Iraq Occupation Timeline
January - March 2004
In the first quarter of 2004, conditions in Iraq continue to destabilize and deteriorate, political leadership weakens in the United States and United Kingdom, and discontent with the United States and its policies intensifies around the world. The one-year anniversary of the war's beginning is marked by large international protests, and whistleblowers in Washington, D.C., and London offer new insights into the rush to war. Aggressive military operations increasingly define an occupation that is growing more and more violent.
January 6
Three U.S. soldiers are discharged after being found guilty of viciously beating Iraqi prisoners of war, some of whom were already injured. Coalition authorities confirm that as many as 12,800 prisoners are being held.
January 6
The Christian Science Monitor reports that a third of the members of Congress have visited Iraq since the war began. These visits, tightly controlled by the Department of Defense, have not resulted in deep questioning, better oversight of the war, or greater awareness about the impact of occupation on the people of Iraq. Delegates are not allowed to stay overnight in Iraq and never leave the Green Zone, a walled compound of former palaces that now house occupation authorities.
January 11
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill releases his book The Price of Loyalty, in which he claims he never saw evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) while serving on the president's national security team.
January 16
Tens of thousands of Shia Muslims march through the streets of Basra to reinforce the demands of their spiritual leader, Ayatollah Sistani, that early elections be held for an Iraqi national assembly.
January 20
In their greatest show of political strength since the war began, an estimated 100,000 Shia Muslims march through Baghdad demanding early elections and protesting the occupation. The Shia Muslims, some 60 percent of the population and formerly denied power by Saddam Hussein, fear they will be again denied political power if a new assembly is selected by caucuses.
January 21
AFSC staff in Chicago place more than 500 pairs of empty army boots in the city's Federal Plaza to honor U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. The protest is widely reported, with a picture appearing in Stars and Stripes magazine in Baghdad.
January 28
David Kay, former head of U.S. weapons inspection teams in Iraq, informs the Senate Armed Services Committee that no WMD have been found in Iraq. He says prewar intelligence was "almost all wrong" about Saddam Hussein's arsenal, and he calls for the president to come clean on the subject.
February 1
Coordinated suicide bombings of two Kurdish political offices in Irbil kill 109 people.
February 2
Under pressure from both political parties, President Bush calls for an independent commission to study the country's intelligence failures.
February 5
Four Des Moines, Iowa, peace activists are subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury as part of an investigation conducted by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. A court order forbids Drake University officials to discuss the FBI's demand for information about a November antiwar conference on campus. After public pressure and demonstrations, the subpoenas are dropped the day before the trial.
February 8
Iraq Body Count web site reports as many as 10,000 non-combatant Iraqi civilian deaths in 2003, as a result of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
February 10
A car bomb outside a police station south of Baghdad kills 50 people and wounds 50 others.
February 11
A suicide attacker blows up a car packed with explosives in a crowd of Iraqis outside a Baghdad army recruiting center, killing 46 people. It is the second bombing in two days targeting Iraqis working with the U.S.-led coalition.
February 14
The UN rules out a demand by Iraq 's Shi'ite Muslim majority for early elections and warns against serious dangers of civil war, stressing that the world body wants to be involved. Top UN diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi says a timetable for elections should be well-prepared to avoid "disputes, disagreements, and worse."
February 19
UN Sec. Gen. Kofi Annan announces the findings of the UN report on Iraqi elections, concluding that "elections cannot be held before the end of June, that the June 30 date for the handover of sovereignty must be respected, and that we need to find a mechanism to create the caretaker government and then prepare the elections sometime later in the future."
February 22
Operation Iraqi Freedom 2 prepares to move 240,000 soldiers in and out of Iraq, the largest such rotation of U.S. forces in history. Approximately 130,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq will be replaced by 110,000 new troops.
February 27
After pressure from women's groups, the Interim Governing Council removes Directive 137. The law, issued but not codified in late December, attempts to set women's rights under the jurisdiction of religious courts. Had it been implemented, it would have nullified the progressive civil personal status law of 1959.
March 1
AFSC's Eyewitness to Occupation speaking tour begins, featuring Baghdad staff members Rick McDowell and Mary Trotochaud, visiting 11 cities in 21 days. The goal is to raise issues and concerns of Iraqis living under occupation through public gatherings, radio and newspaper interviews, strategy sessions, meetings with senior Senate, House, and UN staff, and with the U.S. mission to the UN.
March 2
Coordinated blasts target Shi'ites on their holiest day in Baghdad and Kerbala and kill at least 180 people, the deadliest attack to date against civilians.
March 8
Iraq's Governing Council signs an interim constitution, codifying individual political, economic, and social rights, including freedoms of speech and association, assembly, religion, travel, the right to demonstrate and strike, access to courts, open trials, and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. It prohibits unlawful arrest, slavery, torture, and trying civilians before a military court. It will serve as the constitution for whatever entity to which the U.S. "transfers" power on June 30. However, the transfer will not end U.S. occupation, lead to the withdrawal of U.S. troops, or result in real sovereignty for Iraq. Within hours of the signing, the Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Sistani, issues a fatwa (decree) religious ruling criticizing the document.
March 14-15
The Dover to DC Memorial Procession: Trail of mourning and truth to honor those killed and wounded in Iraq, takes place. The procession visits Dover Air Force Base, where the remains of U.S. war dead are returned to the United States, and Walter Reed Army Hospital, where many wounded soldiers receive medical care and rehabilitation. It proceeds to the White House, where marchers attempt to deliver the names of the dead from all sides of the conflict but are stopped by Secret Service agents from entering the grounds. The event receives extensive coverage by national and international press for its message and unusual coalition of military families, peace activists, veterans, and families of 9/11 victims.
March 15
New Spanish Prime Minister and Socialist Party leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announces that if the UN does not take over control of Iraq, Spanish troops will be recalled from Iraq on June 30, the date the Coalition Provisional Authority is scheduled to turn over power to an interim Iraqi government.
March 16
Pew Research Center finds that after a year of war in Iraq, discontent with the United States and its policies has intensified rather than diminished in European and Muslim nations, and the war in Iraq has undermined U.S. credibility abroad. Doubts abound about motives behind the U.S.-led war on terrorism, and a growing percentage of Europeans want their countries' foreign policy and security arrangements to be independent of the United States.
March 20
Former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix releases his book, Disarming Iraq : The Search for Weapons of Mass Destruction. Unlike his former colleague, David Kay, he does not place primary blame for the rush to war on the world's intelligence services. He places the responsibility squarely on the leaders of the United States and the United Kingdom, and says Tony Blair's "intention was to dramatize [the WMD], just as vendors of some merchandise are trying to increase or exaggerate the importance of what they have."
March 20
Global Day of Action against War and Occupation.
On the one-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, demonstrations are organized in more than 700 cities around the world. The demonstration in Rome alone draws 2 million people.
March 23
Of an estimated 6,000 security detainees, 272 are released from Abu Gharib prison. Some claim, "I just came out of hell," and, "I never knew what I was accused of." Their release illustrates the bitterness felt by many Iraqis who have no means of learning the whereabouts of their loved ones. The release comes two days after six U.S. soldiers face charges of abusing prisoners.
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