Iraq Occupation Timeline
April-June 2005
A dramatic increase in bomb attacks against Iraqi civilians and security forces by insurgents starts in April. In this three-month period, 2,105 Iraqis are killed - 1,351 civilians and 754 Iraqi security forces - and 210 U.S. soldiers. Ten journalists and five media assistants were killed from Al-Hurriya, Kirkuk TV, Al-Sabah, Associated Press, Al-Mada, Nineveh TV, Baghdad TV, Al-Sharqiyah, Al-Iraquiya TV, Al-Jazira, and Knight Ridder. None were from the group of western correspondents who cautiously travel within secure areas.
After almost three months of political deadlock following the January 2005 elections, an Iraqi government is announced. The cost of the war and occupation continues to be paid by supplemental bills, with the U.S. House and Senate committing another $82 billion dollars this quarter. This brings the total cost to more than $250 billion, and the U.S. government is spending $5.6 billion a month to sustain the war.
The United States renews its sieges against cities to destroy the insurgents. The coordinated operations Matador, Spear, and Dagger target cities along the Syrian border. Based on the model of Fallujah, curfews and threats empty the cities before planes, artillery, helicopter gunships, and tanks enter. Many civilian lives are lost in the battles, while survivors huddle in tent cities or alongside destroyed homes. U.S. forces continue to cast a wide net, arresting and detaining all young men in the village and then asking informants to point out the fighters, and so prison populations swell.
April 9
Two years after the fall of Baghdad, tens of thousands of Shiite protesters, largely followers of the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, fill the city and hold the largest anti-American protest since the invasion. Protests throughout the country demand, "It's time for U.S. troops to leave."
April 20
Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi escapes a suicide bomb assassination attempt hours after dozens of people are killed in two massacres.
April 21
The U.S. Senate approves, by 99-0, a war spending package for Iraq and Afghanistan totaling $81 billion.
April 27
Lame'a Abed Khadawi, a member of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's political party, is assassinated outside her house in Baghdad. She was one of some 90 women elected to the assembly on January 30.
April 27
The U.S. Army exonerates four top officers, including Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, of wrongdoing at Abu Ghraib prison. The report recommends punishment for Res. Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of Iraq prisons during the prisoner-abuse scandal
April 28
The new Iraqi government is approved by Parliament by 180 of the 185 members in attendance. Approximately one-third of parliamentarians did not show up for the vote, due to a mixture of fear and protest.
April 29
At least 11 car bombs explode in and around Baghdad, with four car bombs going off in rapid succession in the Azamiyah section. The first bomb hits an Iraqi army patrol, the second a police patrol, and the third and fourth explode at barricades near police headquarters, killing at least 20 Iraqis.
May 1-5
New levels of violence in Iraq since the announcement of a new government last week take the lives of approximately 250 Iraqis. Although everyone feels threatened, security forces are the primary targets, along with Kurds and Shiites, who compose the majority of the government.
May 5
Pres. George W. Bush extends the economic sanctions on Syria imposed last year, saying the country remains a threat to the United States.
May 8
U.S. forces begin Operation Matador. More than 100 people are killed in the first 48 hours, many of them trapped under rubble as fighter jets and helicopter gunships pound the remote desert region
May 13
Two days after Congress passes a supplemental war appropriation for $82 billion, the Senate Armed Services Committee recommends an additional $50 billion be set aside to fund U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the U.S.-declared global war on terrorism.
May 17
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi becomes the highest-ranking official from Iran to visit Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime two years ago. Kharrazi pledges Iran's cooperatation on security and promises not to provide support to the insurgency.
May 24
Imam Moqtada al-Sadr, whose militia staged two uprisings against U.S. forces, calls for unity among the Shi'a community in the face of growing sectarian violence.
May 25
The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approves a $491 billion defense bill, including an additional $49.1 billion for the war in Iraq. Members of the House reject by 128-300 the Woolsey Resolution, which calls for a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.
May 26
The government of Iraq announces plans to deploy 40,000 police and soldiers to ring Baghdad with hundreds of checkpoints "like a bracelet." Called "Operation Lightening," it is the largest show of Iraqi force since the fall of the Bathi government. Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari says all of Baghdad 's 23 entry points will be controlled, and 675 checkpoints, plus mobile checkpoints, will be used to deter assailants around the city and in areas of frequent attacks.
May 30
The chief of police in Basra admits he has lost control of three-quarters of his officers, and sectarian militias infiltrate the force and use their posts to assassinate opponents.
June 7
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute releases its 2005 Yearbook on Armaments, Disarmament, and International Security. World military spending rose by five percent to $1.04 trillion, fueled by the U.S.-declared global war on terrorism and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States alone accounts for 47 percent of all spending.
June 13
French journalist Florence Aubenas and her interpreter Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi are released after being held hostage for five months. They call for new safety measures to protect all journalists working in Iraq.
June 16
U.S. military forces launch Operation Spear, a major new combat operation in Qaim, near the Syrian border. It will use tanks, amphibious assualt units, Iraqi troops, and air-power deploying 500-pound bombs. Iraqi leaders cite indiscriminate force used in Operation Matador as the reason they will not approach U.S. forces for help in the future.
June 16
The first bipartisan resolution is introduced that calls for President Bush to begin planning for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. The legislation - sponsored by Republican Representatives Walter Jones (NC) and Ron Paul (TX), and Democrats Neil Abercrombie (HI), Dennis Kucinich (OH), Barbara Lee (CA), Martin Meehan (MA), and Lynn Woolsey (CA) - calls on the president to announce before the end of 2005 a timetable for withdrawal. British Defense Minister Ingram states that the U.S. First Marine Expeditionary Force used MK77 firebombs between March 21 and April 2, 2003. The United States claims it avoided targeting civilians, thus staying within the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which permits usage only against military targets. However, the MK77 bombs, which evolved from the napalm used in Vietnam and Korea, carry kerosene-based jet fuel and polystyrene, so the gel sticks to structures and people. The bombs lack stabilizing fins and are far from precise.
June 16
Maxine Waters announces formation of an "Out-of-Iraq Congressional Caucus" with 41 members.
June 19
From across the political spectrum, 82 Iraqi lawmakers press for withdrawal of U.S.-led occupation troops from Iraq. Shiite, Kurdish, Sunni Arab, Christian, and communist legislators all sign this letter, sent by Falah Hassan Shanshal of the United Iraqi Alliance, the largest bloc in Parliament, to Speaker Hajem Al-Hassani.
June 28
A senior Iraqi Shia legislator, Dhari Ali al-Fayadh, 87, and his son are among those killed in a suicide car bombing near Baghdad. He was acting Speaker of the new Parliament. It is the second assassination of a member of Parliament since the new body was installed three months ago.
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