On March 19, 2003,
President George W. Bush invaded Iraq
under the banner of national security. On that day, the president set in motion
events that would continue for over five years, and the prospect of another
five years seems an unbelievably sad possibility. Five years of fighting, five
years of death and destruction, five years of lies and deception.

While the all-consuming stress of finals week was
distracting UCSD students from reality, the five-year anniversary of the war in
Iraq came and
went with relatively little fanfare, save a small demonstration in downtown San
Diego.

With the 2008 presidential election drawing near — and more
importantly, as students start to step outside the sheltered bubble of the UCSD
campus and enter the real world — a thorough understanding of the war becomes
essential.

Barely a week after declaring war, Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld confidently told ABC’s “This Week” that the Bush administration knew
the location of Iraq’s
weapons of mass destruction: “They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad
and east, west, south and north somewhat.” Sounds like he had absolutely no
idea, right?

The American government invaded Iraq
under the pretext of finding Saddam Hussein’s supposed WMDs and making the
world a safer place. Bush refused to even wait for United Nations inspectors to
conduct a thorough search of Iraq
for any nuclear weapons, instead choosing to launch headfirst into a war
without the consent of the majority of U.S.
allies. So much for global democracy, huh? To date, not one single weapon of
any such capability has been found in Iraq,
yet the fifth year of the war has given way to a sixth.

On May 1, 2003, not
even two months into the war, Bush stood atop an aircraft carrier in front of a
banner stating “mission accomplished” and told the American public and
servicemembers: “My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have
ended.” Since that date, a war based on a lie has rambled on unsuccessfully for
five years.

Fast-forward almost a year to April 28, 2004, when photos of the Abu Ghraib torture
pictures were leaked to the press. The government tried to act like this
blatant violation of the Geneva Convention was a first-time occurrence. Did
they really think we are ignorant enough to believe that? Apparently they did,
and it makes me sick to think that maybe we just might be.

Aside from sending young men and women into a war of private
self-interest, the Bush administration did not provide troops with adequate
supplies and shrugged off its responsibility to protect our soldiers.

While addressing a crowd of ground troops on Dec. 8, 2004, Rumsfeld was questioned
by very discontented soldiers about why they lacked armor and supplies. The
secretary’s response? “You go to war with the army you have … not the army
you might want or wish to have.” Apparently billions upon billions can be spent
on making planes and tankers produced by Bush’s fishing buddies via no-bid
contracts, but the funds for keeping troops alive just don’t exist.

U.S.
weapons inspectors ended their search for WMDs on Jan. 12, 2005, claiming that none could be found in Iraq.
Yet the war continues.

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) called for the withdrawal of troops
on Nov. 18, 2005,
representing a growing opposition among American senators and congressmen who
see the need for a change in direction concerning Iraq,
even if they were the same politicians who originally gave permission for Bush
to invade the Middle Eastern country.

March 19, 2006:
Time magazine revealed that U.S. Marines killed unarmed Iraqi civilians in
Haditha the previous November. After the U.S.
government tried to cover up the murders as the result of a roadside bomb, the
truth came out — a group of marines went on a murderous rampage, killing 15
innocent Iraqis, including seven women and three children.

Vice President Dick Cheney used the anniversary of the Sept.
11 attacks to remind the American public of the dangers of exercising its
freedom of expression. While giving a speech on Sept. 11, 2006, Cheney said criticizing the war only
serves to aid terrorists and encourage their cause.

U.S.
ally and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced a plan for the
withdrawal of all UK
forces from the region on Feb. 21,
2007. Looks like we’re in this thing on our own.

On April 26, 2007,
the Senate passed a bill to withdraw troops by a 51-46 vote. A month later,
Bush vetoed the bill and talk of bringing the troops home was shelved. Gotta
love those checks and balances.

Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq,
told a congressional hearing that he did “not know” if the Iraq
war makes America
any safer.

Dec. 6, 2007:
Only 36 percent of military families now approve of the war.

March 19, 2008:
The five-year anniversary of the war is reached, but hardly any of Bush’s goals
have been accomplished. More than 4,000 Americans have died, along with
hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Spending for the war easily exceeds $500
billion and that number will only increase.

The facts and events in this timeline are nowhere near
complete, but hopefully it will give an insight into the atrocities that have
been committed by our government over the past five years and will motivate us
to do everything we can to make sure that five years from now, a similar
timeline does not exist.