117 / 128
1953:
King Faisal II crowned.
1958:
Revolution takes place on July 13, and Abd al-Karim Qasim becomes the new
ruler of Iraq.
1963:
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.
1966:
Arif dies in helicopter crash; brother Abd al-Rahman Arif becomes
president.
1967:
Iraqi troops are sent to Jordan during the June 1967 war with Israel.
1968:
After a military coup orchestrated by the Baath Party, Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr
becomes president and exiles Abd al-Rahman Arif.
1969:
Saddam Hussein becomes vice-chairman of the Revolutionary Command
Council.
1978:
The Iranian Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is expelled from Iraq.
1979:
In July, Saddam Hussein becomes president of Iraq after a purge of the
Revolutionary Command Council.
1980:
In September, Iraq attacks Iran, beginning an eight-year-long war.
1988:
The United Nations brokers a cease-fire to end the Iran-Iraq War.
1990:
Iraq invades Kuwait, announcing that it has annexed the tiny kingdom; the
international community pressures Iraq to withdraw and places sanctions on
the country.
1991:
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.
1998:
After a year of crises over the weapons inspectors, the United States launches
a cruise missile attack against Iraq.
2002:
George W. Bush declares Iraq part of an “axis of evil,” along with Iran and
North Korea; U.N. weapons inspectors return to Iraq.
2003:
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.
CHRONOLOGY
117