Operation Iraqi Freedom

Bush tells Saddam Hussein he has 48 hours to leave Iraq with his sons.

Mar 17, 2003

Bush tells Saddam Hussein he has 48 hours to leave Iraq with his sons.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

Period: Mar 17, 2003 to Jan 10, 2007

U.S. invasion of Iraq begins

Mar 19, 2003

"Shock and Awe" campaign

Mar 21, 2003

"Fall of Baghdad"

Apr 9, 2003

Saddam Hussein's statue gets toppled in the center of the city

Bush makes "Mission Accomplished" speech

May 1, 2003

This speech put an end to major military operations

Uday and Qusay (Saddam's sons) killed in a U.S. raid

Jul 22, 2003

Saddam Hussein is captured by U.S. troops in a "spider hole" near Tikrit, and he surrenders without a fight.

Dec 13, 2003

Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah kill 4 American civilian contractors(from Blackwater, USA). Their bodies were dragged through the streets and then hung over a bridge

Mar 31, 2004

About 1,000 people killed in a stampede at a Shiite ceremony in Baghdad

Aug 31, 2005

Iraq's constitution gets ratified

Oct 15, 2005

Hussein's trial begins, and he's accused of war crimes that are against humanity for the ordered killings of 143 Shiites in Dujail in 1982

Oct 19, 2005

Elections are held to elect a permanent government & INA(Iraqi National Assembly)

Dec 15, 2005

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq) killed in U.S. air strike

Jun 7, 2006

Donald Rumsfeld (Secretary of Defense) resigns

Nov 8, 2006

President Bush addresses the nation and says the situation in Iraq is unacceptable, and announces the "troop surge"

Jan 10, 2007

Saddam Hussein is hanged after being found guilty of crimes against humanity

Dec 30, 3006