The Road to the War By: Jerrell & Elfaz

Shah leaves Iran

Jan 16, 1979

Mohammad Reza Shah fled Iran. First Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan resigned.

Islamic Revolution

Jan 19, 1979

Began with Mohammad Reza Shah and Ayatollah Khomeini. Shah used secret police to control Iran and Khomeini told people of this with his music.

Saddam Hussein supported by U.S.

Sep 17, 1979

Support included billions of dollars worth of economic aid, sale of dual-use tech., non-U.S. origin weaponry, etc.

Hostages Are Taken in Iran

Nov 4, 1979

Iranian Islamic students stormed the U.S. embassy taking 66 people as hostages. New Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar and Supreme army counsils couldn't control the situation in the country any more.

Soviet Union invades Afghanistan

Dec 4, 1979

Invasion initially involved 30,000 troops. It ultimately grew to 100,000 troops. War left Afghanistan with severe political, economic, and ecological problems.

U.S. supports the Afghanistan in fight against the Soviet Union

Dec 25, 1979

War was between the Soviet Union and Islamic groups of Afghanistan who were against the Communist government set up by the Soviet Union. The Afghanistan rebels, called Mujaheddin, opposed the Soviet invasion. They were armed by the U.S. and they fough the Soviets until Soviets were forced to withdraw.

Iran-Iraq War Begins

Sep 22, 1980

Iraq invaded Iran claming their military was to weak to fight back. Other reasons for the war included land/territory and religion. Although both nations are Muslim, Iraq was Sunni and Iran was Shiite.

U.S. sells weapons to Iran for hostages

Aug 15, 1983

President Reagan's administration supplied weapons to Iran through Isreal and North Korea ( during Iran-Iraq war) in hopes of securing the release of American hostages held in Lebanon by Hezbollah terrorists who worked for Iran's leader, Aatollah Khomeini.

Money from arms sales to Iran used for Contra rebels

Jan 1, 1985

Reagan adminstration were discovered to have used funds raised by arms sales through Isreal to Iran in order to support the activities of the Contra rebels against the Sandinista establishment in Nicaragua.

Iran-Contra Scandal

Nov 25, 1986

The Iran Contra scandal breaks out in the U.S. when reports in Lebanese newspapers forced the Reagan administration to come out with the arms deals.

Iraq invades Kuwait

Aug 2, 1990

Saddam Hussein lauched an invasion for control of Kuwait's oil and wealth.

Operation Desert Shield

Aug 7, 1990

Armed forces of Iraq began the invasion of Kuwait. U.S. and other member nations responed by deploying military forces to Saudi Arabia. Goal was to stall Iraqi aggression.

Operation Desert Storm

Jan 17, 1991

When it bacame apparent that Saddam Hussien would not withdraw from Kuwait, Desert Shield became Desert Storm. Allies started massive air campaign against Iraq.

International observers monitor Iraq and its weapons programs

Dec 16, 1998

After Iraq's defeat, the U.S.-led U.N. alliance was able to persuade Iraq to agree to an inspection and monitoring system, intended to make sure that Iraq got rid of its WMD programs and did not take actions to bring them back.

U.S. has sanctions and fly-over monitorings of Iraq

Oct 2, 2000

U.S. insists on immediate enforcement of all U.N. security council

Al Qaeda and Taliban attack the U.S.

Sep 11, 2001

Osama Bin Laden, leader of the international Al Qaeda terrorist group, said that American support for Israel was reason for attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

Operation Iraqi-Freedom

Mar 20, 2003

U.S. makes effort to give Iraqis freedom from Saddam Husseins' dictatorship and from use of weapons of mass destruction or making them available to terrorists.

U.S. sends troops to Afghanistan

Feb 18, 2009

U.S. President Barack Obama ordered 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

International observers monitor Iraq and its weapons programs

Sep 18, 2009