2. Persian Gulf War  8/1990: Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait for oil  1/1991: U.S. and allies launch air and ground war  2/1991: Iraq retreats, burns oil fields  1990s: Saddam murders Kurds to end rebellions  1990s: UN and US sanction Iraq

3. Operation Iraqi Freedom  2002: US accuses Iraq of building WMDs and aiding Al Qaeda  UN refuses to approve a war  3/2003: US launches attack  5/2003: Bush declares victory  12/2003: Saddam caught 2004: Sunni-Shia civil war/ U.S troop surge to 170,000  2006: Saddam Hussein was tried and then executed by the Iraqi people

4.  Shia: 60% of Iraq, largely happy Saddam is gone  Sunni: minority, given power by Saddam  Militias from both groups were fighting each other and the U.S. for control of the government and oil

5.  Fall 2007: Decline in violence  2008: Negotiation of new security agreement  January 2009: Iraqis had provincial elections (were not very successful)  June 2009: U.S. Troops out of cities  8/31/2010: Official end to combat in Iraq  12/15/2011: The U.S. military formally declared the end of its mission in Iraq in a ceremony in Baghdad as the final U.S. troops prepared to withdraw from the country  Some Final Costs: 9 years of war, 4,400 US troops died, cost more than $1 trillion

6.  http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/ 10/28/mission.accomplished/ http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/ 10/28/mission.accomplished/  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/ima ges/jan-june03/map_ethnic_iraq.gif http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/ima ges/jan-june03/map_ethnic_iraq.gif  http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/inte rnational/countriesandterritories/iraq/ind ex.html