Think Progress

Iraq Timeline: Five Years Of War

By Think Progress on Mar 19th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

Iraq Timeline: Five Years Of War

Five years ago today President Bush launched the invasion of Iraq. To mark the anniversary, ThinkProgress has updated its timeline chronicling major events over the course of the past five years. Some highlights from just the last year:

APRIL 1, 2007: McCain strolls through Baghdad market, accompanied by 100 soldiers, 3 blackhawks, 2 Apache gunships. [NBC News, 4/1/07]

APRIL 12, 2007: Iraqi parliament bombed inside Green Zone. “An apparent suicide bombing inside the tightly guarded parliament building that killed two Sunni Arab legislators and six other people here Thursday struck at the heart of Iraq’s struggling democracy and the U.S. security plan that is trying to bolster it.” [LAT, 4/13/07]

MAY 9, 2007: Majority Of Iraqi Parliament Calls For Timetable For U.S. Withdrawal [Alternet, 5/9/2007]

SEPTEMBER 11, 2007: Petraeus: ‘I don’t know’ if Iraq war makes America safer. At the Senate Armed Services hearing on progress in Iraq today, Sen. John Warner (R-VA) asked Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, “if we continue what you have laid before the Congress, this strategy, that if you continue, you are making America safer?” “Sir, I don’t know actually,” replied Petraeus. [CSPAN, 9/11/07]

OCTOBER 18, 2007: Iraq to Cheney: ‘Big fat no’ on bases in Iraq. The Iraqi government has “put the U.S. on notice” that they do not want permanent U.S. bases in Iraq, CNN reports today. The message was “delivered directly to Vice President Dick Cheney at the White House” by Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak Al-Rubaie, who told CNN that Iraqis say, “No, big fat no, N-O for the bases in Iraq.” [CNN, 10/18/07]

The timeline catalogues the key events, quotes and pictures of the war. Check out the rest of the timeline here. Make sure to tell us what we missed in the comments section.

Comments
71

52 Responses to “Iraq Timeline: Five Years Of War”

Juan C. says:

Mission Accomplished!

What a good laugh.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
TheRadicalRightisRadicallyWrong says:

I don’t know if I’d call it a “good” laugh… but the assertion of Mission Accomplished is and was Highly Laughable!
March 19th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
hussein toasterhead says:

JOYCE LUCEY: My name is Joyce Lucey, and I’m the mom of Corporal Jeffrey Michael Lucey. The last month of his life, he had this flashlight by his bedside, and he was looking for the camel spiders that he could hear running around the room. And when he went over to Iraq, he asked me to hold this coin for him every day, so he’d come home safely. I had no idea that it was after he came home that I should have been holding this coin.

Jeffrey’s death should never have happened. The young man, who in January of 2003 was sent to Kuwait to participate in an invasion in which he did not agree, was not the same young man that stepped off the bus in July. Our Marine physically returned to us, but his spirit died somewhere in Iraq. As we celebrated his homecoming, Jeff masked the anger, the guilt, the confusion, pain and darkness that are part of the hidden wounds of war behind his smile.

Jeff was in Kuwait with the 6th Motor Transportation Battalion. He was a convoy driver. On the 20th of March, he entered in his journal, which I have here, “At 10:30 p.m., a scud landed in our vicinity. We were just falling asleep when a shockwave rattled through our tent. The noise was just short of blowing out your eardrums. Everyone’s heart truly skipped a beat, and the reality of where we are and what’s happening hit home.” The last entry is, “We now just had a gas alert, and it’s past midnight. We will not sleep. Nerves are on edge.” The invasion had begun, and Jeff never had time to put another entry in.

Several months after his return, he said that he would like to complete it. We never knew that he did not—he would never get the time to do that. Our fear the whole time he was over there was that he would be physically harmed. We never imagined that an emotional wound could and would be just as lethal.
….
Spring break 2004 began three months in which our family watched the son and brother we knew fall apart. He was depressed and drinking. When college classes resumed, he found attending classes very difficult. He had panic attacks, feeling that the other students were staring at him, even though he realized they weren’t. He was placed on Klonopin and Prozac to see if it could keep him in class. Jeff’s problems just worsened. He was having trouble sleeping, nightmares, poor appetite, isolating himself in his room. He was unable to focus on studies, so he could take his—so he could not take his finals. An excellent athlete, his balance was badly compromised by the mixture of Klonopin and alcohol.

He confided in his younger sister that he had a rope and a tree picked out near the brook behind our home, but told her, “Don’t worry. I’d never do that. I wouldn’t hurt Mom and Dad.” He was adamant that the Marines not be told, fearing a Section 8 and not wanting the stigma that is connected to PTSD to follow him throughout his life.

He finally went to the VA, after being assured that they were not part of the military and would not relay any information without Jeff’s permission. His dad called and explained what was happening with our son, and they said it was classic PTSD and that he should come in as soon as possible. The problem was getting Jeffrey to actually go in. It was—he kind of—every day it was “Tomorrow. I’ll go in tomorrow. I’m tired.” He just didn’t have the energy to get up. The day he went in, he blew up .328, and it was decided he needed to stay. As it was decided he needed to stay, it took six employees to take Jeffrey down. He had gotten out the door and ran out into the parking area.

Involuntarily committed for four days, the stay did nothing but make him feel like he was being warehoused. After seeing an admitting psychiatrist, he would not see another one until the day of his discharge. After answering in the affirmative that he was thinking of harming himself and revealing the three methods—overdose, suffocation or hanging—he was released on June 1st, 2003, a Tuesday.
…
My father lost his only brother in World War II. He was twenty-two years old. He was now watching his only grandson self-destructing at twenty-three because of another war.

Kevin and I went through the rooms when we knew Jeff was coming back. We took his knives, bottles, anything we felt he could harm himself with, a dog leash. I took a stepstool, anything that I thought could trigger something in his mind. His car was disabled not only to protect himself, but to protect others from Jeffrey. Kevin called the civilian authorities. They said they can’t—“We can’t touch him. He’s drinking.” My child was struggling to survive, and we didn’t know who to turn to. There was no follow-up call from the VA, no outreach, though they knew he was in crisis. We had no guidance—what to say to him, how to handle his situation. You hear a lot about supporting our troops, but I’ll tell you: we felt isolated, abandoned and alone.

While the rest of the country lived on, going to Disney World, shopping, living their daily lives, our days consisted of constant fear, apprehension, helplessness, while we watched this young man being consumed by this cancer that ravaged his soul. I sat on the deck with this person who was impersonating my son and listened to him while he recounted bits and pieces of his time in Iraq. Then he would grind his fist into his hand, and he’d say, “You could never understand.”

On Friday, June 11th, around midnight, my daughter got a call from a girl down the street. She asked me, “Where’s your son?” And I said, “Debs, he’s in his room. He’s sleeping.” Well, apparently not. He had climbed out the window and gotten into this girl’s car. He wanted some beer. She was—this girl who had known Jeffrey all her life was a little bit scared of him. When I saw him get out of the car, I froze. Jeff was in—dressed in his cammies with two k-bars, a modified pellet gun, which the police wouldn’t know, and carrying a six-pack. He had just wanted that beer. There was a sad smile on his face like a lost soul. When I told him how concerned I was about him, he said, “Don’t worry, Mom. No matter what I do, I always come back.”

KEVIN LUCEY: So later that evening, we had decided that we were going to try to go out, because he had become reclusive in the house. We were going to try to go out for a steak dinner the following night. At about 11:30, quarter to 12:00, Jeffrey asked me, for the second time within the past ten days, if he could just sit in my lap and I could rock him for about—well, for a while. And we did. We sat there for about forty-five minutes, and I was rocking Jeff, and we were in total silence. As his private therapist that we had hired said, it was his last harbor and his last place of refuge.

The next day, I came home. It was about quarter after 7:00. I held Jeff one last time, as I lowered his body from the rafters and took the hose from around his neck.

So?

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/19/half_a_decade_of_war_five
March 19th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
mary says:

I was all set to make a snarky remark about not wanting to read the timeline, but, now I’m too busy trying to stop crying at work.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Tobie Tall says:

Bush should personaly thanks Al Sadr for the cease fire and then watch as the Shia to make trillions on there new oil wealth………. Bush outfoxed by the smart Arabs
March 19th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
VerbalKint says:

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and all the other Neocons behind this war deserve to pay for their sins with their own lives. But they never will. These are evil men and women.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
raynman says:

It’s enough to make one weep
March 19th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Fritz says:

TP, that’s a splendid picture of the rare Pecker-headed Goober.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
mary says:

Bush looks like a total chucklehead in that picture. Which is a step up from how he usually looks.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
RUCerious says:

toasterhead, keep em coming. That one made me cry right here at my desk.

How many more victims of BushitCo are out there, uncounted?
March 19th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Fritz says:

“Who cares? We should focus on Obama’s middle name and former minister.”

I heard that Obama is a muslim and won’t say the Pledge of Allegiance…
March 19th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Tobie Tall says:

Obama is the only one who can give America a clean start

Obama is the only one who can make me buy American products again
March 19th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Tobie Tall says:

Bush has brought changes in the distribution of global power and “the slow decline of the United States as the main world power.”

Its Over folks
March 19th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Tobie Tall says:

Bin Laden 1
Bush 0

Bush outfoxed by bearded man in cave
March 19th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
joe cantwell says:

good_golly Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
This is a very good piece of propaganda for al Qaeda, completely ignoring every single one of the multiple successful missions accomplished by our troops. The al Qaeda websites will probably all link to it. Congratulations.

so?
March 19th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
joe cantwell says:

Omicron Ohayo Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

you forgot your homework:

the math is simple:

fact ? link

here, you try.

fact ___ link.

i’ll be back in an hour to see how you’re doing.

bonus problem:

argument ___ link

(if you have time for it)
March 19th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Tobie Tall says:

try living in the now Mr Pres
March 19th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
joe cantwell says:

Omicron Ohayo Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 4:27 pm

So, if Obama were elected president…

better brace yourself, he is going to be elected :)

oh i hope that doesn’t hurt your feelings.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
specialist f says:

Omicron Ohayo Says:CLINTON DID IT, CLINTON DID IT,CLINTON DID IT! STUPID MOON BATS!
I think this ass clown is maybe 12 years old.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
specialist f says:

Flag it!
March 19th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
specialist f says:

Themanoncecared
Says the piss soaked Chicken hawk.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
barfly says:

Clinton was clearly more interested in pursuing bad girls than he was in pursuing bad guys.

And Bush was more interested in Star Wars than in the terrorist threat. The first six months in office, what was the DOJ’s focus? Pursuing prostitute convictions in New Orleans.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
nanlichi says:

good-golly,

You don’t get it and never will. You read the testimonials that toasterhead posts and instead of feeling any remorse or sorrow, you post some talking point about aiding the enemy? To most Americans, Bush is the enemy. Not Osama, not Sadam, not Al Qaeda but your personal God and Savior, Bush. We will face our enemies in Al Qaeda and Muslim extremists, and we will face our enemies here in Christian extremists. None of them can ever do our country the harm that Bush has.

We are different, you and I. You worship Bush and find him to be infallible. I look at the damage he has wrought and want to choke the life out of that miserable punk.

I am truly sorry that I have to live in a country with such weak and scared persons like you, but my USA is strong in spite of the Fox News, Rush, Hannity and good_golly sycophants.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
specialist f says:

hussein toasterhead Says:
That is just one of many sad storys I’m sure. We will have a whole new generation of Vets coming home with PTSD, and then we have these SORRY POS trolls like gigi,themanwholearnedtospell,and oh-oh who will slap another flag decal on there vehicle. Compliments of John Prine…”your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore”
“they’re already overcrowded from your dirty little war”
March 19th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
VerbalKint says:

good golly, the good German
March 19th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
hussein toasterhead says:

Omicron Ohayo Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 4:27 pm

So, if Obama were elected president, which seems extremely unlikely now that we know he attended a racist, America-hating church for two decades, how would he be sworn in?

No, he attended a black church that hated racism – that’s a very different thing.

And he’ll be sworn in with the words “I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear…”

And with those words our eight year national nightmare will be over.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
hussein toasterhead says:

Omicron Ohayo Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

How about including the FULL timeline regarding Iraq, TP? You left out the part about Clinton’s policies vis-a-vis Iraq ultimately leading to 9/11.

This thread is about Iraq. It has nothing to do with 9/11. Please try to stay on topic.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
VerbalKint says:

Maybe we should give the trolls a break. This must be a tough day for them, staring at FIVE YEARS OF FAILURE by their beloved CIC, and the certain destruction of their putrid political party at the polls in November. Anybody as mean and ugly as them is bound to lash out in anger under such circumstances.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
VerbalKint says:

Think also about the overwhelming task faced by the trolls on their filthy mission to rewrite seven years of history in which their leader and party has brought this country to the brink of ruin.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
hussein toasterhead says:

Themanoncecared Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 4:33 pm

We need to finish this war. Don’t sit there and say if you were elected you would just recklessly pull out. We owe it to the solders that lost their lives.

Those soldiers lost their lives for a lie. What we owe them is the honest truth about why they died.

Pulling out as soon as possible, bringing our people home, paying reparations to the Iraqis we’ve tortured for half a decade, and salvaging our national reputation – that’s something we owe future generations.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
VerbalKint says:

I think the particularly mean and nasty troll in this thread must be Michelle Malkin.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
hussein toasterhead says:

Omicron Ohayo Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

If that’s the case, the moonbats should stop complaining when we use Obama’s middle name.

We’re not complaining. As you may have noticed, many of us are quite proud of his middle name and have adopted it ourselves.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
tarazan says:

Although it is well known fact that Iraq has nothing to do with 9/11, Bush made the link in his speech today,as usual.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
hussein toasterhead says:

Omicron Ohayo Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 4:47 pm

You moonbats are so ignorant. Apparently, the Clinton administration was more interested in national missile defense than the threat posed by al Qaeda

This thread is about Iraq. It has nothing to do with Clinton and the national missile defense shield. Please try to stay on topic.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
robbez_92107 says:

Southern Man Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Looks like the bad guy is going to speak.

Ooooooh – better ratchet up the Terror Warning color to orange, hide under the bed and remember to vote Rethuglican, beacuse they’re the only ones who can save us!!! How scawwwy!
March 19th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
VerbalKint says:

Southern Man had to leave the thread to change his piss-soaked pants. It isn’t the first time.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
hussein toasterhead says:

robbez_92107 Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 4:57 pm

Ooooooh – better ratchet up the Terror Warning color to orange, hide under the bed and remember to vote Rethuglican, beacuse they’re the only ones who can save us!!! How scawwwy!

Oh no – I’m out of duct tape!!! We’d better nuke Tehran, quick!!!
March 19th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
specialist f says:

Again “theman” why don’t YOU join them??? I hear the same story about schools being built ect. Then why do the majority of Iraqis feel we are making things worse, and want us out? And Afghanistan is going swimmingly….for the HEROIN TRADE.
March 19th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
robbez_92107 says:

hussein toasterhead Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 5:00 pm

How McSame of you. Thank you for the winter soldier posts.
March 19th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
specialist f says:

And I don’t want my kids and grandkids drafted to fight in this FIASCO. The sad thing is I know they will be paying of our “CEO Presidunces” MASSIVE DEBT. Thanks Lips boosh.
March 19th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
dbadass says:

Hussein Toasterhead. The Zoo thing was just a goof carried over from here. Sorry for the confusion
March 19th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
dbadass says:

“How about including the FULL timeline regarding Iraq, TP? You left out the part about Clinton’s policies vis-a-vis Iraq ultimately leading to 9/11.”

“This thread is about Iraq. It has nothing to do with 9/11. Please try to stay on topic.”

Agreed but you must admit it would be amusing to hear how Clinton’s Iraq policy resulted in a bunch of Saudi’s perpetrating the 9/11 events with no connections to Iraq
March 19th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
dbadass says:

you mean undeniable in the way that that site is undeniably unbiased
March 19th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
specialist f says:

Still waiting for your MOS OO??? You ran like a little girl from the other thread,not the actions of one of the few,the proud!
Back OT I remember when WJC tried to go after OBL with urgency and the neo-cons said “he’s just wagging the dog”. Remember 9-11 happened on boosh’s watch after numerous warnings. I guess that August PDB was just a little too vague,huh???
March 19th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Bilbo Hussein Baggins says:

I don’t want to look back at this and tell our grand kids we just gave up and let bad guys win. That’s not the America I want to leave behind. I’m sure you don’t either!

So, we created this horrible mess and now we have to stay longer and bankrupt this country further so that we can clean up the mess we have created. Sorry charley, if we haven’t cleaned up our mess in 5 years, chances are we are never going to clean it up.

The Iraqi people, by a very wide margin, want us out of their country. They are willing to take their chances that they can fix the mess themselves. So, why can’t we give them what they want? Hint…hint…(we haven’t gotten our hands on their oil yet).
March 19th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Bilbo Hussein Baggins says:

I guess that August PDB was just a little too vague,huh???

Absolutely. Don’t you remember Condi Rice saying something about “well it didn’t say exactly when it was going to happen”. They needed a date, time and a map before they were willing to act.
March 19th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
specialist f says:

Give it up Bilbo, all these guys know are talking points and sound bytes. Propaganda works well on small minds and ditto-heads.
March 19th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
specialist f says:

And didn’t she say “nobody could imagine them using planes as missles”. I’m not a big conspiracy guy but this is interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB6EWF3vulc

Made 6 months BEFORE 9-11!
March 19th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
joe cantwell says:

Omicron Ohayo Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
JOE CANTWELL:

Looks as if you’re stuck on stupid.

what, no link with that?
March 19th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
specialist f says:

joe go to moronicyahoo.com. This guy claims to be a Marine, but I have my doubts.
March 19th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
DaTruth says:

Alright Idiot! Are you done with that lying mouthful of sh*t of yours? Here comes the Blix. Head for the hill idiot! Hurry!
March 20th, 2008 at 3:24 am
kaishinden79 says:

BUSH WILL BE LAUGHING AT THE END OF THIS YEAR SAYING

‘HEHEHE, I WON’T BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MESS I CREATED TO THIS COUNTRY. LET THE NEXT PRESIDENT FIX IT. HEHEHE. DIC GOT BILLIONS OF DOLLARS ANYWAY, HEHEHEHE’

HE IS OBVIOUSLY & DEFINITELY THE FIRST OF THE WORST OF THE WORST PRESIDENT OF THE US!
March 20th, 2008 at 11:25 am

Iraq Timeline: Five Years Of War

Iraq Timeline: Five Years Of War

52 Responses to “Iraq Timeline: Five Years Of War”

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