Sec. of State Colin Powell speech to UN (Feb.5, 2003)
On February 2, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell gave a speech. Colin Powell gave a lot of speeches during his lifetime but this speech was the most important one that he ever gave. The setting was the United Nation security council and the audience was the world. Armed with America’s best intelligence Colin Powell tried to persuade the world that Saddam Hussein will never let inspectors find all of his hidden weapons. Colin Powell and CIA Director George Tenet worked together at CIA headquarters. The two of them tried to create a case of Iraq’s deception and denial. They showed everyone satellite pictures, quoted defectors, and played audiotapes of conversations. Powell stated that 3 defectors have told U.S. Intelligence that Saddam Hussein has 18 trucks carrying mobile biological weapons. Colin said while the UN was debating its first resolution against Iraq, “The missile brigade outside Baghdad was dispersing rocket launchers and warheads containing biological warfare agent to various locations. The goal of this speech was to try to get a multi-nation authorization for an invasion. Powell alleges that Iraq is actively producing chemical and biological weapons and has ties to al-Qaida. After, the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain proposed a resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq.
President Bush speech, Operation Iraqi Freedom (March 17, 19, 2003)
President George W. Bush addressed the nation stating that he authorized a mission to rid Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein and eliminate his ability to create weapons of mass destruction. This operation showed the Bush administration's pledge to use unilateral, pre-emptive strikes if needed against nations that they thought were dangerous to America’s national security. On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked airplanes and flew them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing almost 3,000 people. Right away, U.S. intelligence started to investigate Iraq’s possible connection to the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, which claimed responsibility for the attacks. In 2002, Bush declared Iraq as one of several “rogue nations” that financed or trained terrorists. Also, the Bush administration believed that Iraq was negotiating with Niger to buy vast quantities of uranium yellowcake with the intent of creating weapons of mass destruction. Between 2002 and 2003 the United Nations weapon inspectors tried to find out if Saddam Hussein had violated U.N. resolutions against manufacturing biological and chemical weapons. Saddam was able to stall in complying with these inspections. After many unsuccessful attempts to enlist the support of key U.N. security-council nations including France and Germany, George Bush announced that the United States was prepare to launch military action against Iraq. He wanted to do it alone at first but then Britain agreed to join the attack. On March 15, George Bush gave Saddam and his sons 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war, which they defied. The United Nations then, evacuated Iraq on March 17 with incomplete reports on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction capabilities. After gathering the support of international supporters such as Belgium and Spain, George Bush gave the green light to launch Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 19. In his speech he told Americans that Iraq was the next target in an ongoing worldwide battle against terrorism that had begun with America’s attack on Afghanistan’s Taliban government in September of 2001. He warned America that helping the Iraqis achieve a united, stable and free country would require a sustained commitment. On May 1, 2003 Bush announced “mission accomplished” and the end of combat operations. Iraq continued to experience ongoing deadly attacks by insurgents while U.S. and coalition troops and civilian contractors attempted to establish an Iraqi army and police force and establish a freely elected government. Operation Iraqi freedom was significant to the US because we were able to remove a brutal dictator from power. It created a significant power vacuum, which led to high levels of violence. As far as economically, it disrupted Iraq’s oil production during a period of time in which oil prices quadrupled. This major event was extremely controversial for both the United States and abroad.
Pres. Bush declares Mission Accomplished (May 1, 2003)
It was a sunny day off the coast of San Diego. It was May 1, 2003. Congress had authorized what would become the Iraq war a few months earlier, in October 2002. The invasion began in March 2003. On May 1, President Bush had landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln in the co-pilot’s seat of a Navy fighter jet. After landing, Bush changed out of his combat suit and stepped up to the podium, surrounded by a crowd that was very receptive. Having marched U.S. troops through Iraq and disposed of Saddam Hussein’s regime, George Bush concluded that Operation Iraqi Freedom was a success. “Major combat operation in Iraq have ended,” Bush said, with a banner above him saying “Mission Accomplished.” The speech and the banner became a symbol of the unpopular war, which lasted another eight brutal years. The image came to encapsulate not just the war, but the mistakes of the Bush administration as a whole. "In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed," the commander in chief declared. "Because of you, our nation is more secure. Because of you, the tyrant has fallen and Iraq is free." Democrats fumed that Bush was diverting attention from the economy and getting a pass on his sketchy Air National Guard background. "We hoped that at least he'd look foolish getting out of the airplane," sighed a Democratic congressional aide.
Saddam Hussein captured (Dec. 13, 2003)
After spending a long nine months, on December 13, 2003, Saddam Hussein was finally captured. Saddam Hussein’s downfall began on March 20, 2003, when the US led an invasion force into Iraq to topple his government, which had controlled the country for more than 20 years. Despite proclaiming in early March 2003 that, “it is without doubt that the faithful will be victorious against aggression,” Saddam went into hiding soon after the American invasion, speaking to his people only through occasional audiotape, and his government soon fell. After declaring Saddam the most important of a list of his regime’s 55 most-wanted members, the United States began an intense search for the former leader and his closest advisors. On July 22, 2003 Saddam’s sons, Uday and Qusay, who many believe he was grooming to one day fill his shoes, were killed when U.S. soldiers raided a villa in which they were staying in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Five months later, on December 13, 2003, U.S. soldiers found Saddam Hussein hiding in a six-to-eight-foot deep hole, nine miles outside his hometown in Tikrit. He did not resist and was uninjured during his arrest. 3 years later, after an unsuccessful appeal, he was executed on December 30, 2006.
Iraqi Constitution created (March 8, 2004)
The Iraqi Constitution was created on March 8th, 2004 and it really stabilized and set how things were going to go very clearly. This constitution helped out the citizens of Iraq and is setting them on the right track to become a lot more successful country. The constitution has 2 different phases. The first one is stating that the Coalition Provisional Authority will be gone and the new Iraqi government will be put together using the voice of the people. The second phase is saying that the Transitional Government will take over after the elections for the National Assembly and that the elections will happen no later than January 31st 2005. Then they list some Fundamental Principles of the law. It states that the government type will be republican, federal, democratic and pluralistic. The Federalism part will be grounded on history, separation of powers and the geography and not on ethnicity. It also says that the official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish. Most importantly it gives the people freedom. They are all equal and they get the freedom of thought, conscience, and expression. They are allowed to assemble peaceably and to associate and organize freely; to justice; to a fair, speedy, and open trial and to the presumption of innocence; to vote, according to law, in free fair, competitive. This is really big for the Iraqis because they have not had this. This is making Iraq a country of equality and freedom giving them a lot of rights.
Abu Ghraib prison photos (April 28, 2004)
The Abu Ghraib Prison Photos prisoner abuse occurred during the Iraq war from late 2003 until early 2004. This was a time when the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency tortured Abu Ghraib prisoners’. They tortured them physically and sexually, they were raped, sodomized and killed. An example of a person that had been abused and is well known was Manadel al-Jamadi; he was tortured and killed during all of this abuse. He died in an Abu Ghraib prison. There was lots of physical violence and strappado, this is when the victim is hung by his wrists and their hands tied behind their backs. They officially named his death as homicide but the men who did this tragic murder have not been charged. Other tragedies similar to this happened to other people, all under the radar for a while but eventually this came to a stop. It had come to the public’s attention in 2004, and once it did many procedures were being executed to stop the abuse. The United States Department of Defense investigated in the case and found out who was abusing the prisoners. It was members from the 320th Military Battalion that had been caught and going to be charged big time for prisoner abuse. There were seventeen soldiers and officers removed from duty, while eleven of them were charged with multiple charges; dereliction of duty, maltreatment, aggravated assault and battery.
Duelfer Report (Oct 7, 2004 on MSNBC timeline)
The reason that the U.S. invaded Iraq was the U.S. had concerns that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). So the U.S. made a report, called the Duelfer Report, and it defined why they felt they should get involved and invade Iraq. One reason stated in the report says the U.S. invaded because Saddam Hussein controlled the regime’s entire strategic decision making. This means that Saddam Hussein had almost complete control of Iraq and could do whatever he wanted with no restrictions. It also talks about how they used to have nuclear weapons but the end of it was supposedly done in 1991. But there was suspicion if the Iraqis were making more bombs because Saddam Hussein wanted to rebuild Iraq’s WMD capability. This was supposedly destroyed in 1991 but since the U.S. knew that Saddam wanted to rebuild Iraq’s WMD the U.S. kept on searching. They had been searching really hard and thoroughly but the search was slowing down in late summer and fall of 2004. All the sites that were expected to have things and all the sites that were not expected to have WMD were explored by almost the end of 2004. So they re-visited some of the sites in late September and going into October. They found some one site in particular that was making weapons, this was a former Chemical Brigade headquarters building that was located in Baghdad. Although these weapons were not weapons of mass destruction so this pretty much didn’t mean anything. So in January 2005 the ISG stated to the public that they were no longer searching anymore and that they did not find anything, but that there could still be WMD, just not thru the army.
Assault on Fallujah (Nov. 8, 2004)
In April of 2004 there was the first Assault on Fallujah. When they arrived in Fallujah there were protesters, saying that they did not want the U.S. to invade and occupy their country. The U.S. Marines then decided to try and take over this town and ended up attacking the protesters shooting and killing 17 and brutally injuring 70 citizens. The Marines said that they were fired at first by the protesters but the protesters were unarmed and after further investigation with human rights groups found no evidence that the protesters fired at the Army and only casualties of Iraqis. A little while later the U.S. forces attacked more protesters in Fallujah, this time killing 2 and wounding 14. Once again the Iraqis did not fire or attack the U.S. forces but they got shot at by the U.S. forces. The Iraqis were not going to let this happen without a fight so they attacked some unarmed private military contractors. They killed four of them and all that these men were doing was guarding a convoy, carrying kitchen supplies to a military base. In 2004 there was a truce made between the U.S. forces and the Iraqi National Guard. In result Fallujah is now a town where the buildings are really run down and there are only 40-50 percent the amount of people that were there before the war.
Cindy Sheehan vigil (Aug. 7, 2005)
Cindy Sheehan Vigil started on August 7th in 2005 and lasted for four weeks. Cindy Sheehan was a mother of Casey Sheehan who died in 2004 while fighting in Iraq. He died in a Humvee during a rocket propelled grenade and small arm fire attack. Sheehan meet with President Bush in June 2004 to talk about the Iraq war. Sheehan left the meeting believing that the Iraq war was wrong. A year later Sheehan camped out as close as she could to President Bush’s ranch to try to meet with him and ask him her questions. She had a lot of other peace activist with her to wait for the President. They also had people that died in the war and they supported Sheehan’s wishes. They were located in Crawford Texas on the side of the road near the ranch. She felt like she did not get a full understanding of what happened when she talked to the President the first time and she wanted to know why her son had died. Two of President’s top advisers met with Sheehan for 45 minutes to talk about her concerns. However, Sheehan would leave only if she could meet with the President. Sheehan camped out for four weeks waiting to talk to the President but he never met with her. This event is not very significance to the war as a whole but it is important to Sheehan because it involves her family.
Iraqi Elections (Jan. 31, 2005)
On January 31, 2005 the Iraqi people voted for a leader. The Iraqi people voted for a new leader for the first time in decades. They were voting for a transitional government to help create a permanent constitution. 8.5 million Iraqi’s showed up on the 31st to vote for a leader. The candidates for the leadership war would not show their faces because at the time of the election there was still a lot of fighting going on. There was violence and and some boycott that took place during the voting but people still found a way to vote. Shiite dominated the United Iraqi Alliance winning most of the seats and they were closely followed by the Kurdish party. There was an estimate of over 50% of the people showing up for the voting and even the Iraqi people were surprised by the turn out. The people said they voted because they think that it would make Iraq safer, create more jobs, and even get the water and electricity flowing. Many of the people were celebrating the fact that they were allowed to vote for their leader after so long not having the freedom to vote. Sadly, there were many attacks including over a dozen suicide bombers. The people counting the ballots had to lock themselves in a holding room and counted the ballots by hand. Leaving the Iraqi people more hopeful than they had when the American people had arrived. This event is very significant because it is talking about the first time in a long time that the Iraqi people could vote for their leader which is one of the main reason there was war. They were being ruled by a dictator.
Iraqi Study Group report (Dec. 6, 2006)
The Iraq Study Group report took place on December 6, 2006. The Iraq Study Group was lead by a former Secretary of state James Baker and former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton . The report talked about the harsh review of the President’s handling on the Iraq war and how America was winning the war. However, the reports says that the President’s way was not working. The report talked about how “the situation is grave and deteriorating”. The Banker Hamilton group arrived at the White House at dawn to present their research directly to the President. The first sentence in the report says “the situation is grave and deteriorating.” James Hamilton spoke saying that the course was no longer working so they needed a different way to go about the war. James Baker told the people that the Iraqi people left one nightmare of a tyrannical order or form of dictatorship to a nightmare of violence. They were in this nightmare because they did not have a government system that worked so the people were facing violence from many of their own people. There were 79 recommendations in their meeting. One of them was that by 2008 all American combat troops leave Iraq. Another suggestion was a stepped up training program for the soldiers. Also a promise not have permanent military base in Iraq. One of the speakers reported that they should not make an open ended comment to keep large numbers of soldiers in Iraq. The Iraq study group said they should cut off economic and military aid if the security doesn’t approve. They also thought that there should be a push of peace between Israelis and Palestinians and talks with Iran and Syria. However, the President would not allow the talks unless Iran agrees abandon their nuclear weapons. They knew that not all the ideas would work but felt like it was a good way to try to connect with Iraq and America. This event is significant because they were talking about the best way to help the Iraqi people.
Saddam Hussein executed (Dec. 30, 2006)
On December 30th 2006 Saddam Hussein was executed. When the dictator of Iraq Saddam Hussein was executed the Iraqi people had many different reactions including joy and outrage. The last moments of Saddam Hussein life were broadcasted throughout the whole world. Unfortuantly there was a lot more violence that day though it was not necessarily related to the execution. December was also the deadliest month in 2006 for American soldiers. Saddam Hussein was hung for his execution. He appeared stoic and resolved for his hanging. He refused a hood, refused to bow, and didn’t struggle when a scarf was tied around his neck to prevent rope burns. Saddam Hussein was executed in a dungeon in his most famous intelligent headquarters in Baghdad which became a U.S. Military Base. In this base many of Saddam Hussein’s followers hung and tortured many people who were suspected to be Shiite Radicals. After the execution they became in charged of the government. Iraq tv show and prime minister Nuri Al-Maliki signed the order for Saddam Hussein’s execution in red ink. In a statement he said “Oppressive rulers who commit crimes and massacre their people will not stay in power their destinies are dark”. Saddam Hussein’s execution was not politically motivated and offered for Saddam supporters to come fora process national recerslation. Saddam remained calm during the whole thing even when people were taunting him. Reports say he died quickly and was then wrapped in a white shroud. People were reported to have taken souvenir pictures of the execution. It was then reported that the body was taken to the Prime Minister's office were the families of his victims could look at the body. Saddam Hussein was buried the next day by his family. The event is one of the most significant event of the whole war because it marked the end of a dictatorship in Iraq which is one of the big reasons for the war.
US death toll reaches 3000 (Jan. 3, 2007)
The death toll reached 3000+ on Sunday January 3, 2003 when at least two soldiers got blown up in a roadside explosion. the identities of the soldiers were not able to be said. There also were several people that were attacked for holding guns even if they had nothing to do with the war. the soldiers just thought that if they were holding a gun they were against them that was not the case. On several different occasions the people that were holding the guns they were killed because they looked like they were against them. A lot of the people that were holding the guns were not really in the war but were innocent people that did not have any intent on harming anybody but the soldiers that were on the other side were not interested in sparing anybody they were intent on getting the last say.
Troop surge announced (Jan. 10, 2007)
President George Bush announced the Iraq troop surge on January 10, 2007. The plan was very widely debated and involved sending 20,000 American soldiers into Baghdad as well as the Anbar province. The president faced a large amount of stress and wanted to finish the violence in Iraq and make a homecoming for all the soldiers possible. Almost all the doubt was gone by 2007 when the violence dropped dramatically in Iraq. Even though Barack Obama delivered a speech about removing the troops from that country, later in the 2008 elections, there was nothing said about bringing the troops home from Iraq. This resulted in the surge which has been widely known for being a success. But it is not that all true, terrorism is far from over in Iraq.
US/Iraqi Security Pact approved (Nov. 28, 2008)
On November 28, 2008 the US/ Iraqi security pact was approved when United States officials had to speed up legal negotiations on legal issues so that the United States could remain in Iraq. Even though the UN Security Council did not say that that the United States could stay in Iraq, they authorized them to be there for the first time October of 2003. In 2008 the Iraqi government decided that they did not want the pact to be renewed and therefore did not want to allow the United States to then return .
Obama exit plan announced (Nov. 29, 2009) 130 words
On February 26, 2009, Obama’s exit plan was made in order to end the fight against the Taliban and the US in 2001. When the plan was announced it left Afghanistan as a weak and powerless government. For Obama the plan was a simple balancing act. In needing to put the exit plan into action he also needed to be responding to the concerns of the United States and the troops that he and the country are trying keep safe. The white house and the pentagon were deciding what number of troops they should keep in Afghanistan and how many they should bring home. With all war there is money that is needed, Washington (the United States) provides $2.3 billion and Afghanistan provides only $500,000 to the war each year.