Timeline of events: 20 years since U.S.-led invasion of Iraq
Timeline of events: 20 years since U.S.-led invasion of Iraq
FILE - Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad, in this April 9, 2003. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - Death row prisoners in the Abu Ghraib jail 35 kilometers (21 miles) northwest of Baghdad shout from their cells, Oct. 20, 2002, as hundreds of Iraqis stormed the jail following the announcement by Saddam Hussein that most prisoners were going to be freed. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - Smoke rises from the Trade Ministry in Baghdad on March 20, 2003, after it was hit by a missile during US-led attacks. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - A militiaman patrols the streets of Baghdad, Iraq during a sandstorm March 26, 2003. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - Iraqi women line up for a security check by British soldiers on the outskirts of Basra, as they try to flee from this southern Iraqi town on March 30, 2003. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)
FILE - Iraqi soldiers are seen running away on the banks of the Tigris river as U.S. tanks roll into Baghdad, outside Saddam Hussein’s presidential palace April 7, 2003. Coalition soldiers took over key buildings, as gunfire and explosions thundered in many parts of the battered Iraqi capital. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
FILE - An Iraqi prisoner of war comforts his 4-year-old son at a regroupment center for POWs of the 101st Airborne Division near An Najaf, March 31, 2003. The man was seized in An Najaf with his son, and the U.S. military did not want to separate father and son. (AP Photo/Jean-Marc Bouju, File)
FILE - U.S. Army Stf. Sgt. Chad Touchett, center, relaxes with comrades from A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, following a search in one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces damaged after a bombing, in Baghdad, in this April 7, 2003. (AP Photo/John Moore, File)
FILE - An Iraqi woman screams upon arriving with her wounded husband and son at al-Kindi hospital, April 8, 2003, in Baghdad. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - A portrait of Saddam Hussein still hangs on the burning Ministry of Transport and Communication building in Baghdad, April 9, 2003. Thousands went on a looting rampage as U.S. troops moved into the Iraqi capital. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - With the fire from a burning warehouse set ablaze by looters in the distance, an Iraqi woman and her child cross the Tigris river into West Baghdad after U.S. troops removed their checkpoint in Baghdad, April 11, 2003. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - FILE - Iraqis chant anti-American slogans as charred bodies hang from a bridge over the Euphrates River in Fallujah, west of Baghdad on March 31, 2004. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed, FIle)
FILE - U.S. Marines pray over a fallen comrade at a first aid point after he died from wounds suffered in fighting in Fallujah, Iraq, April 8, 2004. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer, File)
FILE - An Iraqi man celebrates atop of a burning U.S. Army Humvee in the northern part of Baghdad, Iraq, April 26, 2004. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen, File)
FILE - A U.S. Marine of the 1st Division carries a mascot for good luck in his backpack as his unit pushed further into the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, Nov. 14, 2004. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)
FILE - President George W. Bush speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast on May 1, 2003. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - Insurgents, using small arms and mortars, launch an attack on U.S. forces in Fallujah, Iraq, Nov. 8, 2004. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - FILE - Army Nurse supervisor Patrick McAndrew tries to save the life of Army Spc. Travis S. Babbitt, 24, of Uvalde, Texas, of the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Calvary Division, Ft. Hood, by giving him CPR upon arrival at a military hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 9, 2004. Spc. Babbitt died of his wounds. His patrol was attacked in Baghdad by a rocket-propelled grenade and smalls arms fire, the Pentagon said. (AP Photo/John Moore)
FILE - U.S. soldiers check an armored vehicle moments after it was damaged by a car bomb in Abu Ghraib, West of Baghdad, Iraq, April 3 2005. One soldier was lightly injured in the blast, and treated on the scene in the rear vehicle. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - Iraqi National Guard soldiers patrol the Haifa Street district in Baghdad, Iraq April 11, 2005.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - FILE - A woman takes her dead son into her arms, as she grieves for her six-year-old son, Dhiya Thamer, who was killed when their family car came under fire by unknown gunmen in Baqouba, capital of Iraq’s Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 16, 2007. The boy’s ten-year old brother, Qusay, was injured in the attack as the family returned from enrolling the children in school, where Dhiya was to begin his first year. (AP Photo/Adem Hadei, File)
FILE - Iraqi army soldiers bring in a blindfolded and handcuffed suspected al-Qaida member to detention centers in an Iraqi army base in Baghdad, Iraq, June 16, 2010. Iraqi security forces raided some villages in Arab Jabour, south of Baghdad, and detained 16 men suspected members of al-Qaida. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - A car bomb explodes next to Iraqi special forces armored vehicles as they advance toward Islamic State held territory in Mosul, Iraq, Nov. 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
FILE - A suspected Islamic State fighter sits in a basement as Iraqi forces continue their advance against Islamic State militants in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq, July 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
FILE - A bomb explodes behind the al-Nuri mosque complex, as seen through a hole in the wall of a house, as Iraqi Special Forces move toward Islamic State militant positions in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq, June 29, 2017. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
FILE - Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad, in this April 9, 2003. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - Death row prisoners in the Abu Ghraib jail 35 kilometers (21 miles) northwest of Baghdad shout from their cells, Oct. 20, 2002, as hundreds of Iraqis stormed the jail following the announcement by Saddam Hussein that most prisoners were going to be freed. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - Death row prisoners in the Abu Ghraib jail 35 kilometers (21 miles) northwest of Baghdad shout from their cells, Oct. 20, 2002, as hundreds of Iraqis stormed the jail following the announcement by Saddam Hussein that most prisoners were going to be freed. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - Smoke rises from the Trade Ministry in Baghdad on March 20, 2003, after it was hit by a missile during US-led attacks. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - A militiaman patrols the streets of Baghdad, Iraq during a sandstorm March 26, 2003. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - Iraqi women line up for a security check by British soldiers on the outskirts of Basra, as they try to flee from this southern Iraqi town on March 30, 2003. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)
FILE - Iraqi soldiers are seen running away on the banks of the Tigris river as U.S. tanks roll into Baghdad, outside Saddam Hussein’s presidential palace April 7, 2003. Coalition soldiers took over key buildings, as gunfire and explosions thundered in many parts of the battered Iraqi capital. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
FILE - Iraqi soldiers are seen running away on the banks of the Tigris river as U.S. tanks roll into Baghdad, outside Saddam Hussein’s presidential palace April 7, 2003. Coalition soldiers took over key buildings, as gunfire and explosions thundered in many parts of the battered Iraqi capital. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
FILE - An Iraqi prisoner of war comforts his 4-year-old son at a regroupment center for POWs of the 101st Airborne Division near An Najaf, March 31, 2003. The man was seized in An Najaf with his son, and the U.S. military did not want to separate father and son. (AP Photo/Jean-Marc Bouju, File)
FILE - An Iraqi prisoner of war comforts his 4-year-old son at a regroupment center for POWs of the 101st Airborne Division near An Najaf, March 31, 2003. The man was seized in An Najaf with his son, and the U.S. military did not want to separate father and son. (AP Photo/Jean-Marc Bouju, File)
FILE - U.S. Army Stf. Sgt. Chad Touchett, center, relaxes with comrades from A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, following a search in one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces damaged after a bombing, in Baghdad, in this April 7, 2003. (AP Photo/John Moore, File)
FILE - U.S. Army Stf. Sgt. Chad Touchett, center, relaxes with comrades from A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, following a search in one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces damaged after a bombing, in Baghdad, in this April 7, 2003. (AP Photo/John Moore, File)
FILE - An Iraqi woman screams upon arriving with her wounded husband and son at al-Kindi hospital, April 8, 2003, in Baghdad. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - A portrait of Saddam Hussein still hangs on the burning Ministry of Transport and Communication building in Baghdad, April 9, 2003. Thousands went on a looting rampage as U.S. troops moved into the Iraqi capital. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - A portrait of Saddam Hussein still hangs on the burning Ministry of Transport and Communication building in Baghdad, April 9, 2003. Thousands went on a looting rampage as U.S. troops moved into the Iraqi capital. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - With the fire from a burning warehouse set ablaze by looters in the distance, an Iraqi woman and her child cross the Tigris river into West Baghdad after U.S. troops removed their checkpoint in Baghdad, April 11, 2003. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - With the fire from a burning warehouse set ablaze by looters in the distance, an Iraqi woman and her child cross the Tigris river into West Baghdad after U.S. troops removed their checkpoint in Baghdad, April 11, 2003. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - FILE - Iraqis chant anti-American slogans as charred bodies hang from a bridge over the Euphrates River in Fallujah, west of Baghdad on March 31, 2004. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed, FIle)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - FILE - Iraqis chant anti-American slogans as charred bodies hang from a bridge over the Euphrates River in Fallujah, west of Baghdad on March 31, 2004. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed, FIle)
FILE - U.S. Marines pray over a fallen comrade at a first aid point after he died from wounds suffered in fighting in Fallujah, Iraq, April 8, 2004. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer, File)
FILE - An Iraqi man celebrates atop of a burning U.S. Army Humvee in the northern part of Baghdad, Iraq, April 26, 2004. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen, File)
FILE - A U.S. Marine of the 1st Division carries a mascot for good luck in his backpack as his unit pushed further into the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, Nov. 14, 2004. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)
FILE - President George W. Bush speaks aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast on May 1, 2003. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - Insurgents, using small arms and mortars, launch an attack on U.S. forces in Fallujah, Iraq, Nov. 8, 2004. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - FILE - Army Nurse supervisor Patrick McAndrew tries to save the life of Army Spc. Travis S. Babbitt, 24, of Uvalde, Texas, of the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Calvary Division, Ft. Hood, by giving him CPR upon arrival at a military hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 9, 2004. Spc. Babbitt died of his wounds. His patrol was attacked in Baghdad by a rocket-propelled grenade and smalls arms fire, the Pentagon said. (AP Photo/John Moore)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - FILE - Army Nurse supervisor Patrick McAndrew tries to save the life of Army Spc. Travis S. Babbitt, 24, of Uvalde, Texas, of the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Calvary Division, Ft. Hood, by giving him CPR upon arrival at a military hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 9, 2004. Spc. Babbitt died of his wounds. His patrol was attacked in Baghdad by a rocket-propelled grenade and smalls arms fire, the Pentagon said. (AP Photo/John Moore)
FILE - U.S. soldiers check an armored vehicle moments after it was damaged by a car bomb in Abu Ghraib, West of Baghdad, Iraq, April 3 2005. One soldier was lightly injured in the blast, and treated on the scene in the rear vehicle. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - U.S. soldiers check an armored vehicle moments after it was damaged by a car bomb in Abu Ghraib, West of Baghdad, Iraq, April 3 2005. One soldier was lightly injured in the blast, and treated on the scene in the rear vehicle. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
FILE - Iraqi National Guard soldiers patrol the Haifa Street district in Baghdad, Iraq April 11, 2005.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - FILE - A woman takes her dead son into her arms, as she grieves for her six-year-old son, Dhiya Thamer, who was killed when their family car came under fire by unknown gunmen in Baqouba, capital of Iraq’s Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 16, 2007. The boy’s ten-year old brother, Qusay, was injured in the attack as the family returned from enrolling the children in school, where Dhiya was to begin his first year. (AP Photo/Adem Hadei, File)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - FILE - A woman takes her dead son into her arms, as she grieves for her six-year-old son, Dhiya Thamer, who was killed when their family car came under fire by unknown gunmen in Baqouba, capital of Iraq’s Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 16, 2007. The boy’s ten-year old brother, Qusay, was injured in the attack as the family returned from enrolling the children in school, where Dhiya was to begin his first year. (AP Photo/Adem Hadei, File)
FILE - Iraqi army soldiers bring in a blindfolded and handcuffed suspected al-Qaida member to detention centers in an Iraqi army base in Baghdad, Iraq, June 16, 2010. Iraqi security forces raided some villages in Arab Jabour, south of Baghdad, and detained 16 men suspected members of al-Qaida. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Iraqi army soldiers bring in a blindfolded and handcuffed suspected al-Qaida member to detention centers in an Iraqi army base in Baghdad, Iraq, June 16, 2010. Iraqi security forces raided some villages in Arab Jabour, south of Baghdad, and detained 16 men suspected members of al-Qaida. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - A car bomb explodes next to Iraqi special forces armored vehicles as they advance toward Islamic State held territory in Mosul, Iraq, Nov. 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
FILE - A suspected Islamic State fighter sits in a basement as Iraqi forces continue their advance against Islamic State militants in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq, July 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
FILE - A bomb explodes behind the al-Nuri mosque complex, as seen through a hole in the wall of a house, as Iraqi Special Forces move toward Islamic State militant positions in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq, June 29, 2017. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
FILE - A bomb explodes behind the al-Nuri mosque complex, as seen through a hole in the wall of a house, as Iraqi Special Forces move toward Islamic State militant positions in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq, June 29, 2017. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
BAGHDAD (AP) — It’s been 20 years since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began. Here are some key dates from the invasion and following developments.
March 20, 2003: The invasion is launched, and Baghdad is attacked with missiles and bombs in an attempt to target Saddam Hussein and bring down the government.
April 9, 2003: American troops storm Baghdad, and the statue of Saddam is toppled in Firdous Square in a symbolic collapse of his government.
May 1, 2003: U.S. President George W. Bush declares an end to major combat operations in Iraq.
August 2003: Initial hopes for peace recede. An anti-coalition insurgency begins in earnest. Attacks include a car bombing of the Jordanian embassy; a truck bomb that demolishes the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad and kills top U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello; and the bombing of a Najaf shrine that kills more than 85 people, including Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim.
December 2003: Saddam is captured in an underground hideout near Tikrit.
March 2004: Violent resistance to the U.S. presence intensifies. Four security contractors are ambushed and killed in Fallujah, prompting a battle for the insurgent-dominated city west of Baghdad. Al-Qaida in Iraq, a militant Sunni movement that attracts some of Saddam’s former Baathist security forces, leads the insurgency.
April-August 2004: Clashes emerge between U.S.-led coalition forces and followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who demands that foreign forces leave Iraq.
October 2004: U.S. arms inspector David Kay reports his team has found no evidence of stockpiled weapons of mass destruction.
November 2004: Following the failure of a first U.S. campaign for Fallujah, a second battle destroys much of the city but leaves the U.S. in control.
January 2005: Iraqis select a new parliament in the first elections since the fall of Saddam. Shiite and Kurdish parties take an overwhelming majority after Sunnis largely boycott.
December 2005: Fighting takes on the character of a sectarian civil war between Shiites and Sunnis, with ethnic cleansing, killings and terror attacks in mixed neighborhoods. The death toll mounts around the country over the next two years among insurgents, coalition forces and Iraqi civilians.
January 2007: After enlisting sympathetic Sunni tribal leaders to oppose the anti-coalition insurgency in the so-called Sunni Awakening, President Bush orders a surge of 30,000 U.S. troops to contain the spreading violence.
Late 2008: After a year of escalating chaos, coalition forces begin to root out both al-Qaida and Shiite militias opposing the elected government. Barack Obama is elected U.S. president on a promise to withdraw U.S. forces.
December 2010: After much political turmoil, Shiite politician Nouri al-Maliki wins second term as prime minister, supported by al-Sadr.
December 2011: The last U.S. troops leave Iraq, turning responsibility for security over to the Iraqi army and police.
2013-2018: From the remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq, a new terrorist force emerges. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria breaks Sunni militants out of prisons and mounts a battle to establish a worldwide Islamic State caliphate based in Syria. In Iraq, the Islamic State group takes over Mosul, Fallujah, Tikrit and Ramadi with lightning speed, ultimately controlling about 40 percent of the country. A U.S. bombing campaign, special forces operations and Shiite militias allied with Iran turn back the tide. Islamic State group is evicted from strongholds in northern Iraq and in Syria, although skirmishes continue in remote areas.
October 2019-January 2020: With the battle against the Islamic State group mostly ended, Iraqi public dissatisfaction boils over with anti-government protests against rampant corruption, poor services and unemployment erupting in Baghdad and the predominantly Shiite south. The demonstrations draw young men and women who camp out alongside each other, a rare occurrence in the conservative, majority-Muslim country.
Jan. 3, 2020: The U.S. assassinates top Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani, head of the Quds Force expeditionary forces, in a drone strike near the Baghdad airport. Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis also is killed in the attack, bringing tensions between the U.S. and Iraq to a fever pitch, and later fragmenting rival Shiite camps.
October 2022: After a year of political stalemate following 2021 elections, the Shiite-dominated parliament chooses Kurdish leader Abdul Latif Rashid as president. He nominates Shiite politician Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as prime minister. Al-Sudani forms a government, promising to fight corruption and improve living standards.