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iraq timeline

  • Period: to

    iraq

  • british troops

    british troops occupied bagdad,iraq
  • king

    Faisal I becomes king of Iraq
  • britain

    Iraq achieves independence from Britain
  • saddam hussein

    former leader of iraq saddam hussein was born
  • aref dies

    Aref dies; his brother, Abdul Rahman Aref, takes over the presidency
  • ahmad

    Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr overthrows Aref in a bloodless coup. The Ba'ath party again dominates
  • kurds

    A peace agreement is signed between the Iraqi government and the Kurds, granting the Kurds some self-rule
  • saddam hussein

    Al-Bakr resigns; his vice-president, Saddam Hussein, succeeds him. Hussein swiftly executes political rivals.
  • iraq war

    The bloody eight-year Iran-Iraq war begins. The main issue is control of the Shatt al Arab waterway, an essential resource providing for water and transportation that runs along the border of both countries
  • war ends

    Iran-Iraq war ends in a stalemate. An estimated 1.5 million died in the conflict
  • launches missiles on bagdad

    U.S. launches cruise missile on Baghdad, after Iraq attempts to assassinate President George H. W. Bush while he visited Kuwait
  • iraq drains water

    Iraq drains water from southern marshlands inhabited Muslim Shiites, in retaliation for the Shiites' long-standing opposition to Saddam Hussein's government
  • allows oraq to export oil

    A UN Security Council's "oil-for-food" resolution (passed April 1995) allows Iraq to export oil in exchange for humanitarian aid. Iraq delays accepting the terms for more than a 1½ years
  • weapons & missiles

    The UN disarmament commission concludes that Iraq has continued to conceal information on biological and chemical weapons and missiles.
  • iraq expels american members

    raq expels American members of the UN inspection team
  • bombers

    Beginning in January, weekly, sometimes daily, bombings of Iraqi targets within the northern no-fly zone begin, carried out by U.S. and British bombers. More than 100 air strikes take place during 1999, and continue regularly over the next years. The U.S. and Britain hope the constant barrage of air strikes will weaken Saddam Hussein's grip on Iraq