In the year since the departure of US troops, Iraq has faced political turmoil and deadly attacks: 2011 q December 18: The last US soldiers cross into Kuwait from Iraq, completing the withdrawal after and ending a nearly nine-year war. The withdrawal comes as Iraq struggles with renewed political deadlock as its main Sunni-backed bloc says it is boycotting parliament and Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, a Shiite, moves to oust one of his deputies, Sunni Arab Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Al-Mutlak, a member of the secular Iraqiya party, after Mutlak accused him of being “worse than Saddam Hussein." q December 19: Iraq issues an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President Tareq Al-Hashemi on anti-terror charges. Hashemi's party, Iraqiya, says it is boycotting the cabinet. Hashemi takes refuge in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. q December 22: Rush hour attacks in Baghdad claimed by Al-Qaeda's Iraq franchise kill at least 60 people, while violence elsewhere in Iraq leaves seven dead. 2012 q January 31: MPs from Iraqiya return to parliament and end their boycott of the government on February 7. q May 15: A trial opens in absentia of Hashemi, who has taken refuge in Turkey. q June 9: President Jalal Talabani says Maliki's opponents lack the votes to oust the premier in a vote of no confidence. q June 13: A wave of apparently coordinated bombings and shootings rocks Iraq during a major Shiite religious commemoration, killing at least 72 people and wounding more than 250, many of them pilgrims. q June 24: Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr says Maliki needs to be removed for reforms to take place. q July 23: Twenty-nine attacks in 19 cities, claimed by Al-Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq, kill 113 people and wound more than 250. q September 9: Hashemi, who dismisses the charges against him as politically motivated, is convicted in absentia of murder and sentenced to death, as a wave of more than 30 attacks kills 88 people and wounds more than 400. q September: The formation of a new federal military command covering disputed territory in northern Iraq sends already-poor relations between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan region plummeting. q September: The most deadly month in Iraq in two years, with 365 killed, according to Iraqi government figures. q October 11: Washington's new ambassador to Iraq, veteran diplomat Stephen Beecroft, arrives. q November 10: Baghdad cancels a $4.2 billion arms package with Russia citing graft concerns. q December 4: Iraq bars a plane carrying Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz from landing in Kurdistan, where he was travelling for the completion of an energy deal. Ties between Baghdad and Ankara have been strained by issues including Turkey's refusal to extradite Hashemi. q December 13: An Iraqi court hands down a fifth death sentence for Hashemi.
