Iraq War Wears On
The struggle for stability continues amid insurgent attacks and sectarian violence.
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Government Accountability Office, the independent investigative branch of Congress, releases a report that says the Bush administration's Iraq strategy is inadequate and was poorly planned.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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The U.N. says that an average of more than 100 civilians were killed in Iraq each day in June. During the first six months of the year, civilian deaths increased by 77 percent, reflecting a serious spike in sectarian violence.
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Saddam Hussein's trial for crimes against humanity ends after nine months. He was accused of ordering the 1982 execution of 148 men and boys in a Shiite village.
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U.S. and Iraqi troops capture Hamid Juma Faris Jouri al-Saeedi, a senior leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. He is thought to have overseen the bombing of the Shiite Askariya shrine in February that resulted in days of deadly sectarian violence.
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A classified National Intelligence Estimate —- a consensus view of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, signed off by Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte -- is leaked to several newspapers. It concludes that "the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse."
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Saddam Hussein found guilty of crimes against humanity for the execution of 148 Shiite men and boys. He is sentenced to death by hanging.
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President Bush's policy in Iraq "is not working," the bipartisan Iraq Study Group said in a blunt, bleak assessment that called for an urgent diplomatic attempt to stabilize the country and allow withdrawal of most U.S. combat troops by early 2008.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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Eight Marines were charged in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha in 2005. Four Marines were charged with murder in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths to arise from the war in Iraq. The other four charged were officers who were not there but were accused of failures in investigating and reporting the deaths, the Marine Corps said.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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Saddam Hussein is hanged in Baghdad as a result of his being found guilty of crimes against humanity. The former Iraqi dictator goes to the gallows clutching a copy of the Quran and refusing a hood.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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U.S. troop deaths reach 3,000.
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President Bush acknowledged for the first time he erred by failing to order a military buildup in Iraq last year and said he was increasing U.S. troops by 21,500 to quell the country's near-anarchy. The military increase puts Mr. Bush on a collision course with the new Democratic Congress.
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The Democratic-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee dismissed President Bush's plans to increase troop strength in Iraq as "not in the national interest," an unusual wartime repudiation of the commander in chief. The vote on the non-binding measure was 12-9 and largely along party lines.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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The House of Representatives issues a symbolic rejection of President Bush's plan to deploy more troops to Iraq. The vote on the nonbinding measure was 246-182. "The stakes in Iraq are too high to recycle proposals that have little prospect for success," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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On the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, President Bush pleaded for more patience, saying success is possible but "will take months, not days or weeks." Democrats in the House, meanwhile, are preparing a spending bill that would effectively require the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by fall 2008, on top of providing funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the year.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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The tours of all active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan were being extended to 15 months — three months longer than standard, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced. It was the latest move by the Pentagon to cope with the strains of fighting two wars simultaneously and maintaining a higher troop level in Iraq as part of President Bush's revised strategy for stabilizing Baghdad.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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A sharply divided House brushed aside a veto threat and passed legislation that would order President Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq by Oct. 1. Passage by a 218-208 vote put the bill on track to clear Congress and arrive on the president's desk in the coming days as the first binding congressional challenge to Mr. Bush's handling of the conflict, now in its fifth year.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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The Senate follows suit, passing by a 51-46 margin war-funding legislation that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1, or sooner if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks. This sets the stage for a historic veto showdown with President Bush on the war. As expected, Mr. Bush vetoes the $124 billion spending bill on May 1.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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President Bush taps Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as "war czar" for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, hoping a military leader with proven organizational skills can make the government's vast bureaucracy march in step. Nothing is more important, Mr. Bush said, than getting the commanders and ambassadors in the war zones what they need. Lute's appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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The revered Shiite Askariya mosque at Samarra is bombed for the second time in 16 months. Sunni militants connected to al Qaeda are suspected in the attack.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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Saddam's cousin, known as "Chemical Ali," and two other former regime officials are sentenced to hang for atrocities against Kurds in the 1980s.
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A truck filled with explosives is detonated, killing 150 people and destroying dozens of homes and shops in Amerli, a Shiite village north of Baghdad. Hundreds are wounded in the attack. About 250 people are killed in three days in Iraq by insurgent attacks.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc announced its withdrawal from the government, undermining efforts to seek reconciliation among the country's rival factions. Rafaa al-Issawi, a leading member of the Accordance Front, said the decision to pull out from the government followed what he called Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's failure to respond to the Front.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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Four suicide bombers hit a Kurdish Yazidi community in northwest Iraq, killing at least 520 people and wounding 350 others.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commanding general of the war, testified to Congress that last winter's buildup in U.S. troops - the oft-called surge - had met its military objectives "in large measure." He said the number of attacks in Iraq is lower than at any time in more than a year; civilian deaths are down by 45 percent; and sectarian killings are down by 55 percent.
The general recommended a reduction in U.S. military forces to 130,000 by next summer, the same level that existed before the surge.
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U.N. refugee agency says nearly 2.3 million people are displaced inside Iraq, and more than 2.2 million have fled to neighboring countries.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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The World Health Organization and the Iraqi government estimates that about 151,000 Iraqis died from violence in three years after the U.S. invasion.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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The Pentagon says U.S. troop levels in Iraq will be about 140,000 — higher than the 132,000 before the surge.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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Adm. William Fallon, the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East, is resigning, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. Gates called Fallon a very able military strategist and said he will be missed. Fallon was the subject of an article published in Esquire magazine that portrayed him as opposed to President George W. Bush's Iran policy. It described Fallon as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
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The U.S. military death toll in Iraq reached 4,000 with the announcement that four soldiers had been killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad. The White House called the grim milestone "a sober moment" and said President Bush spends time every day thinking about those who have lost their lives in battle.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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Control of Iraq's Anbar province is turned over to Iraqi forces. President bush hails the move as a major achievement, saying the once-violent region had been "transformed and reclaimed by the Iraqi people."
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
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General Ray Odierno takes command of military operations in Iraq from Gen. David Petraeus, who was tapped to lead U.S. Central Command, encompassing operations across the Middle East.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
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The Iraqi parliament approved a security pact that requires the U.S. military to end its presence in Iraq in 2011, eight years after the U.S.-led invasion brought about the fall of Saddam Hussein.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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The United States handed over control of Iraqi airspace and the Green Zone to the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki under the terms of the new "status of forces" agreement between the two countries.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
TimeLine: The Gulf War
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Newly-elected President Barack Obama, in a speech at Camp Lejeune, N.C., announced that the U.S. combat mission in Iraq would end by Aug. 31, 2010. A "transitional force" of up to 50,000 troops tasked with training the Iraqi Security Forces, conducting counterterrorism operations, and providing general support may remain until the end of 2011.
TimeLine: War In Iraq, Part 1
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Credits:
AP/CBS
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