User:Mavisreardon/sandbox

Background

2001

• September 11: 19 militants of the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four planes in the United States and carried out suicide attacks. Two of the hijacked planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
• November 21: US president, George Bush, says to the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld "Let’s get started on this."

2002

• April 6: British Prime Minister Tony Blair visits former President Bush where the discuss getting rid of Saddam Hussein.
• September 12: In a speech to the United Nations, then President Bush says world leaders must get tough with Iraq or stand aside as the United States acts.
• September 16:The Iraqi government announces weapons inspectors are welcome to return unconditionally after nearly four years.
• September 24: Britain publishes a report claiming Iraq could produce a nuclear weapon within one or two years, if it obtains fissile material and other necessary materials.
• November 8: The UN security council unanimously approves US-drafted resolution aimed at getting Saddam Hussein to disarm his country. The resolution says Saddam will face "serious consequences" if he does not comply with weapons inspectors.
• November 13: Iraq accepts the UN resolution, while denying that it has any banned weapons programs.
• November 18: First UN weapons inspectors arrive in Baghdad.
• December 7: Iraq hands a 12,000-page declaration of its arms programs to UN inspectors.
• December 18: The British government say the first assessment of Iraq's weapons declaration shows it is not the "full and complete declaration" requested by the security council.
• December 19: The chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, says gaps remain in Iraq's declaration, but they continue to cooperate with UN inspectors. Then US ambassador John Negroponte says the omissions mean Iraq is in "material breach" of the resolution and has "spurned its last opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations".

2003

• January 9: Blix announces that his team has been unable to locate a “smoking gun” in Iraq but adds that Baghdad has failed to sufficiently answer questions in regards to their weapons program.
• President Bush, in a discussion and photo opportunity with Polish President Kwasniewski, remarks “Time is running out on Saddam Hussein. He must disarm. I'm sick and tired of games and deception”
• January 16: 12 empty chemical warheads found by UN inspectors in Iraq.
• January 20: Iraq promises to help inspectors search from any remaining banned weapons.
• January 27:  Dr. Blix and weapons inspector Mohamed ElBaradei, report to the UN that,  "Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance, not even today, of the disarmament which was demanded of it,"
• January 28: Britain declared Iraq to be in “material breach” of UN disarmament agreement.
• January 31: President Bush and Prime Minister Blair meet at the White House to discuss a new UN resolution to authorize military force against Iraq.
• February 5: Colin Powell, addresses the UN to present evidence of Iraq’s ongoing weapons program, saying that “the facts and Iraq's behavior show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction.”
• February 14: In his address to the Security Council, Blix admits that his team had not found any weapons of mass destruction as of yet. French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin reminds the Council that there is no justification for war yet, and that the weapons inspections are still producing results.
• February 23: Blair makes an address to the Commons, denying that the US and Britain are rushing towards a war. “We are now 12 years after Saddam was first told by the UN to disarm; nearly six months after President Bush made his speech to the UN accepting the UN route to disarmament; nearly four months on from Resolution 1441; and even now today we are offering Saddam the prospect of voluntary disarmament through the UN.”
• February 24:
  • Washington, London, and Madrid introduce a draft resolution declaring that Iraq wasted its final opportunity to disarm
  • A French counter proposal, backed by Germany and Russia, calls for more UN weapons inspections
• February 27: Security Council opens to discussion of US-British-Spanish draft resolution that lays the groundwork for war in Iraq.
• March 1: Iraq disposed of four al-Samoud 2 missiles in time for UN deadline, as agreed to the previous day.
• March 5: Foreign ministers of France, Russia, and German release a joint declaration that they will not allow any resolution that authorizes military action.
• March 7:
  • Blix reports to the Security Council that the process of disarmament has been steady, but Baghdad has not been transparent in questions regarding their chemical and biological weapons programs.
  • The US, Britain, and Spain present a revised version of the February 27 resolution that states Saddam had until March 17 to disarm, or face a movement towards war.
• March 14: French President, Jacques Chirac, confirms to Blair (in a phone call) that France is willing to compromise on some draft resolution on disarming Saddam, but will not accept any resolution that sets an ultimatum for war.
• March 17:
  • The joint resolution between the US, Britain and Spain is abandoned
  • President Bush gives Saddam and his sons 48 hours to leave the country. “Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing. For their own safety, all foreign nationals -- including journalists and inspectors -- should leave Iraq immediately.”
• March 19: Invasion of Iraq, the first stage of the Iraq War, began.