Timeline
- -04-2-03 Congress Passes War Budget (USA Today)
"The House and Senate Appropriations committees both approved packages on Tuesday of nearly $80 billion to begin paying for war with Iraq and meet other security needs." 4-03
- 04-09-03 Baghdad Falls - Iraqi's Have Mixed Emotions (Washington Times)
"But U.S. forces also saw signs of mixed emotion. Marines briefly covered Saddam's face with an American flag and were greeted with silence. They quickly replaced it with the Iraqi flag, to cheers from the crowd." 4-03
- 04-09-03 Saddam's Regime Has Ended (USAToday.com)
"U.S. officials said that while days of fierce fighting likely remain, the 3-week-old war has reached the 'tipping point' the campaign's architects had hoped for — the moment when the Iraqi people would realize that Saddam's brutal, 24-year dictatorship is over." 4-03
- 04-11-03 Chaos in Baghdad (BBC News)
"The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is profoundly alarmed by the situation in Baghdad, which it says is verging on anarchy. It has appealed to US-led forces in Iraq to restore order urgently. Even the presence of US troops on the street does little to deter them."
.."The organisation, reminding the US and Britain of their legal responsibility to protect civilians and essential services, says two days of looting has left the city with virtually no functioning hospitals."
.."United Nations aid agencies say the humanitarian situation is worsening and the disorder in Iraq means it is simply not safe for them to send their workers in to help the civilian population."
.."The country's cultural heritage is under threat too - the AFP news agency says Iraq's largest archaeological museum has been looted, ancient artefacts destroyed and stolen." 4-03
- 04-11-03 Chaos in Baghdad (Washington Times)
"The Pentagon is coming under increasing criticism from human rights groups who say looted hospitals are unable to treat patients, food and water cannot be delivered because the streets are unsafe, and the population is in danger from unchecked fires and criminal violence."
.."The Geneva Convention holds occupying powers responsible for maintaining law and order." 4-03
- 04-11-03 Chaos in Baghdad - U.S. Not Meeting Its Obligations (Voice of America News - Gavlak)
"Red Cross President Jakob Kellenberger says U.S. and British troops must do more to protect hospitals and water systems in areas under their control. He says this is an obligation under international conventions governing conduct in war. He says looting of Baghdad's hospitals has led to the virtual collapse of the city's health system."
.."Senior U.S. military officials say coalition forces will do what they can to control civil unrest in Baghdad and elsewhere, but that the primary mission is still clearing out pockets of Iraqi resistance." 4-03
- 04-12-03 A Civilization Torn to Pieces (BBC News - Fisk)
U.S. soldiers failed to protect one of the most priceless collections of historical artifacts in the world. "Not since the Taliban embarked on their orgy of destruction against the Buddhas of Bamiyan and the statues in the museum of Kabul perhaps not since the Second World War or earlier have so many archaeological treasures been wantonly and systematically smashed to pieces." 4-03
- 04-12-03 Hospitals Stripped Bare As U.S. Soldiers Watch (Independent - Sengupta)
Hospitals and clinics in Baghdad were stripped bare by looters, according to Sengupta. They even took the beds that patients were lying in.
.."As the US forces completed their capture of Baghdad, and peace and harmony was supposed to break out among the grateful locals, the anarchy began. While Marines stood by and watched, the mob descended, first on the offices and homes of the regime, then on shops and hotels, and then on the hospitals." 4-03
- 04-13-03 Iraq's Top Science Advisor Surrenders (PBS.org)
Iraq's top science advisor, General Amer al-Saadi, surrendered. "JOSEPH CIRINCIONE: Oh, he's the man; he's the key guy. It's nice to start off at the top. We're looking for the scientists, the technicians, the officers who have been involved with these programs, so he should be able to answer where these weapons were stored, how much remain, are there any Scud missiles left, are there any, President Bush has talked about 30,000 rockets that may be and aerial bombs that may still be around. He should be able to give definitive answers to those questions." 4-03
- 04-14-03 Clinton and Dole Debate Iraq and U.N. (CBS News - 60 Minutes)
Former President Bill Clinton and Former Senator Bob Dole debate the role that the United Nations should play in Iraq. 4-03
- 04-15-03 New Iraq Government Planned (ABC News)
"Iraqis met under American auspices to shape a new government Tuesday and said 'the rule of law must be paramount' following Saddam Hussein's fall." 4-03
- 04-15-03 Tikrit Falls and Saddam Regime Ends (Independent - Buncombe)
As Saddam's home town is taken over by American military, the war has ended. Tikrit was the last major town not taken by the Americans. 4-03
- 04-16-03 Armless Boy Becomes Symbol of War (CBS News)
"Kuwaiti doctors performed plastic surgery Wednesday on a 12-year-old boy who suffered severe burns and lost both his arms during the U.S. bombardment of Baghdad, becoming a symbol of Iraqi suffering during the war." 4-03
- 04-16-03 Bush Urges Lifting of U.N. Sanctions Against Iraq (MSNBC News)
"With the downfall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, President Bush on Wednesday called on the United Nations to lift economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after the first Gulf War." Also shows which countries provide the most financial support to the U.N., with the U.S. as the top contributor. 4-03
- 04-16-03 Lifting of Sanctions in Iraq Tied to U.N. Role (MSNBC - Washington Post, Lynch and McCartney)
"Russia, France and other key Security Council members set the stage today for a new battle over Iraq, signaling that the United States must give the United Nations a broader role in reconstruction efforts before sanctions can be lifted."
.."President Bush appealed to the 15-nation council on Wednesday to move quickly to lift the trade embargo that was imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in 1990, and let Iraq’s extensive oil resources be made available to get the country back on its feet."
.."But Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, speaking in Moscow, said economic sanctions cannot be lifted until a number of conditions required by Security Council resolutions — including proof that Iraq has fully disarmed — have been met." 4-03
- 04-19-03 Middle East Nations Want U.S. to Leave Iraq (BBC)
"The countries neighbouring Iraq have called for the US-led forces that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime to pull out of the country as soon as possible." 4-03
- 04-23-03 Conflict in U.N. Over Weapons Inspections (Indpendent - Usborne)
The United Nations Security Council members "sparred openly over the role of the UN in identifying weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." 4-03
- 04-28-03 Aziz Claims Saddam Is Alive (MSNBC News)
"Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz has told American interrogators that Saddam Hussein survived two U.S. airstrikes against him on March 19 and April 7, suggesting the Iraqi leader is alive and on the run, senior administration officials told NBC News on Monday." 4-03
- 04-28-03 Iraqi Occupation (MSNBC News - Moran)
"American officials cite the successful transformation of Japanese and German society after World War II as a hopeful model for what might unfold in Iraq. Yet Iraq’s particular ingredients — ethnic rivalries, religious schisms, repressed minorities, tribal customs and a deep-seated suspicion of American intentions — pose obstacles fundamentally different than those encountered by the United States following past wars."
"Unlike Germany or Japan, Iraq is a nation split between two rival sects of Islam, the Sunnis and Shiites, and three major ethnic groups: Arabs, Kurds and Turkomens." 4-03
- 04-28-03 Iraqi Politician Builds Support (MSNBC News - Mendenhall)
"Ever since the CIA withdrew its support for his plan to topple Saddam Hussein in 1995, Gen. Wafiq al-Samurai has intentionally stayed at the edges of the exiled Iraqi opposition. The former chief in Saddam’s military intelligence has not spent his energy jawing with Pentagon officials or bending the ear of the State Department." 4-03
- 04-28-03 Retired General Jay Garner (MSNBC News - Meeks)
"The military won the war in Iraq, but will the peace be left to the generals as well? As State Department and Pentagon officials debate priorities, the question of who will run post-war Iraq is playing out on its streets and in the command tents of American occupying forces." 4-03
- 04-28-03 U.S. Begins Planning Interim Government (MSNBC News)
"Iraq on Monday took its biggest political step since the ouster of Saddam Hussein, with 250 delegates from inside and outside Iraq agreeing to hold a national conference within four weeks to choose an interim government." 4-03
- 04-30-03 No Weapons of Mass Destruction Found in Iraq (Fox News - Meeks)
"High-ranking Iraqi prisoners are uniformly denying Saddam Hussein's government had any weapons of mass destruction before the war, U.S. officials familiar with their interrogations said Tuesday."
"The Bush administration has cited intelligence pointing to prohibited Iraqi weapons programs as a justification for war." 4-03
|
