"Operation Iraqi Freedom" began on March 19, 2003. As U.S. and coalition forces moved forward into Iraq, the world held its breath. The U.S. stand on destroying the regime of Saddam Hussein was not unanimously supported by the United Nations Security Council. However, the U.S. had vowed after the attack to the country on September 11th that it would root out terrorists and those who would harbor them and support terrorist acts. Within weeks of the coalition's invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled and the military effort was declared a success. The Iraqi people would now have the chance to taste the beauty of freedom.

Although the military action phase has been completed, the difficult task ahead is in the reconstruction of Iraq and the vast humanitarian effort, which must take place. With the combined resources of the United Nation agencies, these challenges will be met over a period of time.

Some of the United Nation agencies involved in this humanitarian effort include:

UNICEF - UN Children's Fund
WFP - World Food Program
WHO - World Health Organization
Oil-For-Food - Funds Iraqi's needs from national oil export revenues.

Even though some citizens supported it and some did not, the Revolutionary War erupted on April 19, 1775. It was too late for more discussions; the wait had been long.

As a result of several battles, among them the battle of Lexington and the battle of Concord, in July of 1776, Congress met and adopted the Declaration of Independence from Britain. The Articles of Confederation was the first document uniting the citizens of all thirteen colonies into one country. This was the beginning of free America. A lot of work was to come.

History Tips about Our Flag

- On June 14, 1777, in order to establish an official flag for the new nation, the Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act: "Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation."
- Act of January 13, 1794 - provided for 15 stripes and 15 stars after May 1795.
- Act of April 4, 1818 - provided for 13 stripes and one star for each state, to be added to the flag on the 4th of July following the admission of each new state, signed by President Monroe.
- Executive Order of President Taft dated June 24, 1912 - established proportions of the flag and provided for arrangement of the stars in six horizontal rows of eight each, a single point of each star to be upward.
- Executive Order of President Eisenhower dated January 3, 1959 - provided for the arrangement of the stars in seven rows of seven stars each, staggered horizontally and vertically.
- Executive Order of President Eisenhower dated August 21, 1959 - provided for the arrangement of the stars in nine rows of stars staggered horizon tally and eleven rows of stars staggered vertically.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States. He had declared, "Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free..." By December, South Carolina secedes from the Union. Followed within two months by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.

During Lincoln's inaugural address in January, 1861 he assured the South that he
had no intention of interfering with slavery where it already existed. He did warn against secession from the Union and how it warranted a threat to the country.

In February, 1861, the seceded states formed the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as President.. April, 12, 1861, the south attacks at Ft Sumter and the Civil War begins.

The issue of slavery is a major contributor to the division of the states. During the time before the war, many slaves in the south found their way to the north and into Canada to freedom through what was called the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was the effort, sometimes spontaneous, sometimes planned to assist slaves to escape to the freedom in the north. This network provided those who were sympathetic white Americans to play a role in resisting slavery.

The war waged on and in 1863, President Lincoln delivered his famous address at Gettysburg, which was the location of a battle which turned the tide of the war to the North. Battles continued through 1864 with cities throughout the South being destroyed and devastation was everywhere.

On April 5, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrenders his Confederate Army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia.

Just nine days later, April 14, 1865, President Lincoln attends a play at the Ford Theater with his wife.
During the play, Lincoln is shot by assassin John Wilkes Booth. The President never regains consciousness and dies the following morning.

American's who are credited for their role in the Industrial Revolution are in a variety of areas and remembered for their efforts to this day:

Steam Engine:
Robert Fulton (1765 - 1815) had built an experimental steam powered boat in France. Once he returned to America he constructed what was called the "Clermont". It had side paddles and was powered by steam. It began operations by taking paying passengers up and down the Hudson River, which demonstrated its commercial worth.
Textile Machinery:
In America during the early 1790's, the production of cotton in the US was lagging. One slave could only clean one pound of cotton per day. Eli Whitney (1765-1825) observed this problem and invented a machine which would clean the cotton. The Cotton Gin was simple in design and accomplished what was needed.
Electric Lighting:
Thomas Edison is the one best known in America for inventing the electric light which he was successful in creating during the late 1880's. He also opened the first commercial electric power generating plant in America.
The Horseless Carriage:
The first cars were propelled with the internal combustion engine. The cars we drive today are the result of many contributors of the years. One of the best known early car producers within America was Henry Ford (1863-1947).
Flying Machines:
We saw the first successful flight in heaveier-than-air machine in 1903 by Orville (1871-1948) and Wilbur (1867-1912). When World War I broke out a few years later, it was immediately adapted for military purposes.
Radio and Television:
Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1919) is the person in history viewed as most responsible for bringing radio waves into industry. He is best known for his invention of the 'wireless' telegraph.
Television is a spin-off of radio. Within America, the development of television is credited most to Westinghouse Electric and Radio Corporation.

When WWII began in 1939, Germany was the aggressor and was later joined in June of 1940 by Italy and then Japan in 1941. The war against Japan was fought over two thirds of the world's surface. America and her allies were involved on land, sea and air. World War II was a global conflict and ended it with the beginning of the Nuclear era.

Important dates during World War II for America:

December 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
December 8, 1941 - The United States declares war on Japan.
June 5, 1945
The Four Powers (The United States, Britain, The Soviet Union and France, sign the declaration of German defeat.
August 6, 1945
The world's first atomic bomb called 'Little Boy' is dropped on Hiroshima, Japan
August 14, 1945
Japan accepts an unconditional surrender.

John Glenn
On Feb. 20, 1962, an Atlas rocket carried former U.S. Senator John H. Glenn Jr. into space. Senator Glenn, tucked inside his cramped Friendship 7 Mercury capsule, became the first American to orbit the Earth. Today, American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts have a permanent home in orbit aboard the International Space Station.

The Apollo program was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth. Six of the missions (Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17) achieved this goal. Apollos 7 and 9 were Earth orbiting missions to test the Command and Lunar Modules, and did not return lunar data. Apollos 8 and 10 tested various components while orbiting the Moon, and returned photography of the lunar surface. Apollo 13 did not land on the Moon due to a malfunction, but also returned photographs. The six missions that landed on the Moon returned a wealth of scientific data and almost 400 kilograms of lunar samples. Experiments included soil mechanics, meteoroids, seismic, heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind experiments.

Computers have gone a long way since their inception 5,000 years ago. Starting with the abacus, four different generations in computing have completed its evolution, and we are now facing the fifth generation in the information era. Technology becomes more and more sophisticated everyday and machines have become a vital part of human life.

Nothing describes modern life better than a computer since they have infiltrated every aspect of our society. Supermarket scanners calculate our grocery bill while keeping store inventory; computerized telephone switching keeps lines of communication flowing; automatic teller machines (ATM) let us conduct banking transactions from virtually anywhere in the world; and the Internet and the World Wide Web put all sorts of information at our fingertips.