War on Terror Timeline

Below is a chronological list of key events that took place between the 9/11 attacks till the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden .

Sept. 13, 2001: President George W. Bush says apprehending bin Laden is his top goal. “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden,” he says. “It is our No. 1 priority and we will not rest until we find him.”

Oct. 7, 2001: The war in Afghanistan begins. Shortly after the first U.S. missiles hit Kabul, television news channels air footage of bin Laden that was clearly pre-recorded. Dressed in combat fatigues, he says: “I say these events have split the whole world into two camps: the camp of the faithful and the camp of the infidels. Every Muslim should support his religion.”

November 2001: U.S. soldiers start distributing leaflets in Afghanistan offering a $25 million reward for bin Laden. The bounty is later raised to $27 million with donations from the Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association.

December 2001: The Battle at Tora Bora rages in Afghanistan. Before escaping U.S. capture, bin Laden signs a last will and testament on Dec. 14, 2001.

Dec. 13, 2001: The Pentagon releases a video it claims shows bin Laden discussing the Sept. 11 attacks with guests at an al-Qaida dinner at a house in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In the tape, he says the attack surpassed his expectations.

Dec. 26, 2001: In a tape filmed to mark three months since Sept. 11, a tired-looking and gaunt bin Laden appears to take credit for the attacks. The background is a brown blanket used to hide any clues that could disclose his location.

Oct. 12, 2002: More than 200 people, citizens of 21 countries, are killed in a terrorist bombing on the resort island of Bali. The blast is attributed to Jemaah Islamiah, a pan-Asian network of Muslim extremists with ties to al-Qaida.

Oct. 23, 2002: About 50 armed Chechen militants seize a theater in Moscow where more than 800 people are gathered for a performance. More than 120 hostages die when security services gas the building.

Nov. 12, 2002: Al-Jazeera broadcasts an audiotape purported to be by bin Laden in which he praises terrorist attacks on Bali, in Moscow and against a French tanker off the coast of Yemen. He links Australia’s role in East Timor to the attack in Bali. Doubts later emerge about the tape’s authenticity.

Feb. 11, 2003: Al-Jazeera broadcasts an audiotape of bin Laden calling on Iraqis to carry out suicide attacks against U.S. forces. Washington calls it evidence of an alliance between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein.

March 20, 2003: The U.S. invades Iraq.

Sept. 10, 2003: Al-Jazeera airs a videotape that appears to show a gaunt bin Laden walking with his second-in-command, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, through mountainous terrain. The two men refer to the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Dec. 13, 2003: Saddam Hussein is captured. He is brought to trial under the Iraqi interim government. On Nov. 5 2006, he is convicted of charges related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shi’ites and was sentenced to death by hanging. Saddam is executed on Dec. 30, 2006.

March 11, 2004: Ten bombs go off almost simultaneously in trains carrying commuters into Madrid. The attacks kill 190 people and wound about 2,000.

April 15, 2004: In a purported tape of bin Laden, the speaker offers a truce to European nations that decide not to “interfere” in Muslim nations but rules out any such deal for the U.S.

May 7, 2004: A recorded message attributed to bin Laden offers 10 kg of gold to anyone who kills the U.S. administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, or U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Oct. 29, 2004: A videotape surfaces days before the U.S. presidential election in which bin Laden admits responsibility for Sept. 11 and threatens new attacks on the U.S.

July 7, 2005: Four explosions strike London’s public transportation system, killing more than 35 people and wounding at least 700.

Jan. 19, 2006: After more than a year of silence from bin Laden, a tape purportedly recorded by the al-Qaida leader warns that a new wave of terror attacks are in preparation. It also offers a truce to the U.S. if it withdraws from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Feb. 20, 2006: A new, more complete version of the Jan. 19 tape appears on a militant website in Egypt. In it, bin Laden vows never to be captured alive.

May 24, 2006: A message purported to be from bin Laden claims that Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man convicted in the U.S. in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, had nothing to do with the plot. Moussaoui was sentenced to six consecutive life terms for not telling the FBI about the plot.

June 30, 2006: An audiotape purported to be from bin Laden eulogizes Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike on June 7.

January 2010: An audiotape allegedly from bin Laden claims responsibility for an attempt to blow up a plane en route to Michigan on Christmas Day 2009, and it warns the U.S. of more attacks.

May 1, 2011: bin Laden is killed in a U.S. raid on his compound in Pakistan.

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/news/world/timeline-key-events-in-the-war-on-terror-1/nMrD7/