2005 in Iraq

← 2004 2003 2002 2005 in Iraq → 2006 2007 2008
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	Other events of 2005 List of years in Iraq

Events in the year 2005 in Iraq.

Incumbents

• President: Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer (acting) (until 6 April), Jalal Talabani (starting 7 April)
• Prime Minister: Ayad Allawi (until 3 May), Ibrahim al-Jaafari (starting 3 May)
• Rowsch Shaways (until 7 April), Adil Abdul-Mahdi (starting 7 April), Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer
  (starting 7 April)
• Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government
  (autonomous region)
  • Massoud Barzani
    (until 7 April)

• January 4 – Governor
  Ali Al-Haidri, governor of Baghdad province, is assassinated along with two of his bodyguards
  .
• January 6 – Seven national guards killed when IED strikes Bradley fighting vehicle.
• January 21 – A suicide car bomb blows up outside a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad killing 14 worshipers and wounding 40.
• January 26 – Thirty-one U.S. Marines are killed in a helicopter crash near the Jordan border.
• January 27 – Iraq's expatriates start voting for the
  Iraqi National Assembly election, 2005
• January 28 – The insurgency continues with several dozen Iraqi deaths. Seven U.S. soldiers killed, three in a helicopter crash.
• January 29 – About 17 people died from car bombs on the eve of the elections. A rocket hit the U.S. Embassy compound inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, killing two people and wounding at least four. According to the embassy spokesman, all of them are Americans.
• January 30 –
  Iraqi National Assembly election
  . Up to 15 British military personnel were killed in Iraq when an air force transport plane crashed northwest of Baghdad. Meanwhile, at least 35 people die in attacks at polling places.
• January 31 – Nine
  Hercules
  plane comes down 25 miles (40 km) north-west of Baghdad.

February

• February 4 – Paul Wolfowitz announces that 15,000 U.S. troops whose tours of duty had been temporarily extended will be withdrawn by the next month.
• February 7 – Two
  Baquba
  , claiming at least 27 lives, mostly police recruits.
• February 8 – At least 21 people are killed in a blast at an Iraqi army recruitment centre in Muthenna airfield in west Baghdad.
• February 9 – At least nine Iraqis die including a correspondent for a U.S.-funded Arabic TV station.
• February 10 – At least 50 Iraqis are killed when rebels attack targets across the country. Meanwhile, the election results are postponed because of a limited recount.
• February 11 – More than 20 Iraqis are killed in attacks near a
  Shia
  mosque and on a Baghdad bakery.
• February 12 – A car bomb attack blast outside a hospital kills at least 17 people in the town of Musayyib.
• February 13 – Limited election results are announced.
• February 17 – Full results are announced in the
  United Iraqi Alliance
  wins a slight majority.
• February 19 – At least 40 people are killed and more than 100 wounded in attacks by suicide bombers in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq during festival of
  Ashoura
  .
• February 22 – Two policemen and two civilians are killed and another 30 police are injured in a suicide attack against a convoy of security forces in Baghdad.
• February 24 – A car bombing attack in the Iraqi city of Tikrit reportedly kills up to 15 people. Another 25 are injured in an attack on a police station.
• February 25 – Three US troops are killed and eight others injured in a bomb explosion in
  Tarmiyah
  just north of Baghdad.
• February 27 – Five people are killed in a bomb blast in Hammam Alil. In another incident, a US soldier is shot and killed in Baghdad while manning a traffic checkpoint.
• February 28 – 127 Iraqis are killed by a
  Hilla
  , south of Baghdad. The bomber, who later turned out to be a U.S. educated Jordanian lawyer from al Qaeda targeted a large crowd of mainly teachers and police recruits outside a health clinic. It was the deadliest single blast in Iraq's history.

March

• March 2 – Judge Barwez Mohammed Mahmoud al-Merwani and his son Aryan Barwez al-Merwani are murdered in the Azamyiah district. Also 10 people are killed in attacks on an Iraqi army base and a checkpoint in Baghdad.
• March 3 – Two car bombs exploded near Iraq's Interior Ministry killing at least five policemen. In total 17 people are killed in various incidents.
• March 4 – Four U.S. soldiers are killed in Al Anbar Governorate. An Italian hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena is hurt by friendly fire shortly after her rescue, and an Italian secret service agent escorting her, Nicola Calipari, is killed.
• March 7 – 33 people are killed and dozens wounded as Iraqi insurgents attack in
  Baqouba
  and Baghdad.
• March 9 – A suicide car bomb attack reportedly carried out by a group linked to al-Qaeda kills three and injures more than 20 people in Baghdad.
• March 10 – At least 47 people are killed by a suicide bomber who blows himself up at a
  Shia funeral service in the northern city of Mosul
  .
• March 20 – A gun battle between Iraqi insurgents and US troops near Baghdad leaves 24 rebels dead. Earlier, a suicide bomber kills the head of the police anti-corruption department in the northern city of Mosul. Insurgents then attack his funeral, killing at least two other people.

• April 2 – The Battle of Abu Ghraib was an attack on US forces at Abu Ghraib prison, which consisted of heavy mortar and rocket fire, under which armed insurgents attacked with grenades, small arms, and two vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED).^[1]
• April 6 – Jalal Talabani is elected President of Iraq by the Iraqi National Assembly, becoming the first President elected under the country's new Constitution.
• April 9 – Tens of thousands of demonstrators loyal to Shiite cleric
  Muqtada Sadr march through Baghdad denouncing the US occupation of Iraq, two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Insurgents also kill 15 Iraqi soldiers traveling in a convoy
  south of Baghdad.
• April 14 – Two car bombs kill 18 in Baghdad neighborhood.
• April 15 – At least four people are killed in bombings in the Iraqi city of Samarra and in the capital Baghdad.
• April 16 – Three American soldiers are killed when a Marine base comes under indirect fire near Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
• April 17 – A roadside bomb near the central city of Samarra kills two Iraqi soldiers. Also other bombs kill an American soldier and two civilians.
• April 18 –
  • Iraqi security forces numbering in the hundreds launch an operation to "root out"
    Sunni insurgents at the tip of Iraq's "Triangle of Death
    ".
  • In Baghdad, gunmen
    Major General Adnan al-Qaraghulli, killing him and his son.^[2]
• April 19 – Two American soldiers are killed and four wounded in a car bombing. Another suicide car bomb outside an Iraqi army recruitment center and other attacks in the country kills a dozen people and wounds more than 50.
• April 20 –
  • Iraq's prime minister
    Iyad Allawi
    escapes an assassination attempt when a suicide bomber in a car attacks his convoy near his home. The attack kills two policeman and wounds four.
  • 60 bodies are fished out of the Tigris river south of Baghdad; the bodies appear to not be from a single region or date [3]. Also insurgents execute 19 Iraqi soldiers in a football stadium in Haditha.
• April 21 –
  • A commercial helicopter is shot down about 20 km (12 mi) north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing all 11 people on board. One survivor is shot by insurgents who rush to the site.
  • Two foreign contractors are killed in a roadside bomb on the road to Baghdad airport.
• April 22 – A car bomb explodes outside a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 20.
• April 23 – At least 19 people including nine Iraqi and four US soldiers were killed when US and Iraqi convoys were attacked by insurgents near Baghdad.
• April 24 – At least 22 people are killed and 57 more were wounded in twin bombings in a market near the Ahl al-Beit mosque in Shula, north of Baghdad.
• April 29 – At least 29 people are killed and more than 100 injured in a wave of car bomb attacks targeting Iraqi security forces in and around Baghdad.
• April 30 – Insurgents launch attacks in Baghdad and northern Iraq killing at least 11 Iraqis and wounding more than 40.

May

• May 1 – A suicide attack targets a Kurdish funeral in the northern town of
  Talafar, near Mosul
  leaves at least 25 people dead and injures more than 30 others. Earlier, at least five policemen and four civilians are killed in two separate attacks in Baghdad.
• May 2 – Nine people die in a blast in a busy shopping area of Baghdad. At least three people are killed in an explosion in the east of the capital and four more died in two blasts in the northern city of Mosul.
• May 3 – Clashes in the Iraqi city of Ramadi left 12 insurgents, two Iraqi civilians and one Iraqi soldier dead.
• May 4 – At least 60 people killed and dozens wounded in a suicide bombing at the offices of a Kurdish party in
  Irbil
  , northern Iraq.
• May 5 – At least 24 people die in wave of attacks in Baghdad.
• May 6 – A suicide car bomber strikes a vegetable market in Suwayra, killing at least 58 people and wounding 44. 9 more Iraqi die in another attack.
• May 7 – Two suicide car bombs explode in a central Baghdad square killing 22 people.
• May 11 – At least 71 people are killed and more than 160 wounded as suicide bombers rip through a crowded market and a line of security force recruits in a wave of explosions and gunfire across Iraq.
• May 12 – Police General Iyad Imad Mehdi was shot by unidentified gunmen as he was driving to work.

June

• June 12 –
  • French journalist Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi interpreter Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi were freed after five months of captivity in Iraq.^[4]
  • 28 bodies, believed to mainly be
    Arabs, have been found in Baghdad sidestreets.^[5][6]
  • Four
    US Soldiers die from two roadside bombs in Baghdad, bringing the total death toll of US troops to over 1,700.^[7]
  • Kurdish parliament in Northern Iraq elects Masoud Barzani as a president of the region^[8]
• June 14 – 22 people died following a
  suicide bombing in Kirkuk, northern Iraq.^[9]
• June 15 – Douglas Wood, an Australian hostage residing in California is released in Iraq after 47 days in captivity, and is now being moved to a secret location.^[10]
• June 16 – Five
  U.S. Marines die from a roadside bomb in Ramadi, Western Iraq.^[11]
• June 20 – A
  Irbil, northern Iraq.^[12]

• July 3 –
  Ihab al-Sherif, Egypt's most senior envoy to Iraq is kidnapped by gunmen while buying a newspaper. He was to be promoted to ambassador, representing the first Arab nation to recognize the new Iraqi government.^[13]
• July 8 –
  Ihab al-Sharif is killed in Baghdad. A group related to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility.^[14]
• July 13 – A
  suicide bomber
  kills 34 Iraqi boys and one US soldier in Baghdad. The boys were scooping up candy thrown from an American Humvee.
• July 16 – A
  US occupation of Iraq.^[15]
• July 17 – A fuel truck bomb kills 98 people south of Baghdad as three more suicide car bombers strike the Iraqi capital.^[16]
• July 21 – Algeria's two most senior diplomatic staff in Iraq are kidnapped from outside a restaurant in the western Mansour district.^[17]
• July 24 – At least 39 people, mostly
  Capital of Baghdad.^[18][19]
• July 25 – At least seven people died following a twin
  Capital Baghdad.^[20]
• July 26 –
  • At least 12 workers were shot dead as they were driven away from the
    insurgents.^[21]
  • Insurgents released a video showing the two diplomatic staff from Algeria kidnapped from Baghdad last week.^[22]
• July 27 –
  • Two US troops were killed following a bomb in Baghdad.^[23]
  • Two Algerian diplomatic staff who had been kidnapped by insurgents have been killed.^[24]
  • At least five people have died following an apparent
    Capital, Baghdad.^[25]
  • The interim
    US troops to leave Iraq soon.^[26]
  • Seven
    Insurgents.^[27]

• August Troop E 108th Cavalry, 48th MIB secure and control more than 40% insurgency activity in the "triangle of death". A known route used to supply the insurgency with ammunition and explosives to forces in Fallujah objecting the United States efforts on anti-terrorism.
• August 9 – Fallen soldiers honored in northern Iraq with stiffened restraint of sector
• August 13 – Three American soldiers are killed and one wounded when their vehicle strikes a pressure activated IED near Tuz Khurmatu.
• August 15 – Soldiers from 3rd Platoon, A Troop, 256 Infantry Brigade, engage and kill three enemy insurgents and wound at least four enemy insurgents while defending an attack in Baghdad.
• On 18 August 2005, an improvised explosive device (IED) killed the four-man crew of Saber 70, 3rd Battalion 69th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. in Samarra, Iraq while they served in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• August 28 – Iraq's
  proposed Iraqi constitution
  .
• August 31 – Up to 1,000 people die in a
  stampede on the Al-Aaimmah bridge after rumours of a suicide bomber cause panic amongst pilgrims on the shrine of the Imam Musa al-Kazim
  .

• September 1 – Iraq
  Adel Abdul Mehdi signed instead. Talabani has also said he will refuse to sign the death warrant of Saddam Hussein
  should he be convicted and sentenced to death.
• September 5 – Two British Soldiers have been killed following a roadside IED bomb in Basra, southern Iraq.
• September 7 –
  • 16 people die following a car bomb attack in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
  • American
    militants
    .
• September 10 –
  Iraqi insurgents in Tal Afar
  .
• September 14 – More than 12 suicide bombings in Baghdad kill about 150 people and injure over 500, the largest number killed and wounded in the city during a single day since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 114 people die when a
  Taji, near Baghdad when gunmen storm their homes. Also on this day, Sunni insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi declared "All-out" war against Iraq's Shi'ites in a statement released on a web forum that regularly carries al Qaeda postings.^[28][29][30]
• September 15 – At least 26
  civil servants
  die following an attack on the Ministry of Industry in East Baghdad.
• September 16 – At least 10 people died as a
  Shia Mosque is bombed in Tuz Khurmatu
  , Central Iraq.
• September 17 – At least 30 people die following an explosion at a
  capital
  of Baghdad.
• September 18 –
  • Member of Parliament, Faris Hussein
    .
  • Iraqi Police uncover at least 20 bodies in the river Tigris at Balad, north of Baghdad.
• September 19
  • Two UK soldiers under arrest by Iraqi police in Basra following a car chase. Police officials accused them of planting bombs in a public place while dressed in civilian clothes. After being approached by Iraqi police, the two soldiers reportedly fired on the police, killing two, after which they were apprehended, sparking clashes in which UK tanks came under attack. Two civilians were reportedly killed and three UK soldiers were injured. One Iraqi official claimed that 150 prisoners escaped including the two soldiers. The arrests followed the detention of two high-ranking officials of Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army
  • A US
    Suicide car bomb attack in Mosul
    , northern Iraq.
  • At least 10 people, nine police and one civilian, have died following a series of explosions at a
    Imam Mehdi in Karbala
    .
• September 20 – Five U.S. troops die following three insurgent attacks, two in Ramadi and one in Baghdad.
• September 23 – Five Iraqis, including three members of the
  capital
  Baghdad.
• September 24 –
  torturing
  Iraqi prisoners and declining to investigate complaints.
• September 25 –
  • At least four
    US soldiers in a gunfight following a United States raid into Sadr City
    , eastern Baghdad.
  • Nine people die following a bomb attack on a police station in
    Hilla
    .
  • Over 100,000 people attend Anti Iraq War rally held in Washington, D.C.
• September 26
  • PFC Lynndie England is found guilty of six of seven charges by a military court in connection with the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal
    . A sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin September 27.
  • Five school teachers were killed in an insurgent attack in Iskandariya, south of Baghdad.
  • At least 7 people die when a
    capital
    Baghdad.
• September 27 –
  US soldiers
  in Baghdad.
• September 28 –
  • CAIR
    had earlier called for the investigation after the details of the site came to light.
  • An 82-year-old British man was manhandled out of Labour Party Conference for loudly protesting that
    Conflict in Iraq
    .
• September 29 – Suicide bombers killed at least 114 people in the Shi'ite town of Balad, north of Baghdad.
• September 30 – 10 people die following a
  Hillah
  , Iraq.

October

• October 4 – Five
  U.S. soldiers die during sweeps of insurgent
  -held towns in Iraq.
• October 5 – The
  British Government alleges that Iran is responsible for recent attacks on British military forces
  .
• October 6 – As Iraqi president Jalal Talabani tells UK Prime Minister Tony Blair any troop withdrawal would be a "catastrophe", 10 people die following a bomb near the Ministry of Oil in Baghdad.
• October 7 –
  • At least twenty-nine Iraqi fighters and six U.S. Marines are killed in major fighting in western Iraq.
  • British forces have detained 12 people, including three police officers, in connection with a series of deadly attacks on UK forces in southern Iraq.
• October 10 –
  U.S. soldier
  dead.
• October 11 –
  Talafar
  , North West Iraq.
• October 12 –
  • At least 30 people die following an
    Talafar
    , North Western Iraq, the second such attack in as many days.
  • proposed Iraqi constitution being approved in Saturday's referendum are boosted by a deal struck with a major Sunni Arab party, the Iraqi Islamic Party
    .
• October 13 –
  Iraq's Constitutional Referendum
  : A four-day curfew has been announced in order to hamper terrorists. Early voting has begun.
• October 15 –
  • Jean Ziegler, a Human rights investigator and senior United Nations official, accuses the United States and occupying forces of "using hunger and deprivation of water as a weapon of war against the civilian population" in Iraq.
  • The Iraqi people
    go to the polls
    to vote on whether to approve the proposed constitution, amidst heavy security.
  • Five US Army soldiers and 2 members of the Iraqi Army die in Anbar providence in the only major act of violence committed on this first election day when their Bradley vehicle ran over and IED killing all 7 individuals instantly.
• October 17 – The U.S. claims to have killed 70 insurgents near
  innocent civilians
  , and photographs released show locals burying at least 18 children, including infants.
• October 18 –
  • Two
    U.S. Marines and around four Iraqi insurgents
    are killed in Western Iraq.
  • The
    constitution ratification referendum on October 15, 2005 require that the balloting be audited, which will delay the announcement of the final count. According to the New York Times, "The statement made no mention of the possibility of fraud." though according to the BBC
    "Iraq's independent electoral commission says statistical irregularities in last week's referendum could indicate fraud."
• October 19 –
  Shi'a men in the town of Dujail in 1982. If convicted, Hussein could face capital punishment
  .
• October 20 –
  • Four U.S. soldiers are killed in two insurgent attacks north of Baghdad, Iraq.
  • A
    defense lawyer for one of Saddam Hussein
    's co-defendants is kidnapped.
• October 21 – Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi, the defense lawyer of
  Al-Dujail trial
  , is found dead of gunshot wounds near a Baghdad mosque, after having been kidnapped on Thursday evening by unknown assailants.
• October 22 – Army Staff Sgt.
  George T. Alexander Jr., 34, of Killeen, Texas becomes the 2000th American death in Iraq (AP). U.S.-led forces reported killing 20 "terrorists suspected of sheltering al Qaeda in Iraq foreign fighters" in a series of raids on safe houses near Husaybah.^[31]
• October 24 – The Palestine Hotel, Baghdad which houses the foreign journalists was bombed with three consecutive car bombs. This hotel was rocketed previously on November 21, 2003.
• October 25 –
  in the vote held
  October 15.
• October 26 – Three United States
  Baqouba
  .
• October 27 – At least 20
  Arab ambush in Nahrawan
  , south east of Baghdad.
• October 29 – More than 20 people die when a
  Baquba
  , 60 miles north of Baghdad.
• October 31 –
  • A Pentagon report suggests that since 2004 about 26,000 Iraqi people have been either killed or injured in attacks by insurgents.
  • Reports indicate that 40 people have died following a United States
    Al Qaeda, whereas doctors treating the injured and dead said the dead were all civilians
    , including many women and children.
  • 6 U.S. Soldiers die in two separate insurgent attacks.
  • Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi tries to distance himself from the United States President George W. Bush and claims that he "tried on several occasions to convince the American president not to wage war".

November

• November 1 –
  closed session of the Senate
  over misinformed intelligence that led to the Iraq war and evasion of a congressional inquiry.
• November 3 – Seven U.K. troops accused of murdering an Iraqi civilian have had their cases dropped after a judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence against the soldiers and that the Iraqi witnesses lied.
• November 7 – India's foreign minister,
  K. Natwar Singh, is forced to step down from his post amid allegations that he and the governing Indian National Congress had illegally benefited from the UN Oil-for-Food Programme
  in Iraq.
• November 8 -
  • defense lawyer for Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former Iraqi Vice President under Saddam Hussein
    .
  • Italian state-owned channel
    white phosphorus, a chemical weapon, and Mk-77 napalm bombs were used by the U.S. Army against civilians in Fallujah
    the previous year.
• November 9 – In the United States, the visit of Iraqi Deputy Premier Ahmed Chalabi to the Department of State and Department of the Treasury arouses controversy.
• November 10 – At least 30 people have died following an
  suicide bomb attack on a restaurant
  in Baghdad.
• November 12 –
  • The
    United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, makes a surprise visit to Iraq and expresses support for an Arab League conference discussing cooperation with Iraq's many factions. (BBC)
  • Four people die following a car bomb in Baghdad.
• November 13 – Iraqi president Jalal Talabani tells British television that Iraqi troops could replace UK forces by the close of 2006.
• November 15 – 173 prisoners are found in an
  Iraqi government bunker in Baghdad, having been starved, beaten and tortured
  .
• November 18 -
  • A series of
    Shia worshippers at two Shi'ite mosques in the town of Khanaqin in religiously-mixed Diyala, destroying the structures. 80 people were also wounded. In Baghdad two car bombs
    destroy the blast wall protecting a hotel housing foreign journalists and kill eight Iraqis.
  • Two car bombs strike outside a Baghdad
    interior ministry
    building at the centre of a detainee abuse scandal.
  • The
    R-California) "expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately" by a vote of 403-3. Ohio Republican Jean Schmidt is forced by Democratic (and quiet Republican) protests to apologise to Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha
    for reading a letter from a marine in which those wishing to "cut and run" from Iraq are called "cowards".
• November 19 – In a speech to
  American presence in Iraq
  should continue.
• November 20 –
  • At least forty people died following a series of insurgent and American led attacks.
  • The Independent reports that British-trained police tortured and killed at least two Iraqis using electric drills.
  • One British soldier dies following a
    roadside Bomb in Basra
    , southern Iraq.
• November 21 –
  • Five Iraqi civilians, including three children, are shot dead by
    Baquba
    . The minibus they were travelling in failed to stop as it approached a roadblock.
  • Arab League members demand a timetable for the withdrawal of coalition troops from Iraq.^[32]
• November 23 –
  • One suicide
    Iraqi police in an ambush in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk
    .
  • The
    Prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, states that the Italian Army
    could leave Iraq by the end of 2006.
• November 24 –
  • 15 people die after a
    Hilla
    .
  • Prisoners at an Iraqi detention centre revealed to the BBC details of apparent widespread use of torture and abuse in prisons and detention centres in Iraq.
  • At least thirty people have died following a
    capital
    of Baghdad.
  • Iraqi Army
    .
• November 25 – German
  archaeologist Susanne Osthoff
  is kidnapped in Iraq.
• November 26 – Four Western peace activists are
  kidnapped and held hostage
  by a previously unknown group and threatened with execution unless the United States releases all Iraqi prisoners.
• November 27 -
  • Four
    Westerners
    have been kidnapped in Iraq while in Baghdad.
  • The former
    Government of Iraq are as bad now as they were in the time of Saddam Hussein
    .
• November 28 -
  • Iraqi
    human rights abuses in Iraq were as bad now as they were under Saddam Hussein. Talabani stated that the government was against any form of torture or harming of prisoners
    .
  • The tribunal trying Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants adjourned for a second time after hearing posthumous evidence.
• November 30 –
  • The
    information operations" troops
    . The stories, usually praising the work of the United States Military, appeared in Baghdad newspapers.
  • A new campaign against Iraqi insurgents begins with joint U.S.–Iraqi troops conducting Operation Iron Hammer in western Iraq.
  • New policy document on American involvement in Iraq, "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq", is published by the White House.

December

• December – The U.S. has long maintained its involvement there is with the support of the Iraqi people, but in 2005 when asked directly, 82–87% of the Iraqi populace was opposed to U.S. occupation and wanted U.S. troops to leave. 47% of Iraqis supported attacking U.S. troops. The poll taken also showed that a large majority of Iraqis favored setting a timeline for the withdrawal of US forces, though this majority divided over whether it should be six months or two years.^[33]
• December 2–10
  Falluja
  .
• December 3 – An attack about 60 miles from Baghdad, involving a roadside bomb, kills 19 Iraqi soldiers.
• December 4 -
  • Former chief of the RUC police force will head a British investigation into possible infiltration of Iraq's police force by insurgents.
  • Former prime minister
    Muslim shrine under a hail of debris by a mob
    .
• December 6 -
  • Two
    suicide bombers kill 27 Iraqi Police
    at a police academy in Baghdad.
  • Deposed Iraq president Saddam Hussein
    has refused to attend his trial for crimes against humanity, throwing the sometimes chaotic Iraqi proceedings into further confusion.
• December 7 – Nobel Prize in Literature winner Harold Pinter accuses Britain and the United States of engaging in state terrorism in Iraq and demands the prosecution of George W. Bush and Tony Blair.
• December 8 –
  • Truck bomb detonates on checkpoint 44 killing one U.S. soldier and wounding many Iraqi police
  • At least 32 people have died following an attack on a bus in Baghdad.
• December 13 –
  • Four American soldiers are killed following an
    capital
    Baghdad.
  • The U.S. ambassador issues a statement saying that the total number of abused prisoners found so far in jails run by the Shiite-led Interior Ministry is about 121.
  • The President of the United States, George W. Bush, acknowledges the deaths of approximately 30,000 Iraqi civilians since the commencement of the Iraq War.
• December 14 –
  intelligence
  , and accepts responsibility for that decision. He maintains that his decision was still justified.
• December 15 –
  Iraqi National Assembly under the new Constitution of Iraq
  .
• December 16 –
  • troops
    from Iraq.
  • Iraqi Police claim that they captured Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2004 and then released him by mistake.
• December 18 – President George W. Bush defends the Iraq War in a rare primetime Oval Office address. He said, "Not only can we win the war in Iraq—we are winning the war in Iraq."
• December 19 –
  • Early returns in the
    Iraqi legislative election, December 2005
    indicate that religious parties have done quite well, winning up 80% of the vote. Election officials are investigating more than 1,000 complaints about irregularities, 20 of them considered serious. Final results will not be released until early January.
  • An
    Ronald Allen Schulz
    .
• December 21 – The former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, claims in court that American officials tortured him. Part of his testimony is censored and the US strongly denies the accusations.
• December 22 – Tony Blair makes a surprise visit to Basra in Iraq, to address 4,000 British soldiers and discuss withdrawal. He states that "we can eventually draw down our own capability" once the Iraqi forces "build up their own strength".
• December 27 –
  • The new right-wing government of Poland announces it will keep troops in Iraq until the end of 2006, longer than previously planned.
  • A
    Shia city of Karbala
    south of Baghdad, Iraqi police said.
• December 29 – The
  101st Airborne
  .

Notable deaths

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2010)

• January 4 –
  Ali Al-Haidri
  , governor of Baghdad Governorate
• March 4 – Nicola Calipari, Italian secret agent

See also

• Iraq War

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2005 in Iraq.