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Mesopotamia is Iraq
Iraq is located where ancient Mesopotamia was located many years ago. Mesopotamia existed from 3100 B.C. until 539 B.C. -
Saddam Hussein becomes leader of Iraq
He was a ruthless dictator who took power when the president of Iraq resigned. Suddam kept his power by using terror. -
Soviet Troops invade Afghanistan
The Soviets invaded Afghanistan because they wanted to liberate Afghan Communists and they were fighting Islamic Extremists. Also control of Afghanistan would make trade with India and the Middle East easier. The U.S. was on Afghanistan's side because we were extremely against communism and the Soviets. We we sent $ to the Afghans and Osama Bin Laden was one of the Muslims fighting against the Soviets. With the help of the U.S the Soviets left Afghanistan. -
Osama Bin Laden forms Al-Qaeda or "The Base"
It was formed from thousands of recruited and trained mujahadeen or holy warriors. Bin Laden wanted this group of individuals to continue the "holy war" outside of Afghanistan. It evevtually turned into a very violent Islamic Militant group that believed that it was okay to kill people in the name of Allah. They wanted to expand Islam and they target Americans. -
Saddam orders Iraqi troops to invade Kuwait
He ordered this because Kuwait was very rich in oil and he wanted to control more of the world's oil supply. -
Operation Desert Storm
The U.S. realized that if Iraq took over Kuwait then they would control over 20% of the world's oil. The U.S. also thought that Iraq planned to take over Saudi Arabia and we couldn't let that happen. So George Bush sent troops to Saudi Arabia to prevent Iraq from controlling Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. We attacked them through air strikes. 6 weeks later he sent ground troops and 100 hours after it ended. This is known as the Persian Gulf war or the First Gulf War. -
Taliban gain control of Kabul
At this time the Taliban becomes very influencial to Afghans. They force a very strick version of Islam on people and make it so women can't work and punished people by stoning them(they take the Quran very literal). In 1997 the Taliban is reconized as the rulers by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia by controlling 2/3 of the country. -
US launches missiles
The missiles strike at bases of Osama bin Laden who was accused of bombing US embassies in Africa. -
Al-Qaeda Attacks the U.S.
On this day the terrorist group led by Osama Bin Laden (Al-Qaeda) attacked both of the World Trade Centers in New York, the Pentagon, and attempted to either attack the White House or the Capitol Building by flying planes into them. Almost 3,000 American civilians died on this day. There are many conspiracies that it was actually the U.S Government that attacked these building, but there is no evidence that that is true and there is evidence that Osama Bin Laden was indeed behind these attacks. -
Congress Authorizes President to do whatever necessary
Congress authorized President George W. Bush to carry out any actions that he thought were necessary on Al-Qaeda after the 9-11 attacks. He decided that bombing them was necessary and he targeted their camps. The U.S. Government also thought that the Taliban was hiding Osama Bin Laden and they wanted to find him. -
Deployment of first Peacekeepers
Nato and ISAF fight Taliban in a new way -
Bush Gives Speech to U.N.
This speech was about issues in Iraq. He said he wanted Iraq to give up WMDs, let U.N. inspectors in, stop supporting terrosim, and to stop oppressing people. Collin Powell later said he knew Iraq had WMD and that Iraq was lying by saying they didn't so the U.S. prepared for war. -
Congress Authorizes Iraq War
President Bush asked to use force against Iraq and on this day congress came to an agreement, also later that month Bush was given the power to use force as necessary on Iraq. -
U.S. Invades Iraq
Bush gave Hussien an ultimatum to step down as a leader, but he didn't so we invaded Iraq and combat began. This will be concidered the Second Gulf War. It is similar to the First Gulf War because in both incidences Hussein was the leader. They are different in many way though, one being that in the first gulf war was about oil and this one, (the second) was about the U.S. believing that Iraq had weapons of mass distruction and this war continues today. -
Hussien's Regime Crashed
The statue of Hussien toppled along with his regime as the U.S gained control of Iraq's capitol after many days of fighting. -
"Mission Accomplished"
President George W. Bush announces that the mission in Iraq has been accomplished explaining that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" but he didn't say that we won the war. Battles continued, and sitll continue today. Earlier in the week that he said this 7 U.S. Soldiers died by a grenade attack in Iraq -
Suddam Hussien Captured and Executed
After months of hiding Suddam was found by the U.S. in Tikrit. Iraqi civilians celebrated that he was captured and the U.S let Iraqi people execute Suddam by hanging him. -
Hamid Karzai becomes the President of Afghanistan
He beat 22 other candidates and became the first democratically elected official in Afghanistan. -
Jalal Talabani becomes president of Iraq
He won the first free-democratic elections held in Iraq. Suddam Hussein was the leader before him. He has worked to end violence in his own country and improve relations with Turkey. -
Bush announces plan for more troops in Iraq
Bush announces that he will be sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq. They will be training Iraqis how to govern themselves and how to keep their people safe. They will also be providing more security around dangerous areas of iraq such as Baghdad -
Obama raises troop numbers in Afghanistan
Obama sends more troops to Afghanistan. He sent a total of 30,000 more troops bringing the total to 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. Obama says that he will begin withdrawling troops in 2011. -
U.S. Troops begin to train Afghan troops
Obama decides a new technique for the war in Afghanistan-to train the afghan army and police. This means an extra 4,000 U.S. troops will train them. -
End of Combat Mission in Iraq
Obama kept his promise from his presidential campaign that he was going to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home. He stated that the U.S would still continue support to Iraq in the future to help them build up their anti-terrorism groups. 53% of American people think the Iraq war was a mistake and at the end of the war 66% of american people opposed the war. Many Americans are still unimformed about the war in Iraq. -
Osama Bin Laden is killed
Bin Laden was found by U.S. Navy SEALS in the mountains of Pakistan. This was seen as a turning point in America's fight to stop Al-Qaeda. Obama later stated ‘I said that I'd go after bin Laden if we had a clear shot at him, and I did,’ This pleased many Americans and made them feel safer and more strongly in favor of Obama. -
Obama's Stance on War in Afghanistan
He is looking to end the war in Afghanistan by 2014. He has also brought over 30,000 troops home from Afghanistan since he took office and is looking to bring home about 23.000 more. If the war does end in 2014 that doesn't mean all the troops will come home, the Pentagon wants to keep 6,000 to 20,000 troops there to train Afghan forces. Only 30% of Americans support the Afghanistan war which is lower than the lowest for the Iraq War. I think many Americans are just "sick" of war.
