One Iraqi soldier was killed and nine wounded in a bomb attack targeting an army patrol in the Sunni Arab town of Balad. In Mosul 2 civilians were killed and one wounded when a car bomb exploded as a US convoy rolled past.
(AFP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 12, In Iraq patients, soldiers and prisoners began voting in parliamentary elections, a few days ahead of the general population, while insurgent violence killed at least 12 people and wounded more than two dozen.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, Pres. Bush for the 1st time put a number on the death toll of Iraqi civilians saying some 30,000 had died since the start of the war with US troops looses at about 2,140.
(SFC, 12/13/05, p.A10)
2005 Dec 13, Iraqis living abroad began voting in the country's parliamentary elections. Gunmen killed a Sunni Arab candidate for parliament and militants tried to blow up a leading Shiite politician in separate attacks, the last day of campaigning for Iraq's election.
(AP, 12/13/05)(AP, 12/13/06)
2005 Dec 15, Iraqis voted in a historic parliamentary election, with strong turnout reported in Sunni Arab areas and even a shortage of ballots in some precincts. Several explosions rocked Baghdad throughout the day, but the level of violence was low. The Iraqi election commission extended voting in the country by an hour because of the high turnout. Bombs killed three people despite promises by major insurgent groups not to attack polling places. Turnout was estimated at over 67%.
(AP, 12/15/05)(WSJ, 12/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 15, Italy's defense minister said the country will pull 300 more troops out of Iraq in January, continuing a gradual withdrawal begun earlier this year.
(AP, 12/15/05)
2005 Dec 16, Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the Iraqi Accordance Front, said Sunni Arab participation in the elections could have been even higher if there had there been more polling centers in key Sunni areas.
(AP, 12/16/05)
2005 Dec 16, The U.S. military said Iraq has issued an arrest warrant naming Mullah Halgurd al-Khabir as the "prime suspect" in the Aug 19, 2003, bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/16/05)
2005 Dec 18, Iraq's largest oil refinery, in Beiji, was shut down because of the deteriorating security situation in the region.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Dec 18, In Iraq suicide bombers and gunmen killed nearly two dozen people across Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise visit and suggested the vote could pave the way for beginning a US pullout.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2005 Dec 18, A German TV station said a German archaeologist kidnapped in Iraq last month with her driver has been freed.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2005 Dec 19, In Iraq about 24 top former officials in Saddam Hussein's regime, including a biological weapons expert known as "Dr. Germ," have been released from jail. A militant group released a video of the purported killing of American adviser Ronald Allen Schulz. His body and that of a woman believed to be his Iraqi fiancee were found by the US military in a grave in September 2008. A suicide car bomb exploded outside a children's hospital in western Baghdad, killing at least two civilians and wounding 11, including seven policemen.
(AP, 12/19/05)(AP, 5/23/09)
2005 Dec 19, Violent demonstrations broke out across Iraq and the oil minister threatened to resign after the government raised the prices of gasoline and cooking fuel by up to 9 times.
(AP, 12/19/05)
2005 Dec 19, The US military said 5 soldiers from an elite U.S. Army unit have been sentenced to up to six months confinement in cases concerning the abuse of detainees in Iraq.
(AP, 12/19/05)
2005 Dec 20, Sunni Arabs alleged that last week's parliamentary elections were fraudulent, especially in Baghdad province, and they said if the irregularities are not corrected, new balloting must be held in Iraq's largest electoral district.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2005 Dec 20, Ukraine began pulling its remaining 876 troops out of Iraq, the defense ministry said, making it the latest nation to wind down its presence in the U.S.-led coalition.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2005 Dec 23, In Iraq large demonstrations broke out across the country to denounce parliamentary elections that protesters say were rigged in favor of the main religious Shiite coalition. Two US soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Insurgents killed 10 Iraqi troops outside Baghdad.
(AP, 12/23/05)(WSJ, 12/24/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 23, Two Arab satellite television channels said that a Sudanese diplomat and five other men had been kidnapped in Iraq. A Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman appealed for their release in an interview with Qatar-based Al-Jazeera.
(AP, 12/23/05)
2005 Dec 24, Iraq’s governing Shiite coalition called on Iraqis to accept results showing the religious bloc leading in parliamentary elections and moved ahead with efforts to form a “national unity" government. The electoral commission said it would carry out a court decision to remove 90 people who were members of Saddam's Hussein's outlawed Baath party from the tickets of political parties and coalitions that participated in Dec. 15 elections. Militants released a video of a Jordanian hostage, giving Jordan 3 days to cut ties with the Baghdad government and free a female would-be suicide bomber involved in November attacks in Amman.
(AP, 12/24/05)(AP, 12/24/06)
2005 Dec 25, Bombs struck Iraqi police and army patrols and destroyed an American tank in Baghdad as fresh street protests over election results kept up tension that has soured the mood after a peaceful ballot 10 days ago. 2 US soldiers were killed by bombs. A suicide bomber killed 5 Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad. Bombings and gun attacks killed 11 more people in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul and Jbala.
(Reuters, 12/25/05)(SFC, 12/26/05, p.A9)
2005 Dec 26, Gunmen shot and killed 5 police officers at a checkpoint north of Baghdad. 6 vehicle bombs exploded in Baghdad, leaving another 5 people dead and over 40 wounded. At least two dozen people including a US soldier were killed in shootings and bombings mostly targeting the Shiite-dominated security services.
(AP, 12/26/05)
2005 Dec 26, Two US pilots were killed after their Apache collided in mid-air with another helicopter just west of Baghdad.
(AP, 12/28/05)
2005 Dec 27, Clashes erupted between gunmen and Iraqi police in Baghdad, killing two policemen and two bystanders. South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed two officers, and gunmen in southern Baghdad killed another. Gunmen southeast of Kirkuk, killed one police officer.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Dec 27, Ukraine and Bulgaria said all their troops had left Iraq. Poland said it would remain but reduce its number of troops by 600 next year.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Dec 28, An inmate in a Baghdad prison grabbed an assault rifle from a guard and opened fire. 9 Iraqis died in a failed jailbreak after storming the armory at a high-security prison.
(AP, 12/28/05)(AFP, 12/29/05)
2005 Dec 29, Sunni Arab and secular groups refused to open discussions with the Shiite religious bloc leading in Iraq's parliamentary elections until a full review of the contested results is carried out. An international team agreed to assess Iraq's parliamentary elections, a decision lauded by Sunni Arab and secular Shiite groups who have staged repeated protests around Iraq complaining of widespread fraud and intimidation. Fourteen Shiite men and women were gunned down in an area south of Iraq's capital known as the "triangle of death." A US soldier died in a bomb blast and a Lebanese was kidnapped in Baghdad. A suicide bomber blew himself up next to a police patrol car in Baghdad, killing four policemen and wounding five.
(AP, 12/29/05)(AFP, 12/29/05)(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Dec 30, Long lines formed at gas stations in Baghdad as word spread that Iraq's largest oil refinery had shut down in the face of threats against truck drivers, and fears grew of a gas shortage. A suicide car bomber and a mortar killed six people and injured 23 people in separate attacks in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Dec 30, Sudan said it will close its embassy in Baghdad in an effort to win the release of six kidnapped employees. Al-Qaida in Iraq threatened to kill the captives if the diplomatic mission remained.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Dec 31, In Iraq inflation for the year ran at 15%. The official unemployment was 10%, but some believed that it could be more than 20%. The population was around 70 million.
(WSJ, 6/22/06, p.A12)
2005 Dec 31, A bomb in Khalis killed 5 members of the Iraqi Islamic Party. Gunmen raided a house south of Baghdad, killing five Sunni family members, and a roadside bomb in the capital killed two policemen. The wave of violence claimed at least 20 lives.
(AP, 12/31/05)(SSFC, 1/1/06, p.A3)
2005 Dec 31, Al-Qaida in Iraq released 6 kidnapped employees of Sudan's embassy following the Sudanese government's pledge to close its embassy in Baghdad.
(Reuters, 1/1/06)
2005 Anthony Shadid, an Arab speaking American journalist, authored “Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War," an inside account of the US war in Iraq.
(Econ, 9/3/05, p.73)
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2000 Jan 9, Iraqi TV reported that US and British air strikes in southern Iraq wounded 3 people.
(SFC, 1/10/00, p.A11)
2000 Jan 26, The UN appointed Hans Blix of Sweden to be the new weapons inspector for Iraq.
(SFC, 1/27/00, p.A12)
2000 Jan 27, The execution of 26 political prisoners at the Abu Gharib prison reportedly took place. Another 13 political detainees were later reported to have died there in the last 2 months from torture neglect and malnutrition.
(SFC, 2/19/00, p.C1)
2000 Feb 13, In Iraq top UN official Hans von Sponeck quit in protest that sanctions were undermining humanitarian efforts.
(SFC, 2/17/00, p.D16)
2000 Feb 15, In Iraq a 2nd UN official, Jutta Burghardt, quit in protest that sanctions were undermining humanitarian efforts.
(WSJ, 2/16/00, p.A1)(SFC, 2/17/00, p.D16)
2000 Feb 28, It was reported that Iraq and Syria had established diplomatic ties that were cut in Aug 1980 when Damascus sided with Iran just before the Iran-Iraq war.
(SFC, 2/28/00, p.C2)
2000 Mar 15, In Iraq US and British warplanes hit southern targets and Iraq reported that one civilian was killed and 6 injured.
(SFC, 3/16/00, p.A15)
2000 Mar 21, In Iraq a mortar attack on a Baghdad apartment building killed 4 people and injured 38. Persian agents were blamed.
(SFC, 3/23/00, p.D2)
2000 Mar 24, The US agreed to double the amount of money Iraq was allowed to spend to repair its oil industry and lifted holds on over $100 million in equipment.
(SFC, 3/25/00, p.A10)
2000 Mar 31, The UN Security Council decided to let Iraq spend more money to repair its oil industry, an investment intended to boost the amount of food and medicine Baghdad could buy through the UN humanitarian program.
(SFC, 4/1/00, p.A12)(AP, 3/31/01)
2000 Mar 28, Odai Hussein (35), the eldest son of Saddam Hussein, won a victory in parliamentary elections.
(SFC, 3/29/00, p.A16)
2000 Apr 3, Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 4/4/00, p.A12)
2000 Apr 4, In Iraq US and British warplanes bombed military sites in the south and Iraqi news reported 2 civilians killed and 2 wounded.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.A11)
2000 Apr 6, In Iraq US and British warplanes bombed military sites in the south and Iraqi military reported 14 civilians killed and 19 wounded.
(SFC, 4/7/00, p.D2)
2000 May 17, In Iraq a US-British air attack killed Omran Harbi Jawair (13), a shepherd boy, near Toq al-Ghazalat. 4 other shepherds were injured. Some 300 Iraqis were killed and 800 wounded over the last 18 months from US and British bombing.
(SFC, 6/23/00, p.A18)
2000 Jun 8, The UN voted (Resolution 1302) to extend Iraq’s oil for food program. Over the next 2 years the extensions were repeated every 180 days.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
2000 Jun 28, In Iraq 2 UN staffers were shot and killed in a UN building in Baghdad. Fowad Hussein Haydar (38) was arrested in the attack which he staged to protest int’l. sanctions.
(SFC, 6/29/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 29, Iraq said US and British warplanes bombed North Rumeila and killed a woman shepherd and injured her husband.
(SFC, 6/30/00, p.A18)
2000 Jul 26, The US Navy reported that an F-14 Tomcat jet crashed in Saudi Arabia during a training flight. Iraqi air defense later reported that Iraqi units had shot down a US Air Force F-14 over southern Iraq in mid July and that the Navy report was a coverup.
(SFEC, 8/20/00, p.B16)
2000 Jul, Iraq’s 1st Internet café opened with surfing censored.
(NW, 9/23/02, p.39)
2000 Aug 10, In Baghdad Pres. Chavez of Venezuela held talks with Pres. Saddam Hussein in support of upcoming oil talks in Caracas.
(SFC, 8/11/00, p.A15)
2000 Aug 11, British and US bombers struck southern Iraq and Iraqi military reported 2 people killed and 19 injured.
(SFC, 8/14/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 12, British and US bombers struck southern Iraq for a 2nd day and Iraqi military reported 3 people injured.
(SFC, 8/14/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 15, US warplanes bombed air defense sites in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 8/16/00, p.A18)
2000 Aug 21, Iraq threatened to retaliate against Turkey over airstrikes that left some 40 civilians dead.
(WSJ, 8/22/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug 25, German intelligence confirmed that it had discovered a secret Iraqi missile factory near Baghdad. Some 250 technicians were reported working on ARABIL-100 short-range missiles.
(SFC, 8/26/00, p.A9)
2000 Aug 28, Iraq charged that 311 of its citizens had been killed and 927 wounded by US and British warplanes since the bombing campaign began in Dec 1998.
(WSJ, 8/28/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug, Iraq reopened its international airport.
(SFC, 9/23/00, p.A8)
2000 Sep 22, France allowed a chartered aircraft with humanitarian personnel to fly to Baghdad.
(SFC, 9/23/00, p.A8)
2000 Sep 27, Jordan planned a flight to Iraq regardless of clearance from the UN sanctions committee.
(SFC, 9/27/00, p.A15)
2000 Oct 4, Tunisia flew a plane carrying humanitarian aid and a soccer team to Iraq.
(SFC, 10/9/00, p.a10)
2000 Oct 9, Turkey became the 9th nation to send a token humanitarian flight to Iraq.
(SFC, 10/10/00, p.A13)
2000 Oct 14, A Saudi jetliner was hijacked with over 100 people and landed in Baghdad. 2 hijackers were arrested.
(SFEC, 10/15/00, p.A10)
2000 Oct, Pres. Hussein called for volunteers for the "Jerusalem Army," a force to wrest control of Jerusalem from Israel.
(SFC, 3/12/01, p.A12)
2000 Nov 2, A US and British air strike in southern Iraq wounded 3 people.
(SFC, 11/3/00, p.A18)
2000 Nov 5, In Iraq passenger flights resumed in the no-fly zones in a challenge to US and British imposed sanctions.
(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 8, Saudi Arabia opened its border with Iraq and signed export contracts to nearly $600 million under exceptions to US sanctions.
(WSJ, 11/8/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 14, In Iraq a bomb killed 6 people in Irbil.
(SFC, 11/17/00, p.D6)
2000 Nov, Syria opened a pipeline to Iraq’s oil that generated at least $2 per day for Saddam Hussein’s regime.
(SFC, 1/23/01, p.A11)
2000 Dec 1, Iraq halted oil production due to the UN’s refusal to authorize a new payment arrangement for the oil-for-food program. Production was resumed after 2 days.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.A12)
2000 Dec 11, In Iraq Saddam Hussein sent troops into the northern Kurdish zone. Kurds and other non-Arab Iraqis were being displaced further north.
(WSJ, 12/12/00, p.A1)(SFC, 12/13/00, p.B6)
2000 Richard Butler, former chief UN weapons inspector, authored "Saddam Defiant."
(SFC, 5/26/00, p.A14)
2000 Iraq began levying an illegal surcharge of 50 cents a barrel on its oil-for-food sales in order to create a revenue stream directly back to Baghdad instead of the UN’s humanitarian fund.
(WSJ, 9/18/02, p.A1)
2000 The Czech Security Information Service (BIS) learned that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein planned to use an anti-tank rocket to attack the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague and warned Hussein that they were aware of his plans.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2000 Ukraine’s Pres. Kuchma authorized the sale of an advanced $100 million radar system to Iraq in violation of UN sanctions. Evidence of the sale emerged in 2002.
(SFC, 4/16/02, p.A7)
2000 By this time Saddam Hussein’s policy to drain the wetlands of Iraq reduced the area by 85%. Hundreds of thousands of native Madans had left leaving as few as 20,000. After the fall of Hussein scientists reflooded the area and by 2007 about 50% was restored. Madan residents rose to about 90,000.
(WSJ, 3/21/07, p.B11)
2001 Jan 3, Iraq denied reports that Pres. Saddam Hussein was hospitalized with a stroke following a parade Dec 31.
(SFC, 1/4/01, p.A12)
2001 Jan 4, It was reported that Saddam Hussein had sent moral support and distributed some 270 checks for $10,000 each to the families of Palestinians killed in clashes with Israelis since Nov.
(SFC, 1/5/01, p.A17)
2001 Jan 7, Iraqi Kurdish officials reported that at least 500 Turkish troops had pushed 100 miles into northern Iraq in response to a call for help from the PUK. The PUK was fighting the PKK and had lost 200 soldiers in recent weeks. Some 10,000 Turkish troops had entered northern Iraq since Dec 20.
(SFC, 1/8/01, p.A9)
2001 Jan 20, The Iraqi government said US and British warplanes killed 6 citizens in air attacks over southern Al-Muthana province.
(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.D4)
2001 Feb 16, Two dozen US and British aircraft bombed 5 radar and other anti-aircraft sites around Baghdad with guided missiles. A number of new guided bombs, AGM-154A priced from $250-700k, missed their targets.
(SFC, 2/17/01, p.A1)
2001 Feb 18, The Iraqi press referred to Pres. Bush as "son of the snake" and "the new dwarf" following the Feb. 16 bombing attacks.
(SFC, 2/19/01, p.A9)
2001 Apr 18, Iran launched 56 Scud missiles against an Iraq-based opposition group. At least 3 People’s Mujahideen camps were hit.
(WSJ, 4/19/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 22, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, an Iraqi diplomat, was expelled from the Czech Republic. He was later reported to have met with Mohamed Atta and planned an attack on Radio Free Europe. Five others were expelled in March 2003.
(SFC, 11/10/01, p.A5)(AP, 11/30/09)
2001 Jun 1, The Bush administration removed curbs on the sale of $800 million in goods to Iraq. A UN oil-for-food exchange was extended for 1 month rather than the normal 6 months. Iraq responded by saying it wouldn’t resume oil exports.
(SFC, 6/2/01, p.A9)(WSJ, 6/4/01, p.A1)
2001 Jun 19, Iraq claimed that 23 civilians were killed when Western planes bombed a soccer field during a match in the northern town of Tall Afar. US and Britain denied responsibility and blamed a malfunctioning Iraqi anti-aircraft missile.
(WSJ, 6/21/01, p.A1)(SFC, 6/21/01, p.A12)
2001 Jun 25, In southern Iraq a US Navy fighter jet attacked an anti-aircraft site in response to artillery fire.
(SFC, 6/26/01, p.C2)
2001 Jul 3, Muhammad al-Humaimidi, a high-ranking Iraqi diplomat, asked for asylum in NYC.
(SFC, 7/4/01, p.A10)
2001 Jul 5, Iraq accepted a 5-month UN extension for the oil-for-food program.
(SFC, 7/6/01, p.D6)
2001 Aug 10, About 20 US and British jets bombed air-defense installation south of Baghdad in retaliation for increased anti-aircraft activity. Iraqis claimed 1 civilian was killed and 11 wounded.
(SFC, 8/11/01, p.A8)
2001 Aug 14, US warplanes attacked an Iraqi air defense system modernized with fiber optics by Chinese technicians.
(WSJ, 8/15/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 27, An unmanned US reconnaissance aircraft, Predator, was reported shot down over southern Iraq near Basra. In northern Iraq US planes attacked a missile and Iraq claimed 1 civilian was killed.
(SFC, 8/28/01, p.A7)(WSJ, 8/28/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 30, US warplanes bombed an Iraqi radar site near Basra’s airport.
(WSJ, 8/31/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 10, Iraq said it shot down a 2nd US spy plane. The US reported an unmanned plane missing.
(SFC, 9/12/01, p.C3)
2001 Sep 27, US and British warplanes struck 2 artillery sites in Iraq’s southern no-fly zone.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D6)
2001 Oct 10, An unmanned US spy plane was lost over southern Iraq, the 3rd since Aug 27.
(WSJ, 10/11/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 24, A Greek captain provided the UN Security Council with a letter that admitted the illegal export of 500,000 barrels of Iraqi crude oil during 2 trips in May and August.
(SFC, 10/26/01, p.D4)
2001 Oct 25, Ismat Kittani, Iraqi diplomat, died at age 71. He served in the UN under 5 secretaries-general and was president of the 36th UN General Assembly from 1981-1982.
(SFC, 10/26/01, p.D7)
2001 Oct, Mohammad F. Abdul Razak, the 1st secretary at the Iraqi Embassy in Romania, was asked to leave for unsavory practices.
(WSJ, 12/20/01, p.A12)
2001 Nov 17, Two US sailors, Benjamin Johnson and Vincent Parker, were missing after the oil tanker Samra sank in the northern Persian Gulf. The ship was suspected of smuggling Iraqi oil.
(SFC, 11/19/01, p.A14)(SSFC, 11/25/01, p.A20)
2001 Nov 29, The UN Security Council extended for 6 months the sanctions program that let Iraq sell some oil to buy civilian goods. The US and Russia agreed to overhaul the program before the next vote.
(WSJ, 11/30/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 20, It was reported that Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri, a defector from Iraq, said he worked on renovations of secret facilities for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq before fleeing a year ago.
(SFC, 12/20/01, p.A5)
2001 Dec, Oscar Wyatt (81), chairman of Coastal Corp., agreed to a surcharge of about $200,000 to be paid to bank account in Jordan controlled by officials of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization. This was in violation of the UN’s oil-for-food program. Wyatt was arrested in 2005 at his home in Houston. In 2007 Wyatt was sentenced to over a year in jail after admitting approval of the surcharge.
(SFC, 10/22/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 11/28/07, p.B10)
2001 Saddam Hussein authored the novel "Zabibah and the King." It was released as a "novel by its author." A rape scene was set on Jan 17, 1991, the bombing of Baghdad during Operation Desert Storm.
(SSFC, 6/23/02, p.D2)
2001 Saddam Hussein built the Hussein Al-Majid Mosque in Tikrit over the grave of his father.
(SFC, 1/10/04, p.A10)
2001 Ansar al-Islam, blamed for attacks in Iraq and supported by a network of members in Europe, was founded in late 2001 in Kurdish part of northern Iraq by Mullah Krekar, who had lived as refugee in Norway since 1991.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2002 Jan 4, The WSJ quoted Ali K. Shukri, retired Jordanian general: a strike on Iraq "is not a question of whether it’s going to happen, but when—and it is coming." Action in the Spring was suggested.
(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A6)
2002 Jan 5, It was reported that funds for the Iraqi National Congress (INC), the leading opposition group to Saddam Hussein, were suspended due to accounting problems.
(SFC, 1/5/02, p.15)
2002 Jan 27, Iran’s Pres. Khatami met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri in Tehran as part of an effort to restore ties.
(SFC, 2/1/02, p.A18)
2002 Jan 27, Iraq admitted an int’l. nuclear-inspection team (IAEA) on a 4-day mission to a site near Baghdad.
(WSJ, 1/28/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 29, Pres. Bush made his 1st State of the Union address and declared that the "war against terror is only beginning." Bush singled out Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil."
(SFC, 1/30/02, p.A1)(SFC, 1/31/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 12, Sec. of State Colin Powell said the Bush administration was considering a variety of options to topple Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 2/12/02, p.A17)
2002 Mar 11, It was reported that the US CIA and State Dept. was interviewing former Iraqi generals for a possible overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 3/12/02, p.A12)
2002 Mar 13, Pres. Mubarek of Egypt said he would press Iraq to readmit UN weapons inspectors and had received indications of agreement.
(SFC, 3/14/02, p.A6)
2002 Mar 29, Iraq expressed interest in resuming relations with Kuwait.
(SFC, 3/30/02, p.A11)
2002 Apr 4, It was reported that Saddam Hussein of Iraq had raised financial payments to the relatives of suicide bombers from $10k to $25k.
(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A10)
2002 Apr 4, Pres. Bush responded to British TV journalist Trevor McDonald’s question "Have you made up your mind that Iraq must be attacked?" by saying: "I made up my mind that Hussein needs to go."
(SFC, 6/15/02, p.A13)
2002 Apr 7, Saddam Hussein pledged to defeat the US if attacked and promised to continue supplying Palestinians to defend against Israel.
(SFC, 4/8/02, p.A9)
2002 Apr 7, Pres. Bush ended weekend talks with Britain’s PM Tony Blair in Texas. Blair said he would back a US military action against Iraq.
(SFC, 4/8/02, p.A9)
2002 May 2, A report on Iraq’s oil sales showed that illegal surcharges allowed Iraq to siphon off large amounts for its war chest.
(WSJ, 5/2/02, p.A1)
2002 May 5, Iraq voted to resume oil exports.
(SFC, 5/6/02, p.A3)
2002 May 14, The UN Security Council revamped its sanctions against Iraq in order to ease the delivery of civilian goods and tighten controls on military items.
(SFC, 5/15/02, p.A12)
2002 Jun 9, Iraq and Qatar signed a free-trade agreement to drop customs duties and ease the flow of goods between the two Arab countries, further mending relations damaged by the 1990-91 Gulf War.
(AP, 6/9/02)
2002 Jun 16, The Bush administration revealed a secret plan to for the CIA to undermine and possibly kill Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein. [see Apr 4]
(SFC, 6/17/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 4, American warplanes bombed an Iraqi air defense system after coming under attack from Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery.
(AP, 7/4/02)
2002 Jul 6, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan arrived in Baghdad for a two-day visit Saturday to discuss steps that could be taken to avert a possible U.S. military campaign against Iraq.
(AP, 7/6/02)
2002 Jul 13, In southern Iraq 7 civilians were reported injured in U.S. air raids.
(AP, 7/14/02)
2002 Jul 19, US and British warplanes destroyed a military communications facility in southern Iraq. Iraq said the strike killed 5 people including a couple and their children.
(SFC, 7/20/02, p.A11)
2002 Jul 21, In Iraq executions of 15 political dissidents took place in the Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad, and the bodies were buried at night in a mass grave at al-Karkh cemetery in Baghdad. The Iraqi opposition group Center for Human Rights reported this Sep 30.
(AP, 9/30/02)
2002 Jul 23, A memo from 10 Downing St. described an earlier meeting of Sir Richard Dearlove, head of British Intelligence, with US officials in Washington in which he noted a shift in attitude in the Bush administration, which saw military action as inevitable in Iraq and that it would be justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. The memo became public in 2005.
(SFC, 7/4/05, p.B6)
2002 Jul 28, Aircraft from U.S.-British air patrols over southern Iraq bombed an Iraqi communications site, the sixth strike this month in retaliation for what the Pentagon says were hostile actions by Iraq.
(AP, 7/29/02)
2002 Jul, Alexander Downer, Australia’s foreign minister, accused Saddam Hussein of developing weapons of mass destruction. Iraq soon after announced that it would cut its wheat purchases from Australia. Directors of AWB, Australia's wheat exporter, flew to Iraq and struck a new deal for wheat shipments.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.42)
2002 Aug 1, Opponents of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein shot and wounded his younger son, Qusai (35), in an assassination attempt in Baghdad. The Iraqi National Congress opposition group reported the event 2 weeks later.
(AP, 8/14/02)
2002 Aug 2, Facing an increasing possibility of U.S. military action, Iraq gave the first solid indication in nearly four years that it will allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return and invited the chief inspector to Baghdad for talks.
(AP, 8/2/02)
2002 Aug 8, Saddam Hussein organized a big military parade and then warned "the forces of evil" not to attack Iraq as he sought once more to shift the debate away from world demands that he live up to agreements that ended the Gulf War.
(AP, 8/8/03)
2002 Aug 12, Iraq's information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf told the Arabic satellite television station Al-Jazeera that there was no need for U.N. weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad and branded as a "lie" allegations that Saddam Hussein still had weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 8/12/03)
2002 Aug 14, Aircraft from the U.S.-British coalition patrolling southern Iraq bombed two Iraqi air defense sites.
(AP, 8/15/02)
2002 Aug 16, Russia and Iraqi officials planned to sign a 5-year $40 billion economic cooperation agreement.
(SFC, 8/17/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 16, Sabri al-Banna, aka Abu Nidal (65), Palestinian guerrilla commander and head of the Fatah-Revolutionary Council, died from gunshot wounds in his Baghdad home. Iraqi officials said he killed himself.
(Reuters, 8/19/02)(WSJ, 8/20/02, p.A18)(AP, 8/21/02)
2002 Aug 20, In Germany 5 members of the Iraqi Opposition of Germany took over the Iraqi embassy for 5 hours to protest against Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 8/20/02, p.A7)
2002 Aug 23, U.S. warplanes bombed an air defense site in northern Iraq after being targeted by an Iraqi missile guidance radar system.
(AP, 8/23/02)
2002 Aug 25, Iraq said US and British bombing killed 8 people near Basra. A U.S.-British air raid in southern Iraq destroyed a major military surveillance site that monitors American troops in the Persian Gulf
(WSJ, 8/26/02, p.A1)(AP, 8/27/02)
2002 Aug 26, US VP Cheney said that there is "no doubt" that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is amassing weapons of mass destruction for use against America and its allies.
(SFC, 8/27/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 30, For the 6th time in a week, coalition aircraft bombed an Iraqi defense facility in one of the no-fly zones patrolled by U.S. and British pilots.
(AP, 8/30/02)
2002 Sep 1, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the US should first seek a return of U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq before taking any further steps.
(AP, 9/1/02)
2002 Sep 2, Russia urged Iraq to admit U.N. weapons inspectors to avoid a war that could jeopardize multibillion-dollar economic deals between the trading partners.
(AP, 9/2/02)
2002 Sep 3, Iraq said it was ready to discuss a return of U.N. weapons inspectors, but only in a broader context of ending sanctions and restoring Iraqi sovereignty over all its territory.
(AP, 9/3/02)
2002 Sep 5, The U.S. military stated that American and British planes attacked an air defense command and control facility at a military airfield 240 miles southwest of Baghdad.
(AP, 9/6/02)
2002 Sep 7, Pres. Bush met with British PM Tony Blair at Camp David, Md., to work out a strategy for taking action against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.
(SSFC, 9/8/02, p.A3)
2002 Sep 9, Allied aircraft struck Iraq for the third time in a week, bombing a military facility southeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 9/9/02)
2002 Sep 12, Pres. Bush addressed the UN and laid out his case against Iraq’s Pres. Saddam Hussein. Bush was expected to announce US plans to rejoin Unesco, headquartered in Paris. France favored a demand for weapons inspectors in Iraq along with force if Iraq resisted.
(WSJ, 9/12/02, p.A1,4)(SFC, 9/13/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 13, Iraq will pay up to $5,000 each to Palestinians whose home is demolished in the Israeli campaign against suspected militants, a pro-Iraqi group said Friday, hinting also that Iraq is supplying weapons to the Palestinians.
(AP, 9/13/02)
2002 Sep 13, A top Iraqi official said Baghdad opposes the return of U.N. weapons inspectors and President Bush’s speech to the United Nations was "full of lies." Iraq will attack Israel if it takes part in a U.S. strike against President Hussein’s government, an Iraqi minister said in published remarks.
(AP, 9/13/02)
2002 Sep 13, Foreign ministers of the U.N. Security Council’s permanent five nations said that Iraq’s refusal to obey past U.N. resolutions "is a serious matter and that Iraq must comply." Russia, Europe and key Arab states piled pressure on Iraq on Friday to readmit U.N. weapons inspectors to avert possible U.S.-led military action.
(AP, 9/13/02)(Reuters, 9/13/02)
2002 Sep 15, U.S. and British warplanes bombed Iraqi installations in the southern no-fly zone. Major air defense sites were being targeted.
(AP, 9/15/02)(SFC, 9/17/02, p.A12)
2002 Sep 15, At least 5 Iraqi agents graduated from a 2-week course in surveillance techniques at the "Special Training Center" in Moscow.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.A1)
2002 Sep 16, Iraq said it would allow UN weapons inspectors unconditional access to suspected weapons sites. Naji Sabri, Iraq’s minister of foreign affairs, addressed the letter to UN Sec. Gen. Kofi Annan. The inspection commission, headed by Hans Blix, is responsible for overseeing the destruction of Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons and the long-range missiles to deliver them. Core staff: 63 people from 17 nations.
(SFC, 9/17/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 9/17/02, p.A3)(AP, 9/18/02)
2002 Sep 17, Weapons inspectors and Iraqi officials agreed to meet in Vienna in 10 days to complete arrangements for the inspectors’ return. The UN said Iraq had abandoned its illegal surcharges in the oil-for-food program.
(AP, 9/17/02)(WSJ, 9/18/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 21, Iraq rejected U.S. efforts to secure a U.N. resolution threatening war, with Iraqi state-run radio announcing Baghdad will not abide by unfavorable new resolutions adopted by the U.N. Security Council.
(AP, 9/21/02)
2002 Sep 24, Iraq dismissed a British government report that said Saddam Hussein is pursuing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
(AP, 9/24/02)
2002 Sep 24, Allied aircraft struck Iraqi air defense facilities again in a double strike at two southeastern installations. Precision-guided weapons were aimed at a radar facility near Al Amarah about 165 miles southeast of Baghdad and a defense communications facility at Tallil, about 170 miles southeast of the capital.
(AP, 9/25/02)
2002 Sep 27, Three U.S. lawmakers, all Democrats, arrived in Baghdad to gauge the possible effects of war on ordinary Iraqi citizens. The visit by Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington and fellow House Democrats David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California followed a Sept. 14 visit by a delegation led by Rep. Nick Rahall, a West Virginia Democrat.
(AP, 9/27/02)
2002 Sep 28, Iraq rejected a U.S.-British plan for the United Nations to force President Saddam Hussein to disarm and open his palaces for weapons searches.
(AP, 9/28/03)
2002 Sep 28, U.S. jets raided the Basra civilian airport for the second time inside a week, targeting its radar systems and the passenger terminals.
(AP, 9/29/02)
2002 Oct 1, Allied aircraft launched an airstrike in the southern no-fly zone over Iraq after Iraqi aircraft penetrated the restricted area. Iraq agreed to a plan for the return of UN weapons inspectors for the first time in nearly four years, but ignored US demands for access to Saddam Hussein's palaces and other contested sites. Iraq said it expected an advance party in Baghdad in two weeks.
(AP, 10/1/07)(AP, 10/2/02)
2002 Oct 2, Iraq said it would not accept any new U.N. resolution to cover the operations of arms inspectors on its soil and vowed it would hit back hard against any U.S. attack on Baghdad.
(AP, 10/2/02)
2002 Oct 4, Hans Blix, UN weapons inspector, endorsed a US demand that Iraq make a full declaration of its weapons program before inspections resume.
(SFC, 10/5/02, p.A7)
2002 Oct 7, In a somber address to the nation to support his action against Iraq, President Bush labeled Saddam Hussein a "homicidal dictator" and said the threat from Iraq was unique and imminent: "We refuse to live in fear."
(SFC, 10/8/02, p.A1)(AP, 10/7/03)
2002 Oct 10, Allied planes bombed radar and missile sites in the southern no-fly zone over Iraq, targeting President Saddam Hussein’s air defenses for the third time this week.
(AP, 10/10/02)
2002 Oct 10, The US Congress gave Pres. Bush authorization to use armed forces against Iraq. The House voted 296-133 in favor.
(SFC, 10/11/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/11/02, p.A1)
2002 Oct 15, In Iraq Saddam Hussein won the presidential referendum for another 7-year term. He claimed a 100% victory the next day.
(SFC, 10/16/02, p.A9)
2002 Oct 15, Allied planes bombed a military command facility in the southern no-fly zone over Iraq after taking fire from Iraqi forces.
(AP, 10/15/02)
2002 Oct 16, The US offered a compromise proposal at the UN that called for serious consequences if Iraq does not comply with weapons inspections.
(SFC, 10/17/02, p.A1)
2002 Oct 16, President Bush signed a congressional resolution authorizing war against Iraq.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2002 Oct 18, Five trucks carrying looted Kuwaiti archives left the Iraqi capital, bound for Kuwait.
(AP, 10/18/02)
2002 Oct 20, In Iraq President Saddam Hussein issued an amnesty to all political prisoners and exiles to mark his perfect 100 percent uncontested election.
(AP, 10/20/02)
2002 Oct 21, President Bush said he would try diplomacy "one more time," but did not think Saddam Hussein would disarm, even if doing so would allow the Iraqi president to remain in power.
(AP, 10/21/03)
2002 Oct 22, Allied planes bombed a military air defense site in the northern no-fly zone over Iraq after taking fire from Iraqi forces.
(AP, 10/22/02)
2002 Oct 23, Allied planes bombed two military air defense sites in the southern no-fly zone over Iraq in the third round of strikes in a week.
(AP, 10/23/02)
2002 Oct 24, In Iraq officials told many foreign journalists to leave due to coverage of recent protests.
(SFC, 10/25/02, p.A3)
2002 Oct 30, Allied warplanes bombed Iraqi defense systems in the northern no-fly zone over Iraq after being fired upon during routine patrols.
(AP, 10/30/02)
2002 Nov 2, Pres. Bush called Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein a "dangerous man" with links to terrorist networks, and said that UN inspections for weapons of mass destruction were critical.
(AP, 11/2/03)
2002 Nov 8, The UN Security Council unanimously approved a tough new Iraq resolution, aimed at forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences." Iraq has until Nov. 15 to accept its terms and pledge to comply. Iraq has until Dec. 8 to provide weapons inspectors and the Security Council with a complete declaration of all aspects of its chemical, biological and nuclear programs. Weapons inspectors have until Dec. 23 to resume their work in Iraq. Weapons inspectors are to report to the Security Council 60 days after the start of their work. If inspectors resume their work on Dec. 23, the latest they would be able to report to the council would be Feb. 21, 2003.
(AP, 11/8/02)
2002 Nov 8, Pres. Bush said the new UN Resolution 1441 presented the Iraqi regime "with a final test."
(AP, 11/8/03)
2002 Nov 10, U.S. warplanes flying from an aircraft carrier in the Gulf struck missile sites in southern Iraq in response to hostile acts.
(AP, 11/11/02)
2002 Nov 11, Iraqi lawmakers denounced a new UN resolution on weapons inspections as dishonest, provocative and worthy of rejection. But the Iraqi parliament said it ultimately would trust whatever President Saddam Hussein decided.
(AP, 11/11/03)
2002 Nov 13, Iraq accepted a tough new U.N. resolution that will return U.N. weapons inspectors to the country after nearly four years.
(AP, 11/13/02)
2002 Nov 15, US aircraft exchanged fire with Iraqi ground forces near An Najaf, about 85 miles south of Baghdad.
(SFC, 11/16/02, p.A6)
2002 Nov 16, In an open letter to the Iraqi Parliament, Pres. Saddam Hussein said he had no choice but to accept a tough new UN weapons inspection resolution because the US and Israel had shown their "claws and teeth" and declared unilateral war on the Iraqi people.
(AP, 11/16/03)
2002 Nov 18, UN inspectors returned to Iraq after a 4-year hiatus to resume the search for weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 11/18/03)
2002 Nov 21, The 19 NATO leaders demanded that Iraq "fully and immediately" comply with a UN resolution to disarm. It was at the NATO Summit in Prague that the NATO Response Force initiative was announced together with the other major military transformation initiatives, the Prague Capabilities Commitment and the fundamental revision of the NATO military command structure. The NRF concept was approved by Ministers of Defense in June 2003 in Brussels.
(AP, 11/21/02)(http://www.nato.int/issues/nrf/index.html)
2002 Nov 24, In a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Iraqi government complained that the small print behind upcoming weapons inspections would give Washington a pretext to attack.
(AP, 11/24/03)
2002 Nov 26, Iraqi air defense units fired at American and British warplanes that carried out dozens of sorties in the country.
(AP, 11/26/02)
2002 Nov 27, International arms monitors searched a military missile-testing range and a state factory outside Baghdad, starting a new round of inspections that could determine the future of peace in the Middle East.
(AP, 11/27/02)
2002 Dec 3, U.N. weapons inspectors made their first unannounced visit to one of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces.
(AP, 12/3/03)
2002 Dec 4, Iraqi forces shot at allied aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone and U.S. planes retaliated by bombing part of the country’s air defense system.
(AP, 12/4/02)
2002 Dec 4, Kurdish militiamen of the PUK battled Islamic militants (Ansar al-Islam) believed to be linked to al-Qaida in northern Iraq, and as many as 30 militiamen were killed or wounded.
(AP, 12/4/02)(SFC, 12/6/02, p.A18)
2002 Dec 7, The Iraqi government presented to the rest of the world a 12,000 page declaration detailing its nuclear, chemical and biological activities and formally declaring to the UN that it has no weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein grudgingly apologized to Kuwaitis for invading their country in 1990.
(AP, 12/7/02)(SSFC, 12/8/02, p.A1)
2002 Dec 8, Iraq's massive dossier detailing its chemical, biological and nuclear programs arrived in New York; the U.N. Security Council agreed to give full copies to the United States and the four other permanent council members — Britain, France, Russia and China.
(AP, 12/8/03)
2002 Dec 9, The United States received a copy Monday of Saddam Hussein’s massive arms declaration as inspectors began combing the dossier for clues about whether Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 12/9/02)
2002 Dec 10, A U.S. F-16 fighter bombed an Iraqi surface-to-air missile system after Iraq moved it deep into the southern no-fly zone.
(AP, 12/10/02)
2002 Dec 17, Iraqi exiles in London declared they want to build a "new Iraq" and agreed on a power-sharing plan that for the first time recognizes the political clout of Shiite Muslims, a majority in a nation long controlled by Sunni Muslims such as Saddam Hussein. Some delegates walked out of the London meeting warning of possible civil war if they were sidelined in any new government.
(AP, 12/17/02)(Reuters, 12/17/02)
2002 Dec 17, Mohammed Jawad allegedly attacked US troops with a grenade. He was arrested and later transferred to Guantanamo Bay. US authorities claimed he was at least 16-years old at the time of his arrest, but it later emerged he may have been as young as 12.
(SFC, 7/31/09, p.A5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Jawad)
2002 Dec 19, U.N. weapons inspectors reported that Iraq’s new arms declaration contained inconsistencies and contradictions and didn’t answer key questions about its nuclear, chemical and biological programs.
(AP, 12/19/02)
2002 Dec 19, US Secretary of State Colin Powell declared Iraq in "material breach" of a U.N. disarmament resolution.
(AP, 12/19/03)
2002 Dec 20, U.N. weapons inspectors put Iraq on notice that it must provide far more evidence about its weapons of mass destruction. Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix urged the United States and Britain to hand over any evidence they have about Iraq’s secret weapons programs so U.N. inspectors can check it on the ground. The US began sharing sensitive information with the UN.
(AP, 12/20/02)(AP, 12/21/02)(SFC, 12/21/02, p.A7)
2002 Dec 20, U.S. jets fired on two Iraqi air defense sites in the southern no-fly zone after an Iraqi jet entered the restricted air space.
(AP, 12/20/02)
2002 Dec 23, Iraqi aircraft shot down a U.S. unmanned surveillance drone over southern Iraq.
(AP, 12/23/02)
2002 Dec 24, Saddam Hussein said in an address read on television that Iraqis were ready to fight a holy war against the United States.
(AP, 12/24/03)
2002 Dec 24, Israeli PM Sharon said Saddam Hussein had transferred chemical and biological weapons to Syria.
(SFC, 12/25/02, p.A16)
2002 Dec 28, Iraq delivered a list to UN officials naming over 500 scientists who have worked on nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programs.
(AP, 12/28/02)
2002 Dec 30, British and US warplanes flying multiple missions attacked Iraq air defense facilities after an Iraqi fighter jet penetrated the southern no-fly zone.
(AP, 12/31/02)
2002 Dec 30, The UN passed a resolution by a 13-0 vote with Russia and Syria abstaining that put new limits on Iraq for purchases of certain communications equipment and antibiotics.
(AP, 1/2/03)
2002 Curt Coughlin authored "Saddam: King of Terror."
(SSFC, 11/24/02, p.M1)
2002 Saddam Hussein authored a 2nd novel "The Impregnable Fortress." 2 million copies were printed and his son Udai ordered 250,000 copies.
(SSFC, 6/23/02, p.D2)
2002 Sandra Mackey authored "The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein."
(SSFC, 6/30/02, p.M1)
2002 Kenneth M. Pollack authored "The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq."
(WSJ, 10/10/02, p.D10)
2002 The US opened formal contacts with Daawa leader Ibrahim al Jaafari after clearing him in embassy bombings.
(WSJ, 4/28/05, p.A1
2003 Jan 1, U.S. and British warplanes attacked an Iraqi mobile radar system after it entered the southern no-fly zone.
(AP, 1/1/03)
2003 Jan 6, U.S. warplanes bombed two Iraqi anti-aircraft radars that threatened pilots patrolling the southern no-fly zone.
(AP, 1/7/03)
2003 Jan 6, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein accused U.N. inspectors of engaging in "intelligence work" instead of searching for suspected nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in his country.
(AP, 1/6/04)
2003 Jan 6, Thousands of Marines, sailors and soldiers headed for the Persian Gulf region, shipping out from California, Georgia and Maryland as the buildup for a possible war with Iraq accelerated sharply.
(AP, 1/6/04)
2003 Jan 9, UN weapons inspectors said there's no "smoking gun" to prove Iraq has nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, but they demanded that Baghdad provide private access to scientists and fresh evidence to back its claim that it had destroyed its weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 1/9/08)
2003 Jan 10, The European Union proposed a diplomatic initiative to avoid war against Iraq and increased pressure on Washington to pursue a peaceful solution to the crisis over Iraq’s arms programs.
(AP, 1/10/03)
2003 Jan 10, Iraq blocked all e-mail services following a batch of messages from disguised US agencies urging dissent and military defections. Some service was restored the next day.
(SSFC, 1/12/03, p.A14)
2003 Jan 13, US warplanes struck an anti-ship missile launcher in southern Iraq. US planes also dropped leaflets over An Najaf, about 85 miles southeast of Baghdad. It was the 14th drop in 3 months.
(AP, 1/13/03)
2003 Jan 13, U.N. inspectors took their hunt for banned arms to science and technology colleges in Baghdad, and the top nuclear inspector said his teams’ mission would take several more months.
(AP, 1/13/03)
2003 Jan 13, It was reported that Iraq has experienced a dramatic increase in child cancers in recent years. Blame was cast on the US use of depleted uranium during the 1991 Gulf War.
(SFC, 1/13/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 17, On the 12th anniversary of the Gulf War, a defiant Saddam Hussein called on his people to rise up and defend the nation against a new U.S.-led attack.
(AP, 1/17/04)
2003 Jan 17, Iraq and Russia signed three oil agreements for exploration and development of oil fields in southern and western Iraq.
(AP, 1/17/03)
2003 Jan 18, UN officials warned Iraq it was running out of time to cooperate and avoid war.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2003 Jan 19, Hans Blix and Mohamed El Baradei, the chief U.N. arms inspectors, sat down for urgent talks with Iraqi officials.
(AP, 1/19/03)
2003 Jan 19, Syria and Iran support Turkey’s proposal for a regional summit to seek a peaceful way out of the Iraq standoff. Turkey has offered to hold the summit where Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria would discuss the standoff over Iraq.
(AP, 1/19/03)
2003 Jan 20, The chief U.N. arms inspectors and Iraqi officials agreed on practical steps to greater Iraqi cooperation in the U.N. disarmament program, including Baghdad’s encouragement of weapons scientists to submit to private U.N. interviews.
(AP, 1/20/03)
2003 Jan 22, France and Germany joined forces to prevent any U.S.-led war on Iraq.
(Reuters, 1/22/03)
2003 Jan 24, American warplanes bombed an Iraqi air defense site, the 12th strike in the southern flight interdiction zone this month.
(AP, 1/24/03)
2003 Jan 27, The Bush administration moved toward a military showdown with Iraq and suggested a decision could come as early as next week after UN inspectors credited Iraq with only limited cooperation in the search for weapons. Meanwhile, chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix charged that Iraq had never genuinely accepted U.N. resolutions demanding its disarmament and warned that "cooperation on substance" was necessary for a peaceful solution.
(AP, 1/27/03)(SFC, 1/28/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 28, Pres. Bush in his State of the Union vowed to use the "full force and might of the U.S. military" if needed to disarm Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Bush pledged of $15 billion for AIDS assistance in Africa, a domestic agenda of tax cuts, medical malpractice caps and a ban on certain late abortions. Bush also announced a $1.2 billion hydrogen fuel initiative.
(www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030206-2.html)(AP, 1/29/03)(WSJ, 1/29/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan 31, Top U.N. arms inspectors said they would not agree to new talks in Baghdad unless Iraq demonstrated more cooperation and met unspecified conditions.
(AP, 1/31/03)
2003 Jan, Pres. Bush received classified reports from the National Intelligence Council that an American-led invasion of Iraq would increase support for political Islam and result in a deeply divided Iraqi society prone to violent internal conflict.
(SFC, 9/28/04, p.A3)
2003 Jan, In Baghdad, Iraq, Hayder Mounthir staged his play "Where Is the Government." The entire cast was briefly jailed after one performance. He re-staged the play at the National Theater with a new ending in Nov.
(WSJ, 11/10/03, p.A1)
2003 Jan, An environmental assessment on Iraq was finalized for the US government. It indicated that Iraqis had ordered 8 million pounds of sodium dichromate, a deadly toxin, to keep water pipes from corroding. Months later US soldiers were sickened after they arrived at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant. Oregon Nat’l. Guard soldiers sued military contractor KBR in 2009. KBR said it only knew of the presence of the toxin July 2003.
(SFC, 4/5/12, p.A8)
2003 Feb 3, It was reported that the US and Britain had mapped out a strategy to limit arms inspections in Iraq to no more than 6 more weeks.
(SFC, 2/3/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 3, A new British report said Iraqi security agents have bugged every room and telephone of the U.N. weapons inspectors based in Baghdad and have hidden documents in Iraqi hospitals, mosques and homes.
(AP, 2/4/03)
2003 Feb 5, Secretary of State Colin Powell, made his case that Iraq had defied all demands that it disarm, presented tape recordings, satellite photos and statements from informants that he said was "irrefutable and undeniable" evidence that Saddam Hussein is concealing weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 2/5/03)(SFC, 2/6/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 8, The chief UN arms inspectors arrived in Baghdad for a new round of crucial talks with Iraqi officials.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2003 Feb 8, In Iraq gunmen posing as defectors from an Islamic extremist group killed Gen. Shawkat Haji Mushir, a political leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and two other Kurdish officials.
(AP, 2/9/03)
2003 Feb 10, Iraq agreed to allow U-2 surveillance flights over its territory, meeting a key demand by U.N. inspectors searching for banned weapons; President Bush, however, brushed aside Iraqi concessions as too little, too late.
(AP, 2/10/04)
2003 Feb 11, A group of around 50 Western anti-war activists received visas to enter Iraq where they plan to form "human shields." Iraq said it would allow U-2 surveillance flights.
(Reuters, 2/11/03)(SFC, 2/11/03, p.A10)
2003 Feb 13, American Special Forces were reported to be in various parts of Iraq for what seemed to be the initial phases of a ground war.
(SFC, 2/12/03, p.A14)
2003 Feb 14, Saddam Hussein banned all weapons of mass destruction from Iraq, meeting a long time U.N. demand.
(AP, 2/14/03)
2003 Feb 14, UN weapons inspectors haven’t found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but chief inspector Hans Blix said many proscribed materials remain unaccounted for.
(AP, 2/14/03)(SFC, 2/15/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 15, American warplanes bombed two anti-aircraft missile sites in southern Iraq.
(AP, 2/15/03)
2003 Feb 15, Rattled by an outpouring of anti-war sentiment, the US and Britain began reworking a draft resolution to authorize force against Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 2/15/03)
2003 Feb 15, Millions of protesters, many of them marching in the capitals of America’s allies, demonstrated against possible US plans to attack Iraq.
(AP, 2/15/03)(AP, 2/16/03)
2003 Feb 21, It was reported that Iraq had recently begun shipping large quantities of oil through its Khor al Amaya port.
(WSJ, 2/21/03, p.A1)
2003 Feb 21, Chief UN inspector Hans Blix ordered Baghdad to begin destroying dozens of illegal missiles and their components by March 1.
(AP, 2/22/03)(SFC, 2/22/03, A1)
2003 Feb 23, In Iraq Saddam Hussein met separately with Russian Yevgeny Primakov and former US attorney gen’l. Ramsay Clark. Clark said Hussein feared that Pres. Bush had made up his mind to attack and that there was nothing he could do to prevent it.
(SFC, 2/25/03, A10)
2003 Feb 23, The UN Children’s Fund and Iraqi health teams began a five-day campaign to vaccinate 4 million Iraqi children against polio.
(AP, 2/23/03)
2003 Feb 24, Dan Rather interviewed Saddam Hussein via satellite and Hussein proposed a live debate with Pres. Bush. Hussein said he would rather die than leave his country and that he would not destroy its wealth by setting fire to its oil wells in the event of a U.S.-led invasion.
(SFC, 2/25/03, A10)(AP, 2/26/03)
2003 Feb 24, Seeking U.N. approval for war against Iraq, the United States, Britain and Spain submitted a resolution to the Security Council declaring that Saddam Hussein had missed "the final opportunity" to disarm peacefully and indicating that he had to face the consequences.
(SFC, 2/25/03, A1)(AP, 2/24/04)
2003 Feb 25, Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq was showing new signs of real cooperation, but President Bush was dismissive, predicting Saddam Hussein would try to "fool the world one more time."
(AP, 2/25/04)
2003 Feb 25, Iraq provided new information about its weapons and reported the discovery of 2 bombs, including one possibly filled with a biological agent.
(AP, 2/25/03)
2003 Feb 26, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin warned that waging war against Iraq now, would split the international community and "be perceived as precipitous and illegitimate."
(AP, 2/26/03)
2003 Feb 27, Iraq agreed in principle to destroy its Al Samoud Two missiles, two days before a U.N. deadline.
(AP, 2/27/04)
2003 Feb 28, Iraq agreed to begin destroying its Al Samoud 2 missiles within 24 hours.
(AP, 2/28/03)
2003 Feb, Saddam Hussein accepted an 11th-hour offer to flee into exile weeks ahead of the U.S.-led invasion, but Arab League officials scuttled the proposal. The exile initiative was spearheaded by the late president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, at an emergency Arab summit held in Egypt. This was not made public until 2005 when Sheik Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the son of Sheik Zayed, reported it in an interview aired by Al-Arabiya TV.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2003 Mar 1, Iraq destroyed 4 of over 100 Al Samoud 2 missiles and agreed with the UN on a timetable to dismantle the rest of the missile program.
(AP, 3/1/03)(SSFC, 3/2/03, A1)
2003 Mar 1, Arab leaders held a summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The UAR became the 1st Arab country to call for Saddam Hussein to step down.
(SSFC, 3/2/03, A8)
2003 Mar 1, Turkey's parliament failed to approve a bill allowing in American combat troops to open a northern front against Iraq. Lawmakers voted 264-250 in favor of stationing US troops but that was 3 votes shy of a constitutionally mandated simple majority.
(AP, 3/2/03)(AP, 3/1/08)
2003 Mar 2, Iraq crushed another six Al Samoud II missiles, as ordered by UN weapons inspectors. Iraqi scientist Mahmud Faraj Bilal al-Samarrai, implicated in Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (WMD), surrendered to the CIA. He was freed in 2012.
(AP, 3/2/08)(AFP, 4/15/12)
2003 Mar 4, Iran called for UN-supervised elections in neighboring Iraq and urged the divided Iraqi opposition to reconcile with Pres. Saddam Hussein as part of a plan aimed at averting a US-led war on Iraq.
(AP, 3/4/03)
2003 Mar 4, It was later reported that CNN top people found out that the US war on Iraq would begin Mar 19.
(SFC, 4/3/03, p.W2)
2003 Mar 4, In northern Iraq Kurdish soldiers killed 5 Muslim men in a possible case of mistaken identity.
(AP, 3/4/03)(SFC, 3/5/03, p.A10)
2003 Mar 6, President Bush held a new conference and warned that he was prepared to go to war soon in Iraq with or without U.N. backing.
(AP, 3/7/03)(SFC, 3/7/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 6, Britain offered to compromise on a US-backed resolution by giving Saddam Hussein a short deadline to prove he has eliminated all banned weapons or face an attack.
(AP, 3/6/03)
2003 Mar 7, Kazem al-Sahir (41), Iraqi pop singer with over 30 million records sold, scheduled a benefit concert at the Berkeley Community Theater. His US tour was set to raise medical and school supplies for Iraqi children.
(SSFC, 3/2/03, A28)(SFC, 3/6/03, p.F1)
2003 Mar 7, The US and its allies moved to set March 17 as the final deadline for Saddam Hussein to prove he has given up his weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 3/8/03)(SFC, 3/8/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 7, Mohamed ElBaradei, UN chief nuclear weapons inspector, expressed frustration at the quality of US information on Iraqi weapons and charged that some documents may have been faked.
(SFC, 3/8/03, p.A11)
2003 Mar 8, Iraq resumed the destruction of banned Al Samoud 2 missiles after taking a day off and called on the UN to lift sanctions after arms inspectors gave a positive assessment of Baghdad’s cooperation. Iraq also demanded that the UN strip Israel of weapons of mass destruction, require withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territory and that the UN brand the US and Britain as liars.
(AP, 3/8/03)(SSFC, 3/9/03, p.A8)
2003 Mar 8, Former US president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter condemned preparations for a unilateral US attack on Iraq.
(AP, 3/9/03)
2003 Mar 8, Thousands of US women staged "Code Pink" marches against a possible war with Iraq. Some 4,000 marched near the White House.
(SSFC, 3/9/03, p.A3)
2003 Mar 8, In Romania 5 Iraqi diplomats were expelled for "activities incompatible with their status." Last week the US expelled two U.N.-based Iraqi diplomats and identified 300 Iraqis in 60 countries, some operating as diplomats out of Iraqi embassies, whom it wanted expelled.
(AP, 3/10/03)
2003 Mar 9, In Rawalpindi, Pakistan, hundreds of thousands of people protested a possible US war with Iraq.
(SFC, 3/10/03, p.A11)
2003 Mar 10, Facing almost certain defeat, the United States and Britain delayed a vote in the U.N. Security Council to give Saddam Hussein an ultimatum to disarm.
(AP, 3/10/04)
2003 Mar 10, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov warned the Kremlin would vote against the US and British resolution that gives Saddam Hussein a March 17 deadline to disarm.
(AP, 3/10/03)
2003 Mar 11, Iraq destroyed more Al Samoud 2 missiles raising the total destroyed to 52 of some 100.
(AP, 3/11/03)
2003 Mar 11, Kofi Annan said military action against Iraq without support of the UN security council would be out of conformity with the UN charter. The US and Britain considered a short extension past March 17, but rejected a 45-day deadline back by 6 council members.
(SFC, 3/11/03, p.A1)(SFC, 3/12/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 11, A top Australian intelligence adviser resigned to protest the government’s hardline policy on Iraq. Andrew Wilkie, one of its senior intelligence analysts argued that, based on U.S. and other intelligence information he has seen, there is currently no justification for a war on Iraq.
(IPS, 3/12/03)
2003 Mar 12, Brittain proposed compromise language giving Saddam Hussein until Mar 17 to take 6 concrete disarmament steps.
(WSJ, 3/13/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 15, Many thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched in SF, Washington DC and around the world against plans for a war with Iraq.
(SFC, 3/16/03, p.A1)(AP, 3/15/08)
2003 Mar 17, Pres. Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to go into exile or face military onslaught.
(SFC, 3/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 16, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein warned that if Iraq were attacked, it would take the war anywhere in the world "wherever there is sky, land or water."
(AP, 3/16/04)
2003 Mar 17, In Denmark Nizar Al-Khazraji, former Iraqi general, disappeared.
(WSJ, 4/9/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 17-May 25, Iraq was scheduled to take over as chairman of the UN disarmament organization, but declined the position.
(SSFC, 2/9/03, p.A16)
2003 Mar 18, Some $900 million in US bills and as much as 100 million in euros was taken from Iraq's Central Bank by Saddam Hussein and his family. The New York Times reported on May 5 that Saddam ordered the money taken from the Central Bank and sent his son Qusai in the middle of the night. This became the largest cash theft in recent history.
(AP, 5/6/03)(AP, 2/28/06)
2003 Mar 19, President Bush ordered the start of war against Iraq. Because of the time difference, it was early March 20 in Iraq. Operation Iraqi Freedom began with a few US targeted strikes in Baghdad against Saddam Hussein, targeting him personally with a barrage of cruise missiles and bombs as a prelude to invasion. Iraq responded hours later, firing missiles toward American troops positioned just across its border with Kuwait. The codename for the invasion of Iraq was Cobra II. In 2006 Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor authored “Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq.
(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.W12)(AP, 3/19/04)(Econ, 4/8/06, p.82)
2003 Mar 19, It was reported that Iraq had some 10 million land mines.
(WSJ, 3/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 20, Hundreds of thousands of people marched on American embassies in world capitals to protest the war against Iraq.
(AP, 3/20/03)
2003 Mar 20, Operation Iraqi Freedom began with a few targeted strikes in Baghdad against Saddam Hussein, targeting him personally with a barrage of cruise missiles and bombs as a prelude to invasion. Iraq responded hours later, firing missiles toward American troops positioned just across its border with Kuwait. US Sec. of State Rumsfeld warned that the attack in Iraq would be "of a force and scope and scale that is beyond what has been seen before." A "shock and awe" strategy was planned based on a 1996 "rapid dominance" strategy. The US seized $1.74 billion in frozen Iraqi assets and declared it would be used for humanitarian purposes. Saddam Hussein appeared on state-run television accusing the United States of a "shameful crime" and urging his people to "draw your sword" against the invaders. Iraq set fire to at least 10 oil wells.
(SFC, 3/20/03, p.W1)(SFC, 3/21/03, p.W11)(WSJ, 3/21/03, p.A1)(AP, 3/20/04)
2003 Mar 20, UN Sec. Gen’l. Kofi Annan asked to be put in charge of a humanitarian program to aid Iraq.
(SFC, 3/21/03, p.W14)
2003 Mar 20-2003 Apr 9, At least 1,700 Iraqi civilians were killed and over 8,000 injured in the battle for Baghdad.
(SSFC, 5/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 21, In the 3rd day of Operation Iraqi Freedom the "shock and awe" air campaign began. 2 days of US air attacks killed 4 civilians in Baghdad and left some 242 injured.
(SSFC, 3/23/03, p.W10)(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.W12)
2003 Mar 21, A CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait and killed 12 British and 4 US soldiers. US Marines captured the strategic port in the southern Iraqi city of Umm Qasr.
(AP, 3/21/03)
2003 Mar 22, In the 4th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom intermittent explosions were heard throughout the day in Baghdad and by late afternoon at least 12 huge columns of smoke could be seen rising from all along the southern horizon of the city. US and British forces reached half way to Baghdad and British forces were left surrounding Basra.
(AP, 3/22/03)(SSFC, 3/23/03, p.W1)
2003 Mar 22, A 4-man ITN TV crew drove into a war zone near Az Zubayr, Iraq, and reporter Terry Lloyd (50) was killed. 2 men went missing and one escaped.
(WSJ, 5/2/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 23, In the 5th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US-led warplanes and helicopters attacked Republican Guard units defending Baghdad while ground troops advanced to within 50 miles of the Iraqi capital. Pres. Bush put a $75 billion price tag on a down payment for the war. The 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed after it made a wrong turn into Nasiriya; 11 soldiers were killed, seven were captured, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch. Lori Piestewa (23) was killed, with the gruesome distinction of being the first native American in the US army to be killed in combat. Lynch was rescued on April 1, 2003.
(AP, 3/24/03)(SFC, 4/14/03, p.A1)(www.nativeweb.org/weblog/piestewa/)(AP, 3/23/08)
2003 Mar 23, Iraqi state television showed two men said to have been the US crew of an Apache helicopter forced down during heavy fighting in central Iraq. Iraqi forces captured at least 5 soldiers of an Army maintenance company. US Central Command reported 12 missing. About 20 Americans were captured or killed at Nasiriyah.
(AP, 3/24/03)(SFC, 3/24/03, p.W1)(WSJ, 3/24/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 23, A US bomb struck a bus at a service area in al-Rutba, Iraq, enroute from Baghdad to Syria. 5 people were killed.
(SFC, 3/25/03, p.W7)
2003 Mar 23, A British Royal Air Force Tornado jet was shot down by a U.S. Patriot missile in the first reported incident of "friendly" fire in Iraq.
(AP, 3/23/03)
2003 Mar 23, Arab nations called for an emergency Security Council meeting to demand an end to the US-led war against Iraq and the withdrawal of all invading forces.
(AP, 3/24/03)
2003 Mar 24, Saddam Hussein appeared on Iraqi TV telling his nation that "victory is soon."
(SFC, 3/24/03, p.W1)
2003 Mar 24, In the 6th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US forces began strikes against the Medina Division of the Republican Guard guarding Baghdad. Hussein appeared on Iraqi TV as coalition forces held over 3,000 prisoners. 10 Marines were killed in combat around Nasiriya.
(WSJ, 3/25/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.W12)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C2)
2003 Mar 25, In the 7th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US aircraft dropped more than 2,000 precision-guided bombs on Iraq since the war's start. The "smart" bombs were produced for a relatively cheap $20,000 each. Sandstorms slowed coalition movement and air missions. US officials reported 150-200 Iraqi soldiers were killed near Najaf.
(AP, 3/25/03)(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.W12)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C2)
2003 Mar 25, Six satellite jamming devices, which Iraq was using to try to thwart American precision guided weapons, were destroyed in the last 2 nights.
(AP, 3/25/03)
2003 Mar 25, Some 150-500 Iraqi fighters were killed in fighting east of Najaf.
(AP, 3/25/03)(SFC, 3/26/03, p.W1)
2003 Mar 25, Saudi Arabia contacted the United States and Iraq with a peace proposal and was still awaiting a response.
(AP, 3/25/03)
2003 Mar 26, In the 8th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom Baghdad officials said two cruise missiles hit a residential area, killing 14 people. Iraq said 36 civilians were killed and 215 wounded in US airstrikes on Baghdad. Some 1,000 US paratroopers jumped into northern Iraq as sandstorms eased.
(AP, 3/26/03)(AP, 3/27/03)(SSFC, 3/30/03, p.W12)
2003 Mar 27, In the 9th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom a British armored unit destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks trying to break out of the besieged city of Basra. A sea-borne relief operation was postponed after discovering Iraqi mines in the shipping channel leading to the recently captured Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. Heavy bombing on Baghdad destroyed a main telephone exchange.
(AP, 3/27/03)(SFC, 3/28/03, p.W1)
2003 Mar 27, The Bush administration seized $1.62 billion in Iraqi assets already frozen in the US. The money would be used to help rebuild Iraq once Saddam Hussein is ousted.
(AP, 3/28/03)
2003 Mar 28, In the 10th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom the biggest bombs dropped on Baghdad so far, two 4,700-pound "bunker busters," struck a communications tower. In the south, Iraqi fighters defending the besieged city of Basra fired on hundreds of civilians trying to flee. The British supply ship Sir Galahad docked at the port of Umm Qasr. The Bush administration said fighting might not be over for months. At least 58 people were killed in a crowded market in northwest Baghdad by what local officials called a coalition bombing. A US pilot was heard saying "I'm going to be sick," then "we're in jail, dude," after firing on the British convoy in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull was killed by American pilots.
(AP, 3/28/03)(SFC, 3/29/03, p.W1)(AP, 2/6/07)(Econ, 2/10/07, p.58)
2003 Mar 29, In the 11th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom a suicide bomber driving a taxi killed four American soldiers at a checkpoint near Najaf, Iraq. US jets destroyed a building in Basra where paramilitary fighters were meeting and 200 were reported killed.
(AP, 3/29/03)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Mar 29, A low-flying Iraqi missile avoided the detection of US defense systems and landed just off the coast of Kuwait City, shattering windows at the seaside Souq Sharq shopping mall.
(AP, 3/29/03)(SFC, 3/29/03, p.W5)
2003 Mar 30, In the 12th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom an Iraqi general, captured by British forces in southern Iraq, was pressed to provide information. A British TV correspondent covering the war in Iraq died after apparently falling from a hotel roof.
(AP, 3/30/03)
2003 Mar 31, In the 13th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US-led troops fought pitched battles with Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard within 50 miles of the capital. B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers struck communication and command centers in Baghdad, and cruise missiles set Iraq's Information Ministry ablaze. Casualties from the war to date US total: 40 dead, 7 captured, 18 missing; British total: 25 dead. Of 8,000 precision bombs dropped since the war began, 3,000 fell in the last 3 days. Port operations at Umm Qasr looked to be delayed for weeks.
(AP, 3/31/03)(WSJ, 4/1/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 31, US troops between Karbala and Najaf shot and killed 10 Iraqi civilians including women and children, when the driver of a van failed to stop at a checkpoint. The Pentagon reported 7 killed.
(AP, 4/1/03)(SFC, 4/1/03, p.A1)
2003 Mar 31, NBC said it severed its relations with reporter Peter Arnett after he told Iraqi television that the US war plan against Saddam Hussein had failed. Arnett was quickly hired by London’s Daily Mirror.
(AP, 3/31/03)(WSJ, 4/1/03, p.B1)
2003 Mar, In 2007 British media reported that Iran had offered to cut off aid and support for the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas, and promised full transparency on its nuclear program in a secret letter to the US soon after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Iran also offered to use its influence to support stabilization in Iraq, and in return asked for a halt in hostile American behaviour, an abolition of all sanctions, and the pursuit and repatriation of members of the Mujahedeen Khalq (People's Mujahedeen MKO). Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, said: “As soon as it got to the Vice-President's (Dick Cheney) office, the old mantra of 'we don't talk to evil' ... reasserted itself."
(AFP, 1/18/07)
2003 Mar-Apr, US warplanes dropped firebombs similar to napalm on Iraqi troops to clear the way for troops headed to Baghdad.
(SFC, 8/6/03, p.A3)
2003 Apr 1, In the 14th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom American soldiers on the road to Baghdad fought bloody street-to-street battles with militants loyal to Saddam Hussein. The US opened the assault on Karbala. US cluster bombs reportedly killed 11 civilians in Hilla.
(AP, 4/1/03)(WSJ, 4/2/03, p.A1)(SFC, 4/3/03, p.W1)
2003 Apr 1, Pfc. Jessica Lynch (19), part of the 507th Maintenance Company captured on Mar 23, was rescued in a U.S. commando raid on an Iraqi hospital in Nasiriyah. 11 bodies were also recovered and 8 were identified as US personnel. It was later reported that Iraqi troops had already left the hospital. Later in the year Rick Bragg authored "I Am A Soldier, Too," an account of the Lynch story. About the same time Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief and Jeff Coplon authored "Because Each Life Is Precious." Rehaief, a former Iraqi lawyer, disclosed Lynch's location to US forces and provided detailed information prior to her rescue.
(AP, 4/2/03)(SFC, 5/29/03, p.A3)(WSJ, 11/14/03, p.W8-9)
2003 Apr 2, In the 15th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom American forces crossed the Tigris River in the drive toward the Iraqi capital and destroyed the Baghdad Division of Iraq's Republican Guard. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, supported the war plan along with Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld against criticism. US Marines took Numaniya, a city of 80,000. American forces fought their way to within sight of the Baghdad skyline; Iraqi soldiers discarded their military uniforms by the roadside to hide their identity.
(SFC, 4/2/03, p.A1)(SFC, 4/4/03, p.W1)(AP, 4/2/08)
2003 Apr 2, Saddam Hussein declared that "victory is at hand," and issued a new statement urging Iraqis to fight on and defend their towns according to a broadcast on Iraqi satellite television.
(AP, 4/2/03)
2003 Apr 2, In Iraq a US B-52 bomber dropped 2 new CBU-105 bombs, made by Textron Defense Systems, on the first 30 vehicles of an Iraqi armored convoy approaching a small American reconnaissance unit. The bombs each released 10 submunitions, each of which ejected 4 disks that used infra-red scanners to locate the vehicles. Soldiers in the remaining 70 vehicles surrendered immediately.
(Econ, 1/30/10, p.88)
2003 Apr 2, A Navy F/A-18C Hornet after his fighter jet went down during a bombing run over Karbala. In 2004 it was reported that the jet was shot down by an Army Patriot missile. 7 US Army soldiers were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter was shot down.
(AP, 4/3/03)(SFC, 4/3/03, p.A1)(SFC, 12/11/04, p.A12)
2003 Apr 2, Polish troops fighting with the US-led coalition in Iraq reported encountering many Iraqi combatants in civilian clothes.
(AP, 4/2/03)
2003 Apr 3, In the 16th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US Marines and infantry moved with surprising speed toward Baghdad. Central Command said there was "increasing evidence" that Saddam Hussein's regime had lost control of its fighting forces. US troop casualty totaled: 51 dead, 16 missing and 7 captured. A power blackout in Baghdad coincided with heavy artillery fire. US forces attacked Saddam Int'l. Airport.
(AP, 4/3/03)(SFC, 4/4/03, p.W1)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Apr 3, A car exploded at a US checkpoint in western Iraq, killing 3 coalition soldiers, a pregnant woman and the car's driver. Banditry and plundering were reported across the countryside. Atlantic magazine editor Michael Kelly (46), became the first American journalist to be killed while covering the war when his Army Humvee came under fire and rolled into a canal.
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A1)(AP, 4/4/03)(AP, 4/3/08)
2003 Apr 4, On the 17th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom thousands of Iraqis fled Baghdad as US forces seized the international airport to the west and armored convoys pressed in from the south. Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith was killed in the battle. In 2005 Pres. Bush awarded him the 1st US Medal of Honor of the Iraq campaign. A Marine unit found concentrations of cyanide and mustard-gas agents in the Euphrates River near Nasiriyah.
(AP, 4/4/03)(SFC, 4/5/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 4/7/03, p.A7)
2003 Apr 4, Peter Arnett, fired by NBC earlier this week for giving an interview to state-run Iraqi television, began reporting for pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya. Atlantic Monthly journalist Michael Kelley was killed in a humvee accident near Baghdad.
(AP, 4/5/03)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Apr 5, In the 18th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US 3rd Infantry troops entered Baghdad for the first time. Coalition troops took several objectives surrounding the capital in the north and northwest. US warplanes hit Iraqi positions near the commercial center of Mosul. Up to 3,000 Iraqi fighters were killed as American armored vehicles moved into Baghdad.
(AP, 4/5/03)(AP, 4/6/03)(SSFC, 4/6/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 5, Ali Hassan al-Majid (king of spades), Saddam Hussein’s 1st cousin and dubbed "Chemical Ali" by opponents for ordering a 1988 poison gas attack that killed thousands of Kurds, was reported killed by an airstrike on his house in Basra. Majid was captured in August.
(AP, 4/7/03)(SFC, 4/26/03, A14)(AP, 8/21/03)
2003 Apr 6, In the 19th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom 18 Kurdish fighters were killed and 45 wounded in northern Iraq when a US warplane mistakenly bombed a convoy. The 1st US transport plane landed at Baghdad Airport. US forces near Baghdad reportedly found a weapons cache of around 20 medium-range Rockets, BM-21 missiles, equipped with sarin and mustard gas and "ready to fire." David Bloom (39), NBC correspondent, died of a pulmonary embolism south of Baghdad. Ahmed Chalabi, Iraqi exile leader, was airlifted by the US along with 700 "freedom fighters" to southern Iraq to join coalition troops and form the nucleus of a new national army.
(AP, 4/6/03)(SFC, 4/7/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/7/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/8/03, p.A10)(AP, 4/6/08)
2003 Apr 6, The Int'l Committee of the Red Cross said the number of casualties in Baghdad was so high that hospitals have stopped counting the number of people treated. A convoy of Russian diplomats, including the ambassador, came under fire as the group was evacuating Baghdad. British forces made their deepest push into Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.
(AP, 4/6/03)(AP, 4/6/08)
2003 Apr 7, In the 20th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US forces in tanks and armored vehicles stormed into the center of Baghdad, seizing Saddam Hussein's Sijood and Republican palaces. As many as 5 marines were killed. Many Iraqis died in constant suicidal attacks. It was later speculated that the US and the Baath regime arranged a secret deal (safqua) to hand over Baghdad.
(AP, 4/7/03)(SFC, 4/7/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/8/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/20/03, p.D3)
2003 Apr 7, A US warplane dropped 4 precision-guided 2,000-pound JDAMs and left a smoking crater 60 feet deep in the upscale al-Mansour section of western Baghdad, where Saddam Hussein was believed to have been in a meeting with top officials.
(AP, 4/8/03)(SFC, 4/8/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 7, Capt. Harry Alexander Hornbuckle on the road to Baghdad led 80 US soldiers against 300 Iraqi and Syrian fighters. 200 enemy were killed with no US casualties.
(WSJ, 11/11/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 7, Ahmad Chalabi, head of the exiled Iraqi National Congress, returned to Iraq.
(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Apr 8, In the 21st day of Operation Iraqi Freedom George W. Bush and Tony Blair met in Northern Ireland and endorsed a "vital role" for the United Nations when fighting ends in Iraq.
(AP, 4/8/03)
2003 Apr 8, In Iraq 2 cameramen and one other journalist were killed and at least 3 others wounded when an American tank hit the Hotel Palestine where they were staying. An Al-Jazeera journalist was killed by US fire. In 2005 a Spanish judge issued an arrest warrant for the 3-member US tank crew, for the death of Jose Couso, who worked for the Spanish television network Telecinco. Khalid Ibrahim Sa'id, Iraqi physicist, was killed in Baghdad by a US tank crew as he rode in a car to check on his home. British forces began establishing the first post-war administration, putting a local sheik into power in the southern city of Basra. Looting erupted shortly after their troops took control of the city. A US warplane was shot down near Baghdad. US forces seized Rasheed military airport.
(AP, 4/8/03)(AP, 4/9/03)(SFC, 4/9/03, p.A1)(AP, 10/19/05)(SSFC, 11/9/03, p.A14)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)(SSFC, 3/6/11, p.F6)
2003 Apr 8, A US errant rocket struck in Iran near the Iraqi border and killed a 13-year-old boy.
(SFC, 4/9/03, p.A21)
2003 Apr 9, In the 22nd day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US commanders declared Saddam Hussein's rule over Baghdad over and jubilant crowds swarmed into the streets here, dancing, looting, cheering and bringing down images of the Iraqi leader. No more than 150 Iraqis gathered in Farbus Square to watch American Marines, not Iraqis, pull down a statue of Hussein.
(AP, 4/9/03)(SFC, 4/10/03, p.A1)(AP, 4/16/03)
2003 Apr 10, In the 23rd day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US and Kurdish troops seized oil-rich Kirkuk without a fight and held a second city within their grasp as opposition forces crumbled in northern Iraq. Looting in Baghdad prompted orders for US Marines to crack down on thieves. Over 40 suicide vests were found in a Baghdad school. Looting in Kirkuk stripped the North Oil Co. facilities and pumping of 850,000 barrels a day ceased.
(AP, 4/10/03)(SFC, 4/11/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.W8)(SSFC, 4/20/03, p.A3)
2003 Apr 10, In Najaf clerics Haider al-Kadar, a widely hated loyalist of Saddam, and Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a high-ranking Shiite cleric and son of one of the religion's most prominent spiritual leaders, were hacked to death at the shrine of Imam Ali by a crowd during a meeting of reconciliation. Majid al-Khoei had been give as much as $13 million by the CIA to cultivate supporters.
(AP, 4/10/03)(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A14)
2003 Apr 11, In the 24th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom the northern city of Mosul fell into US and Kurdish hands after an entire corps of the Iraqi army surrendered. The Pentagon said no major military forces remain in the country. Defense Sec. Rumsfeld called Iraqi looting and chaos a natural "untidiness" that accompanies the transition from tyranny to freedom. The US military issued a most-wanted list in the form of a deck of 55 cards.
(AP, 4/11/03)(SFC, 4/12/03, p.A10)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Apr 12, In the 25th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US officials said 1,200 police and judicial officers will go to Iraq to help restore order. In western Iraq, US forces stopped a busload of men who had $630,000 in cash and a letter offering rewards for killing American soldiers. Baghdad Museum lost some 50,000 artifacts after 48 hours of looting. Unesco later reported 150,000 items lost with a combined value in the billions. It was later reported that losses were minimal and that curators had put away most valuables into vaults before the war began.
(AP, 4/12/03)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.W1)(WSJ, 4/16/03, p.B1)(WSJ, 6/12/03, p.D8)
2003 Apr 12, Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi (7 of diamonds), Saddam Hussein's science adviser, surrendered to US military authorities. He insisted Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and that the invasion was unjustified.
(AP, 4/12/03)
2003 Apr 13, In the 26th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US troops pushed into Tikrit. Army engineers worked to help restore electricity in Baghdad. US-led forces announced the capture of Watban Ibrahim Hasan, a half-brother of and adviser to Saddam Hussein. After three weeks of captivity, seven US POW's, including Army Specialist Shoshana Johnson, were released by Iraqi troops near Tikrit, Iraq.
(AP, 4/13/03)
2003 Apr 14, In the 27th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom US troops poured into Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and fought pockets of hard-core defenders. Iraqis and US troops began jointly patrolling the streets of Baghdad to quell the lawlessness. US commandos in Baghdad captured Abul Abbas, the leader of the violent Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner Achille Lauro in 1985. Abbas died in 2004 while in US custody.
(AP, 4/14/03)(AP, 4/15/03)(AP, 4/14/04)
2003 Apr 15, US forces about this time cut off oil flow from Iraq to Syria. Oil flow had reached 130,000 barrels a day providing both countries over $10 million a month in profits.
(SFC, 4/11/03, p.A18)
2003 Apr 15, In the 28th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom selected Iraqi leaders met with retired US Lt. Gen. Jay Garner to shape a new government with 13 goals, the 1st being "Iraq must be democratic." Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States has no plans to go to war with Syria. Looters and arsonists ransacked and gutted Iraq's National Library and the principal Islamic library. Marines came under fire while seizing an airstrip on the outskirts of Tikrit. 7 Iraqis died when American troops opened fire to keep an angry crowd from storming a government complex in Mosul. US troops in Baghdad arrested Abul Abbas, head of the Palestinian terrorist group that attacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985.
(AP, 4/15/03)(SFC, 4/16/03, p.A1, A16)(AP, 4/15/04)(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.C3)
2003 Apr 15, US forces signed a cease-fire agreement with the People's Mujahedeen (Mujahedeen Khalq), a designated terrorist organization. The Iranian group had an estimated 10,000 members and was led by a woman.
(SFC, 4/29/03, A10)
2003 Apr 16, In the 29th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom shooting in Mosul killed three people and wounded at least 11 and some Iraqis blamed US troops. War casualties totaled 121 US soldiers with 16 from friendly fire; 31 British troops with at least 4 from friendly fire; at least 3,160 Iraqi soldiers dead along with over 1,250 Iraqi civilians.
(AP, 4/16/03)(WSJ, 4/16/03, p.A8)
2003 Apr 17, In the 30th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom American forces released more than 900 Iraqi prisoners, beginning the process of sorting through the thousands detained in the war. Coalition forces still held 6,850 prisoners. The Bush administration planned to send in a 1,000-man team to search for weapons of mass destruction. US Special Forces captured Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti (5 of clubs), a half brother of Saddam Hussein. He was 3rd the list of 55 former Iraqi officials wanted by the US. The US Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha (MET Alpha) found an Iraqi scientist who led them to sites that contained precursors for a banned toxic agent. A riot broke out at a Baghdad bank after thieves blew a hole in the vault and dropped children in to bring out fistfuls of cash. US troops calmed the situation by arresting the thieves and removed $4 million in US dollars for safekeeping.
(AP, 4/17/03)(AP, 4/18/03)(WSJ, 4/17/03, p.A3)(SFC, 4/18/03, p.A12)(SFC, 4/21/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 17, Bechtel was awarded a contract for up to $680 million to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure.
(SFC, 4/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Apr 18, Iraqi opposition leader Ahmad Chalabi said he expects an Iraqi interim authority to take over most government functions from the US military in "a matter of weeks rather than months." Protesters marched in Baghdad denouncing US presence. Kurds were reported expelling Arab families from towns and villages where they had lived decades ago. Samir Abd al-Aziz al-Najim (4 of clubs), a senior leader of the shattered Baath party, was handed over to US forces overnight by Iraqi Kurds near the northern city of Mosul. Iraqi police captured Hikmat Ibrahim al-Azzawi (8 of diamonds), a deputy prime minister and number 45 on an American list of the 55 most wanted Iraqis. US troops in Baghdad uncovered numerous boxes of UC currency estimated at $650 million. Videotape was shot by a Minnesota television crew traveling with US troops in Iraq when they first opened the bunkers at the Al-Qaqaa munitions base nine days after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The tape shows what appears to be high explosives still in barrels and bearing the markings of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
(AP, 4/18/03)(SFC, 4/19/03, p.A1,A10)(AP, 10/29/04)
2003 Apr 19, US forces captured Abd al-Khaliq Abd al-Ghafar (4 of hearts), Saddam's scientific research minister.
(AP, 4/21/03)
2003 Apr 20, It was reported that the US planned a long-term military relationship with the emerging government in Iraq to include access to military bases in the region. US Army forces took control of Baghdad from the Marines in a changing of the guard that thinned the military presence in the capital. Celebrating Easter, the Reverend Emmanuel Delly, a longtime Iraqi bishop, pleaded for safeguards against the persecution of Christians in the new Iraq.
(SSFC, 4/20/03, p.A3)(AP, 4/20/04)
2003 Apr 21, The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was established as the temporary governing body of Iraq. Retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, Pres. Bush’s appointed post-war administrator, arrived in Baghdad. His priority was to restore basic services such as water and electricity.
(AP, 4/21/03)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2003 Apr 21, Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaydi (queen of spades), was captured by the Iraqi opposition. He was known as Saddam's "Shiite Thug" for his role in Iraq's bloody suppression of the Shiite Muslim uprising of 1991.
(AP, 4/22/03)(SFC, 4/26/03, A14)
2003 Apr 22 American soldiers in Baghdad found $112 million sealed inside 7 animal kennels.
(SFC, 4/23/03, A12)
2003 Apr 22, Hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims marched to the holy shrine in Karbala, where Hussein, the grandson of Muhammad, was killed in the 7th century Battle of Karbala between a small group of his followers and the Umayyad Army.
(AP, 4/22/03)
2003 Apr 22, France proposed that the UN suspend economic sanctions against Iraq, but continue to operate the oil-for-food program.
(SFC, 4/23/03, A8)
2003 Apr 23, US forces captured 4 more former Iraqi government officials, including 3 on the top wanted list: Muzahim Sa'b Hassan al-Tikriti (queen of diamonds), Gen. Zuhayr Talib Abd al-Sattar al-Naqib (7 of hearts), and Muhammad Mahdi al-Salih (6 of hearts).
(SFC, 4/24/03, A14)(SFC, 4/26/03, A14)
2003 Apr 24, Tariq Aziz (8 of spades), Iraqi deputy prime minister, surrendered to US forces.
(AP, 4/25/03)(SFC, 4/25/03, A1)
2003 Apr 25, Farouk Hijazi, who once helped run Saddam Hussein's intelligence service and was linked to al-Qaida, was delivered by Syria to US forces.
(AP, 4/25/03)(SFC, 4/26/03, A1)
2003 Apr 26, In Iraq attackers fired into an ammunition dump guarded by Americans on Baghdad's southeastern outskirts, setting off thunderous explosions that killed at least six Iraqis and wounded four. As many as 40 were thought killed.
(AP, 4/26/03)(SSFC, 4/27/03, A18)
2003 Apr 27, In Iraq Lt. Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin al-Yasin (6 of clubs), chief Iraqi liaison with UN weapons inspectors, surrendered to US forces. The US military arrested the self-anointed mayor of Baghdad, Mohammed Mohsen al-Zubaidi, reflecting US determination to brook no interlopers in its effort to build a consensus for administering Iraq.
(AP, 4/28/03)(AP, 4/27/04)
2003 Apr 28, On Saddam Hussein's 66th birthday, some 300 prominent Iraqis met in Baghdad under US direction to convene a national conference to create an interim government.
(SFC, 4/29/03, A1)(AP, 4/28/04)
2003 Apr 28, US soldiers opened fire on Iraqis at a nighttime demonstration against the American presence here after people shot at them with automatic rifles. The director of the local hospital said 13 people were killed and 75 injured. Amer Mohammed Rashid (6 of spades), known to UN weapons inspectors as the "Missile Man" and ranked 47th on the US most-wanted list of 55 members of Saddam's inner circle, surrendered.
(AP, 4/29/03)
2003 Apr 30, Donald Rumsfeld visited Iraq and hailed its liberation. US soldiers fired on anti-American protesters in the city of Fallujah; the mayor said two people were killed and 14 wounded.
(AP, 4/30/03)(SFC, 5/1/03, A1)
2003 Apr, Ali Shahin Brisam, general director of irrigation for Nasiriya, ordered the demolition of one dam and opened regulators in others to return water to the dried marshlands of southern Iraq. After 8 months marsh recovery jumped from about 7% of their original size to about 16%.
(SSFC, 12/28/03, p.A6)
2003 Apr, Officials at the Iraqi Embassy in Prague handed over weapons to Czech authorities. Iraqi spies had used a diplomatic vehicle to smuggle in the weapons for an attack on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The weapons included an RPG-7 anti-tank missile, six machine guns and ammunition.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2003 May 1, Pres. Bush, standing on a Navy aircraft carrier in San Diego, announced that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
(SFC, 5/2/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.A22)
2003 May 1, Three top members of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime: Mizban Khadr Hadi (military commander), Abdel Tawab Mullah Huweish (director of the Office of Military Industrialization and a deputy prime minister in charge of arms procurement), and Taha Muhie-eldin Marouf (a Kurd who served as one of two ceremonial vice presidents), were captured.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 May 3, The US picked a new head of Iraq's Health Ministry on Saturday, a Baath Party member, whose appointment was so critical that US officials designated the announcement "Public Notice No. 1."
(AP, 5/4/03)
2003 May 3, In Baghdad, Iraq, schools re-opened for the 1st time since the start of war.
(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.A11)
2003 May 4, Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash (49), a top biological weapons scientist and among the top 55 most wanted members of Saddam Hussein's fallen regime, was taken into custody.
(AP, 5/5/03)
2003 May 6, Ghazi Hammud, Baath regional chairman in the Kut district, was put in custody. He is No. 32 on Central Command's list of the 55 most-wanted members of Saddam's regime.
(AP, 5/7/03)
2003 May 9, The US and its allies asked the UN Security Council to legitimize their occupation of Iraq and sought permission to use revenue from the world's second-largest oil reserves to rebuild the war-battered country.
(AP, 5/9/03)
2003 May 9, In northern Iraq 3 U.S. soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed into the Tigris River.
(AP, 5/9/03)
2003 May 10, The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite Muslim group, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, returned triumphantly to his U.S.-occupied homeland after two decades in Iranian exile.
(AP, 5/10/04)
2003 May 12, L. Paul Bremer, the new American civilian administrator, took over the task of piecing Iraq together. He replaced retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner. In 2006 Bremmer with Malcolm McConnell authored “My Year in Iraq."
(AP, 5/12/03)(WSJ, 1/13/06, p.P10)
2003 May 12, US officials said Rihab Rashid Taha, called "Dr. Germ" for her work with germ warfare agents, was reported to be in coalition custody. Ibrahim Ahmad Abd al Sattar Muhammad, No. 11 on the most-wanted list, was also reported in custody.
(USAT, 5/13/03, p.11A)
2003 May 13, L. Paul Bremer, the new US administrator in Iraq, reportedly authorized troops to shoot looters on sight. Rumsfeld said muscle would be used to stop looting.
(SFC, 5/14/03, p.A3)(WSJ, 5/15/03, p.A1)
2003 May 14, In Iraq villagers pulled body after body from a mass grave in Mahaweel, exhuming the remains of up to 3,000 people they suspect were killed during the 1991 Shiite revolt against Saddam Hussein's regime.
(AP, 5/14/03)
2003 May 14, A Belgian attorney filed suit against US Gen. Tommy Franks and Col. Brian P. McCoy for war crimes in the war in Iraq. The use of some 1,500 cluster bombs in Iraq was part of the suit.
(SFC, 5/15/03, p.A6)
2003 May 15, The Development Fund for Iraq was established to fund reconstruction projects with Iraqi oil revenue.
(WSJ, 10/28/03, p.A4)
2003 May 15, US Army forces stormed into a village near the northern city of Tikrit before dawn, seizing more than 260 prisoners, including one man on the most-wanted list of former Iraqi officials.
(AP, 5/15/03)
2003 May 17, In Iraq US forces arrested Kamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti, former secretary of the Republican Guard (listed as No. 10 and the queen of clubs). Univ. students and teachers returned to their campuses.
(SSFC, 5/18/03, p.A12)
2003 May 18, In Kirkuk, Iraq, a weekend of Arab-Kurdish violence left at least 11 people dead and a U.S. soldier wounded.
(AP, 5/20/03)
2003 May 19, In central Iraq 4 US Marines on a resupply mission were killed when their Ch-46 Sea-Knight helicopter crashed into a canal and a fifth drowned trying to save them.
(AP, 5/20/03)
2003 May 21, In Iraq US forces captured Aziz Saleh Numan, former Baath regional command chairman for west Baghdad. He was No. 8 on the most wanted list.
(SFC, 5/23/03, p.A20)
2003 May 21, NATO's 19 nations agreed unanimously to start planning to help Poland lead a multinational peacekeeping force in Iraq.
(AP, 5/21/03)
2003 May 22, The UN Security Council overwhelmingly approved an end to 13-year-old sanctions against Iraq and gave the United States and Britain extraordinary powers to run the country and its lucrative oil industry. Security Council Resolution 1483 identified the US and Britain as “occupying powers" in Iraq.
(AP, 5/22/03)(Econ, 4/19/08, p.102)
2003 May 23, US defense officials reported that American troops had confiscated gold bars valued at $34 million from a truck in northern Iraq.
(AP, 5/23/03)
2003 May 24, Coalition forces captured two more wanted Iraqis: Sayf al-Din al-Mashadani, No. 46 on the list and Sad Abd al-Majid al-Faysal, No. 55. The US-led coalition ordered Iraqis to give up their weapons by mid-June.
(AP, 5/27/03)(AP, 5/24/04)
2003 May 27, In Iraq a US weapons-inspection team arrived at Al Qaqaa weapons site and found that the IAEA seals were broken and the high explosives missing. Two Iraqis shot and killed two American soldiers in Fallujah, a hotbed of support for Saddam Hussein.
(WSJ, 10/27/04, p.A3)(AP, 5/27/08)
2003 May 29, US forces in Iraq numbered some 200,000. An extended stay was expected.
(SFC, 5/29/03, p.A12)
2003 May 31, American forces arrested 15 members of Saddam Hussein's banned Baath Party as they met at a police college in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/31/03)
2003 May, Alleged British mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners took place at an aid camp near Basra, Iraq. Photographs of prisoner abuse were made public in 2004. In 2005 court martial proceedings began. In 2006 3 British soldiers were cleared of manslaughter charges in the death of Ahmad Jabbar Kareem (15), who drowned in the Shatt al-Basra canal in Basra.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.51)(AP, 6/6/06)
2003 May, In Iraq a Jewish archive was found when US troops looking for weapons of mass destruction got a tip to check out the basement of a building of the Mukhabarat, Saddam's secret police. In a flooded basement they found books, photos and papers floated in the murky water. Accumulated over the years were photos, parchments and cases to hold Torah scrolls; a Jewish religious book published in 1568; 50 copies of a children's primer in Hebrew and Arabic; books in Arabic and English, books printed in Baghdad, Warsaw and Venice, the lost heritage of what was once one of the largest Jewish communities in the Middle East, dating to the 6th century B.C. The collection was saved and soon taken to the US for preservation.
(AP, 1/17/10)
2003 Jun 2, Thousands of sacked Iraqi soldiers marched on the U.S.-led administration and threatened to launch suicide attacks on American troops in Baghdad unless they were paid wages and compensation.
(AP, 6/2/03)
2003 Jun 6, An Iraqi prisoner (52) of war was found dead at a camp run by the 1st Marine Division near Nasiriyah. On Oct 8 Marine reservists stationed at Camp Pendleton were charged in connection with his death.
(AP, 10/18/03)
2003 Jun 10, An AP tally of civilian deaths in Iraq totaled at least 3,240, with 1,896 dead in Baghdad. Allied deaths were 205 from Mar 20-Apr 20.
(WSJ, 6/11/03, p.A1)(SFC, 6/11/03, p.A3)
2003 Jun 10, In Iraq US forces launched Operation Peninsula Strike aimed at rounding up Hussein loyalists around Thuluya, 45 miles north of Baghdad.
(SFC, 6/12/03, p.A7)
2003 Jun 11, The US military launched a massive operation to crush opposition north of Baghdad and captured nearly 400 suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists in a bid to end daily attacks against American soldiers.
(AP, 6/11/03)
2003 Jun 12, A US helicopter gunship was shot down in western Iraq, just hours after US fighter jets bombed "a terrorist training camp" in central Iraq. US troops stormed through Sunni Muslim towns, seeking Saddam Hussein loyalists in one of the biggest American military assaults since the war began.
(AP, 6/12/03)(AP, 6/12/08)
2003 Jun 13, US forces killed 27 Iraqi fighters in a ground and air pursuit after the Iraqis attacked an American tank patrol north of Baghdad, bringing the opposition death toll in four days of skirmishes to about 100.
(AP, 6/13/03)
2003 Jun 13, Five Iraqi civilians were shot by American troops who apparently mistook them for militants fleeing after attacking a U.S. tank patrol.
(AP, 6/14/03)
2003 Jun 15, With a deadline passed for Iraqis to hand in heavy weapons, U.S. forces fanned out across Iraq to seize arms and put down potential foes.
(AP, 6/15/04)
2003 Jun 16, Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, No. 4 on the wanted list, surrendered at a private home in Tikrit following informants' tips. Nearby US soldiers found two boxes, each counting $4 million in bundled hundred-dollar bills, along with hundreds of pieces of jewelry, a sniper rifle and two pounds of plastic explosive.
(AP, 6/19/03)(SFC, 6/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 18, A demonstration by former Iraqi army officers demanding back pay turned violent after an American soldier fired into the crowd. 2 Iraqis were killed. One American was killed in a drive-by shooting in south Baghdad.
(SFC, 6/19/03, p.A16)
2003 Jun 19, In Iraq The special "Task Force 20" commando team was joined in the convoy operation by an AC-130 gunship and other air support, attacking by ground and air along a known escape and smuggling route near the western city of Qaim.
(AP, 6/24/03)(SFC, 6/25/03, p.A18)
2003 Jun 22, Iraq returned to world oil markets with its first crude oil exports since the U.S.-led invasion. A fuel pipeline exploded and caught fire west of Baghdad, a possible act of sabotage that sent flames high into the sky.
(AP, 6/22/03)
2003 Jun 23, The US-led civil administrators announced the creation of a new Iraqi army.
(AP, 6/23/03)
2003 Jun 24, In Majar al-Kabir, Iraq, British troops in the Shiite south killed 4 Iraqis in a gunbattle. In response a 400-strong Iraqi mob descended on the police station and murdered 6 British troops. 8 suspects were later detained. One was released in 2009 and cases against 5 were dropped in 2010. Two suspects were held for trial. On Oct 10, 2010, a Baghdad court cleared two Iraqi men accused of taking part in the mob slaying.
(WSJ, 6/25/03, p.A1)(BS, 6/26/03, 12A)(AP, 8/15/10)(AP, 10/10/10)
2003 Jun 29, In Iraq US forces launched a massive operation to crush insurgents and capture senior figures from the ousted regime.
(AP, 6/29/03)
2003 Jun 30, American troops detained the U.S.-appointed mayor of Najaf, Iraq, accusing him of kidnapping and corruption.
(AP, 6/30/04)
2003 Jun 30, In Iraq 10 people died in a masque blast in Fallujah. US military later said the blast was due to an accident during a "bomb manufacturing class." US ground commanders said there was no evidence of a bomb factory and residents blamed a US war plane.
(WSJ, 7/2/03, p.A1)(SFC, 7/2/03, p.A14)(SFC, 7/3/03, p.A10)(SFC, 7/4/03, p.A17)
2003 Jun, Libya announced it was breaking off diplomatic ties with Iraq and closing its embassy shortly after the US-led invasion of the country earlier this year.
(AFP, 3/23/12)
2003 Jul 1, In Iraq US troops killed 4 people who failed to stop at checkpoints.
(WSJ, 7/2/03, p.A1)(SFC, 7/2/03, p.A14)
2003 Jul 3, The US government put a $25 million bounty on Saddam Hussein and $15 million on his sons. US troops killed 11 Iraqis who ambushed a convoy outside Baghdad.
(AP, 7/3/03)(AP, 7/4/03)
2003 Jul 4, US forces raided a Turkish special forces office in northern Iraq and detained 11 soldiers on reports that Turks were plotting to kill the governor of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
(AP, 7/5/03)
2003 Jul 4, A voice purported to be Saddam Hussein's, aired on the Arab television station Al-Jazeera, said he is in Iraq directing attacks on American forces and called on Iraqis to help the resistance against the US-led occupation.
(AP, 7/4/03)(SFC, 7/5/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 5, In Ramadi, Iraq, an explosion struck a ceremony for Iraqi policemen graduating from US training, killing at least seven recruits and wounding dozens. In Baghdad a British TV journalist was shot dead near the national museum.
(AP, 7/5/03)(WSJ, 7/7/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 8, In Iraq Mizban Khadr Hadi (No. 23), a high-ranking member of the Baath Party regional command and Mahmud Diab al-Ahmed (No. 29), the former interior minister, were taken into custody. The capture of Al-Ahmed was reported in error. He surrendered Aug 8.
(AP, 7/9/03)(AP, 8/10/03)
2003 Jul 9, It was reported that occupation authorities had eliminated all import taxes in Iraq and accelerated the closure of hundreds of local factories unable to compete with foreign goods. At the same time hundreds of millions of dollars was pumped in as cash payments to government workers. 2 U.S. soldiers were killed and a third wounded in separate attacks on their convoys near Mahmudiyah and Tikrit.
(SFC, 7/9/03, p.A1)(AP, 7/10/03)
2003 Jul 9, Pres. Bush met with South African President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria for discussions on AIDS, the war on terror, trade issues and to seek common ground in their attempts to deal with the political and economic crisis in neighboring Zimbabwe. Pleading for patience, President Bush, continuing his Africa tour, said the United States would "have to remain tough" in Iraq despite attacks on U.S. soldiers. Bush said he was "absolutely confident" in his actions despite the discovery that one claim he'd made about Saddam Hussein's weapons pursuits was based on false information.
(AP, 7/9/03)(SFC, 7/10/03, p.A3)(AP, 7/9/04)(AP, 7/9/08)
2003 Jul 9, US Defense Sec. Rumsfeld increased the estimate of military costs in Iraq to $3.9 billion a month.
(SFC, 7/9/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 11, Spain, a leading U.S. ally during the war to oust Saddam Hussein, agreed to send 1,300 soldiers to Iraq.
(AP, 7/12/03)
2003 Jul 13, In Iraq a 25-member interim Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) of prominent Iraqis from diverse political and religious backgrounds was named at an inaugural meeting, the first national body since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The council abolished a number of old holidays and established April 9, the fall of Baghdad and Saddam's regime, as a new national holiday.
(AP, 7/13/03)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2003 Jul 14, Iraq's new governing council, in its first full day on the job, voted to send a delegation to the U.N. Security Council and assert its right to represent Baghdad on the world stage.
(AP, 7/14/04)
2003 Jul 17, A new Iraq Trade Bank was established to provide letters of credit for big shipments to Iraq.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Bank_of_Iraq)(WSJ, 10/28/03, p.A4)
2003 Jul 17, The US combat death toll in Iraq hit a milestone as the Pentagon acknowledged its casualties from hostile fire reached 147, the same number of troops who died at enemy hands in the first Gulf War. Gen. John Abizaid, head of central command, said loyalists are fighting an increasingly organized "guerrilla-type campaign."
(AP, 7/17/03)
2003 Jul 20, American generals said a new Iraqi civil defense force would be created over the next 45 days with some 7,000 militia members.
(SFC, 7/21/03, p.A1)
2003 Jul 20, Two soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were killed and another wounded when their convoy came under rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire in northern Iraq.
(AP, 7/20/03)
2003 Jul 22, Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai were killed in a fiery battle at a Mosul mansion. Sheik Nawaf al-Zaydan Muhhamad informed US troops of their presence in his home and became $30 million richer.
(AP, 7/23/03)(AP, 7/24/03)
2003 Jul 23, A new audiotape, purported to be of toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and dated to Jul 20, was broadcast by an Arab satellite station. It called on former soldiers to rise up against the American occupation.
(AP, 7/23/03)
2003 Jul 24, In northern Iraq 3 US soldiers died in the 2nd fatal attack on troops from the 101st Airborne Division since they tracked down and killed Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusai.
(Reuters, 7/24/03)
2003 Jul 26, In Iraq a grenade attack killed 3 US soldiers and wounded four while they guarded a children's hospital in Baqouba.
(AP, 7/26/03)
2003 Jul 29, American soldiers in Tikrit overpowered and arrested a bodyguard who rarely left Saddam Hussein's side.
(AP, 7/29/03)
2003 Jul 30, Iraq's U.S.-picked interim government named its first president: Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite Muslim from the Daawa party banned by Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 7/30/04)(WSJ, 4/28/05, p.A1)
2003 Jul, Joseph Wilson, former American ambassador, alleged that Pres. Bush had falsely accused Iraq of trying to buy uranium from Niger. Two White House officials soon called at least 6 Washington journalists and told them that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was a undercover CIA agent who had worked in Niger.
(Econ, 8/21/04, p.28)
2003 Aug 3, As of this day 249 U.S. soldiers have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2003 Aug 7, In Iraq a car bomb shattered a street outside the walled Jordanian Embassy, killed 19 people — including two children.
(SFC, 8/9/03, p.A1)(AP, 8/7/08)
2003 Aug 8, Mahmud Dhiyab Al-Ahmad, Saddam Hussein's former interior minister, (No. 29 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis) surrendered to coalition forces.
(AP, 8/10/03)
2003 Aug 11, British troops restored badly needed electricity to parts of Basra and supervised distribution of gasoline after two days of protests over fuel and power shortages.
(AP, 8/11/03)
2003 Aug 13, Iraq began pumping crude oil from its northern oil fields for the first time since the start of the war.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2003 Aug 13, In Iraq British Private Jason Smith (32) died of heat stroke as the local temperature passed the limits of available thermometers. An inquest in 2007 ruled that troops were not adequately advised on how to cope with high temperatures. In 2009 the British Ministry of Defense upheld an earlier judgment that the military had breached Smith’s right to life.
(Econ, 5/23/09, p.58)(www.operations.mod.uk/telic/smith.htm)
2003 Aug 14, The UN Security Council approved a resolution welcoming the Iraqi Governing Council and created a mission to oversee UN efforts to help rebuild the country and establish a democratic government.
(AP, 8/14/03)
2003 Aug 15, Saboteurs blew up a major pipeline and stopped all oil flow from Iraq to Turkey, just three days after the pipeline between the two countries was reopened. A following fire raged into the next day. The 600-mile pipeline runs from the northern city of Kirkuk to the Turkish city of Ceyhan.
(AP, 8/16/03)
2003 Aug 17, Saboteurs blew a hole in a giant Baghdad water main, forcing engineers to cut off water to the capital. Two ferocious blazes raged out of control along the pipeline that exports Iraq's oil to the north.
(AP, 8/17/03)
2003 Aug 17, Mazen Dana (43), a Palestinian cameraman for Reuters, was shot dead by US troops in Iraq while he filmed outside Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad. Soldiers mistook his camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The official judgment of the US Military, given five weeks later, was that The Rules of Engagement required no warning and the tank crew were justified in shooting Mazen Dana, seeing his TV camera as a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, or RPG. No disciplinary action was taken against any US serviceman. Mazen was the 18th foreign journalist to be killed in Iraq since the occupation by the U.S. Military on March 20, 2003 and the second Reuters cameraman to be killed.
(Reuters, 8/18/03)(www.truthout.org/docs_2005/030605A.shtml)(http://tinyurl.com/lxu5b)
2003 Aug 19, In Baghdad a car bomb exploded in front of the hotel housing the UN headquarters, collapsing the front of the building. UN Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello (55) of Brazil and 22 other people were killed. UNICEF said that its program co-coordinator for Iraq, Canadian Christopher Klein-Beekman, was among the dead. In 2008 Samantha Power authored “Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World." In 2010 a court sentenced two Iraqis to life in jail for taking part in the bombing and the kidnap of two French journalists a year later.
(SFC, 8/20/03, p.A12)(AP, 8/21/03)(SSFC, 2/10/08, p.M1)(AFP, 9/22/10)
2003 Aug 19, Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former Iraqi vice president known as "Saddam's knuckles" for his ruthlessness and No. 20 on the US list of most-wanted Iraqis, was turned over to US forces in Mosul.
(AP, 8/19/03)(SFC, 8/20/03, p.A13)
2003 Aug 21, The US military reported that Ali Hassan al-Majid, No. 5 on the list of most-wanted Iraqis, had been captured. [see Apr 5]
(AP, 8/21/03)
2003 Aug 23, In Iraq a guerrilla attack killed 3 British soldiers and seriously wounded one in the southern port city of Basra.
(AP, 8/23/03)(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.A6)
2003 Aug 26, In northern Iraq the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Iraqi Turkmen Front signed an agreement in Kirkuk aimed at preventing ethnic violence after clashes left 11 people dead last week.
(AP, 8/28/03)
2003 Aug 26, The toll of U.S. troops killed in postwar Iraq surpassed the number killed in major combat, reaching 139.
(AP, 8/26/03)
2003 Aug 27, In Iraq 2 more US soldiers were killed in combat, and the international relief agency Oxfam said it pulled its foreign staff out of Iraq because of the increasing danger.
(AP, 8/27/03)
2003 Aug 29, In Najaf, Iraq, a massive car bomb exploded at the Imam Ali mosque during prayers, killing Mohammed Bakir al-Hakim, one of Iraq's most important Shiite clerics, and at least 85 other people. Two Iraqis and two Saudis were caught soon after. Attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at two U.S. convoys in separate ambushes, killing one American soldier and wounding six.
(SFC, 9/1/03, p.A1)(AP, 8/29/08)
2003 Sep 1, The U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council named a new Cabinet.
(AP, 9/1/04)
2003 Sep 1, Arab TV broadcast an audiotape purportedly from Saddam Hussein denying any involvement in a bombing in Najaf, Iraq, that killed a beloved Shiite cleric.
(AP, 9/1/04)
2003 Sep 10, In Irbil, Iraq, a suicide car bomber struck the US intelligence headquarters, killing three Iraqis, including a 12-year-old boy.
(AP, 9/10/03)(WSJ, 9/11/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 12, US soldiers mistakenly opened fire on uniformed Iraqi policemen chasing highway bandits at night, killing eight officers and a Jordanian security guard in Fallujah.
(AP, 9/12/04)
2003 Sep 13, Angry mourners swarmed Fallujah, Iraq, a day after eight Iraqi police were killed in a friendly fire incident involving U.S. troops; the U.S. military apologized for the deaths.
(AP, 9/13/04)
2003 Sep 14, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the US military commander in Iraq, authorized the use of loud rock music, "to create fear, disorient ... and prolong capture shock." The tactic became common in the US war on terror, with forces systematically using loud music on hundreds of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
(AP, 12/10/08)
2003 Sep 14, In Iraq a roadside bomb attack on a convoy in the troubled city of Fallujah killed one US soldier and injured three others.
(AP, 9/14/03)
2003 Sep 15, In Iraq guerrillas killed a US soldier in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in central Baghdad.
(AP, 9/15/03)
2003 Sep 16, Baha Mousa (26), an Iraqi hotel receptionist, died after being beaten at a British military camp in Basra. An autopsy said he died of asphyxia, caused by a stress position that soldiers forced him to maintain. He was arrested, along with nine other Iraqis, at the Haitham Hotel in Basra 2 days earlier by members of the 1st Battalion The Queen's Lancashire Regiment (QLR). In 2006 Corp. Donald Payne pleaded guilty to a charge of inhumane treatment of Iraqi civilians, but denied manslaughter. Payne, who became Britain's first convicted war criminal, was dismissed by the army and jailed for a year over the killing. In 2008 the British Ministry of Defense agreed to pay just under $6 million to the family of Mousa and 9 others who suffered injuries while in the custody of British forces. In 2009 Britain opened a public inquiry into the case and Britain's military apologized for its treatment of Mousa. On Sep 8, 2011, an inquiry concluded that British soldiers beat Mousa to death in an act of unjustified violence that left a "very great stain" on Britain's armed forces.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8143982.stm)(Econ, 9/23/06, p.66)(AP, 7/10/08)(AP, 7/13/09)(AP, 9/21/09)(Reuters, 9/8/11)
2003 Sep 18, Iraqi guerrillas ambushed an American patrol in Al Auja, Saddam Hussein's native village, killing 3 US soldiers. The number of US killed since the start of war in March reached 297.
(SFC, 9/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 19, Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former Iraqi vice president known as "Saddam's knuckles" for his ruthlessness and No. 20 on the US list of most-wanted Iraqis, was turned over to US forces in Mosul. Ramadan was tried and convicted in November 2006 of murder, forced deportation and torture, and sentenced to life in prison. The court agreed to turn it to a death sentence in March 2007. Ramadan was hanged before dawn on Tuesday, March 20, 2007, for his role in the killing of 148 Shia Iraqis in Dujail.
(AP, 8/19/03)(SFC, 8/20/03, p.A13)(www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/15720)
2003 Sep 20, In central Iraq 3 American soldiers were killed and 13 injured in a mortar attack and a bombing.
(AP, 9/21/03)
2003 Sep 20, In Iraq gunmen attacked and wounded Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women on Iraq's Governing Council and a leading candidate to become the country's representative at the United Nations.
(AP, 9/20/03)
2003 Sep 21, In Iraq corporate and personal income taxes were capped at 15%. All foreign government entities and their employees were declared exempt.
(WSJ, 10/28/03, p.A4)
2003 Sep 22, A suicide bomber, his body wrapped in explosives and his car filled with 50 pounds of TNT, struck a police checkpoint outside UN headquarters in Baghdad, killing an Iraqi policeman who stopped him and wounding 19 people.
(AP, 9/22/03)
2003 Sep 23, US forces in Iraq killed 3 civilians in an aerial attack on a farming village.
(SFC, 9/24/03, p.A3)
2003 Sep 25, A mortar blast tore through a market in Baqouba, Iraq, killing nine civilians and injuring more than a dozen others. Townspeople suspected American soldiers stationed nearby may have been the target. Aquila al-Hashimi (50), the first member of Iraq's American-picked Governing Council to be targeted for assassination, died, five days after she was shot in an ambush.
(AP, 9/26/03)(AP, 9/25/03)(WSJ, 9/26/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep 26, US troops fired on two cars at a checkpoint in Fallujah, killing four Iraqis and injuring five others. Over 4 days Sheikh Mishkhen al Jumaili lost 9 relatives including his son.
(AP, 9/27/03)(SFC, 10/6/03, p.A1)
2003 Sep, Sadr City chose an alternative assembly to the US-approved group.
(WSJ, 10/20/03, p.A9)
2003 Sep-2004 Apr, In 2005 it was reported that members of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division beat and abused prisoners at Camp Mercury, an operating base near Fallujah. “We kept it to broken arms and legs."
(SFC, 9/24/05, p.A3)
2003 Oct 3, In Iraq US Army Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits began photographing Iraqi prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. He was under instruction from MP Cpl. Charles A. Graner to not say anything. In 2007 Lt. Col. Steven Lee Jordan (50), who ran the interrogation center at Abu Ghraib, was court-martialed on 8 charges including cruelty and maltreatment of prisoners. In 2008 Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris authored “Standard Operating Procedure" and produced a documentary film covering the Abu Ghraib abuses. [See Jan 13, 2004]
(SFC, 5/14/04, p.A12)(SFC, 1/27/07, p.A9)(Econ, 5/17/08, p.102)
2003 Oct 6, Roadside bombings in central Iraq killed three U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter and wounded six other service members.
(AP, 10/7/03)
2003 Oct 9, A suicide car bomber crashed a white Oldsmobile into a police station in Sadr City, Iraq's largest Shiite Muslim enclave, killing himself, 8 others and wounding as many as 45. Kirk von Ackerman (37), US army contractor, disappeared between Tikrit and Kirkuk. It was later reported that Von Ackerman was about to report on kickbacks to a US Army officer in Iraq. On Dec 14 Ackerman’s associate Ryan Manelick was shot to death near Camp Anaconda. Jose Antonio Bernal Gomez, Spanish military attache, was shot to death in Baghdad.
(AP, 10/9/03)(SFC, 10/10/03, p.A1)(AP, 10/9/04)(AP, 10/9/08)(SFC, 11/11/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 2/13/05, p.A14)
2003 Oct 10, In Sadr City, Iraq, 2 Americans and 2 Iraqis were killed in a gunfight.
(SFC, 10/11/03, p.A12)
2003 Oct 12, In Baghdad a suicide attacker, stopped from reaching a hotel full of Americans, detonated his car bomb on a commercial avenue, killing six bystanders and wounding dozens.
(AP, 10/12/03)
2003 Oct 14, In Baghdad a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives near the Turkish Embassy, killing the driver and wounding more than a dozen others.
(AP, 10/14/03)
2003 Oct 15, In Iraq the new dinar was launched graced with the likeness of an ancient ruler and a 10th century mathematician. The Iraqi central bank had no tools to regulate currency value. Exchange of the old currency was set to end Jan 15.
(SFC, 10/16/03, p.A12)(WSJ, 11/7/03, p.A10)
2003 Oct 15, Japan pledged $1.5 billion in reconstruction aid next year for Iraq and more down the line despite economic woes at home.
(AP, 10/15/03)
2003 Oct 16, Iraqi police backed by American tanks forced out the renegade Sadr City council.
(WSJ, 10/20/03, p.A9)
2003 Oct 16, The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution aimed at attracting aid to stabilize Iraq and putting it on the road to independence.
(AP, 10/16/03)
2003 Oct 17, In Iraq the deaths of 4 soldiers brought to 101 the number killed since Pres. Bush declared the end of major combat on May 1.
(SFC, 10/18/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 18, In Iraq 2 U.S. soldiers were killed and one was wounded in an ambush north of Baghdad.
(AP, 10/19/03)
2003 Oct 20, Bush administration officials said some $3 billion of Saddam Hussein's former government was being held in Syria and Lebanon.
(AP, 10/21/03)
2003 Oct 22, It was reported that pirated fuel from Iraq totaled some 2,000 tons for a daily loss of $250,000.
(SFC, 10/22/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 23, A bomb exploded near a pipeline in northern Iraq, killing two Iraqi Civil Defense Corps members and wounding 10 others.
(AP, 10/23/03)
2003 Oct 24, Iraq's postwar reconstruction received a boost as nations from Japan to Saudi Arabia pledged $13 billion in new aid on top of more than $20 billion from the US. But the figure fell well short of the estimated $56 billion needed to rebuild the country.
(AP, 10/24/03)
2003 Oct 24, Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four were wounded in a mortar attack on their base north of Baghdad.
(AP, 10/24/03)
2003 Oct 26, Iraqi insurgents attacked the heavily guarded al Rashid hotel with a missile barrage that killed an American colonel, wounded 18 other people. The 462-room hotel, housing civilian officials of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority and US military personnel, is seen as symbol of the occupation.
(AP, 10/26/03)(SSFC, 10/26/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 27, In Iraq suicide car bombers on the 1st day of Ramadan struck the international Red Cross headquarters and three police stations across Baghdad, killing 43 people and wounding at least 224.
(AP, 10/27/03)(SFC, 10/28/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2003 Oct 28, In Iraq a car bomb exploded near a police station on a major street in the tense city of Fallujah, killing at least four people.
(AP, 10/28/03)
2003 Oct 28, In Iraq 2 American soldiers were killed when their Abrams battle tank was damaged by resistance fighters 45 miles north of Baghdad. Total US deaths reach 115 and surpassed the 114 killed during the initial war Mar 20-May 1.
(AP, 10/29/03)
2003 Oct 28, In southern Iraq 7 Ukrainian peacekeepers were wounded when militants attacked their patrol. 1,650 Ukrainian troops served in the Polish-led stabilization force.
(AP, 10/29/03)
2003 Oct 29, International organizations continued their exodus from Iraq in the wake of car bombings in the capital and attacks against coalition troops.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2003 Oct 30, The UN ordered all its non-Iraqi staff to leave Baghdad.
(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2003 Oct, Sean O'Sullivan (39), American documentary filmmaker, arrived in Iraq and formed JumpStart Int'l., a private non-profit effort to clean up bombed and burned sites in Baghdad using Iraqi labor.
(SSFC, 4/4/04, p.A3)
2003 Nov 1, In Iraq a roadside bomb killed at least two US soldiers in Mosul.
(AP, 11/1/03)
2003 Nov 1, It was reported that over a dozen members of Saddam Hussein's government have been shot dead in the streets of Basra over the last month.
(SFC, 11/1/03, p.A8)
2003 Nov 2, In central Iraq insurgents shot down a US Chinook helicopter as it carried troops headed for R&R, killing 16 soldiers and wounding 21. Attacks on US troops reached 33 a day.
(SSFC, 11/2/03, p.A1)(AP, 11/2/08)
2003 Nov 6, Two American soldiers were killed near Baghdad and along the Syrian border. Polish forces suffered their first combat death when a Polish major was fatally wounded in an ambush south of the capital.
(AP, 11/6/03)
2003 Nov 7, In Tikrit, Iraq, an Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed, apparently shot down by insurgents, killing all six U.S. soldiers aboard. 2 other soldiers were killed near Mosul.
(AP, 11/7/03)
2003 Nov 8, In Iraq insurgents killed two US paratroopers and wounded another west of Baghdad. In Tikrit US F-16s battered suspected targets. 5 Iraqis were killed and 16 taken custody in "Operation Ivy Cyclone."
(AP, 11/8/03)
2003 Nov 9, In Iraq a US military police soldier was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack south of Baghdad. In Sadr City Muhamad al-Kaabi, a US-appointed district chairman, was shot dead following an argument with a US soldier guarding his council's headquarters.
(AP, 11/10/03)(WSJ, 11/12/03, p.A16)
2003 Nov 11, In Iraq US troops opened fire on a truck carrying live chickens near the tense town of Fallujah, killing 5 civilians aboard the vehicle, including a father and his two sons.
(AP, 11/12/03)
2003 Nov 11, In Iraq an explosion on a road frequently used by British troops killed 6 civilians in Basra. The military detained about 20 people suspected of links to al-Qaida.
(AP, 11/11/03)
2003 Nov 12, In Iraq a suicide truck bomber attacked the headquarters of Italy's paramilitary police in Nasiriyah, killing 31 people, including 18 Italians, and possibly trapping others.
(AP, 11/12/03)(AP, 11/13/03)
2003 Nov 13, Pres. Bush said the US wants Iraqis to take more responsibility for governing their troubled country and said coalition forces are determined to prevail over terrorists.
(AP, 11/13/03)
2003 Nov 14, The Bush administration announced that it intends to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis by June 30, 2004.
(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.A22)
2003 Nov 14, Near Tikrit, Iraq, an Apache helicopter attacked and killed 7 people believed to have been preparing a rocket attack on a US base.
(AP, 11/14/03)
2003 Nov 15, The Iraqi Governing Council and the US-led occupation administration in Iraq signed an agreement to speed up the transfer of power to the IGC by July, 2004, after a transitional government is selected and assumes sovereignty.
(AP, 11/15/03)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2003 Nov 15, Two US Army Black Hawk helicopters collided under fire and crashed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing at least 17 soldiers.
(AP, 11/16/03)(SSFC, 11/16/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 15, In Iraq insurgents and looters overran US bases in Samara when soldiers left in an effort to let Iraqis handle security.
(WSJ, 11/19/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 19, In Ramadi, Iraq, a car bomb exploded late outside the home of a pro-American tribal leader, killing one child.
(AP, 11/19/03)
2003 Nov 20, In Kirkuk, Iraq, a bomb apparently hidden in a pickup truck exploded at the offices of a US-allied Kurdish political party, killing five people and wounding 40.
(AP, 11/20/03)
2003 Nov 21, More than a dozen rockets fired from donkey carts slammed into Iraq's Oil Ministry and two downtown Baghdad hotels used by foreign journalists and civilian defense contractors.
(AP, 11/21/04)
2003 Nov 22, In Iraq suicide attackers detonated bomb-packed vehicles at 2 police stations in Kahn Bani Saad and Baquoba. 11 police officers and 5 civilians were killed.
(AP, 11/22/03)(SSFC, 11/23/03, p.A18)
2003 Nov 22, A DHL Airbus cargo jet transporting mail in Iraq was struck and damaged by a MANPAD. Though hit in the left fuel tank, the plane was able to return to the Baghdad airport and land safely.
(AP, 6/11/13)
2003 Nov 23, In Iraq the Governing Council named Rend Rahim Francke, an Iraqi-American woman and veteran lobbyist who has criticized Washington as being shortsighted in Iraq, as its ambassador to the United States.
(AP, 11/23/03)
2003 Nov 23, In Iraq gunmen killed two American soldiers driving through Mosul, and then a crowd swarmed the scene, looting the soldiers' vehicle and pummeling their bodies. Another soldier was killed in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/23/03)
2003 Nov 24, The US-appointed government raided the offices of Al-Arabiya television, banned its broadcasts from Iraq for broadcasting an audiotape a week ago of a voice it said belonged to Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 11/24/03)
2003 Nov 24, Gunmen in Mosul ambushed US soldiers on patrol with a roadside bomb then opened fire on them, wounding one.
(AP, 11/24/03)
2003 Nov 26, Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, an air defense general captured Oct. 5 in a raid near the Syrian border, died. He was being questioned while in American custody in Qaim near the Syrian border when he lost consciousness after complaining he didn't feel well. In 2004 4 US soldiers were charged with murder.
(AP, 11/27/03)(SFC, 10/5/04, p.A3)
2003 Nov 27, Pres. Bush flew to Iraq under extraordinary secrecy and security to spend Thanksgiving with US troops.
(AP, 11/28/03)
2003 Nov 29, In Iraq US senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jack Reed met with local officials in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk. Attackers in Mahmudiyah killed 7 members of a Spanish intelligence team as it returned from a mission. In northern Iraq gunmen ambushed and murdered two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver.
(AP, 11/29/03)(SSFC, 11/30/03, p.A1)(AP, 11/30/03)
2003 Nov 30, In western Iraq guerrillas killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded a third in an ambush. Gunmen shot and killed 2 South Korean electricians and wounded 2 others as they drove apparently to a power transmission plant they were working at in Tikrit.
(AP, 11/30/03)
2003 Nov 30, The US military said 54 Iraqis were killed in the northern city of Samarra as US forces used tanks and cannons to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes while delivering new Iraqi currency to banks. Residents said the next that the casualty figure was much lower and that the dead were mostly civilians.
(AP, 12/1/03)(SFC, 12/2/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 30, A bus carrying Kuwaitis returning from the funeral of a Shiite Muslim religious leader overturned in southern Iraq, killing at least 15 people.
(AP, 11/30/03)
2003 Nov, At least 104 soldiers were killed in Iraq this month including 79 Americans.
(SFC, 12/2/03, p.A18)
2003 Nov, Cpl. Dustin Berg, a national Guardsman from Indiana, killed an Iraqi police officer and then shot himself in the stomach to give the impression of a gunfight to block investigation. In 2005 Berg pleaded guilty to negligent homicide. His sentence included 18 months in prison and a bad conduct discharge.
(SFC, 7/26/05, p.A6)
2003 Dec 2, US troops have captured or killed a "big fish" in a large military operation in Kirkuk. American soldiers arrested dozens of people there in an overnight raid.
(AP, 12/2/03)
2003 Dec 3, The head of the Iraqi Governing Council renewed his demand that a proposed transitional legislature be elected by Iraqi voters, a move opposed by U.S. occupation officials. Leaders of the top political parties agreed with the US-led administration to create a militia picked by the parties and governing council.
(AP, 12/3/03)(SFC, 12/4/03, p.A16)
2003 Dec 5, Syria continued to reject US pressure to hand over an estimated $250 million that Saddam Hussein's regime had deposited there.
(WSJ, 12/5/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 7, Insurgents attacked a U.S. military patrol in northern Iraq, killing one soldier and wounding two.
(AP, 12/7/03)
2003 Dec 9, In Talafar, Iraq, a suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives at the gates of a military barracks, injuring 41 American troops and six Iraqi civilians. Hours earlier, 3 soldiers died in a road accident in central Iraq, and 3 civilians died when a Baghdad mosque was rocketed.
(AP, 12/9/03)
2003 Dec 10, U.S. allies that opposed the war in Iraq were angered and surprised by Deputy Sec. of Defense Paul Wolfowitz's decision to bar their companies from bidding for $18.6 billion worth of reconstruction contracts, with France questioning its legality and Canada threatening to halt aid. The 63-nation eligibility list excluded Germany, France, Russia and China.
(AP, 12/10/03)(WSJ, 12/10/03, p.A1)(Econ, 12/13/03, p.30)
2003 Dec 10, Iraq's U.S.-installed interim government established a special tribunal to deal with crime against humanity committed by Saddam Hussein's regime.
(AP, 12/10/03)
2003 Dec 10, Iraq's Health Ministry has ordered a halt to a count of civilians killed during the war and told its statistics department not to release figures compiled so far.
(AP, 12/10/03)
2003 Dec 10, In Mosul, Iraq, 2 US soldiers were killed. In a Baghdad suburb armed men robbed a government bank of almost $1.4 billion dinars ($800,000).
(SFC, 12/11/03, p.A17)
2003 Dec 10, Journalist Michael Weisskopf (57) was seriously wounded when a grenade thrown into an Army Humvee exploded as he attempted to throw it back out.
(SFC, 12/12/03, p.A22)
2003 Dec 11, US officials delayed a conference for companies seeking $18.6 billion in reconstruction contracts in Iraq by eight days until Dec. 19.
(AP, 12/11/03)
2003 Dec 11, Pentagon officials said efforts to create a new Iraqi army to help take over the country's security have suffered a setback with the resignations of a third of the soldiers trained.
(AP, 12/11/03)
2003 Dec 11, In Iraq a suicide bomber killed 1 US soldier and wounded 14 others at a military base in Ramadi.
(SFC, 12/12/03, p.A22)
2003 Dec 12, Insurgents detonated a bomb alongside a U.S. military convoy west of Baghdad on Friday, killing one soldier and wounding two others.
(AP, 12/12/03)
2003 Dec 12, Pres. Bush said that Halliburton, VP Dick Cheney's former company, should repay the government if it overcharged for gasoline delivered in Iraq under a prewar contract.
(AP, 12/12/03)(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 13, American forces captured a bearded and haggard-looking Saddam Hussein in an underground hide-out on a farm in Adwar near his hometown of Tikrit. 2 other Iraqis were arrested. Small arms and $750,000 in bills were also seized. The 55 most-wanted Iraqis and their status, according to U.S. Central Command: 39 were in custody, 13 remained at large, 2 were confirmed killed and one was reported killed.
(AP, 12/14/03)(SFC, 12/15/03, p.A13)
2003 Dec 14, In Baghdad a suspected suicide attacker detonated a car bomb killing at least 17 people and wounding 35 others. A US soldier was killed trying to diffuse a roadside bomb. Ryan Manelick, A US contract worker for Ultra Services, was shot to death near Camp Anaconda. He was an associate of Kirk von Ackerman, who disappeared Oct 9. Manelick had told Army investigators kickbacks were being made to a US Army officer.
(SFC, 12/15/03, p.A15)(SSFC, 2/13/05, p.A14)
2003 Dec 15, In Iraq a suicide bomber driving a four-wheel drive taxi killed eight Iraqi policemen in an attack on a station in Baghdad's northern outskirts.
(AP, 12/15/03)
2003 Dec 16, U.S. special envoy James A. Baker III said France, Germany and the US agreed to seek reductions in Iraq's foreign debt within the Paris Club of creditor nations.
(AP, 12/16/03)(SFC, 12/17/03, p.A18)
2003 Dec 16, U.S. troops killed 11 guerrilla attackers, some of whom released a flock of pigeons to signal the Americans' approach, in an ambush in a town north of Baghdad.
(AP, 12/16/03)
2003 Dec 17, In Baghdad an explosives-laden truck speeding toward a police station slammed into a bus and blew up before dawn, killing at least 10 Iraqis.
(AP, 12/17/03)
2003 Dec 17, In Iraq guerrillas ambushed a U.S. military patrol with small arms fire, killing one soldier at al-Karmah in northwest Baghdad. The soldier's death brings the number of U.S. soldiers killed in combat to 314 since the war started on March 20.
(AP, 12/18/03)
2003 Dec 17, Suspected followers of Saddam Hussein shot to death Muhammad al-Hakim a representative of a major Shiite political party and a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution.
(AP, 12/18/03)
2003 Dec 19, U.S. troops mistakenly shot and killed three Iraqi police officers and wounded two others, thinking they were bandits.
(AP, 12/20/03)
2003 Dec 20, Insurgents attacked pipelines and an oil storage depot in three parts of Iraq, setting fires that blazed for hours and lost millions of gallons of oil.
(AP, 12/21/03)
2003 Dec 22, In Iraq a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military convoy, killing two American soldiers and an Iraqi translator.
(AP, 12/22/03)
2003 Dec 22, Russia agreed to write off 65% of the debt owed by Iraq.
(WSJ, 12/23/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 24, In Iraq a string of separate bombings killed 6 civilians and 3 American soldiers.
(AP, 12/24/03)
2003 Dec 25, In Iraq leaders of Sunni Muslim groups agreed to form a State Council for the Sunnis in order to speak with a unified voice during the transition to Iraqi governance.
(SFC, 12/26/03, p.A9)
2003 Dec 26, In Iraq an American soldier died in a rebel ambush and two others were killed in bomb explosions.
(AP, 12/26/03)
2003 Dec 27, In Iraq insurgents launched 3 coordinated attacks in the southern city of Karbala, killing 13 people, including six Iraqi police officers, 2 Thai soldiers and 5 Bulgarians.
(AP, 12/28/03)(SSFC, 12/28/03, p.A3)(WSJ, 12/29/03, p.A1)(AP, 12/27/04)
2003 Dec 28, A roadside bomb killed an American soldier and two Iraqi children in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/28/03)
2003 Dec 29, Rebels lobbed a grenade and fired on U.S. soldiers searching homes for insurgents in the northern city of Mosul, triggering a firefight that left three Iraqis dead and two U.S. soldiers wounded.
(AP, 12/29/03)
2003 Dec 29, Japan pledged to forgive "the vast majority" of its Iraqi debt if other Paris Club nations do the same. China later said it would consider the idea.
(AP, 12/29/03)
2003 Dec 31, In Iraq gunfire erupted in Kirkuk as hundreds of Arabs and Turkmen marched in protest over fears of Kurdish domination in the oil-rich northern city.
(AP, 12/31/03)(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.A1)
2003 Dec 31, A New Year's Eve car bombing at the upscale Nabil restaurant in Baghdad killed 8 people and injured 35.
(AP, 1/1/04)(SFC, 1/1/04, p.A1)
2003 Iraqna, a unit of Egypt-based Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, launched cell phone service in Iraq.
(WSJ, 7/19/05, p.B1)
2003 The US Navy sent several dolphins to Iraq to clear the Umm Qasr harbor of mines.
(SFC, 5/18/10, p.C2)
2004 Jan 2, A U.S. military helicopter crashed west of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding another.
(AP, 1/2/04)
2004 Jan 2, In central Iraq insurgents hit a U.S. base with mortar shells, killing one American soldier and wounding two others. A US helicopter was shot down near Fallujah killing one American soldier.
(AP, 1/3/04)(SFC, 1/2/04, p.A5)
2004 Jan 3, In Tikrit, Iraq, American soldiers opened fire with a machine gun on a taxi, killing four Iraqi civilians, including a 7-year-old boy.
(AP, 1/10/04)
2004 Jan 5, In Iraq 2 French contractors, working on electricity projects, were killed in a drive-by shooting near Fallujah.
(WSJ, 4/1/04, p.A10)
2004 Jan 6, Iraqi police opened fire on hundreds of stone-throwing former Iraqi soldiers demanding monthly stipends promised by the U.S.-led coalition, and reporters saw at least four protesters shot in the southern town of Basra.
(AP, 1/6/04)
2004 Jan 7, L. Paul Bremer, the top American civilian official in Iraq, said U.S. authorities will release 506 low-level Iraqi prisoners while increasing the bounties for fugitives suspected of major roles in attacks against coalition forces.
(AP, 1/7/04)
2004 Jan 8, In Iraq a US Black Hawk medivac helicopter crashed near Fallujah killing all nine soldiers aboard.
(AP, 1/8/04)
2004 Jan 9, In Baqouba, Iraq, an explosion ripped through a busy street as worshippers streamed out of a Shiite Muslim mosque, killing 5 people and wounding dozens of others. US soldiers in Kirkuk killed 2 Iraqi police officers.
(AP, 1/9/04)(SFC, 1/10/04, p.A8)(SSFC, 1/11/04, p.A7)
2004 Jan 9, US Officials said Pentagon lawyers had determined that former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein was a prisoner of war since his capture.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2004 Jan 11, U.S. paratroopers captured Khamis Sirhan al-Muhammad, a former regional Baath Party chairman and militia commander a former Baath Party official who was No. 54 on the list of 55 most-wanted figures from Saddam Hussein's regime.
(AP, 1/14/04)
2004 Jan 11, Danish and Icelandic troops reported a cache of 36 shells buried in the Iraqi desert, and preliminary tests showed they contained a liquid blister agent. The 120mm mortar shells are thought to be left over from the eight-year war between Iraq and neighboring Iran, which ended in 1988.
(AP, 1/11/04)
2004 Jan 12, A roadside bomb explosion in Baghdad killed one U.S. soldier and wounded two, bringing the American death toll to nearly 500 since the start of fighting in March. US soldiers killed an Iraqi man and a boy driving in a car behind a convoy after a roadside bomb went off nearby.
(AP, 1/12/04)(SFC, 1/13/04, p.A10)
2004 Jan 13, Joe Darby, a US soldier at Abu Ghraib prison, reported US abuses of Iraqi prisoners. Criminal charges were lodged against 6 soldiers on Mar 20. In 2005 Spc. Charles Graner was convicted on 5 counts of assault and sentenced to 10 years in a military stockade. Graner said he had operated under orders from superior officers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Darby)(SFC, 5/6/04, p.A17)(AP, 1/13/05)(SSFC, 1/16/05, p.A1)
2004 Jan 13, Hostile fire brought down a U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter in Iraq, but the two crew members escaped injury.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2004 Jan 14, The US Army launched an inquiry into conditions at Abu Ghraib prison a day after photos of abused prisoners were passed up the chain of command.
(WSJ, 5/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 14, In Iraq a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at a police station in Baquoba that killed 2 passers-by and wounded 26 others.
(SFC, 1/15/04, p.A8)
2004 Jan 15, Iraqi bank notes bearing Saddam Hussein's portrait became obsolete as a three-month period to exchange old bills for new ones came to an end. The new currency required 27 flights of 747 planes for delivery.
(AP, 1/15/04)(WSJ, 1/20/04, p.A14)
2004 Jan 16, Paul Bremmer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, said the US will revise its plan to create self-rule in Iraq, following consultations with President Bush.
(AP, 1/16/04)
2004 Jan 16, The US Army awarded Halliburton a 2-year contract worth up to $1.2 billion to rebuild the oil industry in southern Iraq.
(SFC, 1/17/04, p.A8)
2004 Jan 17, A roadside bomb exploded near Baghdad, killing three U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi civil defense troopers. The number of American service members who have died since the Iraq war began reached 500.
(AP, 1/17/04)
2004 Jan 17, An explosive device being transported in a car exploded near a U.S. Army patrol in Tikrit, killing two men in the vehicle, one of them a relative of Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 1/18/04)
2004 Jan 18, A suicide bomber blew up a pickup truck packed with 1,000 pounds of explosives outside the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition, killed at least 31 people and injuring about 120, most of them Iraqis.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2004 Jan 19, Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims marched peacefully in Baghdad to demand an elected government.
(AP, 1/19/04)
2004 Jan 21, In central Iraq a barrage of mortar fire struck a US military encampment, killing 2 American soldiers and critically wounding a third. In separate incidents, gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying Iraqi women who worked in the laundry at a US military base, killing 4 of them,
(AP, 1/22/04)
2004 Jan 22, In Iraq gunmen firing from a van killed two Iraqi policemen and wounded three others in an attack on a checkpoint between Fallujah and Ramadi.
(AP, 1/22/04)
2004 Jan 23, A bomb planted in a meeting room exploded after a gathering of the Iraqi Communist Party, killing two men in an apparent attack on supporters of the U.S.-backed government
(AP, 1/23/04)
2004 Jan 24, A car bomb exploded in Khaldiya, a town west of Baghdad, killing three American soldiers and injuring six soldiers and several Iraqi civilians. A series of bombings killed 5 U.S. soldiers in the Sunni Triangle.
(AP, 1/25/04)(WSJ, 2/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 25, In northern Iraq a US helicopter crashed while searching for a river patrol boat that had capsized on the Tigris. A soldier and 2 pilots were missing. 4 Iraqi policemen manning a checkpoint outside Ramadi west of Baghdad were killed in a drive-by shooting. Gunmen also killed three policemen at another checkpoint in Ramadi. US soldiers arrested nearly 50 people and confiscated weapons in several raids in Iraq's volatile Sunni Triangle. Another soldier died of wounds from the previous day's attacks.
(AP, 1/25/04)(AP, 1/26/04)
2004 Jan 27, Roadside bombs killed 6 US soldiers in 2 blasts outside Baghdad. 2 CNN employees were killed in an ambush as their crew returned to Baghdad from southern Iraq.
(AP, 1/27/04)(SFC, 1/28/04, p.A9)
2004 Jan 27, In central Iraq US soldiers killed 3 members of a suspected guerrilla cell linked to the former Baathist regime.
(AP, 1/27/04)
2004 Jan 28, In Iraq some ten thousand Shiite Muslims protested in the south to demand the resignation of the U.S.-appointed provincial governor.
(AP, 1/29/04)
2004 Jan 28, In Iraq a suicide bomber blew up a van disguised as an ambulance in front of the Shaheen Hotel after speeding through a security barrier in the heart of Baghdad, killing three people, including a South African, and injuring 17.
(AP, 1/28/04)(SFC, 1/28/04, p.A9)
2004 Jan 28, David Kay, former head of the CIA's weapons search team in Iraq, told Congress no weapons of mass destruction had been found and that prewar intelligence was "almost all wrong." In 2007 Bob Drogin authored “Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War." Curveball was the code name for an Iraqi chemical engineer who turned up in Germany in 1999 and served as the source for Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons pro-grams. In 2011 Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, identified as the informer called "Curveball," said he is proud that he lied about his country developing mobile biological warfare labs.
(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.A22)(WSJ, 10/13/07, p.W8)(Econ, 11/3/07, p.100)(AP, 2/16/11)
2004 Jan 29, In central Iraq a roadside bomb exploded in Baqouba, wounding 11 Iraqis.
(AP, 1/29/04)
2004 Jan 31, In Iraq a car bomb targeting a police station in Mosul killed nine people and injured 45 others, while three American soldiers died when a roadside bomb ripped through their convoy near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
(AP, 1/31/04)
2004 Feb 1, In Irbil, Iraq, 2 suicide bombers struck the offices of two U.S.-backed Kurdish parties in near-simultaneous attacks as hundreds of Iraqis gathered to celebrate a Muslim holiday. At least 101 people were killed and more than 235 were wounded. Also about 20 Iraqis were killed when they accidentally set off an explosion while looting a former Iraqi munitions dump in the Polish-controlled south-central region of the country.
(AP, 2/2/04)(WSJ, 2/4/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 5, U.S. and Iraqi forces captured more than 100 suspected guerrillas in raids across the country, arresting one of Saddam Hussein's intelligence chiefs and another Iraqi believed involved in a suicide bombing last month, a U.S.
(AP, 2/5/04)
2004 Feb 8, In Suwayrah, Iraq, a bomb inside a police station exploded soon after the morning roll call, killing 3 police officer and injuring 11 others.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2004 Feb 8, A UN team met with Iraqi leaders to discuss the feasibility of early legislative elections, and its leader pledged to do "everything possible" to help the country regain its sovereignty.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2004 Feb 10, In Iskandariyah, Iraq, a car bomb exploded at a police station south of Baghdad as dozens of would-be recruits lined up to apply for jobs, and a hospital official said at least 53 people were killed and 50 others wounded.
(AP, 2/10/04)(WSJ, 2/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 11, In Iraq a suicide attacker blew up a car packed with explosives in a crowd of hundreds of Iraqis waiting outside a Baghdad army recruiting center, killing 47 people in the second bombing in two days.
(AP, 2/11/05)
2004 Feb 14, In Iraq guerrillas launched a bold daylight assault on an Iraqi police station and security compound west of Baghdad, freeing prisoners and sparking a gunbattle that killed 23 people and wounded 33.
(SSFC, 2/15/04, p.A1)(AP, 2/14/05)
2004 Feb 15, Iraqi police arrested No. 41 on the American military's most-wanted list, Baath Party official Mohammed Zimam Abdul-Razaq.
(AP, 2/15/04)
2004 Feb 16, In Iraq 3 U.S. soldiers were killed in roadside bomb blasts. A bomb exploded in a schoolyard in a Shiite Muslim neighborhood in Baghdad, killing at least one child and wounding three other people,
(AP, 2/16/04)(SFC, 2/17/04, p.A3)
2004 Feb 17, In Iraq roadside bombs killed 2 U.S. soldiers in separate attacks in Baghdad and Sunni Muslim areas to the north of the capital.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 18, In Iraq 2 trucks packed with explosives blew up outside Hilla, Polish-run base south of Baghdad, after coalition forces opened fire on the suicide bombers racing toward them. 11 Iraqi civilians were killed and at least 64 people were wounded.
(AP, 2/18/04)(SFC, 2/19/04, p.A14)
2004 Feb 19, In Iraq an explosion ripped through an infantry patrol in an insurgent center west of Baghdad, killing two U.S. soldiers and injuring another.
(AP, 2/19/04)
2004 Feb 21, The International Red Cross visited former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was in U.S. custody.
(AP, 2/21/05)
2004 Feb 22, Gunmen attacked Iraqi police in two northern Iraqi cities, sparking clashes that killed two attackers. Meanwhile, jailed former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein wrote a letter to his family for the international Red Cross to deliver.
(AP, 2/22/04)
2004 Feb 23, In Iraq a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-packed vehicle outside an Iraqi police station in a Kurdish neighborhood of Kirkuk, killing at least seven people and wounding at least 35 others.
(AP, 2/23/04)
2004 Feb 25, Two American soldiers were killed when their Kiowa helicopter crashed in a river west of Baghdad. Witnesses indicated that it was shot down. Gunmen assassinated the deputy police chief in Mosul.
(AP, 2/25/04)(WSJ, 2/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 28, Iraq's U.S.-picked leaders failed to meet a deadline for adopting an interim constitution.
(AP, 2/28/05)
2004 Feb, Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai (1971-2019), aka al-Baghdadi, was detained by US troops and spent 10 months in the Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq. He eventually assumed control of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida linked group founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant killed in a US airstrike in Iraq in 2006.
(AP, 10/27/19)
2004 Feb, Mohammad Munim al-Izmerly (65), Iraqi weapons scientist, died while in US custody. His body was delivered to Al-Kharkh Hospital in Baghdad. The Egyptian-born scientist had been in US detention since April 2003. The Americans enclosed a death certificate saying he died of "brainstem compression." An Investigation into his death was opened in 2005.
(AP, 3/25/05)
2004 Mar 1, Iraqi politicians agreed on an interim constitution with 2 official languages, a wide ranging bill of rights and a single chief executive, bridging a gulf between members over the role of Islam in the future government.
(AP, 3/1/04)(WSJ, 3/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 2, Attacks on Shiite Muslims in Iraq killed at least 180 people as multiple explosions hit Shiite shrines in Baghdad and Karbala on the Shia festival of Ashura. An Iranian vice president blamed al-Qaida for the attacks.
(AP, 3/3/04)(SSFC, 2/20/05, p.A14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_2004)
2004 Mar 5, The signing of Iraq's interim constitution was delayed indefinitely after five Shiite members of the Governing Council rejected concessions made to Kurds and the makeup of the presidency.
(AP, 3/5/04)
2004 Mar 7, In Iraq insurgents in a car fired rocket-propelled grenades at a police station in Mosul, and two Iraqi civilians were killed.
(AP, 3/7/04)
2004 Mar 8, Iraq's Governing Council signed a landmark interim constitution after resolving a political impasse sparked by objections from the country's most powerful cleric.
(AP, 3/8/04)
2004 Mar 8, Abul Abbas (56), the Palestinian who planned the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro passenger ship in which a wheelchair-bound American tourist was killed and thrown overboard, died of natural causes in Baghdad while in U.S. custody.
(AP, 3/10/04)
2004 Mar 9, In Iraq 2 US civilians and their Iraqi interpreter were killed. 4 Iraqis were arrested and appeared to be active Iraqi police officers working with a Saddam Hussein loyalist.
(WSJ, 3/12/04, p.A1)(SFC, 3/13/04, p.A3)
2004 Mar 11, In Iraq 2 American soldiers were killed when the Humvee they were riding in struck a homemade bomb.
(AP, 3/12/04)
2004 Mar 13, In Tikrit, Iraq, a roadside bomb killed two American soldiers and wounded three. 3 American soldiers died in two bomb explosions in Baghdad. A 4th died from his injuries the next morning.
(AP, 3/13/04)(AP, 3/14/04)
2004 Mar 15, In Iraq 4 American missionary relief workers were killed in a drive-by shooting in Mosul.
(SFC, 3/16/04, p.A14)(AP, 3/15/05)
2004 Mar 16, Two contractors, German and Dutch, working on a water-supply project south of Baghdad were shot to death, and their deaths brought to six the number of foreigners killed in drive-by shootings in the past 24 hours.
(AP, 3/16/04)(WSJ, 4/1/04, p.A10)
2004 Mar 17, In Iraq a car bomb tore apart the five-story Mount Lebanon Hotel in central Baghdad, killing 7 people. In northeastern Iraq gunmen opened fire on a minibus, killing three Iraqi journalists and wounding nine other employees of a coalition-funded TV station. Insurgents killed two U.S. Marines who were on patrol in al-Anbar province. In Mosul 4 US Baptist missionaries were killed in a drive-by shooting.
(AP, 3/18/04)(SFC, 3/18/04, p.A1)(AP, 3/19/04)(WSJ, 4/1/04, p.A10)
2004 Mar 18, In Iraq a car bomb exploded at a hotel in the southern city of Basra as a British military patrol passed by, killing five Iraqi bystanders. US Army soldiers shot 2 al-Arabiya television network employees. [see Mar 19]
(AP, 3/18/04)(SFC, 3/30/04, p.A3)
2004 Mar 19, The US Justice Dept. issued a draft opinion that authorized the agency to transfer detainees out of Iraq for interrogation.
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 19, In Iraq a reporter for Arab satellite television station Al-Arabiya died from his wounds after U.S. soldiers shot him hours earlier along with a cameraman, who died at the scene.
(AP, 3/19/04)(SFC, 3/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 21, In western Iraq insurgents fired a rocket at U.S. troops, killing two soldiers, while in Baghdad rockets fired toward the U.S.-led coalition headquarters killed two Iraqi civilians and injured a U.S. soldier.
(AP, 3/21/04)
2004 Mar 22, A car bomb blew up near a U.S. Air Force base north of Baghdad, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding 25 others. The U.S. military said a bomb killed a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi interpreter in Baghdad.
(AP, 3/22/04)
2004 Mar 22, The Finnish Foreign Ministry said two Finnish businessmen were shot and killed in Baghdad.
(AP, 3/22/04)
2004 Mar 23, In Iraq gunmen opened fire on a van filled with police recruits south of Baghdad, killing nine. Other assailants shot and killed two policemen, twin brothers, north of the capital.
(AP, 3/23/04)
2004 Mar 24, In Iraq a gun battle with insurgents killed one American soldier and three rebels.
(AP, 3/25/04)
2004 Mar 24, Insurgents bombed an oil well in northern Iraq, sparking a fire that raged for 24 hours before being extinguished.
(AP, 3/26/04)
2004 Mar 25, A U.S. soldier died in a bombing north of Baghdad amid warnings that attacks will likely increase with fewer than 100 days left before the coalition hands over sovereignty.
(AP, 3/25/04)
2004 Mar 26, West of Baghdad, U.S. Marines and gunmen fought an hour-long battle that left four Iraqis dead and six wounded. A U.S. Marine and an ABC freelance cameraman were killed during a bitter, hours-long firefight between American troops and Iraqi insurgents in the city of Fallujah, while 18 people died in violence elsewhere across Iraq.
(AP, 3/26/04)(AP, 3/27/04)
2004 Mar 28, In Iraq US soldiers in the northern city of Mosul shot and killed four rebels suspected of involvement in attacks in the region. Gunmen in Mosul killed 2 British and Canadian electrical engineers. Coalition forces closed Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's newspaper, claiming it incited anti-US violence.
(AP, 3/29/04)(WSJ, 4/1/04, p.A10)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2004 Mar 30, In Iraq a suicide bombing outside the house of a police chief killed the attacker and wounded seven others. Elsewhere, a U.S. soldier died in a bomb blast, and Spanish soldiers and Iraqi police quelled a riot by jobseekers.
(AP, 3/30/04)
2004 Mar 31, In Fallujah, Iraq, jubilant residents dragged the charred corpses of 4 American private security guards, from Blackwater Security Consulting, through the streets and hanged them from a bridge spanning the Euphrates River. 5 American soldiers died in a roadside bombing nearby. In 2011 a judge tossed a lawsuit that blamed Blackwater for the deaths of the 4 contractors.
(AP, 3/31/04)(SFC, 4/1/04, p.A1)(SFC, 4/2/04, p.A16)
2004 Mar, The US Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $40 million contract to global construction and engineering firm Parsons to design and build an 1,800-inmate lockup in Iraq to include educational and vocational facilities. Work was set to begin May 2004 and finish November 2005. The US government pulled the plug in June 2006, citing "continued schedule slips and ... massive cost overruns." Parsons got $31 million and the other contractors got $9 million. As of 2008 it was unused with much of the construction deemed substandard.
(AP, 7/28/08)
2004 Mar-2004 Apr, US forces in Baghdad detained Pakistani national Dilshad Ahmad. He had served as a commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba between 1997 and 2001.
(WSJ, 12/8/08, p.A6)
2004 Apr 1, In Iraq insurgents attacked a U.S. military convoy and a Humvee was burned near Fallujah, a day after the grisly killing and mutilation of four American contract workers in the city.
(AP, 4/1/04)
2004 Apr 1, A gas explosion ripped through a refinery in Iraq while it was being inspected by Czech engineers, killing one and injuring two others.
(AP, 4/5/04)
2004 Apr 3, In Iraq 2 attacks on Iraqi police south of Baghdad killed four people. Col. Wissam Hussein, the police chief of Mahmudiyah, was shot to death by gunmen dressed as police.
(AP, 4/3/04)(SSFC, 4/4/04, p.A3)
2004 Apr 4, Muqtada al-Sadr issued a call to his followers to "terrorize your enemy." Gunmen opened fire on the Spanish garrison in the holy city of Najaf during a huge demonstration by followers of al-Sadr, an anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric. An American and Salvadoran soldier were killed along with 22 Iraqis. More than 130 people were wounded. A car bomb exploded in Kirkuk, killing three civilians and wounding two others. 7 US soldiers were killed in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/4/04)(SFC, 4/5/04, p.A8)(WSJ, 4/5/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/19/04, p.A14)
2004 Apr 5, Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, declared a radical Shiite cleric an "outlaw" after his supporters rioted in Baghdad and four other cities in fighting that killed at least 52 Iraqis, eight U.S. troops and a Salvadoran soldier. A warrant was issued for al-Sadr related to the murder of a rival Shiite leader in 2003.
(AP, 4/5/04)(WSJ, 4/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 6, Insurgents and rebellious Shiites mounted a string of attacks across Iraq's south and U.S. Marines launched a major assault on the turbulent city of Fallujah. Up to a dozen Marines were killed in Ramadi. Two more coalition soldiers were reported killed. US warplanes firing rockets destroyed four houses in the besieged city of Fallujah. A doctor said 26 Iraqis, including women and children, were killed and 30 wounded in the strike. British troops killed 15 Iraqis in Amara. In Nasiriya 15 Iraqis were killed in fighting with Italian troops
(AP, 4/6/04)(SFC, 4/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 7, U.S. Marines in a fierce battle for this Sunni Muslim stronghold fired rockets that hit a mosque compound filled with worshippers, and witnesses said as many as 40 people were killed. Shiite-inspired violence spread to nearly all of the country.
(AP, 4/7/04)
2004 Apr 7, Militiamen loyal to al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric, clashed with Polish troops in Karbala, and Muntadhir al-Mussawi, an aide to the cleric, was killed.
(AP, 4/7/04)
2004 Apr 7, In Iraq 2 German counter-terrorism GSG-9 security agents were ambushed and went missing while on a routine trip from Jordan to Baghdad.
(AP, 4/10/04)
2004 Apr 8, Shiite Muslim militias held partial control over three southern Iraqi cities, Kufa, Kut and Najaf. Sunni insurgents killed a U.S. Marine in the battle for Fallujah. In escalating violence, gunmen kidnapped eight South Korean civilians. The US military announced 5 deaths. The estimated Iraqi toll was 460.
(AP, 4/8/04)(SFC, 4/9/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 8, In a dramatic video, Iraqi insurgents revealed they had kidnapped 3 Japanese and threatened to burn them alive in 3 days unless Japan agrees to withdraw its troops. The hostages were later released unharmed.
(AP, 4/9/05)
2004 Apr 9, US forces partially reoccupied Kut, the southern city seized by a rebellious Shiite militia, but an American-declared halt in Fallujah was undercut by bursts of gunfire on the first anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. 2 soldiers and a Marine died in separate incidents. Rebels attacked a convoy near Baghdad's airport and kidnapped 2 US soldiers and 7 construction employees of Halliburton subsidiary KBR. 4 bodies were found in the area a few days later. The body of civilian truck driver William Bradley was found in January 2005; Thomas Hamill escaped his captors in May 2004; Timothy Bell remains unaccounted for. Army reservist Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin (20) of Batavia, Ohio, was captured when his fuel convoy, part of the 724th Transportation Co., was ambushed west of Baghdad. Maupin's remains were found in March on the outskirts of Baghdad, about 12 miles from where the convoy was ambushed.
(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.A22)(SFC, 4/13/04, p.A1)(SFC, 4/14/04, p.A15)(AP, 4/9/05)(AP, 6/17/06)(WSJ, 4/28/08, p.A2)
2004 Apr 10, Iraqi government negotiators entered the besieged city of Fallujah as fierce battles raged elsewhere in central Iraq, including Baghdad. In Baqouba 40 Iraqis were killed. A top Iraqi Red Crescent official and his wife were killed in an apparent attack on their car in northern Iraq.
(AP, 4/10/04)
2004 Apr 11, Gunmen shot down a U.S. attack helicopter during fighting in western Baghdad, killing its two crew members. The bloodied bodies of two men, purportedly Americans killed during fighting in Fallujah, were shown on Arab TV. US forces and insurgents agreed to a cease-fire in Fallujah.
(AP, 4/11/04)(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.A23)
2004 Apr 12, Gunfire was largely silenced in the second day of a truce in Fallujah, where Iraqi doctors said 600 people, including many civilians, were killed.
(AP, 4/12/04)
2004 Apr 13, A 2,500-strong U.S. force, backed by tanks and artillery, pushed to the outskirts of the Shiite holy city of Najaf for a showdown with a radical cleric. One soldier was killed enroute. US forces in Fallujah killed over 100 insurgents.
(AP, 4/13/04)(SFC, 4/15/04, p.A17)
2004 Apr 13, Four Italians working as private security guards for a U.S. company in Iraq were reported missing, and an Arab satellite TV broadcaster said they were kidnapped by insurgents.
(AP, 4/13/04)
2004 Apr 14, In Iraq U.S. warplanes and helicopters hammered gunmen in Fallujah, straining a truce there. A 2,500-strong U.S. force massed on the outskirts of the holy city of Najaf for a showdown with radical cleric al-Sadr. Militants executed an Italian captive. A platoon of US Marines came under assault in Anbar Province. In 2005 Michael M. Phillips authored “The Gift of Valor," portraits of the men in action on this day. Cpl. Jason Dunham saved the lives of two of his fellow Marines by jumping on a grenade during an ambush in Karabilah. Dunham died 8 days later. In 2006 Pres. Bush awarded Dunham a posthumous Medal of Honor.
(AP, 4/14/04)(WSJ, 5/31/05, p.D10)(AP, 4/15/04)(http://tinyurl.com/yzc8gh)(WSJ, 1/6/06, p.A1)
2004 Apr 14, The UN emissary to Iraq proposed a caretaker government to replace the Governing Council on June 30 to shepherd the country to free election in Jan 2005.
(SFC, 4/15/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 14, Russia said it will begin the evacuation of some of its citizens from Iraq on in light of the deteriorating security situation in that country.
(AP, 4/14/04)
2004 Apr 15, In Iraq 3 Japanese hostages who had been threatened with death unless Tokyo withdrew its troops from Iraq were released.
(AP, 4/15/04)
2004 Apr 15, Gunmen killed a high-ranking Iranian diplomat in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/15/04)
2004 Apr 15, A U.S. businessman was abducted from his hotel in the southern city of Basra by kidnappers disguised as policemen.
(AP, 4/16/04)
2004 Apr 16, Pres. Bush said he is handing over the lead role in the Iraqi political transition to the UN's top envoy. Pres. Bush and British PM Tony Blair, meeting in Washington, endorsed giving the UN broad control over Iraq's political future.
(SFC, 4/17/04, p.A1)(AP, 4/16/05)
2004 Apr 16, Videotape broadcast on the Arab TV station Al-Jazeera showed Army Pvt. 1st Class Keith M. Maupin, abducted during an attack on a fuel truck convoy near Baghdad a week earlier. Arab television reported June 29, 2004, that Maupin had been killed; he is listed as missing by the U.S. military.
(AP, 4/16/05)
2004 Apr 16, In Iraq U.S. military and civilian officials met with leaders from Fallujah, the first known direct negotiations between Americans and city representatives since the siege of Fallujah began April 5.
(AP, 4/16/04)
2004 Apr 16, Two Iraqi civilians were killed and four wounded when 122 mm rockets fired by insurgents fell short of a military camp and hit a civilian area.
(AP, 4/18/04)
2004 Apr 17, Ten U.S. troops were killed in combat across Iraq, including five U.S. Marines killed in pitched battles near the Syrian border, and an eleventh soldier died in a tank rollover.
(AP, 4/19/04)
2004 Apr 17, Iraqi gunmen opened fire on a coalition military patrol outside of the encircled southern city of Najaf, killing one soldier. 2 gunmen were killed.
(AP, 4/17/04)
2004 Apr 19, In Iraq US officials and local leaders in Fallujah agreed to a number of measures to reduce tensions.
(SFC, 4/20/04, p.A1)(AP, 11/20/08)
2004 Apr 19, Honduras President Ricardo Maduro announced the pullout of his 370 troops from Iraq "in the shortest time possible."
(AP, 4/20/04)(WSJ, 4/20/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 20, In Iraq a barrage of 18 mortars hit a Baghdad jail, killing 21 prisoners.
(AP, 4/20/04)
2004 Apr 21, In Basra, Iraq, 5 suicide attackers detonated simultaneous car bombs against 3 police buildings during rush hour, killing at least 74 people, including 23 children.
(AP, 4/21/04)(SFC, 4/22/04, p.A1)(AP, 4/21/05)
2004 Apr 21, U.S Marines backed by tanks and helicopter gunships battled insurgents in northern Fallujah, killing nine.
(AP, 4/21/04)
2004 Apr 22, The Iraqi health minister said that 576 Iraqi insurgents and civilians had died during the sharp upturn in violence since April 1 that has also taken the lives of at least 100 U.S. soldiers.
(AP, 4/22/04)
2004 Apr 22, A gunman in traditional Arab robe and headdress shot and killed a South African security guard in a Baghdad shop after accusing him of being a Jew.
(Reuters, 4/22/04)
2004 Apr 23, Paul Bremmer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, announced an easing of the ban on members of Saddam Hussein's disbanded party, a move that will allow thousands of former Baathists to return to their positions in the military and government bureaucracy.
(AP, 4/23/04)
2004 Apr 24, Insurgents struck a U.S. military base north of Baghdad with rockets at dawn, killing 4 American soldiers. A rocket crashed into a crowded market in the Iraqi capital, killing at least three people. In addition up to 12 Iraqis were killed in several attacks, including an apparent suicide car bombing in Tikrit. At least 33 Iraqis died this day in multiple incidents.
(AP, 4/24/04)(SSFC, 4/25/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 24, Three small dhows, a boat often used in the Gulf, exploded in the Gulf waters off Iraq's port of Umm Qasr when approached by teams sent to intercept them. Oil terminals at al-Basra and Khawr al-Amaya were targeted. The dhow near Khawr al-Amaya flipped over a U.S. Navy interception craft, killing 2 US sailors and wounding five others. Al Qaeda later claimed responsibility
(AP, 4/25/04)(WSJ, 4/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 25, A roadside bomb exploded by a U.S. patrol in Baghdad, killing a U.S. soldier and sparking a gunbattle.
(AP, 4/25/04)
2004 Apr 26, In Baghdad, Iraq, an explosion leveled part of a building as American troops searched it for suspected production of "chemical munitions." 2 soldiers were killed and 5 wounded in the blast. In a Fallujah suburb 1 Marine was killed along with 8 insurgents.
(AP, 4/26/04)(SFC, 4/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 26, Iraqi kidnappers said they would kill 3 Italian hostages unless Italians rally against Italy's participation in the occupation of Iraq.
(SFC, 4/27/04, p.A8)
2004 Apr 27, It was reported that ten US contractors in Iraq have paid over $300 million in penalties since 2000 to resolve various allegations.
(SFC, 4/27/04, p.C1)
2004 Apr 27, US troops fought gunbattles with militiamen overnight near the city of Najaf, killing 64 gunmen and destroying an anti-aircraft system belonging to the insurgents.
(AP, 4/27/04)
2004 Apr 27, Iraqi police moved into the streets of the besieged city of Fallujah following hours of pounding by US warplanes and artillery on Sunni insurgents.
(AP, 4/27/05)
2004 Apr 28, In Iraq a series of explosions and gunfire rocked Fallujah in new fighting the day after a heavy battle in which U.S. warplanes and artillery pounded the city in a show of force against Sunni insurgents. Elsewhere 1 US and 2 Ukrainian soldiers were killed.
(AP, 4/28/04)(WSJ, 4/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 28, CBS broadcast photos on “60 Minutes" showing US abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
(SFC, 5/6/04, p.A17)
2004 Apr 29, U.S. Marines announced an agreement to end a bloody, nearly month long siege of Fallujah, saying American forces will pull back and allow an all-Iraqi force commanded by one of Saddam Hussein's generals to take over security. Elsewhere 10 U.S. soldiers were killed, 8 of them from a car bomb south of Baghdad.
(AP, 4/29/04)(WSJ, 4/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 30, Graphic photographs were shown on TV screens across the Middle East of naked Iraqi prisoners being humiliated by smiling U.S. military police. Pres. Bush condemned the mistreatment of prisoners, saying it "does not reflect the nature of the American people."
(AP, 4/30/04)
2004 Apr 30, Iraqi troops led by Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh (49), one of Saddam Hussein's generals, replaced U.S. Marines and raised the Iraqi flag at the entrance to Fallujah under a plan to end the month long siege of the city. A suicide car bomb on the outskirts killed two Americans and wounded six. Saleh was replaced May 3 by Muhammad Latif, a former Iraqi intelligence officer.
(AP, 4/30/04)(SFC, 5/4/04, p.A11)
2004 Apr 30, U.S. troops and radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed to a three-day truce in negotiations to end the standoff at Najaf.
(AP, 4/30/04)
2004 Apr 30, The Associated Press found that around 1,361 Iraqis were killed from April 1 to April 30, 10 times the figure of at least 136 U.S. troops who died during the same period.
(AP, 4/30/04)
2004 Apr, Thamir Mubarak Atrouz, the mastermind behind 2 deadly suicide attacks, August 19 and 29, 2003, was killed in Fallujah. Al-Qaida in Iraq reported his death in November 2005.
(AP, 11/22/05)
2004 May 1, Photos were widely published showing abuse by US soldiers of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Nov and Dec of 2003.
(SFC, 5/1/04, p.A12)
2004 May 1, In Iraq US top commander Lt. Gen. Sanchez notified 6 officers of his intent to issue a memorandum of reprimand for the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.
(SFC, 5/4/04, p.A1)
2004 May 2, American hostage Thomas Hamill, kidnapped three weeks ago in an insurgent attack on his convoy, was found by U.S. forces south of Tikrit after he apparently escaped from his captors.
(AP, 5/2/04)
2004 May 2, Shiite militiamen attacked a U.S. convoy in southern Iraq, killing two soldiers and setting vehicles on fire. Two other American soldiers were killed in Baghdad. At least 9 US soldiers were killed across central and northern Iraq.
(AP, 5/2/04)(SFC, 5/3/04, p.A1)
2004 May 3, Militiamen pounded a U.S. base in the most intense attacks yet on U.S. troops in the Shiite city of Najaf. US troops killed 20 Shiite militiamen in Najaf. Insurgents opened fire in the Baghdad, killing one American soldier and wounding two others.
(AP, 5/3/04)(WSJ, 5/4/04, p.A1)
2004 May 4, Shiite militiamen fired several mortar shells at a U.S. base in Najaf and at a city hall guarded by Bulgarian troops in another Shiite city. Elsewhere, four U.S. soldiers died after their Humvee overturned during a combat patrol.
(AP, 5/4/04)
2004 May 4, The US Army disclosed that the deaths of 10 prisoners and abuse of 10 more in Iraq and Afghanistan were under criminal investigation, as US commanders in Baghdad announced interrogation changes.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2004 May 5, Pres. Bush gave interviews to 2 Arab-language networks saying he and the American people were appalled by the revelations of prisoner mistreatment in Iraq.
(SFC, 5/6/04, p.A1)
2004 May 5, Coalition forces raided buildings used by a militia loyal to a radical Shiite cleric in two southern cities and clashed with militiamen elsewhere in fighting that killed 15 Iraqis.
(AP, 5/5/04)
2004 May 6, Pres. Bush told King Abdullah II of Jordan that he was sorry for the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by US guards.
(SFC, 5/7/04, p.A1)
2004 May 6, An audio recording attributed to Osama bin Laden offered rewards in gold for the killing of top U.S. and U.N. officials in Iraq or of the citizens of any nation fighting there.
(AP, 5/7/04)
2004 May 6, A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside the so-called Green Zone that houses the U.S. headquarters in Baghdad, killing five Iraqi civilians and a U.S. soldier. U.S. soldiers backed by tanks and armored fighting vehicles seized control of the governor's office from Shiite militiamen in the city of Najaf. As many as 41 Iraqis were killed in Najaf.
(AP, 5/6/04)(SFC, 5/7/04, p.A17)
2004 May 7, Army Pvt. 1st Class Lynndie England, shown in photographs smiling and pointing at naked Iraqi prisoners, was charged by the military with assaulting the detainees and conspiring to mistreat them, becoming the seventh soldier charged in the scandal.
(AP, 5/7/05)
2004 May 7, In Iraq gunmen ambushed a Polish TV crew south of Baghdad, killing a producer and a correspondent who was Poland's best-known war reporter.
(AP, 5/7/04)
2004 May 8, Gunmen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rampaged through Basra and Amarah, attacking British patrols and government buildings. Witnesses in Basra reported 9 militiamen killed in the fighting. One child was killed when his house was struck by a projectile. Attackers in Habhab set off a bomb outside the house of a police official killing three members of his family and wounding three others. A pipeline was bombed and slowed the flow of export oil by as much as 25%.
(AP, 5/8/04)(SFC, 5/11/04, p.A9)
2004 May 9, U.S. and British troops clashed with forces of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for a second day. 4 Iraqis were killed in an explosion in a Baghdad market. Militants loyal to al-Sadr took over Sadr City.
(AP, 5/9/04)(SFC, 5/10/04, p.A1)(SFC, 5/11/04, p.A9)
2004 May 10, A U.S. aircraft destroyed a Baghdad office of Muqtada al-Sadr. His followers said two people were killed and six injured. US military said as many as 35 Al-Sadr supporters were killed. Gunmen fired on a vehicle in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, killing two foreign construction workers and their Iraqi driver.
(AP, 5/10/04)(SFC, 5/11/04, p.A9)(USAT, 5/11/04, p.7A)
2004 May 10, In Iraq one Russian worker was killed and two were taken hostage 18 miles south of Baghdad.
(AP, 5/11/04)
2004 May 11, A video, posted on an al-Qaida-linked Web site, showed the beheading of Nick Berg, an American civilian in Iraq. The execution was carried out to avenge abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, aka Ahmad Fadhil al Khalayeh, was later identified as the beheader. Nick Berg (26) was from West Chester, Pa.
(AP, 5/11/04)(SFC, 5/12/04, p.A1)(SFC, 5/14/04, p.A13)(ST, 5/14/04, p.A17)
2004 May 11, A bomb in a crowded market in Kirkuk killed 4 Iraqis and wounded 3.
(WSJ, 5/18/04, p.A3)
2004 May 12, In Iraq US soldiers backed by tanks and helicopters battled fighters loyal to a radical cleric near a mosque in Karbala, hours after Iraqi leaders agreed on a proposal that would end his standoff. As many as 25 insurgents were killed.
(AP, 5/12/04)
2004 May 14, The Pentagon announced that Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top US commander in Iraq, had banned virtually all coercive interrogation practices on Iraqi prisoners.
(SFC, 5/15/04, p.A1)
2004 May 14, Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper published a front-page apology after photographs purportedly showing British forces abusing Iraqi prisoners turned out to be fake.
(AP, 5/14/05)
2004 May 14, In Iraq 4 people were detained in Salaheddin province for the killing of American Nicholas Berg, whose decapitation was captured on videotape. The informant who tipped off authorities was killed by unidentified gunmen the day after the arrests.
(AP, 5/21/04)
2004 May 14, In Iraq British troops engaged in a battle near the town of at Al Majar Al Kabir. In 2008 lawyers released evidence that they said shows British soldiers may have tortured and executed up to 20 Iraqis after the battle of Danny Boy. On Feb 4, 2013, Britain’s Al-Sweady Inquiry began oral hearings in the case.
(AP, 2/22/08)(AP, 3/4/13)
2004 May 15, U.S. forces fought militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Karbala, while insurgents in the northern city of Mosul attacked an Iraqi army recruiting center, killing four people and wounding 19.
(AP, 5/15/04)
2004 May 15, In Iraq a U.S. soldier was killed and another was wounded in a roadside bombing. The death brought to 776 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the start of military operations in Iraq last year. Of those, 566 died from hostile action and 210 died of non-hostile causes. At least 38 Iraqis were killed over the last 24 hours.
(AP, 5/16/04)(SSFC, 5/16/04, p.A3)
2004 May 15, In Iraq a US patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad that contained the nerve agent sarin. This was the first case of an IUD used to disperse a nerve agent. In 2014 Staff Sgt. James Burns and Pfc. Michael Yandell, wounded in the attack, shared their story in a NY Times report.
(SSFC, 12/7/14, p.A19)
2004 May 16, Gunmen In Baghdad fired on a minibus, killing two Iraqi women who worked for the U.S.-led coalition. Assailants in a southern city killed a coalition translator and critically injured another.
(AP, 5/16/04)
2004 May 17, Abdel-Zahraa Othman, also known as Izzadine Saleem, the head of the Iraqi Governing Council, was killed in a suicide car bombing near a checkpoint outside the coalition headquarters in central Baghdad. 8 others were also killed.
(AP, 5/17/04)(WSJ, 5/18/04, p.A3)
2004 May 17, Two Russian workers held hostage in Iraq for a week were freed.
(AP, 5/17/04)
2004 May 18, Before dawn U.S. troops killed nine fighters loyal to al-Sadr in Karbala. Ten Iraqi fighters were wounded in the clashes near the city's Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas shrines. At least five Iraqi insurgents were killed during clashes in Karbala later in the day.
(AP, 5/18/04)
2004 May 19, US Army Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits received the maximum penalty, one year in prison, reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge, in the first court-martial stemming from mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.
(AP, 5/19/04)
2004 May 19, In Iraq US bombing killed up to 45 people, mostly women and children from the Bou Fahad tribe, at Mogr el-Deeb near the Syrian border. Witnesses said the site was a wedding celebration while US officials called it a way station for infiltrators.
(AP, 5/20/04)(SFC, 5/20/04, p.A1)
2004 May 20, Iraqi police backed by American soldiers raided the home and offices of Ahmad Chalabi, a prominent Iraqi politician.
(AP, 5/20/04)
2004 May 21, American AC-130 gunships and tanks bombarded militia positions near two shrines in the holy city of Karbala, killing 18 fighters loyal to a rebel cleric.
(AP, 5/21/04)
2004 May 22, In Baghdad a car bomb exploded outside the home of a deputy interior minister, wounding him and killing at least five people, including four police.
(AP, 5/22/04)
2004 May 23, In Iraq US troops battled fighters loyal to a radical Muslim cleric in his stronghold of Kufa, and at least 32 insurgents and three civilians were killed. Gunmen killed a police captain and a university student who were headed by car to Baghdad from Baqouba. Insurants loyal to al-Sadr gave up control of central Karbala.
(AP, 5/23/04)(SFC, 5/24/04, p.A1)
2004 May 24, In Iraq an explosion destroyed a civilian car with armor plating near an entrance to the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition, killing four people including two British civilians. An Associated Press survey found that more than 5,500 Iraqis died violently in just Baghdad and three provinces in the first 12 months of the occupation.
(AP, 5/24/04)
2004 May 24, Pres. Bush offered a 5 step plan in Iraq: 1) hand over authority to a sovereign Iraqi government; 2) Help establish security; 3) Continue rebuilding the infrastructure; 4) Encourage more int’l. support; 5) Move toward a national election.
(SFC, 5/25/04, p.A1)
2004 May 25, In Iraq with U.S. Marines gone and central government authority virtually nonexistent, Fallujah resembles an Islamic mini-state and anyone caught selling alcohol is flogged and paraded in the city.
(AP, 5/25/04)
2004 May 25, A sacred shrines in Najaf suffered minor damage during clashes between U.S. forces and radical Shiite militiamen that killed at least 13 Iraqis, some of them civilians.
(AP, 5/25/04)
2004 May 26, U.S. troops captured a key lieutenant of radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr during overnight clashes in Najaf that killed 24 people and wounded nearly 50.
(AP, 5/26/04)
2004 May 26, In Iraq masked gunmen attacked Russian technicians heading to work at a major electric power station, killing two of them. In Moscow, the firm's executive director, Alexander Rybinsky, announced the full evacuation of company personnel from Iraq. Some 241 employees are expected to start leaving.
(AP, 5/26/04)
2004 May 27, The U.S.-led coalition agreed to suspend offensive operations in Najaf after local leaders struck a deal with radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end a bloody standoff.
(AP, 5/27/04)(SFC, 5/28/04, p.A1)
2004 May 27, In Iraq gunmen south of Baghdad attacked a car carrying Japanese journalists Shinsuke Hashida (61) and his nephew, Kotaro Ogawa (33). The vehicle burst into flames and both were killed.
(AP, 5/28/04)
2004 May 28, The Iraqi Governing Council nominated one of its own members, Iyad Allawi, a Shiite Muslim physician who spent years in exile, to become prime minister of the new government to take power June 30.
(AP, 5/28/04)
2004 May 31, U.S. troops clashed with Shiite militiamen in the holy city of Kufa for a second day in fighting that killed two Americans. In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near the headquarters of the U.S. coalition, killing at least two people and injuring more than 20.
(AP, 5/31/04)
2004 Jun 1, Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, a tribal chief, was named interim president of Iraq.
(AP, 6/1/04)
2004 Jun 1, In Iraq bombs exploded in central Baghdad and near a U.S. military base in the northern city of Beiji. At least 14 people were killed.
(AP, 6/1/04)(SFC, 6/2/04, A13)
2004 Jun 2, Militants loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr clashed with U.S. forces near a mosque in Kufa and in Baghdad. Officials said 6 Iraqis were killed and 40 others wounded.
(AP, 6/2/04)
2004 Jun 3, Several mortar shells were fired at the Italian Embassy in Baghdad, causing some Iraqi deaths.
(AP, 6/3/04)
2004 Jun 4, American and Shiite militia forces agreed to withdraw from the holy cities of Najaf and Kufa and turn over security to Iraqi police. 5 Americans were killed and 5 wounded in 3 clashes in Sadr City. US combat deaths reached 601.
(AP, 6/4/04)(SFC, 6/5/04, A1)
2004 Jun 5, In Iraq a roadside bomb killed an American soldier and wounded 3 others in the 2nd fatal attack on U.S. troops in Baghdad in as many days. Iraq's new leader called for a halt to attacks on foreign troops.
(AP, 6/5/04)
2004 Jun 5, In Iraq 8 people stormed into a police station south of Baghdad, opened fire and killed seven officers before planting explosives to destroy the building.
(AP, 6/6/04)
2004 Jun 6, A car bomb exploded near the gate to a U.S.-run base north of Baghdad, killing six people and injuring 20 others. Assailants ambushed a convoy of security contractors traveling to Baghdad's airport, killing 2 Americans and 2 Poles working for a U.S. security company. The US military free 320 prisoners at Abu Ghraib leaving some 3,100. Attacks over the last 24 hours killed at least 21 people.
(AP, 6/6/04)(SFC, 6/7/04, A10)
2004 Jun 7, In Iraq 9 militias agreed to disband in exchange for veteran’s pensions, jobs and other rewards. The Mahdi Army of al-Sadr was not included.
(SFC, 6/8/04, A6)
2004 Jun 8, Iraqi officials declared that the interim government has assumed full control of the country's oil industry.
(AP, 6/8/04)
2004 Jun 8, In Iraq 3 Italians and a Polish contractor who'd been abducted were freed by US special forces.
(AP, 6/8/05)
2004 Jun 8, In Iraq 2 car bombs exploded in Mosul and Baquoba, killing at least 14 Iraqis and one U.S. soldier. 6 coalition soldiers, two Poles, three Slovaks and a Latvian, were killed in an explosion while defusing mines in Suwayrah.
(AP, 6/8/04)
2004 Jun 8, The UN voted 15-0 to accept a US and British resolution to end the formal co-occupation of Iraq on June 30.
(SFC, 6/9/04, A1)
2004 Jun 9, Kurdish parties warned that they might bolt Iraq's new government if Shiites gain too much power. Saboteurs blew up an oil pipeline, forcing a 10 percent cut in electricity output.
(AP, 6/9/04)
2004 Jun 9, In Fallujah a mortar attack killed 12 members of the Iraqi security force.
(WSJ, 6/10/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 10, In Iraq Shiite gunmen seized a police station in Najaf. 4 Iraqis were killed and 13 were injured.
(AP, 6/10/04)
2004 Jun 11, In Iraq gunmen stormed a police station south of Baghdad, drove off the poorly armed police and blew up the building in the 4th such attack against Iraqi security installations over the last week.
(AP, 6/11/04)
2004 Jun 11, Al-Sharqiya (The Eastern), a privately owned TV operation, began broadcasting in Iraq. Founder Saad al-Bazzaz (54) invested $30 million in start-up costs.
(WSJ, 8/22/05, p.B1)
2004 Jun 12, In Iraq gunmen killed Bassam Salih Kubba, a deputy foreign minister as he went to work in Baghdad.
(AP, 6/12/04)
2004 Jun 12, A Lebanese Foreign Ministry official said Iraqi gunmen had kidnapped three Lebanese in Iraq and killed one of them.
(AP, 6/12/04)
2004 Jun 13, A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb near a U.S. military camp in Baghdad, killing at least 12 people, and wounding 13. Gunmen killed a senior Education Ministry official in the second assassination of a government figure in as many days.
(AP, 6/13/04)
2004 Jun 14, The US military released hundreds of prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison.
(AP, 6/14/04)
2004 Jun 14, A car bomb tore through a convoy in central Baghdad, killing at least 12 people, including an American and four other foreigners working to rebuild Iraq's power plants.
(AP, 6/14/04)
2004 Jun 14, The bodies of 6 Shiite truck drivers were found at a morgue in Ramadi, west of Fallujah. They had sought refuge in a police station but were handed over to a hard-line Sunni cleric because they were Shiites.
(AP, 6/15/04)
2004 Jun 15, Iraq's interim government received a boost when its neighbors welcomed the transfer of sovereignty in that country at the end of June. Two explosions on pipelines in southern Iraq shut down the main export terminal. At least 4 contract workers were killed in a convoy ambush near Baghdad Int’l. Airport.
(AP, 6/15/04)(SFC, 6/16/04, p.A18)
2004 Jun 16, Saboteurs blasted a southern pipeline for the 2nd time in as many days, shutting down Iraq's oil exports. Gunmen killed a security chief for the state-run Northern Oil Co.
(AP, 6/16/04)
2004 Jun 17, In Iraq 2 car bombings killed 41 people and wounding 142. A sport utility vehicle packed with artillery shells blew up in a crowd of people waiting to volunteer for the Iraqi military. Another car bomb north of the capital killed six members of the Iraqi security forces.
(AP, 6/17/04)(WSJ, 6/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 18, Insurgents clashed with U.S. forces northeast of Baghdad for the second time in as many days, and two of the militants were killed.
(AP, 6/18/04)
2004 Jun 19, A US military plane fired missiles into a residential neighborhood in Fallujah, killing 26 people and leveling houses. The target was a hideout of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network. 23 of the 26 killed were foreign terrorists. 3 Iraqis were among the dead.
(AP, 6/19/04)(SFC, 6/21/04, p.A7)
2004 Jun 20, In Iraq a roadside bomb exploded along a highway leading to Baghdad's airport, killing two Iraqi soldiers and wounding 11 others.
(AP, 6/20/04)
2004 Jun 20, The Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape purportedly from al-Qaida-linked militants showing Kim Sun Il (33), a South Korean hostage, begging for his life and pleading with his government to withdraw troops from Iraq.
(AP, 6/21/04)(SFC, 6/21/04, p.A7)
2004 Jun 20, Iraq resumed oil exports of about 1 million barrels a day through its southern Basra terminal after completing repairs to pipelines sabotaged by insurgents.
(AP, 6/21/04)
2004 Jun 21, In Iraq ambushes in Ramadi left 4 US soldiers dead. A roadside bomb south of Mosul killed 5 Iraqi contractors.
(SFC, 6/22/04, p.D1)
2004 Jun 22, Islamic militants beheaded a South Korean who pleaded in a heart-wrenching videotape that "I don't want to die" after his government refused to pull its troops from Iraq. Hours later, the United States launched an airstrike in Fallujah, where residents said the strike hit a parking lot. 3 people were killed and 9 wounded. Elsewhere 2 American soldiers were killed and one wounded in an attack on a convoy near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad. In 2006 it was reported that Spc. Patrick Ryan McCaffrey and 2nd Lt. Andre Demetrius Tyson had been killed by Iraqi soldiers patrolling alongside US soldiers near Balad.
(AP, 6/22/04)(SFC, 6/21/06, p.A1)
2004 Jun 23, In Iraq Polish forces purchased 17 rockets for a Soviet-era launcher and two mortar rounds containing the nerve agent cyclosarin for an undisclosed sum.
(AP, 7/2/04)
2004 Jun 24, Western advisers completed their handover Iraq’s remaining government ministries. The final 11 of 25 were handed over 6 days before the official end of coalition occupation.
(SFC, 6/25/04, p.A13)
2004 Jun 24, Insurgents launched coordinated attacks against police and government buildings across Iraq. The strikes killed over 105 people, including three American soldiers. In Mosul alone 4 car bombs killed 62 people.
(AP, 6/24/04)(SFC, 6/25/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 25, US air strikes hit Fallujah and up to 25 people were killed. Al-Sadr announced a unilateral cease fire.
(SFC, 6/26/04, p.A13)
2004 Jun 26, Insurgents launched attacks in the strife-ridden city of Baqouba, and nine people died, six of them insurgents. Attacks occurred in other cities north and south of Baghdad.
(AP, 6/26/04)
2004 Jun 26, In Iraq explosions that rocked the center of the predominantly Shiite Muslim city of Hillah killed 40 people and injured 22.
(AP, 6/27/04)
2004 Jun 27, Insurgents threatened to behead Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, a U.S. Marine who'd vanished in Iraq, in a videotape that aired on Arab television. However, Hassoun contacted American officials in his native Lebanon the following month; after being reunited with his family in Utah, Hassoun disappeared in December.
(AP, 6/27/05)
2004 Jun 28, The U.S.-led coalition in a surprise move, transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days early.
(AP, 6/28/04)
2004 Jun 28, NATO leaders agreed to help train Iraq's armed forces just hours after the new government in Baghdad took over sovereignty from the U.S.-led administration.
(AP, 6/28/04)
2004 Jun 30, The Iraqis took legal custody of Saddam Hussein and 11 of his top lieutenants, a first step toward the ousted dictator's expected trial for crimes against humanity.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2004 Jul 1, A defiant Saddam Hussein rejected charges of war crimes and genocide in a court appearance, telling a judge "this is all theater, the real criminal is Bush."
(AP, 7/1/04)
2004 Jul 1, In Iraq US jets pounded a suspected safehouse of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Fallujah.
(AP, 7/1/04)
2004 Jul 3, Insurgents attacked an Iraqi checkpoint south of the capital, killing five national guard soldiers and wounding five more.
(AP, 7/3/04)
2004 Jul 4, The Army's 1st Armored Division stowed its flags and prepared to head home after the longest tour in Iraq of any American combat command — 15 months.
(AP, 7/4/04)
2004 Jul 5, US-led coalition forces launched an air strike in the restive city of Fallujah on a suspected safe house used by followers of al-Zarqawi. The attack killed 15 people.
(AP, 7/6/04)
2004 Jul 5, Rwaida Al Shemre (33), an Iraqi interpreter for the US 3rd Batalion, was assassinated as she was driven to work.
(SSFC, 8/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 6, A group of armed, masked Iraqi men threatened to kill Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi if he did not immediately leave the country, accusing him of murdering innocent Iraqis and defiling the Muslim religion.
(AP, 7/6/04)
2004 Jul 6, In Iraq a car bomb exploded in the town of Khalis, killing 13 people attending a wake for the victims of a previous attack.
(AP, 7/6/04)
2004 Jul 7, The Iraqi government issued a long-anticipated package of security laws to help crush insurgents, including a provision allowing interim PM Iyad Allawi to impose martial law. 4 Iraqi National Guard soldiers were killed and 20 injured from a gunbattle in central Baghdad.
(AP, 7/7/04)(SFC, 7/8/04, p.A15)
2004 Jul 8, In Iraq insurgents hit a military compound in Samarra with a car bomb and mortar fire. 5 US soldiers were killed and 20 wounded.
(SFC, 7/9/04, p.A14)
2004 Jul 9, In Baghdad, Iraq, 2 mortar shells targeting a hotel housing foreigners in the capital hit a house instead, killing a child and wounding three others.
(AP, 7/9/04)
2004 Jul 9, Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun (24) arrived in Germany from Lebanon, where he had turned up at the US Embassy in Beirut a day earlier. He had been missing since June 20 from his base near the troubled Iraqi city of Fallujah. The Pentagon announced that Hassoun would be charged with desertion, larceny and wrongful disposition of military property in connection with his service-issued M9 pistol that disappeared with him and never turned up. On January 4, 2005, he was again labeled a deserter after failing to return to his base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina from authorized leave. He was reportedly in Lebanon.
(AP, 7/10/04)(SFC, 7/9/04, p.A1)(www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/01/05/hassoun.case/index.html)
2004 Jul 10, In Iraq US Marines clashed with insurgents in Ramadi, a city known as a stronghold of Saddam Hussein supporters, killing 3 of the attackers and wounding 5 others. Saboteurs attacked a natural gas pipeline that feeds into a northern power station.
(AP, 7/10/04)
2004 Jul 10, Four U.S. Marines were killed in a vehicle accident while conducting security operations in Anbar, an area of western Iraq.
(AP, 7/11/04)
2004 Jul 11, Insurgents ambushed 2 US military patrols north of Baghdad and killed 3 US soldiers and an Iraqi civilian.
(AP, 7/11/04)(SSFC, 7/11/04, p.A8)
2004 Jul 11, Gunmen killed the head of a regional office of one Iraq's largest Shiite parties in a drive-by shooting south of the capital.
(AP, 7/12/04)
2004 Jul 12, Iraqi police in Baghdad jailed over 500 criminal suspects in a large anti-crime offensive. 1 suspect was killed in the crime-ridden Bab al-Sheikh neighborhood.
(USAT, 7/4/04, p.5A)
2004 Jul 13, American troops in Afghanistan numbered about 17,000 with some 140,000 serving in Iraq.
(WSJ, 7/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 14, In Iraq a suicide attacker detonated a massive car bomb at a checkpoint near the British Embassy and the interim government's headquarters in Baghdad, killing 11 people.
(SFC, 7/14/04, p.A12)(AP, 7/14/05)
2004 Jul 14, Militants in Iraq said they killed a captive Bulgarian truck driver and threatened to put another hostage to death in 24 hours.
(AP, 7/14/04)
2004 Jul 14, Gov. Osama Youssef Kashmoula, a university professor, was gunned down as his convoy traveled to Baghdad for meetings with police officials on improving security.
(AP, 7/15/04)
2004 Jul 14, Mortar fire destroyed a cigarette filter factory in Baghdad putting some 1,200 Iraqis out of work.
(SFC, 7/22/04, p.A13)
2004 Jul 15, In Iraq attackers detonated a car bomb near police and government buildings in the western city of Haditha, killing 10 people. PM Alawi announced the formation of a new national security agency to fight the insurgency.
(AP, 7/15/04)(SFC, 7/16/04, p.A12)
2004 Jul 17, A car bomb struck the Iraqi justice minister's convoy as it passed through western Baghdad, killing four of his bodyguards. The minister was unhurt in the blast. A roadside bomb hit a U.S. convoy, killing one U.S. soldier.
(AP, 7/17/04)
2004 Jul 18, Militants killed Essam al-Dijaili, the head of Iraq’s military's supply department, in a drive-by shooting as he walked into his house in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 18, American jets hit a position in Fallujah purportedly used by foreign militants, demolishing a house and killing 14 people.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Jul 19, Iraq announced the appointment of 43 new ambassadors in its first move to re-engage with the world.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 19, An Egyptian truck driver held hostage for two weeks by insurgents in Iraq was freed and taken to the Egyptian Embassy.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 19, A suicide bomber in a fuel truck blew it up at a police station in southwest Baghdad, killing nine people and wounding about 60.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 19, The Philippines said that it has completed the withdrawal of its peacekeeping contingent from Iraq.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 20, A Filipino truck driver held hostage in Iraq for nearly two weeks was freed, a day after his nation withdrew its final peacekeepers from Iraq.
(AP, 7/20/04)
2004 Jul 20, A bomb attack on an Iraqi minibus killed four civilians and injured two others near Baqouba.
(AP, 7/20/04)
2004 Jul 21, Insurgents in Iraq said they have kidnapped 6 more foreign hostages, 3 Indians, 2 Kenyans and an Egyptian. They threatened to behead one every 72 hours unless their employer shuts down operations in Iraq.
(SFC, 7/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 21, Fighting between US troops and insurgents in Ramadi left 25 Iraqis dead and 17 wounded. A decapitated corpse was found in Baiji.
(SFC, 7/23/04, p.A3)
2004 Jul 22, It was reported that over 200 doctors had been kidnapped in Iraq since the end of the war and that an estimated 10-30 kidnappings take place every day, mostly in Baghdad.
(WSJ, 7/22/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 23, Gunmen in Mosul attacked a retired Iraqi general as he headed to a mosque to pray, killing him and another man. Maj. Gen. Salim Majeed Blesh (58) had worked for the former U.S. occupation government.
(AP, 7/23/04)
2004 Jul 23, Iraqi insurgents in Baghdad kidnapped Muhammad Mamdouh Qutb, a 3rd ranking official of the Egyptian Embassy, demanding his country abandon any plans it had to send security experts to Iraq.
(SFC, 7/24/04, p.A13)(AP, 7/23/05)
2004 Jul 23, A van carrying Iraqi civilians collided with a U.S. tank near Baghdad, killing nine people and injuring 10.
(AP, 7/23/04)
2004 Jul 24, Gunmen kidnapped the head of an Iraqi government-owned construction company in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/24/04)
2004 Jul 25, American and Iraqi forces clashed with insurgents in a battle that escalated from gunfire to artillery barrages north of Baghdad, killing 13 Iraqi militants.
(AP, 7/25/04)
2004 Jul 25, Gunmen killed Brig. Khaled Dawoud, a former regional official who worked under Saddam Hussein's government, and his son in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/25/04)
2004 Jul 26, Al-Qaida-linked Islamic militants threatened to "shake the earth" everywhere in Italy if Rome does not withdraw troops from Iraq. The Internet statement, attributed to the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, was the 2nd such threat against the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in two weeks.
(AP, 7/26/04)
2004 Jul 26, A suicide car bomber attacked near a U.S. base in the northern city of Mosul, killing three Iraqis. Assassins gunned down a senior Interior Ministry official and militants said they kidnapped two Jordanian truck drivers in spiraling violence in Iraq. Basra gunmen shot 2 women dead and wounded 3 who were on their way to cleaning jobs at Bechtel.
(AP, 7/26/04)(WSJ, 7/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 26, Attackers shot and killed Col. Musab al-Awadi, the ministry's deputy chief of tribal affairs, and 2 of his bodyguards in a drive-by shooting at the official's Baghdad home.
(AP, 7/26/04)
2004 Jul 26, An Egyptian diplomat held hostage by militants in Iraq for three days was released and was in good condition.
(AP, 7/26/04)
2004 Jul 27, A Baghdad mortar barrage killed an Iraqi garbage collector and injured 14 coalition soldiers.
(AP, 7/27/04)
2004 Jul 27, The chief executive of a Jordanian firm working for the U.S. military in Iraq said he was withdrawing from the country to secure the release of two employees who have been kidnapped by militants.
(AP, 7/27/04)
2004 Jul 28, A suicide car bomb exploded on a downtown boulevard in Baqouba, shredding a bus full of passengers and nearby shops and killing 70 people, almost all Iraqi civilians.
(AP, 7/28/05)
2004 Jul 28, A fierce battle between insurgents and Iraqi soldiers fighting alongside multinational forces in the south-central city of Suwariyah left 7 Iraqi soldiers and 35 insurgents dead.
(AP, 7/28/04)
2004 Jul 29, Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi met with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Saudi Arabia and urged Muslim nations to dispatch troops to Iraq to help defeat an insurgency that he said threatens all Islamic countries.
(AP, 7/29/04)(WSJ, 7/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 30, In Iraq fierce overnight fighting between U.S. Marines backed by fighter aircraft and insurgents using small arms and mortars killed 13 Iraqis in Fallujah overnight.
(AP, 7/30/04)
2004 Jul 31, Gunmen killed the head of a state-run teacher's institute as he left a mosque after prayers, an attack in apparent retribution for his refusal to stop working for Iraqi authorities.
(AP, 7/31/04)
2004 Aug 1, A roadside bombing near the town of Samarra killed one U.S. soldier and wounded two others. A car bomb exploded outside a police station in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing at least five people and injuring 53 others. The blast followed a night of clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents that killed 12 Iraqis and wounded 39 others in Fallujah. Car bombings in Baghdad targeted at 4 churches and at least 11 people including 2 children were killed.
(AP, 8/1/04)(SFC, 8/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 1, A militant group claiming links to al Qaeda has given Italy a 15-day deadline to withdraw its troops from Iraq or face attacks.
(AP, 8/1/04)
2004 Aug 1, A Kenyan government spokesman said 7 truck drivers taken hostage in Iraq have been released.
(AP, 8/1/04)
2004 Aug 1, A Lebanese hostage was freed unharmed after Iraqi police raided his kidnappers' hideout in an operation that ended with the arrest of three terror suspects.
(AP, 8/2/04)
2004 Aug 2, Masked gunmen killed a Turkish hostage with three gunshots to the head, according to a video posted on the Internet, and the Turkish truckers' union said it would stop bringing supplies to U.S. forces in Iraq. A car bomb in Baquba killed at least 3 Iraqi national guardsmen. 6 American service members were reported killed over the last 24 hours.
(AP, 8/2/04)(SFC, 8/4/04, p.A3)
2004 Aug 3, Fierce gunbattles broke out between Iraqi police and dozens of masked militants roaming the northern city of Mosul, killing 12 Iraqis and wounding 26 others.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2004 Aug 4, Fighting between insurgents and Iraqi security forces in Mosul left at least 22 dead. At least 14 of the dead were civilians.
(SFC, 8/5/04, p.A12)
2004 Aug 5, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on his supporters to rise against US-led security forces. Fighting quickly spread to other Shiite areas, threatening a shaky two-month-old truce. Insurgents blew up a bomb in a minibus and opened fire on a crowd outside a police station south of Baghdad, killing at least five people and wounding 21
(AP, 8/5/04)(SFC, 8/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 6, Abdul Karim Rawi, gov. of Iraq’s Anbar province, resigned under pressure from insurgents who had kidnapped his 3 sons.
(SFC, 8/7/04, p.A13)
2004 Aug 6, There was intense fighting in Najaf. The U.S. military said 300 militants were killed in the past two days. Assailants in Iraq killed 3 US servicemen, one in the capital and two in the south.
(AP, 8/6/04)(AP, 8/7/04)
2004 Aug 7, Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi signed a long-awaited amnesty law that would pardon Iraqis who have played minor roles in the country's 15-month-long insurgency. The Iraqi government closed the Iraqi offices of the Arab television station Al-Jazeera for 30 days, accusing it of inciting violence.
(AP, 8/7/04)
2004 Aug 7, Clashes between US-led forces and fighters loyal to al-Sadr continued for a 3rd day in Najaf and Sadr City. 23 civilians were killed and 121 wounded in the day’s fighting.
(SSFC, 8/8/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 8, Iraq reinstated capital punishment for people guilty of murder, endangering national security and distributing drugs.
(AP, 8/8/04)
2004 Aug 8, Iraq's chief investigating judge said Ahmad Chalabi, a former Governing Council member with strong U.S. ties, was wanted in Iraq on counterfeiting charges, while Salem Chalabi, head of the special tribunal in charge of trying Saddam, faced an arrest warrant for murder.
(AP, 8/9/04)
2004 Aug 8, Militants in Iraq said they had taken a top Iranian diplomat hostage. Faridoun Jihani was identified as the "consul for the Islamic Republic of Iran in Karbala."
(AP, 8/8/04)
2004 Aug 9, Al Sadr, whose loyalists battled U.S. troops for a fifth straight day, vowed to fight to the death. A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb northeast of Baghdad, killing six people and wounding the deputy governor who was the intended target.
(AP, 8/9/04)
2004 Aug 9, Four masked, black-clad men who said they belong to a group that has claimed responsibility for kidnappings and killings in Iraq beheaded a man identified only as a Bulgarian in a video posted on the Internet.
(AP, 8/9/04)
2004 Aug 11, Ahmad Chalabi, former Iraqi Governing Council member who fell out of favor with the United States, returned to Iraq to face counterfeiting charges, but was never arrested. Charges were later dropped citing lack of evidence. Chalabi regained enough credibility to be made deputy prime minister on April 28, 2005. At the same time he was made acting oil minister. Since then he has thrived in becoming invaluable to the Iraqi government.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Chalabi#Falling_out_with_the_U.S..2C_2004-5)(AP, 8/11/04)
2004 Aug 11, An Islamic Web site carried a videotape that appeared to show militants in Iraq beheading a man identified as a CIA agent. The authenticity of the videotape could not be verified immediately.
(AP, 8/11/04)
2004 Aug 11, U.S. jet fighters bombed the turbulent city of Fallujah, killing four people and injuring four others.
(AP, 8/11/04)
2004 Aug 12, In Najaf thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers launched a major assault on militiamen loyal to a radical Shiite cleric al-Sadr. Fighting in Kut left 72 dead.
(AP, 8/12/04)(WSJ, 8/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 12, The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution extending the U.N. mission in Iraq for a year.
(AP, 8/12/04)
2004 Aug 12, The Iraqi soccer team defeated Portugal in a preliminary match outside Athens.
(SFC, 8/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 13, Iraqi officials and aides to a radical Shiite cleric negotiated to end fighting that has raged in the holy city of Najaf for 9 days, after American forces suspended an offensive against Muqtada al-Sadr's militia.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 13, An Islamic Web site posted still pictures that purportedly show Iraqi militants beheading an Egyptian man they claim was spying for the U.S. military.
(AP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 14, Truce talks between Shiite militants and Iraqi officials broke down, raising the prospect of a return to the fierce fighting between militiamen and U.S-Iraqi forces.
(AP, 8/14/04)
2004 Aug 14, U.S. warplanes bombed the Sunni city of Samarrah. Iraqi hospital officials said several people died, while the U.S. military said 50 militants were killed.
(AP, 8/14/04)
2004 Aug 15, In Iraq hundreds of delegates from across Iraq gathered in Baghdad at a three-day national conference intended to bring a taste of democratic debate.
(AP, 8/15/04)
2004 Aug 15, US armored vehicles and tanks rolled back into the streets of Najaf and troops battled Shiite militants in a resumption of fighting after the collapse of negotiations. 2 US soldiers were killed in Najaf when troops came under attack by militiamen loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
(AP, 8/15/04)(AP, 8/16/04)
2004 Aug 18, Iraq's new air force took to the skies for the 1st time since the 2003 US invasion. The limited operations were intended to protect infrastructure facilities and borders.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2004 Aug 18, In Iraq a rocket slammed into a busy market in the northern city of Mosul, killing at least five civilians. U.S. forces clashed with insurgents southeast of Baghdad in fighting that left up to five civilians dead.
(AP, 8/18/04)
2004 Aug 19, In Iraq PM Allawi gave what he said was a final warning to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to disarm and the leave the holy shrine in Najaf.
(SFC, 8/20/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 20, A bioethicist charged in The Lancet medical journal charged that doctors working for the U.S. military in Iraq collaborated with interrogators in the abuse of detainees at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, profoundly breaching medical ethics and human rights.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2004 Aug 20, Freelance French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot were kidnapped in an area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death." They were eventually released by the Islamic Army and returned home to Paris in December that same year.
(AFP, 9/22/10)
2004 Aug 21, Iraq celebrated their national soccer team's startling 1-0 victory over Australia in the Olympic quarterfinal.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2004 Aug 21, In Najaf, Iraq, militants loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr kept their hold on a revered shrine, and clashes flared.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2004 Aug 22, U.S. warplanes bombed Najaf's Old City and gunfire rattled amid fears a plan to end the standoff with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr could. A car bomb exploded north of Baghdad, killing two people and injuring four others, including a deputy provincial governor.
(AP, 8/22/04)
2004 Aug 22, Attackers killed one Turkish citizen and two Iraqis on a road north of Baghdad.
(AP, 8/23/04)
2004 Aug 24, In Iraq a car bomb killed at least 2 people in Baghdad. In Najaf US forces intensified fighting against rebels loyal to al-Sadr.
(SFC, 8/24/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 25, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani returned to Iraq from a hospital stay in London and called for a mass demonstration to end the fighting in Najaf.
(SFC, 8/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 25, Militants said they had kidnapped the brother-in-law of Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan and demanded he end all military operations in the holy city of Najaf.
(AP, 8/26/04)
2004 Aug 25, Saboteurs attacked about 20 oil pipelines in southern Iraq, reducing exports from the key oil producing region by at least one third.
(AP, 8/26/04)
2004 Aug 26, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani arranged a peace pact with Muqtada al-Sadr. The 5-point plan called for Kufa and Najaf to be declared weapons-free.
(SFC, 8/27/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 8/27/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 26, A mortar barrage hit a mosque in Kufa filled with Iraqis preparing to join a march in Najaf by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, killing 27 people and wounding 63.
(AP, 8/26/04)
2004 Aug 26, The Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera reported it had received a video that appeared to show the killing of Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni (56).
(AP, 8/27/04)
2004 Aug 27, Al-Sadr's followers handed over the keys to the Imam Ali Shrine to religious authorities loyal to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Militants, who had been holed up in the site, left it after Iraq's top Shiite cleric brokered a peace deal to end three weeks of fighting. Iraqi police discovered about 10 bodies in a maverick religious court run by rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's followers.
(AP, 8/27/04)
2004 Aug 27, In Iraq saboteurs hit a pipeline that runs within the West Qurna oilfields, 90 miles north of the southern city of Basra.
(AP, 8/28/04)
2004 Aug 28, Shiite militants and U.S. forces battled in the Baghdad's Sadr City slum and a mortar barrage slammed into a busy eastern neighborhood in a new round of violence in the capital that left 10 people dead and dozens wounded. U.S. warplanes carried out airstrikes for the second straight day in the city of Fallujah.
(AP, 8/28/04)(AP, 8/29/04)
2004 Aug 29, Saboteurs blew up a pipeline in southern Iraq in the latest attack. Al-Sadr called on his followers to lay down arms and get involved in politics.
(AP, 8/29/04)(WSJ, 8/31/04, p.A1)
2004 Aug 29, Muslim leaders in France condemned the kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq and said the government should not capitulate to militant demands to revoke a law that bans the wearing of Islamic head scarves in schools.
(AP, 8/29/04)
2004 Aug 30, Rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for his followers across Iraq to end fighting against U.S. and Iraqi forces and is considering joining the political process.
(AP, 8/30/04)
2004 Aug 31, A video purporting to show the methodical, grisly killings of 12 Nepalese construction workers kidnapped in Iraq was posted on a Web site linked to a militant group operating in Iraq.
(AP, 8/31/04)
2004 Aug 31, In northern Iraq Ibrahim Ismael, head of Kirkuk’s education department, was killed in a drive-by shooting as he drove to work.
(AP, 8/31/04)
2004 Sep 1, In Fallujah, Iraq, US bombing reportedly killed 17 people.
(WSJ, 9/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 1, Militants in Iraq freed seven employees of a Kuwaiti trucking firm after their employer paid $500,000 in ransom.
(AP, 9/1/05)
2004 Sep 2, Kidnappers handed over two French journalists in Iraq to an Iraqi Sunni Muslim opposition group. A militant group in Iraq said it had killed three Turkish captives. Gunmen ambushed an Associated Press driver, riddling his car with bullets and killing him near his home in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/2/04)
2004 Sep 4, Insurgents clashed with American and Iraqi troops in northern Iraq, and local officials said eight Iraqis were killed and more than 50 wounded. A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside a police academy in the northern city of Kirkuk as hundreds of trainees and civilians were leaving for the day, killing 17 people and wounding 36. Saboteurs blew up an oil pipeline in southern Iraq.
(AP, 9/4/04)(SSFC, 9/5/04, p.A3)
2004 Sep 5, Iraqi forces reportedly captured Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the King of Clubs and most wanted member of Saddam Hussein's ousted dictatorship. DNA evidence revealed that the suspect was only a cousin of al-Douri. An ensuing battle left as many as 70 people dead. A mortar attack killed 2 US soldiers.
(AP, 9/5/04)(SFC, 9/6/04, p.A3)
2004 Sep 5, A Turkish company said it was withdrawing from Iraq a day after Iraqi militants threatened to behead its employee unless it ceased operations there.
(AP, 9/5/04)
2004 Sep 6, An apparent suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed vehicle on the outskirts of Fallujah, killing seven U.S. Marines and three Iraqi national guardsmen.
(AP, 9/6/04)
2004 Sep 7, US forces battled insurgents loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, in clashes that killed 34 people, including one American soldier. The US death toll in Iraq topped 1,000 since military operation began in March 2003. In private estimates Iraqi deaths ranged from 10,000 to 30,000 killed across the nation.
(AP, 9/7/04)(SFC, 9/8/04, p.A1)(AP, 9/9/04)
2004 Sep 7, An Italian aid organization said that two Italian women were kidnapped from its office in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/7/04)
2004 Sep 8, US warplanes launched strikes in the insurgent-held city of Fallujah, hitting at suspected militant hideouts used to plan attacks on American forces. At least 2 people were killed.
(AP, 9/8/04)
2004 Sep 8, Insurgents kidnapped the family of an Iraqi National Guard officer and set fire to his home northeast of the capital.
(AP, 9/11/04)
2004 Sep 9, US jets pounded the rebel stronghold of Fallujah, and American and Iraqi forces entered the central city of Samarra for the first time in months to try to reseat the city council and regain control. US and Iraqi security forces launched attacks to flush out insurgents in northern Iraq, killing 12 people
(AP, 9/9/04)
2004 Sep 10, Two Lebanese men were shot dead in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/10/04)
2004 Sep 11, In Iraq US Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class David A. Cedergren (25) of South St. Paul, Minn., died of electrocution while showering. As of 2009 his death was one of among 18 electrocution deaths, 16 US service members and two military contractors, under review as part of a Department of Defense Inspector General inquiry.
(AP, 2/2/09)
2004 Sep 12, Militants pounded central Baghdad with intense mortar barrages, targeting the Green Zone and destroying a U.S. vehicle along a major street. At least 25 people were killed, including an Arab television journalist, some of them when a US helicopter fired at crowds around the burning vehicle. The death toll across Iraq reached 59.
(AP, 9/12/04)(SFC, 9/13/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 12, Three Polish soldiers were killed in Iraq when they were attacked with grenades and machine-gun fire as they returned to their base from a demining operation.
(AP, 9/12/04)
2004 Sep 13, US warplanes pounded a suspected hideout of al-Qaida-linked militants in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, killing 20 people including women and children.
(AP, 9/13/04)(SFC, 9/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 13, Two Australians and two East Asians have been kidnapped in Iraq, said a statement purportedly from the Islamic Secret Army handed out in the Sunni Muslim insurgent bastion of Samarra. A video posted on a Web site in the name of the militants purportedly showed the beheading of a kidnapped Turkish truck driver.
(AP, 9/13/04)(AP, 9/13/05)
2004 Sep 14, A car bomb ripped through a busy market near a Baghdad police headquarters where Iraqis were waiting to apply for jobs on the force killing 47 and wounding 114. Gunmen opened fire on a van carrying police home from work in Baqouba, killing 12 people.
(AP, 9/14/04)(SFC, 9/15/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 14, Saboteurs blew up a junction where multiple oil pipelines cross the Tigris River in northern Iraq, setting off a chain reaction in power generation systems that left the entire country without power.
(AP, 9/14/04)
2004 Sep 15, Security forces discovered three beheaded bodies on a road north of Baghdad, and a car bomb exploded in a town south of the capital, killing two people.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 15, Pres. Bush requested shifting $3.46 billion in reconstruction money for Iraq to security.
(WSJ, 9/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 16, Gunmen abducted two Americans and a Briton, Kenneth Bigley (62), in a brazen attack on a house in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood. The US military said it killed 60 in Fallujah and Ramadi strikes. The number of foreigners kidnapped during the Iraq insurgency reached at least 100. All 3 were beheaded. Bigley’s decapitation was confirmed on Oct 10, 2004.
(AP, 9/16/04)(WSJ, 9/17/04, p.A1)(AP, 9/16/05)(AP, 4/22/06)
2004 Sep 17, A suicide car bomber slammed into a line of police cars sealing off a Baghdad neighborhood as American troops rounded up dozens of suspected militants, capping a day of violence across Iraq that left at least 53 dead. Sheikh Abu Anas al-Shami, a spiritual leader of a group of militants, was killed when a missile hit the car in which he was traveling.
(AP, 9/17/04)(SFC, 9/18/04, p.A1)(SFC, 9/23/04, p.A18)
2004 Sep 18, Militants threatened to decapitate two Americans and a Briton being held hostage unless their demands were met within 48 hours. In Kirkuk a car bomb near a crowd of recruits killed 19 people and wounded 67.
(AP, 9/18/04)(SSFC, 9/19/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 19, A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb near a joint U.S.-Iraqi checkpoint, killing 3 people and wounding 7, including four U.S. soldiers in the northern city of Samarra. US warplanes and artillery pounded the guerrilla stronghold of Fallujah. A militant group posted a video showing the beheading of 3 Kurdish hostages.
(AP, 9/19/04)(SFC, 9/20/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 20, A car bomb exploded in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, killing three people. Gunmen killed a Sunni Muslim cleric as he entered a mosque in Baghdad to perform noon prayers. At least two people were killed and three wounded in explosions that rocked the rebel-held city of Fallujah. An Islamic group posted a video showing the beheading of US contract employee Eugene Armstrong.
(AP, 9/20/04)(SFC, 9/21/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 21, A posting on an Islamic Web site claimed that the al-Qaida-linked group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has slain US hostage Jack Hensley.
(AP, 9/21/04)(WSJ, 9/23/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 21, A Turkish construction company announced that it was halting operations in neighboring Iraq in a bid to save the lives of 10 employees kidnapped by militants.
(AP, 9/21/04)
2004 Sep 22, In Iraq kidnappers seized 4 Egyptians and four Iraqis working for the country's mobile phone company.
(AP, 9/24/04)
2004 Sep 22, Suicide attackers detonated a car bomb near an Iraqi National Guard recruiting center in west Baghdad, killing at least six people and injuring 54. US aircraft and tanks attacked Shiite militia positions in fierce fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, killing 10 people and injuring 92 others.
(AP, 9/22/04)
2004 Sep 23, President Bush denied painting too rosy a picture about Iraq, and said he would consider sending more troops if asked; Iraq's interim leader, Ayad Allawi, standing with Bush in the White House Rose Garden, said additional troops weren't needed. Allawi declared that his country is succeeding in its effort to move past the war that ousted Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 9/23/04)(AP, 9/23/05)
2004 Sep 23, US warplanes fired on insurgent targets in the east Baghdad slum of Sadr City. Iraqi doctors said one person was killed and 12 were injured, many of them children. Gunmen in Mosul killed a senior official of Iraq's North Oil Co.
(AP, 9/23/04)
2004 Sep 23, A militant group falsely claimed in a Web posting that two Italian women taken hostage in Iraq had been killed. [see Sep 28]
(AP, 9/23/04)
2004 Sep 23, In Iraq kidnappers seized 2 more Egyptian construction engineers working for the country's mobile phone company.
(AP, 9/24/04)(SFC, 9/25/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 24, Iraq's interim PM Ayad Allawi appealed to world leaders at the UN General Assembly to unite behind his country's effort to rein in spiraling violence, lighten the foreign debt and improve security ahead of the January elections. PM Allawi and President Bush declared that Iraq is on the road to stability, with the Iraqi leader saying elections would be possible in all but 3-4 of Iraq's 18 provinces.
(AP, 9/24/04)(AP, 9/24/05)
2004 Sep 25, A film about Iraqi children victims of war "Turtles can fly" directed by Iranian Bahman Ghobadi won the Concha de Oro (Golden Shell) at the prestigious San Sebastian film festival.
(AFP, 9/25/04)
2004 Sep 25, US warplanes, tanks and artillery units struck the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, killing at least 8 people and wounding 15. The US military announced the deaths of four Marines and a soldier. Five mortar shells struck the Iraqi Oil Ministry headquarters in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/25/04)
2004 Sep 25, An Internet posting claimed that an al-Qaida-linked group has killed British hostage Kenneth Bigley.
(AP, 9/25/04)
2004 Sep 26, Suicide attackers detonated a pair of car bombs outside an Iraqi National Guard compound west of the capital, wounding American and Iraqi forces. A rocket hit a busy Baghdad neighborhood, killing at least one person and wounding eight.
(AP, 9/26/04)
2004 Sep 27, U.S. jets pounded suspected Shiite militant positions in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, killing at least five people and wounding 40. Elsewhere, insurgents detonated car bombs and fired rockets, killing at least 7 National Guardsmen, in separate attacks.
(AP, 9/27/04)(WSJ, 9/28/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 28, In Iraq kidnappers released two female Italian aid workers and five other hostages. A $1 million ransom was alleged. In 2005 it was reported that Italy's Red Cross treated four Iraqi insurgents and hid them from U.S. forces in exchange for the freedom of two Italian aid workers kidnapped in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/28/04)(WSJ, 9/30/04, p.A1)(AP, 8/25/05)
2004 Sep 29, A video surfaced showing Kenneth Bigley, a British hostage held by Iraqi militants, pleading for help between the bars of a makeshift cage. Bigley was later killed.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2004 Sep 30, Three bombs exploded at a neighborhood celebration in western Baghdad, killing 35 children and seven adults as US troops handed out candy at a government-sponsored celebration. Hours earlier, a suicide car bomb killed a U.S. soldier and two Iraqis on the capital's outskirts. Across Iraq insurgent attacks left 51 dead.
(WSJ, 10/1/04, p.A1)(AP, 9/30/05)
2004 Sep 30, The Arab news network Al-Jazeera showed video of 10 new hostages seized in Iraq by militants.
(AP, 9/30/04)
2004 Sep, Iraq’s 1st irregular brigade, the Special Police Commandos, was founded by Gen. Adnan Thavit (63), uncle of Iraq’s interim interior minister. Other brigades soon followed.
(WSJ, 2/16/05, p.A12)
2004 Oct 1, U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a major assault to regain control of the insurgent stronghold of Samarra, trading gunfire with rebel fighters as they pushed toward the city center. The US said over 100 insurgents were killed.
(AP, 10/1/04)(SFC, 10/2/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 1, In Iraq hospital officials said at least seven civilians were killed and 13 wounded during a US bombing attack in Falluja.
(AP, 10/2/04)
2004 Oct 2, A militant group in Iraq claimed in an Internet statement that it abducted and beheaded an Iraqi construction contractor who worked on a U.S. military base.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 2, About 100,000 Kurds demonstrated outside provincial government offices, demanding that the turbulent, oil hub of Kirkuk be made part of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
(AP, 10/2/04)
2004 Oct 3, Iraqi security forces and U.S. troops claimed success in wresting control of Samarra from Sunni insurgents in fierce fighting.
(AP, 10/3/04)
2004 Oct 3, National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, interviewed on ABC's "This Week" program, defended her characterization of Saddam Hussein's nuclear capabilities in the months before the Iraq invasion.
(AP, 10/3/05)
2004 Oct 4, Insurgents unleashed a pair of powerful car bombs near the symbol of U.S. authority in Iraq, the Green Zone, where the U.S. Embassy and key government offices are located as well as hotels occupied by hundreds of foreigners. Two other explosions brought the day's bombing toll to at least 26 dead and more than 100 wounded.
(AP, 10/4/04)(SFC, 10/5/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 5, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said negotiators hammered out the basis for an agreement to end fighting with followers of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. 2 car bombs exploded in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, killing four Iraqis and prompting clashes between U.S. troops and gunmen. 10 Iraqi policemen, including a lieutenant colonel, were killed in two separate attacks south of Baghdad
(AP, 10/5/04)
2004 Oct 6, Followers of renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have agreed to a cease-fire with Iraq's interim government aimed at ending weeks of fighting in the vast Baghdad slum of Sadr City.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 6, Charles Duelfer, the chief U.S. weapons hunter, reported that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programs had deteriorated into only hopes and dreams by the time of the U.S.-led invasion last year.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 6, A car bomb exploded at an Iraqi military camp northwest of Baghdad, killing 10 Iraqis and wounding more than 20.
(AP, 10/6/04)
2004 Oct 7, US authorities, meanwhile, raised the security alert in the heavily guarded Green Zone after an improvised bomb was found in front of a restaurant there. 2 American soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in separate attacks involving roadside bombs.
(AP, 10/7/04)
2004 Oct 8, In Iraq kidnappers displayed a video of the beheading of British hostage Kenneth Bigley (62) following an unsuccessful escape attempt.
(AP, 10/8/04)(SFC, 10/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 8, American warplanes struck a building where the U.S. command said leaders of al-Zarqawi's network were meeting. Residents said the house was full of people who had gathered for a wedding. The attack killed 13 people, including the groom.
(AP, 10/8/04)
2004 Oct 9, Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said they will begin handing weapons over to Iraqi police next week.
(AP, 10/9/04)
2004 Oct 10, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited Iraq. In Baghdad 2 car bombs shook the capital in quick succession, killing at least 11 people, including an American soldier, and wounding 16.
(AP, 10/10/04)(WSJ, 10/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 10, Iraq's Ministry of Science and Technology told the UN nuclear agency that 377 tons of explosives had disappeared from the Al-Qaqaa facility. The Iraqis say the materials were stolen after the April 9, 2003, fall of Baghdad because of a lack of security.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 11, In Iraq followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr trickled in to police stations in Baghdad's Sadr City district to hand in weapons. Two soldiers from Task Force Baghdad were killed and five wounded in a rocket attack in southern Baghdad.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 11, An Arabic language television station broadcast video showing three hooded gunmen threatening to behead a Turkish hostage within three days unless the Americans release all Iraqi prisoners and all Turks leave Iraq.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 12, A videotape surfaced on the Internet showing what was said to be the confession and beheading of an Arab Shiite Muslim, presumably Iraqi, who was accused of serving the U.S. Army by "assassinating Sunni leaders." US warplanes hit Fallujah and knocked out the celebrated Haji Hussein kebab restaurant killing the owner’s son and nephew.
(AP, 10/12/04)(SFC, 10/13/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 13, In Iraq roadside bombings killed 4 American soldiers in Baghdad.
(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 14, Insurgents struck deep inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, setting off bombs at a market and a popular cafe that killed at least 10 people, including four Americans.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 14, In Iraq up to 19 members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company were detained for refusing to deliver fuel under conditions that they deemed unsafe.
(SFC, 10/16/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 14, Video that appeared on an Islamic Web site showed militants in Iraq beheading a man identified as a kidnapped Turkish driver.
(AP, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 15, US Marines launched air and ground attacks on the insurgent bastion Fallujah after city representatives suspended peace talks with the government over PM Ayad Allawi's demand to hand over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. US officials said 10 people, including a family of four, were killed when a car bomb exploded near a Baghdad police station.
(AP, 10/15/04)
2004 Oct 15, Car bombs killed five US troops in Iraq.
(AP, 10/16/04)
2004 Oct 16, In Iraq a Fallujah delegation offered to resume peace talks with the government if the US ceases attacks against the city and releases the chief negotiator.
(AP, 10/16/04)
2004 Oct 16, In Iraq a Fallujah delegation offered to resume peace talks with the government if the US ceases attacks against the city and releases the chief negotiator. 2 US Army helicopters crashed in Baghdad and 2 soldiers were killed.
(AP, 10/16/04)(SSFC, 10/17/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 17, US forces battled insurgents around Fallujah. Militants ambushed and killed nine Iraqi policemen returning from training in Jordan. A suicide driver in Baghdad killed at least 7 people. More than 200 detainees were released from Abu Ghraib prison after a security review deemed them no longer a threat.
(AP, 10/17/04)(SFC, 10/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 17, The Tawhid and Jihad group, a militant group led by terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, declared its allegiance to Osama bin Laden.
(AP, 10/18/04)
2004 Oct 18, Iraqi PM Allawi said that an exchange of weapons for cash will be extended across the country. A militant group in Iraq said it had executed two Macedonian men accused of spying for the US. Macedonia has 32 soldiers stationed in Taji, north of Baghdad. Saboteurs attacked a key oil pipeline in northern Iraq, setting it on fire.
(AP, 10/18/04)(AP, 10/19/04)(SFC, 10/19/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 19, Margaret Hassan, the British director of CARE International's operations in Iraq, was abducted from her car in Baghdad. She was killed on Nov 16. In 2005 Iraqi forces arrested 5 suspects who confessed to kidnapping and murdering Margaret Hassan. In June, 2006, Mustafa Mohammed Salman al-Juburi was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of aiding and abetting the kidnappers. His sentence was later reduced on appeal. In 2008 Ali Lutfi al-Rawi was arrested after he allegedly phoned the British Embassy in Baghdad to demand $1 million in exchange for information about the location of Hassan's remains. In 2009 a judge sentenced Ali Lutfi al-Rawi (36) to life in prison after a one-day trial in Baghdad. He faced charges of kidnapping, murder and extortion. In 2010 Ali Lutfi al-Rawi escaped from prison.
(AP, 10/19/04)(AFP, 5/1/05)(AP, 6/5/06)(AP, 6/2/09)(AP, 4/5/10)(AFP, 8/22/10)
2004 Oct 19, A mortar attack on an Iraqi National Guard headquarters north of Baghdad killed four guardsmen and wounded 80 others.
(AP, 10/19/04)
2004 Oct 20, US forces fired rockets in central Fallujah early, hitting a teacher's college and leveling a house, killing six people.
(AP, 10/20/04)
2004 Oct 20, Reservist Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick (38), the highest-ranking soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib scandal pleaded guilty to 5 charges of abusing Iraqi detainees, as a 2-day court-martial opened in Baghdad.
(SFC, 10/21/04, p.A1)(AP, 10/20/05)
2004 Oct 21, Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick, the highest-ranking U.S. soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison case, was sentenced to eight years in prison.
(AP, 10/21/04)
2004 Oct 22, A videotape of Margaret Hassan, the kidnapped director of CARE International in Iraq, appeared on Al-Jazeera, weeping and pleading with British PM Tony Blair to withdraw troops from Iraq "and not bring them to Baghdad" because "this might be my last hours."
(AP, 10/22/04)
2004 Oct 23, The U.S. military arrested a "senior leader" in the network run by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, along with five others during overnight raids in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 23, A suicide car bomber set off an explosion at a police station near Khan al-Baghdadi in western Iraq, killing at least 16 policemen and wounding 40 other people. A 2nd car bomb killed 4 Iraqi guardsmen at Ishaqi near Samarra. 2 foreign truck drivers were fatally shot in Mosul.
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.A3)
2004 Oct 23, Some 50 unarmed Iraqi soldiers were killed in eastern Iraq as they headed home on leave after basic training. Many were shot execution style with gunshots to the back of the head.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 23, Gunmen opened fire on a convoy of Turkish trucks in Mosul, killing two Turkish drivers and wounding two others.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 24, A US Marine warplane bombed suspected militants trying to rebuild a command post in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, and witnesses said six people were killed.
(AP, 10/24/04)
2004 Oct 25, The UN nuclear agency warned that insurgents in Iraq may have obtained nearly 400 tons of missing explosives that can be used in the kind of car bomb attacks that have targeted U.S.-led coalition forces for months.
(AP, 10/26/04)
2004 Oct 25, In Iraq bombs hit 4 coalition and Iraqi convoys killing at least 12 including an American and Estonian. Saboteurs blew up a pipeline feeding Iraq’s biggest refinery.
(WSJ, 10/26/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 26, A US airstrike in Fallujah killed an aide to Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. An Iraqi insurgent group, meanwhile, said on a Web site it had taken 11 Iraqi National Guard soldiers hostage.
(AP, 10/26/04)
2004 Oct 28, An armed group claimed in a video to have obtained a large amount of explosives missing from a munitions depot facility in Iraq and threatened to use them against foreign troops.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 28, Militants released a grisly video that showed the killing of 11 Iraqi troops held hostage for days, beheading one, then shooting the others execution-style. Another group released a video of a kidnapped Polish woman, demanding Warsaw pull its troops from Iraq.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 28, A survey of deaths in Iraqi households estimates that as many as 100,000 more people may have died throughout the country in the 18 months after the U.S. invasion than would be expected based on the death rate before the war.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Oct 29, Hundreds of British soldiers arrived at their base near Baghdad in a deployment aimed at provide cover for U.S. troops considering a new assault on Iraqi insurgents.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 29, Iraqi civilian deaths from the current war were estimated at almost 100,000 by the British medical journal Lancet. The study claimed 90% certainty for at least 40,000 deaths.
(Econ, 11/6/04, p.81)
2004 Oct 30, Eight American Marines were killed in fighting west of Baghdad. A car bomb killed at least seven people in attack on an Arab television network in Baghdad. Iraqi troops fired wildly on civilian vehicles, killing at least 14 people.
(AP, 10/30/04)
2004 Oct 30, The decapitated body of a Japanese backpacker (Shosei Koda) was found wrapped in an American flag in northwestern Baghdad; the militant group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi later claimed responsibility. In 2006 Hussein Fahmi (28), an operative for al-Qaida in Iraq, confessed to carrying out 116 beheadings, including that of 24-year-old Japanese backpacker Shosei Koda.
(WSJ, 11/1/04, p.A1)(AP, 10/30/05)(AP, 3/2/06)
2004 Oct 31, In Iraq a rocket attack in Tikrit killed 15 Iraqis and wounded 8.
(SFC, 11/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 1, Iraqi gunmen in Baghdad seized an American, a Nepalese and 4 Iraqi hostages working for a Saudi supplier to the US military. American contract worker Roy Hallums was one of several people kidnapped during an armed assault on the Baghdad compound where he lived; Hallums was rescued by coalition forces on Sept. 7, 2005.
(WSJ, 11/2/04, p.A1)(AP, 11/1/05)
2004 Nov 1, Gunmen killed Hatim Kamil, deputy governor of Baghdad, on his way to work.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Nov 1, Diaa Najm, an Iraqi freelance television cameraman, was killed while filming clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents in Ramadi.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Nov 2, A car bomb exploded near the Ministry of Education in a busy Baghdad commercial area, killing at least eight people and wounding 29 others. A car bomb in Mosul killed 4 civilians. Insurgents blew up a northern oil export pipeline.
(AP, 11/2/04)(SFC, 11/3/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 3, Gunmen abducted a Lebanese-American contractor who worked with the U.S. Army from his Baghdad home. 4 Jordanian truck drivers were seized by assailants in a separate kidnapping. Gunmen also killed an Oil Ministry official, Hussein Ali al-Fattal, in a driveby shooting.
(AP, 11/3/04)
2004 Nov 4, In Iraq US jets pounded parts of Fallujah, targeting insurgents in a city where American forces were said to be gearing up for a major offensive.
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 4, In Iraq SCIRI (Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq) militants dressed as police abducted and executed 12 Iraqi National Guards traveling home to Najaf.
(AP, 11/7/04)
2004 Nov 4, Three British soldiers of the Black Watch regiment, recently moved northward, were killed in a suicide bombing.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.A3)
2004 Nov 4, The international medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was closing its operations in Iraq because of escalating violence.
(AP, 11/4/04)
2004 Nov 5, US warplanes pounded Fallujah in what residents called the strongest attacks in months, as more than 10,000 American soldiers and Marines massed for an expected assault.
(AP, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 6, Insurgents set off at least two car bombs and attacked a police station in the central Iraqi town of Samarra, killing at least 29 people and wounding 40. Over 50 people were killed across central Iraq including nearly 2 dozen Americans.
(AP, 11/6/04)(SSFC, 11/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 6, In an open letter to the Iraqi people and posted on the Internet, 26 Saudi scholars and religious preachers stressed that armed attacks launched by militant Iraqi groups on U.S. troops and their allies in Iraq were "legitimate" resistance.
(AP, 11/6/04)
2004 Nov 7, The Iraqi government declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout most of the country, as US and Iraqi forces prepared for an all-out assault on rebels in Fallujah.
(AP, 11/7/04)
2004 Nov 8, In Iraq some 10,000 US and Iraqi troops fought their way into the western outskirts of Fallujah. A car bomb hit a civilian convoy belonging to coalition forces on the main highway to Baghdad's airport.
(AP, 11/8/04)(SFC, 11/9/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 9, Iraqi authorities imposed the first nighttime curfew in more than a year on Baghdad and surrounding areas. US Army and Marine units thrust through the center of the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, fighting bands of guerrillas in the streets and conducting house-to-house searches on the 2nd day of a major offensive. Some US artillery used white phosphorous rounds that melted skin. At least 10 American and 2 Iraqi soldiers were killed in the assault. In 2008 a civilian jury acquitted former Marine Jose Luis Nazario Jr. of voluntary manslaughter in the killings of 4 unarmed Iraqi detainees during the Fallujah battle. In 2009 Marine Sgt. Ryan Weemer was acquitted of murder charges in the killing of an unarmed detainee in Fallujah.
(AP, 11/9/04)(SFC, 11/10/04, p.A1,14)(AP, 8/29/08)(SFC, 4/10/09, p.A6)
2004 Nov 9, In a backlash over the Fallujah assault the Iraqi Islamic Party withdrew from the interim government and a leading group of Sunni clerics called for Iraqis to boycott nationwide elections.
(SFC, 11/10/04, p.A15)
2004 Nov 10, Kidnappers abducted two members of PM Ayad Allawi's family in Baghdad and said they would be beheaded in two days if militant’s demands were not met. US forces bottled up insurgents in a narrow strip of Fallujah after a stunningly swift advance that seized control of 70 percent of the militant stronghold. Insurgents said 20 Iraqi soldiers were captured. Explosions shook the center of Ramadi and US troops clashed with insurgents.
(AP, 11/10/04)(WSJ, 11/11/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 11, Iraqi security forces, backed by US troops, arrested Sheik Mahdi al-Sumaidaei, a hardline Sunni cleric and about two dozen others, after a raid of his Baghdad mosque uncovered weapons caches along with photographs of recent attacks on American troops. In Mosul guerrillas attacked at least five police stations and political party offices there in what could be a bid to relieve pressure on their allies in Fallujah.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 11, US and Iraqi forces, backed by an air and artillery barrage, launched a major attack into the southern half of Fallujah squeezing Sunni fighters into a smaller and smaller cordon. The military estimated 600 insurgents killed thus far in the offensive. Insurgents in Mosul overwhelmed several police stations and clashed with U.S. and Iraqi troops.
(AP, 11/11/04)
2004 Nov 12, In Iraq a gunbattle broke out in Mosul between gunmen and guards at the main headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Guards killed six attackers and captured four others before the rest fled.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 13, US troops launched a major attack against insurgent holdouts in southern Fallujah. The US Army diverted an infantry battalion from Fallujah and sent them back to Mosul after an uprising there by insurgents. Video was recorded of a US Marine shooting an unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a Mosque.
(AP, 11/13/04)(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A9)
2004 Nov 14, The US military occupied Fallujah after six days of fighting. The military said 31 Americans have been killed in the siege. US Marines found the mutilated body of what they believe was a Western woman during a sweep of a street in central Fallujah.
(AP, 11/14/04)
2004 Nov 15, Fierce battles between insurgents and US and Iraqi forces killed at least 16 people in Baqouba. Sgt. Rafael Peralta reportedly smothered a grenade to save the lives of other Marines during an exchange of fire in Fallujah. In 2015 a new US navy destroyer was named after Peralta.
(AP, 11/15/04)(SFC, 3/7/12, p.A10)(SSFC, 11/1/15, p.A8)
2004 Nov 15, US Congressional investigators said Saddam Hussein’s regime made over $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting the oil for food program. This was more than double the previous estimates.
(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A9)
2004 Nov 16, US and Iraqi troops pushed into insurgent-heavy neighborhoods and stormed police stations in Mosul. US forces arrested a senior member of an influential Sunni political party after a dawn raid on his Baghdad home. The US military said it was investigating the videotaped fatal shooting of a wounded and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner by a US Marine in a mosque in Fallujah. Sunni Muslims in Iraq expressed anger over videotape showing the fatal shooting of a wounded and apparently unarmed man in a Fallujah mosque by a US Marine. In 2007 the marine Corps charged a Marine sergeant with unpremeditated murder in the killing of the unarmed Iraqi prisoner in Fallujah. Another Marine was also charged in the same incident. In 2008 Sgt. Ryan Weemer became the 3rd person charged in the shooting.
(AP, 11/16/04)(AP, 11/16/05)(SFC, 8/21/07, p.A13)(SFC, 3/19/08, p.A4)
2004 Nov 16, In Iraq a blindfolded woman, believed to be aid worker Margaret Hassan (59), was the shown being shot in the head by a hooded militant on a video obtained but not aired by Al-Jazeera television.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2004 Nov 17, A car bomber rammed a US convoy in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, during clashes with militants that killed 10 people.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2004 Nov 18, Insurgents detonated a car bomb near a US military convoy in Baghdad and a roadside bomb exploded at a job recruiting center in the northern city of Kirkuk, in attacks that killed four people.
(AP, 11/18/04)
2004 Nov 18, US troops discovered four decapitated bodies and captured dozens of militants during operations to purge northern Mosul of insurgents.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 19, Iraqi forces, backed by US soldiers, stormed one of the major Sunni Muslim mosques in Baghdad after Friday prayers, opening fire and killing at least 3 people. A suicide car bomber rammed into a police patrol in Baghdad, killing one policeman.
(AP, 11/19/04)
2004 Nov 20, In Baghdad insurgents attacked a US patrol and a police station, assassinated 4 government employees and detonated several bombs. One American soldier was killed and 9 were wounded during clashes that left 3 Iraqi troops and a police officer dead.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, The bodies of nine Iraqi soldiers, all shot execution-style and seven of them decapitated, were discovered in the northern city of Mosul.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, Germany and the United States agreed on a proposal to write off as much as 80 percent of Iraq's debt.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 20, A Polish woman abducted from her apartment in Baghdad reappeared in Poland after being suddenly released.
(AP, 11/20/04)
2004 Nov 21, Iraq's Electoral Commission set national elections for January 30.
(AP, 11/21/04)
2004 Nov 23, Some 5,000 US Marines, British troops and Iraqi commandos launched raids and arrested suspected insurgents aimed at clearing a swath of insurgent hotbeds south of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/23/04)
2004 Nov 24, In Fallujah the US military uncovered the largest arms cache yet inside the mosque of an insurgent leader. 5 Arab foreign fighters who had escaped from Fallujah were arrested near southern Basra. They were planning to attack coalition bases and police stations.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 24, An Iraqi woman, working as a translator, was shot and killed by 2 US soldiers playing with a firearm. In 2005 Spc. Charley Hooser was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and Spc. Rami Dajani of accessory after the fact.
(SSFC, 1/23/05, p.A5)
2004 Nov 25, A mortar attack killed four employees of a British security firm and wounded 15 others in the Baghdad's Green Zone. Two Marines were killed and 3 others wounded when they came under fire during house-clearing operations in Fallujah. 3 rebels were killed in response.
(AP, 11/26/04)
2004 Nov 25, An Iraqi official said more than 2,000 people have been killed so far in the U.S.-Iraqi operation against the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
(AP, 11/25/04)
2004 Nov 26, In Mosul 17 more Iraqi bodies were found following 15 discovered a day earlier. 65 bodies were reported found over the last 8 days with 20 confirmed as members of the new Iraqi security forces.
(SFC, 11/27/04, p.A13)
2004 Nov 28, Iraq's most feared terror group claimed responsibility for slaughtering members of the Iraqi security forces in Mosul, where dozens of bodies had been found.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2004 Nov 29, In western Iraq a car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint, killing seven government security force members and injuring nine.
(AP, 11/29/04)
2004 Nov 30, A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives next to a US convoy on Baghdad's dangerous airport road leaving several casualties.
(AP, 11/30/04)
2004 Dec 1, The US military command said multinational troops have arrested 210 suspected militants in a weeklong crackdown against insurgents in an area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death."
(AP, 12/1/04)
2004 Dec 1, Unidentified gunmen in Iraq killed 5 leading members of a Kurdish group that led a 15-year rebellion in southern Turkey.
(WSJ, 12/2/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 2, In Iraq a mortar barrage hammered the heavily fortified Green Zone and elsewhere in central Baghdad, killing at least one person.
(AP, 12/2/04)
2004 Dec 3, Insurgents launched two major attacks against a Shiite mosque and a police station in Baghdad, killing 30 people, including at least 16 police officers.
(AP, 12/3/04)
2004 Dec 3, In Germany 3 Iraqi citizens of Kurdish origin were arrested for plotting to kill Iraqi PM Ayad Allawi. In 2008 the 3 men were convicted and sentenced to prison. The Stuttgart state court convicted the three men of attempted participation in murder and membership in terrorist organization Ansar al-Islam, a radical Islamic group linked to al-Qaida.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2004 Dec 4, Suicide attackers carried out a string of car bombings against Iraqi policemen in Baghdad and Kurdish militiamen in the north, killing 14 people and wounding at least 59.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 4, Two US soldiers were killed and four wounded when their patrol came under attack in the northwestern city of Mosul.
(AP, 12/4/04)
2004 Dec 5, Gunmen opened fire at the bus as it dropped off Iraqis employed by coalition forces at a weapons dump in Tikrit. 17 people died and 13 were wounded. A suicide car bomber drove into an Iraqi National Guard checkpoint in Beiji. 3 guardsmen, including a company commander, were killed and 18 wounded. Guerrillas ambushed a joint Iraqi-coalition patrol in Latifiyah and attacked Iraqi National Guardsmen patrolling near Samarra. 2 Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 6, In Iraq 5 U.S. troops were reported killed in separate clashes in a volatile western province. Insurgents blew up part of a domestic oil pipeline in northern Iraq.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 7, A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi National Guard patrol south of Baghdad, killing three guardsmen and wounding 11.
(AP, 12/7/04)
2004 Dec 8, In Iraq gunmen attacked the police headquarters in Samarra, killing an Iraqi policemen and a child who was caught in the cross fire. Insurgents detonated a car bomb in southern Baghdad, causing an unspecified number of casualties. 18 young Iraqi Shiites, aged 14-20, were shot and killed while seeking work at a U.S. base near Mosul. Their bodies were discovered Jan 5. Dale Stoffel, an American arms dealer and contractor, was killed along with Joe Wemple. Before Stoffel was shot dead in Baghdad, he had told of corruption and payoffs to senior military officers in the country’s reconstruction program. Stoffel and Wemple were reported to have been working on a $40 million dollar project in Iraq for a military facility in Taji which involved the arming of the 1st Iraqi Armored Brigade. Insurgents from the Brigades of the Islamic Jihad claimed they were responsible for the murder. However, the murders remain uninvestigated and unsolved.
(AP, 12/8/04)(AP, 1/6/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Stoffel)(SSFC, 2/15/09, p.A10)
2004 Dec 9, In Iraq insurgent mortar fire in Baghdad left 3 people dead.
(SFC, 12/10/04, p.A20)
2004 Dec 10, Staff Sgt. Johnny M. Horne Jr. (30) of Wilson, N.C., was sentenced to three years in prison for killing severely wounded Qasim Hassan (16) in Sadr City on Aug 18.
(AP, 12/11/04)(SFC, 12/11/04, p.A13)
2004 Dec 11, In Iraq insurgents killed 5 Iraqi police officers in Baghdad. A US Marine was killed in Anbar province.
(SSFC, 12/12/04, p.A10)
2004 Dec 12, A US soldier died of wounds sustained when a roadside bomb hit his patrol in Baghdad. 8 US Marines with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force died while conducting "security and stabilization operations" in Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar province.
(AP, 12/12/04)(SFC, 12/13/04, p.A9)
2004 Dec 13, In Baghdad a suicide car bomber killed 13 people and injured at least 15 near the Harthiyah entrance on the western edge of the Green zone. Clashes resumed in Fallujah.
(AP, 12/13/04)(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 14, It was reported that air cargo planes used by American subcontractors in Iraq were linked to Victor bout, a reputed Russian arms trafficker.
(SFC, 12/14/04, p.A3)
2004 Dec 14, In Iraq a suicide car bomber killed seven people at a Green Zone checkpoint, the second attack in two days near the same gate.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Dec 15, Iraqi militants said they shot and killed an Italian citizen after he tried to break through a guerrilla roadblock on a highway outside the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi. A document from the Italian Embassy in Beirut seeking an Iraqi visa for Salvatore Santoro called him an aid worker helping Iraqi children.
(AP, 12/16/04)
2004 Dec 16, Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein met with a lawyer for the first time since his capture a year earlier.
(AP, 12/16/05)
2004 Dec 16, Rebel strikes across Baghdad killed 10 people, including three paramilitary policemen and a government official. A US Marine was killed in Anbar province.
(AP, 12/16/04)(SFC, 12/17/04, p.A12)
2004 Dec 17, The US completely forgave $4.1 billion in debt Iraq owed it and urged other nations not part of an international debt relief agreement to follow suit.
(AP, 12/18/04)
2004 Dec 17, Gunmen attacked a car in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing four male passengers, and witnesses said three of the victims were foreigners.
(AP, 12/17/04)
2004 Dec 18, The former Iraqi general known as “Chemical Ali," Ali Hassan al-Majid, went before a judge in the first investigative hearings of former members of his regime.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2004 Dec 18, Insurgents claiming to represent three Iraqi militant groups issued a videotape saying they had captured 10 Iraqis working for an American security and reconstruction company and would kill them if the firm did not leave this turbulent country. A clash in Mosul left an Iraqi child dead. An insurgent attack in Mosul left one Iraqi dead. National Guardsmen there killed 3 insurgents.
(AP, 12/19/04)(SSFC, 12/19/04, p.A12)
2004 Dec 19, Car bombs rocked Najaf and Karbala, Iraq's two holiest Shiite cities, killing 67 people and wounding more than 120. In downtown Baghdad dozens of gunmen carried out a brazen ambush that killed three Iraqi employees of the organization running next month's elections.
(AP, 12/19/04)(WSJ, 12/21/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 20, Thousands of mourners attended funerals and Iraqi authorities detained 50 suspects in connection with an explosion in the Shiite holy city of Najaf that killed at least 54 people and wounded 142.
(AP, 12/20/04)
2004 Dec 21, British PM Tony Blair made a surprise visit to Baghdad, urging Iraqis to support national elections and describing violence here as a "battle between democracy and terror."
(AP, 12/21/04)
2004 Dec 21, A suicide bombing on a base near Mosul killed 22 people and wounded 72 at Forward Operating Base Marez as US soldiers sat down to lunch. Halliburton Co. lost four employees in the attack at the military base. A radical Muslim group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, claimed responsibility. 2 French reporters held hostage for 4 months in Iraq were released.
(WSJ, 12/22/04, p.A1)(AP, 12/21/05)
2004 Dec 22, Poland's PM Marek Belka and Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski arrived in Iraq for a Christmas visit to Polish troops.
(AP, 12/22/04)
2004 Dec 23, US Marines battled insurgents in Fallujah with warplanes dropping bombs and tanks shelling suspected guerrilla positions, causing deaths on both sides. Three U.S. Marines were killed. 24 guerrillas, most of them non-Iraqi Arabs, were killed in battles according to a posting on an Islamic web site the next day. The 1st Fallujah residents were allowed to return. A bomb killed a US soldier in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/24/04)(SFC, 12/24/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/24/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 24, A suicide bomber blew up a gas tanker in Baghdad in an attack that killed at least nine people.
(AP, 12/25/04)
2004 Dec 24, US Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, bearing gifts of praise and encouragement, paid a surprise Christmas Eve visit to US troops in some of the most dangerous areas of Iraq.
(AP, 12/24/05)
2004 Dec 25, Video footage aired on Turkish television showed a Turkish ship owner saying he and a ship captain were being held hostage in Iraq and that kidnappers demanded a $25 million ransom.
(AP, 12/25/04)
2004 Dec 26, Masked gunmen assassinated a high-ranking Iraqi police officer in southwestern Baghdad and wounded his bodyguards.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 27, A suicide bomber detonated his car at the gate of the home of the leader of Iraq's biggest political party and most powerful Shiite political group, killing 15 people and injuring dozens. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's, was unharmed.
(AP, 12/27/04)
2004 Dec 27, The Iraqi Islamic Party, the biggest Sunni political group, pulled out of the Jan. 30 elections citing the deteriorating security situation.
(AP, 12/28/04)
2004 Dec 28, Insurgents launched multiple attacks on Iraqi police across the dangerous Sunni Triangle, killing at least 33 police officers and national guardsmen. 12 of the policemen near Tikrit had their throats slit.
(AP, 12/28/04)(SFC, 12/29/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 28, Insurgents lured police to a house in west Baghdad with an anonymous tip about a rebel hideout, then set off explosives, killing at least 29 people and wounding 18.
(AP, 12/29/04)(SFC, 12/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 29, Insurgents tried to ram a truck with half a ton of explosives into a U.S. military post in the northern city of Mosul then ambushed reinforcements in a huge gunbattle in which 25 rebels and one American soldier were killed.
(AP, 12/30/04)(SFC, 12/30/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec 30, In Iraq all 700 employees of the electoral commission in Mosul resigned following threats by militant groups.
(SFC, 12/31/04, p.A3)
2004 Hans Blix, former UN chief weapons inspector, authored “Disarming Iraq: The Search for Weapons of Mass Destruction."
(Econ, 3/13/04, p.83)
2004 Noah Feldman authored “What We Owe Iraq."
(WSJ, 11/10/04, p.A1)
2004 Steven Vincent authored “In the Red Zone," a look at Iraqi life outside the Green Zone.
(WSJ, 12/17/04, p.W8)
2004 The new Iraqi government priced local petrol at one American cent per liter. The policy caused severe shortages as large amounts leaked over to the black market where prices were significantly higher.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.64)
2004 Naguib Sawiris, Egyptian businessman, started the Middle East’s 1st non-government, non-satellite television station in Iraq.
(WSJ, 4/18/05, p.B1)
2005 Jan 1, Al-Qaida's arm in Iraq released a video showing its militants lining up five captured Iraqi security officers and executing them in the street.
(AP, 1/1/05)
2005 Jan 1, Iraq was forecast for 10.3% annual GDP growth with a population at 26.5 million and GDP per head at $1,380.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.94)
2005 Jan 2, A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb north of Baghdad, killing at least 22 Iraqi soldiers. 10 Iraqis were killed in attacks elsewhere.
(AP, 1/2/05)(WSJ, 1/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 3, In Iraq 3 suicide car bombs, including one that exploded near the Iraqi prime minister's party headquarters in Baghdad, along with a roadside explosion, rifle fire and an explosive rigged to a dead body killed at least 20 people.
(AP, 1/3/05)(SFC, 1/4/05, p.A3)
2005 Jan 4, Insurgents assassinated the highest-ranking Iraqi official in eight months, gunning down the governor of Baghdad province and six of his bodyguards. A suicide truck bomber killed 10 people at an Interior Ministry commando headquarters. 5 US soldiers were killed in assaults elsewhere.
(AP, 1/4/05)(WSJ, 1/5/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 5, Iraq's intelligence chief said as many as 30,000 well-trained terrorists are actively operating throughout Iraq at the behest of former regime leaders based in Syria.
(AP, 1/6/05)
2005 Jan 5, A car bomb exploded outside a police academy south of Baghdad during a graduation ceremony, killing at least 20 people. Hours earlier, another car bomb killed two Iraqis in Baghdad. A 2nd car bomber killed five Iraqi policemen in Baqouba.
(AP, 1/5/05)(AP, 1/6/05)
2005 Jan 5, The bodies of 18 young Iraqi Shiites taken off a bus and executed in December 2005 were found in a field near Mosul.
(AP, 1/5/06)
2005 Jan 6, In Iraq 7 US soldiers were killed in Baghdad when their Bradley hit a car buried bomb. 2 Marines were killed in western Iraq.
(WSJ, 1/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 8, In Iraq officials said Militants had abducted three senior Iraqi officials, beheaded a man who worked for the U.S. military and killed at least four others.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 8, The US military acknowledged 5 people were killed when it bombed the wrong house during a search operation in northern Iraq. The owner of the house, Ali Yousef, said 14 people were killed when the 500-pound GPS-guided bomb hit at about 2 a.m. in the town of Aitha, 30 miles south of Mosul. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said seven children and seven adults died.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2005 Jan 9, American troops opened fire after their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, killing at least 8 people.
(AP, 1/9/05)(SFC, 1/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 9, In Iraq 7 Ukrainian soldiers and one Kazakh serving with the U.S.-led coalition were killed in an explosion while loading bombs that could be used by warplanes.
(AP, 1/9/05)
2005 Jan 10, In Iraq gunmen assassinated Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son. A huge roadside bomb in southwestern Baghdad destroyed a U.S. armored vehicle and killed two American soldiers.
(AP, 1/10/05)
2005 Jan 11, PM Allawi acknowledged that parts of Iraq will not be safe enough for people to vote on Jan 30. A roadside bomb that missed a passing U.S. military convoy killed 7 Iraqis and wounded one south of Baghdad. A suicide car bomb at police headquarters in Tikrit killed 6. Insurgent attacks across Iraq left 19 people dead.
(AP, 1/11/05)(SFC, 1/12/05, p.A1)(SFC, 1/12/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 11, The Ukrainian parliament called for an immediate withdrawal of the nation's peacekeepers from Iraq. The vote was non-binding but reflected growing national dismay over the mission.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 12, Insurgents launched a string of attacks in the northern city of Mosul killing two Iraqi National Guardsmen and wounding two others in a car bombing. Sheik Mahmoud Finjan was shot to death as he headed home after evening prayers in a mosque at the town of Salman Pak southeast of Baghdad. Attackers also killed Finjan's son and four bodyguards. Sunni Muslim militants claimed responsibility.
(AP, 1/12/05)(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 13, In Iraq gunmen opened fire on a minibus picking up a Turkish businessman from the Bakhan Hotel in central Baghdad, killing six Iraqis and kidnapping the Turk, who reportedly ran a construction company that worked with U.S.-led occupation authorities.
(AP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 13, In Iraq's western Anbar province 2 U.S. Marines were killed in action, and a soldier died near the restive northern city of Mosul. Gunmen killed three officials of a leading Kurdish political party in an ambush in the volatile northern city of Mosul.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 13, In Iraq 28 prisoners held by Iraqi authorities for common crimes escaped as they were being transported by bus from the Abu Ghraib prison to another facility. 10 were quickly recaptured.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 14, An Iraqi bus collided with a U.S. tank that was on patrol, killing six of the bus passengers and injuring eight.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 14, Attackers fired on a bus carrying Iraqi national guard members west of Baghdad, kidnapping 15 guardsmen and leaving the bus in flames.
(AP, 1/14/05)
2005 Jan 15, Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf, also known as Abu Omar al-Kurdi, was arrested during a raid in Baghdad. On Jan 24 authorities announced the arrest of Al-Jaaf, an al-Qaida figure allegedly behind the vast majority of the car bombings in Baghdad.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 15, A military court at Fort Hood, Texas, sentenced Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr. to 10 years behind bars for physically and sexually mistreating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Graner (42) was released from prison In Leavenworth, Kansas, on Aug 6, 2011.
(AP, 1/15/06)(SSFC, 8/7/11, p.A10)
2005 Jan 16, In Iraq a total of 17 people were killed in the Baghdad area, including three Iraqi policemen and three Iraqi National Guard soldiers killed in separate attacks. As mourners gathered for the policemen's funeral, a suicide bomber killed another seven people.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 17, Iraqi expatriates in 14 countries began registering to vote in Iraq's Jan. 30 elections.
(AP, 1/17/06)
2005 Jan 17, Gunmen killed 8 Iraqi National Guardsmen at a checkpoint northeast of Baghdad, and 8 people died in a suicide car bombing at a police station outside the capital. Two Iraqi government auditors were shot to death after armed gunmen stopped their car in an area southeast of Baghdad. In Ramadi, officials found four bodies, three civilians and one Iraqi soldier. They bore handwritten signs declaring them collaborators.
(AP, 1/17/05)
2005 Jan 18, In Iraq a suicide bombing killed three people outside the offices of a leading Shiite political party. Insurgents released a video showing 8 Chinese workers held hostage by gunmen who claim the men are employed by a construction company working with U.S. troops, in the latest abduction of foreigners in Iraq. 2 US soldiers died elsewhere.
(AP, 1/18/05)(WSJ, 1/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 18, U.S. soldiers opened fire on a car as it approached their checkpoint in northern Iraq, killing 2 civilians in the vehicle's front seats. 6 children riding in the backseat were unhurt.
(AP, 1/19/05)
2005 Jan 19, A wave of car bombings shook the Iraqi capital, killing 26 people. Other attacks were reported north and south of the capital. The al-Qaida in Iraq terror group claimed that it carried out a truck bombing at the Australian Embassy in Baghdad that killed two people. A militant group posted a video on the Web showing gunmen killing execution-style two Iraqis said to have set up an Internet system in northern Iraq. American soldiers on patrol in Mosul killed three insurgents who fired on them from a car. A British security worker and an Iraqi colleague were killed in an ambush near the Beiji power station complex. Joao Jose Vasconcellos (50), a Brazilian engineer, was kidnapped in Baghdad. His remains were returned to Brazil in 2007.
(AP, 1/19/05)(SFC, 1/20/05, p.A10)(AP, 1/20/05)(AP, 6/14/07)
2005 Jan 20, North of Baghdad 3 Iraqi army soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the city of Samarra. US troops launched Mosul raids. 5 suspected insurgents were killed.
(AP, 1/20/05)(WSJ, 1/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 21, A car bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque in Baghdad where worshippers were celebrating a major Muslim holiday, killing at least 14 people and wounding 40. A suicide bomber left 7 people dead at a Shiite wedding party near Youssufiya.
(AP, 1/21/05)(SFC, 1/22/05, p.A10)
2005 Jan 22, Insurgents said they had executed 15 kidnapped Iraqi National Guardsmen for cooperating with U.S. forces. Insurgents decided to release 8 Chinese construction workers taken hostage in Iraq after China pledged to discourage its citizens from traveling to Iraq.
(AP, 1/22/05)
2005 Jan 23, Lebanon's finance minister played down the transfer by Iraq's Defense Ministry of $500 million in cash to a financial institution in Beirut, saying he would expect such a transfer to be legal if it was made by the Iraqi government. Iraqi officials in early January sent some $300 million on a charter jet to Lebanon to purchase weapons from int’l. arms dealers.
(SFC, 1/22/05, p.A10)(AP, 1/23/05)
2005 Jan 23, In Iraq fire swept through the general hospital in Nasiriyah, killing 14 people and injuring 75.
(AP, 1/23/05)
2005 Jan 24, Authorities in Iraq said Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf, an al-Qaida lieutenant in custody, had confessed to masterminding most of the car bombings in Baghdad.
(AP, 1/24/06)
2005 Jan 24, A suicide driver detonated a car bomb outside the prime minister's party headquarters, injuring at least 10 people in a blast claimed by the al-Qaida affiliate in Iraq.
(AP, 1/24/05)
2005 Jan 25, In Iraq gunmen assassinated a senior judge. Roy Hallums, an American hostage kidnapped in November, pleaded for his life with a rifle pointed at his head in a newly released video. Hallums was rescued by coalition troops on Sept. 7, 2005. 11 Iraqi police died in clashes. 6 US soldiers died, including 5 in a vehicle crash north of Baghdad.
(WSJ, 1/26/05, p.A1)(AP, 1/25/06)
2005 Jan 26, A US military transport helicopter crashed in bad weather in Iraq's western desert, killing 31 people, all believed to be Marines. Insurgents killed five other American troops.
(AP, 1/26/05)
2005 Jan 26, A suicide car bomber attacked an office of a major Kurdish party, killing or injuring at least 20 people.
(AP, 1/26/05)
2005 Jan 27, Eleven Iraqis and one US Marine were killed as insurgents clashed with US troops and blew up a school slated to serve as a polling center. Authorities found the bodies of four Iraqi National Guardsmen who had been shot dead in Ramadi, capital of the troubled Anbar province.
(AP, 1/27/05)(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 28, Iraq battened down for the 1st free balloting in half a century, imposing a 7 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew and closing Baghdad Int’l Airport. 5 US soldiers were killed in the capital and insurgents blasted polling stations across the country. Iraqi expatriates began voting.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 28, Authorities in Iraq said they have arrested three close associates of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In southern Iraq a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi police vehicle, killing one officer. 2 American soldiers were killed in two separate incidents in Baghdad.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Jan 29, A suicide bomber attacked a police station in a Kurdish town, killing 8 people, and insurgents blasted polling places in several cities on the eve of landmark elections.
(AP, 1/29/05)
2005 Jan 30, Iraqis voted to elect 275 members of a transitional national assembly, which will write a constitution; 111 members of the Kurdish legislature; and local councils in Iraq’s 18 provinces. Insurgents struck polling stations with a string of suicide bombings and mortar volleys, killing at least 44 people, including 9 attackers. 5 people were killed and 17 injured when a suicide attacker blew himself up aboard a minibus bound for a polling station in central Iraq. 260 attacks left 34 people dead. Security problems in Mosul kept some 15,000 from polls.
(AP, 1/30/05)(SFC, 2/1/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/8/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 30, A British C-130 military transport plane crashed north of Baghdad in Iraq killing 10 troops. An Iraqi insurgent group claimed responsibility for shooting down the plane in an Internet statement.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, Iraq's interim leader, called on his countrymen to set aside their differences, while local precincts finished a first-phase count of millions of ballots from the weekend election.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Jan 31, US guards in southern Iraq opened fire on prisoners during a riot at the detention facility for security detainees at Umm Qasr, killing 4 of them. 6 other prisoners were injured.
(AP, 1/31/05)
2005 Feb 1, A group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed to have captured the four Iraqi National Guard soldiers after Sunday's elections.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 2, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the Shiite Muslim who heads the ticket expected to have won the largest number of parliamentary seats in Iraq's election, indicated that his group wants the post of prime minister in the new government. Leading Sunni Muslim clerics said the country's landmark elections lacked legitimacy because large numbers of Sunnis did not participate in the balloting, which the clerics had asked them to boycott.
(AP, 2/2/05)
2005 Feb 2, In Iraq 2 civilians were killed and six injured when insurgents fired mortar shells at a U.S. base in Tal Afar, 30 miles west of Mosul.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 3, Insurgents struck back with a vengeance following a post-election lull, waylaying a minibus carrying new Iraqi army recruits, firing on Iraqis heading for work at a U.S. base and gunning down an Iraqi soldier in the capital. At least 18 people, including 2 Marines, died in insurgent-related incidents..
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Feb 4, Gunmen seized Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist in central Baghdad, in a hail of gunfire after she had been interviewing people who fled the US assault last year on the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 5, Sunni rebels killed three U.S. troops and at least 33 Iraqis in a string of attacks.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 6, Four Egyptians working for a mobile phone company were abducted by gunmen in Baghdad, and Islamic militants threatened to kill an Italian journalist Feb 7 unless Italy agrees to withdraw its troops.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 Feb 7, Insurgents struck at Iraqi police forces with a suicide bomb, a car bomb and mortars in the cities of Mosul and Baqouba, killing 31 people.
(AP, 2/7/05)(SFC, 2/8/05, p.A6)
2005 Feb 7, US troops manning a checkpoint found 4 Egyptian technicians who had been kidnapped the previous day in Baghdad, freeing them and arresting some of the abductors.
(AP, 2/7/05)
2005 Feb 8, A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of Iraqis outside an army recruitment center, killing 21 other people and injuring 27 more.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 8, A Web posting in the name of a militant group in Iraq claimed to have executed Italian female journalist Giuliana Sgrena.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 9, Gunmen killed an Iraqi journalist working for a U.S.-funded television station and his son as they left their home in the southern city of Basra. Gunmen also killed 3 members of a Kurdish political party and a Housing Ministry official. The US military announced the deaths of 4 US soldiers.
(AP, 2/9/05)(SFC, 2/10/05, p.A9)
2005 Feb 10, A car bomb detonated by remote control exploded in a crowded central Baghdad square moments after an American military convoy passed, killing at least two Iraqis and wounding two others. Insurgents attacked Iraqi police in Salman Pak and killed at least 6.
(AP, 2/10/05)(SFC, 2/11/05, p.A20)
2005 Feb 11, A car bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens. Masked men sprayed gunfire into a crowd at a bakery in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in the capital, killing 11 people. A US Marine and an Army soldier were killed in separate traffic accidents.
(AP, 2/11/05)(AP, 2/12/05)
2005 Feb 12, In Iraq a car bomb exploded in front of a hospital in a mostly Shiite town south of Baghdad, killing 17 people and wounding 21 others. A prominent Iraqi judge was assassinated by two gunmen on a motorcycle in the southern port city of Basra. In Mosul the bodies of 6 Iraqi and 6 Kurdish guards were dumped. US troops in Mosul killed 9 insurgents.
(AP, 2/12/05)(SSFC, 2/13/05, p.A12)
2005 Feb 13, Results from Iraq's elections were released and showed that majority Shiite Muslims won 48% of the votes, giving the long-oppressed group significant power but not enough to form a government on its own.
(AP, 2/13/05)(SFC, 2/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 13, Insurgents attacked a US convoy and a government building near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, leaving at least four people dead. Two Iraqi National Guard troops were also killed while trying to defuse a roadside bomb. Gunmen ambushed a car carrying an Iraqi general in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad, killing him and two companions.
(AP, 2/13/05)
2005 Feb 14, A roadside bomb killed three Iraqi National Guard troops. Insurgents blew up an oil pipeline near Kirkuk and killed two senior police officers in Baghdad.
(AP, 2/14/05)
2005 Feb 17, Iraq's electoral commission certified the results of the Jan. 30 elections and allocated 140 of 275 National Assembly seats to the United Iraqi Alliance, giving the Shiite-dominated party a majority in the new parliament.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Feb 18, Explosions ripped through Baghdad, killing about 3 dozen people and injuring dozens on the eve of Ashura, Shiite Islam's most important holiday.
(AP, 2/18/05)(SFC, 2/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 19, Eight suicide bombings in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq killed over 50 people, including a US soldier, and injured 150 as Shiite Muslim worshippers around the country celebrated Ashura, their holiest day of the year.
(AP, 2/19/05)(SSFC, 2/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 20, Iraqi and US security forces surrounded the city of Ramadi in an effort to confront a simmering insurgency there.
(SFC, 2/21/05, p.A8)
2005 Feb 20, Iraqi forces captured Talib Mikhlif Arsan Walman al-Dulaymi (aka Abu Qutaybah), a key aide to Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who leads an insurgency affiliated with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
(AP, 2/25/05)
2005 Feb 21, In Iraq a roadside bomb in southwestern Baghdad killed 3 US soldiers.
(SFC, 2/22/05, p.A3)
2005 Feb 22, Interim Iraqi Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari was chosen as his Shiite ticket's candidate for prime minister after Ahmad Chalabi dropped his bid.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 22, PM John Howard said Australia will send an extra 450 troops to Iraq to help protect a Japanese humanitarian mission and bolster the country's transition to democracy.
(AP, 2/22/05)
2005 Feb 23, In Iraq a car bomb exploded in Mosul, killing 2 people and wounding 14 others.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 24, A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew up his car at police headquarters in Tikrit, killing at least 15 people in Saddam Hussein's hometown in the bloodiest of several attacks that claimed 30 lives. Two American soldiers were among the dead.
(AP, 2/24/05)
2005 Feb 25, In Iraq a roadside bomb blast killed three US soldiers and wounded eight others north of Baghdad. Saboteurs blew up an oil pipeline in northern Iraq. In Mosul the body of Raiedah Mohammed Wageh Wazan, a female Iraqi television presenter kidnapped last week, was found dead from 4 gunshots to the head.
(AP, 2/25/05)(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Feb 26, Iraqi security forces captured a son of one of Saddam Hussein's half brothers, who allegedly financed the insurgency, in a raid on suspected militants near Tikrit. Ayman Sabawi is the son of Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a half brother of Saddam's, who served as a presidential adviser before the US-led invasion.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 Feb 26, In Baghdad a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle alongside an M1 Abrams tank and killed himself and two Iraqis. A US soldier died during a sweep for insurgents west of Baghdad. A car bomb in the Mussayyib district south of Baghdad killed an Iraqi soldier.
(AP, 2/26/05)(SSFC, 2/27/05, p.A10)
2005 Feb 27, Iraqi security forces reported the capture of Saddam Hussein's half-brother and former adviser. Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, the 6 of diamonds, was No. 36 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. Syria captured al-Hassan and 29 other fugitives and handed them over to Iraqi security. 2 American soldiers were killed in an ambush in the capital.
(AP, 2/27/05)(SFC, 2/28/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 28, In Iraq a suicide car bomber blasted a crowd of police and national guard recruits as they gathered for physicals outside a medical clinic in Hillah, south of Baghdad, killing 125 people and wounding 132.
(AP, 3/1/05)(AP, 2/28/06)
2005 Feb, An Iraqi TV program began airing confessions of alleged insurgents. The program later came under criticism from Iraqi lawyers, former detainees and families of suspects who accused security officials of abusing suspects to extract the confessions.
(AP, 7/6/05)
2005 Mar 1, French journalist Florence Aubenas, looking pale and distraught, appealed for help on a video in her first since she went missing in Iraq on Jan. 5.
(AP, 3/1/05)
2005 Mar 1, In northern Baghdad's Azamyiah district gunmen killed judge Barwez Mohammed Mahmoud (59) and his lawyer son, members of Iraq’s war crimes tribunal.
(AP, 3/2/05)(SFC, 3/2/05, p.A12)
2005 Mar 1, Ukraine’s top security body decided to Ukrainian troops from Iraq.
(SFC, 3/2/05, p.A12)
2005 Mar 2, Two car bombs killed at least 14 Iraqi soldiers in separate attacks, and the al-Qaida group in Iraq claimed responsibility for one.
(SFC, 3/3/05, p.A6)(WSJ, 3/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 3, In Iraq car bombs killed six policemen and wounded 15 in new attacks on security services as political factions wrangled over putting together a government.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 4, In Iraq Pvt. Gardi Gardev, a Bulgarian soldier, was killed by friendly fire." President Georgi Parvanov summoned U.S. Ambassador James Pardew on Mar 7 and complained about the lack of coordination between coalition troops in Iraq.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 4, American troops fired on a car taking Giuliana Sgrena to Baghdad's airport and wounded her. Nicola Calipari, the Italian intelligence officer who negotiated her freedom, was hit by the gunfire and died in her arms. Sgrena returned to Italy the next day. In 2007 an Italian court threw out the case against the US soldier charged in the shooting of Calipari.
(AP, 3/5/05)(AP, 10/25/07)
2005 Mar 7, In Iraq guerrillas launched a series of attacks that left 33 people dead and dozens wounded.
(AP, 3/7/05)(SFC, 3/8/05, p.A10)
2005 Mar 8, In Iraq clashes erupted between US troops and insurgents in the city of Ramadi, leaving at least two people dead.
(AP, 3/8/05)
2005 Mar 9, Iraqi officials said that 41 bodies, some bullet-riddled, others beheaded, have been found at two separate sites. They believe some of the corpses are Iraqi soldiers kidnapped and killed by insurgents. 4 people were killed in Baghdad when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-packed truck into a hotel used by US contractors.
(AP, 3/9/05)(WSJ, 3/10/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 10, Iraq's main Shiite party and a Kurdish bloc reached a deal that sets the stage for a new government to be formed when the National Assembly convenes next week.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 10, The UN panel overseeing compensation for victims of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait approved new awards worth $265 million, mostly to families of people who died in Iraqi detention.
(AP, 3/11/05)
2005 Mar 10, In Baghdad, Iraq, gunmen killed 2 district police chiefs and 2 others Iraqis. A suicide attacker in Mosul set off a bomb that tore through a funeral tent jammed with Shiite mourners. The attack killed 47 and wounded more than 100.
(AP, 3/10/05)
2005 Mar 12, In Iraq gunmen shot to death three policemen and wounded a 4th at a funeral procession in the northern city of Mosul. 2 US security contractors were killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad.
(AP, 3/12/05)(WSJ, 3/14/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 12, Ukraine withdrew 150 servicemen from Iraq, starting a gradual pullout that officials have said will be completed by October.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 15, Three car bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing at least 5 people.
(AP, 3/15/05)
2005 Mar 15, Pres. Berlusconi announced that Italy would begin pulling its 3,300 troops out of Iraq in September. The next day he said the withdrawal date was merely a hope.
(AP, 3/16/05)(Econ, 3/19/05, p.56)
2005 Mar 16, Iraq's first freely elected parliament in half a century began its opening session after a series of explosions targeted the gathering.
(AP, 3/16/05)
2005 Mar 19, In Iraq attackers gunned down a police officer in Kirkuk, then bombed a funeral procession carrying his corpse, killing three other policemen and wounding two.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 19, In Iraq a previously unknown militant group posted a video on the Internet on purporting to show 2 Egyptian engineers kidnapped for allegedly supporting US forces.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 19, Tens of thousands of anti-war protesters demonstrated across Europe to mark the second anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, with 45,000 marching from London's Hyde Park past the American Embassy.
(AP, 3/19/05)
2005 Mar 20, Insurgents targeted Iraqi security forces and government buildings with gunfire, suicide bomb attacks and mortar rounds, leaving at least five people dead. A bomb blast near Kirkuk killed a U.S. soldier and wounded three. US troops killed 26 militants following an attack on a convoy SE of Baghdad.
(AP, 3/20/05)(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, Insurgent attacks across Iraq left seven civilians and three Iraqi soldiers dead.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Mar 21, Iraqi officials at the morgue in the southeastern city of Kut said the facility received the bodies of six slain Iraqi army soldiers, five collected together, one separately.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 22, Militants targeted a US patrol with a roadside bomb that killed four nearby civilians in the northern city of Mosul. In Baghdad private citizens struck an insurgent patrol carrying grenades and killed 3 in a gun battle.
(AP, 3/22/05)(SFC, 3/23/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 22, Iraqi and US forces killed 80 militants in a battle west of Tikrit.
(AP, 3/23/05)
2005 Mar 23, Iraqi commandos backed by US forces raided a suspected guerrilla training camp and reportedly killed 85 fighters. Insurgents said only 11 were killed. 7 Iraqi commandos were killed.
(AP, 3/23/05)(SFC, 3/25/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 24, Iraqi police mistook a group of Iraqi soldiers for insurgents and opened fire, sparking a 10-minute gunbattle that killed five in the northern town of Rabia.
(AP, 3/24/05)
2005 Mar 24, A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the central city of Ramadi, killing 11 Iraqi police commandos and injuring 14 other people including 2 US soldiers. In an eastern Baghdad neighborhood, attackers killed 5 female translators working for the US military. Police found 2 decapitated bodies clad in Iraqi army uniforms west of Baghdad.
(AP, 3/25/05)
2005 Mar 26, In Iraq a car bomb struck a US military patrol in Baghdad, killing two U.S. soldiers and injuring two others.
(AP, 3/26/05)
2005 Mar 25, In Iraq Maj. Gen. Salman Muhammad, head of an Iraqi national guard division in Basra, was assassinated on route to a funeral. One of 2 sons was also killed.
(SFC, 3/26/05, p.A11)
2005 Mar 27, Iraqi security officials opened fire on a crowd of protesters outside a government building, killing one. Al-Qaida's arm in Iraq posted a video purportedly showing an Iraqi Interior Ministry official being killed.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 28, In Iraq 3 Romanian journalists and their translator were abducted near their Baghdad hotel. The journalists were freed by US forces on May 22. In 2015 Iraqi-born Mohammad Munaf, sentenced in absentia to 10 years prison in 2008 by the Bucharest Appeals Court, was brought to Romania. Munaf was the journalists' guide at the time of the kidnapping and had been held by the US military since May 2005. A Syrian businessman was serving a 20-year sentence in Romania for masterminding the kidnapping.
(AP, 3/29/05)(SSFC, 10/15/06, p.A20)(AP, 8/27/15)
2005 Mar 29, A video surfaced on the Internet showing three drivers who said they worked for a Jordanian trucking company being shot by gunmen claiming to belong to a militant Islamic group in Iraq.
(AP, 3/30/05)
2005 Mar 30, In Iraq two US soldiers died in separate clashes. A car bomb exploded in western Baghdad, killing one person and injuring at least six others. Gunmen also opened fire on a truck carrying faithful near Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad. One person was killed.
(AP, 3/30/05)(AP, 3/31/05)
2005 Mar 31, A suicide bomber blew up his car south of Kirkuk, killing two Iraqi army soldiers and three bystanders. A second car bomber attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in the center of Samarra, killing three people and injuring more than a dozen others. Bombings and ambushes across Iraq left at least a dozen Iraqis and one USD soldier dead.
(AP, 3/31/05)(SFC, 4/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 31, A US presidential commission reported that US intelligence agencies were dead wrong in their prewar assessment of Iraq’s nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
(SFC, 4/1/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 1, Influential Sunni scholars encouraged Iraqis to join the country's security forces and protect the country, issuing an edict that departed sharply from earlier warnings against participating in the fledgling police and army.
(AP, 4/1/05)
2005 Apr 2, In central Iraq a car bomb exploded, killing five people, including 4 police officers on patrol. A gunmen killed an education official in Baghdad. A US Marine was killed in Ramadi. 40-60 insurgents attacked the Abu Ghraib prison but were repelled by US forces.
(AP, 4/2/05)(SSFC, 4/3/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 3, Iraqi lawmakers elected Sunni Arab Hachem Hassani as parliament speaker and Shiite and Kurdish leaders as his deputies, ending days of deadlock.
(AP, 4/3/05)(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 4, A joint US-Iraqi attack on dozens of insurgents in eastern Diyala province left two American soldiers and one Iraqi soldier dead. A suicide bomber blew himself up near the gates of Abu Ghraib prison.
(AP, 4/5/05)(SFC, 4/5/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 5, In Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood, an abandoned taxi exploded on an expressway near a U.S. patrol, killing a US soldier and wounding four others. A US Marine was killed by an explosion in the sprawling, western province of Anbar.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 5, Zalmay Khalilzad, a former White House official who has served as US ambassador in his native Afghanistan, was named to take over the post in Iraq.
(AP, 4/6/05)
2005 Apr 6, The Iraqi parliament chose Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as the country's new interim president, reaching out to a long-repressed minority and bringing the country closer to its first democratically elected government in 50 years.
(AP, 4/6/05)
2005 Apr 7, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, was named Iraq's interim prime minister; Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was sworn in as interim president.
(AP, 4/7/06)
2005 Apr 8, In Iraq 4 children collecting trash were killed by a homemade bomb in Baghdad, and masked gunmen killed an Iraqi Army officer in a restaurant in the southern city of Basra.
(AP, 4/8/05)
2005 Apr 8, Fadhil al-Shawky, a senior al-Sadr official who had arrived from Karbala to take part in a protest, was gunned down in the New Baghdad neighborhood.
(AP, 4/9/05)
2005 Apr 9, Tens of thousands of Shiites marked the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad with a protest against the American military presence at the square where Iraqis and U.S. troops toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein two years ago.
(AP, 4/9/05)
2005 Apr 9, Militants in Iraq kidnapped Malik Mohammed Javed, a Pakistani diplomat, on his way to a mosque for prayers. The Omar bin Khattab group, a previously unknown group, claimed responsibility for the abduction.
(AP, 4/10/05)
2005 Apr 10, In Iraq Pres. Talabani called for extending amnesty to insurgents, but excluded clemency for al Qaeda and other armed foreign groups.
(SFC, 4/11/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 11, In Iraq people were killed in Samarra when a bomb went off near a passing US convoy. An American contractor was abducted.
(WSJ, 4/12/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 12, The Iraqi government said it captured Fadhil Ibrahim Mahmud Al-Mashadani, a former member of Saddam Hussein's regime who was believed to be funding the insurgency. Al-Mashadani was a high-ranking member of Saddam's Baath Party and was "among the main facilitators of many terrorist attacks. Militants ambushed a convoy carrying Iraq's deputy interior minister, killing a bodyguard and wounding the deputy's son and two other people.
(AP, 4/12/05)
2005 Apr 13, Al-Jazeera showed video of Jeffrey Ake, who the US Embassy said appeared to be the American kidnapped earlier this week in Baghdad. A bomb exploded while being defused near a Kirkuk pipeline and 11 members of the Facilities Protection Service were killed. A suicide bomber killed 5 Iraqis when he drove his car into a US convoy down Baghdad’s airport road. 4 US contract workers were injured.
(AP, 4/13/05)(SFC, 4/14/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 14, In Iraq 2 car bombs tore through a crowded street in front of the Interior Ministry in central Baghdad, killing 18 people and wounding three dozen others. Seven gunmen in northern Iraq fired on a police station just south of Kirkuk, killing 5 police officers and one civilian. A suicide bomber blew himself up near an Iraqi police checkpoint in Mahawil, 50 miles south of Baghdad, killing 4 policemen and wounding 6 others.
(AP, 4/14/05)
2005 Apr 15, Sunni militants seized a 35-50 Shiite hostages in the central Iraqi town of Madain and threatened to kill them unless all Shiites leave.
(AP, 4/16/05)
2005 Apr 16, Bombings around Iraq killed 24 people. 11 detainees upset about their treatment by US captors escaped from the military's largest detention center in Iraq by climbing through a hole in the fence. Armed militants tried to force their way into Camp Blue Diamond near Ramadi and some suffered casualties.
(AP, 4/16/05)(AP, 4/17/05)
2005 Apr 16, Marla Ruzicka (28), California-based founder of CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims of Conflict), died in a car bombing in Iraq, where she had been on and off since the March 2003 invasion began, conducting door-to-door surveys to determine the number of civilian casualties.
(AP, 4/18/05)(SFC, 4/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 17, Iraqi security forces raided a town in central Iraq where Sunni militants were holding dozens of Shiite Muslims hostage and threatening to kill them. 3 American soldiers were killed and 7 service members wounded overnight when insurgents fired mortar rounds at a US Marine base near Ramadi.
(AP, 4/17/05)
2005 Apr 18, Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. military, swept into Madain, a town south of Baghdad, but found no hostages despite reports that Sunni militants had kidnapped as many as 100 Shiites there.
(AP, 4/18/05)
2005 Apr 19, A suicide car bomb outside an Iraqi army recruitment center and other attacks killed a dozen people and wounded more than 50.
(AP, 4/19/05)
2005 Apr 20, Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani said the bodies of more than 50 people have been recovered from the Tigris River and have been identified. The bodies were believed to have been those of hostages seized in the Madain (Madaen) region earlier this month.
(AP, 4/20/05)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.19)
2005 Apr 20, The bodies of 19 Iraqis were left in a soccer stadium in Haditha 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. 3 suicide car bombs, including one targeting a U.S. convoy, and several shootings left at least six Iraqis dead in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/20/05)
2005 Apr 21, A commercial helicopter contracted by the US Defense Department was shot down by missile fire north of Baghdad. 11 people aboard, including 6 American bodyguards, were killed. A roadside bomb exploded on the highway leading to Baghdad's airport morning, heavily damaging 3 SUVs carrying civilians. Police said 2 foreigners were killed and 3 others wounded.
(WSJ, 4/22/05, p.A1)(AP, 4/21/06)
2005 Apr 22, A car bomb exploded during prayers at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 20. A militant group claimed responsibility for shooting down a Russian-made helicopter carrying 11 civilians and released a video purportedly showing insurgents shooting the crash's lone survivor.
(AP, 4/22/05)
2005 Apr 22, Al Jazeera television reported that insurgents gave Romania 4 days to withdraw its troops from Iraq in order to save the lives of 3 journalists kidnapped last month.
(Reuters, 4/22/05)
2005 Apr 23, Iraqi insurgents struck across the country with bomb attacks, killing at least 16 people, including an American soldier. US forces captured six men suspected in the downing of a civilian helicopter and the shooting death of the lone survivor.
(AP, 4/23/05)
2005 Apr 23, A television cameraman working for The Associated Press was killed when gunfire broke out after an explosion in the northern city of Mosul. An AP photographer was wounded in the same incident.
(AP, 4/23/05)
2005 Apr 24, A car bomb exploded outside a police academy in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. Another one went off moments later as authorities rushed to the scene, killing at least six Iraqis and wounding 33. Deaths from car bombings targeting police and civilians in Tikrit and Baghdad rose to 29.
(AP, 4/25/05)
2005 Apr 24, A US soldier was killed when a roadside bomb exploded as his convoy passed west of Baghdad.
(AP, 4/26/05)
2005 Apr 27, Lamia Abed Khadouri al-Sagri, a member of the National Assembly and of outgoing premier Ayad Allawi's Iraqi List party, was killed in her house in the Hay Aour neighborhood in eastern Baghdad.
(AP, 4/27/05)
2005 Apr 28, In Iraq Ahmad Chalabi captured a key position in the new government, a deputy prime minister's spot and temporary control of the lucrative oil ministry.
(AP, 4/28/05)
2005 Apr 28, Lt. Col. Ala'a Khalil Ibrahim, who worked in the visa section of the Interior Ministry, was shot dead on the way to work by gunmen in Baghdad's eastern section of al-Shaab. A suicide car bomb exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint, wounding four Iraqi soldiers, three U.S. soldiers and seven Iraqi civilians.
(AP, 4/28/05)
2005 Apr 28, Four US soldiers were killed and two wounded when a Task Force Freedom convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Tal Afar city, 90 miles east of the Syrian border.
(AP, 4/30/05)
2005 Apr 28, Islamic militant group Army of Ansar al-Sunna said it shot dead six abducted Sudanese drivers working for U.S. forces in Iraq, according to a video posted on the Internet.
(AP, 4/28/05)
2005 Apr 28-2005 Oct 14, At least 3,663 Iraqis were killed in war-related violence during this period leading up to the vote on a new constitution according to an Associated Press count.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Apr 29, An audiotape purportedly by America's most-wanted insurgent in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, posted on the Internet and threatened more attacks against U.S. forces and urges followers to be wary of any American attempts at dialogue.
(AP, 4/29/05)
2005 Apr 29, Insurgents set off at least 17 bombs in Iraq, killing at least 50 people, including 5 US soldiers, in a series of attacks aimed at shaking Iraq's newly formed government.
(SFC, 4/30/05, p.A1)(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 Apr 30, Insurgents launched fresh attacks in Baghdad and northern Iraq, killing at least 10 Iraqis and wounding more than 30.
(AP, 4/30/05)
2005 May 1, In Iraq insurgents launched a 3rd straight day of attacks, including ambushes, car bombs and a drive-by shooting, killing nine Iraqis and wounding more than 20.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, Five suspects were arrested by Iraqi forces and confessed to the kidnapping and murder of British aid worker Margaret Hassan.
(AFP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, In northern Iraq a car bomb obliterated a tent packed with mourners at the funeral of a Kurdish official, killing 25 people and wounding more than 50 in the single deadliest attack since insurgents started bearing down on Iraq's newly named government late last week.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, A videotape released by Iraqi militants showed Douglas Wood (63), a kidnapped an Australian man living in California, who pleaded for U.S.-led coalition forces to leave Iraq to save his life.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 2, A car bomb exploded in an upscale shopping district of Baghdad, killing at least six Iraqis and setting fire to an apartment building.
(AP, 5/2/05)
2005 May 2, Coalition soldiers fought suspected insurgents near Qaim, a Syrian border town, in a battle that killed 12 militants, injured a 6-year-old girl and wounded six coalition soldiers.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 3, Shiite Arab leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari was sworn in as prime minister as Iraq's first democratically elected government took office.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 3, Insurgents attacked coalition forces in Ramadi, setting off a battle that killed 12 militants, an Iraqi soldier and two Iraqi civilians.
(AP, 5/3/05)
2005 May 3, Two American soldiers died in roadside bomb attacks by insurgents in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 May 4, An Iraqi carrying hidden explosives detonated them outside a police recruitment center in Arbil where people were applying for jobs, killing at least 60 Iraqis and wounding some 100. The Iraqi militant group Ansar al-Sunnah claimed responsibility for the bombing saying in a Web statement the attack was revenge for the Kurds' alliance with US forces.
(AP, 5/4/05)(SFC, 5/5/05, p.A1)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.19)
2005 May 4, Japanese media reported Japan will withdraw its 550 soldiers from their non-combat mission in Iraq in December.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 May 4, The Danish government said that the mission of Denmark's 530 troops in southern Iraq would be extended until Feb 1.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 May 5, Insurgents killed at least 20 people in three separate attacks targeting Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, including one by a man who blew himself up while waiting in line outside an army recruitment center.
(AP, 5/5/05)
2005 May 6, Arab television station al-Jazeera said militants holding an Australian engineer hostage have issued a 72-hour ultimatum for Australia to start pulling troops out of Iraq.
(AP, 5/6/05)
2005 May 6, Insurgent car bombs struck a market in Suwayrah killing 17 civilians, and a police bus in Tikrit, killing at least 8 policemen.
(AP, 5/6/05)
2005 May 6, At least a dozen bodies were found buried at a garbage dump on the outskirts of Baghdad, some of them blindfolded and shot in the head.
(AP, 5/6/05)
2005 May 6, Romania's foreign minister said his government would keep its troops in Iraq supporting postwar operations despite the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists.
(AP, 5/6/05)
2005 May 7, In Iraq US forces began Operation Matador, aimed at clearing a region believed to be a haven for foreign fighters slipping into Iraq from Syria.
(AP, 5/13/05)
2005 May 7, In Iraq gunmen stopped a minibus in which the 6 men were carrying the coffin of a relative to a funeral service in the Shiite city of Najaf. The 6 men, 3 of them brothers, were kidnapped and killed, and the attackers threw the coffin into the nearby Euphrates River.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 7, Two suicide car bombs exploded in a central Baghdad square, killing 22 people, including two American contract workers. 3 US Marines and one sailor were killed in a bombing and firefight in Haditha.
(AP, 5/7/05)(SFC, 5/9/05, p.A1)
2005 May 8, Iraq's parliament approved six Cabinet nominees, handing four more posts to the disaffected Sunni Arab minority. Iraq's newly approved human rights minister turned down the job, saying he was selected only because he was a Sunni Arab.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Iraq gunmen shot and killed a senior official in Iraq's Transportation Ministry in Baghdad. Zoba Yass, director general of the ministry's projects, and his driver were killed.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In central Iraq 3 US soldiers were killed in separate attacks.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 8, In Iraq the Ansar al-Sunnah Army kidnapped Akihiko Saito (44), after ambushing a group of five foreign contractors. It later said Saito was "seriously injured" in the fighting and that the others had died.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 8-9, American troops backed by helicopters and war planes launched a major offensive against insurgents in a remote desert area near the Syrian border, and about 100 militants were killed in the first 24 hours.
(AP, 5/9/05)(SFC, 5/10/05, p.A1)
2005 May 10, Gunmen kidnapped the governor of Iraq's western Anbar province and told his family he would be released when US forces withdraw from Qaim, the site of a major new offensive against followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Gov. Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi was later killed.
(AP, 5/10/06)
2005 May 10, US forces backed by helicopter gunships and warplanes swept through western Iraq near the Syrian border for a third day, raiding desert outposts and safe houses belonging to insurgents.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 11, In Hawija, Iraq, a man with explosives strapped to his body killed at least 30 people at a recruitment center. A wave of explosions and gunfire across Iraq killed at least 39 more people.
(AP, 5/11/05)
2005 May 11, In western Iraq 4 Marines were killed when their troop transporter was struck by a bomb near Karabilah, a village close to the Syrian border, during Operation Matador.
(AP, 5/14/05)
2005 May 12, Militants assassinated a general and a colonel who were en route to work, and a car bomb exploded near a busy market and movie theater in eastern Baghdad, part of a wave of attacks that killed at least 21 Iraqis and wounded more than 70.
(AP, 5/12/05)
2005 May 13, Iraq announced it has renewed its state of emergency for another 30 days following two weeks of insurgent-led violence that killed hundreds of people.
(AP, 5/13/05)
2005 May 14, In Iraq insurgents staged a series of attacks, killing at least 9 people. The US military wrapped up Operation Matador, a major offensive in a remote desert region near the Syrian border.
(AP, 5/14/05)(AP, 5/14/06)
2005 May 15, The bodies of 46 men shot execution-style were found dumped at an abandoned chicken farm, a trash-strewn lot and an insurgent stronghold west of the capital. Gunmen in two cars shot dead Industry Ministry official Col. Jassam Mohammed al-Lahibi and his driver in western Baghdad's Ghazaliyah neighborhood. attackers killed Shiite cleric Sheik Qassim al-Gharawi and his nephew in the capital's New Baghdad neighborhood. 2 explosions detonated about five minutes apart in a busy street as residents were heading to work in Baqouba killing four people and wounding 37.
(AP, 5/15/05)(SFC, 5/16/05, p.A1)
2005 May 15, Gunmen freed the kidnapped governor of Iraq's western Anbar province after US troops ended a weeklong offensive in the region. 125 insurgents were reported killed along with 9 US soldiers in Operation Matador.
(AP, 5/15/05)(WSJ, 5/16/05, p.A1)
2005 May 15, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice paid a surprise visit to Iraq to express support for its new government.
(AP, 5/15/06)
2005 May 16, In Iraq 8 more bodies were found executed by insurgents. Attacks left at least 24 Iraqis dead.
(WSJ, 5/17/05, p.A1)(SFC, 5/17/05, p.A1)
2005 May 17, In Baghdad gunmen killed a Shiite Muslim cleric, and two missing Sunni clerics were found shot dead. Gunmen abducted and killed former Baath Party member Kanis Mohammed al-Janabi and his three sons, aged 17 to 25 in Tunis.
(AP, 5/17/05)
2005 May 17, Cyrus Kar, Iranian-American filmmaker, was arrested by Iraqi security forces after washing machine timers were found in the trunk of a taxi in which he was traveling. He was in Iraq to film footage on the ancient Persian king Cyrus the Great. Kar was released July 10. In 2006 Kar sued US military officials for his 55-day detention.
(SFC, 7/7/05, p.A18)(AP, 7/10/05)(SFC, 7/8/06, p.A3)
2005 May 18, Insurgents gunned down a senior Iraqi Interior Ministry official and the bodies of seven men shot in the head were found dumped west of Baghdad.
(AP, 5/18/05)
2005 May 19, Iraq's prime minister called on Syria to block the infiltration of foreign fighters trying to start a civil war. 25 Iraqis, including an Oil Ministry engineer, and 4 US soldiers were reported killed in the ongoing daily bloodshed. Oil Ministry employee Ali Hamid Alwan al-Dulaimy (31) walked out of his house toward his car when three men firing pistols from a minivan killed him.
(AP, 5/19/05)(WSJ, 5/20/05, p.A1)
2005 May 20, Thousands of Shiites, many waving Islam's holy book over their heads, protested the US presence in Iraq. Sunnis shut down places of worship elsewhere in a show of anger over alleged sectarian violence against the minority.
(AP, 5/20/05)
2005 May 21, Sunni groups joined forces to form a political and religious organization to represent the minority as it seeks to gain influence in Iraq's new Shiite-dominated government.
(AP, 5/21/05)
2005 May 22, Seven Iraqi battalions backed by US forces launched an offensive in Baghdad in an effort to stanch the violence that has killed more than 550 people in less than a month.
(AP, 5/22/05)
2005 May 22, In Iraq gunmen killed a top trade ministry official while aides of a radical Shiite cleric met with a key Sunni group seeking to ease sectarian tensions.
(AP, 5/22/05)
2005 May 22, In Iraq 3 Romanian journalists and their Iraqi-American guide were freed after nearly two months in captivity. Mohammed Munaf, their Iraqi-American translator, was later tried and convicted on charges that he assisted in the kidnapping. In 2006 Munaf was sentenced to death.
(AP, 5/22/05)(SSFC, 10/15/06, p.A20)
2005 May 23, A string of car bombs and suicide attacks across Iraq killed at least 49 Iraqis and wounded more than 130. Militants assassinated a top national security official. Five US troops were killed by roadside bombs and a vehicle accident.
(AP, 5/23/05)(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, In Iraq a car bomb exploded near a Baghdad junior high school for girls, killing six people. 3 US soldiers were killed in central Baghdad when a car bomb exploded next to their convoy. A US soldier sitting in the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle at an observation post was shot to death by gunmen in a passing car.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 24, A Web site that acts as the clearinghouse for messages from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said that Iraq's most-wanted militant had been wounded "for the sake of God" and asked Muslims to pray for his recovery.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 25, About 1,000 US Marines, sailors and soldiers encircled Haditha city in the troubled Anbar province.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 26, The Iraqi government announced that a security cordon of 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and police will ring Baghdad starting next week to try to halt a spree of insurgent violence. Attacks left 15 Iraqis and one Marine dead.
(AP, 5/26/05)(WSJ, 5/27/05, p.A1)
2005 May 26, The Iraqi government arrested Musaab Kasser Abdul Rahman Hassan, known as Abu Younis, a suspected member of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq. The government claimed he was responsible for building car bombs and carrying out more than 60 bombings around the capital. The arrest was not announced until June 19.
(AP, 6/19/05)
2005 May 26, In central Iraq 2 US soldiers were killed when their helicopter was shot down and crashed.
(AP, 5/27/05)
2005 May 27, An Internet posting said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is in good health and is running his terror organization.
(AP, 5/28/05)
2005 May 27, In Iraq gunmen shot and killed a moderate Sunni Muslim tribal leader with close ties to Iraqi Kurds in the northern city of Kirkuk. Sheik Sabhan Khalaf al-Jibouri, 52, died in a hail of machine-gun fire outside his home.
(AP, 5/28/05)
2005 May 28, In Iraq 2 suicide attackers detonated car bombs in northern Iraq, killing at least five Iraqis, and the government confirmed the death of a Japanese hostage abducted earlier this month. Attacks killed at least 45 Iraqis over the past 2 days including 10 people returning from a religious pilgrimage in Syria. A US Marine was killed when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle in northwestern Iraq.
(AP, 5/28/05)(AP, 5/30/05)
2005 May 28, More than 40,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, backed by American troops and air support, began “Operation Lightning" against insurgents in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/11/05)
2005 May 29, In Iraq suicide bombings and ambushes killed at least 30 people, including a British soldier. Iraqi forces swept through Baghdad, erecting checkpoints and searching vehicles as they launched the largest offensive of its kind since Saddam Hussein's ouster.
(AP, 5/29/05)(SFC, 5/30/05, p.A1)
2005 May 29, In Iraq Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Barazanchi, the director of internal affairs of Kirkuk province and a former police chief, was shot several times. He died the next day.
(AP, 5/30/05)
2005 May 29, The body of Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi, governor of Anbar province, was found killed. Insurgents had abducted him May 10.
(AP, 5/31/05)
2005 May 30, In Iraq 2 suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of police officers in Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing 31 people and wounding 108, while US forces mistakenly detained a Sunni political leader on the 2nd day of an Iraqi-led security sweep in the capital.
(AP, 5/30/05)(SFC, 5/31/05, p.A1)
2005 May 30, In Iraq separate air crashes killed 4 American and 4 Italian troops.
(AP, 5/31/05)
2005 Jun 1, A suicide bomber attacked the main checkpoint to Baghdad International Airport, wounding at least 15 Iraqis.
(AP, 6/1/05)
2005 Jun 2, In northern Iraq 3 suicide car bombings struck within an hour. In Kirkuk a car bomb targeting a restaurant where bodyguards of Iraq's Kurdish deputy prime minister were eating killed nine people and wounded 25. A car bomb attack killed the deputy head of Diyala provincial council and three of his bodyguards. 2 parked motorcycles exploded in Mosul killing 5 Iraqis. Gunmen in speeding cars opened fire on a crowded market in Baghdad. The series of attacks killed at least 34 people.
(AP, 6/2/05)
2005 Jun 2, A suicide car bomber targeted a home where a group of people had gathered, killing at least 10 Iraqis and wounding 10 more in Saud, a remote village north of Baghdad.
(AP, 6/3/05)
2005 Jun 3, Iraqi insurgent commanders "apparently came face to face" with four American officials during meetings on June 3 and June 13 at a summer villa near Balad, about 25 miles north of Baghdad.
(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun 3, Gunmen killed a city council official in Kirkuk. Gunmen also killed Razzouq Mohammed Ibrahim, an Iraqi contractor in charge of renovating a mosque in western Samarra. Two Iraqi civilians, including a child, were killed when their car swerved into a US Bradley fighting vehicle near Khalis.
(AP, 6/3/05)
2005 Jun 4, Iraqi police arrested Mutlaq Mahmoud Mutlaq Abdullah, also known as Abu Raad, a key aide to the leader of the Mosul branch of the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group. A suicide car bomber blew himself up at an Iraqi police checkpoint on a main road connecting northern Mosul with the nearby city of Tal Afar, killing two officers and wounding four. Iraqi and US troops discovered 50 weapons and ammunition caches and a huge underground bunker west of the capital fitted out with air conditioning, a kitchen and showers.
(AP, 6/5/05)
2005 Jun 7, A Sunni Arab politician said two insurgent groups were willing to negotiate with the government, possibly opening a new political front in embattled Iraq.
(AP, 6/7/05)
2005 Jun 7, Iraqi security forces captured Jassim Hazan Hamadi al-Bazi, also known as Abu Ahmed. a reputed key member of Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group who is accused of building and selling cars used by suicide bombers.
(AP, 6/14/05)
2005 Jun 7, In northern Iraq 4 apparently coordinated bombings in seven minutes killed 18 people and wounded 39, while a car bomb in Baghdad injured 28.
(AP, 6/7/05)
2005 Jun 7, A convoy of trucks believed to be carrying supplies to a U.S. military base west of Baghdad was ambushed, and reporters who arrived after the attack said they saw the bodies of at least seven people.
(AP, 6/8/05)
2005 Jun 7, Two US commanders were killed at a base near Tikrit. The US military later charged a Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez of Troy, N.Y. National Guard with murdering Capt. Philip Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis Allen, in what is believed to be the 1st case of a US soldier in Iraq accused of killing his superiors. Martinez was acquitted of murder on Dec 4, 2008.
(AP, 6/17/05)(AP, 11/1/05)(SFC, 10/23/08, p.A7)(SFC, 12/5/08, p.A6)
2005 Jun 8, An American-Iraqi offensive killed at least 10 militants, including four blown apart by their own car bomb.
(AP, 6/8/05)
2005 Jun 9, Iraqi Pres. Jalal Talabani said Sunni Muslim Arabs will be given up to 25 seats on the committee drafting Iraq's new constitution.
(AP, 6/9/05)
2005 Jun 9, Clementina Cantoni (32), an Italian aid worker kidnapped at gunpoint in the Afghan capital three weeks ago, was released.
(AP, 6/10/05)
2005 Jun 10, In Iraq militants killed five US Marines and authorities found 21 bodies in civilian clothes scattered near Qaim, a town close to the Syrian border. 11 were shot in the head and another was beheaded.
(AP, 6/10/05)
2005 Jun 11, In Iraq a suicide bomber dressed as a policeman blew himself up during roll call at the heavily guarded headquarters of an elite commando unit killing 5 people. Gunmen attacked a busload of construction workers south of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 11 and wounding three others. Attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 23 people.
(AP, 6/11/05)
2005 Jun 11, US fighter planes equipped with precision-guided missiles launched airstrikes on an Iraqi town near the Syrian border, killing about 40 insurgents who were stopping and searching civilian cars.
(AP, 6/11/05)
2005 Jun 11, French journalist Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi assistant were freed and in good health after nearly five months in captivity in Iraq.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 12, The US military announced the killing of 4 more soldiers, pushing the American death toll past 1,700. Iraqi police found the bullet-riddled bodies of 28 people, many thought to be Sunni Arabs, buried in shallow graves or dumped streetside in Baghdad.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 12,The Kurdish Parliament elected veteran guerrilla leader Massoud Barzani the first president of Iraq's northern Kurdistan region.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 12, British troops arrested a group of Iraqi insurgents suspected of carrying out separate roadside bombings that killed two British soldiers.
(AP, 6/12/05)
2005 Jun 13, Iraqi insurgent commanders "apparently came face to face" with four American officials during meetings on June 3 and June 13 at a summer villa near Balad, about 25 miles north of Baghdad.
(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun 13, In Iraq 4 suicide car bombings and other insurgent attacks killed 10 people, and at least 16 Iraqis were wounded after militants opened fire on authorities trying to evacuate the injured from one of the blasts.
(AP, 6/13/05)
2005 Jun 14, A bomb exploded outside a bank in Kirkuk, killing 23 people, including child street vendors and pensioners waiting for their checks. In Baghdad, the bodies of 24 men killed in ambushes were brought to a hospital. 5 Iraqi and 3 US soldiers were killed.
(AP, 6/14/05)(WSJ, 6/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 14, A senior US military official said up to 20 percent of suicide car bombers in Iraq are from Algeria, a sign of growing cooperation between Islamic extremists in northern Africa and like-minded Iraqis.
(AP, 6/14/05)
2005 Jun 15, Iraqi troops, backed by US forces, freed Douglas Wood, an Australian-born contract engineer, after six weeks in captivity. The release came as a suicide bomber dressed in an Iraqi army uniform blew himself up in a mess hall north of Baghdad, killing at least 25 Iraqi soldiers and injuring 27. A suicide car bomber slammed into 3 police cars on patrol in eastern Baghdad, killing 8 officers. Brutal attacks across Iraq killed more than 50 people.
(AP, 6/15/05)(SFC, 6/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 16, A roadside bomb attack killed five US Marines, and gunfire killed an American sailor in a western Iraqi town. A suicide car bomber slammed into a truck that was carrying policemen along the main road connecting Baghdad with its airport, killing at least eight officers and injuring at least 25.
(AP, 6/16/05)
2005 Jun 17, The US military launched a major combat operation with 1,000 Marines and Iraqi soldiers in the hunt for insurgents and foreign fighters in a volatile western province straddling Syria.
(AP, 6/17/05)
2005 Jun 17, In Iraq 2 US soldiers were killed and one was wounded during a small-arms skirmish with insurgents in Karabilah. A car bomb blew up outside a mosque in the western town of Habaniyah, killing four people and injuring another 15.
(AP, 6/17/05)(AP, 6/18/05)
2005 Jun 18, Iraqi forces and US Marines battled insurgents on two fronts in a restive western province, killing about 50 militants. It was the 2nd day of Operation Spear, Romhe in Arabic.
(AP, 6/18/05)
2005 Jun 18, In Baghdad a 10-year-old Iraqi girl was killed and 2 people were injured when a roadside bomb missed a passing American military convoy and detonated near the child.
(AP, 6/18/05)
2005 Jun 19, A suicide bombing ripped through a popular Baghdad kebab restaurant at lunchtime, killing 23 people and wounding 36. A suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi military checkpoint north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and one civilian, officials said. Thirteen others were wounded.
(AP, 6/19/05)(SFC, 6/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 20, In Iraq a suicide car bomber killed at least 15 traffic police and wounded about 100 more outside the unit's headquarters in the northern Kurdish city of Irbil. Suicide attacks left 37 dead.
(AP, 6/20/05)(WSJ, 6/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 21, In Iraq 3 US soldiers were killed by small-arms fire during combat operations in Ramadi.
(AP, 6/22/05)
2005 Jun 22, In Iraq gunmen killed a former judge whose name once was on a list of Sunni Arabs joining a parliamentary committee to draft Iraq's new constitution. Separately, a Filipino hostage was released after almost eight months in captivity. 4 car bombs exploded at dusk, killing at least 23 people, including sidewalk diners and passengers at a bus station in Baghdad. In all, at least 32 people were killed across Iraq, including a prominent Sunni law professor assassinated by gunmen.
(AP, 6/22/05)
2005 Jun 23, Four apparently synchronized car bombs in the Karada district of Baghdad killed 15 and wounded 50. A sniper killed 2 soldiers in western Baghdad. US troops backed by Iraqi troops and helicopters killed 7 insurgents who opened fire on the patrol from a home in western Baghdad's Jamiaa. A web statement said Abdullah Mohammed Rashid al-Roshoud, one of Saudi Arabia's most-wanted militants, was killed by a US airstrike in northwestern Iraq. A suicide car bomb in Fallujah and ensuing small-arms fire killed 6 US troops including 3 women. 11 of 13 wounded were female.
(AP, 6/23/05)(SFC, 6/24/05, p.A18)(AP, 6/28/05)
2005 Jun 24, Three separate roadside bombs exploded near US military convoys and a police patrol. Iraqi security forces discovered the bodies of eight beheaded men in 2 villages north of Baghdad.
(AP, 6/24/05)
2005 Jun 24, The UN Security Council approved the transfer of $200 million in oil-for-food revenue to the Development Fund for Iraq and said an additional $20 million can be used to pay Iraq's past UN dues.
(AP, 6/24/05)
2005 Jun 25, Mohammed Al-Sumaidaie (21), a university student, was killed when he took Marines doing house-to-house searches to a bedroom to show them where a rifle which had no live ammunition was kept. When the Marines left, he was found in the bedroom with a bullet in his neck. Iraq's UN ambassador later accused U.S. Marines of killing his unarmed young cousin in what appeared to be "cold blood" and demanded an investigation and punishment for the perpetrators.
(AP, 7/2/05)
2005 Jun 25, A suicide car bomber blew himself up outside an Iraqi police officer's home north of Baghdad, killing at least six people and wounding at least a dozen. 3 evening mortar rounds struck a crowded cafe in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, killing 5 civilians and wounding 7.
(AP, 6/25/05)(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun 26, In Iraq a suicide bomber with explosives hidden beneath watermelons in a pickup truck slammed into a police station near a market in Mosul killing 10 police officers and 2 civilians. In Sadiya 6 Iraqi soldiers were gunned down outside their base. A bomber in Al Kasik killed 16 Iraqi civilians arriving for work on an army base. In Mosul a suicide bomber killed 5 Iraqi police. One US soldier was killed in Baghdad by a homemade bomb.
(AP, 6/26/05)(SSFC, 6/26/05, p.A7)
2005 Jun 26, Jordan barred publication of Saddam Hussein's fourth novel, titled "Get Out, Damned One," due to political concerns. Saddam's eldest daughter, Raghad, said her father finished the novel March 18, 2003, a day before the U.S.-led war on Iraq began
(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun 27, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said that two years would be "more than enough" to establish security in his country, a task Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld believes may take up to 12 years.
(AP, 6/27/05)
2005 Jun 27, The US military said it planned to expand its prisons across Iraq to hold as many as 16,000 detainees.
(SFC, 6/28/05, p.A3)
2005 Jun 27, A US Apache attack helicopter crashed north of Baghdad, killing both pilots. A car bomb exploded between a movie house and mosque in eastern Baghdad, killing at least four people and injuring 16.
(AP, 6/27/05)
2005 Jun 27, A meeting in Istanbul of the World Tribunal on Iraq, the culmination of 20 meetings around the world over the last 2 years, called the invasion and occupation of Iraq illegal. The symbolic tribunal sought the immediate withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq and payment of reparations for the damage caused during the conflict.
(AP, 6/27/05)
2005 Jun 28, US troops allegedly killed an Iraqi television director when he drove near a US convoy. A suicide car bomb killed Sheikh Dhari Ali al-Fayadh, an Iraqi Shiite legislator, his son and two bodyguards near Baghdad as they were headed to a parliamentary session in the capital. A suicide bomber near Balad killed a US soldier. A car bomb near Tikrit killed another US soldier. In Samara police fired on a crowd demanding jobs and one person was killed. A car bomb in Baquba killed on e person. A suicide bomber in Musayyib killed a police officer. Bloodshed killed at least 18 people throughout Iraq. In Kirkuk a suicide car bomber slammed into a convoy killing a bodyguard of traffic police chief Brig. Gen. Salar Ahmed.
(AP, 6/29/05)(SFC, 6/29/05, p.A15)
2005 Jun 28, More than 1,000 U.S. troops and Iraqi forces launched Operation Sword on Tuesday in a bid to crush insurgents and foreign fighters in western Iraq, the third major offensive in the area in recent weeks.
(AP, 6/28/05)
2005 Jun 29, A propaganda video, purportedly made by al-Qaida-linked terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was posted on militant Web sites. It showed suicide attacks against US soldiers and Iraqi forces and emphasizes that the war being waged by Iraqi insurgents is in retaliation for America's war against Islam.
(AP, 7/2/05)
2005 Jun 30, The UN panel overseeing compensation for victims of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait approved its final claims, bringing the total award to $52.5 billion.
(AP, 6/30/05)
2005 Jun, In Iraq construction began about this time on a new US embassy complex with a target completion date of June 2007. The 21 building complex on 104 acres will be the largest US embassy in the world. Cost was estimated at over $1 billion.
(AP, 4/14/06)
2005 Jul 1, In Iraq gunmen killed Shiite cleric Kamal Ezz al-Deen al-Ghuraifi, an aide to Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, and 2 bodyguards in a drive-by shooting outside a Baghdad mosque. A suicide bomber detonated his car outside the party offices of PM Ibrahim al-Jaafari, killing one guard.
(AP, 7/1/05)
2005 Jul 2, Ihab al-Sherif, an Egyptian envoy, was kidnapped in Baghdad, weeks after arriving in the country. He was expected to become Iraq's first Arab ambassador since Iraq's new government took office. Al-Qaida later announced it had killed him.
(AP, 7/3/05)(AP, 7/2/06)
2005 Jul 3, A car bomb killed three Iraqi policemen north of Baghdad. 2 US soldiers were wounded in a suicide attack near a checkpoint in the western city of Ramadi.
(AP, 7/3/05)
2005 Jul 4, US and Iraqi forces raided suspected insurgent safe houses near Baghdad International Airport, arresting at least 100 suspected militants, including foreign fighters.
(AP, 7/4/05)
2005 Jul 5, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi issued an audiotape announcing the formation of the Omar Brigade to kill Shia. Sunni clerics had recently accused the Shia Badr Brigade of sending hit squads against Sunnis.
(Econ, 7/16/05, p.41)
2005 Jul 5, At least 100 suspected insurgents, including foreigners, were arrested in a new military operation by US and Iraqi security forces. Insurgents mounted attacks against Arab and Muslim diplomats in Iraq, wounding Bahrain's top envoy in a kidnapping attempt. Pakistan's ambassador also escaped an assault on his convoy.
(AP, 7/5/05)
2005 Jul 5, A US soldier from Task Force Liberty was killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb northeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 7/5/05)
2005 Jul 6, In Iraq gunmen killed 4 policemen and wounded at least 9 more in separate attacks in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/6/05)
2005 Jul 7, Iraq's president called for national unity as mortar attacks killed 4 civilians in the northern city of Mosul and police opened fire on demonstrators in Saddam Hussein's hometown Tikrit, wounding 4.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 7, Al-Qaida in Iraq said in a Web statement that it has killed Ihab al-Sherif, Egypt's top envoy in Iraq, posting a video of the blindfolded diplomat identifying himself.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 7, Egypt recalled its staff to Cairo and said it will temporarily shut its diplomatic mission in Iraq.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 7, About 600 US Marines and Iraqi soldiers launched Operation Scimitar near Fallujah, the fourth counterinsurgency operation in less than a month.
(AP, 7/9/05)
2005 Jul 7, Ali Shakir, the head of Iraq's karate union, was kidnapped south of Baghdad.
(AP, 7/9/05)
2005 Jul 7, Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer quit the Iraqi dictator's Jordan-based legal team, saying some of the team's American members were trying to control the defense and tone down his criticism of the U.S. presence in Iraq.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 9, Khamis Farhan Khalaf Abd al-Fahdawi (known as Abu Seba), a senior lieutenant of al-Qaida in Iraq, was arrested following operations in the Ramadi. He was a key suspect in the kidnap-slaying of an Egyptian envoy and attacks on senior diplomats from Pakistan and Bahrain.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 9, It was reported that a recent Internet announcement said that Ibrahim Youssef al-Shammari would serve as official spokesman for the Islamic Army of Iraq and the Army of the Mujahideen, 2 groups thought to be linked to the former Baath Party.
(Econ, 7/25/05, p.39)
2005 Jul 10, In Iraq Abdullah Ibrahim Mohammed Hassan al Shadad (or Abu Abdul Aziz), another al-Qaida in Iraq lieutenant, was captured.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 10, A man strapped with explosives blew himself up at an Iraqi military recruiting center in Baghdad killing 25 people. 2 US Marines were killed by indirect fire in Hit. 4 insurgents were killed in Tal Afar. 2 suicide car bombers killed at least 7 Iraqi customs officials along the Syrian border. 8 members of a Shiite family, including a 2-year-old, were shot to death in their sleep. The father suspected it was a sectarian crime. The body of kidnapped Iraqi karate association chief Ali Shakir was found floating in the Tigris river southeast of Baghdad. An Iraqi commando brigade detained 10 Sunnis, who were later found tortured and suffocated in a container. Attacks left over 50 people dead.
(AP, 7/10/05)(SFC, 7/11/05, p.A1)(SFC, 7/12/05, p.A3)
2005 Jul 11, In Iraq US troops killed 10 more insurgents in the northern city of Tel Afar. 6 civilians were reported killed in the Tal Afar fighting. Insurgents stormed an Iraqi army checkpoint north of Baghdad, killing 12 people, including 9 soldiers.
(AP, 7/11/05)(Reuters, 7/11/05)(SFC, 7/12/05, p.A3)
2005 Jul 12, In Iraq armed men stormed a house in Baghdad, killing 4 Iraqi human rights activists and wounding another.
(AP, 7/12/05)
2005 Jul 13, The US military filed charges against 11 US soldiers for assaulting detainees in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/16/05)
2005 Jul 13, In Iraq a suicide car bomber sped up to American soldiers distributing candy to children and detonated his explosives, killing up to 27 other people. One US soldier and 7 children were among the dead.
(AP, 7/13/05)
2005 Jul 14, In Iraq 2 US Marines were killed by roadside bomb near the Jordanian border.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 14, In Iraq 2 suicide bombers struck near the Green Zone in central Baghdad, but a third was wounded and captured by US and Iraqi security forces, officials said. At least 9 people were wounded in the blasts.
(AP, 7/14/05)
2005 Jul 15, In Iraq a frenzy of attacks killed at least 30 people in 12 suicide bombings. 2 US Marines were killed in a roadside bombing near the Jordanian border. A suicide car bomb exploded on a bridge overlooking the home of President Jalal Talabani, killing three of his guards. In Nasiriyah, judge Nurredin Ahmed, a Kurd from the northern oil centre of Kirkuk, was shot dead at his home. Akram Ahmed Rasul al-Bayati, a major general in the old regime's disbanded military, and his son Ali, a policeman, were killed after being arrested by police commandos on July 10.
(AP, 7/16/05)(AFP, 7/16/05)(SFC, 7/16/05, p.A3)
2005 Jul 16, In Baghdad a suicide car bomber attacked police commandos in the southern district of Dura, killing one commando and three civilians, two of them children. A 2nd Baghdad suicide bomber blew up a car in an attack targeting a passing US military convoy. One civilian was killed. A 3rd bomber blew himself up in a police station in Mosul, killing 4 policemen and wounding 18 more. A 4th bomber blew himself up in the Jabala area, when Iraqi police tried to arrest him. The explosion wounded two policemen and four civilians. 3 British soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in a rare attack in the relatively stable southern part of the country.
(AFP, 7/16/05)
2005 Jul 16, In Iraq a suicide bomber blew up a fuel truck near a crowded vegetable market outside a Shi'ite mosque in Musayyib killing 98 people. A suspected mastermind of the attack in Musayyib, which killed nearly 100 people, was captured later during a raid by Iraqi forces in which two of his associates were killed.
(Reuters, 7/17/05)(AP, 7/23/05)
2005 Jul 17, In Iraq The Iraqi Special Tribunal filed its first criminal case against Saddam Hussein for a 1982 massacre of Shiites. Adel Karim, a deputy minister for industrial development, said Iraq wants to launch a privatization program that would end state monopolies over industry. Suicide strikes killed 22 people in the Baghdad area.
(AP, 7/17/05)(AP, 7/17/06)
2005 Jul 18, Bayan Jabr, Iraq's interior minister, accused Syria of not making a serious effort to crack down on insurgents in its territory or prevent them from crossing into Iraq, adding that he had pictures and addresses of militant leaders in Syria.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 18, Insurgents killed 8 police and government workers in seven separate shootings across central Iraq.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Jul 19, One of the Sunni Arabs appointed to a committee to draft Iraq's constitution was assassinated in a drive-by shooting. Mijbil Issa was gunned down, along with two bodyguards, in the Karradah area of Baghdad. Gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying Iraqi workers to a U.S. airbase in central Iraq, killing 13.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 19, US Army soldier Lavena Johnson (b.1985) of Missouri was apparently raped and murdered while on duty in Iraq. A DOD report said she had killed herself.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaVena_Johnson)(Econ, 10/19/13, p.35)
2005 Jul 19, A top Turkish general said the US had given direct orders for the capture of rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leaders in Iraq.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 20, Sunni Muslim members on a committee drafting Iraq's new constitution suspended their participation in the wake of a colleague's assassination, saying they need more security. A suicide bomber blew himself up outside an army recruiting center in central Baghdad, killing at least 10 people.
(AP, 7/20/05)
2005 Jul 21, The chief of Algeria's diplomatic mission, Ali Belaroussi, and fellow envoy Azzedine Belkadi were seized at gunpoint from the upscale Mansour district of western Baghdad. In an Internet statement 2 days later al-Qaida in Iraq said it was responsible. Al-Qaida later announced it had killed the diplomats.
(AP, 7/23/05)(AP, 7/21/06)
2005 Jul 21, A Kurdish party official said Kurdish leaders have presented a redrawn map with a larger Kurdistan to the Iraqi National Assembly for consideration in the new constitution.
(AP, 7/21/05)
2005 Jul 22, Insurgents targeted two Iraqi police patrols in Baghdad, leaving at least five people dead.
(AP, 7/22/05)
2005 Jul 24, Iraqi police said a suicide attacker slammed a truck loaded with explosives into sand barriers outside a Baghdad police station, killing at least 39 people and wounding 30. A US Marine was killed in combat operations near Rutbah. 4 US troops were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/24/05)(SFC, 7/25/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 7/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 25, In Iraq Sunni Arab members of a committee drafting Iraq's new constitution ended their boycott, six days after they walked out to protest the assassinations of two fellow Sunni constitution framers. A US soldier was killed when a roadside bomb exploded under his vehicle near Samarra north of Baghdad.
(AP, 7/25/05)
2005 Jul 25, Baghdad was hit by twin suicide car bombs that killed at least 8 people as Australian PM John Howard made a surprise visit there.
(AFP, 7/25/05)
2005 Jul 26, Al-Qaida in Iraq said it had condemned to death two Algerian diplomats who were abducted in Baghdad. A video made public showed the men blindfolded and in captivity.
(AP, 7/26/05)
2005 Jul 27, Iraqi commandos captured Hamdi Tantawi, an Egyptian said to be an associate of Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's 2nd in command. Iraq's most feared terror group said it had killed two kidnapped Algerian diplomats.
(AP, 7/27/05)(AP, 7/27/06)
2005 Jul 27, The US charged Iraqi-born Wasem al Delaema (32), a Dutch citizen, with conspiring to kill Americans in Iraq and asked the Dutch government to extradite him for prosecution. Authorities alleged al Delaema was one of several men calling themselves the Fighters of Fallujah who plotted attacks near that Iraqi city in October 2003. In 2010 a Dutch court reduced his sentenced to 8 years and released him.
(AP, 7/30/05)(AP, 10/13/10)
2005 Jul 28, ICANN transferred the Internet .iq name to Iraq’s telecommunications regulator. InfoCom Corp., which sold computers and Web services in the Middle East, got the .iq assignment in 1997, but was indicted in 2002 for funneling money to a member of Hamas. InfoCom was convicted in April 2005.
(SFC, 8/6/05, p.C2)
2005 Jul 28, Insurgents launched coordinated attacks against Iraqi army checkpoints northeast of Baghdad, killing 6 Iraqi soldiers, police said. Roadside bombs killed 2 US soldiers. A bomb ignited a train carrying fuel in the south of Iraq's capital and 2 people were killed. In western Iraq 2 US Marines were killed by insurgent gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades. The Marines reported killing 9 insurgents, 5 believed to be Syrians, during an engagement in the same small village.
(AP, 7/28/05)(WSJ, 7/29/05, p.A1)(AP, 7/29/05)
2005 Jul 28, Jamie Leigh Jones, a Halliburton/KBR employee in Baghdad, Iraq, was allegedly drugged, raped and held against her will at Camp Hope by seven KBR employees. On May 16, 2007, she filed a lawsuit against the company and the employees which the Department of Justice failed to act upon. On December 19, 2007, she testified before Congress. The Department of Justice had been subpoenaed to also testify; they failed to appear or send a reason for declining to appear. In 2011 Jones (26) lost her lawsuit against KBR.
(www.jamiesfoundation.org/Jamie.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/2tm4g4)(AP, 7/8/11)
2005 Jul 29, A suicide attacker detonated an explosives belt in a crowd of Iraqi army recruits in Rabiya near the Syrian border, killing at least 52 and wounding 93. After the blast, US and Iraqi troops opened fire believing they were under attack. Some of the army recruits were killed by the gunfire.
(AP, 7/29/05)(SFC, 7/30/05, p.A3)(AP, 7/31/05)
2005 Jul 30, In southern Iraq 2 British contractors guarding a consulate convoy were killed by a roadside bomb. A car bomb exploded near the National Theater in Baghdad, killing 5 people, including 3 policemen. Assailants in military garb tried to assassinate a prominent Sunni Arab leader. 5 US soldiers were killed by roadside bombs in two separate incidents in Baghdad.
(AP, 7/30/05)(AP, 7/31/05)
2005 Jul 31, A car bomb exploded south of Baghdad, killing five civilians and wounding 10, including two policemen.
(AP, 7/31/05)
2005 Jul, Nearly 700 of the 1,100 bodies brought to Baghdad's central morgue had fatal gunshot wounds. Iraqi government statistics showed that targeted killings had almost doubled over the last 12 months despite increases in the numbers of policemen on the streets and Iraqi national guard patrols.
(LAT, 9/11/05)
2005 Aug 1, Iraq announced that it will begin rationing gasoline over the next few months to cope with a continuing fuel shortage.
(SFC, 8/2/05, p.A5)
2005 Aug 1, In western Iraq six US Marines were killed in Haditha. A 7th Marine was killed by a car bomb in Hit.
(AP, 8/2/05)
2005 Aug 2, A roadside bomb targeting a US military convoy exploded at the entrance to a tunnel in central Baghdad, and at least 29 civilians were wounded. American freelance journalist Steven Vincent was found shot to death in Basra after being abducted by armed men. Vincent had been shot multiple times after he and his Iraqi translator were abducted at gunpoint hours earlier. He had been writing about the rise of conservative Shiite Islam and the corruption of the Iraqi police.
(www.nytimes.com/2005/08/03/international/middleeast/03cnd-iraq.html?_r=1)(AP, 8/2/05)(AP, 8/2/06)
2005 Aug 3, An Iraqi Airways plane landed at Istanbul airport and then took off again for Baghdad, inaugurating its Iraq-Turkey route after a 14-year hiatus.
(AP, 8/4/05)
2005 Aug 3, A Marine amphibious assault vehicle on patrol during combat operations near the Syrian border hit a roadside bomb. 14 Marines and a civilian interpreter were killed. Steven Vincent, an American freelance journalist, was found dead in Basra. Vincent had been shot multiple times after he and his Iraqi translator were abducted at gunpoint hours earlier.
(AP, 8/3/05)
2005 Aug 3, A US Marine was killed by small-arms fire in Ramadi. 3 US soldiers died in a roadside bombing in Baghdad.
(AP, 8/4/05)
2005 Aug 4, A car bomb hit members of a radical Shiite militia in northern Iraq as attacks nationwide killed at least 11 people. Unidentified gunmen attacked an Iraqi army patrol in a town north of Baghdad, killing four Iraqi troops. An American soldier assigned to a unit in Mosul was killed in action.
(AP, 8/4/05)(AP, 8/6/05)
2005 Aug 5, US and Iraqi troops repelled a series of coordinated insurgent attacks in southern Baghdad, killing six rebels and capturing 12. At nearly the same time, a suicide attacker drove a truck loaded with explosives into a nearby Iraqi army checkpoint, killing an Iraqi soldier. A suicide car bomber tried to attack another Iraqi position in the area, but a US tank fired and hit the car, killing the driver and causing the car bomb to explode prematurely.
(AP, 8/6/05)
2005 Aug 6, Sunni Arab members of the committee drafting Iraq's new constitution rejected Kurdish demands for a federal state.
(AP, 8/6/05)
2005 Aug 6, In Iraq a US patrol with Task Force Liberty was hit in the city of Samarra. All the soldiers were transported to a coalition medical facility where two of them died from wounds.
(AP, 8/7/05)
2005 Aug 7, In central Iraq a suicide bomber driving an empty fuel tanker detonated his vehicle near a police station, killing at least two people. Three Iraqi soldiers and two Oil Ministry employees were killed in two separate drive-by shootings in Baghdad.
(AP, 8/7/05)
2005 Aug 9, A suicide bomber struck near a US convoy in Baghdad and gunmen opened fire on police patrols around the city in attacks that killed at least 16 people.
(AP, 8/9/05)
2005 Aug 9, In Iraq 4 American soldiers were killed when insurgents attacked their patrol in the northern city of Beiji, and a car bomb targeting a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in Baghdad killed seven people, including one US soldier.
(AP, 8/10/05)
2005 Aug 10, Gunmen kidnapped Brig. Gen. Khudayer Abbas, a senior Iraqi Interior Ministry official, as he drove his car in central Baghdad. A suicide bomber killed six people and wounded 14 when he drove a car at a police patrol in the Ghazaliya district of western Baghdad.
(AP, 8/10/05)(Reuters, 8/10/05)
2005 Aug 11, In Iraq gunmen killed at least 16 people in attacks across the country, including one that left a young girl wounded and her parents dead.
(AFP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, The UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend its mission in Iraq, reaffirming its leading role in helping to promote a national dialogue which is crucial for the country's political stability and unity.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 11, El Salvador sent its fifth contingent of 380 soldiers to Iraq for humanitarian missions. President Tony Saca said it was in the same spirit as the countries that helped El Salvador during its 12-year civil war.
(AP, 8/11/05)
2005 Aug 12, In Iraq Sunni Arab leaders rejected calls for a Shiite federal region to be enshrined in the constitution.
(AP, 8/12/05)
2005 Aug 12, In Iraq a US soldier was found dead of a gunshot wound.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 13, In Iraq 3 soldiers were killed and one other wounded in a roadside bombing near Tuz Khormato, 95 miles north of Baghdad. Another soldier was killed at another roadside bombing.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 13, An Italian newspaper reported that more than 100 Italian troops whose tours in southern Iraq have ended are not being replaced, apparently marking the beginning of the country's withdrawal from Iraq ahead of schedule.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 14, In Iraq a US soldier on a patrol was killed and 3 others wounded in a blast east of Rutbah, 250 miles west of Baghdad. 30 bodies were found in a grave south of Baghdad that was 10-14 days old. One insurgent was killed in the raid that led to the grave and 13 others were detained.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 15, Iraq’s parliament failed to meet a key deadline for finishing a new constitution and voted to give itself another week on a new draft constitution.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.37)(AP, 8/15/06)
2005 Aug 16, Iraqi leaders, a day after failing to meet their deadline, expressed confidence they would overcome differences over key issues like the role of Islam and the power of regional governments and finish the new constitution by next week.
(AP, 8/16/05)
2005 Aug 17, In Iraq 3 car bombs exploded near a bus station and hospital in Baghdad, killing at least 43 people and wounding 89 in the deadliest attacks in the capital in weeks. A series of insurgent attacks also killed 11 Iraqis, including six soldiers assigned to protect oil pipelines in northern Iraq.
(AFP, 8/17/05)
2005 Aug 18, In Iraq 4 American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad. Jasim Waheeb, an investigative judge from Baghdad, was shot to death with his.
(AP, 8/18/05)(SFC, 8/19/05, p.A3)
2005 Aug 19, In Iraq gunmen in Mosul abducted and publicly executed 3 Sunni Arab activists working to encourage voter participation.
(SFC, 8/20/05, p.A7)
2005 Aug 20, In Iraq a US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
(AP, 8/20/05)
2005 Aug 22, Hours before a midnight deadline, Shiites and Kurds reached an agreement on a draft constitution and were trying to persuade Sunni Arabs to go along with their compromises.
(AP, 8/22/05)
2005 Aug 22, Iraq's oil exports were shut down by a power cut due to sabotage attacks 2 days earlier. The shut down darkened parts of central and southern Iraq, including the country's only functioning oil export terminals.
(AP, 8/22/05)
2005 Aug 23, Iraq's al-Qaida wing claimed responsibility for the Aug 19 rocket attack that barely missed U.S. warships docked in the Jordanian port of Aqaba.
(AP, 8/23/05)
2005 Aug 23, A US soldier, an American contractor and five Iraqis were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in a city north of Baghdad.
(AP, 8/23/05)
2005 Aug 24, Sunni insurgents killed 13 people in a series of raids in Baghdad. Sadr fighters attacked pro-government Badr militia and fighting raged in 5 cities.
(WSJ, 8/25/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 24, US military said the Pentagon has ordered 1,500 additional troops to Iraq to provide security in advance of two upcoming votes.
(AP, 8/24/05)
2005 Aug 25, The bodies of 36 men were discovered in Kut, southeast of Baghdad, on a road leading to Iran. On Aug 29 a leader of Iraq's largest Sunni political group blamed Shiite-led security forces for the deaths of 36 Sunnis found shot in the head and said such acts could have unforeseen consequences.
(AP, 8/25/05)(SFC, 8/26/05, p.A12)(AP, 8/29/05)
2005 Aug 26, Shiite negotiators, prodded by Pres. Bush, offered what they called their final compromise proposal to Sunnis Arabs to try to break the impasse over Iraq's new constitution.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 26, In Iraq US warplanes launched multiple airstrikes against a suspected "terrorist safe house" in the western Anbar province, destroying the building where up to 50 militants were believed to be hiding.
(AP, 8/26/05)
2005 Aug 27, Sunni negotiator Fakhri al-Qaisi said that the Sunnis have submitted counter-proposals on the constitution to the parliament speaker and will meet later with the U.S. ambassador.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2005 Aug 27, The US military has released nearly 1,000 prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison after Iraqi authorities requested that they be set free.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2005 Aug 28, Iraqi negotiators finished the country's new constitution without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs who helped prepare it, dealing a blow to the Bush administration and setting the stage for a bitter campaign leading up to an October referendum.
(AP, 8/28/05)
2005 Aug 28, A Reuters television sound technician was killed and a cameraman was injured while trying to cover a Baghdad gunbattle involving insurgents and US troops. Police said the men were fired on by American forces. In 2008 a Pentagon report concluded that death of the Reuters journalist was justified.
(AP, 8/28/05)(WSJ, 6/18/08, p.A1)
2005 Aug 29, Thousands of Sunni demonstrators rallied in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit to denounce Iraq's new constitution a day after negotiators finished the new charter without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs.
(AP, 8/29/05)
2005 Aug 29, In northern Iraq a US Army helicopter made a forced landing under hostile fire, and one soldier was killed and another injured.
(AP, 8/29/05)
2005 Aug 30, US warplanes launched strikes in western Iraq which killed an al Qaeda militant named Abu Islam among other fighters. A hospital source said at least 47 people were killed.
(Reuters, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 30, UN officials said the 9 UN agencies involved in the oil-for-food program have agreed to pay Iraq about $40 million in oil proceeds they received in 2003 to finish their work but never spent.
(AP, 8/30/05)
2005 Aug 31, In Iraq panic engulfed thousands of Shiites marching across a bridge in a religious procession after rumors spread that a suicide bomber was about to attack, triggering a stampede that killed as many as 953 people. Hundreds of thousands of Shiites had been marching across the bridge, which links Baghdad's Shiite Kazimiyah district with heavily Sunni Azamiyah. They were heading for the tomb of Imam Mousa al-Kadhim (d.799), an 8th century Shiite saint, about a mile from the span.
(AP, 9/1/05)(Econ, 9/3/05, p.42)
2005 Aug 31, In Iraq a US soldier was shot to death in Iskandariya.
(SFC, 9/3/05, p.A3)
2005 Aug, Iraq’s interim administration under Ibrahim al-Jaafari passed Decree 8750, which provided for state control of the finances of all of Iraq’s trade unions.
(Econ, 5/6/06, p.47)
2005 Sep 1, Iraq hanged three convicted murderers, the first executions since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein. 2 US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/1/05)(SFC, 9/3/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 2, Some 5,000 US and Iraqi troops launched an assault at Tal Afar and at least 30 insurgents were killed.
(SFC, 9/3/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 2, Bulgaria said it has begun preparations to withdraw its 400 troops from Iraq.
(AP, 9/2/05)
2005 Sep 3, Insurgents launched a series of assaults in Baquba, Kirkuk and Samarra, killing at least 28 people.
(AP, 9/3/05)(SSFC, 9/4/05, p.A22)
2005 Sep 4, In Iraq US troops killed 7 insurgents in Tal Afar, including six who fired at the Americans from a mosque.
(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 5, Insurgents launched a surprise attack on Baghdad's heavily guarded Interior Ministry building, killing two police officers and wounding several others. In southern Iraq, two British soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb. In the northern city of Tal Afar, bodies of 3 district leaders were found. The 3 had turned down demands by insurgents to cooperate in their fight with US and Iraqi forces. 8 Iraqi civilians, including 5 children, were killed in fighting there. Another 25 Iraqi civilians died in other incidents in Baghdad, Baqouba and elsewhere.
(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 6, In Iraq US Marine jets attacked two bridges across the Euphrates River near the Syrian border to prevent insurgents from moving foreign fighters and munitions toward Baghdad and other cities. 2 US troops were reported killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/6/05)(WSJ, 9/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 7, Iraqi and US forces encircled the insurgent stronghold of Tal Afar, and the Iraqi military announced the arrest of 200 suspected insurgents, most of them foreign fighters.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 7, In Iraq a roadside bomb struck a convoy of American security guards in the southern city of Basra, killing four US contractors. A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car outside a takeout restaurant in Basra, killing at least 10 people and wounding 15.
(AP, 9/7/05)
2005 Sep 8, In Iraq US jets dropped 500-pound J-Dam bombs on the insurgent-controlled neighborhood of Sarai in Tal Afar, where most of the 200,000 population had fled. Iraqi police reported finding 17 bullet-riddled bodies near Baghdad.
(SFC, 9/9/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 8, A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives-laden BMW in the center of Baghdad targeting a passing convoy of private American security agents.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 8, The UN raised the alarm about mounting violence in Iraq blamed on pro-government militias and urged the authorities to look into reports of systematic torture in police stations.
(Reuters, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 9, The Baghdad International Airport, the country's only reliable link to the outside world, closed in an embarrassing pay dispute between the government and a British security company.
(AP, 9/9/05)
2005 Sep 10, Baghdad International Airport, Iraq's only reliable and relatively safe link to the outside world, reopened after being closed for a day in a payments dispute between the government and a British security firm.
(AP, 9/10/05)
2005 Sep 10, More than 500 U.S.-trained Georgian soldiers left for Iraq as part of a regular rotation of troops by the former Soviet republic.
(AP, 9/10/05)
2005 Sep 11, About 5,000 Iraqi soldiers, backed by a 3,500-strong American armored force, reported 156 insurgents killed and 246 captured. The force discovered a big bomb factory, 18 weapons caches and the tunnel network in the ancient Sarai neighborhood of Tal Afar. A US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb near Samarra. US deaths to date since the start of the war in March, 2003, numbered 1,897. Britain reported at least 96 dead.
(AP, 9/11/05)(SFC, 9/12/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 11, A British serviceman was killed and three injured in a late-morning bomb attack in Iraq's southern Basra province.
(AP, 9/11/05)
2005 Sep 12, A huge car bomb exploded outside a popular restaurant in Baghdad's upscale Mansour neighborhood. At least one person was killed and 17 were wounded.
(AP, 9/12/05)
2005 Sep 13, US forces along the Euphrates River attacked the insurgent stronghold of Haditha, capturing a militant with ties to al-Qaida in Iraq and killing four others.
(AP, 9/13/05)
2005 Sep 14, A leading Shiite lawmaker said Iraq's draft constitution has been finalized and will be sent to the United Nations to be printed.
(AP, 9/14/05)
2005 Sep 14, It was reported that Iraqi government subsidies accounted for 51% of the gross domestic product. A foreign debt of $190 billion, inherited from Saddam Hussein, was reported as a 2nd major weakness and impediment to economic growth.
(WSJ, 9/14/05, p.A20)
2005 Sep 14, More than a dozen explosions ripped through Baghdad in rapid succession, killing at least 160 people and wounding 570 in a series of attacks that began with a suicide car bombing that targeted laborers assembled to find work for the day. Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility.
(AP, 9/14/05)(SFC, 9/15/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 14, Gunmen wearing military uniforms surrounded a village north of Baghdad and executed 17 men.
(AP, 9/14/05)
2005 Sep 15, Iraq’s PM Ibrahim al-Jaafari, speaking at a news conference in Dearborn, Mich., condemned the latest round of bombings that left scores of his countrymen dead, and vowed that his government's "rational, political struggle" would prevail over "criminal acts."
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, Two suicide car bombers struck within a minute of each other and a half-mile apart in southern Baghdad, killing 7 policemen and raising the day's death toll from blasts in the capital to at least 31.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2005 Sep 15, A US Marine was killed in an “indirect fire explosion" at Camp Ramadi in the western province of al-Anbar.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 16, A suicide car bomber struck as worshippers were leaving a Shiite mosque in the northern Iraqi town of Tuz Khormato killing 11 people. Militants killed at least 14 more people across the country as the Sunni-dominated insurgency pressed its "all-out war" to destabilize the country.
(AP, 9/16/05)(SFC, 9/17/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 16, In Iraq 3 US soldiers were killed near Baghdad.
(SFC, 9/20/05, p.A14)
2005 Sep 16, Premier Silvio Berlusconi declared Italy's mission in Iraq "an absolute and total" success, and said Italy would continue to reduce its military presence there.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 17, The US military said that coalition forces in Mosul had arrested two alleged leaders of the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group. The military also said that Iraqi forces and US troops killed two insurgents and captured six in the city of Tal Afar.
(AP, 9/17/05)
2005 Sep 17, In Iraq a suicide car bomb wrecked three vehicles in a US convoy near Abu Ghraib prison, and insurgents fired seven mortar shells at the jail and used grenades to damage three armored vehicles in another American convoy in the area.
(AP, 9/17/05)
2005 Sep 17, A car bomb near an outdoor market in a Shiite village east of Baghdad killed at least 30 people. At least 40 people were killed across Iraq.
(SSFC, 9/18/05, p.A14)
2005 Sep 17, In Iraq insurgents assassinated Faris Nasir Hussein, a Kurdish member of parliament.
(AP, 9/18/05)
2005 Sep 18, Iraq's parliament signed off on revisions to the country's draft constitution as a leading lawmaker declared that acceptance of the new charter was a matter for the people.
(AP, 9/18/05)
2005 Sep 18, In Iraq police found 20 bodies shot to death and dumped in the Tigris River north of the capital, where there was no major violence for the first time in five days. 4 more were found handcuffed and shot in east Baghdad.
(AP, 9/18/05)
2005 Sep 18, Armed Shiite militiamen from the outlawed Mahdi Army demonstrated in central Basra after British soldiers arrested their local leader on charges of terrorism. British forces confirmed they had arrested "three prominent individuals".
(AP, 9/19/05)(Econ, 9/24/05, p.55)
2005 Sep 18, Fakher Haider (38), an Iraqi journalist working for The New York Times, was abducted him from his home in the southern city of Basra by men claiming to be police officers. His body was found the next day.
(AP, 9/19/05)
2005 Sep 19, In Iraq a nephew of Saddam Hussein was sentenced to life in prison for funding Iraq's violent insurgency and for bomb-making.
(AP, 9/19/05)
2005 Sep 19, Four US soldiers died in two roadside bombings near the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 19, Iraqi police detained two British soldiers in the southern port city of Basra, following a shooting incident. British forces smashed jail walls to free 2 British commandos detained earlier in the day by Iraqi police. Iraqi officials said at least 2 civilians were killed.
(AP, 9/19/05)(SFC, 9/20/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 19, A new report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said that of the estimated 3,000 foreign fighters in Iraq, the largest number, about 20 percent, comes from Algeria, followed by Syria and Yemen with about 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively. About 15 percent come from Sudan, 12 percent from Saudi Arabia, 5 percent from Egypt, and the rest from other countries.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, In Iraq a child died and another was injured when terrorists used them as human shields during Coalition raids of three terrorist safe houses in Mosul. The bureau chief of an Iraqi daily newspaper and a woman working for Iraq's state-run television were shot and killed by assailants in separate attacks in Mosul. An angry mob of insurgents attacked a convoy of American contractors when they got lost in Duluiyah, a town north of Baghdad, killing four and wounding two. A US soldier died in a roadside blast north of Baghdad. Total US troop deaths reached 1,904.
(AP, 9/20/05)(AP, 9/21/05)(AP, 10/23/05)
2005 Sep 21, At least eight people were killed in a gun battle in Baghdad between troops and insurgents.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 21, About 500 civilians and policemen, some waving pistols and AK-47s, rallied in the southern city of Basra and denounced "British aggression" following London's decision to use force to free two of its soldiers being held by Iraqi police.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 21, Gunmen in Mosul shot to death Ahlam Youssef, an engineer who works for al-Iraqiya television, and her husband, said Bassem al-Fadli, a manager at the station's headquarters in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 21, The UN World Food Program warned that its emergency operations in Iraq, which feed about 3 million people, were at risk because donors have only come up with 44 percent of the necessary money.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 22, British troops in the city of Basra greatly reduced their presence in the streets, apparently responding to a provincial governor's call to sever cooperation until London apologized for storming a police station to free two of its soldiers.
(AP, 9/22/05)
2005 Sep 22, About 150 clerics and tribal leaders from Iraq's Sunni Arab minority called for the rejection of the country's draft constitution in an upcoming referendum, saying that it would lead to the fragmentation of Iraq. Small arms fire in Ramadi killed one US soldier.
(AP, 9/22/05)(SFC, 9/24/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 23, A suicide bomber detonated hidden explosives on a small bus in Baghdad, killing 6 people. 2 American soldiers died in separate attacks. A roadside bomb killed a US Army soldier whose convoy was patrolling Baghdad. A suicide bomber in southern Iraq killed an Iraqi soldier. Another suicide bomber attacked a checkpoint north of Karbala killed a child and left 4 people wounded.
(AP, 9/23/05)(SFC, 9/24/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 24, A suicide car bomber driving at high speed exploded his vehicle near an Iraqi army checkpoint in downtown Baghdad, killing three soldiers and an Iraqi civilian.
(AP, 9/24/05)
2005 Sep 24, In Iraq 2 insurgents from al-Qaida in Iraq were captured during raids in the Baghdad. They were identified as Walid Muhammad Farhan Juwar al-Zubaydi, also known as "the Barber," and Ibrahim Muhammad Subhi Khayri al-Rihawi.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Sep 25, A suicide car bomber struck an Interior Ministry convoy in Baghdad, killing seven police commandos and two civilians. Earlier, a bomb mounted on a bicycle blew apart a music store in Hillah, south of the capital, killing one. US forces in Sadr City killed at least eight Shiite gunmen and wounding five. In western Iraq a US soldier was killed when his vehicle rolled over during a patrol.
(AP, 9/25/05)
2005 Sep 25, Iraqi and US authorities killed Abdullah Abu Azzam (Abdullah Najim Abdullah Mohamed Al-Jawari), the No. 2 official in the al-Qaida in Iraq organization, in a raid in Baghdad.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 26, The US military freed 500 Iraqi detainees from Abu Ghraib prison, a goodwill gesture requested by the Iraqi government ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, An al-Qaeda leader in the northern city of Mosul surrendered to the Iraqi military. Abu Nasser, another al-Qaeda leader, died along with several others in a raid on the group's headquarters in Karabila. A US Marine was killed by a roadside bomb in the town of Khaldiyah, west of Baghdad.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 26, Roadside bombs killed three US soldiers in two separate attacks. A suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint guarding several government ministries, killing at least six people and wounding 13. Elsewhere five teachers and their driver who were shot to death in a classroom by suspected insurgents disguised as policemen.
(AP, 9/26/05)
2005 Sep 26, A US Marine commander said insurgents loyal to al-Zarqawi had taken over at least 5 Iraqi towns on the border with Syria, ordering residents to leave of face death.
(SFC, 9/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 26, A military court in Texas convicted Pfc. Lynndie England on 6 of 7 counts of conspiracy and maltreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
(SFC, 9/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 27, A suicide bomber attacked Iraqis applying for jobs as policemen in Baqouba, 30 miles north of Baghdad, killing nine and wounding 21. US and Iraqi authorities said their forces had killed Abdullah Abu Azzam, the No. 2 official in the al-Qaida in Iraq organization, in a weekend raid in Baghdad, claiming to have struck a "painful blow" to the country's most feared insurgent group.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 27, In Iraq NATO's top brass opened a long-awaited training academy for the Iraqi military that the alliance say will significantly increase its role in the country.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 27, In southern Iraq police found the bodies of 22 Iraqi men who had been shot in the head and dumped in a deserted area of Badrah district northeast of Kut and 100 miles southeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 9/27/05)
2005 Sep 28, A woman strapped with explosives and disguised as a man blew herself up outside an Iraqi army recruiting center in the northern town of Tal Afar, killing 7 other people and wounding at least 35 in the first known attack by a female suicide bomber in the country's bloody insurgency.
(AP, 9/28/05)(SFC, 9/29/05, p.A12)
2005 Sep 28, In Najaf, Iraq, an attacker set off an explosion in the home of a bodyguard of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, killing two people and wounding five others.
(AP, 9/28/05)
2005 Sep 28, In Iraq 5 US soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in Ramadi.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2005 Sep 29, In Baghdad US forces raided the homes of two officials from a prominent Sunni Arab organization, arresting bodyguards and confiscating weapons. 12 Iraqis were killed in a number of shootings and other attacks in the capital.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2005 Sep 29, Three suicide attackers exploded near-simultaneous car bombs in the heart of Balad, a mainly Shiite town, killing at least 60 people and wounding 70 amid a new surge of violence before an Oct. 15 referendum on Iraq's constitution.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2005 Sep 30, Sunni-led insurgents killed at least nine people with a car bomb in a crowded vegetable market this Friday, the Muslim day of worship.
(AP, 9/30/05)
2005 Sep, In Iraq army recruits traveling by bus from Karbala to Qaim were stopped by gunmen and taken away. In 2008 a mass grave was found near Qaim containing the remains of 34 people, including 2 women, believed to be the army recruits abducted in 2005.
(SFC, 10/23/08, p.A11)
2005 Oct 1, The US military released about 500 Iraqi detainees from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, completing its plan to free a total of more than 1,000 this week in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Oct 1, In Iraq US Marines began a 3-day offensive dubbed Iron Fist that included a sweep of the insurgency stronghold of Karabila.
(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.A1)(www.atsnn.com/story/174319.html)
2005 Oct 2, Hundreds of U.S. troops combed through a village near the Syrian border, breaking into houses and fighting sporadic gun battles with gunmen on the second day of a new offensive against al-Qaida insurgents. At least eight militants were killed.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 2, Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed to have captured two US Marines participating in an offensive in western Iraq, threatening in a Web statement to kill them within 24 hours. The US military said the claim appeared to be fake.
(AP, 10/2/05)
2005 Oct 3, In western Iraq 2 US soldiers and a Marine were killed.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, Iraqi lawmakers approved the death penalty for anyone financing or "provoking" terrorism.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, A suicide car bomb exploded at a checkpoint at the main entrance of Baghdad's Green Zone, killing two Iraqi policemen and wounding one.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 4, In western Iraq some 2,500 U.S. troops along with Iraqi forces launched their second major offensive in a week, sweeping into three towns to take them back from insurgents who had killed Marines there last month.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 5, Iraq's parliament voted to reverse last-minute changes to rules for next week's referendum on a new constitution after the UN said they were unfair. Sunni Arabs responded by dropping their threat to boycott the vote and promised to reject the charter at the polls.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 5, A bomb exploded at the entrance of a Shiite Muslim mosque south of Baghdad as hundreds of worshippers gathered for prayers on the first day of Ramadan and for the funeral of a man killed in an earlier bombing. At least 25 people were killed and 87 wounded. In Kirkuk assassins killed Nabiel Sharaf Aldeen, a retired police official.
(AP, 10/5/05)(SFC, 10/7/05, p.A14)
2005 Oct 5, A video showing two Iraqi men being beheaded for allegedly spying for the United States was posted on a militant Islamic Web site, and the Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed it had carried out the executions.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 6, Insurgents using suicide and roadside bombs killed at least 13 people, including a U.S. soldier, and wounded 19 in the latest of a series of attacks aimed at wrecking Iraq's constitutional referendum next week. Insurgents attacked an Oil Ministry convoy killing 6 officers.
(AP, 10/6/05)(SFC, 10/7/05, p.A14)
2005 Oct 6, Bomb blasts killed six Marines in western Iraq. US forces killed 29 militants in offensives aimed at uprooting al-Qaida insurgents.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, At least seven Iraqi civilians were killed in shootings around the city, and at least two bodies were found dumped in the capital.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 7, In Iraq insurgents killed Haj Abdul Bajid Ahmed Al-Jibori, a member of the local district council, in a drive-by shooting southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk. West of Baghdad, a drive-by shooting killed police Capt. Haqi Ismael, who worked with the Ministry of Interior.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 7, The Senate voted to give President Bush $50 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and US military efforts against terrorism, money that would push total spending for the operations beyond $350 billion.
(AP, 10/7/05)
2005 Oct 8, In Iraq insurgents killed two Iraqis and wounded 12 with roadside bombs and drive-by shootings.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 9, A suicide car bomb killed 2 people outside an apartment building used by the Iranian-backed Badr Brigade, a Shiite militia linked to one of the main parties in the Iraqi government.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 10, An Iraqi official said an arrest warrant has been issued for Hazem Shaalam, a former Iraqi defense minister, accused of corruption and abuse of power while working in the previous interim government, which was installed by the United States last year.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 10, In Iraq insurgents launched a new salvo of attacks five days ahead of a crucial constitutional referendum, killing at least 12 Iraqis and a US soldier with suicide car bombs, roadside explosives and drive-by shootings.
(AP, 10/10/05)
2005 Oct 11, The British government said it will pay unspecified compensation for injuries and damage caused when its army stormed a police station in the southern Iraqi city of Basra last month to release two soldiers.
(AP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 11, In Iraq an IED killed 2 US soldiers in Ramadi.
(WSJ, 10/12/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 12, Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani and other top politicians praised as "historic" the last-minute compromises that negotiators reached on the draft constitution and urged Iraqis to vote "yes" in this weekend's referendum.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 12, A suicide bomber killed 30 Iraqis at an army recruiting center. An explosion shut down an oil pipeline near the northern city of Beiji.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 13, In Iraq a US soldier died when by a roadside bomb hit his combat patrol.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 14, Sunni insurgents launched five attacks against the largest Sunni Arab political party on the eve of Iraq's crucial referendum, bombing and burning offices and the home of one of its leaders in retaliation after the group dropped its opposition to the draft constitution.
(AP, 10/14/05)
2005 Oct 15, Iraq's deeply divided Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds voted under heavy guard Saturday to decide the fate of a new constitution. A roadside bomb killed three Iraqi soldiers in northeast Iraq, and seven people were wounded during attacks by insurgents near five of Baghdad's 1,200 polling stations.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 15, In Iraq 5 American soldiers were killed by a bomb blast on referendum day.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 16, Iraq's constitution seemed assured of passage despite strong opposition from Sunni Arabs, who voted in surprisingly high numbers in an effort to stop it.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 17, Iraq's former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and other secular leaders announced a new coalition they said unites moderate Sunnis, Shiites and other political groups to run in December's parliamentary elections.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 17, In western Iraq 2 US Marines were killed in fighting near the Jordanian border. Insurgents shot and killed Ayed Abdul Ghani, an adviser to one of Iraq's top Sunni Arab officials, as he drove to work in Baghdad.
(AP, 10/18/05)
2005 Oct 17, US warplanes and helicopters bombed two western villages, killing an estimated 70 militants near a site where five American soldiers died in a weekend roadside blast, the military. Residents said at least 39 of the dead were civilians.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 18, A roadside bomb hit a US Army patrol south of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding two others. A US soldier died from a non-hostile gunshot wound at a forward operating base near Mosul.
(AP, 10/19/05)(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 18, A British soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in southern Iraq.
(AFP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, A defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent to charges of murder and torture as his long-awaited trial began with the one-time dictator arguing about the legitimacy of the court and scuffling with guards.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Iraq’s trial of Saddam Hussein on war crimes charges was adjourned to Nov 28 shortly after it began.
(AP, 10/19/05)
2005 Oct 19, Iraqi police arrested Saddam Hussein's nephew in Baghdad, charging that he served as the top financier of Iraq's rampant insurgency. 3 US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 19, Sunni-led insurgents killed 26 people in Iraq, including six Shiites who were lined up at a factory and gunned down in front of their fellow workers.
(AP, 10/19/05)(SFC, 10/20/05, p.A15)
2005 Oct 19, Rory Carroll, 33, an Irish citizen who is the London Guardian's Baghdad correspondent, was kidnapped while on assignment. Carroll was released the next day.
(AP, 10/19/05)(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, An Iraqi Airways plane landed in Cairo, making the first regular flight between Iraq and Egypt in 15 years.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, In northern Iraq insurgents using explosives set fire to the main oil pipeline. Militants riding in a car opened fire on civilians outside a food shop in the southern Dora area of Baghdad, killing two. The militants then stopped, rushed into the store and gunned down a third Iraqi. A rocket hit a public school for students aged 12 to 15 in the western al-Mansour neighborhood of the capital, killing one child and wounding five. A nearby shopkeeper also was killed. A suicide car bomb exploded in front of a provincial government building in the city of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Three people were killed and 14 wounded.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 20, Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi, a defense lawyer in Saddam Hussein's mass murder trial, was found dead soon after being kidnapped. His body was dumped near a Baghdad mosque with two gunshots to the head. 4 US service members were killed in two attacks. An American soldier was killed in the northwestern town of Hit by "indirect fire," a term that usually means a mortar or rocket attack.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 21, Iran's supreme leader, long a critic of the United States, praised the U.S.-backed constitutional referendum in Iraq as "blessed" and urged Iraqis to participate December's parliamentary elections.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 22, US soldiers and warplanes killed 20 insurgents and destroyed five "safe houses" during an operation against militants who shelter foreign fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq near the Syrian border.
(AP, 10/22/05)
2005 Oct 23, A suicide bombing in a Baghdad square killed 4 people. Another suicide car bomber killed 2 civilians in Kirkuk. In Tikrit a bomb killed a police colonel and his 2 sons. 2 girls (7 and 9) in a nearby car were also killed in the explosion. Drive-by shootings around Baquba killed 5 people. Gunmen killed 3 Iraqis driving a water truck to an army base near Taji. Insurgents killed the head of a Shiite anti-Saddam Hussein group and his driver outside Amara.
(SFC, 10/24/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 24, Triple suicide bombings at the Palestine and Sheraton hotels in Baghdad killed as many as 17 people. The next day Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility. A US soldier shot and killed one of three suicide bombers who attacked the Palestine Hotel complex before he could reach his intended target and that probably saved lives in the building.
(AP, 10/25/05)(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 25, Election officials said Iraq's constitution was adopted by a majority in a fair vote during the Oct. 15 referendum, as Sunni Arab opponents failed to muster enough support to defeat it.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 25, In southern Iraq an American soldier was killed in a vehicle accident near Camp Bucca. The death raised to at least 2,001 the number of members of the US military who have died since the beginning of the in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 25, Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said it had abducted two Moroccan embassy employees who had gone missing on their way from Jordan to Baghdad, according to a statement on a Web site.
(Reuters, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, In Iraq 3 mostly Sunni Arab political parties announced that they have formed a coalition to run in Iraq's parliamentary election in December.
(AP, 10/26/05)
2005 Oct 26, In Iraq 3 American soldiers died in separate attacks.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, More than 2,000 companies paid about $1.8 billion in illicit kickbacks and surcharges to Saddam Hussein's government through extensive manipulation of the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq, according to key findings of a UN-backed investigation obtained by The Associated Press.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 27, Some 200 Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr clashed with Sunni militants in fighting that killed over 20 people in Medayna, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 10/27/05)(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Oct 27, The 18-month Independent Inquiry Committee under former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker issued a final 623-page report on corruption in the UN oil-for-food program. It claimed that between 1997 and 2003 the Iraqi government sold $64 billion of oil to 248 companies and bought $34.5 billion worth of humanitarian goods. The report accused more than 2,200 companies from some 40 countries of colluding with Saddam's regime to bilk the humanitarian program in Iraq of $1.8 billion.
(AP, 10/27/05)(Econ, 10/29/05, p.28)(AP, 1/26/08)
2005 Oct 29, In Iraq insurgents killed 3 US soldiers and wounded four, and American forces attacked two towns near the Syrian border, killing at least 10 militants. Witnesses said some of the victims were civilians.
(AP, 10/29/05)
2005 Oct 29, US troops backed by helicopters and a jet attacked insurgents planning a nighttime ambush near an American base north of Baghdad, killing six militants and wounding and capturing five. A US jet dropped a bomb north of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, killing three insurgents who were planting a roadside bomb. The corpses of three handcuffed and blindfolded Iraqis were found in Baghdad. A truck bombing in a Shiite farming village north of Baghdad killed 30 people and left 42 wounded.
(AP, 10/30/05)(Reuters, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct 30, Insurgents killed seven Iraqi civilians in scattered attacks. An Iraqi cabinet adviser was killed when gunmen attacked his car in northern Baghdad, and a deputy trade minister was wounded in a separate attack. A US Army soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in central Iraq.
(AP, 10/30/05)(Reuters, 10/30/05)(SFC, 11/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Oct 30, It was reported that the US military had begun tracking the deaths of Iraqi civilians. Estimates of those killed and wounded averaged 26 per day from early 2004 and rose to 63 per day by the end of August, 2005. Attacks against Americans and Iraqis were reported to be averaging 85 a day for much of the past year.
(SSFC, 10/30/05, p.A21)
2005 Oct 31, The US military said 6 American soldiers were killed in two bombings, making October one of the deadliest months for U.S. troops in Iraq this year. A car bomb exploded in a commercial district of Basra, killing at least 20 with 40 injured.
(AP, 10/31/05)(AP, 11/1/05)(SFC, 11/1/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 1, In Iraq 500 prisoners walked free from the US military's Abu Ghraib jail, released in a goodwill gesture to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Nov 2, Iraq's defense minister invited officers of Saddam Hussein's army up to the rank of major to join the new Iraqi army, an overture to disaffected Sunni Arab ex-soldiers, many of whom joined the insurgency after the Americans abolished the armed forces in 2003. A US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb during combat operations in Ramadi.
(AP, 11/2/05)(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 2, Four US troops were killed, two in a helicopter crash, and two from a roadside bomb, as American ground forces fought insurgents around the city of Ramadi. At least 23 people were killed and 46 were wounded when a car bomb exploded outside a Shiite Muslim mosque in the Iraqi town of Musayyib.
(AP, 11/2/05)(Reuters, 11/2/05)
2005 Nov 3, The al-Qaida in Iraq militant group said that it has sentenced to death two Moroccan embassy employees kidnapped last month in Iraq, the insurgents' latest attempt to scare Arab nations from sending diplomats.
(AP, 11/3/05)
2005 Nov 4, Sunni-led insurgents killed 11 Iraqi security forces and wounded 14 in two separate attacks, as Shiites began celebrating a major Muslim holiday.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 5, The New York Times reported that a UN auditing board has recommended the United States pay as much as 208 million dollars to Iraq for overbilling or shoddy work performed by a subsidiary of the US oil services firm Halliburton.
(AFP, 11/5/05)
2005 Nov 5, American and Iraqi forces launched a major offensive, Operation Steel Curtain, near the porous Syrian border aimed at destroying al-Qaida in Iraq's ability to smuggle foreign fighters, money and equipment through the region.
(AP, 11/5/05)(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 6, Dozens of people fled Husaybah, an Iraqi town on the Syrian border, during a lull in fighting between 3,500 US and Iraqi troops and suspected al-Qaida insurgents armed with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 6, Iran said it supported a stable Iraq and called for expediting the construction of an oil pipeline and railway between the two neighbors.
(AP, 11/6/05)
2005 Nov 7, Iraqi and US battled insurgents house to house, the third day of an assault against al-Qaida-led insurgents in a town near the Syrian border. US military said one Marine and at least 36 insurgents had died in the assault.
(AP, 11/7/05)(WSJ, 11/8/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 7, A suicide bomber blew up his vehicle at a checkpoint south of Baghdad and killed four American soldiers. The US command also announced five soldiers from the elite 75th Ranger Regiment were charged with kicking and punching Iraqi detainees.
(AP, 11/7/05)(SFC, 11/8/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 8, Iraqi Pres. Jalal Talabani met with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, a strong supporter of the US-led war in Iraq. Talabani is on a weeklong visit to Italy, which includes talks with the country's top officials and a meeting at the Vatican with Pope Benedict XVI.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, Three gunmen in a speeding car killed a defense lawyer in the Saddam Hussein trial and wounded another, raising doubts whether Iraqis can conduct such a sensitive prosecution in the midst of insurgency and domestic turmoil.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 8, The UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the nearly 180,000-strong multinational force in Iraq for a year, a move the United States called a significant signal of international commitment to Iraq's political transition.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 9, An employee of the Sudanese embassy in Iraq was shot dead by armed men who opened fire on his car in the west of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, Muriel Degauque, a Belgian national married to a Moroccan man, detonated explosives strapped to her body in a failed attack against US troops.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Nov 10, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with Pope Benedict XVI amid tight security that closed down the main boulevard leading to the Vatican.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 10, In Iraq 2 suicide bombers blew themselves up in a restaurant frequented by police, killing 35 people and seriously injuring 25. A car bomb killed seven army recruits in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.
(AP, 11/10/05)(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 10, In western Iraq 3 American troops were killed, including one along the Syrian border during a major push to take control of the frontier from insurgents. US forces raided an insurgent cell responsible for suicide bombings in which seven men were killed, including one wearing a vest loaded with explosives.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 10, A UN agency said thousands of contaminated industrial and military sites left over from wars in Iraq must urgently be cleaned up to stop them from further harming people's health and the environment.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 11, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a surprise visit to Iraq, pressed for unity among the country's religious factions. In Baghdad gunmen opened fire on the compound of the Embassy of Oman, killing two people and wounding two others. 3 Iraqi police officers were killed when their vehicle was ambushed near Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/11/05)(AP, 11/11/06)
2005 Nov 11, Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed that four Iraqis, including a husband and wife, carried out the Nov 9 suicide bombings against three Amman hotels, and police arrested 120 Jordanians and Iraqis in the hunt for anyone who might have aided them.
(AP, 11/11/05)
2005 Nov 11, An Internet report said Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the highest ranking leader still at-large from Saddam Hussein's regime, died. The report was not validated.
(AP, 11/12/05)(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 12, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan met with Iraqi leaders to call for reconciliation ahead of upcoming elections.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, At least four people were killed and 24 wounded when a car bomb exploded near a busy vegetable market in southeastern Baghdad.
(AP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 12, In Iraq 2 U.S. Marines were killed in combat and an American soldier died in a vehicle accident.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, In Iraq Sunni Arab leaders demanded that U.S. and Iraqi troops suspend military operations in heavily Sunni areas, accusing the Shiite-led government of trying to divide the nation ahead of next month's legislative elections.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, Some 1,100 Iraqi lawyers issued a statement on withdrawing from Saddam Hussein's defense team, citing insufficient protection following the slayings of two peers representing co-defendants of the ousted Iraqi leader.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister. said he is less worried that US policies in Iraq will bring on a civil war there, and pledged anew to contribute $1 billion for rebuilding that war-ravaged country's shattered infrastructure.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 13, Jordanian security forces arrested Sajida ubarak Atrous al-Rishawi (35), an Iraqi woman, whose husband is suspected of blowing up one of three Amman hotels. This followed a tip off by an al-Qaida claim that a husband-and-wife team participated in the attacks that killed 57 other people. Her husband was Ali Hussein Ali Shamari. The 2 other bombers were identified as Rawad Jassem Mohammed Abed (23) and Safaa Mohammed Ali (23). The bombers were from Fallujah.
(AP, 11/13/05)(SFC, 11/14/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 14, Iraqi and US troops, trying to stem the flow of insurgent fighters from Syria, launched a dawn assault on a border town killing some 50 militants. This continued Operation Steel curtain begun on Nov 5. Police in Baghdad said a car bomb detonated near one of their patrols outside a gate leading into the fortified Green Zone, killing two South Africans.
(AP, 11/14/05)(SFC, 11/15/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 14, Six people were killed and 30 wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near two coaches in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi.
(Reuters, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, A UN report said the Iraqi army and multinational forces violated international law during military operations in western Iraq last month by arresting doctors and occupying medical facilities.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 15, Iraq’s PM Ibrahim al-Jaafari said more than 170 malnourished Iraqi detainees found at an Interior Ministry detention center appear to have been tortured. The Interior Ministry is controlled by Shiites. Sunni leaders have accused Shiite-dominated security forces of detaining, torturing and killing hundreds of Sunnis simply because of their religious affiliation.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 15, Iraqi and US forces fighting insurgents near the Syrian border ran into fierce resistance, with troops encountering dozens of explosive booby traps and killing at least 30 insurgents.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 16, Philip H. Bloom, an American businessman living overseas, was charged for paying kickbacks to U.S. occupation authorities to win reconstruction contracts in Iraq.
(AP, 11/17/05)(SFC, 11/18/05, p.A15)
2005 Nov 17, It was reported that Syria had detained 4 Australian-Iraqi women at the Damascus airport for allegedly trying to take gun parts hidden in a child's toy onto a plane bound for Australia.
(AFP, 11/17/05)
2005 Nov 17, Pennsylvania Democratic congressman John Murtha argued that it was time to bring US troops home from Iraq.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.35)
2005 Nov 17, Robert Stein of North Carolina, arrested on Nov 14, was charged with accepting kickbacks and bribes during his tenure as a controller and financial officer of the US occupation authority in Iraq. He steered construction contracts to Philip Bloom, who was charged with a range of crimes on Nov 16.
(SFC, 11/18/05, p.A15)
2005 Nov 18, In eastern Iraq suicide bombers killed at least 75 worshippers at two mosques including 2 suicide bombers who detonated themselves inside a Shiite mosque in Khanaqin, a town near the Iranian border, killing at least 35 people. In Baghdad two car bombs targeted a hotel housing foreign journalists and killed eight Iraqis.
(AP, 11/18/05)(AP, 11/19/05)(SFC, 11/19/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 18, South Korea announced plans to pull a third of its troops out of Iraq, a day after President Bush met with his South Korean counterpart and praised him as a staunch ally in the Iraq conflict.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 19, A car bomb exploded among shoppers at an outdoor market in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in southeast Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding about 20 others. A suicide bomber detonated his car in a crowd of Shiite mourners north of Baghdad, killing at least 50 people. 5 US soldiers were killed and 5 others were wounded in a pair of roadside bombings in northern Iraq. An ambush on a joint US-Iraqi patrol northwest of Baghdad left 15 civilians, 8 insurgents and a US Marine dead from a roadside bomb and the firefight that followed. It was later reported that Marines killed 24 civilians including women and children in retaliation for the death of a Marine in a roadside bombing in Haditha. In 2006 four Marines were charged with murder and 4 officers were charged with crimes related to their alleged failure to investigate and report the slayings. The four Marines charged with murder for the Haditha deaths were: Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich; Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz; Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt; and Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum. In 2007 murder charges were dropped against Dela Cruz after he agreed to provide testimony in the case. All charges against Sharratt and Stone were dropped on Aug 9. In 2008 charges of involuntary manslaughter against Tatum were dropped. In 2008 Charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who was accused of failing to investigate the killings, were also dismissed. In 2012 Wuterich pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and was sentenced to 3 months confinement. Under the plea deal he was discharged under honorable conditions.
(AP, 11/20/05)(Econ, 6/3/06, p.27)(SFC, 12/22/06, p.A1)(AP, 1/6/07)(SFC, 4/18/07, p.A9)(SFC, 8/10/07, p.A7)(SFC, 3/29/08, p.A3)(WSJ, 6/18/08, p.A2)(SFC, 1/24/12, p.A4)(SFC, 2/22/12, p.A7)
2005 Nov 19, Iraqi and US forces raided a farmhouse in northern Iraq at dawn, searching for suspected members of al-Qaida in Iraq. Eight insurgents and four Iraqi policemen were killed. In Mosul 2 US soldiers were killed by small-arms fire.
(AP, 11/19/05)(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 20, In Iraq a car bomb exploded by a convoy carrying the mayor of Madaen killing 5 civilians. 3 bodies, all blindfolded and shot in the head, were found in Sadr City. A headless body was found south of Baghdad. A policeman was shot dead in Baghdad. A roadside bomb in Baghdad killed a child and wounded 5 others. A US soldier was killed by small arms fire north of Baghdad. A US marine died from wounds suffered the previous day in Karma.
(SFC, 11/21/05, p.A6)
2005 Nov 21, In Egypt Iraqi leaders backed a Sunni call for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces and said Iraq's opposition had a "legitimate right" of resistance. The announcement concluded a reconciliation conference backed by the Arab League.
(AP, 11/22/05)(SFC, 11/22/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 21, US forces mistakenly fired on a civilian vehicle outside an American base in a city north of Baghdad, killing 5 people, including 2 children. Gunmen in Tarmiya killed 4 police officers. In Basra gunmen killed a Sunni cleric. A US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb near Habaniya.
(AP, 11/21/05)(SFC, 11/22/05, p.A13)(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A3)
2005 Nov 22, Iraqi and US troops launched an operation in predominately Sunni western Iraq to prevent insurgents from stopping the vote in that city.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 22, In Iraq insurgents in Kirkuk exploded a car bomb amid a police convoy killing 21 people including at least 9 police officers.
(SFC, 11/23/05, p.A3)(WSJ, 11/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 23, Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms broke into the home of Khadim Sarhid al-Hemaiyem, a senior Sunni leader, and killed him, his three sons and son-in-law.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 24, In central Iraq a suicide car bomber targeting US troops handing out toys to children at a hospital killed 34 people, including 4 police guards, 3 women and 2 children.
(AP, 11/24/05)(Reuters, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, A suicide car bomber attacked a crowded market in Hilla, south of Baghdad, on Thursday killing at least 4 people and wounding 23 others.
(Reuters, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 24, Japan finalized an agreement to forgive $6.1 billion of Iraqi debt, or about 80% of the total owed by Baghdad.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2005 Nov 25, Susanne Osthoff, a German aid worker and archaeologist, was kidnapped in Iraq; she was released more than three weeks later.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2005 Nov 26, In Iraq a suicide bomber drove his pickup truck into a crowded gas station north of Baghdad and killed 12 people. A 2nd car bomb targeting a convoy of foreigners killed four others in the capital.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 26, A US Marine died when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb near Camp Taqaddum, 45 miles west of Baghdad. Iraqi police arrested 8 Sunni Arabs in the northern city of Kirkuk for allegedly plotting to assassinate the investigating judge who prepared the case against Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 26, In Iraq 4 humanitarian workers, including two Canadians, were kidnapped. Canadian hostages James Loney (41), and Harmeet Singh Sooden (32); Tom Fox (54), of Clear Brook, Va., and Norman Kember (74), of London, had been warned repeatedly by Iraqi and Western security officials before being abducted that they were taking a grave risk by moving around Baghdad without bodyguards. Fox’s body was found Mar 9, 2006.
(CP, 11/27/05)(AP, 1/28/06)(AP, 3/11/06)
2005 Nov 28, In Iraq the trial of Saddam Hussein resumed with the former Iraqi president trying to take command of the courtroom and angrily complaining about being shackled and mistreated by foreign guards.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 28, Sheik Bashir Hadi Fakhreddine, Sunni imam of Bilal al-Habashi mosque in Kirkuk, kidnapped 10 days ago in eastern Baghdad along with his friend Seif Abdullah, were found dead in Baghdad.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Nov 29, Iraq's interior ministry banned all non-Iraqi Arabs from entering the country until further notice as part of security measures for the Dec. 15 general elections. Al-Jazeera broadcast video of four Western peace activists held hostage by a previously unknown group, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. 3 of the hostages were later released, but one of them, American Tom Fox, was killed. Photos broadcast showed a blindfolded German woman being led away by armed captors in the latest kidnapping of a Westerner in Iraq. Six Iranian pilgrims, meanwhile, were abducted by gunmen north of Baghdad. Two US soldiers were killed when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad.
(AP, 12/02/05)(AP, 11/29/06)
2005 Nov 30, Iraqi and US troops launched a joint operation in an area west of Baghdad used to rig car bombs. American soldiers rounded up 33 suspected insurgents in southern parts of Baghdad. Gunmen shot to death 9 Shiite Muslim laborers near Baquba.
(SFC, 12/1/05, p.A17)
2005 Dec 1, In Iraq 10 Marines on foot patrol were killed and 11 wounded by a roadside bomb near Fallujah in one of the deadliest attack on American troops in recent months.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, In Iraq 3 US soldiers from the 48th Brigade Combat Team were killed in a traffic accident south of Baghdad.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 2, Former Iraqi PM Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaydi (67), one of the top Saddam Hussein-era leaders captured in Iraq, died at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 3, In Iraq insurgents ambushed an Iraqi patrol northeast of Baghdad, detonating a roadside bomb and then firing on the patrol, killing 19 and wounding two.
(Reuters, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 4, Unidentified gunmen killed a parliamentary candidate and an Iraqi police commander in separate attacks while a bomb that detonated as a police patrol passed through central Baghdad killed three civilians.
(AP, 12/04/05)
2005 Dec 5, In Iraq unidentified gunmen abducted Bernard Planche, a French engineer, as he was on his way to work in Baghdad. He was later freed. The trial of Saddam Hussein resumed in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/05/05)(AP, 12/5/06)
2005 Dec 6, In Iraq 2 suicide bombers struck Baghdad's police academy, killing at least 43 people and wounding at least 72 more. Al-Jazeera broadcast an insurgent video claiming to have kidnapped a US security consultant.
(SFC, 12/7/05, p.A1)(AP, 12/6/06)
2005 Dec 6, Kyodo News said Japan plans to extend its humanitarian military mission to Iraq into 2006 but could pull its ground forces in the middle of the year if the British and Australian troops guarding them leave.
(AP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 7, In Iraq gunmen killed three police officers when they burst into a hospital in the northern city of Kirkuk and freed a wounded man who had been arrested for plotting to kill a judge in the Saddam Hussein trial.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 7, In Iraq gunmen kidnapped the 8-year-old son of a bodyguard for a judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 8, In Iraq a suicide bomber who jumped on a bus after security checks had been completed detonated an explosives belt among passengers heading to a Shiite city, killing 32 people and wounding 44.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, An Iraqi insurgent group said in an Internet posting that it killed a U.S. security consultant it had taken hostage.
(AP, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 8, In Iraq a US soldier attached to a Marine unit died while on guard duty at a base near the town of Fallujah.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 9, In Iraq the American military arrested Amir Khalaf Fanus, also known in the Ramadi area as "the Butcher." Fanus, a high-ranking member of al-Qaida in Iraq, was wanted for criminal activities including murder and kidnapping.
(AP, 12/9/05)
2005 Dec 10, In Iraq 4 American soldiers were killed in separate attacks in the Baghdad area, the day kidnappers of four Christian peace activists set as a deadline for killing the hostages unless US and Iraqi authorities released all prisoners. North of Tikrit Egyptian engineer Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hilali (46)found dead after being snatched by gunmen a day earlier. One Iraqi soldier was killed and nine wounded in a bomb attack targeting an army patrol in the Sunni Arab town of Balad. In Mosul 2 civilians were killed and one wounded when a car bomb exploded as a US convoy rolled past.
(AFP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 12, In Iraq patients, soldiers and prisoners began voting in parliamentary elections, a few days ahead of the general population, while insurgent violence killed at least 12 people and wounded more than two dozen.
(AP, 12/12/05)
2005 Dec 12, Pres. Bush for the 1st time put a number on the death toll of Iraqi civilians saying some 30,000 had died since the start of the war with US troops looses at about 2,140.
(SFC, 12/13/05, p.A10)
2005 Dec 13, Iraqis living abroad began voting in the country's parliamentary elections. Gunmen killed a Sunni Arab candidate for parliament and militants tried to blow up a leading Shiite politician in separate attacks, the last day of campaigning for Iraq's election.
(AP, 12/13/05)(AP, 12/13/06)
2005 Dec 15, Iraqis voted in a historic parliamentary election, with strong turnout reported in Sunni Arab areas and even a shortage of ballots in some precincts. Several explosions rocked Baghdad throughout the day, but the level of violence was low. The Iraqi election commission extended voting in the country by an hour because of the high turnout. Bombs killed three people despite promises by major insurgent groups not to attack polling places. Turnout was estimated at over 67%.
(AP, 12/15/05)(WSJ, 12/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 15, Italy's defense minister said the country will pull 300 more troops out of Iraq in January, continuing a gradual withdrawal begun earlier this year.
(AP, 12/15/05)
2005 Dec 16, Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the Iraqi Accordance Front, said Sunni Arab participation in the elections could have been even higher if there had there been more polling centers in key Sunni areas.
(AP, 12/16/05)
2005 Dec 16, The U.S. military said Iraq has issued an arrest warrant naming Mullah Halgurd al-Khabir as the "prime suspect" in the Aug 19, 2003, bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/16/05)
2005 Dec 18, Iraq's largest oil refinery, in Beiji, was shut down because of the deteriorating security situation in the region.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Dec 18, In Iraq suicide bombers and gunmen killed nearly two dozen people across Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise visit and suggested the vote could pave the way for beginning a US pullout.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2005 Dec 18, A German TV station said a German archaeologist kidnapped in Iraq last month with her driver has been freed.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2005 Dec 19, In Iraq about 24 top former officials in Saddam Hussein's regime, including a biological weapons expert known as "Dr. Germ," have been released from jail. A militant group released a video of the purported killing of American adviser Ronald Allen Schulz. His body and that of a woman believed to be his Iraqi fiancee were found by the US military in a grave in September 2008. A suicide car bomb exploded outside a children's hospital in western Baghdad, killing at least two civilians and wounding 11, including seven policemen.
(AP, 12/19/05)(AP, 5/23/09)
2005 Dec 19, Violent demonstrations broke out across Iraq and the oil minister threatened to resign after the government raised the prices of gasoline and cooking fuel by up to 9 times.
(AP, 12/19/05)
2005 Dec 19, The US military said 5 soldiers from an elite U.S. Army unit have been sentenced to up to six months confinement in cases concerning the abuse of detainees in Iraq.
(AP, 12/19/05)
2005 Dec 20, Sunni Arabs alleged that last week's parliamentary elections were fraudulent, especially in Baghdad province, and they said if the irregularities are not corrected, new balloting must be held in Iraq's largest electoral district.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2005 Dec 20, Ukraine began pulling its remaining 876 troops out of Iraq, the defense ministry said, making it the latest nation to wind down its presence in the U.S.-led coalition.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2005 Dec 23, In Iraq large demonstrations broke out across the country to denounce parliamentary elections that protesters say were rigged in favor of the main religious Shiite coalition. Two US soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Insurgents killed 10 Iraqi troops outside Baghdad.
(AP, 12/23/05)(WSJ, 12/24/05, p.A1)
2005 Dec 23, Two Arab satellite television channels said that a Sudanese diplomat and five other men had been kidnapped in Iraq. A Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman appealed for their release in an interview with Qatar-based Al-Jazeera.
(AP, 12/23/05)
2005 Dec 24, Iraq’s governing Shiite coalition called on Iraqis to accept results showing the religious bloc leading in parliamentary elections and moved ahead with efforts to form a “national unity" government. The electoral commission said it would carry out a court decision to remove 90 people who were members of Saddam's Hussein's outlawed Baath party from the tickets of political parties and coalitions that participated in Dec. 15 elections. Militants released a video of a Jordanian hostage, giving Jordan 3 days to cut ties with the Baghdad government and free a female would-be suicide bomber involved in November attacks in Amman.
(AP, 12/24/05)(AP, 12/24/06)
2005 Dec 25, Bombs struck Iraqi police and army patrols and destroyed an American tank in Baghdad as fresh street protests over election results kept up tension that has soured the mood after a peaceful ballot 10 days ago. 2 US soldiers were killed by bombs. A suicide bomber killed 5 Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad. Bombings and gun attacks killed 11 more people in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul and Jbala.
(Reuters, 12/25/05)(SFC, 12/26/05, p.A9)
2005 Dec 26, Gunmen shot and killed 5 police officers at a checkpoint north of Baghdad. 6 vehicle bombs exploded in Baghdad, leaving another 5 people dead and over 40 wounded. At least two dozen people including a US soldier were killed in shootings and bombings mostly targeting the Shiite-dominated security services.
(AP, 12/26/05)
2005 Dec 26, Two US pilots were killed after their Apache collided in mid-air with another helicopter just west of Baghdad.
(AP, 12/28/05)
2005 Dec 27, Clashes erupted between gunmen and Iraqi police in Baghdad, killing two policemen and two bystanders. South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed two officers, and gunmen in southern Baghdad killed another. Gunmen southeast of Kirkuk, killed one police officer.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Dec 27, Ukraine and Bulgaria said all their troops had left Iraq. Poland said it would remain but reduce its number of troops by 600 next year.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Dec 28, An inmate in a Baghdad prison grabbed an assault rifle from a guard and opened fire. 9 Iraqis died in a failed jailbreak after storming the armory at a high-security prison.
(AP, 12/28/05)(AFP, 12/29/05)
2005 Dec 29, Sunni Arab and secular groups refused to open discussions with the Shiite religious bloc leading in Iraq's parliamentary elections until a full review of the contested results is carried out. An international team agreed to assess Iraq's parliamentary elections, a decision lauded by Sunni Arab and secular Shiite groups who have staged repeated protests around Iraq complaining of widespread fraud and intimidation. Fourteen Shiite men and women were gunned down in an area south of Iraq's capital known as the "triangle of death." A US soldier died in a bomb blast and a Lebanese was kidnapped in Baghdad. A suicide bomber blew himself up next to a police patrol car in Baghdad, killing four policemen and wounding five.
(AP, 12/29/05)(AFP, 12/29/05)(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Dec 30, Long lines formed at gas stations in Baghdad as word spread that Iraq's largest oil refinery had shut down in the face of threats against truck drivers, and fears grew of a gas shortage. A suicide car bomber and a mortar killed six people and injured 23 people in separate attacks in Baghdad.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Dec 30, Sudan said it will close its embassy in Baghdad in an effort to win the release of six kidnapped employees. Al-Qaida in Iraq threatened to kill the captives if the diplomatic mission remained.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Dec 31, In Iraq inflation for the year ran at 15%. The official unemployment was 10%, but some believed that it could be more than 20%. The population was around 70 million.
(WSJ, 6/22/06, p.A12)
2005 Dec 31, A bomb in Khalis killed 5 members of the Iraqi Islamic Party. Gunmen raided a house south of Baghdad, killing five Sunni family members, and a roadside bomb in the capital killed two policemen. The wave of violence claimed at least 20 lives.
(AP, 12/31/05)(SSFC, 1/1/06, p.A3)
2005 Dec 31, Al-Qaida in Iraq released 6 kidnapped employees of Sudan's embassy following the Sudanese government's pledge to close its embassy in Baghdad.
(Reuters, 1/1/06)
2005 Anthony Shadid, an Arab speaking American journalist, authored “Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War," an inside account of the US war in Iraq.
(Econ, 9/3/05, p.73)
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