2008 in Iraq

Events in the year 2008 in Iraq.

Incumbents President: Jalal Talabani Prime Minister: Nouri al-Maliki Vice President: Tariq al-Hashimi, Adil Abdul-Mahdi Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (autonomous region) President: Massoud Barzani Prime Minister: Barham Salih Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government President: Massoud Barzani Prime Minister: Nechervan Barzani

Events

January

1 January – A suicide bomber kills more than 30 people and injures 32 in an attack in Baghdad. The blast is targeted at mourners at the funeral of a Shia army officer, Nabil Hussein Jassim, who had himself been killed by a car bombing in central Baghdad three days earlier. 7 January – A double bombing in Baghdad kills at least 14 people, including Riyadh Samarrai, leader of the US-backed Adhamiya Awakening group, which fights al-Qaeda in Sunni areas of the city. 8 January – Operation Phantom Phoenix begins in an attempt to hunt down the remaining 200 al-Qaeda extremists in the province of Diyala following the end of the previous offensive. The operation also includes targeting insurgent elements in Salah ad-Din province. Nine Americans and up to 30 insurgents are killed in the first two days of fighting. 9 January – One of the largest surveys to date of Iraqi casualties of violence since the US-led invasion in 2003 is released and reports that around 151,000 Iraqis have died. The study by the Iraq Family Health Survey Study Group involved a survey of Iraqi homes and estimated the number of violent deaths at 151,000 (with a 95% uncertainty range of 104,000 to 223,000) for the period March 2003 through June 2006.Violence-Related Mortality in Iraq from 2002 to 2006 Iraq Family Health Survey Study Group Published at New England Journal of Medicine 9 January 2008 (10.1056/NEJMsa0707782) 10 January – Continuing offensives as part of Operation Phantom Phoenix saw over 18,000 kg (40,000 lb) of explosives dropped by two USAF B-1 Lancers and four F-16 fighter aircraft on al-Qaeda positions in the Arab Jabour area of Baghdad. 11 January – Snow fell in Baghdad for the first time in over 50 years. Thawing on contact with the ground, the snow failed to settle, although residents gathered in the streets to watch the flurries. Anecdotal evidence suggests snow may have fallen in northern parts of the city 40 years ago however the 2008 snowfall is thought to be the first in living memory.Snow Day in the Sands of Baghdad Associated Press, 11 January 2008 13 January – The Federal government of Iraq announces the passing of a law which will allow former members of the Baath Party to take up military and civil service positions. Following the cessation of formal hostilities in 2003 the US-led administration under Paul Bremer had prohibited former Baath members from holding positions. The new law, aimed at reconciliation, offers an amnesty in respect of Baath party members whose re-appointment is not resisted following a three-month review period. Pensions may also be offered to former officials regardless of whether they take up new positions. 14 January – A senior Iraq Appeals Court judge is assassinated in the Mansour district of Baghdad. Jawdat Naeib was shot (along with his driver) when his car was ambushed. He was also a member of the Supreme Judicial Council, the body which supervises and nominates members of the judiciary in Iraq. 15 January – United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice visits Baghdad meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari. 16 January – A suicide bomber blows herself up near a Shia mosque in Khan Bani Saad, a town south of Baqubah, the capital of Diyala Governorate. 11 people were killed and eighteen others wounded in the attack. 17 January – The International Monetary Fund and the United Nations release reports suggesting Iraq is facing a period of economic growth and a stabilising political process. The IMF's Middle East and Central Asia department, said GDP growth may exceed 7% in 2008 and hold at between 7% and 8% in 2009 (in each case dependent on continuing oil production). Meanwhile, the UN praised political reconciliation efforts exemplified by the new laws regarding former Baathists returning to public employment. 22 January – The parliament of Iraq approves a new flag for the country. The new design no longer has the three green stars of the old flag, which represented the ideals of the Baath Party.Saddam stars and scrawl dropped from Iraq flag , AFP, 22 January 2008 24 January – A suicide bomber kills a high-ranking police chief and two other police officers in Mosul at the site of an explosion that had killed at least 34 people and wounded at least 217 the day before. Brigadier General Salah Mohammed al-Jubouri, the director of police for Ninawa Governorate, was inspecting the scene of Wednesday's blast when gunmen ambushed his convoy. 25 January – After successive suicide attacks in Mosul in recent days, killing over 40 people including the city's police chief, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announces that Iraqi security forces and American troops were gathering for what he described as a "decisive" offensive against al-Qaeda in Iraq and its allies.

February 1 February – Two bombs explode in Baghdad animal markets killing 99 people and wounding 200. The Iraqi government claims that the bombs were carried by women and detonated remotely. 9 February – Two children in Baghdad die after eating cake contaminated with thallium and at least nine others are affected. The cake was given to people at an Iraqi sports club near the capital. The Secretary of the Iraqi Air Force and his daughter were among the victims. 13 February – The Iraqi parliament passes provincial powers law setting out relationship between the provinces and the central Iraqi government. It also demands that provincial elections be held before the end of 2008. These elections are scheduled for 1 OctoberIraq provincial elections on 1 October, Yahoo News, 14 February 2008 Also, the Iraqi parliament passes 2008 budget and an amnesty law. 19 February – The Iraq war has strained U.S. forces to the point where they could not fight another large-scale war, according to a survey of military officers. Tours of duty for U.S. soldiers in Iraq may be cut from 15 months to 12 if current improvements in security hold up. 22 February – Approximately 10,000 Turkish Armed Forces cross the border into northern Iraq in an operation against Kurdish rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The move followed an aerial bombing campaign which began on 21 February. Moqtada Sadr orders a renewal of the ceasefire which the Mahdi Army has observed for the previous six months. 24 February – Iraq's government has urged Turkey to rethink its military incursion against Kurdish rebels operating from bases in northern Iraq amid fears the escalating fighting could destabilize the region. A leader of a Sunni Awakening Council group, Sheikh Ibrahim Mutayri al-Mohammedi, is killed in a suicide bombing in Falluja. 25 February – The White House said it is in "constant dialogue" with Iraq and Turkey about the Turkish military operation against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. A man in a wheelchair blew himself up in a northern Iraqi police station, killing three National Police officers, including a commander. About 8,000 of the 30,000 "surge" troops sent to Iraq in 2007 will not go home as planned summer 2008, the Pentagon told. 26 February – One of five Britons believed to have been kidnapped 29 May 2007 in Baghdad pleaded with the British government to release prisoners sought by his captors so "we can go home." 29 February – The cousin of Saddam Hussein Ali Hassan al-Majid, known by the nickname "Chemical Ali" for his role in a chemical weapons attack on Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s, will be executed, Iraqi officials told. According to reports given by the Catholic News Service, Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was kidnapped from his car in the Al-Nur district of the city; his bodyguards and driver were killed. The kidnappers demanded that the Assyrian Christians contribute to the jihad, through jizya. The captors are also believed to have demanded the release of Arab (Non-Iraqi) detainees and that they be paid a ransom for Rahho's release.

March 1 March – Twenty-nine U.S. troops died in Iraq during February 2008, the third-lowest total of the nearly five-year-old war. 3 March – A pair of car bombings targeting Iraqi security forces killed at least 18 people and wounded dozens in Baghdad. 6 March – Fifty-three people were killed and 125 were wounded in two bomb attacks in a Baghdad commercial district. 8 March – A mass grave holding an estimated 100 bodies was found in an orchard in Iraq's Diyala Governorate, just north of Baqubah. 10 March – In 2008, its fifth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the "burn" rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz reported. Two bombings, in Baghdad and Diyala Governorate, killed eight U.S. troops. 12 March – Eleven militants were killed by Iraqi police raids against the Mahdi Army, after radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr declared that members of the Mahdi Army could defend themselves if attacked by U.S. troops.AP , 12 March 2008 13 March – It was reported that Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho's body had been found buried in a shallow grave near Mosul. Officials of the Chaldean Church in Iraq said they had received a call telling them where the body was buried. Reports over the cause of death were somewhat contradictory. An official of the morgue in Mosul said the archbishop, who had health problems, including high blood pressure and diabetes, might have died of natural causes. Police at the Mosul morgue said the Archbishop appeared to have been dead a week and his body bore no bullet wounds. He is believed to be the highest-ranking Chaldean Catholic Church official killed since the 2003 conflict began. 17 March – A report by the International Committee of the Red Cross suggested that Iraq was on the brink of a full-scale humanitarian crisis some 5 years after US-led military operations began. The report indicated that millions of Iraqis continue to have little or no access to clean water, sanitation or healthcare. A female suicide bomber apparently targeting Shiite worshippers killed at least 33 people and wounded at least 50 in Karbala. 18 March – The smuggling of stolen antiquities from Iraq's rich cultural heritage is helping finance Iraqi extremist groups, said the U.S. investigator who led the initial investigation into the looting of Baghdad's National Museum. 19 March – The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, said Iran continues to support Iraqi insurgents and Syria is allowing foreign fighters passage into Iraq. The war in Iraq is widely unpopular among U.S.-citizens: A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll found only 32 percent of Americans support the conflict. And 61 percent said they want the next president to remove most U.S. troops within a few months of taking office. 20 March – The International Rescue Committee issued a report detailing the plight of Iraqi refugees on the five-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. In a videotape, broadcast by Al Jazeera, the voice identified as Osama bin Laden declares "Iraq is the perfect base to set up the jihad to liberate Palestine."