Iraq Occupation Timeline
Second Quarter 2004 Timeline: The Bloodiest Yet - April - June 2004
April 4
U.S. troops begin Operation Valiant Resolve, an assault on Fallujah in response to the March 31 killing of four U.S. civilian security contractors. Hundreds of U.S. and Iraqi troops in tanks, trucks, and other vehicles surround the turbulent city. It is one of the largest military offensives since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government a year ago.
April 5
L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq declares Muqtada al-Sadr - a Shi'ite cleric - an "outlaw" after his supporters riot in Baghdad and four other cities. The riots are caused by anger at the arrest of al-Sadr's senior aide on charges of murdering a rival cleric and the closure of his weekly newspaper on March 28.
April 6
Coalition forces fight on two fronts, battling a Shi'ite-inspired uprising in southern Iraq and Sunni insurgents in the city of Fallujah. Weekend clashes kill 20 U.S. troops and at least 100 Iraqis.
April 11
The U.S. orders a cease-fire in Fallujah to give political discussions a chance to break the cycle of violence. Two members of the Iraqi Governing Council resign in protest of the American offensive in Fallujah.
April 12
U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt states about 70 coalition troops and 700 Iraqi insurgents have been killed in fighting across Iraq since April 1. There is no authoritative figure on Iraqi civilian deaths.
April 13
Coalition civilian spokesman Dan Senor confirms that 40 hostages from 12 countries are being held in Iraq. Russia, France, and Germany urge their nationals to leave.
April 15
The Bush administration agrees to a United Nations proposal to replace the Iraqi Governing Council with a caretaker government when the U.S. returns sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30.
April 19
A New York Times expose documents the role of for-profit militias working with U.S. forces in Iraq. Estimated at 20,000, these private mercenaries outnumber the top six countries contributing troops combined. They introduce yet another wall of separation from the accountability of nation-states under international law.
April 19
Correspondent Asaad Kadhim and driver Hussein Saleh of the U.S.-funded television station Al-Iraqiya are shot dead by U.S. troops. The number of media workers killed in Iraq rises to 28, including 24 journalists. U.S. forces are responsible for seven deaths of employees from BBC, Reuters, Arab TV stations al-Arabiya and al- Jazeera, and Spanish station Telecinco. U.S. forces have been implicated in the shooting deaths of employees from ITN and an Iraqi cameraman with the U.S. network ABC. Nineteen of the deaths have occurred since George Bush formally declared the end of hostilities on May 1, 2003.
April 21
In Basrah, five suicide attackers detonate simultaneous car bombs against police buildings during rush hour, killing 68 people, including children, in the bloodiest attacks to hit this southern, mainly Shi'ite, city since the U.S.-led occupation began a year ago.
April 22
A military contractor fires Tami Silicio, a Kuwait-based cargo worker after her photographs of flag-draped coffins of fallen U.S. soldiers is published in a Sunday edition of The Seattle Times.
April 22
In a shift of policy, U.S. announces that some Iraqi Ba'ath Party officials who had been forced out of their jobs after the fall of Saddam Hussein will be allowed to resume their positions. About 400,000 people lost their jobs, including teachers and members of the military, depleting Iraq of skilled and experienced workers to rebuild the country.
April 27
Fighting in the Holy City of Najaf kills 64 Iraqi insurgents.
April 28
CBS program, Sixty Minutes II, breaks the story of torture of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison after a two-week delay at the request of General Richard Meyers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The images spark outrage around the world, especially in the Middle East. Abu Ghraib was known as a notorious prison and torture center during the rule of Saddam Hussein. The Pentagon has been investigating these and other allegations of abuse since January of 2004. Criminal charges are filed against seven U.S. soldiers.
May 6
John Negroponte is confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Ambassador to Iraq following the June handover of power. He is widely believed to have been complicit, while U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, in the Honduran government's atrocious human rights violations.
May 13
President Bush asks Congress for an additional $50 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for fiscal year 2005. This is in addition to $402 billion already allocated to the Department of Defense for the coming year.
May 17
A suicide bomber kills the head of Iraq's Governing Council, Izzedin Salim, and six other people.
May 19
The United States seeks exemption for its troops from international war crimes prosecutions while serving in U.N. forces in Iraq. Without prior notice to other members of the U.N. Security Council, the United States demands an immediate vote to renew Security Council Resolution 1487 - a contentious measure that grants immunity to personnel in U.N. authorized or approved operations in states that have not ratified the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty. Due to lack of support the bid is dropped on June 23.
May 20
U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police raid the home of Ahmad Chalabi, a Governing Council member who was once the Pentagon's pick to run post-war Iraq, and two office buildings used by his Iraqi National Congress (INC). Arrest warrants had been issued for 15 people - all allied to the INC - on charges of kidnapping, fraud, and "associated matters."
May 22
The number of deaths of detainees being investigated in Iraq and Afghanistan rises to 33. One of the new victims appears to have been a top general under Saddam Hussein. An initial report of his death said he had died of "natural causes." An autopsy shows he died of "asphyxia due to smothering and chest compression."
May 23
Iraqi national debt is estimated at $120 billion, nine times larger than the national income. Iraq is also being asked to pay another $125 billion in reparations to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia stemming from the first Gulf War.
May 24
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld bans the use of cameras by soldiers in Iraq.
May 26
The New York Times admits its coverage in the period before the Iraq war was "not as rigorous as it should have been."
May 27
After seven weeks of fighting in Najaf, U.S. forces and the militias loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr reach a truce. It is estimated that more than 350 Iraqis and 21 coalition troops were killed in the fighting.
May 29
The Coalition Provisional Authority issues Administrative Notice No. 05-A099, which states in part: "Multinational Forces military and civilian personnel and non-Iraqi contract personnel providing support to Multinational Forces are immune from local criminal, civil, and administrative jurisdiction and any form of arrest or detention...."
June 1
The Iraqi Governing Council - hand picked by U.S.-led coalition in July 2003 - dissolves itself after its head, Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, is selected as president for the new interim government.
June 8
The U.N. Security Council unanimously passes a resolution endorsing the appointment of an interim government in Iraq. It authorizes U.S. military forces to remain in Iraq until January 2006.
June 9
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute releases its 35th annual yearbook entitled "Armaments, Disarmament and International Security." It finds that worldwide military spending rose dramatically in 2003. The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq is a primary cause.
June 9
The Center for Constitutional Rights files a class action lawsuit against private contractors for torture and conspiracy in Iraq. It claims that the two U.S. corporations - Titan Corporation and CACI International - conspired with U.S. officials to humiliate, torture, and abuse persons detained by U.S. authorities. They are joined by the Philadelphia law firm of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker and Rhoads.
June 16
The 9/11 Commission (formally the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks) concludes in its report that there is "no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States." A link between al-Qaeda and Iraq was used as one of the justifications for the war. President Bush disputes the report's conclusion the next day, insisting there was "a relationship" between the two.
June 16
In a briefing paper, Iraq Revenue Watch reveals that the U.S.-controlled Program Review Board in charge of managing Iraq's finances approved nearly $2 billion dollars in Iraqi contracts for reconstruction projects just before the transfer of power. These are binding agreements that will cause resentment among Iraqi officials taking power and pre-empt their priorities.
June 17
Two car bombs in Baghdad kill 41 Iraqis and injure more than 130 people.
June 17
In a poll conducted by the Coalition Provisional Authority in May, 92% of Iraqis viewed the U.S. as "occupiers," 3% saw them as "peacekeepers," and only 2% Iraqis viewed the U.S. as "liberators."
June 17
The Baghdad headquarters of the Muslim charity, Life for Relief and Development, of Southfield, Michigan, is raided by U.S. troops, who carry away computers and documents. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the federal government has cracked down on 25 U.S.-based Muslim charities, freezing their assets.
June 22
The U.S. State Department retracts its erroneous report on the incidence of global terror. The report, released in April 2004, claimed that the number of terrorist attacks worldwide was the lowest it had been since 1969. The first report documented 190 attacks and 307 deaths, in sharp contrast to the revised report that identifies 208 attacks and 625 deaths.
June 23
Facing strong opposition, the United States announces it is dropping a resolution seeking a new exemption for American peacekeepers from international prosecution for war crimes (see May 19). Washington has signed bilateral agreements with 90 countries that bar any prosecution of American officials by the International Criminal Court.
June 24
Coordinated car bombs in Baquba, Falluja, Ramadi, Mosul, and Baghdad kill approximately 100 people during an offensive aimed at creating chaos ahead of the impending handover of power to a new Iraqi government. Police stations are seized. In Mosul four car bombs kill 62 people, including a U.S. soldier, and wound more than 220.
June 28
Christian Aid releases a report entitled "Fuelling Suspicion: the coalition and Iraq's oil billions." It finds that the U.S.-controlled coalition in Baghdad is handing over power to a new Iraqi government without properly accounting for some $20 billion of Iraq's own money.
June 28
The United States transfers power to Iraqis two days early. The ceremony is held in secret to thwart attacks by Iraqi insurgents, with only 30 people present. Former Ambassador Bremmer departs.
June 29
The General Accounting Office releases a 105-page report that offers a critical assessment of Iraq after 14 months of U.S. military occupation. In key areas - electricity, the judicial system, and overall security - the Iraq that America handed back is worse off than before the war began.
June 30
Iraq's interim government takes legal, but not physical, custody from the United States of Saddam Hussein and 11 of his top associates.
^ Top of page |
Email this page