978-1-4222-3442-6

CHRONOLOGY

1953: 1958:

King Faisal II crowned.

Revolution takes place on July 13, and Abd al-Karim Qasim becomes the new ruler of Iraq. Qasim is killed after a coup by the Baath Party, but when Abd al-Salam Arif becomes president, he puts the Baathists out of power. Arif dies in helicopter crash; brother Abd al-Rahman Arif becomes president. Iraqi troops are sent to Jordan during the June 1967 war with Israel. After a military coup orchestrated by the Baath Party, Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr becomes president and exiles Abd al-Rahman Arif. Saddam Hussein becomes vice-chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council. The Iranian Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is expelled from Iraq. In July, Saddam Hussein becomes president of Iraq after a purge of the Revolutionary Command Council. In September, Iraq attacks Iran, beginning an eight-year-long war. The United Nations brokers a cease-fire to end the Iran-Iraq War. Iraq invades Kuwait, announcing that it has annexed the tiny kingdom; the international community pressures Iraq to withdraw and places sanctions on the country. An international coalition forces Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait in the brief Gulf War; the United Nations Security Council passes resolutions demanding that Iraq disarm and eliminate its programs to develop chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. After a year of crises over the weapons inspectors, the United States launches a cruise missile attack against Iraq. George W. Bush declares Iraq part of an “axis of evil,” along with Iran and North Korea; U.N. weapons inspectors return to Iraq. The U.N. pulls inspectors out of Iraq at the suggestion of the United States; the United States and Great Britain invade Iraq in March, toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein; on July 22 Saddam’s sons Qusay and Uday are killed by sol- diers of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division; Saddam Hussein is captured on December 13 by soldiers from the Fourth Infantry Division.

1963:

1966:

1967: 1968:

1969:

1978: 1979:

1980: 1988: 1990:

1991:

1998:

2002:

2003:

117