Timeline (President McCain)

1999

 * March: McCain initially plans on announcing his candidacy and beginning active campaigning on April 6, 1999. There is to be a four-day roadshow, whose first day would symbolically begin at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, then see early primary states New Hampshire and South Carolina, before concluding in home Phoenix, Arizona with a big audience, marching bands, and thousands of balloons.


 * March 23: Senator John McCain of Arizona votes in favor of approval for the Clinton administration's action against Yugoslavia, saying "Atrocities are the signature of the Serbian Army. They've been carrying out atrocities since 1992. We must not permit the genocide that Milosevic has in mind for Kosovo to continue. We are at a critical hour."


 * March 24: The NATO bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia begins. This delays McCain's announcement of his candidacy for President of the United States.


 * March 31: Three American soldiers is captured by Yugoslavia. McCain canceled his planned roadshow for the next day, stating that "This is not an appropriate time to launch a political campaign." He receives media praise for his action and continues to be a highly visible spokesman for strong action regarding Kosovo; CNN pundit Mark Shields said that, "In thirty-five years in Washington, I have never seen a debate dominated by an individual in the minority party as I've seen this one dominated by John McCain." McCain also becomes a very frequent guest on television talk shows discussing the conflict, and his "We are in it, now we must win it" stance draw much attention.


 * April 13: McCain issues a simple statement without fanfare that he would be a candidate: "While now is not the time for the celebratory tour I had planned, I am a candidate for president and I will formally kick off my campaign at a more appropriate time." McCain and his wife Cindy would make some campaign-related appearances over the spring and summer.


 * June 12: Texas Governor George W. Bush announces the beginning of his campaign to seek the Republican Nomination for President of the United States of America. Political pundits consider him to have no serious potential challengers and think he will cruise to the Republican Nomination unopposed.


 * June 16: Vice President Al Gore announces to seek the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.


 * August: McCain's co-authored, best-selling family memoir, Faith of My Fathers, is published, helping promote the new start of his campaign. The book garners largely positive reviews, and McCain went on a 15-city book tour during September. The tour's success and the book's high sales led to the themes of the memoir, which included McCain talking more about his Vietnam prisoner-of-war experience than he had in the past, becoming a major part of McCain's campaign messaging.


 * September 27: Senator John McCain of Arizona formally announces his candidacy for President of the United States before a thousand people in Greeley Park in Nashua, New Hampshire. In his opening speech he declares that "It is because I owe America more than she has ever owed me that I am a candidate for president to the United States." He further said he was staging "a fight to take our government back from the power brokers and special interests and return it to the people and the noble cause of freedom it was created to serve."


 * October 15: Elizabeth Dole declares her candidacy for President of the United States.


 * October 21: A Time Magazine/CNN poll shows McCain trailing Bush nationally 41%-22% while Elizabeth Dole trails in a distant third with 13%.


 * November 2: Exactly one year before election day McCain declares he will tour America and answer voters questions in a town hall format in what he calls "The straight talk express".


 * November 18: Polls show McCain gaining momentum nationally with Bush continuing to lead McCain 44%-28%.


 * December: McCain's campaign though trailing Bush in funding receives one major boost. On December 12, 1999 John McCain is endorsed by former President Ronald Reagan. This unexpected luck gives much needed energy into McCain's campaign. A Zogby international poll conducted two days later shows McCain in a much stronger position than before with McCain fielding 37% nationally to Governor Bush's 42%.

2000

 * January 24: McCain finishes with a strong third in the Iowa caucuses, gaining 14% of the vote compared to Bush's 41%.


 * February 1: McCain gains strong momentum by defeating Bush in the New Hampshire primaries, winning 59% of the vote, compared to Bush's 26%.


 * February 8: Bush wins the Delaware primaries with 41% of the vote. McCain comes in second with 25% of the vote.


 * February 19: After one of the nastiest, dirtiest, and most brutal political battles in history, in which McCain fended off a series of vicious attacks from the anonymous smear campaign allegedly linked to the Bush campaign, McCain pulls an upset by defeating Bush in the South Carolina primary by the razor thin margin of 47% to 46%. After the South Carolina primaries all candidates except Bush and McCain has either drop out of the race or suspended their campaigns, and by March all have endorsed one of the two remaining candidates.


 * March 4: After a long series of hard fought contests George Bush suspends his campaign due to Super Tuesday loses in February. Three days later he endorses John McCain. With no challengers remaining John McCain declares he will be the Republican Nominee for President of the United States.


 * April 17: With the general election campaign between McCain and Vice President Al Gore heating up, McCain announces that George W. Bush will be his running mate.


 * April 23: In response to Senator McCain's vice presidential choice Cice President Gore chooses Joe Lieberman as his running mate.


 * May 20: During a rally in Akron, Ohio McCain announces he will impose a tax cut on 97% of Americans and that he will create a plan to break America's dependence on foreign oil. McCain also accuses Gore of being soft on foreign policy and says that Gores fiscal policy is full of taxation. Gore is slow to respond and thus suffers a slide in the polls.


 * July 31 - August 3: At the Republican Convention in Philadelphia John McCain is nominated as the Republican Nominee while George Bush is nominated as the Republican Vice Presidential Nominee.Later in August Al Gore is nominated as the Democratic Nominee And Joe Lieberman is nominated as the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee.


 * August 14 - August 17: The Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California nominates Al Gore for U.S. President and Joe Lieberman for Vice President.


 * October 3: In the first presidential debate at the University of Massachusetts on October 3, 2000, McCain criticizes the Clinton administration's handling of foreign policy targeting the failure of the administration in Somalia in 1993 and the administration' failure to do anything about the Rwandan genocide, saying his now famous line "there is no way that could happen if I was president".


 * October: After a strong performance in the final two debates and the vice presidential debate by the McCain/Bush ticket the race looks tight with both McCain and Gore at 48% and independent Ralph Nader carrying 4% nationally.


 * November 2: On election day Senator McCain and Governor Bush hold a joint rally in Miami, Florida. As the election returns come, McCain has won thirty states by 11:30 PM EST. After a long night of results the fate of the election comes down to a close race in the final state of Florida. After several hours of vote counting, John McCain is announced the winner of the election and the forty third President of the United States at 3:17 AM EST. The McCain/Bush ticket received 276 electoral votes to Gore/Lieberman's 261. Unlike in OTL there is no disputed recount.


 * December 15: President-elect John McCain names former U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell as the his Secretary of State, making Powell the first person to formally accept a Cabinet post in the McCain administration.


 * December 18: The Electoral College formally meets and elects John McCain as President and George W. Bush as Vice President.


 * December 21: McCain officially resigns from the United States Senate. On December 24, Governor Jane Dee Hull of Arizona chooses Junior U.S. Senator Jon Kyl, a fellow Republican, to replace McCain in the Senate.

2001

 * January 3: President-Elect McCain announces some of his cabinet nominations.


 * January 20: At a ceremony at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., John McCain is officially sworn in by Chief Justice William Rehnquist as the 43rd President of the United States. In his inaugural speech, McCain calls for Americans to be proud of their country and calls the "twenty-first century an era in which America will prosper". He promises a thorough review of American policy in Asia, and announces he will set up a bipartisan commission to study America's options.


 * January-February: The Senate confirms all of McCain's nominees.


 * February 17: President McCain signs the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2001, a bill that delivers a tax cut for 97% of Americans. This stimulates a slowing economy and creates instant growth on both Wall Street and Main Street. As a result McCain sees his approval ratings shoot up nine points from 54% to 63%.


 * March 9: President McCain meets with several heads of state and government from Europe, including the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Reports say his meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jaucque Chirac goes well.


 * April 1: The Hainan Island incident occurs when a U.S. Navy EP-3E signals reconnaissance aircraft and a People's Liberation Army Navy J-8II fighter jet collided over Hainan Island, resulting in an international incident between the United States and China. McCain expresses U.S. support for the defense of Taiwan, leading to the detention of U.S. personnel by the Chinese. They were later released and returned to the U.S.
 * April 20: President McCain orders the FBI to begin tracking several Saudi Arabians who were reported to have terrorist connections after reading an intelligence report stating that a terrorist leader by the name of Osama bin Laden was preparing a possible terrorist attack against the United States.


 * May 12: President McCain begins a comprehensive overhaul of U.S energy policy by signing a bill funding the "Eisenhower Project", a national program that allows the government and the private sector to work together to cut U.S dependence on foreign fuels by 75% by the year 2025. The program utilizes technologies that involve wind, solar, clean coal and nuclear power and invests billions in U.S ethanol production.


 * June 10: For the first time as president McCain meets Russian President Vladimir Putin. Together they discuss how the United States and Russia can cooperate.


 * July 20–22: McCain attends the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. McCain says that "I support free trade only if it benefits the workers of the United States".


 * September 11: On that morning, 19 Islamic terrorists successfully fly two Boeing 747 aircraft into the World Trade Center Towers. President McCain acts swiftly and prevents two further terrorist attacks by scrambling F-16 fighter jets which shoot down two more hijacked aircraft. Later in the afternoon, he speaks before a joint session of Congress, promising swift retaliation by declaring the War on Terrorism. That evening, he addresses the nation from the Oval Office, promising a strong response to the attacks but emphasizing the need for the nation to come together and comfort the families of the victims.


 * September 12: President McCain and Vice President Bush holds a formal meeting with national security advisers from the CIA, NSA, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and several prominent members of the U.S. Senate as well as former Presidents. They discuss the intelligence reports identifying Osama bin Laden and the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda as the perpetrators. After several hours of debating they all agree that an invasion of Afghanistan to remove the Taliban regime from power, who were harbouring Al-Qaeda, was the only solution to eliminate the terrorist threat.


 * September 13: President McCain visits Ground Zero, meeting with Mayor Rudy Giuliani and firefighters, police officers, and volunteers. Meanwhile McCain gains an approval rating of 90%.


 * September 17: Six days after the attacks with approximately 2700 Americans dead, McCain speaks once again before a joint session of Congress, in which he receives the permission from both the Senate and House of Representatives to invade Afghanistan, in order to topple the Taliban regime and eliminate the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. McCain also issues an ultimatum demanding that the Taliban government of Afghanistan deliver al-Qaeda leaders located in Afghanistan to the United States authorities, or else they would share in their fate.


 * September 29: Operation Enduring Liberty begins when U.S special forces units begin slipping into Afghanistan. These units begin convincing and bribing local chieftains to resist the Taliban regime.


 * October 14: The invasion of Afghanistan begins when U.S., NATO and Australian forces initiates bombing campaigns on Taliban and al-Qaeda forces, while U.S. and UK special forces supported by the Afghan Northern Alliance captures Mazār-e Sharīf, thus opening supply routes and providing an inportant airstrip for U.S. planes and helicopters. The main goals of the invasion is to defeat the Taliban, drive al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan, and capture key Al-Qaeda leaders.


 * October 15: 100,000 U.S soldiers begin the ground campaign, most of them by the captured airport in Mazār-e Sharīf.


 * October 22: U.S. forces, supported by the Afghan Northern Alliance, captures the Afghan capital Kabul.


 * October 24: Kunduz is captured by the Northern Alliance.


 * October 26: Jalalabad is captured by the U.S. forces and men of the Northern Alliance.


 * November 2: Kandahar is captured by the U.S. forces and men of the Northern Alliance. The head of the Taliban regime, Mullah Omar, manages to escape, but the Taliban is severly crippled with over 60% of its former combat strenght reduced.


 * November 10: The Battle of the Tora Bora begins. Heavy fighting between U.S., British, German and Northern Alliance forces on one side and Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters on the other continues for another month.


 * November 19: U.S Army Rangers seriously injures Osama bin Laden, however reports say that he was evacuated from the front line. Ayman al-Zawahiri succeed bin Laden as the interim leader of al-Qaeda.


 * November 20: Danish Parliamentary Election: Anders Fogh Rasmussen of the centre-right Venstre is elected Prime Minister with 31.2% of the votes and winning 56 seats in the Folketing. He forms a coalition with the Conservative People's Party, relying on the vote of other right wing parties such as the Danish People's Party, which polled better than ever before. The election saw a dramatic change in the political composition of the Danish parliament, when the Social Democrats for the first time since the 1924 Folketing election did not win the most seats.


 * November 24: After days of heavy fighting on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border 80% of al-Qaeda's forces are dead or captured. Ayman al-Zawahiri is seriously wounded by Coaliton air strikes, but is evacuated.


 * November 25: After days of intense fighting among al-Qaeda's upper echelons, worsened by the loss of their leader and al-Zawahiri too injured to continue fighting, the terrorist organization splinters into several weaker groups. These groups immediately begin turning on each other.


 * December 4: After losing close to 90% of its original strength, al-Qaeda is temporarily consolidated under Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, and retreats into Pakistan. Taliban has also lost most of its former strength (75%), but keeps residing in the border regions on the Afghan-Pakistani border.


 * December 5: The Pentagon reports that the Taliban had been defeated but cautioned that the war would go on to continue weakening Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders. At a White House press conference President McCain reveals the plans for a security and development mission led by NATO and established by the United Nations.


 * December 20: At a session of the United Nations Security Council the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is established as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement.


 * December 22: The United Nations installs the Afghan Interim Authority chaired by Hamid Karzai.

2002

 * January 15: The Senate passes a bill known as the Afghan Reconstruction Act. The bill helps build modern infrastructure throughout Afghanistan and helps bulk up the Afghan military. The bill also invests billions in agriculture and education for the Afghan people. Meanwhile, fighting in Afghanistan continues, while the first NATO forces under the ISAF mandate is deployed in Afghanistan.


 * January 20: In his State of the Union Address President McCain says that the Ba'athist regime in Iraq is must be eliminated, labeleling the regime as part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran, Libya, Syria and North Korea, posing "a grave and growing danger" to U.S. interests through possession of weapons of mass destruction.


 * February 16: President McCain signs National Security Presidential Directive 23 which outlines a plan to begin deployment of operational ballistic missile defense systems by 2004. The following day the U.S. formally requested from the UK and Denmark use of facilities in Fylingdales, England, and Thule, Greenland, respectively, as a part of the NMD program. The projected cost of the program for the years 2003 to 2008 will be $53 billion, making it the largest single line in The Pentagon's budget.


 * February 27: McCain along with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense begin plans for an invasion and reconstruction of Iraq, basing their plans on reports of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction.


 * March 1 - 18: In Operation Anaconda, U.S. and NATO forces engage al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the Shahi-Kot Valley and Arma Mountains southeast of Zormat. The operation is a success, with between 500–800 insurgents killed compared to 15 Coalition losses.


 * March 10: The U.S. begins talks with Poland, the Czech Republic and other European countries over the possibility of setting up a European NATO-led base to intercept long-range missiles. A site similar to the U.S. base in Alaska would help protect the U.S. and Europe from missiles fired from the Middle East or North Africa.


 * March 12: The National Missile Defense (NMD) is changed to Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD), to differentiate it from other missile defense programs, such as space-based, sea-based, and defense targeting the boost phase and the reentry phase


 * March 30: President McCain calls on Americans to join the U.S. military in order to help the country in a time of need.


 * May: CIA releases reports containing assertions of Saddam Hussein's intent of reconstituting nuclear weapons programs, not properly accounting for Iraqi biological and chemical weapons, and that some Iraqi missiles had a range greater than allowed by the UN sanctions.


 * June: President McCain urges the United Nations to enforce Iraqi disarmament mandates, precipitating a diplomatic crisis.


 * July: Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei lead UN weapons inspectors in Iraq. The Iraqi regime is reluctant to abide by the requests of the UN, or provide falsified facts about the allegded Iraqi WMD programme.


 * August 5: President McCain addresses the United Nations Security Council and tells them that Saddam Hussein is a threat to democracies across the world and must be stopped. Despite this the U.N. votes not to intervene or to support intervention in Iraq. His urge of an UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of military force fails due to vigorous opposition from several countries, including Russia, France and China.


 * September 7: Intelligence reports indicate that Iraq still has a substantial stockpile of chemical weapons. Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei still faces opposition by the Iraqi government in their search for Iraqi WMDs.


 * October 10: President McCain meets with the heads of government from several NATO countries. A vote to intervene in Iraq succeeds. This allows the inclusion of United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands, Romania and other non-NATO allies of the United States to assist in an invasion of Iraq.


 * October 26: The Moscow Theatre Siege ends with approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 129 hostages dead when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before. President McCain sent his condolences to the Russian government, saying that "Despite our antagonistic relationship, I ask the American people to join me with giving the people of Moscow our condolences to the victims of the vicious terrorist incident. I urge the Russians in joining us in our steadfast commitment to defeat terrorism and protect our liberty and freedom."


 * December 16: President McCain says that the coalition of nations that agreed at the NATO summit was part of a new "League of Democracies".

2003

 * January-April: Remnants of the Taliban gradually begins to regain their confidence and started to begin preparations to launch the insurgency that Mullah Muhammad Omar had promised during the Taliban's last days in power. Pamphlets distributed in secret during the night begins to appear in many villages in the former Taliban heartland in southeastern Afghanistan that calls for jihad. Mobile training camps were established along the border with Pakistan by al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives to train new recruits in guerrilla warfare and terrorist tactics, according to Afghan sources and a United Nations report. Most of the new recruits were drawn from the madrassas or religious schools of the tribal areas of Pakistan, from which the Taliban had originally arisen. The Taliban gradually reorganizes and reconstitutes their forces over the winter, preparing for a summer offensive. They established a new mode of operation: gathered into groups of around 50 to launch attacks on isolated outposts and convoys of Afghan soldiers, police, or militia and then breaking up into groups of 5-10 men to evade subsequent offensives. U.S. forces in the strategy were attacked indirectly, through rocket attacks on bases and improvised explosive devices. To coordinate the strategy, Mullah Omar named a 10-man leadership council for the resistance, with himself at the head. Five operational zones were created, assigned to various Taliban commanders such as the key Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah, in charge of Zabul province operations. Al-Qaeda forces in the east had a bolder strategy of concentrating on the Americans and catching them when they could with elaborate ambushes.


 * January 20: In his second State of the Union address President McCain gives Iraq a forty-five day ultimatum to begin a program to cease arms build-ups, destroy all stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction, cease funding terrorists, cease supporting other dictators and give the Iraqi people more freedom.


 * January 27: A band of fighters allied with the Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami is discovered and assaulted by U.S. forces at the Adi Ghar cave complex 15 miles (24 km) north of Spin Boldak during Operation Mongoose. 18 rebels were reported killed and no U.S. casualties reported. The site is suspected to be a base to funnel supplies and fighters from Pakistan.


 * February: President McCain begins sending U.S troops to the Persian Gulf. 4,000 troops are moved from Afghanistan to Kuwait to join an additional 250,000 troops in a pre-invasion build-up.


 * March 25: President McCain issues his final ultimatum to Saddam Hussein in his address to the nation: He demands that Hussein and his two sons Uday and Qusay surrender and leave Iraq, giving them a 48-hour deadline.


 * March 26: President McCain orders General Tommy Franks to initiate the invasion of Iraq. Bombs begin dropping on military targets in Baghdad.


 * March 27: Operation Iraqi Freedom, the invasion of Iraq, officially begins as the United States and the United Kingdom begin their shock and awe campaign with a massive air strike on military targets in Baghdad using cruise missiles fired from US Navy warships, Royal Navy submarines and B-52 bombers; and laser guided missiles fired by Stealth Bombers. At the same time 300,000 Coalition forces pours into southern Iraq. U.S intelligence says Saddam Hussein has gone into hiding already.
 * March-April: People around the world protest against the invasion, and his popularity in Europe and Asia falls below 50%.


 * April 9: Baghdad falls to U.S. forces. The imfamous statue of Saddam Hussein is toppled, marking the end of Saddam Hussein's 24-year dictatorship.


 * April 10: Riots against NATO forces are prevented by large barricades that are installed around Baghdad. Sporadic fighting between Coalition forces and remnants of the Iraqi Army continues. Kurdish forces capture Kirkuk.


 * April 12: Other statues of Saddam Hussein are torn down by angry mobs across Iraq.


 * April 15: President McCain lands on board the U.S.S Abraham Lincoln. In a speech president McCain says that Phase 1 of the war is over and that U.S forces must capture Saddam Hussein and install a free and democratic Iraqi government. U.S. forces seize control of most of Tikrit.


 * April 20 - August 12: In the summer of 2003, the U.S. military focused on hunting down the remaining leaders of the former regime, culminating in the killing of Saddam's sons Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein on July 22. In all, over 200 top leaders of the former regime were killed or captured, as well as numerous lesser functionaries and military personnel. Intelligence report suggest that the U.S. will have an sectarian uprising if they do not act swiftly.


 * June - July: As the summer continues, the attacks gradually increases in frequency in the "Taliban heartland." Dozens of Afghan government soldiers, non-governmental organization and humanitarian workers, and several U.S. soldiers dies in the raids, ambushes, and rocket attacks. In addition to the guerrilla attacks, Taliban fighters begins building up their forces in the district of Dai Chopan, a district in Zabul Province that also straddles Kandahar and Uruzgan and is at the very center of the Taliban heartland.


 * June 23: Howard Dean declared his candidacy for the 2004 Democratic Party presidential nomination in Burlington, Vermont.


 * July 22: Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay Hussein, are killed by U.S. military forces during a prolonged gunfight in Mosul, Iraq.


 * July 2003: Both John Kerry and John Edwards announce their candidacy also.


 * August 5: The Afghan National Army (ANA) begins conducting it's first attacks against the Taliban. While showing some shortages in training and organisation, the operation is considered a success.


 * August 13: 12 U.S. soldiers are killed in Fallujah when Jihadists target a column of unarmored Humvee vehicles with improvised explosive devices.


 * August 19: the UN Headquarters in Baghdad was destroyed in the Canal Hotel Bombing, killing at least 22 people, among them Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General.


 * August 20: President McCain announces a new security strategy to be implemented throughout Iraq. Iraq is to was to be divided into nine zones, with Coalition soldiers and Iraqi police (later the Iraqi Army) working side-by-side to clear each sector of Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents and establish Joint Security Stations so that reconstruction programs can begin in safety. Meanwhile, the recent rise of violence in Iraq results in McCain's approval rating falling from 72% to 66%.


 * August 24: General David Petraeus is appointed the commander-in-chief of the Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I). The appointment surprises most Washington insiders and politicians. The reason of the appointment of Petraeus is his successful counterinsurgency tactics in Mosul, a city of nearly two million people, where he and the 101st Airborne Division employed classic counterinsurgency methods to build security and stability, including conducting targeted kinetic operations and using force judiciously, jump-starting the economy, building local security forces, staging elections for the city council within weeks of their arrival, overseeing a program of public works, reinvigorating the political process, and launching 4,500 reconstruction projects.


 * August 31: Eight soldiers were injured in the Abu Nakhal area when a car bomb exploded near a checkpoint.


 * September 1: In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them 8 U.S. soldiers are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an U.S. check point.


 * September 3: In Basrah, Iraq, at least 15 people, among them 3 British soldiers are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Coaliton check point.


 * September 8: A suicide bomber blew up a pickup truck packed with 1,000 pounds of explosives outside a market in Baghdad, killing about 20 people and injuring more than 60 - most of them Iraqis.


 * September 11: Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Anna Lindh dies on the early morning of September 11 following a knife attack at the Nordiska Kompaniet department store in central Stockholm on the afternoon of September 10. Along with Scandinavian and other EU countries, President McCain sends his condolences.


 * September 12: Operation Imposing Law is initiated with an influx of Coalition troops throughout Iraq. There is a steep decline in violence during the first few days, but American Generals are more cautious about making judgments on its success early on, stating that the results will be seen over the course of months. UN sanctions on Libya are lifted on September 12, 2003, after Libya fulfilled all remaining UNSCR requirements, including renunciation of terrorism, acceptance of responsibility for the actions of its officials, and payment of appropriate compensation to the victims' families.


 * September 19: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell attends a formal commemorative gathering held for Anna Lindh at Stockholm City Hall.


 * September 26: As another suicide bomber kills 11 U.S. soldiers along with 16 civilians in Baghdad, and a suicide bomber kills 17 civilians in Baghdad, and 5 British and 3 Danish soldiers are killed in, Basrah by insurgents, McCain's approval ratings plummit to 60%. He urges the American people to be patient, saying that the newly implemented strategy will succeed, but it will get worse before it gets better.


 * October 10: McCain's approval rating falls to 56%, the lowest result yet of his presidency. Meanwhile, the earliest signs of the success of the counter-insurgency strategy is seen as attacks fall with 49%.


 * October 20 - October 24: President McCain makes his first trip to Iraq after the implementation of the counter-insurgency strategy, where he talks with General Petraeus and other high-ranking military commanders and Iraqi politicians.


 * October 29: McCain's approval rating increase from 56% in early October to 61% percent in late October. The rise is attributed to McCain's swift actions with the implementation of his counter-insurgency strategy and the success of General Petraeus leadership of the MNF-I.


 * November 7: Hamid Karzai is elected the first President of Afghanistan.


 * November 20: The Coalition forces continues the counter-insurgency strategy. As both the numbers of civilian and Coalition casualties, along with a decrase in insurgent attacks, McCain's approval rating increase from 61% in late October to 66% percent.


 * December 10: Russia agrees to help NATO in Afghanistan and Iraq.


 * December 12: Paul Martin is electecd the 21st Prime Minister of Canada.


 * December 13: Saddam Hussein is captured in ad-Dawr (north of Tikriti) by U.S. troops of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division. He was found hiding in a spider ole along with two others. President McCain sees his approval ratings sore to 76%.


 * December 20: Libya announces its intention to rid itself of WMD and MTCR-class missile programs. In the following months they cooperate with the U.S., the U.K., the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons toward these objectives. Libya also signs the IAEA Additional Protocol and has become a State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

2004

 * January 5 - January 21: In Operation Red Wing, U.S. and ANA forces engage and defeats Taliban insurgents north of Jalalabad, resulting in around 60 insurgents killed compared to 7 on the Coalition's side.


 * January 19: Former U.S. Governor Howard Dean of Vermont wins the Iowa Democratic caucus.


 * February 8: U.S. diplomatic personnel reopenes the U.S. Interest Section in Tripoli.


 * February 17: Howard Dean secures the Democratic nomination after sweeping wins on Super Tuesday. While NATO continue fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanisan, a new law is passed by the Afghan parliament that bans opium trade and replaces opium with wheat grain and silk farms. Rug and Tea manufacturing soon begins to boom in Afghanistan and the banning of opium is considered a major victory in the war on drugs.


 * March 11: A terrorist simultaneous attack with bombs in four rush-hour trains in Madrid kills 191 people. President McCain calls Spanish Prime Minister Aznar and King Juan Carlos I to offer his condolences to the Spanish people and condemns the vicious attack of terrorism. He expresses that "our country's deepest sympathies toward those who lost their life... I told them we weep with the families. We stand strong with the people of Spain, and we will provide all possible assistance to Spain in pursuing those responsible for the attacks." Later he attends a memorial service at the Spanish ambassador's residence in Washington and gave an interview with a Spanish television network the following day.


 * March 28: President McCain signs a bill that comprehensively reforms immigration to the United States by building a border fence between the United States and Mexico. The bill also deports all illegal immigrant criminals but allows amnesty for all other illegal immigrants as long as they pay a fine, learn English and "move to the back of the immigration waiting line". Meanwhile, in politics pundits say Dean has little or no chance at beating the highly popular president McCain.


 * April 2: Howard Dean names Evan Bayh of Indiana his running mate but faces the challenge of having little material to attack president McCain on. Dean is also criticized for picking such an in-experienced running mate. In Iraq the Iraqi military and police begins to bring order to the streets of Baghdad and Basrah. Sunni cleric named Muqtada Al Sadr says he is interested in negotiating with U.S forces.


 * May 6 - May 23: President McCain makes an oversea trip to the Middle East and Central Asia, including Israel, the Palestinian territories and U.S. and other Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.


 * May 8 – May 12: President McCain makes his first stop on his Middle East tour in Afghanistan. Here he applauds the work of the Coalition forces, and looks forward to the deployment of ISAF in southern Afghanistan. At a meeting between President McCain, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and top NATO and ANA military commanders in Kabul, Taliban insurgents uses automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades to attack a Both McCain and Karzai are safe, but at least three people is killed, including two Afghan presidential Guards and a ten-year-old girl, and ten injured. McCain comments that this is a sign to the international community that international terrorism is not defeated, and that Afghanistan will remain a top priority in his next term as president.


 * May 14 – May 18: President McCain his trip in the Middle East to Iraq, where he applauds the progess of the counterinsurgency, and in particular General David Petraeus' leadership and handling of it. He also says he looks forward to the Iraqi elections due January 2005.


 * May 20: The Coalition forces in Iraq transfers sovereignty to an Iraqi Interim Government.


 * May 20 – May 22: President McCain visits Israel and the Palestinian territories, meeting with Israeli and Palestinian Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas. Here he endorsed Sharon and Abbas' dialogs, which included Israel's disengagement from Gaza and part of the West Bank and the end of terrorist attacks on Israelis by Fatah. At the same time he denounced Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat for alleged continued support of violence and militant groups and the terrorist organisation Hamas.


 * June 5: Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, dies at his home in Bel-Air, California at the age of 93. A six-day state funeral follows after his death in which President John McCain and his wife Cindy attends.


 * June 25: Operation Imposing Law comes to an end. With security reestablished and the insurgency crushed, President McCain announces that the Iraqi security and military forces will take over responsibility from January 2005, opening for the possiblity to initiate the first phase of military withdrawal from Iraq at the beginning of the following year and focus on taking out the remnants of Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as capture Osama bin Laden.


 * June 28: The U.S. Interest Section in Tripoli, Libya was upgraded to a U.S. Liaison Office. Canadian election: The Liberal Party, led by Paul Martin, is reduced to a minority government, after holding a majority since November 1993.


 * June 30: Preliminary hearings begin in Iraq in the trial of former president Saddam Hussein, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.


 * July 26 – July 29: The Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts nominates John Howard Dean for U.S. President and Evan Bayh for Vice President.


 * August 15: John McCain signs an executive order allowing U.S. aircraft to strike against a former Al Qaeda weapons stockpile in Pakistan that may be sold to terrorists. The operation is a success that involves zero civilian casualties.


 * August 30 – September 2: President McCain and Vice President George W. Bush are renominated at the Republican National Convention in New York City. In a crowded floor speech Vice President Bush says Dean and Bayh's policies would wreck the prosperity of the last four years.


 * September 1: Chechen terrorists take between 1,000 and 1,500 people hostage, mostly children, in a school in the Beslan school hostage crisis. The hostage-takers demand the release of Chechen terrorists imprisoned in neighbouring Ingushetia and the independence of Chechnya from Russia. In a speech to the UN General Assembly President McCain says of the terrorists at Beslan that they: "measure their success - in the death of the innocent, and in the pain of grieving families." And further in a later speech calls it "the terrorist massacre of schoolchildren in Beslan."


 * September 3: Russian forces end the siege at a school in Beslan, Northern Ossetia. At least 335 people (among which are 32 of the approximately 40 hostage-takers) are killed and at least 700 people injured. The U.S. Government sends Russia their condolences and says that they would pass on information of Chechen or al-Qaeda activity to Russia regarding possible terrorist attacks against Russia.


 * September 15: A global poll with respondents from 28 countries shows that McCain has an approval rating world wide of about 70% due to the success of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the United States his average approval rating is 76%.


 * September 20: President McCain signs an Executive Order terminating the applicability of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act to Libya and terminating the national emergency with respect to Libya and ending IEEPA-based economic sanctions


 * September 30: At the first presidential debate held at the University of Miami, Howard Dean is embarrassed by president McCain who cites Dean's lack of foreign policy experience and knowledge about the Middle East.


 * October 1: A newly released poll shows McCain leading Dean nationally 54%-40% with 6% undecided.


 * October 7: McCain signs a bill that revolutionizes health care by lowering costs substantially and by making Health Care companies compete for lower prices and higher customer satisfaction. McCain sees his lead over Dean solidified.


 * October 13: During the final presidential debate at Arizona State University, Dean is pounded by the media for suggesting that president McCain is a war monger. McCain responds by saying "After 9/11 we could have gone to war or just rolled over and hidden from the threats that faced us. I assume you would have chosen the latter, Governor Dean". This comment effectively sinks deans chances for the presidency.


 * October 29: A video with Osama bin Laden airs on Arabic TV, in which he threatens terrorist attacks on the United States, and taunts U.S. President John McCain over the September 11 terrorist attacks.


 * November 2: On election night the McCain/Bush Ticket defeats Dean/Bayh in a landslide. McCain/Bush gets 423 electoral votes and 60% of the popular vote to Dean/Bayh's 116 electoral votes and 39% of the popular vote. In his acceptance speech McCain says Americans have voted for four more years of prosperity for the American people.


 * November 17: After snap elections in Canada incumbent prime minister liberal Paul Martin is defeated by conservative leader Stephen Harper whose party soon forms a majority government.

2005

 * January 20: President McCain and Vice President Bush are sworn in for their second term. In his state of the union address McCain says that he will work with other democracies around the world to help officially create the League of Democracies and says America will allow the construction of a pipeline to help the Western states using water and natural gas from Canada.


 * January 30: Iraq holds its first free elections, surpisingly there is little violence and voter turnout is high across the country. The National Assembly begins to construct a new Constitution. The majority Shi'a population controls the new assembly.


 * February 5: President McCain announces that most U.S. troops in Iraq will be withdrawn within 20 months.


 * February 8: Danish parliamentary election, 2005: The center-right coalition (VK-regeringen) led by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his Liberal Party (Venstre) wins another term.


 * February 9: The U.S. starts formal negotiations with Poland and Czech Republic concerning construction of missile shield installations in those countries for a Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System. According to press reports the government of the Czech Republic agreed (while 37% Czechs disagree and about 35% support it) to host a missile defense radar on its territory while a base of missile interceptors is supposed to be built in Poland (52% suports it while 43% is against it). The objective is reportedly to protect most of Europe from long-range missile strikes from Iran. The ballistic missile-defence system currently being considered is primarily designed to protect United States. More than 130,000 Czechs signed petition for referendum about the base, which is by far the largest citizen initiative (Ne základnám - No to Bases) since the Velvet Revolution.


 * March 30: The treaty of Zurich officially creates the League of Democracies. The League is established to ensure the protection of freedom, liberty and the protection of democracies all around the world.


 * April 5: Russia threatens to place short-range nuclear missiles on the Russia’s border with NATO if the United States refuses to abandon plans to deploy 10 interceptor missiles and a radar in Poland and the Czech Republic. The same day, President Putin warns of a new Cold War if the Americans deployes the shield in Central Europe. Putin also says that Russia is prepared to abandon its obligations under a Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987 with the United States.


 * April 8: President McCain and his wife Cindy, along with former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush attends the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome.


 * April 15: President McCain signs the American Education Advancement Act which completely changes the American education system by allowing more spending towards math and science.


 * May 1: The United States informs Japan that North Korea may have launched another test missile towards the Sea of Japan. The report is now said to be confirmed. The League of Democracies begins negotiations with North Korea.


 * May 5: United Kingdom general election, 2005: The Labour Party is re-elected, maintaining their majority.


 * May 10: A hand grenade ostensibly thrown by Vladimir Arutinian lands about 100 feet (30 m) from United States President McCain while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but malfunctions and does not detonate. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvilli is also present.


 * May 20: Nouri Kamel al-Maliki is named the first Prime Minister of Iraq by the National Assembly.


 * May 12 - May 22: President McCain makes a trip to European countries, visiting the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. On August 19, 2008, President McCain and Secretary of State Colin Powell and Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski signs the "Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Poland Concerning the Deployment of Ground-Based Ballistic Missile Defense Interceptors in the Territory of the Republic of Poland" in Warsaw. On May 21 President McCain and Secretary of State Colin Powell and Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg signs in Prague the "Agreement Between the United States and the Czech Republic on Establishing a NATO Ballistic Missile Defense Radar Site in the Czech Republic".


 * June: CIA and the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) uncover evidence that indicate that a terrorist attack against the United Kingdom might occur within the next months. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Mohamed ElBaradei should either toughen his stance on Iran or fail to be chosen for a third term as IAEA head.


 * July 7: Several terrorist suspects are arrested in London moments before setting off explosives on a series of buses and trains throughout the city. The new counter-terrorism techniques are credited with the prevention of a catastrophe. As British Prime Minister Tony Blair's approval ratings rise, McCain praises the work of the counter-terrorist forces, which "prevented a cowardly terrorist attack aimed at civilians, and which would have cost hundreds of civilian lives."


 * August 8: President McCain announces that 96,000 U.S. troops have left Iraq. The Iraqi military and security forces now also has the contol of 5 of Iraq's 18 provinces.


 * August 14: Iran removes seals on its uranium enrichment equipment in Isfahan, which UK officials termed a "breach of the Paris Agreement". Several days later, the EU-3 offers Iran a package in return for permanent cessation of enrichment, which included benefits in the political, trade and nuclear fields, as well as long-term supplies of nuclear materials and assurances of non-aggression by the EU. Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran's atomic energy organization rejected the offer, terming it "very insulting and humiliating" and other independent analysts characterized the EU offer as an "empty box".


 * September 12: The Norwegian parliamentary election results in a victory for the Red-Green Coalition consisting of the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet), Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Folkeparti) and Centre Party (Senterpartiet). The new Prime Minister is Jens Stoltenberg from the Labour Party.


 * September 15: British force withdraws the half of its forces in Iraq (23,000 of 46,000), and hands over Basrah to the Iraqi security forces. The other Coalition allies Denmark, Norway, Australia, Albania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Georgia, South Korea, Romania, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Ukraine prepares their withdrawal from Iraq due the beginning of next year.


 * September 17 Helen Clark, leader of the Labour Party, is re-elected for a third term in the New Zealand general election.


 * September 18: Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union and Gerhard Schröder of the Social Democratic Party both claim victory in the German federal election.


 * September 19: North Korea agrees to stop building nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and cooperation.


 * September 30: Controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.


 * October 23: Polish presidential election, 2nd round: Lech Kaczyński is elected. He is sworn in as President on December 23.


 * October 27: Danish police arrests four people in Glostrup on charges of terrorism, in connection to the arrests in Bosnia of Abdulkadir Cesur and Mirsad Bektasevic (AKA Maximus). All four had been under surveillance for a while.


 * November 8: French President Jacques Chirac declares a state of emergency on the 12th day of the French civil unrest.


 * November 21: The Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, announces his resignation from Likud and his intention to form a new party devoted to peace in the region, Kadima, and asks the President of Israel to call a general election.


 * November 28: The Liberal Party minority government in Canada is toppled by a non-confidence vote in the House of Commons, tabled by the Conservatives and backed by the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party, paving the way for a federal election on January 23, 2006.


 * December 18: Socialist Evo Morales wins the Bolivian Presidential Elections. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is hospitalized after suffering a minor stroke. He is released from the hospital 2 days later.

2006

 * September 5: Danish police arrests nine people (Two Iraqi brothers, one Kurd, five Palestinians and a Danish convert to Islam, of which 6 are Danish citizens) on charges of terrorism in the Vollsmose neighborhood of Odense. According to Danish police, the group had been under investigation for quite a while.


 * November 2: Despite the Ambrofe Gate scandal Republicans retain a majority in the congress and senate.

2007

 * January 18: After a Democratic defeat in the mid-term election former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton announces her candidacy for president of the United States.

Popular junior senator Barack Obama says he will not run for president until at least 2012 due to the fact that he has little experience as a senator.
 * January 27:

2008
George W Bush and his running mate Collen Powell defeat Hillary Clinton and her running mate John Edwards with 286 electoral votes to 252. Unlike in OTL Barack Obama is not elected president until 2012.
 * November 4: