Timeline
- -03-04-03 Iran Proposes U.N. Supervised Referendum to Oust Saddam (Albawaba)
"Iran called on Tuesday for a U.N.-supervised referendum to give Iraqis the chance to oust Saddam Hussein's government at the ballot box." 2-03
- -03-04-03 Iranians Could Complicate U.S. War Plans (ABC News - McKiernan)
"In a development that could complicate Washington's war plans, Iranian-backed fighters opposed to Saddam Hussein's regime are quietly constructing a camp inside Kurdish-controlled Northern Iraq."
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said involvement of the Iranian-backed fighters in Northern Iraq would be "a very serious and destabilizing development." 2-03
- -03-04-03 Kurds Vow to Fight If Turkey Invades Iraq (Independent - Cockburn)
"The American plan to form a northern front against Saddam Hussein slipped deeper into crisis yesterday when Kurdish leaders made clear they would resist any attempt by Turkey to occupy Iraqi Kurdistan, even if it was a member of the American-led coalition." 2-03
- -03-04-03 Turkey Rejects U.S. Military Plan (Independent)
"America admitted yesterday that the war due to begin as early as next week might have to be put back by at least a month because of Turkey's refusal to allow US ground troops to deploy there."
"Tony Blair [Prime Minister of England] was accused of concealing from the public the fact that a new Gulf War had already begun. Bernard Jenkin, the shadow Defence Secretary, said the 'opening shots of the second Gulf War' had been fired. Anti-war Labour MPs claimed that war had begun by stealth." 2-03
- -03-04-03 U.S. May Consider Resolution Withdrawal (ABC News)
"With other nations' opposition hardening, the White House left open the possibility Tuesday that it would not seek a United Nations vote on its war-making resolution if the measure was clearly headed for defeat."
"U.S. troop strength in the Persian Gulf neared 300,000, and President Bush and his advisers were looking beyond the diplomatic showdown in the U.N. to make plans for a public relations buildup to potential war with Iraq." 2-03
- -03-05-03 Pope Strongly Against U.S. Starting a War (USA Today)
"The pope has said a war would be a 'defeat for humanity' and that the conflict would be neither morally nor legally justified. He wants Iraq to be disarmed through methods short of military force." 2-03
- -03-05-03 U.S. Plans Heavy Bombing of Iraq (ABC News)
"In a strategy Pentagon officials are calling 'shock and awe,' U.S. forces plan to drop 10 times the bombs in the opening days of the air campaign in Iraq than they did in the first Persian Gulf war, officials said Wednesday."
"In the first Gulf war, Baghdad put its losses at 75,000 to 100,000 soldiers killed in action and 35,000 to 45,000 civilians killed by allied bombing."
"The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency estimated 100,000 Iraqi soldiers killed and 300,000 wounded, and about 3,000 Iraqi civilians killed by bombing. It said accurate information was so scant these figures had error factor of at least 50 percent." 2-03
- -03-05-03 Pope Strongly Against U.S. Starting a War (USA Today)
"The pope has said a war would be a 'defeat for humanity' and that the conflict would be neither morally nor legally justified. He wants Iraq to be disarmed through methods short of military force." 2-03
- -03-05-03 U.S. Plans Heavy Bombing of Iraq (ABC News)
"In a strategy Pentagon officials are calling 'shock and awe,' U.S. forces plan to drop 10 times the bombs in the opening days of the air campaign in Iraq than they did in the first Persian Gulf war, officials said Wednesday."
"In the first Gulf war, Baghdad put its losses at 75,000 to 100,000 soldiers killed in action and 35,000 to 45,000 civilians killed by allied bombing."
"The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency estimated 100,000 Iraqi soldiers killed and 300,000 wounded, and about 3,000 Iraqi civilians killed by bombing. It said accurate information was so scant these figures had error factor of at least 50 percent." 2-03
- -03-07-03 March 17 Deadline Set for Iraq (ABC News)
"The United States, Britain and Spain want to deliver an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein: Comply with U.N. resolutions on disarming within 10 days, or face war."
"In his report, Blix said inspectors need additional time to complete their work. He said it would be a matter of months, but not years."
"In a veiled jab at the United States, he said inspectors had been unable to verify some claims about hidden Iraqi weapons and he asked again for more information about suspect sites."
"In his address to the Security Council today, Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also took a swipe at U.S. intelligence, saying his analysis definitively showed that suspect aluminum tubes were not destined for equipment that could be used to refine uranium for nuclear weapons."
"In Washington, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle said the administration had brought on an 'extraordinary disintegration' of support from other nations by rushing toward war." 2-03
- -03-07-03 U.N. Inspectors Say Iraq Is Disarming Without War (CBC News)
" 'Iraq has taken significant steps toward disarmament, such as destroying missiles and providing information, chief weapons inspector Hans Blix told the United Nations Security Council Friday.' "
"Iraq has also stepped up its co-operation since January, to the point Blix now calls it 'active or even proactive.' "
"He said even with complete co-operation from the Iraqis, disarmament will take some time. 'It will not take years, nor weeks, but months,' he said." 2-03
- -03-07-03 U.S. Hopes Dim for U.N. Support for War (Guardian Unlimited)
"A new, fervent plea by Secretary of State Colin Powell to use force to disarm Iraq failed Friday to draw support at the U.N. Security Council beyond a small core of allies."
"France and other anti-war nations were not the only critics of the Bush administration's approach. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said: 'I do not believe that going to war now is the best way to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.' "
"Other administration officials, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the resolution's prospects were dim but Bush was determined to push for a vote to show the world he had exhausted every possible diplomatic option before waging war." 2-03
- -03-08-03 A Just War? (ABC News - Cochran)
"Despite the vocal push against a war, Christians are divided. Polls show a majority support Bush's view that a war with Iraq could be necessary to rid the world of Saddam Hussein and many Catholics support military action in Iraq despite the Church's official stand."
.."Bush's main support comes from conservative Protestants, such as Richard Cizik, a minister and vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals."
.."Bush belongs to the United Methodist Church, which does not support him on the war."
.."In Nashville, Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert complained that the president has refused to see 'mainstream' Christian leaders who want a go-slow approach to war: 'We regret that the president has seemingly isolated himself from certain views when it comes to war,' Talbert said."
.."Talbert also made an anti-war TV commercial on behalf of 36 Protestant denominations, all members of the U.S. Council of Churches. He disputed whether the United States has the right to go to war with a country that, he said, 'has done nothing to us. It violates international law. It violates Gold's law.' " 3-03
- -03-08-03 Key Points of U.N. Inspection Report (BBC News)
"Chief UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei have delivered their reports to the Security Council on Iraqi co-operation."2-03
- -03-08-03 U.S. and Britain Provided Fake Evidence of Nuclear Efforts by Iraq (United Press International)
"Some evidence linking Iraq to a nuclear weapons program appears to have been fabricated, the Washington Post reported Saturday. The faked evidence was described as a series of letters between Iraqi agents and officials in Niger."
.."The correspondence was deemed 'not authentic' after careful scrutiny by U.N. and independent experts, Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the U.N. Security Council."
.."The documents had been given to the U.N. inspectors by Britain and reviewed extensively by U.S. intelligence. The forgers had made relatively crude errors that eventually gave them away -- including names and titles that did not match up with the individuals who held office at the time the letters were purportedly written, the Post report said."
.." 'We fell for it,' said one U.S. official who reviewed the documents." 2-03
- -03-09-03 Fragile Treasures of the World at Risk in Iraq (International Herald Tribune - Melikian)
"Within weeks, some of the most important monuments, works of art and written archives of the history of East and West could be at risk."
.."If war breaks out in Iraq, the dangers threatening a cultural heritage - which matters not only to the land where the monuments stand and the artistic treasures were excavated, but also to our world - will be manifold."
.."The harm caused by the Gulf War in 1991 was severe." 3-03
- -03-11-03 Britain May Not Join War (CBS News)
"Sources tell CBS News that Great Britain – America's closest ally – may find it politically impossible to commit its military to a U.S.-led attack on Saddam Hussein. And that could force the United States to go it alone in Iraq." 3-03
- -03-11-03 U.S. Postwar Iraq Plan (ABC News)
"The United States would put Iraqi soldiers to work rebuilding the country and pay to keep Iraq's civilian government bureaucracy running after a war, Pentagon officials said Tuesday."
.."The United States would turn over control to an interim Iraqi government within months, officials said at a Pentagon briefing given on condition they not be named. One said Iraq's oil industry would be expected to continue to be overseen by the officials of the United Nations who now run the oil-for-food program under the U.N. sanctions regime."
.."At the Capitol, meanwhile, two Iraq experts said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that rebuilding Iraq would take years, not months." 3-03
- -03-11-03 U.S. Has Biggest Bomb (MSNBC News)
"MOAB is much bigger than any other conventional bomb in the U.S. arsenal. Dropped out of the rear of a transport plane and guided by global positioning satellites, it spreads a flammable mist over the target, then ignites it, producing a highly destructive blast." 3-03
- -03-13-03 U.S. Preparing to Abandon U.N. and Start War (Independent - Rupert, Grice, and Butler)
"The United States sent a powerful signal last night that it will soon abandon efforts to win a second United Nations resolution, in effect clearing the decks for military action against Iraq late next week." 3-03
- -03-15-03 Global Protests Against War (BBC News)
"On Sunday, peace vigils are planned in more than 2,800 cities in about 100 countries, the Associated Press news agency reported." 3-03
- -03-15-03 Poll: Bush Has Solid Support for War (Guardian Unlimited)
"Americans support President Bush on national security issues, pollsters say, but the nation's political balance could easily shift if a war with Iraq goes badly for the United States." 3-03
- -03-16-03 Global Protests Against War (MSNBC News)
"From Tokyo to Beirut, Paris to Washington, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets Saturday in what many saw as a last-ditch global protest against any U.S.-led war on Iraq." 3-03
- -03-16-03 Iraqi Refugees: Inevitable Disaster (CBC News)
"The United Nations estimates that up to 900,000 Iraqi refugees may flee the country if there is a war, and there could be another 500,000 people displaced inside Iraq. They would be in desperate need of food, shelter and medical supplies." 3-03
- -03-16-03 U.S. Support of Iraq in 1980's (CBC News - McDonald)
"Saddam Hussein is one of the few leaders to actually use chemical weapons in the second half of the 20th century."
.."Researchers at the National Security Archives at George Washington University have assembled a library of government documents from the old U.S. alliance with Saddam Hussein."
.."The documents reveal the true extent of that relationship, putting a different perspective on the moral indignation pouring forth nowadays from the White House."
.."The documents show conclusively the U.S. knew as early as 1983 that Iraq was using chemical weapons against Iranian troops, and that Saddam was buying chemicals from American interests."
." 'The U.S. did not in any way change its policy of supporting Iraq in the war because of its chemical weapons use,' Battle says." 3-03
- -03-18-03 Rounding Up Iraqis in America (CBS News)
"In a sweeping wave of interrogations beginning with the start of war, the bureau will visit over 10,000 Iraqi nationals living in the U.S. including 'students,' 'defectors,' 'permanent residents,' 'visitors' and even a few recently-naturalized U.S. citizens." 3-03
- -03-18-03 Stunning Setback for U.S. (International Herald Tribune - Weisman)
"Just about everyone involved now acknowledges that a train of miscalculations and misunderstandings has produced a setback for U.S. diplomacy and world standing."
.."Assertions that Iraq was linked to Al Qaeda backfired, too, European officials say, as intelligence services in Europe told their leaders that even the Central Intelligence Agency had doubts about the connection."
.."Here is a reconstruction of the events that led to the U.S.-British failure in the Security Council." 3-03
- -03-18-03 U.K. Approves War in Iraq (BBC News)
"Mr Blair suffered the greatest parliamentary revolt of his premiership when 139 of his party colleagues voted for an amendment saying the case for war was not yet proven."
.."But the government still managed to beat the rebel amendment and see its own motion supporting the use of UK forces in Iraq passed by a large majority - 412 to 149." 3-03
- -03-18-03 U.S. Has a Coalition of 30 Countries (CBS News)
"The State Department released a list of the 30 countries, one of which, Japan, was identified as only a post-conflict member of the coalition."
.."Indeed, most of the coalition members were unlikely to play a large role in the fighting." The 30 countries joining the coalition of the willing include Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan (post conflict), Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan. 3-03
- -03-18-03 War Almost Certain as Diplomacy Ends (International Herald Tribune - O'Brien)
"Diplomacy ground to a halt here Monday as the United States, Britain and Spain withdrew a draft resolution finding Iraq in violation of UN weapons mandates, almost certainly paving the way for a U.S.-led military strike against Saddam Hussein's regime." 3-03
- -03-18-03 War Threat Divides World (CBS News)
"Around the world, government statements and public opinion reflected deep divisions over President Bush's demand that Saddam Hussein step down within 48 hours or face war." 3-03
- -03-19-03 War Begins (CNN News)
"U.S. and coalition forces launched missiles and bombs at targets in Iraq as Thursday morning dawned in Baghdad, including a 'decapitation attack' aimed at Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and other top members of the country's leadership." 3-03
- -03-19-03 World Reactions to War (MSNBC News - Carlile)
"NBC News and MSNBC.com gauge the global debate on Iraq with daily reports from a network of contributors from around the globe." 3-03
- -03-21-03 Classes Discuss War (Seattle-Post Intelligencer - Roberts)
"Teachers found themselves trying to strike a balance yesterday: broadening classroom discussions, reassuring students, putting war into a context beyond TV images and, in some cases, attempting to keep their own political views in check." 3-03
- -03-21-03 European Leaders Agree to Help Iraq After War (Guardian Unlimited)
"European Union leaders failed to heal deep rifts over the war in Iraq but managed to agree on a limited role to help Iraq recover once the conflict is over." 3-03
- -03-19-03 World Reactions to War (MSNBC News - Carlile)
"NBC News and MSNBC.com gauge the global debate on Iraq with daily reports from a network of contributors from around the globe." 3-03
- -03-21-03 Classes Discuss War (Seattle-Post Intelligencer - Roberts)
"Teachers found themselves trying to strike a balance yesterday: broadening classroom discussions, reassuring students, putting war into a context beyond TV images and, in some cases, attempting to keep their own political views in check." 3-03
- -03-28-03 Perle Resigns Because of Conflict-of-Interest Questions (ABC News)
"An adviser to the Bush administration and a leading advocate of the war on Iraq, Richard Perle, has resigned as chairman of a top Pentagon advisory panel." 3-03
- -03-28-03 U.N. Gives Annan Authority Over Oil-for-Food Program in Iraq (New York Times - O'Brien)
"The Security Council reorganized a controversial oil for food program with Iraq, giving control of the program to Secretary General Kofi Annan for the next 45 days." 3-03
- -03-28-03 U.S. Warns Syria About Involvement in Iraq (CNN News)
"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld issued a stern warning to Syria on Friday, saying military supplies, including night-vision goggles, were passing from that country into Iraq, posing a 'direct threat' to coalition forces." 3-03
- -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
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