Iraq War Timeline, 2008

In the worst attack in Iraq in months, a suicide bomber kills 30 people at a home where mourners were paying their respects to the family of a man killed in a car bomb.

Parliament passes the Justice and Accountability Law, which will allow many Baathists to resume the government jobs they lost after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The measure creates a new committee to determine if lower-level Baathists, former members of Saddam Hussein's party, are eligible to be reinstated to their previous posts. Passage of the law, which must be approved by the Presidency Council, would be the first major benchmark of political progress reached by the Iraqi government.

At least 65 people die when two women suicide bombers attack crowded pet markets in eastern Baghdad.

Parliament passes another round of legislation, which includes a law that outlines provincial powers and an election timetable, a 2008 budget, and an amnesty law that will affect thousands of mostly Sunni Arab prisoners. A divided Iraqi Presidency Council vetoes the package, however.

More than 50 people, who are headed to the shrine of Imam Hussein in Karbala to celebrate Arbaeen, are killed in a suicide attack at a rest stop.

On the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, President Bush insists that the outcome of the war will be worth the sacrifice, yet he admits the cost of war had exceeded expectations in terms of money and loss of life. "Five years into this battle, there is an understandable debate over whether the war was worth fighting, whether the fight is worth winning, and whether we can win it," he says. "The answers are clear to me. Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision, and this is a fight that America can and must win."

A roadside bomb in Baghdad kills four U.S. soldiers, bringing the death toll of American troops to 4,000. President Bush said of the losses, "I have vowed in the past, and I will vow so long as I'm president, to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain–that, in fact, there is an outcome that will merit the sacrifice."

About 30,000 Iraqi troops and police, with air support from the U.S. and British military, attempt to oust Shiite militias, particularly the Mahdi Army led by radical cleric Moktada al-Sadr, that control Basra and its lucrative ports in southern Iraq. Sadr declared a cease-fire in August 2007, but has allowed his forces to fight in self defense. Four days into the operation, the Mahdi Army maintains control over much of Basra. The assault, ordered by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, is criticized for being poorly planned and executed. Fighting spills into the Sadr city section of Baghdad.

After negotiations with Iraqi officials, Moktada al-Sadr orders his militia to end military action in exchange for amnesty for his supporters, the release from prison of his followers who have not been convicted of crimes, and the government's help in returning Sadrists to their homes. The compromise is seen as a defeat to Maliki, who is criticized for poorly organizing the invasion. In addition, more than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and police officers either refused to participate in the operation or deserted their posts.