2001

- Nov 26: US President George W. Bush warns force could be used if Iraq continues to prevent UN weapons inspectors, who left Iraq in 1998, from returning to the country.

2002

- Jan 29: Bush says Iraq, Iran and North Korea make up an "axis of evil" which must be thwarted.

- July 8: Bush says Washington wishes to see a change of regime in Baghdad and will use all means to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

- July 12-14: Iraqi officers in exile and opposition representatives set up a military council in London to topple Saddam.

- Aug 1: Washington renews for a year an economic and financial embargo on Iraq.

- Aug 2: Iraq invites chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to Baghdad to discuss an eventual resumption of the inspections. US Secretary of State Colin Powell refuses an invitation.

- Sept 10: Iraq calls on Arabs to attack US material and human interests across the world if there is a US attack on its soil.

- Sept 12: Bush delivers an ultimatum to Iraq at the 57th UN General Assembly to disarm immediately.

- Oct 2: The US unblocks eight million dollars in aid to the Iraqi opposition.

- Oct 11: The headquarters of the US Army 5th Corps in Europe and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in California are moved to Kuwait.

- Oct 21: Washington presents a revised resolution on Iraqi disarmament to the UN Security Council.

- Nov 2: Aircraft carrier USS Constellation leaves San Diego in California for the Gulf with six other vessels.

- Nov 8: Resolution 1441 on Iraqi disarmament is unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council and accepted on November 13 by Iraq.

- Nov 27: UN weapons inspections resume in Iraq after a four-year hiatus.

2003

- Jan 27: Blix tells the UN Security Council after 60 days of inspections that Iraq is defying international demands to disarm.

- Feb 5: Powell addresses the UN Security Council, offering what he calls detailed proof that Iraq is hiding weapons of mass destruction and maintaining links to Al-Qaeda.

- Feb 10: A major row erupts within NATO after France, Belgium and Germany block a request that the alliance prepare to aid Turkey in case of an attack by Iraq.

- Feb 14: The UN Security Council holds a crucial meeting to hear an updated report by the chief weapons inspectors. A majority of the 15 council members call for continuation of the inspections.

- Feb 15: Millions of people across the globe take to the streets to protest US war plans.

- Feb 25: Bush says only full disarmament by Iraq can avoid war, adding a second resolution authorising force against Baghdad would be useful but was not necessary

- Feb 27: The number of US troops in the Gulf region reaches 225,000

- March 1: The Turkish parliament refuses to allow 62,000 US soldiers to be deployed in Turkey.

Baghdad begins destroying banned Al-Samoud missiles in line with UN demands.

- March 5: France, Germany and Russia vow to oppose a new UN resolution backing military action against Iraq

- March 6: Bush tells a press conference on prime time television that the Iraq crisis is in the final stages of diplomacy.

- March 7: Blix and ElBaradei give a new report on Iraqi disarmament to the UN Security Council.

- March 10: French President Jacques Chirac goes on national television to say "France will vote no" to a second resolution authorising war on Iraq whatever the circumstances. Russia also vows to veto such a resolution.

March 12: Britain proposes a series of tests that it says Baghdad should fulfil in order to avoid a war. However Washington says time has all but run out.

- March 15: Hundreds of thousands of people join anti-war marches around the world.

- March 16: Britain, Spain and the United States hold a summit meeting on the Portuguese Azores islands in mid-Atlantic, with Bush saying the following day would be the world's "moment of truth" on Iraq.

- March 17: President George W. Bush goes on national television and gives Saddam Hussein and his sons 48 hours to flee Iraq or face a US-led invasion.

President Saddam Hussein puts his country on a war footing, dividing it into four military zones.

- March 18: Iraq rejects the ultimatum as Saddam says his country is preparing for the "last battle", and the United Nations pulls its inspectors out of Iraq.

Turkey readies to open its air space to US forces.

- March 19: US and British forces take up battle lines in the desert as the US ultimatum is set to expire.

WAR.WIRE