AUGUST 2, 1990

Iraq invades Kuwait.

JANUARY 17, 1991

U.S.-led coalition launches air war against Iraq, liberating Kuwait just over a month later.

DECEMBER 16, 1998

U.N. weapons inspectors withdraw from Iraq after Iraq is accused of failing to cooperate with search for weapons of mass destruction. Hours later, four days of U.S.-British air and missile strikes on Baghdad begin.

FEBRUARY 16, 2001

Executing President Bush’s first military attack order and the first air stike outside no-fly zones in more than two years, American warplanes join British fighters in bombing sites around Baghdad; 24 planes hit air defense radars and other targets that U.S. officials say pose growing threat to allied air patrols.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

In an apparent terrorist attack, two planes crash into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon building in Arlington, VA. A fourth plane crashes in Shanksville, Pa.

NOVEMBER 21, 2001

During a visit with troops in Fort Campbell, Ky., Bush discusses carrying the fight to other nations that support terrorists. “Afghanistan is just the beginning of the war against terror,” he says. “Across the world and across the years, we will fight these evil ones.”

JANUARY 2002

Bush vows in his State of the Union address to ensure that the “axis of evil”—Iraq, Iran and North Korea—will not threaten the U.S. Soon after, senior politicians begin to line up behind a potential war against Iraq. Iraq continues to refuse weapons inspections. The Bush administration pledges $2.4 million to the dissident Iraqi National Congress.

FEBRUARY 2002