CHRONOLOGY-Iraq's path from invasion to constitution
12 Aug 2005 12:05:54 GMT

Source: Reuters LONDON, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Iraq's interim parliament hopes to have a draft constitution by Monday.

Here is a chronology of events in Iraq since the U.S. occupation began:

March 20, 2003 - U.S. and British forces invade from Kuwait. April 9 - U.S. troops sweep into central Baghdad as Saddam Hussein's three-decade rule crumbles into chaos and looting.

May 12 - American diplomat Paul Bremer becomes head of the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority ruling Iraq.

July 13 - The Iraqi Governing Council -- 25 Iraqis chosen under U.S. supervision -- holds inaugural meeting in Baghdad.

Aug 19 - Truck bomb at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad kills 22, including envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello. U.N. quits Iraq.

Dec 13 - U.S. troops seize Saddam near his hometown Tikrit.

March 2, 2004 - Bombs and mortars near mosques in Baghdad and Kerbala kill at least 171 people as Shi'ites mark Ashura.

March 8 - Governing Council signs interim constitution.

April 4/5 - U.S. Marines begin assault on Falluja after four U.S. security guards are killed there. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia begins uprising in Baghdad and southern Iraq.

April 14 - Kidnappers kill Italian Fabrizio Quattrocchi. Over 150 foreigners have been snatched since then. About a third have been killed, some beheaded on video by Islamist militants.

May 17 - Suicide car bomber kills Governing Council head Izzedin Salim.

June 1 - Governing Council dissolved to make way for interim government led by Iyad Allawi. Ghazi al-Yawar named president.

June 28 - United States formally returns sovereignty to Prime Minister Allawi's government two days ahead of schedule. Coalition Provisional Authority dissolved. Bremer leaves Iraq.

July 1 - Iraqi tribunal informs Saddam and 11 senior associates they will be charged with crimes against humanity.

Aug 18 - Conference selects 100-member interim assembly to oversee government and prepare for elections in January 2005.

Aug 26 - Top Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani strikes deal with Sadr to end uprising by Sadr's militiamen in Najaf.

Nov 8 - U.S. troops launch full-scale offensive on Falluja. A week later U.S. military says it controls city after killing 1,600 insurgents and capturing 1,052. Falluja still recovering.

Nov 20 - Iraq's main creditors at Paris Club of wealthy nations agree to cancel 80 percent of Baghdad's debt to them.

Jan 30, 2005 - First free election in half a century is won by Shi'ite-led coalition with 47 percent of vote. It takes 140 of 275 seats in National Assembly. Most Sunnis fail to vote.

March 16 - Iraq's National Assembly holds its first meeting.

April 6 - Assembly elects Kurd Jalal Talabani as president.

April 28 - Assembly approves cabinet led by Shi'ite Islamist Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari of the Dawa party.

April 29 - String of car bombs kills at least 29 people and Iraq's al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi warns of more; weeks of suicide bombings after government formed kill many hundreds.

July 2 - Egypt's envoy in Baghdad kidnapped and later killed by al Qaeda, first of string of attacks on diplomats in Baghdad.

July 5 - First meeting of parliamentary committee drafting constitution after addition of 15 more Sunni Arabs from outside the Assembly, offsetting effect of low Sunni turnout on Jan. 30.

July 17 - Iraqi Special Tribunal issues first charges against Saddam, over killings of Shi'ites at Dujail in 1982. Trial expected to begin any time from around late September.

July 20 - Sunnis briefly suspend work on constitutional committee after two of their number assassinated the day before.

Aug 7 - President Talabani hosts first of week-long series of top-level meetings to end deadlock on constitution.

Aug 15 - Self-imposed deadline for presenting draft constitution to parliament.

CHRONOLOGY-Journalists killed in Iraq

07 Nov 2005 16:58:25 GMT Source: Reuters Nov 7 (Reuters) - An Iraqi journalist was shot dead by gunmen in the flashpoint city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad. More than 70 foreign and Iraqi journalists have been reported killed since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. The real number is believed to be higher and the list does not include the many translators, drivers and other assistants said by media watchdogs to have died since the conflict began.

Following is a chronology of those reported killed in 2005:

- Feb 9, 2005 - Abdul-Hussein Khazal, Basra correspondent of U.S.-funded television station Alhurra, is shot and killed.

- March 14 - Gunmen kill Hussam Habib, an Iraqi cameraman working for Kurdistan Satellite TV. He had been kidnapped 12 hours before he was killed in Mosul.

- April 23 - AP Television News cameraman Saleh Ibrahim dies in Mosul after being shot three times in the chest when gunfire breaks out while he is reporting on an explosion.

- May 15 - Ahmed Adam and Najem Abd Khudair, reporters with the private Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada, are killed in Latifiya, south of Baghdad.

- May 31 - Jerges Mahmood Mohamad Suleiman, news anchor at Nineveh TV, is shot in Mosul. Nineveh TV is a local affiliate of Al-Iraqiya TV.

- June 24 - Knight Ridder reporter Yasser Shalihee is shot and killed while driving near a roadblock manned by U.S. and Iraqi troops.

- July 1 - Khalid al-Attar, an Al-Iraqiya television journalist, is abducted in Mosul by unidentified gunmen and found killed.

- Aug 2 - Steven Vincent, a freelance investigative journalist and art critic from New York City, is kidnapped together with his translator Nouriya Ita'is. His body is found the same night. His translator is seriously wounded.

- Aug 28 - Waleed Khaled, a Reuters Television soundman is shot and killed in the Hay al-Adil district of west Baghdad. Cameraman Haider Kadhem is wounded.

- Sept 17 - Hind Ismail, a reporter for newspaper As-Saffir is found in Mosul, killed by a single bullet to her head.

- Sept 19 - Fakher Haider, an Iraqi working as a reporter for the New York Times, is found dead in Basra.

- Sept 20 - Firas Maadidi, Mosul bureau chief for As-Saffir newspaper and chief editor of local daily Al-Masar, is killed by gunmen in Mosul.

- Sept 21 - Ahlam Younnis, a journalist from Radio Nineveh is shot and killed by gunmen in Mosul. Her husband was also killed in the attack.

- Nov 7 - Ahmed Hussein Al-Maliki, who worked as an editor for Tal Afar Today newspaper, is killed inside an internet cafe in Mosul.

Sources: Reuters, RSF: www.rsf.org/, CPJ: www.cpj.org

The media needs sensation headlines…

•True news goes beyond the headlines…

•Iraqi Voices is a documentary project that will examine the world beyond the media coverage we typically see in the west. With political agendas and world media shaping much of the worlds perception, this project is focused on those parts of Iraq that are not in the news, the regions that are not heard from, the reconstruction of a nation to a representative form of government from a repressive and brutal dictator.

• Ridoc is a documentary project focusing on the reconstruction of Iraq.  We will seek out the story which is rarely mentioned in major media sources. The work of USAID, The United States Agency of International Development is often minimized in favor of sensational headlines. 

Its work includes:
1. Restoring Essential Infrastructure
2. Supporting Essential Health and Education
3. Expanding Economic Opportunity
4. Improving Efficiency and Accountability of Government

In addition to the external rebuilding of the land, we will seek out Iraqis from various walks of life and examine the internal rebuilding of the people. Teachers, doctors, activists, youth, women, laborers, etc. Plus, people from the diverse political parties, religious sects and more.

Ultimately, the issue of winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis will be examined in this important transformational period in Iraqi history and the question of “Was it worth it?” will be fleshed out within the fuller context of reconstruction as opposed to nightly headline news.

Additional points of view will include our brave men and women in the front lines of our military who have had the most direct contact with the Iraqi people. These will include the candid stories with both difficult and triumphant events.

Was it worth it to American interest? Is America safer from terrorist?

Does democracy create greater security?

What are America’s economic interest in the region? Since 14 of 18 regions in Iraq boast relative security and progress toward an elected body, we expect to get a dichotomy of views from those within these regions and those in the Sunni Arab Triangle. How big of a step was the successful election?

“Iraqi Voices is a documentary project that will examine the world beyond the media coverage we typically see in the west. With political agendas and world media shaping much of the worlds perception, this project is focused on those stories in Iraq that are not in the news, the regions that are not heard from, the reconstruction of a nation to a representative form of government from a repressive and brutal dictator

---

 

Dan Hare, Executive Producer and Creator  

         Dan has spent the past six years as acting director and founder of the Independent Film Society with involvement in the marketing and publicity for over 50 films. (See http://www.independentfilmsociety.com/archives.html) Having worked with hundreds of filmmakers, Dan saw that the power of one person’s story could outdo any big-budget film that claimed the box office.

He wanted to translate this power of story to a documentary about Iraq, which has been since told in death tolls and images of carnage. This without a balanced view of the reconstruction and positive strides forward of the Iraqi liberation.

“I get tired when America seems to be the first to blame for all evils of the world,” says Hare.

Iraqi Voices will bring voices of real Iraqi’s in the 14 regions that are not typically seen on the nightly news which are experiencing a rebirth and hopes and dreams of a new life with successful elections at local levels, new infrastructure, growing economies amidst a difficult transition and a diminishing insurgency.

•Iraqi Voices will bring you a cross section of true Iraqi voices without network political correctness or political agendas.

•Iraqi Voices will show dramatic insights into what was only a diminished dream of the hope for a new life.

Producer... Dan Hare
Email
Telephone 760 942 5988

Last Up-dated on December 28, 2005