Timeline
April 3, 1991 - The United Nations (UN) orders Iraq to either destroy or hand over all of its weapons of mass destruction. Inspectors would then go to Iraq and search for any weapons that hadn’t been handed over.
August 7-8, 1995 - Iraq hands over documents stating all of the weapons of mass destruction that have been bought, or made in Iraq. One of these documents states that Iraq had tried to make a nuclear bomb recently, but failed.
September 11, 2001 - Two passenger jets crash into the World Trade Centers in New York City. This is one of the most memorable days in the history of America. President Bush says that we are in a “war against terror”, and he targets Iraq as one of the major suspects of the attack.
September 21, 2001 - U.S. officials say that Saddam Hussein had been in contact with Osama Bin Laden days before the September 11th attacks, but there is no proof of this.
September 22, 2002 - Rumors that Iraq is holding weapons of mass destruction start.
November 8, 2002 - The UN sends Iraq a document stating that there must be no weapons of mass destruction when they go into Iraq to search. The deadline to get rid of weapons of mass destructions is December 8, 2002.
December 7, 2002 - Iraq sends documentation back to the U.S. government, stating that they had disposed of the weapons long before. But the document is not convincing enough, and the search for weapons in Iraq begins.
March 19, 2003 - President Bush announces that the U.S. is going to war with Iraq.
March 30, 2003 - U.S. government officials say that they know where the weapons of mass destruction are, but they find none.
April 9, 2003 - Baghdad falls into U.S. hands. The Saddam Hussein statue is toppled.
May 1, 2003 - President Bush says that the war has ended. But, it hasn’t.
July 22, 2003 - Uday and Qusay Hussein, sons of Saddam Hussein, are killed in a shooting by U.S. troops.
August 29, 2003 - An explosion near Najaf Mosque kills over 90 citizens and soldiers, including Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir al-Hakim.
December 13, 2003 - Saddam Hussein is captured.
January 22, 2004 - The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) says that the tensions between the Sunnis and Shiites may lead to a civil war in Iraq.
January 12, 2005 - Inspectors end their search for weapons of mass destruction without success.
August 31, 2005 - Around 1,000 Shiites are killed during one of their religious festivals.
January 6, 2006 - Around 140 American troops are killed, making this one of the bloodiest days for U.S. troops since the invasion in March of 2003.
February 22, 2006 - Iraq’s Golden Mosque is damaged in a bombing that causes uproar with Iraq’s citizens.
April 12, 2006 - Bush says that laboratories for creating weapons of mass destruction have been found.
June 8, 2006 - Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, is killed in a U.S. air raid.
November 5, 2006 - Saddam is sentenced to death for cruelty to human rights.
December 30, 2006 - Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging.
May 12, 2007 - It is found that 100,000 to 300,000 barrels of Iraqi oil a day have been unaccounted for.
July 12, 2007 - The U.S. House of Representatives passes bill to withdraw troops and President Bush threatens to veto it.
