Time line continued...
2001 July - US tests its controversial missile defense shield, or "Son of Star Wars".
11 September attacks
2001 11 September - Co-ordinated suicide attacks on various high-profile targets, prompting the US to embark on a ''war on terror'' which includes the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.
2001 October - US leads massive campaign of air strikes against Afghanistan and helps opposition forces defeat the Taleban regime and find Saudi-born dissident Osama Bin Laden, who is suspected of masterminding the 11 September attacks.
2001 October - USA Patriot Act approved by the Senate, giving the government greater powers to detain suspected terrorists, eavesdrop on communications and counter money-laundering. In November, President Bush signs a directive to try suspected terrorists in military tribunals rather than the courts.
2001 December - Energy giant Enron declared bankrupt after massive false-accounting comes to light.
2002 January - State of the Union address: President George W Bush includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea in what he describes as an "axis of evil".
UNDER ATTACK
Ground Zero: Hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center towers
2002 June/July - Telecoms giant World Com's multi-billion dollar accounting fraud is revealed, eclipsing the Enron scandal to become the biggest business failure in US history.
2002 November - President Bush signs into law a bill creating a Department of Homeland Security, the biggest reorganisation of federal government in more than 50 years. The large and powerful department is tasked with protecting the US against terrorist attacks.
2003 February - Space shuttle Columbia's 28th mission ends in tragedy when the craft breaks-up while re-entering the atmosphere. The seven astronauts on board are killed.
Iraq war
2003 March - Missile attacks on Baghdad mark the start of a US-led campaign to topple the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. US forces advance into central Baghdad in early April.
IRAQ WAR
2003: President George W Bush on the USS Abraham Lincoln
2003 1 May - Speaking on the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, President Bush declares that the main part of the war in Iraq is over.
2004 May - Furore over pictures showing the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in US custody.
2004 July - Senate report says US and allies went to war in Iraq on "flawed" information. Independent report into 11 September 2001 attacks highlights deep institutional failings in intelligence services and government.
Bush second term
2004 2 November - Presidential elections: George W Bush wins a second term.
2005 August - Hundreds of people are killed when Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive storm to hit the US in decades, sweeps through gulf coast states. Much of the city of New Orleans is submerged by flood waters.
Gerald Ford: 38th president was given a state funeral in 2007
2006 March - Congress renews the USA Patriot Act, a centre piece of the government's fight against terrorism, after months of debate about its impact on civil liberties. The government agrees to some curbs on information gathering.
2006 April-May - Millions of immigrants and their supporters take to the streets to protest against plans to criminalise illegal immigrants.
2006 May - The only man to be charged over the September 11 attacks, self-confessed al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, is sentenced to life in jail.
2006 November - Democratic Party wins control of the Senate and House of Representatives in mid-term elections. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld steps down.
2007 January - President Bush announces a new Iraq strategy; thousands more US troops will be dispatched to shore up security in Baghdad.
CREDIT CRUNCH
The 2008-9 financial crisis sent shockwaves throughout the world
Lehman collapse
2008 September - Turmoil in the US and international financial markets as major Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers collapses and other big US financial players face growing troubles as a result of the "credit crunch". With hundreds of billions of dollars wiped out in bad loans and a prolonged property slump, the US faces its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Obama elected
2008 November - Democratic Senator Barack Obama becomes the first black president of the United States.
THE GEORGE W BUSH YEARS
Wave of support after 9/11 yielded to derision at home and abroad
2009 January - First "Tea Party" rally held in protest at Obama administration's plans to bail out banks and introduce healthcare reform. The populist and libertarian movement acts as focus for conservative opposition to the president's reform plans.
2010 March - Democrats in Congress succeed in passing a bill on health care reform, despite strong Republican opposition, procedural setbacks and public scepticism.
US and Russia announce agreement on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The pact was to be signed on 8 April.
President Obama unveils a new defence policy significantly curtailing the circumstances in which the US would use nuclear weapons.
2010 May-June - Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico causes the United States' biggest oil spill to date.
OPPOSITION TO OBAMA
Tea Party agenda provides rallying point for disgruntled conservatives
2010 November - Republicans make sweeping gains in mid-term elections, regaining control of House of Representatives.
2011 May - US forces kill Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in an operation in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
2011 July - The final Space Shuttle mission is completed with the landing of Atlantis on 21 July, bringing about the end of the 30-year programme.
2011 September - Anti-capitalist protesters take to the streets of major cities, marching under the slogan "Occupy Wall Street", against "corporate greed" and increasing government debt. The protests inspire marches in other cities worldwide.
2012 January - President Obama unveils a revised defence strategy involving budget cuts, but insists US will maintain its military superiority.
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