Some key events for Iraq since US-led invasion overthrew Saddam Hussein:
- April 9, 2003: US troops swarm into heart of Baghdad and jubilant crowds topple 40-foot statue of Saddam in Firdous Square.
- On May 22, 2003, the UN Security Council approves by a 14-0 vote a project of US resolution lifting the 13-year old sanctions against Iraq. Syria did not participate in the vote.
- On June 16, Sir Jeremy Greenstock becomes the unofficial British ambassador to Iraq.
- On June 24, 2003, six British military police officers were killed in the town of Majar al-Kabir. For an unknown reason local people confronted them and they were shot.
- On June 25, the British foreign affairs select committee is taking its first evidence on the Iraq conflict.
- On July 13, an American chosen 25-member Iraqi Governing Council whose members represent the various political and religious groups is taking office.
- On July 22, both Saddam Hussein's sons, Qusay and Uday, as well as his 14-year old grandson, Mustafa, are killed by US troops in Baghdad.
- On August 19, a lorry bomb destroy the UN headquarters in Baghdad, 22 people are killed including the top UN envoy in Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello.
- On August 29, a car bomb kills at least 83 Iraqis including the Shia Muslim leader, Ayatollah Mohammed Baquer al-Hakim, at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf.
- On September 9, the Iraqi Governing Council moves towards legitimacy by occupying the Iraqi seat at the Arab League ministerial meeting in Cairo.
- On September 21, Iraq allows foreign investors in all sectors of the economy except oil.
- On September 25, Mrs Akila al-Hashemi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, is shot dead.
- On October 12, Iraq's Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum survives an assassination attempt.
- On October 26, guerrillas fire rocket at the Baghdad's Rashid Hotel where US Deputy Defence Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, is staying. He is not hurt but an American soldier was killed and 17 people wounded.
- October 27, 2003, Baghdad had its bloodiest day since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Four suicide bomb attacks in 45 minutes killed 35 Iraqis and injured about 224 others.
- On November 2, a US transport helicopter is shot down near Baghdad airport killing the 16 people on board.
- On November 2, a car bomb kills 27 people including 18 Italian soldiers and 9 Iraqis in Nasiriya.
- On November 15, two US Black hawk helicopters collide and crash in Mosul killing 17 US soldiers.
- On November 18, Bush arrives in Britain for a four-day visit. He is not welcomed by the population and did not dare to appear in public.
- On November 27, President Bush goes to Iraq to celebrate Thanksgiving with the American soldiers. He stayed 3 hours and did not see anything!
- On December 13, Saddam Hussein is found hiding in a spider hole near his hometown, Tikrit.
- On December 14, a car bomb destroys an Iraqi police station in Khalidiyah killing 17 people and wounding 33.
- On December 15, suicide car bombers hit two Baghdad police station killing 9 people.
- On January 4, 2004, Blair visits the British troops in Basra. He did not see much either.
- On January 15, the old banknotes with Saddam Hussein's face on them stopped being legal tender.
- On February 1, at least 101 people are killed and 240 wounded by two suicide car bombers at Arbil's office of the two main Kurdish political parties.
- On February 10, 53 people are killed and at least 75 wounded by a suicide car bomber hit a police station in Iskandariya.
- On February 11, a suicide car bomber is hitting Baghdad killing 47 people and wounding 52.
- On February 19, the UN General secretary Kofi Annan announces that elections cannot take place in Iraq before June 30 the date the American will handing power to the Iraqis. Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani insists that elections should take place before.
- On March 1, we are told that the families of the 6 British military policemen killed in Iraq intend to sue the British Ministry of Defence.
- On March 2, about 200 Iraqis were killed in bomb attacks in Kerbala and Baghdad on the day the Shia Muslims celebrate their feast of Ashura.
- On March 6, some Shia representatives raise objections to the Interim Constitution written by the Iraqi Governing Council because it gives, in their opinion, too much power to the Kurds.
- On March 8, 2004, the Iraqi Governing Council signs the interim constitution.
- On May 19, 2004, the Americans heard Iraqi villagers firing their guns in the air at a wedding party. The soldiers asked for air support and the bombs killed 45 people including 14 children and 11 women.
- May 28, 2004: Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, long-time anti-Saddam exile and CIA ally, as prime minister of interim government.
- June 28, 2004: Occupation authority turns formal power over to Allawi's interim government.
- July 1, 2004: Saddam arraigned before judge, rejects charges of war crimes and genocide.
- On August 1, 2004, Christian churches were bombed for the first time in Iraq. Four churches were hit, 11 people were killed and more than 50 injured more than 50.
- On September 18, 2004, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been named as the link between Iraq and al. The US is offering a 25 million reward for his capture.
- October 6, 2004: Top US arms inspector finds no evidence Saddam's regime produced weapons of mass destruction after 1991.
- On Saturday October 16, 2004, explosions hit five churches in the capital.
- On October 21, 2004, Britain agreed to a US request to redeploy an "armoured battle group" from the Black Watch regiment into a US-controlled section of Central Iraq.
- Hundreds of British soldiers will be redeployed in central Iraq in response to a US request, the defence secretary has confirmed.
- On November 23, 2004, US, British and Iraqi troops launched a new offensive to "clean" a Sunni region known as the "Triangle of Death" south of Baghdad.
- A rocket hit a military mess tent in a US base near Mosul on December 21, 2004. Fifteen US soldiers, five US contractors and two Iraqi soldiers were killed; at least 66 persons were wounded including 42 US soldiers.
- December 27, 2004: Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, in audiotape, calls on Iraqis to boycott Jan. 30 elections and names as his Iraq deputy Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, whose group blamed for some of worst terror attacks in Iraq.
- On January 26, 2005, a US helicopter crashed near the town of Rutbah killing 30 Marines and one Navy sailor.
- January 30, 2005: Iraqis elect 275-seat National Assembly; Shiite Muslim-dominated party wins 48 percent of votes, Kurdish alliance 26 percent.
- A British Hercules transport plane crashed north of Baghdad on January 30, 2005. All aboard, nine RAF personnel and one British soldier were killed.
- Eight suicide bombers struck in quick succession Saturday February 19, 2005, in a wave of attacks that killed 55 people as Iraqi Shiites marched recorded the 7th century death of a leader of their Muslim sect.
- On February 28, 2005, between 114 and 125 people have been killed by a massive car bomb and at least 130 others were wounded in Hilla.
- March 29, 2005: National Assembly convenes.
- April 6, 2005: Lawmakers elect Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as president, with Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite, and interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab, as vice presidents.
- April 7, 2005: President's council selects Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari as prime minister.
- April 28, 2005: New Iraqi government approved by Parliament.
- On June 9, 2005, we were told that the American military authorities have been talking to representatives of the Sunnite guerrillas for a few months.
- July 17, 2005: First criminal case filed against Saddam, stemming from 1982 massacre of dozens of Shiite villagers.
- About 1,000 US Marines and Iraqi forces launched operation Quick Strike in western Iraq on Friday August 5, 2005. There were so many military actions during the postwar that to report all of them would require to many pages. Only the main ones will be mentioned here, some more details can be found in Annex 9, 10 and 11.
- August 28, 2005: Constitutional committee signs draft charter, after long negotiations and over objections of many Sunni Arab leaders.
- October 15, 2005: Referendum on proposed constitution.
- October 19, 2005: Scheduled start of Saddam's trial in Dujail case.