AP News, September 13th, 2007
Key dates and events in the Iraq war:
2003:
March 17 _ President Bush gives Saddam Hussein 48-hour deadline to give up power. U.S.-led invasion of Iraq begins three days later.
May 1 _ On an aircraft carrier under a "Mission Accomplished" banner, President Bush declares "major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
Dec. 13 _ Saddam Hussein captured while hiding in hole in ground near Tikrit; hanged after trial.
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2004:
April _ Photographs surface of prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
June 28 _ The U.S. occupation authority turns formal power over to the interim Iraqi government.
Oct. 6 _ Top U.S. arms inspector in Iraq finds no evidence that Saddam's regime produced weapons of mass destruction after 1991, discounting a main justification of the war.
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2005
May 3 _ The first democratically elected Iraqi government sworn in.
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2006
Feb. 23 _ At least 136 Iraqis are killed in sectarian violence a day after an explosion destroys the dome of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra.
Nov. 7 _ In U.S. congressional elections widely viewed as a referendum on the war, Republicans lose control of both the House and Senate.
Nov. 8 _ Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigns; Bush nominates former CIA director Robert Gates as successor.
Dec. 31 _ American deaths in the Iraq war reaches 3,000.
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2007
Jan. 10 _ Bush commits more than 21,500 additional American troops to Iraq _ a military buildup that has grown to 30,000 with support troops.
July 12 _ White House report required by Congress says Iraq has made satisfactory progress on eight of 18 political and security benchmarks, unsatisfactory progress on eight and that it's too early to judge progress on two.
(This version CORRECTS date of two items from 2005 to 2006.)
