Chronology of political events since invasion of Iraq

BAGHDAD - Iraqi prime minister-designate Ibrahim Jaafari announced Wednesday he had formed a cabinet, more than 12 weeks after watershed elections.
The cabinet must now be submitted to the presidential council and MPs for approval before Iraq has its first fully functioning government since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Here is a chronology of main political events since the US-led invasion of Iraq more than two years ago:

MARCH 2003
- 20: US-led forces launch war on Iraq after Saddam Hussein ignores a US deadline to leave the country.

APRIL
- 9: US forces penetrate into the heart of Baghdad, where they topple a large statue of Saddam Hussein, an act held as symbolizing the toppling of the regime.

MAY
- 6: Paul Bremer, a counterterrorism specialist, is named civil administrator.
- 16: Bremer forbids all high-ranking Baath party officials from holding public sector jobs.
- 23: Bremer announces the dissolution of the Iraqi military, the information ministry and other state security organizations.

JULY
- 6: Bremer confirms the creation of an Interim Governing Council equipped with real executive powers, but he reserves veto power.
- 13-15: First meeting of the 25-member Governing Council.

AUGUST
- 14: The UN Security Council approves the establishment of the Interim Governing Council but without explicitly recognizing it as Washington wanted.
- 29: A car bomb explodes in the Shiite city of Najaf, killing Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim and 81 others in the first high-level assassination of the US-led occupation.

SEPTEMBER
- 3: The first post-Saddam cabinet is sworn in.
- 20: Governing Council member Akila al-Hashimi is shot in Baghdad, and dies five days later.

DECEMBER
- 13: US announces capture of Saddam Hussein near Tikrit.

MARCH 2004
- 8: A provisional constitution is signed, opening the way to a transfer of power to a transitional Iraqi authority by June 30.
- 28: The first of 25 government ministries is handed over to Iraq's interim leadership

APRIL
- 4: Followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr demonstrate in the central town of Najaf following the arrest of a top Sadr aide in connection with the murder of a rival cleric in 2003. Twenty-one people are killed in clashes with the US-led coalition.

MAY
- 17: The head of Iraq's Governing Council, Ezzedine Salim, is killed in a car bombing.

JUNE
- 1: Interim government unveiled in Baghdad as Governing Council dissolved.
- 8: Security Council votes unanimously in Resolution 1546 to approve a US-British resolution on Iraq's future, formally giving Baghdad sovereignty when the occupation ends.
- 28: Bremer hands document declaring Iraq sovereign to top officials and flies out of country. New US ambassador John Negroponte arrives.

- NOVEMBER
- 7: Iraqi government declares 60-day state of emergency in all regions except the Kurdish north, which was extended by a month on January 6.
- 22-23: International conference in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh supports the holding of elections on January 30 as planned.
- 26: Sunni Muslim groups call for six-month delay in elections because of the lack of security.

- DECEMBER
- 16: Start of the election campaign.

-- 2005 --
- JANUARY
- 4: Baghdad governor Ali Radi al-Haidari assassinated.
- 12: White House announces end to fruitless search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
- 28: Iraqi exiles begin voting in 14 countries across the globe.
- 30: Iraqis go to the polls for the first free elections in half a century despite a rash of deadly attacks.
The Shiite United Iraqi Alliance obtains an absolute majority in parliament, ahead of the main Kurdish coalition.

- MARCH
- 16: Transitional National Assembly meets for first time.

- APRIL
- 3: MPs choose Sunni Arab Hajem al-Hassani as parliamentary speaker.
- 6: Jalal Talabani is chosen to be Iraq's new president, the first Kurd to hold such a post in Iraq's modern history.
- 7: Shiite Ibrahim Jaafari is named prime minister.
- 9: Tens of thousands demonstrate in Baghdad on second anniversary of former regime's collapse calling for US-led foreign forces to leave the country.
- 27: Jaafari says he has formed a cabinet, almost three months after elections.

04/27/2005 17:02 GMT