List/Grid Historical Event
UN survey highlights civilian deaths in Afghanistan
A survey conducted by the U.N. states that civilian deaths in Afghanistan increased by 40% in 2008, to 2,118 people compared to 1,523 in 2007.
PT member killed in plane crash
Peaceful Tomorrows member Beverly Eckhert is one of the passengers killed in the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark Airport to Buffalo, N.Y.
Iraqi elections
Iraq holds its first nationwide elections since Jan. 30, 2005. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa Party is victorious.
Executive orders banning coercive interrogations and ordering closure of secret prisons
President Obama signs executive orders and banning coercive interrogation methods and closing all secret prisons and detention camps run by the CIA.
Iraqi parliament passes Status of Forces Agreement
Iraqi Parliament passes the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) requiring all US forces to withdraw from Iraq no later than Dec. 31, 2011.
Obama elected President
Barack Obama becomes first African American president.
Uighur detainees ordered released from Guantanamo
Federal District Judge Ricardo Urbina orders the Bush administration to release 17 members of the Uighur Muslim minority from western China who have been held at Guantanamo Prison since 2002 saying they have never posed a threat to the U.S., nor have they fought against the U.S.
First acknowledged ground attack inside Pakistan
U.S. commandos raid a village that is home to al-Qaeda militants in the tribal region near the border with Afghanistan in the first acknowledged ground attack inside Pakistan.
Osama bin Laden’s driver convicted of providing material support for terrorism
Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s driver, is convicted of providing material support for terrorism in the first military trial held at Guantánamo. He is sentenced to 66 months in prison, but had already served 61.
Senate approves expansion of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
Senate approves legislation to expand the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The law gives legal immunity to the telephone companies that participated in the National Security Agency secret wiretapping program after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and broadens the government’s ability to eavesdrop on those in the U.S. and abroad it suspects are linked to terrorist activities. President Bush signs the bill into law the following day.
