Perspective: On This Day In Iraq -- March 21st edition

Bombs go off in Baghdad, March 21, 2003

March 21, 2002

Cheney: Concern Over Iraq

(CBS) Vice President Cheney says Arab leaders are "uniformly concerned" about Iraq.

Cheney spoke to reporters at the White House Thursday with President Bush, after briefing his boss on his latest swing through the Mideast.

The vice president tried to rally Arab nations to support strong action against Iraq, but he was met by a steady stream of objections to any immediate U.S. military action.

Read the rest at CBS News


March 21, 2003

Scattered resistance, mass surrenders as U.S., British troops advance through southern Iraq

American and British forces advanced Friday through southern Iraq, some racing unimpeded across the desert, others meeting hostile fire. Hundreds of Iraqi soldiers surrendered and U.S. officials said Iraq's command structure appeared to have disintegrated.

The allies reported their first combat casualty, a U.S. Marine with the 1st Expeditionary Force killed in southern Iraq. According to a comrade, the Marine – whose name was withheld – was shot in the stomach while his company was sweeping around a burning oil pumping station.

Read the rest at the San Diego Tribune


March 21, 2004

U.S. to keep some power in Iraq after handover

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The United States says Iraq will be sovereign, no longer under military occupation, on June 30. But most power will reside within the world’s largest U.S. Embassy, backed by 110,000 U.S. troops.

The fledgling Iraqi government will be capable of tackling little more than drawing up a budget and preparing for elections, top U.S. and Iraqi officials say.

“We’re still here. We’ll be paying a lot of attention and we’ll have a lot of influence,” a top U.S. official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. “We’re going to have the world’s largest diplomatic mission with a significant amount of political weight.”

Read the rest at Newsweek


March 21, 2005

Rumsfeld hails Iraq's liberation

WASHINGTON : US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hailed the liberation of Iraq and its moves towards democracy on the two-year anniversary of the US-led invasion of the country, even as insurgents launched fresh attacks on US troops and Iraqi officials...

"It's a wonderful thing to see 25 million Iraqis liberated. To see their economy improve as it has been. To see their political process move toward democracy. To have the successful election and now the seating of their constituent assembly," the defense chief said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.

The toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime has not come without human cost for the United States: Some 11,000 American troops have been wounded and over 1,500 US soldiers have been killed in the conflict.

Read the rest at Chanel News Asia


March 21, 2006

Bush: Iraq decision is for future presidents

The US President, George W Bush, has said the complete withdrawal of US forces from Iraq will be a decision for future presidents and governments of Iraq to make.

Mr Bush refused again to give any timetable for a reduction in the 130,000 US soldiers still serving in the region three years on from the start of the US-led invasion, instead indicating they could be there for some time.

Mr Bush was speaking at an extensive White House press conference to mark the third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

He said he did not believe Iraq was sliding into civil war. He said part of the proof was that the Iraqi Army had not fragmented along ethnic lines.

Read the rest at RTE News


Note: This is a new daily feature focusing on the events of the past 5 years, through the lens of a single day, as we enter the fifth year of this war.