This is what she remembers from the day Saddam was executed:. I was young. I had no interest in politics. I surely felt very sad. I started crying because it wasn't about Saddam himself but I felt they executed Iraq. I know that Saddam Hussein was a dictator to be honest, but he represented Iraq, he was the president of Iraq.
When other countries come in and take [Saddam] down and then they execute him, you feel like that's it, Iraq is done. They executed the president, he represents your country and they kind of humiliated your country. It was the same feeling [I got] when the US army came to Baghdad. There was big statue of Saddam. One of the US soldiers wiped Saddam's face with the American flag and took it down.
All of us were like ' who is this person to take the statue down? This is our country, this is our own business. I know we were living under a dictator, but we didn't ask anyone to come and do this damage to our country. First, we were afraid of only one person, [Saddam]. If you don't talk bad about him or his family, then you are safe. After that it was a complete chaos. The situation is not getting any better.
I am from Mosul and you know how the situation is like. Everything is destroyed. Zaid Ridha, Ridha lives in Diwaniyah, a predominantly Shiite city located about miles south of Baghdad. He was 13 when Saddam was executed. I remember I woke up and found my dad having the TV on the Al Arabiya channel, and there were live scenes of Saddam Hussein's execution. Coalition forces suspected al-Zarqawi.
The U. In April and May, chronic prisoner abuse by U. The scandal triggered backlash against the United States and U. The move transferred nominal sovereignty from U. The group had perpetrated about a dozen attacks in Iraq. It was also infamous for beheading foreign hostages. In November and December, U. The operation was the bloodiest yet for U.
Iraqis voted for the Transitional National Assembly in the first elections since the U. Shia cleric Ayatollah al-Sistani endorsed the elections and encouraged participation. Kurdish parties secured approximately 25 percent. Violence and low Sunni turnout marred the outcome of the first elections. At least people were killed in Hilla, south of Baghdad, in the deadliest single bombing since the U. Insurgents killed hundreds of Shias to undermine the government and trigger a wider sectarian conflict.
Shia leaders urged their followers not to take revenge. Iraq suffered car bombings in April, up from 69 in March. President Talabani named Ibrahim Jaafari, from a religious party, as prime minister. On June 14, Massoud Barzani was sworn in as president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the result of an agreement with Iraqi President Talabani on power sharing between their rival Kurdish parties.
On August 31, fears of a suicide bomber approaching triggered a panicked stampede by Shia pilgrims on a bridge to the Kadhimiyah Shrine, in northern Baghdad, which killed more than 95 people. All the detainees were Sunnis. Twin suicide bombings at two Shia mosques in Khanaqin, near the eastern border with Iran, killed 90 Iraqi civilians. The bombings occurred as U. Following the vote to ratify a new constitution in October, Iraqis elected a new parliament for the first time since the U.
Turnout was high. The results were announced in January. The United Iraqi Alliance—a list of Islamist groups— won the most seats, , but fell 10 short of the majority needed to govern without a coalition.
The secular list of former Prime Minister Allawi won just 25 seats. The two Sunni lists collectively won 55 seats, significantly increasing their representation compared to the previous parliament. Sunnis had largely boycotted the January election.
In separate attacks AQI suicide bombers attacked police recruits in Ramadi and pilgrims in Karbala, killing more than people. It was still commonly referred to as AQI.
In March, Kurdish and Sunni parties rejected Jaafari as prime minister and refused to join a national unity government because he had failed to stop escalating sectarian violence. On April 21, Jaafari agreed to step aside.
After 22 policemen were arrested for killing Sunnis, the Interior Ministry launched an investigation into its personnel who had allegedly ran death squads. The arrests brought attention to a pattern of extrajudicial killing by Iraqi forces targeting minority Sunnis. On February 22, the famous golden dome of the al Askari Shrine in Samarra, one of the holiest Shia shrines, was destroyed in a bombing widely blamed on Sunni jihadis of AQI.
The shrine bombing triggered violence by Shia and Sunni militias that killed more than a 1, people. On March 26, U. Ambassador Khalizad charged that violence by Shia militias exceeded killings by Sunni terrorists or insurgents.
He urged the prime minister to reign in militias and end extrajudicial killings by people with links to the government. On April 7, a triple suicide bombing at the Shia Buratha mosque in Baghdad killed 85 and wounded The attack came amid a post-election political crisis and related sectarian violence.
His cabinet included representatives from most Iraqi sects and ethnic groups, although three key cabinet positions remained unfilled due to sectarian disagreements. Jawad al-Bolani, a Shia, became interior minister.
Sherwan al-Waili, a Shia, became national security minister. He was succeeded by Abu Ayyub al-Masri. On June 14, Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki released his security plan, Operation Together Forward, to improve conditions in the Baghdad area amid increasing sectarian bloodletting. It introduced curfews, checkpoints, and joint Iraqi-U. On June 25, Prime Minister Maliki delivered his point plan to restore order and reduce sectarian violence in Iraq.
The reconciliation plan promised amnesty for those imprisoned on charges unrelated to crime, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Videos of three Russian diplomats kidnapped on June 3 being executed was released online. On July 1, at least 66 people were killed in a car bombing at an outdoor market in the Shia Sadr City area of Baghdad. Mahdi Army militiamen killed at least 40 Sunnis during house searches and at phony checkpoints in Baghdad.
On July 11, a double suicide bombing near the entrance to the Green Zone killed more than 50 people. Prime Minister Maliki rejected suggestions that Iraq was falling into civil war despite deepening violence. On July 17, a shooting and mortar attack in Mahmoudiyah, a predominantly Shia city, killed at least 40 people. The attack marked several days of intensifying violence in retaliation for the July 9 Mahdi Army killings. July was the deadliest month for civilians since violence erupted, according to the Iraqi Health Ministry.
Nearly 3, Iraqis—or an average of Iraqis per day—were killed that month, although the United Nations said the body count was higher. More than half of the deaths occurred in the Baghdad area. The United States increased troop deployments on an emergency basis, despite hopes earlier in the year for a partial withdrawal. Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, another al-Zarqawi successor, led the new group.
On October 20, the U. In an act of revenge, Shia militiamen burned six Sunnis alive after they left Friday prayers. An Iraqi special tribunal sentenced Saddam Hussein to death for the killing of Shias in the town of Dujail.
On December 30 , Hussein was executed by hanging for crimes against humanity. The parallel was to give Iraqi leaders time and space to forge political reconciliation.
Later that year, UN inspections of suspected weapons sites in Iraq began, but little or no evidence that such programs existed was ultimately found. Despite this, on March 20, , under the pretense that Iraq did in fact have a covert weapons program and that it was planning attacks, a U. Within weeks, the government and military had been toppled, and on April 9, , Baghdad fell. Saddam, however, managed to elude capture.
In the months that followed, an intensive search for Saddam began. While in hiding, Saddam released several audio recordings, in which he denounced Iraq's invaders and called for resistance. Finally, on December 13, , Saddam was found hiding in a small underground bunker near a farmhouse in ad-Dawr, near Tikrit. From there, he was moved to a U. During the subsequent trial, Saddam would prove to be a belligerent defendant, often boisterously challenging the court's authority and making bizarre statements.
On November 5, , Saddam was found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentencing was appealed, but was ultimately upheld by a court of appeals.
He was buried in Al-Awja, his birthplace, on December 31, We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Nicolae Ceausescu was the leader of Communist Romania for more than two decades until his execution in Kim Il-sung served as premier and president of North Korea and ran the country for decades, spearheading the creation of an Orwellian regime.
Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union for more than two decades, instituting a reign of death and terror while modernizing Russia and helping to defeat Nazism. Adolf Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany. France handed executed journalist Zam to Iran in swap deal, claims ex-intel officer. Top Content. Qatar to represent US interests in Afghanistan: Official.
Iran says will not discuss its nuclear program in upcoming Vienna talks. Before you go. Khota: The Giant Adam - Episode 2.
0コメント