01|An important al-Qa'ida leader suspected of being the architect of the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, is arrested in Pakistan. Pakistani agents seize Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and two other men from a private house in a middle-class enclave just outside Islamabad, the capital. U.S. agents, who take custody of Mohammed, describe him as the most dangerous and important al-Qa'ida operative to be captured since the international search for members of the terrorist network began in the wake of the September 11 attacks.|
01|The Turkish parliament narrowly rejects a measure allowing U.S. troops to use the country as a base from which to launch operations in a northern front in a possible war with Iraq. Officials at the U.S. Department of Defense, confident that the Turkish parliament would pass the measure, shipped massive amounts of heavy military equipment to Turkish ports.|
02|The government of Iraq destroys an additional six Al Sadmoud 2 missiles but warns United Nations (UN) weapons inspectors that the destruction will stop if it becomes clear that the United States intends to launch a war on Iraq. The UN inspectors note that Iraq so far has destroyed 10 of 120 missiles with a range beyond the 93 miles (150 kilometers) allowed under UN resolutions.|
03|An additional 60,000 U.S. troops, including all 17,000 soldiers of the U.S. Army First Cavalry Division, have been ordered to the Persian Gulf, announces the U.S. Department of Defense. The newly deployed troops bring the total number of U.S. forces in the Middle East to more than 250,000.|
04|At least 21 people, including a missionary from the United States, are killed and nearly 150 others are injured when a powerful bomb explodes at the Davao City airport on Mindanao Island in the Philippines. Authorities attribute the blast to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest Muslim separatist group in the south of the country. MILF rebels have fought for an Islamic homeland in this part of the Philippines for more than 30 years.|
04|U.S. President George W. Bush proposes comprehensive prescription drug coverage for elderly Americans, but only if they switch from Medicare to private insurance plans, which would receive government subsidies. Democrats in Congress respond that the proposal would in essence privatize Medicare and place the nation's elderly at the mercy of HMO's (health maintenance organizations) .|
04|An Islamic cleric from Yemen funneled millions of dollars from a mosque in Brooklyn, New York, to the al-Qa'ida terrorist network, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announces during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The Yemeni imam told a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant, in a conversation secretly wiretapped by FBI agents, that he personally had delivered $20 million to al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden. The money had been collected from members of the Al Farooq mosque in Brooklyn. Money and recruits from the congregation also were delivered to Hamas and other terrorist organizations based in the Middle East.|
05|The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 decision, upholds California's "three-strikes" law. That law mandates a prison term of no less than 25 years without parole for any person found guilty of committing a third felony offense. In upholding the law, the court rejects challenges based on the Eighth Amendment's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment." Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's majority opinion asserts that neither of the two sentences under challenge--25 years without parole for stealing three golf clubs and 50 years without parole for shoplifting videotapes--were so grossly out of proportion as to violate the ban. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas also reject both challenges but on the grounds that "cruel and unusual punishment" applies only to types of punishment not to the length of sentences. Writing for the dissent, Ruth Bader Ginsberg argues that both of the cases meet the court's test for disproportionality. "If [50 years for shoplifting videotapes] is not grossly disproportionate, the principle has no meaning."|
05|The foreign ministers of France and Russia, meeting in Paris, announce that they will veto any U.S.-backed draft resolution before the United Nations (UN) Security Council that authorizes the use of force against Iraq. U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell responds that the United States will go to war without UN backing if necessary.|
05|Nearly 2 million Palestinians, 60 percent of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, live below a poverty level of $2 a day, announces the World Bank. The level of poverty in both areas has tripled since the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict began in September 2000. A separate study undertaken by the United Nations connects the rising level of poverty to the Israeli blockade of Palestinian cities and towns and reveals that Palestinians have turned to subsistence agriculture for survival.|
05|A daily dose of aspirin appears to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer among people at high risk for the disease, announce authors of separate studies conducted at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and at the University of Chicago.|
06|Gasoline prices hit all-time highs in 16 states, including California, where the average price of a gallon of gasoline climbs to more than $2. Industry experts blame dwindling gasoline supplies, which are producing shortages in some U.S. cities, on the lingering effects of a recent labor strike in oil-producing Venezuela and on complications in the oil-refining business. Analysts point out, however, that the record prices are providing California's refining companies with profit margins that are as much as 21 percent above the average for the past seven years.|
06|An Israeli military operation near the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza leaves 11 Palestinians dead and nearly 100 others injured. The attack is launched less than 24 hours after a suicide bomber detonates an explosive device inside a bus in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, killing himself and 15 Israelis.|
06|More than 100 passengers and crew members aboard an Air Algerie jet are killed when it crashes in the Sahara Desert shortly after taking off from Tamanrasset in Algeria's Ahaggar Mountains. A single passenger, a young Algerian soldier, survives the crash of the Boeing 737-200, which was en route to Algiers, the capital, 1000 miles (1,610 kilometers) to the north.|
07|The United States proposes that the United Nations (UN) Security Council set March 17 as a deadline for Iraq to surrender its remaining weapons of mass destruction or face war. The measure, cosponsored by the United Kingdom and Spain, is presented immediately after chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix reported that Iraq has failed to answer UN questions about whereabouts of thousands of chemical bombs and tons of anthrax, botulinum toxin, and nerve gas.|
07|The rate of employment jumped from 5.7 percent in January to 5.8 percent in February, announces the U.S. Department of Labor. More than 308,000 jobs were lost during the period, pushing the number of people who are out of work in the United States to 8.5 million.|
07|Liberian mercenaries kill more than 200 civilians in Cote d'Ivoire in an attack on the town of Bangolo, which is about 375 miles (600 kilometers) northwest of Abidjan, the nation's largest city. French military officials in Cote d'Ivoire believe the mercenaries are in the employ of the president, Laurent Gbagbo. The attack takes place as Cote d'Ivoire's feuding politicians, including Gbagbo, and rebel leaders, meeting in Ghana, agree to form a new government on March 17.|
07|Members of Actors' Equity in New York City refuse to cross the picket line of striking members of Musicians Local 802, shutting down all Broadway musicals for the first time in 43 years. Performers claim to be incensed by attempts by Broadway producers to replace live orchestras with "virtual orchestras," computer generated accompaniments that require no musicians.|
08|Voters in Malta approve a nonbinding referendum on whether the Maltese government should join the European Union (EU). The referendum, closely watched across Europe, is the first to be held in the countries that were invited in 2002 to join the EU.|
09|United Nations (UN) weapons inspectors in Iraq have discovered a new variety of rocket that apparently was reconfigured to spread a number of small bombs filled with chemical or biological weapons over large areas, report U.S. government officials. The weapons inspectors believe the reconfigured warheads were cobbled together from conventional weapons.|
10|United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan warns U.S. President George W. Bush that the United States will be in violation of the UN charter if it carries out its threat to invade Iraq without the backing of the world body. President Bush contends that he does not need a resolution for action against Iraq because an existing resolution specifies that Iraq faces "serious consequences" if it fails to disarm. A British official discloses that the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair is willing to amend the current draft resolution to give Iraqi President Saddam Hussein more time to disarm--extending the deadline from March 17 to March 21. In Paris, French President Jacques Chirac responds that he would veto any resolution before the Security Council that opens the way to war with Iraq.|
10|The Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, warns of a potential crisis if steps are not taken to rein in the giant, public mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The government-chartered companies own or guarantee some $3.1 trillion in U.S. mortgages. The president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, William Poole, recommends that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which he characterizes as "immensely profitable," boost capital reserves to stem future economic "shocks." He also advises that the U.S. Department of the Treasury cut off its open lines of credit to both companies. At the end of 2002, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac held approximately 45 percent of all residential debt in the United States, up from 25 percent in 1990.|
10|The Palestinian parliament grants responsibility for the day-to-day running of the Palestinian Authority to the newly created position of prime minister. The legislation gives Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat the right to nominate or remove the prime minister from office, and Arafat is expected to nominate Hamoud Abbas, his second in command in the Palestine Liberation Organization. Moderates regard Abbas as pragmatic, while radicals condemn him for his willingness to compromise with Israel. Abbas has stated publicly that taking up arms against Israel was a mistake.|
10|Recep Tayyip Erdogan, founder and leader of Turkey's pro-Islamist Ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), wins a seat in parliament. He is expected to replace Prime Minister Abdullah Gul and form a new Cabinet.|
11|Stocks listed on the major U.S. market indices fall to new five-month lows amid fears in war of Iraq and rising oil prices. The Dow Jones industrial average of 30 major corporations traded on the New York Stock Exchanges closes down 44.12 points at 7524.06; Standard & Poor's index of stock prices for 500 companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange slides 6.75 points to 800.73; and the tech-heavy composite of stocks traded on the Nasdaq exchanges drops 6.90 points to 1271.47 points. In Japan, the Nikkei Stock Average declines by 2.2 percent to 7862.43 points, its lowest close in more than 20 years.|
11|A permanent world war times court opens in The Hague, Netherlands, with the swearing in of 18 judges. The function of the court is to try individuals, such as dictators and war criminals, for such large scale offenses against civilians as genocide and crimes against humanity. The court, which is independent of the United Nations, has jurisdiction only over crimes committed after July 1, 2002. U.S. President George W. Bush fiercely opposed the creation of the court, and the Bush administration lobbied a number of governments into agreeing to disregard world court subpoenas issued for U.S. citizens.|
11|A Federal District Court judge in New York City rules that the U.S. government must allow Jose Padilla, who is accused of plotting to explode a radioactive bomb, to meet with a lawyer. Federal authorities, who have held Padilla, a U.S. citizen, without being formally charged in military custody for nine months, have refused to allow him access to legal representation on the grounds that he is an enemy combatant. U.S. Department of Justice officials claim that Padilla met with senior members of the al-Qa'ida terrorist network in Afghanistan and returned to the United States with plans to detonate a so-called "dirty" bomb.|
11|Villanova ends the longest winning streak--70 games--in women's Division I college basketball history by beating the University of Connecticut (UConn) 52-48. The loss also ends UConn's nine year reign as Big East tournament champions.|
12|The prime minister of Serbia, Zoran Djindjic, who in 2000 spearheaded the successful revolt against former President Slobodan Milosevic, is assassinated in the capital, Belgrade. Snipers gun down Djindjic in a parking lot outside his office in a complex of government buildings in the city's center. Djindjic was a pro-Western reformer who tried to integrate the country back into the European community. He was instrumental in turning Milosevic over to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands. Experts on Serbian politics suggest that the murder was carried out by Serbia's extensive criminal underworld, in collusion with Milosevic loyalists.|
12|An explosion in a compartment reserved for women on a commuter train pulling out of Mulund station in Mumbai, India, kills at least 10 people and injures some 200 others.|
13|Tom Ridge, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, warns that suicide bombings, like those that have left hundreds of people dead in Israel, are inevitable in the United States. The secretary cautions that he will likely raise the nation's terrorism alert level to "high risk" because of the possibility of terrorist attacks linked to a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.|
13|The intensity of radiation on Mars would likely endanger astronauts sent to explore the planet, announce scientists with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). High radiation levels measured by NASA's unmanned Mars Odyssey spacecraft suggest that any extraterrestrial life on Mars would have little chance of surviving except beneath the planet's cold, dusty surface.|
14|U.S. President George W. Bush announces that he intends to adopt a peace plan for the creation of a Palestinian nation as soon as a new Palestinian prime minister is chosen. The plan calls on the Palestinians to curb terrorism. It calls on Israel to withdraw forces from Palestinian areas, ease current restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people, and stop further Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. The president notes that the new Palestinian prime minister must "hold a position of real authority."|
15|Hundreds of thousands of mourners march through the streets of Belgrade, capital of Serbia, to pay their respects the country's slain prime minister, Zoran Djindjic. Police have detained more than 180 people in connection with Djindjic's assassination on March 12, which officials attribute to an underground gang of criminals with political connections.|
15|A mysterious respiratory ailment that has caused at least five deaths in Canada and several Asian countries in recent weeks is declared a "worldwide health threat" by the World Health Organization (WHO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. WHO officials characterize the hard-to-treat ailment as an atypical pneumonia, which they believe first appeared in Guanzhou, China, in November 2002 and was spread by international air travel. The ailment has been named severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS.|
15|Hu Jintao formally takes office in Beijing, China's capital, as head of the Communist Party and, therefore, head of the government. He succeeds Jiang Zemin, who remains in control of China' enormous army.|
16|The leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain, meeting in the Azores, islands in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, issue an ultimatum to the United Nations (UN) Security Council, declaring that diplomatic efforts to disarm Iraq will end on March 17. President George W. Bush and Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Jose Maria Aznar give the Security Council 24 hours to pass a resolution approving a combined military action to depose Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. President Bush notes that if Hussein wants to maintain peace he must leave Iraq. The joint statement comes just hours after France, which opposes a war, proposed giving Iraq another 30 days to comply with UN weapons inspectors. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney characterized the French proposal as "further delaying tactics."|
17|U.S. President George W. Bush, speaking to the nation in a televised address, warns Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave the country or face certain attack. The president tells the people of Iraq that he will launch an invasion that will liberate them from a murderous regime. "The tyrant will soon be gone." He also announces the adoption of a new national security doctrine--pre-emptive military action--declaring that in an age of unseen enemies waging undeclared war, to wait to act only after an enemy has struck first is not self-defense, but suicide.|
17|The U.S. Department of Homeland Security raises the terror threat alert level from yellow to orange. Yellow represents an elevated threat, while orange represents a high risk, one step below red, a severe risk. Tom Ridge, the secretary of the new department, announces that U.S. intelligence agents believe that terrorists will attempt multiple attacks against the United States and its partners in the coalition in the event of a U.S.-led attack on Iraq.|
17|Robin Cook, a cabinet minister in British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, quits to protest the prime minister's advocacy for a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Blair's support for the use of force in Iraq has alienated him from many members of his own Labor Party and much of the British public, who oppose the war.|
18|Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein flatly rejects a U.S. ultimatum that he and his sons leave the country or face war. He announces that the Iraqi people are "fully ready to confront the invading aggressors and repel them."|
18|Turkey's cabinet, under the new prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, holds an emergency meeting on whether to rush through a parliamentary motion allowing the deployment of US troops to invade Iraq.|
18|United Nations (UN) weapons inspectors leave Iraq ahead of a possible U.S.-led attack. The remaining 150 inspectors depart the Baghdad airport for Cyprus, bringing an end to efforts by the UN to disarm Iraq peacefully. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on March 17 ordered all UN employees to leave Iraq and suspended the oil-for-food program that permitted Saddam Hussein's government to export oil in return for such essential supplies as food and medicine.|
18|Serbia's parliament approves the nomination of Zoran Zivkovic as prime minister. Zivkovic was a loyal ally of the former prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, who was assassinated on March 12. Zivkovic promises to dismantle Serbia's criminal underground, which is blamed for Djindjic's murder. Police have detained more than 750 people on charges related to the assassination.|
18|British Prime Minister Tony Blair survives a rebellion among members of his own Labor Party in the House of Commons with a vote of 412 to 149 in favor of a government motion to use "all means necessary" to disarm Iraq. A total of 138 members of Parliament from the Labor Party vote against Blair's motion, the largest mutiny against Blair's government since he became prime minister. Three Cabinet ministers--John Denham from the Home Office, Lord Hunt from the Health Ministry, and Robin Cook, the leader of the Commons--have resigned in protest of British participation in a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Blair has deployed approximately 50,000 British troops in the Persian Gulf.|
18|China's new premier, Wen Jiabao, breaks precedence to discuss what he describes as potentially crippling national problems in his first public speech after taking office. Wen notes that unemployment is rising in Chinese cities, straining the country's social safety net, as the old state-owned factory system decays. In the countryside, the incomes of 900 million peasants continue to decline, while taxes steadily rise. Wen also admits that there is no real health-care system in rural China.|
19|U.S. President George W. Bush orders U.S. armed services deployed in Kuwait and the Persian Gulf to launch an attack on Iraq. More than 250,000 U.S. troops are joined by some 50,000 British soldiers and Marines. Forces from various U.S. allies, including Australia, are also expected to participate. President Bush announces his decision to go to war minutes after U.S. Tomahawk missiles and bombs from Stealth bombers strike Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. The initial attack, of short duration, began approximately two hours after the expiration of an 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time deadline set by the president for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to leave the country or face war. In his declaration of war, President Bush notes that his purpose is to "disarm Iraq, to free its people, and defend the world from grave danger," particularly from the danger of Iraqi biological and chemical weapons.|
19|The deputy leader of Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, agrees to become the new Palestinian prime minister. Abbas was nominated for the position by Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. Mahmoud Abbas will take over the day-to-day running of the Palestinian Authority, while Yasir Arafat will remain in command of security forces. Arafat attempted to dilute the power of the new position but was forced by members of the parliament to withdraw a proposal giving him veto power over cabinet appointments. Experts on Middle Eastern affairs describe the legislature's opposition as a major rebuff to Arafat, with whom the Israeli government refuses to negotiate.|
19|Eight Republicans join 43 Democrats in the U.S. Senate to narrowly defeat a bill that would have allowed drilling for oil within an Alaskan wildlife refuge. Opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration was a central element of an energy plan forged by the President George W. Bush's administration. Administration officials claimed that increasing domestic energy production is critical to national security. Environmentalists responded that oil exploration in the refuge would compromise one of the world's most pristine wilderness areas.|
19|A late winter blizzard dumps 72 inches (183 centimeters) of snow on Denver, Colorado, and parts of Wyoming.|
20|A barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles and guided bombs launched from U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf rock Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, in what U.S. officials describe as a "decapitation attack" aimed at Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. At the same time, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force meets heavy Iraqi fire as U.S. troops, under the cover of intense allied artillery and aircraft bombardment, move into Iraq from its southeastern border with Kuwait. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld confirms that Iraqi forces have set fire to "as many as three or four" oil wells in the southern part of the country.|
21|An intense air assault on Baghdad by coalition partners triggers a series of explosions, sending columns of smoke and fire into the skies over the city. U.S. Department of Defense officials announce that this latest assault is the opening of a promised "shock and awe" campaign that targets Baghdad and other Iraqi cities with massive and widespread bombing. The "shock and awe" campaign follows on the heels of a second night of precision bombing of Iraqi government structures. Defense officials note that if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein remains alive, he could not be in "minute-to-minute control" of his army or the Iraqi government.|
21|U.S. and British invasion forces seize two strategically important airfields in western Iraq and the key port city of Umm Qasr on the Faw Peninsula in southern Iraq. Umm Qasr is Iraq's only outlet to the Persian Gulf, and the peninsula includes key oil installations. The British chief of staff in Iraq, Admiral Michael Boyce, reports that the Iraqis set seven oil wells on fire, far fewer than had been reported earlier. The U.S. 3rd Infantry meets no resistance as it pushes into Iraq from Kuwait.|
21|Huge crowds take to the streets in cities in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, and Lebanon, protesting against the United States and its allies in the war on Iraq. In Cairo, the Egyptian capital, tens of thousands of protesters use rocks to pelt police attempting to keep the crowd from attacking the U.S. Embassy. Riot police use batons and water cannon to disperse the crowds.|
21|Stocks soar on U.S. markets, sending the Dow Jones industrial average of 30 major corporations traded on the New York Stock Exchange up 8.4 percent for the week, its best weekly performance in more than 20 years. Standard & Poor's index of stock prices for 500 companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange jumps 7.5 percent, its best weekly performance since the rebound after the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001.|
21|The Turkish Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, announces that Turkey will send troops into northern Iraq, despite the disapproval of U.S. President George W. Bush. Foreign affairs experts suggest that the Turkish government wants troops in northern Iraq to discourage Iraqi Kurds from joining Turkish Kurds in an attempt to establish an independent homeland. Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey have waged a guerrilla military campaign against the Turkish government since 1984.|
22|A senior Kurdish official in northern Iraq, territory under local Kurdish control since 1991, announces that any Turkish incursion of troops will be met with force. The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denies news reports that between 1,000 and 1,500 Turkish soldiers already had crossed into Iraq.|
23|U.S. forces in Iraq reach Al Najaf, a holy city, 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Baghdad, the capital. However, a number of U.S. units remain engaged in fierce combat further south. Marines fighting in and around the city of An Nasiriya report that at least 20 Americans had been killed and as many as 50 others wounded in what military commanders describe as the sharpest engagement of the war. U.S. Army General John Abizaid notes, "It's the toughest day of resistance that we've had thus far." He confirms that Iraqi forces ambushed a supply convoy and that U.S. military personnel are missing in action. The general characterizes footage of captured dead American soldiers that had been broadcast worldwide by al-Jazeera, the Arabic television news channel, as "disgusting."|
23|Baghdad is the target of heavy aerial bombardment for a fourth consecutive night, leaving parts of the city on fire. The night attacks follow bombing raids in the afternoon and evening. Coalition warplanes also bomb the city of Al Basrah in the south and areas of northern Iraq controlled by the Islamic extremist group Ansar al Islam. U.S. and British intelligence agents believe that Ansar al Islam may have links to the al-Qa'ida terrorist network.|
24|Coalition troops in Iraq are making "rapid and dramatic progress" and are within 60 miles (100 kilometers) of Baghdad, the capital, announces U.S. military commander General Tommy Franks. The general, speaking at a new conference in Qatar, acknowledges that casualties are increasing as U.S., British, and Australian forces meet stiff resistance on their way to Baghdad. In the south, British units are shelling the city of Al Basrah. General Franks notes that continued, though "sporadic," resistance is to be expected.|
24|U.S. Marines battle their way through the streets of Nasiriya in southern Iraq in the kind of urban battle that U.S. military commanders hoped to avoid. U.S. forces in the city report that armed Iraqi men are jumping from buses and rooftops to shoot at them. The Marines were ordered into the city to secure two bridges over the Euphrates River that are needed to move troops north to Baghdad.|
24|The European Commission, a European Union (EU) council that proposes legislation, warns Turkey that moving troops into Iraq could "complicate" Turkey's chances of gaining membership in the EU. Various EU member nations also warn Turkey against deploying soldiers in Kurdish northern Iraq.|
24|Russian officials in Chechnya announce that Chechen voters overwhelmingly approved a March 23 referendum on a new constitution that keeps the republic within the Russian federation. More than 95 percent of the voters are said to have approved the new draft constitution. Human rights organizations question the legitimacy of a vote held under current conditions. The Russian army has occupied Chechnya since 1997 after being driven out by Islamic separatists in 1996, ending a war that began in 1994.|
24|The price of crude oil jumps on world markets, climbing by $1.74 to $26.09 a barrel in London trading. Market analysts suggested the price hike was triggered by fears that the war in Iraq may take longer than anticipated and by a disruption of oil from Nigeria. Social unrest in Nigeria, which normally accounts for 7 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports, has caused oil companies there to suspend as much 40 percent of all production.|
25|British military officials with the 7th Armoured Brigade, positioned on the outskirts of Al Basrah, Iraq's second largest city, report an uprising there. Iraqi soldiers appear to be shooting at civilians protesting against Saddam Hussein.|
25|The U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division begins crossing the Euphrates River despite a blinding desert sandstorm. U.S. and British forces are now positioned in a heavily armed column that stretches from Umm Quasar on the south to the city of Karbala 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Baghdad, the capital. At Karbala, coalition troops face the Republican Guard's Medina Division. U.S. General Richard Meyers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, characterizes the guard as the best equipped, best trained, and most loyal of Saddam Hussein's forces.|
25|Iraqi troops ambush the U.S. 7th Cavalry between An Najaf and Karbala. In the fierce ensuing battle, U.S. troops, hunkered down in a blinding sandstorm, fight off hundreds of regular Iraqi soldiers, Fedayeen Saddam militiamen, and fighters from the country's ruling Ba'ath Party. The Fedayeen is a paramilitary group that answers directly to Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Uday. Members disguised as civilians have pretended to surrender and then opened fire on allied troops.|
25|A coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans in the U.S. Senate slices out half of the $700 billion tax cut proposed by President George W. Bush, an action that political experts describe as a major blow for the president. The measure came up for a vote just after the Senate received President Bush's request for $74.7 to pay for the first phase of the war in Iraq. In that request, the president earmarked $63 billion for the cost of the initial stages of the war; $8 billion for aid to allies; and $4 billion for homeland security.|
26|Fighting between Iraqi forces and coalition troops in An Najaf, Karbala, and An Nasiriyah--all cities south of Baghdad--forces allied military leaders to shift the focus of the land campaign in Iraq. The attack on the Republican Guard around Baghdad is delayed while U.S. and British forces engage Iraqi militia groups attacking advancing allied troops from the rear. Allied military leaders note that they were forced to adopt the new strategy to protect the long supply lines that support advancing allied forces.|
26|British forces outside Al Basrah battle an estimated 1,000 Iraqi loyalists for control of the city, where a rebellion against the ruling Ba'ath Party is reported to continue for a second day. According to British military officials, Ba'ath members attempted to put down the rebellion by firing mortars at the civilian population. The British respond by shelling the mortar positions and bombing Ba'ath headquarters.|
26|The first allied shipments of humanitarian aid arrive in Iraq, and food, water, and other supplies are distributed to the civilian population of Safwan in the south. According to the United Nations World Food Program, an estimated 60 percent of Iraq's 27 million people were dependent on food aid before the war broke out.|
26|Chinese health officials raise their estimates of the number of people in China who died in February from the atypical pneumonia known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), from 5 to 34 cases. The November 2002 outbreak of the mysterious respiratory ailment was centered in the southern city of Guangzhou, where 800 people were diagnosed with the viral ailment between November and the end of February 2003. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that SARS was carried from Guanzhou to Hong Kong, from which it spread worldwide via air travel. According to WHO records, 1,325 people worldwide have been infected and 51 people have died.|
26|The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announces that more than 20 different utility and energy trading companies engaged in an "epidemic" manipulation of electric and natural gas markets during the California energy crisis of 2000 and 2001. Regulators advise that Reliant Resources, Enron Corp., and BP Energy Co. had so seriously abused markets in their quest for massive profits that they should be stripped of their authority to sell energy.|
27|U.S. forces in Iraq open a second front, in the north. More than 1,000 members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade parachute into Kurdish-held territory about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Arbil, the main Kurdish city. The paratroopers, joined by Kurdish guerrilla fighters, seize an airfield in preparation for an airdrop of troops, tanks, and other armored vehicles. U.S. military leaders note that the second front will keep the Iraqi military from concentrating all its defenses against coalition forces in the south.|
27|In southern Iraq, U.S. and British troops engage in fierce fighting in three major encounters. American troops backed by Apache helicopters dislodge an estimated 1,500 Fedayeen Saddam militiamen from a bridge outside the city of An Najaf. U.S. forces bomb An Nasiriyah after troops crossing through the city came under heavy enemy fire. To the south in Al Basrah, British tank units destroy 14 Iraqi tanks and other armored vehicles in a major battle with Iraqi forces attempting to break out of the city.|
27|An additional 30,000 troops leave the United States to join the campaign in Iraq. The U.S. Department of Defense also orders another 100,000 U.S. troops deployed to Iraq to boost existing ground forces. The senior U.S. Army ground commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General William Wallace, warns that long supply lines and the guerrilla-style tactics of paramilitary groups, such as the Fedayeen Saddam militia, have reduced the chances of a swift military victory.|
28|Kurdish guerillas move into the town of Chamchamal in northern Iraq immediately after the Iraqi army abandoned it after four days of allied air strikes. The Kurdish hold on Chamchamal provides coalition forces with a strategically important forward position from which to drive on to Kirkuk, a major oil center. Kurdish guerrillas, supported by U.S. special forces, also capture a string of some 40 towns and villages in mountainous northeastern Iraq. The towns were primary centers of the extremist Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam. U.S. and British intelligence agents believe Ansar al-Islam has links to the al-Qa'ida terrorist network.|
29|A suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in his taxi at a checkpoint near An Najaf, an Iraqi city south of Baghdad, killing four U.S. soldiers from the Third Infantry Division. U.S. military commanders describe the attack as a new and disturbing tactic.|
30|The U.S. 101st Airborne Division encircle An Najaf, a Shiite Muslim holy city, in preparation for a street-by-street battle to root out paramilitary groups that continued to threaten U.S. supply lines.|
31|Coalition forces in Iraq engage in the first battle with President Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard, which U.S. commanders consider to be Iraq's best trained and best equipped soldiers. The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division encounters members of the guard upon entering the town of Hindiyah some 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad. The U.S. forces meet with fierce resistance before taking prisoner several dozen Iraqi soldiers who wore the guard's distinctive triangular insignia. U.S. military commanders in the field report that allied bombing had destroyed about 50 percent of the Guard's Medina Division tanks.|
31|A ban on smoking in all New York City restaurants and bars goes into effect. The ban, which was created to protect employees from second-hand smoke, extends to the city's many private clubs.|
