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Iraq Occupation Timeline

Third Quarter 2004 Timeline: July - September 2004

In this quarter, the character of the occupation forces continue to change. Norway withdraws all but ten advisors; the Philippines withdraws completely, and Thailand and New Zealand refuse to extend their commitments. U.S. officials acknowledge that the resistance is far greater than previously estimated and involves many more complex and diverse elements than simply "disgruntled Ba'athists." More than 22,000 Iraqis have cycled through U.S.-run prisons, and press reports in this quarter estimate that as many as 4,000 Iraqis were killed in April 2004 alone. A brutal and deadly confrontation in Najaf badly damages the city, perhaps killing thousands, and ends only when the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani intervenes.

Massive protests surround the Republican National Convention in New York City in August 2004, and the Iraqi National Conference select a 100-seat national assembly to prepare for January 30 elections. The United States, Britain, and Australia all release reports that clear high-level officials from exaggerating the threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The month of September sees more car bomb attacks than any other since the invasion and occupation.

July 6
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi signs into law sweeping powers that allow him to declare a state of emergency. The martial law allows him to impose curfews anywhere in the country, ban groups he considers seditious, and order detentions of people suspected as security risks.

July 9
The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee releases the bipartisan Report on Pre-War Intelligence on Iraq, blaming the CIA for intelligence failures regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. There are two notable omissions: (1) examination of the misuse of intelligence by top U.S. officials and, (2) political pressure that was exerted on the intelligence community.

July 21
The number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq hits 900. Six foreign truck drivers are taken hostage and threatened with death if their companies don't end their business in Iraq, and their countries ­- India, Egypt, and Kenya - pull all their citizens out. None of the countries is part of the U.S.-led occupation force. Five Iraqis are killed after U.S. forces bomb a house in Ramadi. A car bomb in Baghdad kills four.

July 22
The 300-page report by U.S. Army Inspector General Lt. Gen. Paul Mikolashek confirms 39 deaths of Iraqis in detention. Twenty are ruled homicides or remain under investigation. The report was ordered Feb. 10, following evidence of torture at Abu Ghraib prison.

July 22
Hearings in the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee confirm that the U.S. military acknowledges 94 additional prison abuse cases in Iraq and Afghanistan, higher than any figures admitted by the Department of Defense.

July 28
A car bomb in Baquba kills 70 Iraqis in one of the deadliest single insurgent attacks since the U.S. invasion.

July 28
Eyes Wide Open, an AFSC exhibit of combat boots representing U.S. military deaths in Iraq, goes on display during the Democratic National Convention in Boston, following a week at the Boston Social Forum.

July 29
One day after a massive car bomb in Baquba, Iraqi organizers postpone for two weeks an upcoming national conference to select a 100-seat council for the interim Iraqi government.

August 1
Coordinated car bomb attacks target five separate churches in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul.

August 2
A brigade of 3,600 U.S. troops departs from South Korea for Iraq.

August 7
The interim Iraqi government announces closure of the Baghdad bureau of Al-Jazeera news agency for one month.

August 7
U.S. Marines and Iraqi government forces backed by helicopter gunships and fixed-wing strike aircraft battle militia fighters loyal to the rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf, reportedly killing 300 insurgents during two days.

August 15
The three-day Iraqi National Conference to select members of an interim National Assembly begins in Baghdad.

August 18
U.S. military sources report that more than fifty Iraqis were killed in attacks on Sadr City. The Iraqi National Conference selects a 100-seat national assembly that will act as a parliament, overseeing the interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi until elections can be held in January 2005.

August 24
The Pentagon-sponsored Schlesinger report's investigation into the Abu Ghraib scandal calls the prisoner abuse acts of "brutality and purposeless sadism," rejects the idea that the abuse was simply the work of a few aberrant soldiers, and asserts that there were "fundamental failures throughout all levels of command, from the soldiers on the ground to Central Command and to the Pentagon."

August 27
A bloody, three-week battle in Najaf between U.S. forces and the militia of cleric al-Sadr ends when Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani negotiates the withdrawal of Sadr's forces from the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf. Under terms of the agreement, Najaf and Kufa would become "demilitarized zones," which would be off-limits to militias and foreign military forces.

August 29
In New York City on the eve of the Republican National Convention, 500,000 people participate in a massive antiwar march, the largest protest ever held at a political convention. AFSC's Eyes Wide Open exhibit is on display in New York City throughout the convention.

September 1
On an Islamic web site, Iraqi militants broadcast the execution of twelve Nepalese contractors.

September 7
The number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq reaches 1,000. Four humanitarian aid workers are kidnapped, including two Italian women and two Iraqi staff working for the Italian nongovernmental organization Bridges to Baghdad, long-time partner of the AFSC. American planes strike a stronghold near Falluja; a U.S. military statement claims as many as 100 were killed in the assaults.

September 9
More than 1,000 candlelight vigils across the country call for an end to the war and observe the one-thousandth U.S. casualty.

September 12
Mazen al-Tomeizi, a 26-year-old Palestinian employed by Dubai-based Al Arabiya television, is killed in Baghdad while filming clashes between Iraqi insurgents and U.S. forces. He is the thirty-third journalist killed in Iraq by U.S. t roops, Iraqi forces, and armed groups since March 2003.

September 12-14
Three days of horrific violence take the lives of nearly 150 people in car bombings, attacks from aircraft, and U.S. military raids.

September 15
U.S. senators denounce the slow progress of rebuilding Iraq: only 6 percent ($1 billion) of the reconstruction money approved by Congress last year has been spent. Sen. Richard Lugar, the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, laments, "The slow pace of reconstruction spending means that we are failing to fully take advantage of one of our most potent tools to influence the direction of Iraq."

September 15
UN Sec. Gen. Kofi Annan says the war against Iraq was illegal and violated the UN Charter. The U.S., UK, and Australia vigorously reject his conclusion.

September 17
Forty-four people are killed when U.S. warplanes attack buildings in Fallujah; 13 more are killed by a car bomb in Baghdad. Increased use of air power and tanks lead to devastation of city centers across the country.

September 30
A car bomb attack against a U.S. military celebration of completion of a sewage treatment plant kills 42, including 35 children who were invited for free candy. It illustrates the great danger in blurring the lines between humanitarian relief and reconstruction and the policies of a comprehensive military occupation.

September 30
The U.S. Congress approves shifting $3.5 billion earmarked for reconstruction to improve security and create jobs in Iraq. The money is part of an $18.4 billion aid package approved in November 2003.

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