News Timeline: North America 2005

 

January 12: United States

U.S. intelligence officials confirm that the United States has stopped searching for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. The existence of WMD was the justification for the United States to invade Iraq two years ago.

January 19: United States

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approves Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state after two days of tough questioning about the first Bush administration’s record over the Iraq war. Rice is the first black female secretary of state.

January 20: United States

A U.S. judge dismisses a case brought by seven prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detainee center who challenged the legality of their detention. He also upholds the Bush administration’s decision that foreign nationals captured and detained outside the U.S. have no constitutional rights.

January 20: United States

President George W. Bush and vice president Dick Cheney are sworn in for a second term. The security level around Capitol Hill and the White House is unprecedented, with about 6,000 police and 7,000 military personnel put on alert during inauguration.

January 30: United States

U.S. oil companies, including Occidental and Chevron Texaco, win most contracts for oil exploration in Libya at its first open license auction. Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa and is seeking massive foreign investment. Libya wants to raise its oil output to 2.1 million barrels a day by the end of the decade.

February 2: United States

Two U.S. soldiers, Sgt. Javal Davis and Spc. Roman Krol, plead guilty to charges of abusing detainees at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, which brings to six the number of U.S. soldiers held responsible for the abuses that sparked international outrage.

February 11: United States

Russia rejects U.S. claims that its planned arms deal with Venezuela breaks international law and poses a danger for the arms to end up in Colombian rebel hands. Russia says Venezuela is just modernizing its armaments. The shipment consists of 100,000 automatic rifles and a number of helicopters. Venezuela also considers purchasing Russian MiG-29 fighter jets.

March 31: United States

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is confirmed as the new head of the World Bank after getting crucial European support. His nomination has been controversial because of his instrumental role in the Iraq invasion plans and lack of development experience.

April 26: United States

The U.S. arrests Afghan drug lord Bashir Noorzai, Afghanistan’s number-one opium trafficker. A 2004 U.S. Congressional report had identified Noorzai as an important financier of extremist organizations such as the Taleban and al-Qaeda. His arrest is seen as a turning point in Afghanistan’s fight against the opium and heroin trade.

May 18: United States

The city of Los Angeles elects its first Hispanic mayor in over 100 years, Antonio Villarigosa, the son of a Mexican immigrant. Villarigosa beats the incumbent with about 59 percent of the vote. His win indicates both shifting demographics favoring Latino political success and Villarigosa’s personal popularity among many voters.

May 20: Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin of the Liberal Party wins a no-confidence vote by a single ballot. Martin’s difficulty stems from a contracting scandal during a previous Liberal government. A new report on the scandal does not implicate Martin, but the opposition claims the government is tainted.

May 26: United States

President Bush welcomes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the U.S., marking his first meeting with a Palestinian leader. President Bush pledges aid for housing and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Palestine–U.S. relations have improved since the death of Yasser Arafat and the subsequent election of Abbas.

June 8: Organization of American States

The Organization of American States (OAS) concludes its summit in Florida, during which the organization turns down the U.S. proposal to monitor Latin American democracy. The move is seen as a defeat for U.S. policy in the region, in addition to the recent rejection of the U.S.’s pick for a new OAS leader.

June 22: United States

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Phan Van Khai winds up a three-day official visit to the United States, the first by a Vietnamese communist leader. The Prime Minister met with President George W. Bush and with business leaders. Despite some misgivings over Vietnam’s human rights record, the Bush administration uses this trip to deepen its policy of engagement with Vietnam.

June 29: United States

Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee and U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld sign a 10-year agreement to increase bilateral cooperation on military affairs, such as weapon production and missile defense. Signed during Mukherjee’s first trip to the U.S. as Defense Minister, the accord is a sign of the growing relationship between the two nations.

June 30: United States

President George Bush orders the creation of the National Security Service (NSS), a domestic intelligence unit within the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The NSS will fulfill one of several recommendations made by an independent commission to improve intelligence capabilities after information concerning WMD in Iraq proved incorrect.

July 5: United States

The United States gets rid of cotton subsidies that have been ruled unfair by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Other countries argue that the subsidies supported the U.S.’s position as the world’s largest cotton exporter by distorting prices and harming competition.

July 14: United States

A U.S. military report released at a Senate committee hearing finds evidence of degrading and abusive treatment of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba. The report states that the Pentagon authorized most of the techniques. However, it also states that no cases of torture or inhumane treatment were found. Human rights groups have heavily criticized the treatment of prisoners at the prison camp.

August 2: United States

U.S. President George Bush signs the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) into law. The agreement between the U.S., Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic will open up the market for U.S. goods by eliminating tariffs. American opponents of CAFTA fear that the agreement will result in heavy job losses if textile and sugar industries move to Central America.

August 4: Canada

Michaelle Jean, a Haitian-born journalist from Quebec, is appointed governor general. Jean is the nation’s first black governor general, as well as the third woman to hold the position. As representative of the Queen of England in Canada, Jean’s role is largely ceremonial.

August 23: Canada

Canada deploys two warships to the Arctic north to demonstrate territorial sovereignty in a land dispute with Denmark. The two nations claim ownership over Hans Island, an uninhabited rock in the eastern Arctic region. The islands, which are unlikely to be rich in natural resources, were not part of border discussions between Denmark and Canada over 30 years ago.

August 26: United States

Uzbekistan’s Senate backs the government’s eviction of U.S. forces from the Karshi-Khanabad airbase. The United States uses the base for operations in Afghanistan. Relations between the two countries have been tense since Washington criticized Uzbekistan’s violent crackdown on an Andijan protest in May. Details of the crackdown are disputed, although human rights groups say hundreds of civilians were killed.

August 29: United States

Hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf Coast region, devastating the southern areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Levees are breached in New Orleans, flooding 80 percent of the city and resulting in chaos as people try to evacuate. Katrina is one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the U.S.

September 6: United States

U.S. troops transfer military control of Najaf, a Shia holy city and the base of Ayatollah Ali Sistani, to Iraqi soldiers. It is the first of a series of transfers in preparation for an eventual withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq. The U.S. has not set a deadline for pulling out of the country, waiting instead for evidence that Iraqi forces can maintain security.

September 27: United States

Lynndie England, a private in the U.S. military, is convicted by a military panel of abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. She is the last of nine army reservists charged in the case, all of whom pled guilty or were found guilty. The abuse, which was captured in graphic photographs, sparked international condemnation and outrage.

September 29: United States

John Roberts is sworn in as the new chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court after the Senate confirms his nomination with a vote of 78 to 22. He replaces William Rehnquist, who died earlier in the month after serving on the court for over 30 years. Roberts is the youngest chief justice on the Court in 200 years.

October 6: United States

The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly votes to add an amendment to a military spending bill that will outlaw cruel or degrading treatment of detainees held in U.S. custody abroad. The Bush administration opposed the amendment, claiming it would limit its fight against terrorism. The Pentagon blames the recent abuses in the Iraqi Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay on a few rogue soldiers and army officers rather than on the overall U.S. policy. The main advocate of the motion, Senator John McCain, says the amendment sends a clear message to the world that the U.S. does not condone torture.

October 25: United States

U.S. civil rights legend Rosa Parks dies at age ninety-two. In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the white section of a Montgomery, Alabama, public bus, which sparked a bus boycott organized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and helped catalyze the emerging civil rights movement. His movement led to the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawing discrimination in the U.S.

October 28: United States

Vice-Presidential Chief of Staff Lewis Libby resigns on his indictment on federal charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Libby faces charges of lying to the FBI and a grand jury about how and when he found out, and then disclosed to the press classified information about CIA agent Valerie Plame. Libby is seen as an integral member of President Bush’s White House inner circle.

October 28: United States

Cuba accepts an offer by the United States to send a disaster assessment team to Havana to assist with the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma. It is the first acceptance of such an offer in decades. The two nations have not had diplomatic relations since 1959, and the U.S. maintains a trade embargo against the island. The U.S. declined Cuba’s offer of aid following Hurricane Katrina in August.

October 31: United States

President George W. Bush nominates federal appeals court judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court to replace Sandra Day O’Connor, a critical swing vote. Democrats threaten to block Alito’s nomination, saying he could swing the court too far to the right. Samuel Alito is Bush’s second attempt to fill O’Connor’s seat, after his first nominee, Harriet Miers, stepped down earlier in the month in the face of wide criticism concerning her judicial credentials.

November 1: United States

Mukhtar Mai, victim of an infamous gang rape case in Pakistan, arrives in the United States to accept an award for her campaign for women’s justice in her country and attend a congressional hearing on human rights. Mai is an outspoken critic of the Pakistani village government, which ordered her rape to punish her brother for misconduct. Mai says she will use her $20,000 prize to fund schools and a women’s crisis center.

November 22: United States

The United States says it will restore military ties with Indonesia, six years after it imposed arms embargo on the country in response to a massacre of more than two hundred pro-independence protesters in East Timor. Through increased relations, the U.S. rewards Indonesia’s reform efforts and its participation in the war on terror.

November 26: Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, provincial leaders, and native groups end a two-day summit in British Columbia with a plan to fight poverty in the Canadian aboriginal communities. The program commits $4.3 billion to be spent over ten years to improve housing, health care, education, and economic development. An estimated 40 percent of the native population lives in poverty. They face housing shortages, higher teenage pregnancy and suicide rates, and lower life expectancy and school graduation.

December 1: United States

Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez condemns U.S. President George Bush’s plan to build border fences between Mexico and the U.S. The fences are intended to deter illegal immigration across the 2,000 miles of U.S.–Mexico border. Experts believe the fence will not deter migration because of the large wage gap between the two countries.

December 6: United States

The United States and Romania sign a deal permitting American use of Romanian military bases, the first such agreement to be signed with a former communist country in Eastern Europe. The deal is a part of the Pentagon’s plan to reduce and reposition U.S. troops in Europe, placing them closer to potential trouble spots in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Romania is a U.S. ally with troops stationed in Iraq.

December 8: United States

Peru signs a free-trade deal with the United States, eliminating tariffs on U.S. goods entering Peru, as well as barriers to trade in services. The U.S. seeks to bolster trade agreements with Peru and its Andean neighbors, hoping to create new jobs outside of the illegal drug trade. Peruvian unions, however, are worried about potential job loss due to rising imports from the U.S.

December 10: Canada/United States

Environmental ministers from 189 countries conclude a 10-day UN summit in Montreal, Canada. Signers of the Kyoto Protocol agree to maintain the treaty, which requires industrialized nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions, beyond its 2012 deadline. Other countries, including the U.S., agree to non-binding talks on long-term climate change measures. The U.S. has been criticized for its refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol, which it argues could harm economic growth and development.

December 12: United States

The governor of the U.S. state of Maine, John Baldacci, and a Cuban food agency, Alimport, sign a multimillion dollar trade deal. Although the United States has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba for over forty years, food sales on a cash basis were made legal in 2000. Many farmers and politicians support an end to the embargo. Maine is the first state to pass a resolution calling for an end of the trade and travel ban.

December 18: United States

U.S. President George W. Bush admits that he approved the clandestine monitoring of private communications within the U.S. as a response to the 2001 terrorist attacks. Operated by the National Security Agency without court approval, the program has sparked controversy between the president and Congress. Normally, a special court must provide permission for surveillance on U.S. soil. Bush condemns the disclosure of the program, which he says targets terrorists, as irresponsible.

December 16: United States

The White House withdraws its opposition to Senator John McCain’s bill banning torture of suspected terrorists. McCain, once a tortured prisoner of war in Vietnam, argues that the law will aid the war on terror by improving America’s image, which has been tarnished by a number of prisoner abuse scandals. The White House was forced into a reluctant acceptance of the law in the face of overwhelming support for it in Congress.

December 23: United States

The Transportation Workers’ Union ends a three-day strike in New York City, the city’s first transit walkout in twenty-five years. Almost 34,000 employees had stopped working over a dispute concerning wages, health care, and retirement. Legally, transportation workers are banned from striking, and union leaders had been threatened with fines and jail time. The strike has cost New York up to $1 billion.