1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
Federal News Network presents a daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.
On this day in 2003, the U.S., along with coalition forces primarily from the United Kingdom, initiated war on Iraq. Just after explosions began in the capital of Baghdad, U.S. President George W. Bush announced in a televised address, “At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.” Bush and his advisers built much of their case for war on the idea that Iraq, under dictator Saddam Hussein, possessed or was in the process of building weapons of mass destruction – a claim which turned out to be false and based on faulty intelligence. In response to the attacks, Republic of Iraq radio in Baghdad announced, “the evil ones, the enemies of God, the homeland and humanity, have committed the stupidity of aggression against our homeland and people.” Coalition forces toppled Hussein’s regime and captured Iraq’s major cities in just three weeks, leading Bush to declare the end of major combat operations on May 1 that year. But an insurgency has continued an intense guerrilla war in Iraq and the U.S. did not declare an end to the war in Iraq until Dec. 15, 2011.
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