March 22, 2003
"Shock and awe" airstrikes on Baghdad continue.
Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S. Central Command, says during a news conference in Qatar, "There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them."
April 19, 2003
Baghdad falls to U.S. forces. Some Iraqis cheer in the streets as American infantrymen seize deserted Ba'ath Party ministries and pull down a huge statue of Saddam Hussein. Larege-scale looting of government offices takes place throughout the city.
U.S. authorities in Iraq seize a trailer at a checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul. The government will later claim that this trailer, and a similar one discovered on May 9, are mobile biological weapons labs.
May 1, 2003
In a speech from the deck of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Lincoln, President Bush declares that "major combat operations" in Iraq are over.
May 6, 2003
Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III is named Presidential Envoy to Iraq and Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority. He arrives in Iraq on May 11.
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, citing unnamed sources, breaks the story of former U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson's February 2002 trip to Niger. The major source for the story is later revealed to be Wilson himself.
No comments:
Post a Comment