Timeline Iraq thru 1999
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BBC Iraq timeline: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14546763
Iraq is about 2 times the size of Idaho.
(SSFC, 10/9/05, Par p.27)
Land area in 2002 was 437,072 sq. km.
(NW, 9/23/02, p.39)
In Arabic Iraq means "origin." In ancient times it was called Mesopotamia.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.E5)(WUD, 1994, p.899)
At least three-quarters of the Iraq's people are members of one of the nation’s 150 tribes, which originated in the Arabian peninsula and moved north in search of water. Iraq has 18 provinces.
(WSJ, 5/23/00, p.A1)(NW, 3/17/03, p.31)
60000BC At Shanidar, a large cave in the Zagros mountains of northeastern Iraq soil samples from a grave of a [Neanderthal] man of this time indicated pollen grains from 8 different types of flowers. [2nd ref dated at c.10,000 BC]
(WH, 1994, p.21)(SFEM, 6/7/98, p.52)
9000BC The town of Chemi Shanidar, later part of Iraq, was the largest city of the time with 150 people.
(SFEC, 8/27/00, Z1 p.2)
c6800 BC Jarmo in northern Iraq was later said to be the first town.
(SFEC, 7/16/00, Z1 p.2)
4500BC A human skeleton of a man at least 50-years-old, dating to about this time, was excavated in southern Iraq around 1930 and taken to the Univ. of Pennsylvania’s Pen Museum, where it was lost in storage until 2014.
(SFC, 8/6/14, p.A5)
4000BC The oldest artifacts of the Mesopotamian city of Ur dated to about this time.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.9)
c3200BC A white limestone vase was made depicting Sumerians offering gifts to the goddess Innin along with scenes of daily life in Uruk. It survived for thousands of years and came to be called the Sacred Vase of Warka.
(SFC, 6/13/03, p.A12)(WSJ, 9/18/03, p.D6)
3000BC The earliest 6-sided dice date to about this time from a site in northern Iraq.
(WSJ, 10/27/06, p.W5)
2750BC Gilgamesh, a Sumerian King, ruled the city of Uruk (Babylonia) about this time, which had grown to a population of over 50,000. Gilgamesh was the subject of many epics, including the Sumerian "Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Nether World" and the Babylonian "Epic of Gilgamesh." In 1844 Westerners discovered an epic poem based on Gilgamesh on stone fragments in Mosul, Iraq. In 1853 clay tablets inscribed with the tale were found in Nineveh, the former capital of Assyria. 5 Sumerian versions were later acknowledged. George Smith completed his translation of the Epic in 1874. In 2004 Stephen Mitchell published “Gilgamesh: A New English Translation." Derek Hines authored “Gilgamesh."
(eawc, p.1)(SFC, 12/14/04, p.E4)(ON, 11/07, p.4,6)(Arch, 5/05, p.16)
2550BC-2400BC The "Standard of Ur," a tapered box with rows of people depicting a battle and its aftermath, was made about this time.
(WSJ, 5/22/03, p.D8)
2500BC A queen named Shubad died about this time in the city of Ur in Mesopotamia. She was buried with a staggering amount of personal property later uncovered by English archeologist Charles Leonard Woolley.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
2334BC-2279bc Sargon I (2371BC-2315BC) founded and ruled the city-state of Akkad, after he left the city of Kish where he was an important official. He was the first ruler to maintain a standing army. His empire lasted less than 200 years.
(http://tinyurl.com/ctv5f)
2300BC Akkadian armies conquered Nagar about this time.
(MT, summer 2003, p.13)
2291BC-2254BC Naram-Sin ruled Akkad. He defeated a rebel coalition in Sumer and re-established Akkadian power. He re-conquered Syria, Lebanon, and the Taurus mountains, destroying Aleppo and Mari in the process. During his reign the Gutians sacked the city of Agade and eventually destroyed all of Sumer (southern Iraq). During his reign Naram-Sin campaigned against the region of Magan (Oman).
(http://tinyurl.com/ctv5f)
2.2k BC In what is now Bahrain settlements and temples of the city state of Dilmun, known as the city of the gods in ancient Sumerian literature, were found by Danish archaeologists in the 1950s. A culture contemporary with the city state of Dilmun (now Bahrain) was found in 1959 on the island of Umm-an-Nar off of Abu Dhabi.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.48)
2113BC Ur's golden century began when King Ur-Nammu expanded the Sumerian empire and made his capital the wealthiest city in Mesopotamia. Ur-Namma was the founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur. He made sure Magan (Oman) boats could freely come and go from Ur’s harbor.
(AP, 4/15/03)(Arch, 9/00, p.46)
2100BC Gudeo served as governor of Lagash (Iraq).
(Arch, 9/00, p.46)
2068 Shulgi, king of Ur, accepted gold from the king of Magan (Oman).
(Arch, 9/00, p.47)
2058BC Dungi was the king of the Mesopotamian city of Ur.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
2013BC Sumerians built the Ziggurat at Ur (later Iraq) to draw closer attention to the god of the moon.
(SSFC, 4/25/04, Par p.5)
2005BC Bur-Sin ruled as the king of Ur.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
1792BC-1750BC Hammurabi, king of Babylon, established a code of laws during this period that became known as the Code of Hammurabi. They were inscribed on a basalt column, later found at Susa, Iran. One of the laws was that if a married woman was caught lying with another man, both should be bound and thrown into the river.
(WH, 1994, p.13)(SFEC, 10/20/96, Z1 p.2)(Econ, 4/12/08, p.91)
1700BC A Larsa king ruled Ur about this time.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
1400BC This was the Kassite period of the Mesopotamian city of Ur.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
1000BC Chaldians traced their origins to about this time in Babylon.
(SFC, 9/30/00, p.A12)
1000BC The world’s oldest known lens was ground about this time by an Assyrian maker.
(Econ, 12/1/12, TQ p.8)
900-840BC The Assyrians expanded their empire to the west. By 840 they conquered Syria and Turkey, territory that had formerly belonged to the Hittites.
(eawc, p.6)
883-859BC Ashurnasirpal II. This Assyrian ruler established the new capital city of Kalhu (Nimrud).
(AM, 7/00, p.50)
858-824BC Shalmaneser II, Assyrian ruler.
(AM, 7/00, p.50)
812-783BC Hada-Nirari III, Assyrian king enumerated the Philistines among the Palestinian states conquered by him.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
810-805BC Sammuramat ruled Assyria as Queen.
(eawc, p.6)
803BC Hadad-Nirari, Assyrian king, conquered the Palestinian states including the Philistines.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
800BC Nimrud, capital of Assyria, 500 miles east of Byblos, sample of ivory carving from a piece of furniture depicting a woman in a window wearing an Egyptian wig.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.171)
747BC Feb 26, Origin of Era of Nabonassar.
(SC, 2/26/02)
745-727BC Tiglath-Pileser III, Assyrian king.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
734BC Rezon of Syria, and Pekah of Samaria were in league, whereas Ahaz of Jerusalem had become a vassal of the king of Assyria. The Philistines had attached them selves to the Syrian league, so that Tiglath-Pileser came up with the special purpose of sacking Gaza. Hanunu, the king of Gaza, fled to Sebako, king of Egypt; but he afterwards returned and, having made submission, was received with favor.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
722BC The Assyrians conquered Israel and left nothing behind. The Hebrew kingdom of Judah managed to survive.
(eawc, p.7)
722-705BC Sargon II, king of Assyria. [see 721BC]
(WUD, 1994, p.1269)
721-705BC Sargon II, king of Assyria. [see 722BC]
(AM, 7/01, p.33)
c720BC Some Jewish tribes went missing after being sent into exile by the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pilesar III. In 2002 Hillel Halkin authored "Across the Sabbath River: In Search of a Lost Tribe of Israel," an account of the search for the lost tribes that included the Gadites, Reubenites and tribe of Manasseh (Menashe) and its possible relationship to the Kuki-Chin-Mizo people of Burma.
(WSJ, 8/8/02, p.D10)(SSFC, 8/11/02, p.M2)
715-642 Judah absorbed refugees from the Assyrian conquest an achieved the attributes of a state.
(AM, 9/01, p.32)
713BC Azuri, king of the Philistine city of Ashdod, refused to pay tribute and endeavored to stir up the neighboring princes to revolt. Sargon [of Assyria] came down and expelled Azuri, and established in his stead Azuri's brother, Ahimiti.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.64)
705-681BC Sennacherib, Assyrian king, also had trouble with the Philistines. Mitinti's son, Rukipti, had been succeeded by his son Sarludari, but it seems as though this ruler had been deposed, and a person called Zidka reigned in his stead. Sennacherib found conspiracy in Zidka, and brought the gods of his father's house, himself, and his family into exile to Assyria, restoring Sarludari to his former throne.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.64)
705-681BC At the same time the Ekronites had revolted against the Assyrian. Their king, Padi, had remained a loyal vassal to his overlord, but his turbulent subjects had put him in fetters and sent him to Hezekiah, king of Judah, who cast him into prison. The Ekronites summoned assistance from North Arabia and Egypt, and met Sennacherib at El-Tekeh. Here they were defeated, and Sennacherib marched against Ekron, slaying and impaling the chief officers. Padi was rescued from Jerusalem... Sennacherib then cut of some of the territory of Judah and divided it among his vassals...
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.64)
705-681BC Sennacherib ruled the Assyrians and built a new capital in Ninevah where he began to form a library of Sumerian and Babylonian tablets. He managed to subdue the entire region of western Asia.
(eawc, p.7)
701BC The Assyrian King Sennacherib laid siege to Jerusalem.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.16)
c700BC The huge bearded head of a large winged-bull dating from this time was made.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A9)
700-600BC The search for the 10 lost tribes of Israel, who were dispersed in the tenth century BC when the Assyrians conquered part of the Holy Land, is depicted on a CD titled The Myth of the 10 Lost Tribes, by Creative Multimedia Corp.
(New Media, 2/95, p.84)
689BC Sennacherib of Assyria destroyed Babylon, but his son rebuilt it.
(eawc, p.7)
681-668BC Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib became monarch of Assyria after his father was assassinated. "I had monuments made of bronze, lapis lazuli, alabaster... and white limestone... and inscriptions of baked clay... I deposited them in the foundations and left them for future times."
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.65)(MofE, 1978, p.1)
671BC Esarhaddon [of Assyria] recorded a victory over lower Egypt at the cliff face of the Nahr al Kalb (Dog River), between Beirut and Byblos.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.157)
668-627BC Ashurbanipal succeeded Sennacherib as ruler over Assyria. He continued to develop the library and by the time he finished, there were more than 22,000 clay tablets collected.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.65)(eawc, p.7)
650BC Babylon by this time was again prosperous following its destruction in 689 by Sennacherib of Assyria.
(eawc, p.7)
650BC Nabonidas, the last ruler of Ur, made extensive renovations to the ziggurat there. His daughter, princess Bel-Shalti-Nannar, maintained a museum of local antiquities.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.7,8)
614BC The Babylonians (particularly, the Chaldeans) with the help of the Medes, who occupied what is today Iran, began a campaign to destroy the Assyrians.
(eawc, p.8)
612BC Ninevah (Mesopotamia), the cradle of Assyrian kings for 2,500 years, fell to the Babylonians and Medes. The Chaldeans, a Semitic people, then ruled the entire region thereby issuing in the New Babylonian period that lasted to 539BC.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)(SSFC, 2/11/01, p.C1)(SFC, 3/31/03, p.W5)
605BC-562BC Nebuchadnezzar II ruled in Babylon. He undertook some monumental building projects that included the Hanging Gardens. The New Babylonian Revival used glazed bricks for building thereby creating a colorful city. The king was fond of spinach.
(SFC, 12/25/98, p.B5)(SFC, 3/24/00, p.B3)
593BC The time of the prophet Ezekial. He prophesied the return to the promised land after the destruction of the temple and exile to Babylon.
(MofB, A&E TV, 9/7/96)
587BC King Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A18)
586BC Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, ruler of Mesopotamia, destroyed Jerusalem and recorded his deeds at the Nahr al Kalb (Dog River) cliff face between Beirut and Byblos. He took the Jewish people into captivity.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.157)(SFC, 12/31/96, p.A11)
586BC Ezekial, in exile at Babylon, described Tyre as it was before Nebuchadnezzar’s attack in the Bible: (Ezekial 27:1-25) in the Book of Ezekial. this time is known as the "Babylonian Captivity."
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.162)(eawc, p.8)
518BC Persian leader Darius the Great founded Persepolis as his ceremonial capital.
(SSFC, 11/27/05, p.A26)
401BC In the Battle of Cunaxa Cyrus, king of Persia, attempted to oust his brother Artaxerxes from rule over Babylon. Greek forces, hired to help Cyrus, were left stranded when Cyrus died. The Greek army elected Xenophon to lead them back home. Xenophon later authored his “Anabasis" (expedition up country), which told the story of return home. In 2005 Tim Rood authored “The Sea, The Sea," an analysis of Xenophon’s life story following his death.
(WSJ, 5/4/05, p.D10)(Econ, 3/23/13, p.89)
354 BC Xenophon (b. 430BC), Greek historian, died. His work included the “Cyropaedia," a biography of Cyrus the Great (580-530).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon)
331BC Alexander reached Persopolis, the capital of Persia, and burned it.
(V.D.-H.K.p.50)(Econ, 9/17/05, p.48)
116 Hatra, a fortified city of the Parthian Empire and later part of Iraq, withstood a Roman invasion due to its high and thick walls. The Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid Empire was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran.
(SSFC, 4/5/15, p.A7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthian_Empire)
198 Hatra, a fortified city of the Parthian Empire (later part of Iraq), withstood a second Roman invasion due to its high and thick walls. The trading center was surrounded by more than 160 towers.
(SSFC, 4/5/15, p.A7)(AP, 4/26/17)
300-400 The Syriac monastery of Mar Mattai was established near Mosul.
(Econ, 5/14/16, SR p.3)
431CE The Assyrians and Chaldeans broke from what was to become the Roman Catholic Church over a theological dispute.
(WSJ, 3/12/00, p.A10)
500 The second component of the Talmud, the Gemara, was compiled about this time in Babylon (later Iraq). It is a discussion of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Tanakh. The first component, the Mishnah, the first written compendium of Judaism's Oral Law, dated to around 200.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud)
590 St. Elijah's Monastery, aka Dair Mar Elia, was completed in Mosul. It was named after Assyrian Christian monk St. Elijah, who began the construction in 582. In 2014 the Christian monastery was destroyed by the Islamic State.
(AP, 1/20/16)(SFC, 1/21/16, p.A4)
628 Apr 3, In Persia Kavadh sued for peace with the Byzantines. He handed back Armenia, Byzantine Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
(HN, 4/3/99)
632-661 The Rashidun Caliphate, also known as the Rightly Guided Caliphate, comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death. At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia in the east. It was the one of the largest empires in history up until that time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashidun_Caliphate)
637 Ctesiphon, a center of Christianity southeast of Baghdad, was taken by Arabs, who renamed it Madain.
(SFC, 3/31/03, p.W5)
637 Muslim armies conquered Mesopotamia.
(ATC, p.78)
642 May, Khalid bin Al-Waleed (b.585), Muslim commander prominent in leading the conquest of Iraq and Syria, died in Syria. It was under his military leadership that Arabia, for the first time in history, was united under a single political entity, the Caliphate.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_ibn_al-Walid)(SFC, 3/30/18, p.A5)
657AD Jul 26, Mu’awiyan defeated Caliph Ali in the Battle of Siffin in Mesopotamia.
(HN, 7/26/98)
661 Jan 29, Ali ibn Abu Talib, caliph of Islam (656-61), was murdered in Kufa, Iraq. Caliph Ali, son-in-law of Mohammed, was assassinated and his followers (Shiites) broke from the majority Muslim group. A member of the anarchist sect of Kharajites assassinated Ali. This sect believed that there are no verdict’s but God’s. The Imam Ali mosque in Najaf marks the grave of Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed and a central figure in Shiite Islam.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali)(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A14)(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A16)
680 Oct 10, Imam Hussein, grandson of prophet Mohammed, was beheaded. He was killed by rival Muslim forces on the Karbala plain in modern day Iraq. He then became a saint to Shiite Muslims. Traditionalists and radical guerrillas alike commemorate his martyrdom as the ceremony of Ashura. The 10-day mourning period during the holy month of Muharram commemorates the deaths of Caliph Ali’s male relatives by Sunnis from Iraq. Shiites went on to believe that new leaders should be descendants of Mohammad and Ali. Sunnis went on to vest power in a body of Muslim scholars called the ulema.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A14)(SFC, 2/24/06, p.A15)(http://countrystudies.us/iraq/15.htm)
700-800 According to Iraqis Muslim forces "liberated" Iraq from the Persians in the 8th century qadissiyah battle.
(SFC, 2/1/02, p.A18)
700-800 Escaped slaves called the Zanj took refuge from the early Islamic empire in the marshes of southern Iraq.
(SSFC, 12/28/03, p.A6)
705 Oct 8, Abd al-Malik, caliph of Damascus, died.
(MC, 10/8/01)
730 Khazar commander Barjik led Khazar troops through the Darial Pass to invade Azerbaijan. At the Battle of Ardabil, the Khazars defeated an entire Arab army. The Battle of Ardabil lasted three days, and resulted in the death of a major Arab general named Jarrah. The Khazars then conquered Azerbaijan and Armenia and northern Iraq for a brief time.
(TJOK, pages 160-161)
750-1258CE Muslim power in Persia was held by the Abbassid caliphs, who claimed lands that stretched from Central Asia to North Africa and Spain. One Abbasid general, Abdullah, invited 80 Umayyad leaders to a banquet where they were killed by Abdullah’s men. Only one Umayyad, Abd al Rahman, was able to escape. He fled all the way to Spain where he united the warring Muslin groups there and built a new Umayyad government. So now the Muslims were split in two groups. The Abbassid dynasty of the Moslem Empire ruled Arabia and the eastern empire. All of the caliphs of this era claim descended from Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed.
(AHD, 1971, p.2)(ATC, p.84)(SFC, 4/12/03, p.A14)
751CE During a raid into central Asia, the Abbasids captured some Chinese artisans skilled in paper making.
(ATC, p.89)
762 Jul 30, A Persian astrologer, selected by caliph al-Mansur (the Victorious), selected this day as propitious for breaking ground for the city of Baghdad. Al-Mansur was one of the founders of the Abassid dynasty.
(WSJ, 2/14/09, p.W8)
770 The Syrian Orthodox Church of St. Thomas (Mar Toma) was built in Mosul.
(SFC, 12/24/09, p.A3)
776 Al-Jahiz (d.868), Muslim theologian and scholar, was born in Basra about this time. He is credited with writing nearly two hundred works, although fewer than one hundred survive today. His most famous work is Al-Hayawan" (The Book of animals), which merges discussions of zoology with philosophy.
(Econ, 2/7/09, p.72)(www.enotes.com/classical-medieval-criticism/al-jahiz)
786 Feb 4, Harun al-Rashid (786-809) succeeded his older brother the Abbasid Caliph al-Hadi as Caliph of Baghdad.
(HN, 2/4/99)(Econ, 12/19/15, p.67)
799 Imam Musa ibn Jaafar al-Kadhim (55), one of the 12 principle Shiite saints, died from poisoning in Baghdad.
(www.shiachat.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t52098.html)
800-900 Buran, the wife of the Caliph of Baghdad, had a lavish wedding. The groom was led to a carpet of woven gold and 1,000 pearls were poured over his head in honor of a poet who had described the surface of a glass of white wine as: "pearls scattered like pebbles on a plain of gold."
(SFC, 12/18/96, zz-1 p.8)
800-900 Jaber bin Hayyan, an Iraqi polymath, elaborated on algebra (al-jabr) and described "flammable vapours" at the mouths of heated wine vessels.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.68)
809 Mar 24, Harun al-Rashid (Arabic for The Rightly Guided), caliph of the Abbasid empire (786-809), died at age 44. His reign is immortalized in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. His work included the construction of a House of Wisdom in Baghdad.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harun_al-Rashid)(WSJ, 2/8/06, p.D12)
815 Abu Nawas, Arab poet, died. His odes included verses on Baghdad liquor that was "as hot between the ribs as a firebrand."
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.68)
836 Caliph al-Mutasim built a new capital at Samarra to replace Baghdad as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. It was abandoned by Caliph al-Mutamid in 892.
(SFC, 2/23/06, p.A15)
855 Ahmad ibn Hanbal (b.780), Muslim scholar, died in Iraq. He is considered the founder of the 4th school of Sunni Islam. The four schools of Sunni Islam include: a) The Hanafi school, named after Imam Abu Hanifa, predominates in the territories formerly under the Ottoman Empire and in Muslim India and Pakistan; it relies heavily on consensus and analogical reasoning in addition to the Quran and sunna. B) The Maliki school, named after Malik ibn Anas, is dominant in upper Egypt and West Africa; developed in Medina, it emphasizes use of hadith (sayings or acts) that were current in the Prophet's city. C) The school of Muhammad ibn Idris ash Shafii, prevailing in Indonesia, stresses reasoning by analogy. D) The fourth legal school is that of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, which is the school adhered to in Saudi Arabia.
(http://countrystudies.us/saudi-arabia/26.htm)
868 The 10th imam, Ali al-Hadi, died. His remains were placed in the Askariya shrine in Samarra (Persia-Iraq).
(AP, 2/22/06)
874 The 11th imam, Hassan al-Askari, son of Ali al-Hadi, died. His remains were also placed in the Askariya shrine in Samarra (Persia-Iraq). Hassan al-Askari was the father of Al-Mahdi, the hidden imam.
(AP, 2/22/06)
878 Imam Mahdi went into hiding. Shiites went on to believe that he would return, along with Jesus, to lead Muslims in a struggle for justice.
(SFC, 1/19/08, p.A7)
892 Caliph al-Mutamid abandoned Samarra, established in 836, as the capital of the Abassid Caliphate.
(SFC, 2/23/06, p.A15)
922 Mar 26, Al-Hallaj al-Mughith-al-Hsayn Mansur (64), Persian mystic, was beheaded. Mansur al-Hallaj (b.858), a Sufi mystic, was crucified in Baghdad for pronouncing in the midst of a trance that he was the truth, i.e god.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Hallaj)(SFC, 4/21/04, p.A10)
945 The Buyids (Buwayhids) came to power in Baghdad. They were ousted by the Seljuks in 1055 under Tughril Beg.
(www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/iraq/HISTORY.html)
977 The shrine of Imam Ali, a gold-domed mosque, was built in Najaf, Iraq, on the burial site of Imam Ali, son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed.
(SFC, 8/30/03, p.A1)
1055 The Seljuks under Tughril Beg ousted the Buyids (Buwayhids) in Baghdad. The nomadic Turks from Central Asia, descended from a warrior named Seljuk, took control of the government and continued governing the empire in the tradition of Islamic law.
(www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/iraq/HISTORY.html)
1070 In Egypt a famine forced Al-Mustansir to send the women of Cairo to Baghdad to escape starvation.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1146 Sep 14, Zangi of the Near East was murdered. The Sultan Nur ad-Din, his son, pursued the conquest of Edessa (NW Mesopotamia).
(HN, 9/14/98)
1162-1227 Genghis Khan was born in the Hentiyn Nuruu mountains north of Ulan Bator. His given name was Temujin, "the ironsmith." He seized control over 5 million square miles that covered China, Iran, Iraq, Burma, Vietnam, and most of Korea and Russia. "In Search of Genghis Khan" is a book by Tim Severin. He was succeeded by his son Ogedai, who was succeeded by Guyuk. Ogedai ignored numerous pleas from his brother Chaghatai to cut down on his drinking and died of alcoholism as did Guyuk.
(SFC, 4/14/96, T-10)(WUD, 1994, p. 591)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1227-1234 The Madrassa al Mustansirija was constructed in Baghdad by the Caliph al Mustansir. It became world epicenter of medical sciences and also taught theology, mathematics, jurisprudence, astrology and other subjects.
(WSJ, 9/20/08, p.W14)
1258 Feb 10, Huegu (Hulega Khan), a Mongol leader and grandson of Genghis Khan, seized Baghdad following a 4-day assault. Mongol invaders from Central Asia took over Baghdad and ended the Abbasid-Seljuk Empire. They included Uzbeks, Kazaks, Georgians and other groups. Some 200 to 800 thousand people were killed and looting lasted 17 days. Their destruction included the razing of Baghdad’s House of Wisdom.
(ATC, p.91)(AP, 2/10/99)(SFC, 4/12/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/8/06, p.D12)
1258 The Abbasids fled from Baghdad to Egypt following the Mongol invasion that ended the Abbasid-Seljuk Empire.
(Econ, 10/4/14, p.55)
1260 Mar 1, Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis, conquered Damascus.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1270 Mongol hordes sacked Babylon and ended 1,500 years of rule over Eastern Jewry by the high Mesopotamian priest known as the Exxilarch.
(WSJ, 6/30/03, p.A1)
1401 Jun, Amir Timur, aka Tamerlane, invaded Baghdad. After the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur)
1534 Dec 4, Turkish sultan Suleiman occupied Baghdad.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1546 Basra (Iraq) was captured by the Ottoman Empire.
(Econ, 3/2/13, p.24)
1551 Pope Eugenius IV brought some of the Middle-Eastern Christians back into the Western Christian fold when he established the Chaldean rite of the Catholic Church.
(WSJ, 3/12/00, p.A10)
1638 Dec 24, The Ottomans under Murad IV recaptured Baghdad from Safavid Persia.
(HN, 12/24/98)
1743 In Mosul as many as 150 monks who refused to convert to Islam were massacred at St. Elijah's Monastery by a Persian general.
(AP, 1/20/16)
1791 Wahid Bihbihani (b.~1704), Shiite scholar and founder of the most dominant form of Shiism, died about this time in Karbala. He revived and refashioned the waning Usuli school of Shiism.
(Econ, 7/25/15, p.69)(http://tinyurl.com/pyavpz3)
1801 Apr 21, Saudi Arabs led Sunni raids into Karbala, Iraq, killing about 5,000 people.
(Econ, 10/11/08, p.65)(http://tinyurl.com/5qdnf3)
1806 Apr 21, Saudi Arabs led Sunni raids into Najaf, Iraq, killing about 5,000 people.
(Econ, 10/11/08, p.65)(http://tinyurl.com/5qdnf3)
1807 Saud al-Saud invaded Karbala, Iraq, for the second time in 1807, but he could not occupy it.
(www.islamicsupremecouncil.org/CMS/Topics/Wahhabism/118121372002.htm)
1829 David Sassoon (37), the riches man in Baghdad, fled the city as Mamluk ruler Dawud Pasha began pogroms against the Jews. In 1832 Sassoon set up anew in Bombay, India, and became involved in the drug trade.
(Econ., 7/4/20, p.74)
1829 Plymouth Brethren missionaries from the US made their 1st trip to Baghdad.
(WSJ, 1/17/03, p.W13)
1853 Hormuzd Rassam (1826-1910), Mosul-born Assyrian, and Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894), British archeologist, uncovered ancient Assyrian tablets at Nineveh (Iraq). Layard published his paper on Assyrian-Egyptian Cross-Dating. By using seal-impressions of rulers occurring on the same piece of clay, Layard was able to assign a date to the Assyrian dynasty because the Egyptian ruler’s reign was firmly dated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormuzd_Rassam) (RFH-MDHP, 1969, p.59)(ON, 11/07, p.4)
1855 Some 240 cases of archeological material was lost when transport rafts were attacked and sunk by Arab brigands at Kurnah, where the Tigris and Euphrates join to form the Shatt-al-Arab.
(RFH-MDHP, p.218)
1873 Mar 2, George Smith, British Assyriologist, arrived at the ruins of Nineveh outside Mosul (Iraq). Over the next few weeks he found tablets referring to more pieces of the Gilgamesh story, a record of kings in the Babylonian dynasties, as well as lists of cuneiform symbols.
(ON, 11/07, p.5)
1873 Nov, George Smith, British Assyriologist, departed England for a 2nd trip to the ruins of Nineveh. His 7-month trip yielded thousands of fragments that provided a more complete version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, whose main character was Sumerian king who lived around 2700 BC.
(ON, 11/07, p.5)
1879 The clay Cyrus cylinder, covered in Babylonian cuneiform script, was uncovered in Iraq.
(Econ, 3/23/13, p.89)
1883 May 20, Faisal ibn Husayn (d.1933), the 3rd son of the grand sherif of Mecca, was born in Mecca. He later became 1st king of Syria (1920) and Iraq (1921).
(www.wordiq.com/definition/Faisal_I_of_Iraq)
1913 The boundary between Iraq and Kuwait was defined.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1915 Sep 28, At the Battle of Kut-el-Amara the British defeated the Turks in Mesopotamia.
(MC, 9/28/01)
1915 Nov 22, The Anglo-Indian army, led by British General Sir Charles Townshend, attacked a larger Turkish force under General Nur-ud-Din at Ctesiphon, Iraq, but was repulsed.
(HN, 11/22/98)
1916 May 9, The Sykes-Picot Agreement, a secret understanding between the governments of Britain and France, defined their respective spheres of post-World War I influence and control in the Middle East. It was signed on 16 May 1916. Italian claims were added in 1917. Britain and France carved up the Levant into an assortment of monarchies, mandates and emirates. The agreement enshrined Anglo-French imperialist ambitions at the end of WW II. Syria and Lebanon were put into the French orbit, while Britain claimed Jordan, Iraq, the Gulf states and the Palestinian Mandate. Sir Mark Sykes (d.1919 at age 39) and Francois Picot made the deal. As of 2016 the boundaries of the agreement remained in much of the common border between Syria and Iraq.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement)(WSJ, 2/27/00, p.A17)(Econ, 5/14/16, SR p.5)
1916-1931 The Indian rupee was the legal tender of Iraq.
(WSJ, 11/7/03, p.A10)
1917 Mar 11, British troops occupied Baghdad.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1918 The Yazidis of Sinjar (Iraq) saved hundreds of Armenians and Assyrian Christians as they were being slaughtered by Ottoman Turks and their Kurdish proxies. The Ottomans retaliated by sending a small army to Sinjar and capturing the revered Yazidi leader , Hamo Sharro, who was sentenced to five years of har labor.
(Econ, 8/23/14, p.38)
1918 The area of ancient Mesopotamia, a part of the Ottoman Empire at the time, was conquered by the British during World War I. After the war, the European powers created the state of Iraq as a British mandate. Iraq is the Arabic name for Mesopotamia, an ancient region situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and home to early civilizations, including Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia and Assyria.
(HNQ, 12/19/99)
1918 British troops built the Basra shipyard after their campaign to capture Baghdad from the Ottoman Turks during WWI. In 2019 it was still operating with little maintenance, relying on its vintage machinery and the skill of its workers to keep going.
(AP, 1/22/19)
1919 Aug 28, The American King-Crane Commission presented its report and recommendations to the allies on the status of Syria, Iraq, and Palestine. The report recommended that Jewish immigration should be definitely limited, and that the project for making Palestine distinctly a Jewish commonwealth should be given up. It also recommended the creation of a single Arab state - "Greater Syria"- that included Lebanon and Palestine and would have been administered under American mandatory power.
(http://tinyurl.com/z4rnwf4)
1919 Air pioneers flew in the Great London to Australia Air Derby of this year. Six planes competed with 14 contestants. Four died in crashes, two were arrested in Yugoslavia for spying, and two others were forced down in Iraq and had to fend off local tribesmen with hand grenades.
(NG, 5/95, p.10)
1921 Mar 12, The Cairo Conference, called by Winston Churchill, convened to establish a unified British policy in the Middle East. Britain and France carved up Arabia and created Jordan under Emir Abdullah; his brother Faisal became King of Iraq. France was given influence over Syria and Jewish immigration was allowed into Palestine. Faisal I died one year after independence and his son, Ghazi I succeeded him. Colonial Sec. Winston Churchill wanted to keep an air corridor to Iraq, where the Royal Air Force was dropping poison gas on rebellious Arab tribes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Conference_%281921%29)(SSFC, 10/14/01, p.D3)(Econ, 7/13/13, SR p.5)
1921 Winston Churchill, T.E. Lawrence and archeologist Gertrude Bell promoted "the sherifian solution," under which the Hashemite family-- Hussein, the sherif of Mecca, and his sons, would rule over the region under Britain's eye.
(Econ, 7/19/03, p.69)
1921-1958 The period of the Hashemite monarchy.
(SFC, 5/27/97, p.A22)
1922 Jan, The Iraqi state police force was founded.
(AFP, 1/8/12)
1922 Nov 2, English archeologist Charles Leonard Woolley began excavating the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur, located between Baghdad and the Persian Gulf.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.7)
1922 A kind of draught board in an elongated 'H' shape, together with its pieces and dice, were found during archaeological excavations at the royal cemetery in the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, known now as Tal al-Muqayyar, in southern Iraq. It took more than five decades until experts managed to match up and translate a set of rules carved into a piece of clay with the board game. It became known as the Royal Game of Ur.
(AFP, 11/26/18)
1923 Jul 24, The Treaty of Lausanne, which settled the boundaries of modern Greece and Turkey, was concluded in Switzerland. It replaced the Treaty of Sevres and divided the lands inhabited by the Kurds between Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Article 39 allowed Turkish nationals to use any language they wished in commerce, public and private meetings, and publications. The treaty specifically protected the rights of the Armenian, Greek and Jewish communities. The former provinces of Baghdad, Basra and Mosul were lumped together to form Iraq. Both countries agreed to a massive exchange of religious minorities. Christians were deported from Turkey to Greece and Muslims from Greece to Turkey. A Muslim community of at least 100,000 was allowed in northern Greece. In 2006 Bruce Clark authored “Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions that Forged Modern Greece and Turkey."
(WSJ, 3/20/97, p.A17)(AP, 7/24/97)(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.A14)(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.9)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.50)(Econ, 12/9/06, p.92)(Econ, 10/16/10, p.72)
1923 Iraq's Department of Antiquities was established along with Baghdad’s Iraq Museum.
(SSFC, 5/18/03, p.D3)(NH, 6/03, p.44)
1924 Mar 3, Kemal Ataturk forced the abolition of the Muslim caliphate through the protesting assembly and banned all Kurdish schools, publications and associations. This ended the Ottoman Empire and created the modern Middle East, though Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia were still colonies of Britain and France.
(WSJ, 2/11/99, p.A24)(SSFC, 10/14/01, p.A3)
1925 The golden dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra, Iraq, was completed.
(AP, 2/22/06)
1926 Jul 12, Gertrude Bell (b.1868), British archeologist and intelligence officer, died in Baghdad. From 1900 to 1913 she journeyed some 20,000 miles from Istanbul to the Syrian desert and on to Iraq. In 2006 Georgina Howell authored "Daughter of the Desert: The Remarkable Life of Gertrude Bell." In 2017 the movie “Queen of the Desert" starred Nicole Kidman as Bell. A documentary on Bell titled “Letters From Baghdad" featured film footage and photos from the early 1900s.
(Econ, 9/9/06, p.79)(http://tinyurl.com/p59fy)(SFC, 6/16/17, p.E6)
1927 Jun, Oil was discovered near Kirkuk, Iraq, the 1st commercial find in any Arab country. BP was a shareholder in the Iraqi Petroleum Company when it started drilling Iraq's first oil well at Baba Gurgur just north of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.E1)(AP, 10/17/09)
1927 Dec 14, Iraq gained independence from Britain, but British troops remained.
(MC, 12/14/01)
1928 In Iraq Mohammed Mahdi al-Jawahri, classical Arab poet, published "Between Passion and Feeling."
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)
1930 A 6,500 year-old human skeleton was excavated in southern Iraq about this time and taken to the Univ. of Pennsylvania’s Pen Museum where it was lost in storage until 2014.
(SFC, 8/6/14, p.A5)
1931 Mar 26, Iraq and Trans-Jordan (Transjordan) signed a peace treaty.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1931 Apr 22, Egypt signed a treaty of friendship with Iraq.
(HN, 4/22/98)
1931 The Iraqi Air Force was founded. It was later considered the best in the Arab world battling the British in 1941 and Israel in 1948 and 1967.
(AP, 8/31/09)
1933 Sep 8, Iraq's King Faisal I (b.1885) died one year after independence and his son, Ghazi I, succeeded him. In 2014 Ali A. Allawi authored “Faisal I of Iraq."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_I_of_Iraq)(Econ, 2/8/14, p.79)
1932 Oct 3, Iraq became independent after a hundred years of direct foreign rule. Created as a British mandate after World War I, Iraq received its full independence when it was admitted into the League of Nations.
(NH, 9/96, p.14)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(HNQ, 6/20/99)(MC, 10/3/01)
1933 Assyrian villagers were massacred by Iraqi troops.
(WSJ, 3/12/00, p.A10)
1935 Jan 14, The oil pipeline from Iraq to the Mediterranean went into use.
(MC, 1/14/02)
1935 In Iraq Mohammed Mahdi al-Jawahri, classical Arab poet, published "Al Jawahri’s Divan."
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)
1936 In Iraq King Ghazi I witnessed a coup against his prime minister.
(NW, 9/8/03, p.32)
1936 In Iraq King Ghazi I built a radio station at his Al Zuhour Palace. This area later became know as the Green Zone following the US invasion in 2003.
(SFC, 6/2/10, p.A3)
1936 Agatha Christie authored her novel “Murder in Mesopotamia." During the 1930s she accompanied her husband Max Mallowan, British archeologist, on excavations in southern Iraq and later wrote an account of their work titled “Come Tell Me How You Live" (1946)
(MT, summer 2003, p.12)
1937 Apr 28, Saddam Hussein, future president of Iraq, was born in the village of al-Oja near the desert town of Tikrit. His invasion of Kuwait prompted the Persian Gulf War. This became a state holiday under Hussein's rule and was abolished in 2003. He was executed in Dec 2006.
(SFEC, 3/29/98, p.A12)(HN, 4/28/99)(WSJ, 1/20/02, p.A13)(AP, 7/13/07)
1937 Oct, Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was exiled from Palestine. He sought fled to Iraq and in 1941 sought refuge in Iran.
(www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/dec02/middleEast.asp)
1938 In Iraq the Habaniyah airfield was completed.
(AP, 7/5/03)
1939 In Iraq ruler Ghazi I died mysteriously. The official explanation was that he drove his car into a lamppost.
(NW, 9/8/03, p.32)
1941 Apr 17, British troop landed in Iraq.
(MC, 4/17/02)
1941 April 30, Iraqi pro-German junta leader Rashid Ali ordered 9,000 troops to surround Habaniyah and prepare to take it. The British troops, supported by Assyrian and local infantry, defeated three Iraqi brigades with a few hundred troops and 96 aircraft. By the end of the battle, British bombers flying from Habaniyah destroyed the entire Iraqi air force. The ground troops, aided by reinforcements, launched a counterattack, took control of Baghdad and reinstalled a friendly government.
(AP, 7/5/03)
1941 May 2, Hostilities broke out between British forces in Iraq and that country’s pro-German faction under PM Rashid Ali. Quickly overthrown by British troops, a pro-British regime under PM Nuri al-Said was installed, declaring war on the Axis powers in 1943.
(HN, 5/2/99)(HNQ, 6/20/99)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1941 May 22, British troops attacked Baghdad.
(MC, 5/22/02)
1941 May 31, An armistice was arranged between the British and the Iraqis. The British were to remain in the country and the Iraqis were to do nothing to help the Axis powers.
(HN, 5/31/99)
1941 Jun 1, British troops occupied Baghdad, Iraq.
(www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/dec02/middleEast.asp)
1943 Iraq declared war against the Axis after British troops ran military leaders in support of Hitler out of the country.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, Z1 p.8)
1944 Oct 30, Ahmad Chalabi, founding head of Jordan’s Petra Bank (1977), was born in Iraq. His family left in 1956 and he spent most of his life in the US and Great Britain. In 1969 he received a Ph.D. in mathematics from the Univ. of Chicago.
(Econ, 10/4/03, p.44)(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.A4)
1945 Oct 20, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon formed the Arab League to present a unified front against the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
(HN, 10/20/98)
1945 Foreign minister Fadhel al-Jamali (1903-1997) signed the UN Charter for Iraq. He later became prime minister under colonial rule and tried to get more freedom from Britain.
(SFC, 5/27/97, p.A22)
1945 The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was founded by Mullah Mustafa Barzani. He played a major role in establishing the short-lived Kurdish Republic of Mehabad, "Red" Kurdistan, in Iran. In the 30s and 40s he had organized "Pesh merga" guerrillas from clans in the Zagros region.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A7)(WSJ, 12/20/02, p.A14)
1947 Apr 7, Arab students, influenced by national socialist movements in Europe, founded the Baath Party. Satia al-Husri, father of Ba’athism, was a disciple of German philosopher Johann Fichte. This became a holiday in Iraq until abolished in 2003.
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/8/03, p.D4)(AP, 7/13/03)
1948 May 15, Hours after declaring its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
(AP, 5/15/97)
1948 Arshad al-Umari served as prime minister of Iraq.
(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.A1)
1948 Attacks on Baghdad’s synagogues prompted the flight of most of Iraq’s 200,000 Jews.
(Econ, 8/7/04, p.39)
1948-1949 Iraqi troops participated in the Arab League invasion of the new state of Israel. Iraq joined Transjordan and other Arab states to fight Israel. Most of Iraq’s 120,000 Jews fled to Israel or the West.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1950s Sir Wilfred Thesiger (d.2003), writer, explorer and chronicler of the world's vanishing ways of life, spent much of the 1950s among Iraq's marsh Arabs. He later authored "The Marsh Arabs," the story of the Shiite marsh dwellers of southern Iraq.
(AP, 8/26/03)
1952 Apr 23, Oil pipeline from Kirkuk, Iraq, to Banias was completed.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1952 Jul 24, In Iraq-Jordan a disgusted military overthrew the corrupt government of King Farouk.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1955 Iraq joined with Britain, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan in the Baghdad Pact, a loose alliance intended to check soviet influence in the region. The Baghdad Pact was formed at the prompting of the U.S. in an effort to block Soviet pressures on the northern tier of Middle Eastern states. The U.S. provided military and economic aid to the pact members.
(HNQ, 7/28/98)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1955 The new American Embassy in Baghdad was designed by architect Jose Luis Sert.
(WSJ, 6/2/04, p.D12)
1956 Saddam Hussein joined the Arab Baath Socialist Party.
(WSJ, 1/20/02, p.A13)
1957 May, Frank Lloyd Wright (89) traveled to Iraq to design an opera house for Baghdad. His multibuilding scheme was never built.
(WSJ, 8/20/03, p.D12)
1957 Iraq commissioned Le Corbusier to design the Baghdad Gymnasium as a small part of a planned Olympic city. It was only completed in 1982, under the rule of Saddam Hussein, under the guidance of Georges-Marc Presente, an associate of Le Corbusier, who ensured the strict application of the designer's clean, industrial, modernist principles.
(AFP, 4/23/12)
1957 Iraqi Shiite scholar Mohammed Baqr al Sadr founded the Daawa movement.
(WSJ, 4/28/05, p.A1)
1958 Jan 21, The Soviet Union called for a ban on nuclear arms in Baghdad Pact countries.
(HN, 1/21/99)
1958 Feb 14, The Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan formed under Iraq’s Faisal II. King Hussein forged a federation with Iraq, which was led by his cousin, Faisal II. The federation failed when Faisal was killed during a revolution in Iraq.
(HNQ, 8/20/00)(MC, 2/14/02)
1958 Mar 3, Nuri ash Said became premier of Iraq.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1958 Jul 14, In Iraq Gen. Abdel Karim al-Kassem (Qassim) assassinated Faisal II with his son and premier. Karim proclaimed a republic. Jordan’s King Hussein succeeded Faisal. Faisal II, Hashemite King of Iraq (1939-58), was assassinated at Baghdad and Noeri el-Said, premier of Iraq, was murdered. Mohammed Hadid (d.1999 at 92) served as the first finance minister under the government of Abdel Karim Qassem.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.963)(AP, 7/14/97)(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)(SFC, 8/6/99, p.D4)
1958 Aug 1, Jordan’s King Hussein dissolved the Arab Federation of Jordan and Iraq.
(PCh, 1992, p.963)
1958 Dec 13, Ahmed Mukhtar Baban, premier of Iraq, was executed along with Burhanuddin Bashajan, Iraqi minister of Foreign affairs and Rafiq Aref, Iraqi chief-staff Arabs Statenbond.
(MC, 12/13/01)
1958 Saddam Hussein was recruited by his uncle Khairalla Msallat, an army officer and fervent Arab nationalist, to assassinate a prominent communist in Tikrit. Saddam killed his victim, a distant cousin, with a single shot to the head. Hussein was arrested and imprisoned for six months, then released for lack of evidence.
(www.moreorless.au.com/killers/hussein.html)
1959 Mar 24, Gen. Qasim pulled Iraq out of the Baghdad Pact after the United States signed bilateral cooperation agreements with Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. A number of assassination attempts on Qasim failed including an attempt that included Baath Socialist Party activist Saddam Hussein.
(HNQ, 7/28/98)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)(MC, 3/24/02)
1959 Oct 7, Saddam Hussein participated in a Baath team that ambushed Iraqi strongman Abdel-Karim Kassem in Baghdad, wounding him. Saddam, wounded in leg, fled country.
(AP, 10/17/05)
1959 Saddam Hussein, sentenced to death for an assassination attempt on PM Qasim, fled to Syria and Egypt.
(WSJ, 1/20/02, p.A13)(www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/saddam.htm)
1960 Mar 26, Iraq executed 30 after attack on President Kassem.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1960 Sep 14, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela formed OPEC. Fuad Rouhani (1907-2004) of Iran served as its 1st secretary-general. In 1964 he was succeeded by Abdul Rahman Bazzaz of Iraq.
(HN, 9/14/98)(WSJ, 7/28/03, p.A8)
1961 Jun 24, Iraq demanded dominion over Kuwait.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1961 Jun 26, A Kuwaiti vote opposed Iraq’s annexation plans.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1961 Jul 1, British troops landed in Kuwait to aid against Iraqi threats.
(HN, 7/1/98)
1963 Feb 8, In Iraq the Baath Party first took power. Right-wing Baathists succeeded in mounting a coup and executed PM Gen. Abdel Karim Qassim. Abdul Salam Arif came to power. This was followed by a massacre of thousands of peasants, communists and trade unionists. The Arab Baath Socialist Party pulled off the coup and ruled Iraq for 9 months.
(HNQ, 6/20/99)(SFC, 8/6/99, p.D4)(AP, 5/26/03)(AP, 7/13/03)(NW, 9/8/03, p.32)
1963 Sadam Hussein returned to Iraq and took a leadership position in the Baath party. The party was soon overthrown.
(WSJ, 1/20/02, p.A13)
1963 Iraq renounced its claim to Kuwait.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1964 Saddam Hussein was imprisoned in Iraq for conspiratorial activities, but resumed them on release.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1965 The People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI) was founded as a youthful underground opposition to the Shah. The group was also known as the Mujahedeen-d Khalq Organization (MEK of MKO). Its leader Massoud Rajavi fled to France in 1981 and then relocated with his followers to Iraq in 1986, where Saddam Hussein gave them a big base at Camp Ashraf.
(Econ, 4/11/09, p.47)
1966 In Iraq ruler Abdul Salam Arif died mysteriously in a helicopter accident. His brother Abdul Salam Arif took over power.
(NW, 9/8/03, p.32)
1967 Jun 5, The Six Day War erupted in the Middle East as Israel, convinced an Arab attack was imminent, raided Egyptian military targets. Syria, Jordan and Iraq entered the conflict. Jordan lost the West Bank, an area of 2,270 sq. miles. War broke out as Israel reacted to the removal of UN peace-keeping troops, Arab troop movements and the barring of Israeli ships in the Gulf of Aqaba. Israel destroyed Egypt’s air force on the ground and knocked out the planes of Jordan, Iraq and Syria.
(AP, 6/5/97)(HN, 6/5/98)(NG, 5/93, p.58)(HNQ, 5/22/00)(Econ 5/20/17, SR p.3)
1968 Jul 17, The Arab Socialist Baath Party staged a bloodless coup in Iraq and gained control as the Revolution Command Council. Abdul Rahman Arif, brother of Abdul Salam Arif (d.1966), was ousted in the Baathist coup and exiled to Istanbul. Ahmed Hasan-al-Bakr became president of Iraq after the July 17 coup. This became a national holiday until it was abolished in 2003. Saddam Hussein soon became recognized as the strongman of the regime.
(NG, 5/88, p.653)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)(AP, 7/13/03)(NW, 9/8/03, p.32)
1968 Jul 30, Saddam Hussein took charge of internal security services in Iraq.
(AP, 10/17/05)
1969 Jan 27, In Iraq 14 people, including 9 Jews, were hanged for alleged espionage.
(http://tinyurl.com/5u75cx)
1969 Yevgeny Primakov, ostensibly on assignment from the Communist daily Pravda, went to Baghdad to negotiate a truce between 2 Soviet clients: a rebellious Moscow-trained Kurdish general and the Iraqi government, represented by emerging strongman Saddam Hussein.
(WSJ, 2/13/98, p.A1)
1970 Mar 11, Iraq’s Ba’ath Party agreed to an autonomy accord with the Kurd nation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Kurdistan)
1971 Jul 13-1971 Jul 19, Jordanian troops proceeded to wipe out Palestinian guerrillas; some 1,500 prisoners were brought to Amman; Iraq and Syria soon broke off relations with Jordan.
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)(www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/blacksept1970.htm)
1972 Apr, Iraq and the USSR signed a Treaty of Friendship.
(www.heritage.org/research/MiddleEast/bg362.cfm)
1972 Jun 1, Iraq nationalized the Iraq Petroleum Company controlled by British, American, Dutch and French oil companies.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)(www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/5873nation.htm)
1972 In Iraq Ayatollah Sayed Mohammad Baqir Al-Hakim was imprisoned and tortured by the Hussein regime. He was rejailed 5 years later and in 2002 led the Supreme Council for the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (SCIRI), based in Iran, and its 8,000 fighters.
(SFC, 10/4/02, p.J1)
1972 Hollywood shot a 10-minute prologue fro the film "The Exorcist" in Mosul, Iraq.
(WSJ, 6/12/03, p.A1)
1973 Oct 6, The fourth Arab-Israeli war in 25 years was fought. Israel was taken by surprise when Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan attacked on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, beginning the Yom Kippur War. Syria tried to regain the Golan Heights with a massive attack with 1,500 tanks. The assault, empowered by Russian equipment, was repulsed by air power.
(WSJ, 5/6/96, p.A-13)(TMC, 1994, p.1973)(AP, 10/6/97)(HN, 10/6/98)(Econ, 3/16/13, p.54)
1973 Oct 23, In the Yom Kippur War Syria announced it had accepted a UN sanctioned cease-fire, and the Iraqi government ordered its forces home.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War)
1973 Iraq launched a biological weapons program.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1974 Mar 11, Iraq's "Law for Autonomy in the Area of Kurdistan" was promulgated. It stipulated that: "The Kurdish language shall be the official language of education for Kurds ... Kurdish shall be the official language of education for the Kurds."
(www.jafi.org.il/education/actual/iraq/4.html)
1975 Mar 6, OPEC held a meeting in Algiers attended for the first time by its members’ top leaders. Here the Algiers Accord between Baghdad and Teheran put an end to their border dispute and brought all Iranian help to the Kurdish rebellion to a halt. The United States abruptly withdrew its support for the Kurds and the rebellion collapsed. Many thousands of Kurdish fighters and their families were forced to flee to Iran to escape the pursuing Iraqi army.
(http://mondediplo.com/2002/10/06timeline)(SFC, 11/19/07, p.A11)
1975 Mar 9, Iraq launched an offensive against the rebellious Kurds.
(HN, 3/9/98)
1975 Mar 18, Mulla Mustafa gave the order to the Kurdish army to abandon the struggle. This time round, Mulla Mustafa obtained refuge in the United States.
(www.tamilnation.org/intframe/india/kurds.htm#a1)
1975 Jun, The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) broke off from the KDP after Iran and Iraq resolved a border dispute and the US ended support for a Kurdish rebellion. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) was founded by Jalal Talabani as a breakaway faction of the KDP. The PUK favored armed struggle with other Kurdish groups against Saddam Hussein.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/2893067.stm)(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A7)
1978 Mar, Wadia Haddad, a Palestinian wanted for airplane hijackings, died in Iraq showing only symptoms of leukemia but no signs of poisoning. In 2006 Aaron Klein authored "Striking Back," which for the first time gave details of the killing. Klein said Mossad agents had fed Haddad poisoned Belgian chocolate over six months.
(AP, 5/7/06)
1978 Oct 3, Ayatollah Khomeini (1902-1989) left Iraq for Kuwait after the Shah sought his deportation. He was refused entry in Kuwait and moved to Paris.
(www.iranchamber.com/history/rkhomeini/ayatollah_khomeini.php)
1979 Jul 16, Saddam Hussein succeeded Premier al-Bakr and became president of Iraq and chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). He established a multilayered security system with 3-5 secret police units. He later put his son Qusai in charge of his 10,000 member Special Guards.
(AP, 7/16/97)(SFC, 2/21/98, p.A10)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1979 Jul 27, Mohammed Mahdi al-Jawahri (d.1997), classical Arab poet, fled to Syria amid a crackdown on dissidents.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)
1979 Aug 8, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein executed 21 political opponents.
(www.foreignaffairs.org/1979/2.html)
1979 Iraq put its biological weapons program on hold.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1979 Saddam Hussein executed some 500 rival party leaders. This was most of the leadership of the Baathist Party. Said Aburish, author of "A Brutal Friendship: The West and the Arab Elite Against the Arab People," was quoted on the execution in 2002. Aburish also later authored a biography of Hussein. In 2003 a Baath document was found called Punishment Law 111. Section 200, the "execution section," stated that the death penalty is mandatory for party disloyalty.
(SFC, 2/7/02, p.A14)(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/6/03, p.W7)
1980 Apr 1, The pro-Iranian Dawah Party claims responsibility for an attack on Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz (b.1936), at Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/737483.stm)
1980 Apr 30, Terrorists seized the Iranian Embassy in London. Only after the incident was over did it become known that Iraq had trained and armed the gunmen in order to try to embarrass Iran.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_Siege)
1980 Aug, Iraq and Syria broke diplomatic ties after Damascus sided with Iran just before the Iran-Iraq war.
(SFC, 2/28/00, p.C2)
1980 Sep 22, Iraq under Saddam Hussein invaded Iran following border skirmishes and a dispute over the Shatt al-Arab waterway. This marked the beginning of a war that would last eight years. Iraq invaded Iran striking refineries and an oil-loading terminal on Kharg Island. The Iraqis used the political instability in Iran to try to capture long-disputed territory. They attacked across the Shatt al Arab River, a trunk of the great Tigris-Euphrates river system.
{Iraq, Iran, Oil}
(http://tinyurl.com/2n5z2f)(AP, 9/22/97)(NG, 5/88, p.653,663)
1980 Oct 31, Iran’s Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the late shah, proclaimed himself the rightful successor to the Peacock Throne.
(AP, 10/31/99)
1980 Dec, In Baiji, Iraq, Sadam Hussein began construction of an oil refinery under the Jabal Makhul mountains.
(SFC, 5/5/03, p.A12)
1980 Saddam Hussein made Daawa membership punishable by death and ordered the execution of founder Mohammed Baqr al Sadr.
(WSJ, 4/28/05, p.A1)
1980 Government forces began battling the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)
1980 US Sec. of State Alexander Haig reported in a 1981 memo uncovered by the October Surprise Task Force that leaders of several friendly countries in the Middle East told him on a trip in 1981 that Jimmy Carter had given Iraq’s Saddam Hussein the green light to invade Iran in 1980.
(WSJ, 8/9/96, p.A11)(www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile5.html)
1980 Rev. Jacob Yasso of Detroit’s Sacred Heart Church on Seven Mile Rd. met with Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Hussein soon sent $1.5 million to help cover debts, and to build a social hall and day-care center.
(WSJ, 3/26/03, p.A1)
1980-1988 Iran and Iraq engaged in war. The number of casualties was estimated at well over a million. The US provided covert battle planning assistance to Iraq.
(V.D.-H.K.p.312)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(SSFC, 8/18/02, p.A1)
1980-1988 Labor union independence in Iran was destroyed during its war with Iraq.
(Econ, 4/20/13, p.53)
1981 Jun 7, Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers in “Operation Opera" destroyed a nuclear power plant in Iraq at Osirak, Iraq, before it went into operation. Israelis charged that the facility could have been used to make nuclear weapons. Ilan Ramon (d.2003) flew the last of the 8 planes that bombed the reactor. In 2004 Rodger W. Claire authored “Raid on the Sun."
(WSJ, 7/23/96, p.A22)(AP, 6/7/97)(SFC, 2/3/03, p.A7)(WSJ, 6/1/04, p.D8)(Econ, 1/9/10, p.28)
1981 Nov 5, In Iraq Mazen Salman Kahachi and his high school senior class were arrested after one member wrote an anti-government message on a blackboard. 7 were later reported executed and the other 56 were left unaccounted.
(SFC, 4/24/03, A12)
1981 Dec 15, In Lebanon the Iraqi wife of Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani, was killed in the suicide bombing of the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war. The explosion leveled the embassy and killed 61 people.
{Iraq, Lebanon}
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_embassy_bombing_in_Beirut)(AP, 5/18/20)
1981 The Iraqi Hezbollah was founded by pro-Iranian radicals and its fighters waged a low-level war against the government of Saddam Hussein along with the Shiite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).
(SFC, 12/29/03, p.F1)
1982 Jul 8, In Dujail, Iraq, 17 Islamic militants, furious over the execution of a Shiite leader, opened fire on a presidential convoy and killed several people, but Saddam Hussein escaped. In retaliation 247,000 acres of orchards and palm groves, the town's primary source of income, were destroyed in retribution. 386 people were locked up until 1986. Some 900 people were taken away and about 380 were killed. 148 residents of Dujail were sentenced to death.
(AP, 5/28/03)(SFC, 3/8/05, p.A10)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.52)
1982 Jul 14, Iran launched a "Ramadan-offensive" in Iraq.
(http://tinyurl.com/3xp9jz)
1982 Nov 17, In Iraq the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) was created to increase Iranian control over Iraqi opposition groups belonging to the same Shiite faith as most Iranians. In 1999 it had 4-8000 fighters in southern Iraq.
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)(http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373425)
1983 Feb 7, Iran opened an invasion in the southeast of Iraq.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1983 Dec 20, Donald Rumsfeld visited Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Following his visit the US supplied Hussein with satellite photos of Iranian deployments and allowed shipment of a variety of materials from American suppliers.
(NW, 9/23/02, p.37)(www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/press.htm)
1983 Nassir Hindawi wrote a secret report for the governing Baath Party on using germ weapons as a military asset.
(SFC, 3/24/98, p.A12)
1984 Feb 1, Iraq launched a new series of air attacks on Iran’s shipping.
(www.iranchamber.com/history/iran_iraq_war/iran_iraq_war2.php)
1984 Feb 22-1984 Mar 16, Iran’s offensive Operation Kheibar captured the Iraqi Majnoon Islands in the Haur al-Hawizeh marshes. Britain and the US sent warships to the Persian Gulf following an Iranian offensive against Iraq.
(HN, 2/22/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Iraq_War)
1984 Feb 29-1984 Mar 1, In one of the largest battles of the Iran-Iraq war, the two armies clashed and inflicted more than 25,000 fatalities on each other.
(www.iranchamber.com/history/iran_iraq_war/iran_iraq_war2.php)
1984 Mar 5, The US accused Iraq of using poison gas against Iran.
(www.wsws.org/articles/2004/mar2004/iraq-m24.shtml)
1984 Mar 17, Iraq used tabun against Iran. This was the first use ever of a nerve agent in a conventional battle.
(www.fas.org/irp/gulf/cia/970409/970409_cia_95224_95224_01.html)
1984 Nov 26, US and Iraq resumed diplomatic relations after Pres. Reagan met with Deputy PM Tariq Aziz.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1985 Mar 2, Three Assyrians were executed by the Baath regime of Iraq for distributing literature against the Arabization policies of the government.
(www.unpo.org/article.php?id=741)
1985 Aug 15, Iraq launched its first air raid on Iran’s Kharg oil-island.
(www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/iraqchron.html)
1985 Nov 17, Olaf Palme stopped an illegal shipment of 80 HAWK missiles through Sweden from Israel to Teheran, as he mediated an end of the Iran-Iraq war for the UN.
(http://www.skog.de/writers/e040831.htm)
1985 Iraq placed its biological weapons program under the president’s authority and based it primarily at Salman Pak, a research facility south of Baghdad.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1986 Nov 26, An Iranian missile slammed into crowded residential district of Baghdad, Iraq, killing 48 civilians and wounding 52.
(AP, 11/26/02)
1986 Iraq’s Saddam Hussein allowed the People's Mujahedeen, known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, to establish a base, Camp Ashraf , to launch raids into Iran. The US military protected the group followed its invasion in 2003. In 2009 the US began handing control of the group to Iraqi security forces, which planned to separate members and leaders and eventually repatriate the members.
(AP, 1/23/09)(SFC, 3/28/09, p.A3)
1986 In Iraq the Mosul Dam, built by an Italian-German consortium, began operating. By 2016 sensors, installed by American army engineers, showed widening fissures in the fragile gypsum base underneath the dam.
(Econ, 2/13/15, p.42)
1987 Apr 16, Iraqi forces attacked the Kurdish villages of Basilan and Sheik Wasan. This is believed to be the first time Saddam's regime used chemical weapons on Iraqi citizens.
(AP, 8/22/06)
1987 Apr 17, The Iraqi military won an important battle for Faw during Iran-Iraq war. This became a national holiday until 2003.
(AP, 7/13/03)
1987 May 17, An Iraqi warplane attacked the US Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf and 37 American sailors were killed. Iraq and the United States called the attack a mistake.
(NG, 5/88, p.653)(AP, 5/17/97)(HN, 5/17/98)
1987 Aug 16, Iraqi warplanes bombarded the northern Kurdish village of Balisan, dropping bombs that spread a smoke smelling "like rotten apples." Helicopters then came and bombed the mountains to prevent the villagers from taking refuge anywhere.
(AP, 8/23/06)
1987 Iraq restructured its security organizations. Hussein Kamel al-Majid, the son-in-law of Saddam Hussein, was placed in charge of the Special Security Organization and the research at Salman Pak.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1987 Iraq reportedly tested a bomb 3 times designed to cast a radioactive cloud to weaken enemy units and cause slow death. It did not work and the project was abandoned.
(SSFC, 4/29/01, p.A14)
1987 In Iraq a census counted some 1.4 million Christians. By 2007 some 1.25 million had moved out of Iraq leaving about 250,000 behind.
(Econ, 11/17/07, p.55)
1988 Feb 11, Iran launched a campaign to retake the Fao Peninsula from Iraq with US planning assistance. Chemical weapons were used in the attack.
(SSFC, 8/18/02, p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Faw_Peninsula)
1988 Feb-1988 Sep, Some 50-100 thousand Kurds were killed by poisonous gas from Iraqi forces in the 8-stage Anfal campaign. The Hussein regime bulldozed some 4,000 ethnic Kurd villages due to suspicions of Kurds siding with Iran.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)(AP, 8/21/06)(SFC, 8/21/06, p.A6)
1988 Mar 1, Iraq said it had fired 16 missiles into Tehran in the first long-range rocket attack on the Iranian capital since the Iran-Iraq war began.
(AP, 3/1/98)
1988 Mar 16-1988 Mar 17, Iraqi jets dropped a variety of chemical weapons on the Kurdish town of Halabja and some 5-7,000 residents were killed immediately. The Kurdish city of Halabja, held by Iranian troops and Iraqi Kurdish guerrillas allied with Tehran, was bombed by Iraq. Estimates of casualties varied from several hundred to several thousand.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halabja_poison_gas_attack)(SFC, 7/1/02, p.A6)
1988 Mar 22, Iraqi jets dropped a variety of chemical weapons on the Kurdish town of Sewsenan, where militiamen had fled following attacks on Halabja.
(SFC, 8/21/06, p.A6)
1988 Apr 17, The newly-restructured Iraqi Army began a major operation named "Ramadan Mubarak" aimed to clear the Iranians out of the peninsula. The Iranians were expelled from the peninsula within 35 hours, with much of their equipment captured intact.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Faw_Peninsula)
1988 Jul 22, Iran and Iraq said they would send their foreign ministers to New York to meet with U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, after Iran said it would accept a U.N. cease-fire resolution.
(AP, 7/22/98)
1988 Jul 23, Iran accused Iraq of pushing deep into Iranian territory and using chemical weapons. The March 16 Iraqi chemical attack at Halabja killed thousands and in 1999 was still causing genetic damage and deaths.
(AP, 7/23/97)(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)
1988 Jul 26, U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar met twice with Iran’s foreign minister in the first formal talks about a cease-fire for the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq.
(AP, 7/26/98)
1988 Jul 27, U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar held separate peace talks with the foreign ministers of Iraq and Iran on a cease-fire in the eight-year-old Persian Gulf war.
(AP, 7/27/98)
1988 Aug 1, Iran said it would honor an immediate cease-fire in its eight-year-old war with Iraq.
(AP, 8/1/98)
1988 Aug 6, Iraq’s president said his country would agree to a cease-fire with Iran, provided the Iranians promised to hold direct talks immediately after the truce took effect.
(AP, 8/6/98)
1988 Aug 8, U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced a cease-fire between Iran and Iraq. This became an Iraqi national holiday until it was abolished in 2003.
(SFC, 2/24/9, p.A9)(AP, 8/8/98)(AP, 7/13/03)
1988 Aug 20, A cease fire between Iran and Iraq took effect after 8 years of war.
(www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/uniimogbackgr.html)
1988 Aug 25, Iran and Iraq began talks to end their 8 year war.
(www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/uniimogbackgr.html)
1988 Saddam Hussein began the construction of the “Hands of Victory" monument in Baghdad following the conclusion of war with Iran. In 2007 the government of PM Nouri al-Maliki ordered the destruction of the monument.
(WSJ, 2/21/07, p.A6)
1988 Iraq re-asserted its claim to Kuwait.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1988 Iraqi archeologists unearthed a collection of artifacts from the Assyrian civilization of 800 BC that became called the Treasure of Nimrud.
(WSJ, 6/6/03, p.A1)
1988 The Iraqi assault on Kurdish villages was part of a campaign known as Anfal. Estimates held as many as 182,000 Kurds dead or missing.
(SFC, 4/18/03, p.A18)
1989 Kanan Makiya authored "Republic of Fear," a portrayal of Saddam Hussein's brutality, under the pseudonym Samir al-Khalil while in exile in the US. The book became a best seller in 1990, a year after its publication, when Saddam invaded Kuwait.
(AP, 7/29/03)
1989 Ahmad Chalabi (b.1944), founding head of Petra Bank (1977), fled Jordan following a bank scandal that involved an Iraqi account in exile. 13 people were convicted including 9 Chalabis. Ahmed, who claimed the charges were politically motivated, was sentenced in absentia to 22 years hard labor for embezzling $300 million of state funds.
(Econ, 10/4/03, p.44)(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.A4)
1989 Iraq sent 19 Soviet-built MiG-21s and MiG-23s for maintenance to a plant in Zagreb, Croatia, which was part Yugoslavia. They were moved to Serbia in 1991 and got stuck there because of an embargo. Over the following years most were cannibalized, abandoned and rendered useless.
(AP, 8/31/09)
1990 Mar 28, British customs officials announced they had foiled an attempt to supply Iraq with 40 American-made devices for triggering nuclear weapons, following an 18-month investigation by U.S. and British authorities.
(AP, 3/28/00)
1990 Apr 2, Saddam Hussein of Iraq threatened to hit Israel with binary chemical weapons.
(http://tinyurl.com/oz5my)
1990 May 28, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein opened a two-day Arab League summit in Baghdad with a keynote address in which he said if Israel were to deploy nuclear or chemical weapons against Arabs, Iraq would respond with "weapons of mass destruction."
(AP, 5/28/00)
1990 Jul 24, Iraq, accusing Kuwait of conspiring to harm its economy through oil overproduction, massed tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks along the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. US warships in Persian Gulf were placed on alert.
(AP, 7/24/00)
1990 Jul, Before the invasion of Kuwait, Iraq was producing about 3.5 million barrels of oil per day.
(WSJ, 5/21/96, p.A-12)
1990 Aug 1, Iraq pulled out of talks with Kuwait.
(www.milnet.com/gulfwar.htm)
1990 Aug 2, Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. The day came to be known in Kuwait as "Black Thursday." 330 Kuwaitis died during the occupation and war. Sadam Hussein, leader of Iraq, took over Kuwait. US Pres. George H.W. Bush led an inter-national coalition for sanctions and a demand for withdrawal. The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(TMC, 1994, p.1990)(AP, 8/2/97)(SFEC, 7/30/00, p.C18)
1990 Aug 2, By a vote of 14-0, the United Nations Security Council condemned the invasion and annexation of Kuwait by Iraq and demanded in Resolution 660 the unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
(HNQ, 5/27/99)
1990 Aug 2, Yasser Arafat supported Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. This resulted in the PLO’s isolation.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A18)
1990 Aug 3, US announced the commitment of Naval forces to Gulf regions.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1990 Aug 3, Radio Kuwait went off the air due to the Iraqi invasion.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1990 Aug 3, A day after Iraq invaded Kuwait, thousands of Iraqi soldiers pushed to within a few miles of the border with Saudi Arabia, heightening world concerns that the invasion could spread.
(AP, 8/3/00)
1990 Aug 5, An angry President Bush again denounced the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, telling reporters, "This will not stand. This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait."
(AP, 8/5/00)
1990 Aug 6, The UN Security Council (Resolution 651) ordered a worldwide embargo on trade with Iraq to punish the Baghdad regime for invading Kuwait.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(NH, 9/96, p.14)(AP, 8/6/00)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1990 Aug 7, President Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq. The US Persian Gulf War began. Operation Desert Shield ended Feb 28, 1991. It cost $8.1 billion and left 383 US casualties with 458 wounded.
(AP, 8/7/99)(WSJ, 9/22/99, p.A8)(MC, 8/7/02)
1990 Aug 8, As the Persian Gulf crisis deepened, American forces began taking up positions in Saudi Arabia; Iraq announced it had annexed Kuwait as its 19th province; President Bush warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that "a line has been drawn in the sand."
(AP, 8/8/00)
1990 Aug 12, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein sought to tie any withdrawal of his troops from Kuwait to an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
(AP, 8/12/00)
1990 Aug 15, In an attempt to gain support against the US-led coalition in the Persian Gulf, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein offered to make peace with longtime enemy Iran.
(AP, 8/15/00)
1990 Aug 16, In Iraq, President Saddam Hussein issued a statement in which he repeatedly called Bush a "liar" and said the outbreak of war could result in "thousands of Americans wrapped in sad coffins."
(AP, 8/16/00)
1990 Aug 18, A US frigate fired warning shots across the bow of an Iraqi oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, apparently the first shots fired by the US in the Persian Gulf crisis.
(AP, 8/18/00)
1990 Aug 19, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein offered to free all foreigners detained in Iraq and Kuwait provided the United States promise to withdraw its forces from Saudi Arabia and guarantee that an international economic embargo would be lifted.
(AP, 8/19/00)
1990 Aug 20, For the first time since Iraq began detaining foreigners, President Bush publicly referred to the detainees as hostages, and demanded their release. Iraq moved Western hostages to military installations (human shields).
(AP, 8/20/00)
1990 Aug 21, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein delivered a speech in which he defended the detaining of foreigners in his country, and promised "a major catastrophe" should fighting break out in the Persian Gulf.
(AP, 8/21/00)
1990 Aug 23, Iraqi state television showed President Saddam Hussein meeting with a group of about 20 Western detainees, telling the group—whom he described as "guests"—that they were being held "to prevent the scourge of war."
(AP, 8/23/00)
1990 Aug 24, Iraqi troops surrounded foreign missions in Kuwait.
(AP, 8/24/00)
1990 Aug 24, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev sent a message to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein warning the Persian Gulf situation was "extremely dangerous."
(AP, 8/24/00)
1990 Aug 26, Fifty-five Americans, who had been evacuated from the US Embassy in Kuwait, left Baghdad by car and headed for the Turkish border.
(AP, 8/26/00)
1990 Aug 28, German spy Juergen Mohamed Gietler was arrested for passing military information to Iraq. He provided Iraq with intelligence reports on US military plans that included what the West knew of Iraqi Scud-B missile sites.
(SFC,11/18/97, p.B1)
1990 Aug 28, Iraq declared occupied Kuwait the 19th province of Iraq, renamed Kuwait City Kadhima, and created a new district named after President Saddam Hussein. A puppet regime under Alaa Hussein was set up. Alaa Hussein was convicted of treason in 2000 and sentenced to death. Saddam Hussein, saying he sympathized with his foreign captives, pledged to free detained women and children.
(RTH, 8/28/99)(SFC, 5/4/00, p.A18)(AP, 8/28/00)
1990 Aug 29, A defiant Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared in a television interview that America could not defeat Iraq, saying, "I do not beg before anyone."
(AP, 8/29/00)
1990 Sep 5, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein urged Arabs to rise up in a Holy War against the West and former allies who had turned against him.
(AP, 9/5/00)
1990 Sep 5, In Moscow, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz.
(AP, 9/5/00)
1990 Sep 6, Iraq increased pressure on trapped Westerners, warning that anyone trying to leave without permission could face life in prison.
(AP, 9/6/00)
1990 Sep 10, Iran agreed to resume full diplomatic ties with onetime enemy Iraq.
(AP, 9/10/00)
1990 Sep 13, The UN Security Council at its 2939th meeting adopted Resolution 666, regarding foodstuffs to be supplied to the civilian population in Iraq or Kuwait in order to relieve human suffering.
(www.caabu.org/press/documents/unscr-resolution-666.html)
1990 Sep 14, During the Persian Gulf crisis, the US Navy reported that American troops had fired a warning shot at an Iraqi tanker, then boarded it briefly before allowing it to proceed.
(AP, 9/14/00)
1990 Sep 15, France announced it would send 4,000 more soldiers to the Persian Gulf and expel Iraqi military attaches in Paris in response to Iraq’s raids on French, Belgian and Canadian diplomatic compounds in Kuwait.
(AP, 9/15/00)
1990 Sep 16, Iraqi television broadcast an eight-minute videotaped address by President Bush, who warned the Iraqi people that Saddam Hussein’s brinkmanship could plunge them into war "against the world."
(AP, 9/16/00)
1990 Sep 19, Iraq began confiscating foreign assets from countries that were imposing sanctions against the Baghdad government.
(AP, 9/19/00)
1990 Sep 20, Demanding equal time, Iraq asked US networks to broadcast a message by President Saddam Hussein in response to President Bush’s videotaped address to the Iraqi people.
(AP, 9/20/00)
1990 Sep 23, Iraq threatened to destroy Middle East oil fields and attack Israel if other nations tried to force it from Kuwait.
(AP, 9/23/00)
1990 Sep 25, In a videotaped message to Americans, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein warned that if President Bush launched a war against his country, "it would not be up to him to end it."
(AP, 9/25/00)
1990 Sep 25, The UN Security Council voted 14-to-1 to impose an air embargo against Iraq. Cuba cast the lone dissenting vote.
(AP, 9/25/00)
1990 Sep 28, The exiled emir of Kuwait visited the White House, where he told President Bush the Iraqis were destroying and looting his country.
(AP, 9/28/00)
1990 Sep, In Iraq biological weapons scientists took control of a foot-and-mouth vaccine plant in Daura and began producing anthrax and botulinum toxin.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1990 Oct 3, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein made his first known visit to Kuwait since his country seized control of the oil-rich emirate.
(AP, 10/3/00)
1990 Oct 16, US forces reached 200,000 in Persian Gulf.
(http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2004w05/msg00102.htm)
1990 Oct 18, Iraq offered to sell its oil to anyone—including the United States—for $21 a barrel, the same price level that preceded the invasion of Kuwait.
(AP, 10/18/00)
1990 Oct 19, Iraq ordered all foreigners in occupied Kuwait to report to authorities or face punishment.
(AP, 10/19/00)
1990 Oct 20, US-Iraq antiwar protest marches began in 20 US cities.
(www.tandl.vt.edu/Foundations/mediaproject/mediaprojecthtml/iraq11.html)
1990 Oct 23, Iraq announced the release of 330 French hostages.
(http://tinyurl.com/s498l)
1990 Oct 28, In a surprise move, Iraq said it was halting gasoline rationing imposed earlier in response to global economic sanctions.
(AP, 10/28/00)
1990 Nov 4, Iraq issued a new broadside, saying it was prepared to fight a "dangerous war" rather than give up Kuwait.
(AP, 11/4/00)
1990 Nov 7, In some of her strongest remarks during the Persian Gulf crisis, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that time was "running out" for a peaceful solution.
(AP, 11/7/00)
1990 Nov 8, President Bush ordered a new round of troop deployments in the Persian Gulf, adding up to 150-thousand soldiers to the multinational force facing off against Iraq.
(AP, 11/8/00)
1990 Nov 23, Iraq ended curfew in occupied Kuwait, but began calling up army reservists in their thirties.
(AP, 11/23/02)
1990 Nov 29, The UN Security Council (Resolution 678), led by the United States, voted 12-to-two to authorize military action if Iraq did not withdraw its troops from Kuwait and release all foreign hostages by January 15th, 1991.
(AP, 11/29/00)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1990 Dec 4, Iraq promised to release 3300 Soviet citizens it was holding.
(AP, 12/4/00)
1990 Dec 6, Iraq announced that it would release all its hostages, saying foreigners could begin leaving in two days.
(AP, 12/6/00)
1990 Dec 8, As former American hostages began leaving Iraq and occupied Kuwait, President Bush—wrapping up his South America tour in Caracas, Venezuela—said the evacuation made for "one less worry I’ve got" in deciding whether to go to war against Baghdad.
(AP, 12/8/00)
1990 Dec 14, President Bush prodded Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to agree to talks on the Persian Gulf crisis by January third.
(AP, 12/14/00)
1990 Dec 19, Iraq urged its people to stockpile oil to avoid shortages should war break out, and Saddam Hussein declared he was "ready to crush any attack."
(AP, 12/19/00)
1990 Dec 21, In Iraq hundreds of thousands of Iraqis participated in an evacuation drill to test war readiness.
(AP, 12/21/00)
1990 Dec 23, Saddam Hussein said Israel would be Iraq's 1st target.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/time90s.html)
1990 Dec 29, Iraq denied a report that it was engaged in secret contacts with the US to avert war, and might withdraw from Kuwait before the January 15th United Nations deadline.
(AP, 12/29/00)
1990 Dec 30, Iraq’s information minister (Latif Nussayif Jassim) said President Bush "must have been drunk" when he suggested Iraq might withdraw from Kuwait, and added: "We will show the world America is a paper tiger."
(AP, 12/30/00)
1990 Dec, Some 540,000 American troops assembled to drive Iraqi forces from Kuwait.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A22)
1990 It was reported in 1998 that evidence was found that Iraq put VX nerve gas into missile warheads prior to the Gulf War.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A10)
1990 Iraq produced large amounts of biological agents for weapons. In late 1990 Iraqi scientists tested ricin as a biological weapon in an artillery shell.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)(WSJ, 7/18/03, p.A1)
1990 Gen’l. Omar al-Hazza was executed after becoming increasingly critical of Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 1/31/97, p.A13)
1991 Jan 6, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, in a television address, told his country to prepare for a long war against what he called "tyranny represented by the United States."
(AP, 1/6/01)
1991 Jan 9, Secretary of State James A. Baker the Third and Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz met for six hours in Geneva, but failed to resolve the Persian Gulf crisis. President Bush, in Washington, accused Iraq of "a total stiff-arm, a total rebuff." Mr. Baker told Mr. Aziz that America would throw Iraq out by force if it did not leave Kuwait.
(AP, 1/9/01)(Econ, 5/24/08, p.19)
1991 Jan 11, The United States and Iraq intensified their rhetoric, with Secretary of State James A. Baker III telling Air Force pilots in Saudi Arabia, "We pass the brink at midnight January 15," and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein boasting of his army’s readiness. Congress empowered Bush to order attack on Iraq.
(AP, 1/11/01)(MC, 1/11/02)
1991 Jan 12, The U.S. Congress gave the green light to military action against Iraq in the Persian Gulf Crisis.
(HN, 1/12/99)
1991 Jan 13, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in a bid to avoid war in the Persian Gulf.
(AP, 1/13/01)
1991 Jan 14, With time running out before a United Nations deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, Iraq’s National Assembly voted to give President Saddam Hussein full authority over the Persian Gulf crisis.
(AP, 1/14/01)
1991 Jan 15, With hours remaining before a United Nations deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar made a final appeal to Saddam Hussein to remove his troops.
(AP, 1/15/01)
1991 Jan 16, The White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. President Bush said in a nationally broadcast address "the battle has been joined" as fighter bombers pounded Iraqi targets. Because of the time difference, it was early January 17th in the Persian Gulf when the attack began. At 4:30 P.M. EST, the first fighter aircraft are launched from Saudi Arabia and off of U.S. and British aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf on bombing missions over Iraq.
(AP, 1/16/01)(MC, 1/16/02)
1991 Jan 17, The Persian Gulf War began as Coalition planes struck targets in Iraq and Kuwait. The first Iraqi Scud missile attacks on Israel were launched. There were reports of death and injury, and possibly even chemical weapons being used. For a few tense hours, it looked as though Israel would retaliate against Iraq, causing the allied coalition to break up. Six months of preparation and diplomacy might be undone by a few poorly aimed, 1950s-vintage ballistic missiles. Later that evening, U.S. Patriot surface-to-air missiles were launched against the incoming Scuds, and for the first time in history, a ballistic missile was shot down by another missile. The use of Patriot missiles in Israel’s defense helped to keep that country out of the Gulf War, thereby safeguarding the integrity of the American-European-Arab coalition. Jeffrey Zahn became the 1st US pilot shot down. Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher (33) was shot down over western Iraq. In 1993 the ruins of his plane were found. In 2009 his remains were found and positively identified.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(SFEC,12/797, p.A1,16)(HN, 1/17/99)(AP, 8/2/09)
1991 Jan 17, On the first day of Operation Desert Storm, US-led forces hammered Iraqi targets in an effort to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. A defiant Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared that the "mother of all battles" had begun. Iraq attacked Israel with ten Scud missiles. The US Patriot defense missile was used in battle for the first time to shoot down a Scud fired at Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 1/17/01)
1991 Jan 17-21, In Nov, 1998, Pentagon officials revealed a map of the Gulf War battlefield that showed sites where radioactive and toxic debris from 300 tons of depleted uranium ammunition was used over the 4 day war.
(SFEC, 1/24/99, p.A1)
1991 Jan 18, Round-the-clock bombing of Iraqi targets continued in Operation Desert Storm.
(AP, 1/18/01)
1991 Jan 18, Iraq fired more Scud missiles at Israeli cities. Israel refrains from responding at the request of President Bush.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1991 Jan 19, During the Gulf War, Israel’s anti-missile force was boosted by additional Patriot missile batteries and US crews. A second Iraqi missile attack caused 29 injuries in Tel Aviv. Allied forces began bombarding Iraq’s elite Republican Guard.
(AP, 1/19/01)
1991 Jan 20, During the Gulf War, Iraqi missiles were shot down by US Patriot rockets as they approached Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Iraqi television showed interviews with seven downed allied pilots, three of them Americans.
(AP, 1/20/01)
1991 Jan 21, During the Gulf War, Iraq announced it had scattered prisoners of war at targeted areas; President Bush denounced Iraq’s treatment of POW’s, and said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would be held responsible. CBS News correspondent Bob Simon, CBS News London bureau chief Peter Bluff, a cameraman and soundman were captured by Iraqi forces; they were released almost six weeks later.
(AP, 1/21/01)
1991 Jan 23, Iraqi forces in Kuwait deliberately created a huge oil spill in the Persian Gulf.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1991 Jan 24, A brief skirmish occurred high above the Persian Gulf as a Saudi warplane shot down two Iraqi jets.
(AP, 1/24/01)
1991 Jan 25, During the Gulf War Iraq sabotaged Kuwait’s main supertanker loading pier, dumping an estimated 460 million gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf. Missiles fired from western Iraq struck in the Tel Aviv and Haifa areas, killing one Israeli and injuring more than 40 others.
(AP, 1/25/01)(SFC, 11/20/02, p.A14)
1991 Jan 26, An estimated 200k to 300k people across the country demonstrated in support of, or in opposition to, Operation Desert Storm.
(AP, 1/26/01)
1991 Jan 28, The US military reported that more than 60 Iraqi fighter-bombers had taken refuge in Iran, where they were impounded by the Iranian government.
(AP, 1/28/01)
1991 Jan 29, Iraqi forces attacked into Saudi Arabian town of Kafji, but were turned back by Coalition forces.
(HN, 1/29/99)
1991 Jan 31, During the Gulf War, Army Specialist Melissa Rathbun-Nealy and Army Specialist David Lockett were captured by Iraqi forces near the Kuwaiti-Saudi border; both were eventually released. Allied forces claimed victory against Iraqi attackers at Khafji, Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 1/31/01)
1991 Jan-Feb, US led forces fired 860,590 rounds of depleted uranium munitions in Iraq.
(SSFC, 3/11/01, p.D3)
1991 Feb 1, The 1st US bunker buster (GBU-28) was built using surplus 8-inch artillery tubes as part of the weapon. The project received the official go-ahead a fortnight later as part of Operation Desert Storm. The bomb was designed by engineer Albert Weimorts (1938-2005).
(SSFC, 12/25/05, p.B5)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2895081.stm)
1991 Feb 10, In a broadcast on Baghdad Radio, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein praised his countrymen for withstanding attacks by allied warplanes and rockets.
(AP, 2/10/01)
1991 Feb 12, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein met with Soviet envoy Yevgeny Primakov, who brought with him a message from President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
(AP, 2/12/01)
1991 Feb 13, Some 334 Iraqi civilians were killed when a pair of laser-guided US bombs destroyed an underground facility in Baghdad identified by US officials as a military installation, but which Iraqi officials said was a bomb shelter.
(AP, 2/13/01)(MC, 2/13/02)
1991 Feb 14, Iraq charged the bombing of an underground facility the day before, which killed hundreds of civilians, was a deliberate attack on an air raid shelter, a charge denied by the US.
(AP, 2/14/01)
1991 Feb 14, The Iraqi weapons depot at Ukhaydir was bombed. Iraqi authorities revealed to US authorities in 1996 that the site stored hundreds of rockets filled with mustard gas and nerve gas.
(SFC, 7/30/97, p.A3)
1991 Feb 15, Iraq proposed a conditional withdrawal from Kuwait, an offer dismissed by President Bush as a "cruel hoax."
(AP, 2/15/01)
1991 Feb 16, Iraqi officials charged that 130 civilians were killed when British jet fighters raided the town of Fallouja two days earlier.
(AP, 2/16/01)
1991 Feb 18, Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz held talks in Moscow with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who presented a proposal for ending the Persian Gulf War.
(AP, 2/18/01)
1991 Feb 20, In the Persian Gulf War, Baghdad radio said President Saddam Hussein would be sending Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz back to Moscow with a reply to a Soviet peace plan.
(AP, 2/20/01)
1991 Feb 21, The Soviet Union announced that Iraq had agreed to a proposal for ending the Persian Gulf War; however, the Bush administration called the plan unacceptable.
(AP, 2/21/01)
1991 Feb 22, President Bush and America’s Gulf War allies gave Iraq 24 hours to begin withdrawing from Kuwait, or face a final all-out attack. Iraq denounced the "shameful" US ultimatum, aligning itself with a Soviet peace plan the US had rejected.
(AP, 2/22/01)
1991 Feb 22, The US invaded Kuwait in the Gulf War Desert Storm and quickly chased out the Iraqi forces. US soldiers may have been exposed to minute amounts of the nerve gas agent called Substance 33. Russia had developed the Novichok family of nerve gases that were designed to be undetectable by American instruments and they may have been in Iraqi hands at this time. Gen. Anatoly Diamianovich Kuntsevich was in charge of the secret development of the gases and post-Soviet disarmament and the information about the battlefield sensors was revealed by former Soviet scientist Vil Mirzayanov. Their stories agree.
(TMC, 1994, p.1991)(WSJ, 4/30/96, p.A-14)
1991 cFeb 22, US soldiers were issued the drug pyridostigmine bromide (PB) to counter the effects of the nerve agents tabun and soman. The drug was prescribed at 3 pills per day, but produced a physical a rush and was abused by many service people. It was later suspected as a cause of the symptoms of Gulf War syndrome. The drug was not fully approved by the FDA and military personnel were not informed of its effects. In 1999 a 2-year Rand analysis concluded that the drug pyridostigmine bromide could not be excluded as a contributor to Gulf War syndrome. The drug was given to as many as 300,000 US troops during the Persian gulf war.
(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.A4)(SFC, 10/19/99, p.A1)
1991 Feb 23, President Bush announced that the allied ground offensive against Iraqi forces had begun (because of the time difference, it was already the early morning of February 24th in the Persian Gulf).
(AP, 2/23/01)
1991 Feb 23, French forces unofficially started the Persian Gulf ground war by crossing the Saudi-Iraqi border. Lessons learned in the savage 1972 Eastertide Offensive paid off at the Battle of Khafji in the Gulf War.
(HN, 2/23/98)
1991 Feb 24, The United States and its Gulf War allies launched a large-scale ground assault against Iraqi troops, many of whom surrendered to the advancing forces. General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the coalition army, sent in ground forces to liberate Kuwait from the Iraqis.
(HN, 2/24/98)(AP, 2/24/01)
1991 Feb 25, Iraqi leader Sadam Hussein ordered his forces to withdraw from Kuwait.
(SSFC, 12/2/18, p.A13)
1991 Feb 25, During the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 2/25/98)
1991 Feb 26, Allied troops took control of Kuwait after a 100-hour ground war. It was later reported that high concentrations of US armor-piercing depleted uranium shells were detonated in Iraq and Kuwait.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(SFC, 11/24/98, p.A4)
1991 Feb 26, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad Radio that he had ordered his forces to withdraw from Kuwait.
(AP, 2/26/98)
1991 Feb 26, In Iraq an American armored unit of 9 tanks and 12 Bradley fighting vehicles destroyed 28 Iraqi tanks, 16 armored vehicles, and 39 trucks without a single loss in the Battle of 73 Easting.
(Econ, 3/3/12, TQp.10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_73_Easting)
1991 Feb 27, Coalition forces liberated Kuwait after seven months of occupation by the Iraqi army.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(HN, 2/27/99)
1991 Feb 28, Pres. Bush announced a cease-fire in Kuwait.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Gulf_War)
1991 Feb, A US Air Force A-10 attack jet was shot down by Iraqi fire and Lt. Col. Dale Storr was imprisoned. In 2002 17 former US prisoners including Storr won a suit for $959 million of frozen Iraqi assets for their documented torture. In 2003 the Bush administration sought to block the award in order to use the assets for reconstruction. A lower court ruled that Congress never authorized such suits. In 2005 the US Supreme Court declined to consider the suit.
(SFC, 11/10/03, p.A3)(WSJ, 4/26/05, p.A1)
1991 Mar 2, The UN Security Council adopted a resolution dictating allied demands that Iraq had to meet before a formal-cease fire was declared in the Persian Gulf War. Iraq released CBS newsman Bob Simon and his crew, held captive for nearly six weeks.
(AP, 3/2/01)
1991 Mar 2, Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq and the Kurds rose up against Iraqi forces but were crushed by Iraqi armor that killed 50,000 and forced more than a million Kurds to flee to Turkey and Iran.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A7)(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1991 Mar 2, Following the Kuwait cease-fire a retreating Iraqi unit stumbled into the Gen. McCaffrey’s 24th infantry division and some 400 Iraqis were reported killed. Army investigations concluded that the Iraqis started the Rumaylah battle.
(SFC, 5/15/00, p.A3)(WSJ, 5/19/00, p.A38)(www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYqoaT0RTFU)
1991 Mar 4, Iraq released ten allied prisoners-of-war. A second group was freed the following day.
(AP, 3/4/01)
1991 Mar 5, Iraq repealed its annexation of Kuwait. The Iraqis turned over 35 prisoners of war, including 15 Americans, to the Red Cross. An anti-Saddam Hussein uprising was reported sweeping city after city in Iraq.
(AP, 3/5/01)
1991 Mar 7, Iraq continued to explode oil fields in Kuwait.
(www.parstimes.com/spaceimages/fires-kuwait-2.jpg)
1991 Mar 17, Allied commanders from the Gulf War held a second round of cease-fire talks with Iraqi officers; the Iraqis were told they could not move their warplanes inside Iraq for any reason.
(AP, 3/17/01)
1991 Mar 21, A UN Security Council panel decided to lift the food embargo on Iraq.
(AP, 3/21/01)
1991 Mar 22, A US warplane shot down a second Iraqi jet fighter that had violated the cease-fire ending the Persian Gulf War.
(AP, 3/22/01)
1991 Mar 23, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein shuffled his Cabinet, but kept in place his hard-line ministers of interior and defense to direct a crackdown on rebellion against his rule. A popular uprising had been prompted by Pres. Bush and 15 of 18 provinces were liberated, but no American help followed and Hussein’s forces crushed the intifada.
(AP, 3/23/01)(WSJ, 9/10/02, p.A12)
1991 Mar, In Iraq Shiites in Karbala rebelled. Some 50 army officers and leaders of the Baath Party were killed in the Abbas shrine. Government retaliation blasted holes in the Abbas and Hussein shrines and hundreds of civilians and rebels were killed. Thousands were tortured and killed around Basra.
(SSFC, 1/19/03, p.A14)
1991 Mar, In 1996 Pentagon officials said American troops destroyed an Iraqi ammunition depot in March 1991 that may have contained chemical weapons.
(AP, 6/21/97)
1991 Apr 2, Iraqi state media reported that only a few more days were needed to stamp out fighting with Kurdish rebels, who reported renewed skirmishes around the strategic oil center of Kirkuk.
(AP, 4/2/01)
1991 Apr 3, The UN Security Council (Resolution 687) adopted a Gulf War truce resolution demanding that Iraq abolish weapons of mass destruction, renounce terrorism and pay reparations.
(AP, 4/3/01)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1991 Apr 5, The UN adopted Resolution 688, which condemned Sadam Hussein’s suppression of the Kurds and demanded respect and political rights for all citizens. A safe haven was established above Iraq’s 36th parallel.
(www.fas.org/news/un/iraq/sres/sres0688.htm)(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A7)
1991 Apr 6, Iraq accepted terms of cease-fire in the Gulf War. In 1995 Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor published "The General’s War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf."
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(SFC, 5/4/99, p.D1)
1991 Apr 7, US military planes began airdropping supplies to Kurdish refugees who were facing starvation and exposure in the snow-covered mountains of northern Iraq. The United States warned Iraq not to interfere with the relief effort.
(AP, 4/7/01)
1991 Apr 10, The US and Britain imposed a no-fly zone to protect 3 Kurdish provinces in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1991 Apr 11, U.N. Security Council issued a formal cease fire with Iraq to end the Gulf War.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(HN, 4/11/98)
1991 Apr 12, Kurdish rebels reported the Iraqi army was attacking guerrillas in northern Iraq.
(AP, 4/12/01)
1991 Apr 14, The final withdrawal of American combat troops from southern Iraq began, 88 days after the United States launched its massive offensive to drive Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait.
(AP, 4/14/01)
1991 Apr 20, US Marines landed in northern Iraq to begin building the first center for Kurdish refugees on Iraqi territory. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the US commander of Operation Desert Storm, left Saudi Arabia for home.
(AP, 4/20/01)
1991 Apr 24, A Kurdish rebel leader announced the guerrillas had reached an agreement in principle with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to end the Kurds’ two-week rebellion.
(AP, 4/24/01)
1991 Apr 27, A group of 250 Kurds became the first refugees to move into a new US-built camp in northern Iraq.
(AP, 4/27/01)
1991 Apr 29, US troops continued airlifting Iraqi refugees from a camp in southern Iraq to Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 4/29/01)
1991 Apr, In the Desert Storm War an Iraqi chemical weapons storage site near al Nasiriyah, northwest of Basra, was destroyed by Army engineers wearing masks and protective rubber suits.
(SFC, 8/7/96, p.A4)
1991 May 2, US, British, French and Dutch forces plunged 50 miles deeper into northern Iraq.
(AP, 5/2/01)
1991 Jun 29, President Bush, speaking to reporters in Kennebunkport, Maine, refused to rule out the possibility of renewed military action against Iraq, calling its interference with UN inspectors "very disturbing."
(AP, 6/29/01)
1991 Jul 8, Reversing earlier denials, Iraq disclosed for the first time that it was carrying out a nuclear weapons program, including the production of enriched uranium.
(AP, 7/8/01)
1991 Jul 25, A deadline for Iraq to provide full details of its weapons of mass destruction passed, with US officials indicating military action was not imminent.
(AP, 7/25/01)
1991 Aug 7, The five permanent members of the UN Security Council agreed to authorize Iraq to sell as much as $1.6 billion in oil over six months to pay for food, humanitarian supplies and war reparations; however, Baghdad rejected the resolution.
(AP, 8/7/01)
1991 Aug 15, The UN Security Council, by a vote of 13-to-one, authorized Iraq to export one-point-six billion dollars’ worth of oil in a tightly controlled sale to pay for desperately needed food and medicine.
(AP, 8/15/01)
1991 Aug 17, Iraq said it would "play host" to all foreign citizens in the country who were from "aggressive nations," and place them in military and civilian targets until the threat of war was over.
(AP, 8/17/01)
1991 Sep 19, UN Resolution 712 allowed a partial lifting of the embargo against Iraq for humanitarian purposes.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1991 Sep 20, U.N. weapons inspectors left Bahrain for Iraq to renew their search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 9/20/01)
1991 Sep 23, UN weapons inspectors in Baghdad discovered documents detailing Iraq’s secret nuclear weapons program and said Iraq was close to building a bomb. This triggered a standoff with Iraqi authorities.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(AP, 9/23/01)
1991 Sep 28, U.N. weapons inspectors ended a five-day standoff with Iraq over documents relating to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program.
(AP, 9/28/01)
1991 Nov 6, Kuwait celebrated the dousing of the last oil fires ignited by Iraq
during the Persian Gulf War. Iraqi forces had blown up an estimated 732 Kuwaiti oil wells.
(AP, 11/6/01)(WSJ, 1/21/02, p.B1)
1991 Oriana Fallaci recorded the poignant soliloquy of Dakel Abbas (21), a drafted Iraqi soldier recovering from wounds in Kuwait. In 2002 Fallaci authored "The Rage and the Pride."
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A14)
1991 After the invasion of Kuwait and UN sanctions, oil production dropped to around 500,000 barrels per day. Domestic needs consumed 350,000 and about 50,000 was shipped illegally to Jordan. The rest was refined or smuggled out.
(WSJ, 5/21/96, p.A-12)
1991 Government forces began battling the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)
1991 142 aircraft were flown to Iran to escape destruction at the outset of the Gulf War. Tehran repainted the planes and used them for its own forces. In 1997 Iraq appealed to the UN for help in getting the planes back. Saddam Hussein ordered Iraqi pilots to fly some 100 jets to 4 Iranian air bases near the border.
(WSJ, 9/23/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/29/98, p.A1)
1991 In the first 8 months following the war some 47,000 children under the age of 5 died from war-related causes.
(SFEM, 2/20/99, p.7)
c1991 Some 400,000 Kurds took to the hills to escape the wrath of Saddam Hussein. The US military dropped them supplies and Fred Cuny was instrumental in organizing the relief effort.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, BR p.10)
1991 Allied forces attempted to find Saddam Hussein and drop a bomb on him. This was not affirmed until 2001 by British former PM John Major.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D6)
1991 The US scattered some 118,000 land mines in Iraq and Kuwait during the Gulf War.
(WSJ, 1/19/02, p.A1)
1991 In Mahaweel, Iraq, every day for three weeks, Iraqi soldiers brought truckloads of rebellious Shiite Muslims to a lonely cornfield near the ruins of Babylon. The victims were shoved into shallow pits and shot. Bulldozers pushed the earth over them, burying some alive. In 2003 a mass grave yielded more than 3,100 bodies. Local Iraqis said as many as 12,000 other bodies from the same massacre might be buried in the area.
(AP, 9/15/03)
1991 General Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim al-Mifarji left Saddam Hussein’s army. In 2006 he was appointed as Iraq’s defense minister.
(Econ, 6/17/06, p.52)
1991 The UN set up a modest Kurdish haven in the mountains of Iraq.
(Econ, 7/9/16, p.38)
1991 The International Atomic Energy Agency placed a seal over storage bunkers holding conventional explosives known as HMX and RDX and PETN at the Al-Qaqaa facility south of Baghdad as part of U.N. sanctions that ordered the dismantlement of Iraq's nuclear program.
(AP, 10/27/04)
1991-1999 Operations US Desert Fox, Desert Strike, Northern Watch, Southern Watch, Provide Comfort and others began in Iraq. They cost $7.8 billion and left 26 US casualties.
(WSJ, 9/22/99, p.A8)
1992 Jan, In Iraq 80 military officers accused of planning a coup were executed along with 76 anti-regime activists.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1992 Mar 11, Members of the U.N. Security Council accused Iraq of playing a game of "cheat and retreat" from its promises to disarm and respect its people’s human rights; Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz lashed back, saying his country was complying with Gulf War cease-fire resolutions.
(AP, 3/11/02)
1992 Mar 13, The U.N. Security Council stood firm in its demand that Iraq comply totally with Gulf War cease-fire resolutions, rebuffing an appeal for leniency from Saddam Hussein's special envoy, deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz.
(AP, 3/13/97)
1992 Jul 28, Iraq opened its Agricultural Ministry to U.N. weapons experts after a three-week standoff.
(AP, 7/28/97)
1992 Jul, In Iraq 42 merchants were arrested from Baghdad's wholesale markets and charged with manipulating food supplies to drive up prices as many Iraqis were suffering economically. All 42 were executed hours later following a quick trial. In 2008 Tariq Aziz (72), former deputy prime minister, went on trial as one of 8 defendants charged with the executions.
(AP, 4/29/08)
1992 Aug 2, A "No-fly" zone was imposed over southern Iraq to stop air attacks on Shiite Muslim rebels.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1992 Aug 26, The United States, Britain and France imposed a 2nd no-fly zone south of the 32nd parallel, the southern one-third of Iraq aimed at protecting Iraqi Shiite Muslims.
(AP, 8/26/97)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1992 Aug 27, The US and its allies began air patrols over the no-fly zone, imposed over southern Iraq to stop air attacks on Shiite Muslim rebels.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1992 Oct 8, Iraqi police seized at gunpoint American bomb disposal expert Chad Hall, who was working in a disputed and ill-defined border area between Iraq and Kuwait. He was released two days later. [see Oct 10]
(AP, 10/8/02)
1992 Oct 10, Iraq released U.S. munitions expert Clinton Hall, two days after he’d been taken prisoner in the demilitarized zone separating Iraq and Kuwait.
(AP, 10/10/97)
1992 Dec 27, The United States shot down an Iraqi fighter jet during what the Pentagon described as a confrontation between a pair of Iraqi warplanes and U.S. F-16 jets in U.N.-restricted airspace over southern Iraq.
(AP, 12/27/97)
1992 The US set up the Iraqi National Congress (INC) in Irbil, northern Iraq, as an alternative to the regime of Saddam Hussein. It was founded with CIA support in Vienna as a umbrella group for the Iraqi opposition. In 1999 it was led by Ahmed Chalabi.
(SFEC, 9/8/96, p.A13)(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)(WSJ, 8/13/02, p.A1)
1992 Iraqi Kurdistan held free elections, but the Kurdish government was never formally recognized.
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.A14)
1992 Former US Marine captain Scott Ritter turned over evidence that Iraq’s Scud missile sites were not destroyed during the Gulf War.
(SFC, 1/14/98, p.C3)
1992 The exiled opposition was united under Ahmad Chalabi.
(WSJ, 12/2/98, p.A1)
1992 The US began placing CIA spies among UN weapons inspectors only a year after the end of the Gulf War.
(SFC, 2/23/99, p.A9)
1992 Iraqi engineers worked for 9 months to build what became known as the Saddam River. It diverted water from the Euphrates that would otherwise flow into the al Hammar marsh, a refuge for Hussein opponents.
(WSJ, 1/15/03, p.A6)
1992 The Israeli military disclosed in 2003 that it had planned a daring assassination attempt against Saddam Hussein in 1992. The plot would have involved landing commandos in Iraq and firing sophisticated missiles at him during a funeral, an Israeli legislator and media.
(AP, 12/16/03)
1993 Jan 7, The US claimed that Saddam Hussein moved surface-to-air missiles into southern Iraq. Baghdad refused to remove them and allied warplanes attacked the missile sites and warships fired cruise missiles at a nuclear facility near Baghdad.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1993 Jan 13, American and allied warplanes raided southern Iraq.
(AP, 1/13/98)
1993 Jan 17, The United States, accusing Iraq of a series of military provocations, unleashed Tomahawk missiles against a military complex eight miles from downtown Baghdad. President-elect Clinton, arriving in Washington for his inauguration, backed the action.
(AP, 1/17/98)
1993 Jan 18, Allied warplanes attacked targets in "no fly" zones in southern and northern Iraq.
(AP, 1/18/98)
1993 Jan 21, Two U.S. warplanes bombed a defense site in northern Iraq after radar was turned on them. Iraq denied provoking the attack.
(AP, 1/21/98)
1993 Jun 27, US warships fired 24 Tomahawk cruise missiles at intelligence headquarters in Baghdad in retaliation for the assassination plot. The Iraqis claimed 8 dead. Iraqis pulled their dead from the rubble of buildings wrecked by U.S. missiles during an early morning raid ordered by President Clinton in reprisal for an alleged assassination plot against former President Bush.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(AP, 6/27/98)
1993 Apr 13, The day before a visit by Pres. Bush, fourteen people were arrested in Kuwait for plotting to assassinate him. Washington said the plot was organized by Iraqi intelligence.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1993 Jun 26, President Clinton announced the U.S. had launched missiles against Iraqi targets because of "compelling evidence" Iraq had plotted to assassinate former President Bush.
(AP, 6/26/98)
1993 Jun 27, US warships fired 24 Tomahawk cruise missiles at intelligence headquarters in Baghdad in retaliation for the assassination plot. The Iraqis claimed 8 dead. Iraqis pulled their dead from the rubble of buildings wrecked by U.S. missiles during an early morning raid ordered by President Clinton in reprisal for an alleged assassination plot against former President Bush.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(AP, 6/27/98)
1993 Jun 27, Laila al-Attar (48), painter and head of Iraq’s institute for the arts, was one of at least 6 civilians killed when 23 US Tomahawk cruise missiles hit Baghdad. She had painted an unflattering portrait of Pres. Bush on the floor of a hotel lobby.
(WSJ, 5/31/02, p.A1)
1993 Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi-American academic, authored “Cruelty and Silence: War, Tyranny, Uprising and the Arab World." It was awarded The Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book on international relations published in English in 1993.
(Econ, 6/30/07, p.56)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanan_Makiya)
1993 A vaccine laboratory in Baghdad was destroyed in fear of its manufacturing biological weapons of mass destruction. The lab produced a vaccine against hoof-and-mouth disease which reached epidemic proportions in 1998.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1994 Apr 12, In Iraq Shiite dissident Talib al-Suhail was assassinated by the Iraqi Intelligence Service in Beirut.
(AP, 4/21/11)(www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Safia_Taleb_al-Suhail)
1994 Apr 14, Two American F-15 warplanes inadvertently shot down two U.S. helicopters over northern Iraq, killing 26 people, including 15 Americans.
(AP, 4/14/97)
1994 Oct 7, Iraqi troops moved south toward Kuwait. Pres. Clinton dispatched a carrier group, 54,000 troops and warplanes to the gulf area. The Iraqis pulled back.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1994 Oct 8, President Clinton, responding to the massing of Iraqi troops near the Kuwaiti border, warned Saddam Hussein not to misjudge "American will or American power" as he ordered additional U.S. forces to the region.
(AP, 10/8/99)
1994 Oct 9, The United States sent troops and warships to the Persian Gulf after Saddam Hussein sent tens of thousands of elite troops and hundreds of tanks toward the Kuwaiti border.
(AP, 10/9/99)
1994 Oct 10, Iraq announced it was withdrawing its forces from the Kuwaiti border; seeing no signs of a pullback, President Clinton dispatched 350 additional aircraft to the region.
(AP, 10/10/99)
1994 Oct 11, Iraqi troops began moving north, away from the Kuwaiti border.
(AP, 10/11/99)
1994 Nov 10, Iraq, hoping to win an end to trade sanctions, recognized the independence and boundaries of Kuwait.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(AP, 11/10/99)
1994 Latif Yahia, an Iraqi dissident, authored a book in which he documented his work in the security force as a double for Odai Hussein.
(SFC, 3/29/00, p.A16)
1994 A law was passed that allowed people to live in Baghdad only if they had come before 1991 and many, who had fled their southern towns during the Gulf War, were deported from the city.
(SFC, 12/9/99, p.C8)
1994 Khidhir Abdul Abas Hamza, a scientist who helped train younger scientists in the nation’s atomic weapons program, fled the country. In 1998 he publicly described a 3-decade effort by Iraq to build a nuclear bomb. In 2000 Hamza co-authored "Saddam’s Bombmaker," an account of the country’s nuclear weapons program.
(SFC, 8/15/98, p.A13)
1994 Iraqi engineers worked to build the Mother of Battles River. It helped divert water from the Euphrates that would otherwise flow into the al Hammar marsh, a refuge for Hussein opponents. The marshes were later drained and pesticides used to kill the fish and wildlife. The 200,000 "Madan" (marsh Arabs) were attacked and forced away.
(WSJ, 1/15/03, p.A6)(SFC, 4/7/03, p.A10)
1994-1997 Iraqi Kurds in the east and west fought a fratricidal war.
(Econ, 4/20/13, p.51)
1995 Mar 13, Two Americans working for U.S. defense contractors in Kuwait, David Daliberti and William Barloon, were seized by Iraq after they strayed across the border; sentenced to eight years in prison, both were freed the following July.
(AP, 3/13/00)
1995 Mar 25, Two Americans who had strayed across the Kuwaiti border into Iraq were sentenced to eight years in prison. However, David Daliberti and William Barloon were released by Iraq the following July.
(AP, 3/25/00)
1995 Apr 14, The UN Security Council (Resolution 986) gave permission to Iraq, still under sanctions for its invasion of Kuwait, to sell $2 billion dollars’ worth of oil to buy food, medicine and other supplies. Iraq later rejected the offer.
(AP, 4/14/00)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1995 Jul 1-Aug 15, Shiite political prisoners held at Abu Ghraib were transported to Unit 2100 at Al Haditha. It was suspected that the prisoners were used for testing biological agents.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1995 Aug 8, Hussein Kamel al-Majid, formerly Iraq’s industry minister, defected to Jordan with his brother and their wives, both of whom were daughters of Saddam Hussein. He vowed to topple Saddam and said that Sadam Hussein had planned to invade Kuwait and Saudi Arabia this month and that Iraq had been three months away from testing an atomic bomb before the Gulf War began.
(WSJ, 8/21/95, p.A-1)(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1995 The UN passed Resolution 986 that allowed limited oil sales by Iraq in exchange for food and medicine.
(NH, 9/96, p.14)
1995 Rolf Ekeus, head of UNSCOM, found evidence of research relating to a biological weapons program.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1995 Former US Marine captain Scott Ritter led a UN inspection that discovered that missile guidance parts were being smuggled into Iraq through Jordan.
(SFC, 1/14/98, p.C3)
1995 Uday (Odai) Hussein, eldest son of Sadam, began collecting some $10 million in annual revenue from the legal and illegal sale of imported cigarettes.
(WSJ, 10/30/02, p.A1)
1996 Jan 6, Saddam Hussein decreed economic austerity measures to cope with soaring inflation and widespread shortages caused by UN sanctions.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1996 Feb 20, Senior Iraqi defector Al-Majid returned home after spending 6 months in Jordan. He was soon arrested and executed by government troops.
(WSJ, 2/21/96, p.A-1)(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1996 Feb 23, Two Iraqi defectors were killed in Baghdad, reportedly by members of their own clan who accused them of betraying Saddam Hussein by fleeing to Jordan. The Iraqi News Agency reported that Lieutenant General Hussein Kamel al-Majid and his brother Saddam Kamel al-Majid, a pair of defectors who were also the sons-in-law of Saddam Hussein, were killed by clan members after returning to their homeland.
(WSJ, 2/26/96, p.A-1)(AP, 2/23/01)
1996 Mar 27, The UN Security Council (Resolution 1051) established an export-import monitoring system for Iraq and demanded full cooperation.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1996 May (middle) Iraqi officials and UN experts began dismantling a major biological weapons factory near Baghdad.
(SFC, 6/10/96, C16)
1996 May 16, UN and Iraqi officials reached a tentative agreement to resume oil sales of $4 billion a year to buy food and medicine. The oil for food program mandated that 13% of the UN resources go to northern Kurdish areas. In 2004 it was reported that illicit trade agreements with neighbors netted Iraq nearly $11 billion between 1990 and 2003. In 2004 the estimate for illicit trade was raised to $21.3 billion. In 2008 Michael Soussan authored “Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy," in which he tells of his 3-year close-up experience in the UN’s Oil for Food program beginning in 1997.
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-9)(SFC, 9/3/01, p.A9)(SFC, 10/9/04, p.A15)(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A9)(WSJ, 11/14/08, p.A15)
1996 May 16, In Iraq a team of Iranian agents were captured in Baghdad. They were on a mission to assassinate Iranian guerilla leader Massoud Rajavi. Hassan Nedham al-Malki, spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said the team was armed with rocket launchers and a mortar and had infiltrated through the marshes of southern Iraq.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-16)
1996 May 20, Iraq and the UN reached an agreement for oil sales in exchange for use of the revenue in humanitarian aid.
(WSJ, 5/21/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 22, Iraq reached an agreement with the UN to sell $2 billion in oil for 180 days to buy food and medicine.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1996 May 22, Amnesty International reported that Iraqi doctors were forced to cut off the ears of alleged deserters.
(SFC, 5/22/96, p.A9)
1996 May, Mohammed Madhlum Dulaimi, an air force general accused of plotting to kill Sadam, was executed. Members of the 1 million-member Dulaimi clan led riots against security forces after the execution.
(SFC, 12/14/96, p.A11)
1996 Jun 12, The UN passed Resolution 1060, the 1st of many condemnations of Iraq’s denial of access to UN weapons’ inspectors.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1996 Jun 15, UN weapons inspectors gave up after a 5-day standoff with Iraqi authorities over inspection of 4 sites for documents and other material relating to weapons of mass destruction.
(SFC, 6/16/96, p.A11)
1996 Jun, There was a coup attempt against Pres. Saddam Hussein. This coincided with the placement of 9 covert CIA operators on a weapons inspection team seeking to examine compounds maintained by the Republican Guards.
(SFC, 2/23/99, p.A9)
1996 Jul, Railroad construction was expanding to link the northern border at Turkmenistan to the southern Persian Gulf.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A4)
1996 Aug 27, Seven Iraqis freed their 184 captives aboard a Sudanese airliner at the London airport and asked for political asylum.
(SFC, 8/28/96, p.A8)
1996 Aug 31, Rival Kurdish forces under leaders Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union and Massoud Barzani of the Kurdish Democratic Party clashed. Barzani’s forces participated with Sadam Hussein’s troops in taking Irbil, a Talabani stronghold. Talabani’s forces were reportedly assisted by Iran.
(SFC, 9/1/96, p.A8)
1996 Aug 31, More than 100 members of the Iraqi National Congress in Irbil were captured by Iraqi secret police and apparently executed. The Congress was set up by the US in 1992 as an alternative to Saddam Hussein.
(SFEC, 9/8/96, p.A13)
1996 Aug, The KDP invited Saddam into northern Iraq.
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)
1996 Sep 2, The US launched cruise missiles at selected air defense targets in Iraq to discourage Sadam Hussein’s military moves against a Kurd faction.
(SFC, 9/3/96, p.A1)
1996 Sep 3-1996 Sep 4, The United States launched 27 cruise missiles at "selected air defense targets" in Iraq as punishment for Iraq's invasion of Kurdish safe havens. Pres. Clinton extended the no-fly zone to the suburbs of Baghdad.
(AP, 9/3/97)(SFC,10/30/97, p.A12)
1996 Sep 5, Turkey declared a new security zone inside northern Iraq and air attacks were staged on suspected Kurdish rebel bases.
(SFC, 9/6.96, p.A13)
1996 Sep 10, Saddam Hussein announced the lifting of all travel restrictions to or within the Kurdish zone.
(SFC, 9/13/96, p.A13)
1996 Oct 13, In Iraq the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) regained Sulaymaniyah, its former headquarters.
(SFC, 10/14/96, p.A12)
1996 Nov 25, The government agreed to implement the UN conditions set for a $2 billion oil-for-food sale.
(SFC, 11/26/96, p.B3)
1996 Dec 9, UN chief Boutros-Ghali gave Iraq the go-ahead to resume oil exports for the first time since 1990 to buy food and medicine. Two billion of oil sales will be allowed every 6 months to buy food, medicine and other necessities.
(WSJ, 12/9/96, p.A1)(AP, 12/9/97)
1996 Dec 12, In Iraq Uday (Odai) Hussein, eldest son of Sadam, was wounded in a car ambush by assailants with machine guns and grenades. The Mohammed Madhlum Dulaimi Group claimed responsibility.
(WSJ, 12/13/96, p.A1)(SFC, 12/14/96, p.A11)
1996 Gen. Adnan Thavit and other officers failed in an attempt to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Thavit was sentenced to life in Abu Ghraib Prison. He was released just before the American invasion.
(WSJ, 2/16/05, p.A12)
1996 A UNICEF report estimated that some 2,000-4,500 children under age 5 were dying each month due to lack of food and medicine.
(SFC, 1/21/98, p.C12)(SFC, 2/18/98, p.C2)
1997 Jan 17, A French medical team removed 10 bullets from Uday Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein of Iraq. One bullet was still left lodged in his spine.
(SFC, 1/20/96, p.A13)
1997 May 10, A 7.1 earthquake hit in northeastern Iraq. More than 2,000 people were reported killed.
(SFEC, 5/11/97, p.A1)
1997 May 25, Muhammad Fadhel, PM of Iraq (1953-54), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1997 Jun 4, China signed a $660 million deal to develop an Iraqi oil field.
(WSJ, 6/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Jun 6, In the Asian Group 9 World Cup soccer qualifying competition the Iraqi team was beaten by Kazakhstan.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A13)
1997 Jun 22, Iran and Iraq opened their border after 17 years and asked the UN for an inspection post there, giving Iraq a 4th exit point for its goods.
(WSJ, 6/27/97, p.A11)
1997 Jun 29, In the Asian Group 9 World Cup soccer qualifying competition the Iraqi team was beaten a 2nd time by Kazakhstan. This inflamed Odai Hussein, son of Saddam and head of the Iraqi soccer federation. He had the team imprisoned and tortured. It was also reported that Odai had killed woman after an abortive attempt at having sex.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A13)
1997 Jul 27, Mohammed Mahdi al-Jawahri, classical Arab poet, died in Syria. His work included "Between Passion and Feeling" (1928) and "Al Jawahri’s Divan" (1935).
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)
1997 Aug 8, The resumption of limited oil sales was cleared by the UN Security Council. The UN plan allows the sale of $2 billion in crude oil every 6 months.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.C1)
1997 Sep 25, Iraq demanded that Turkey pull back some 15,000 troops who crossed its border in pursuit of Kurdistan Workers Party guerrillas.
(WSJ, 9/26/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep 29, Iranian warplanes bombed anti-Tehran rebel bases inside Iraq.
(WSJ, 9/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep 29, Turkish planes attacked Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq and drove the guerrillas toward the Iran border.
(WSJ, 9/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep, Some military intelligence officials were caught plotting a coup against Saddam Hussein and at least half a dozen officers were executed.
(SFC, 2/21/98, p.A8)
1997 Oct 3, US Defense Sec. William Cohen ordered the Nimitz Carrier Battle Group to the Persian Gulf as a warning to Iran and Iraq to stop incursions into the US-enforced "no-fly" zone in southern Iraq.
(SFC, 10/4/97, p.A8)
1997 Oct 23, The UN threatened a trade ban unless Iraq cooperates with weapons inspectors.
(SFC,10/29/97, p.A12)
1997 Oct 29, Iraq barred US personnel from being included in UN inspection teams of weapons programs, a move that outraged chief weapons inspector Richard Butler and prompted him to suspend inspections.
(WSJ, 10/30/97, p.A1)(AP, 10/29/98)
1997 Nov 1, Iraq announced that American weapons inspectors working with the UN would not be allowed to resume work on Nov 3.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A17)
1997 Nov 2, Iraq barred two American weapons experts from entering the country, the second such refusal in a week. The UN decided to send a 3-man delegation to Iraq remind Sadam of his obligation to comply with council resolutions.
(SFC,11/3/97, p.A1)(AP, 11/2/98)
1997 Nov 4, Iraq agreed to postpone the expulsion of American weapons inspectors until after U.N. envoys finished their mission.
(AP, 11/4/98)
1997 Nov 5, A UN inspector claimed that Iraq was taking advantage of the inspection halt and had moved sensitive machinery out of camera view at certain weapons sites.
(WSJ, 11/6/97, p.A22)
1997 Nov 10, The U-2 surveillance flights over Iraq were resumed by the UN. The plane flew out of range of Iraqi gunners.
(SFEC,11/10/97, p.A1)
1997 Nov 12, The UN resolution 1137 imposed mild new sanctions on Iraq. A travel ban on Iraqi officials who interfere with weapons inspections was set by a unanimous Security Council vote.
(WSJ, 11/13/97, p.A1)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1997 Nov 13, Iraq expelled 6 Americans on a UN weapons inspection team. The UN instructed the entire team to leave the country.
(SFC,11/14/97, p.A1)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1997 Nov 16, Iraq Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said Baghdad would allow US arms inspectors if Security Council permanent members had equal representation on the UN teams. The proposal was rejected.
(WSJ, 11/17/97, p.A1)
1997 Nov 18, Tariq Aziz and Pres. Yeltsin worked on a peaceful resolution to the UN weapons inspection crises and announced a plan.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.A19)
1997 Nov 20, Iraq agreed to allow US arms inspectors back into the country after Russia agreed to help work to lift UN Security Council sanctions. Prodded by Russia, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein agreed to allow U.S. arms monitors back into his country, ending a three-week crisis that had raised fears of a military confrontation with the United States.
(SFC,11/20/97, p.A1)(AP, 11/20/98)
1997 Nov 21, U.N. arms inspectors returned to Iraq after Saddam Hussein’s three-week standoff with the United Nations over the presence of Americans on the team.
(AP, 11/21/98)
1997 Nov 22, A 75 man team of U.N. weapons experts including 4 Americans returned to work in Iraq, searching eight sites for signs the Iraqis might have worked on biological, chemical or other banned arms during a three-week forced halt in inspections.
(SFC,11/22/97, p.C1) (AP, 11/22/98)
1997 Nov 24, It was reported that Iraq continued to withhold access to 63 weapons sites that included 47 presidential compounds.
(SFC,11/24/97, p.A13)
1997 Nov 25, It was reported that Iraq’s agency for electronic eavesdropping, known as Project 858, spied on UN weapons inspectors.
(SFC,11/25/97, p.A8)
1997 Nov 26, In Iraq Sadam Hussein invited foreign diplomats but not weapons inspectors to examine his presidential palaces. Under heavy international pressure Saddam Hussein said he would allow visits to presidential palaces where U.N. weapons experts suspected he might be hiding chemical and biological weapons.
(SFC,11/27/97, p.A1)(SFC,11/28/97, p.A16)(AP, 11/26/98)
1997 Nov 27, A day after saying it would open its presidential palaces to international observers, Iraq declared that U.N. weapons monitors were not included in the invitation.
(AP, 11/27/98)
1997 Dec 8, Iraq executed 4 Jordanians accused of smuggling $850 worth of auto parts. King Hussein of Jordan called and appealed for clemency to no avail.
(SFC,12/11/97, p.A18)
1997 Dec 24, It was reported that Iraq completed a 150-mile canal to supply water to Basra.
(WSJ, 12/24/97, p.A1)
1997 Dec 31, The US State Dept. reported that Iraq had ordered the summary execution of "hundreds if not thousands" of political detainees in recent weeks. The exiled Iraqi Communist party in London said 1,500 prisoners were killed on Nov 21. The exiled Iraqi National Congress said 800 prisoners were recently executed. A former Dutch foreign minister and UN Human Rights investigator said about 200 were reportedly executed. Iraq denied the charges.
(SFC, 1/1/98, p.A17)(SFC, 1/2/98, p.A18)
1997 Iraqi engineers worked to build the Fidelity to the Leader Canal. It helped divert water from the Euphrates that would otherwise flow into the al Hammar marsh, a refuge for Hussein opponents.
(WSJ, 1/15/03, p.A6)
1997-2001 Iraq earned over $6 billion in oil revenue from smuggling and surcharges on its sales.
(WSJ, 5/31/02, p.A2)
1998 Jan 12, Iraq authorities said they would block a UN inspection team led by former US Marine captain Scott Ritter.
(SFC, 1/13/98, p.A10)
1998 Jan 13, Iraq blocked a UN weapons inspection tem led by an American.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1998 Jan 17, In Iraq Sadam Hussein threatened to expel all UN arms inspectors in 6 months if the country is not cleared of suspicions about weapons programs and if sanctions are not lifted.
(SFEC, 1/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 18, In Jordan assailants assassinated 8 people in a hilltop villa that included a top Iraqi diplomat, Hikmet Hajou, and Iraqi businessman Namir Ochi, who handled food imports to Iraq for Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.B2)
1998 Jan 30, It was reported that Iraq had executed 10 people for stealing the huge bearded head of a large winged-bull dating from 700 BC.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A9)
1998 Feb 2, Russia announced that an envoy in Baghdad received concessions from Saddam Hussein on UN weapons inspections. US Sec. Albright failed to get permission from Saudi Arabia for US use of air bases to launch air strikes against Iraq. France, Turkey, Jordan, the Arab League and Yasser Arafat said they would send envoys to Baghdad to avert a possible US military strike.
(SFC, 2/3/98, p.A6)
1998 Feb 9, The US Pentagon announced that some 3,000 ground troops from Fort Hood, Texas, were to be sent to the Persian Gulf region over the next 10 days. The move was to discourage "creative thinking" on the part of Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 17, A UN refugee agency reported that 6,800 Kurds have fled their homes in northern Iraq following reported Turkish air raids on rebel positions.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.C3)
1998 Feb 17, UN Sec. Gen’l. Kofi Annan announced that he would travel to Baghdad to try to resolve the ongoing crises over Saddam Hussein’s refusal to allow unconditional weapons inspections.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.C2)
1998 Feb 20, The UN Security Council voted to more than double the amount of oil Iraq may sell to buy food and medicine. The increase was from $2 bil to $5.256 bil, although Iraq has said it was only capable of producing $4 billion worth of oil over six months. With the US military poised to attack Iraq, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan began a final campaign to end the crisis over weapons inspections without bloodshed.
(SFC, 2/21/98, p.A8)(AP, 2/21/08)
1998 Feb 22, In Iraq UN Sec.-Gen’l. Kofi Annan managed to secure an agreement from Saddam Hussein to allow the inspection process to proceed.
(SFC, 2/23/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb, Iran began to close down shipments of illicit Iraqi oil.
(SFC, 3/16/98, p.A8)
1998 Feb, Abbas Janabi (50), a former journalist and personal secretary to Odai Hussein (34), defected from Iraq and went into hiding in Europe. Janabi later corroborated reports that Odai was responsible for extensive oil smuggling along with other material goods.
(SFC, 10/21/98, p.C2)(http://tinyurl.com/9wsfz)
1998 Mar 2, U.N. Security Council unanimously endorsed Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s deal to open Iraq’s presidential palaces to arms inspectors.
(AP, 3/299)
1998 Mar 30, A Syrian-Iraqi Health week started. Health Minister Iyad Shatti arrived in Iraq from Syria with 12 trucks of food and medicine.
(SFC, 3/30/98, p.A9)
1998 Mar, A US spy accompanied a UN inspection team and placed an electronic eavesdropping system in Baghdad.
(SFC, 1/8/99, p.A1)
1998 Mar, Nassir Hindawi, germ weapons scientist, was arrested as he prepared to flee the country.
(SFC, 3/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 2, Iran and Iraq began a war prisoner exchange involving nearly 6000 men, mostly Iraqis.
(WSJ, 4/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 4-20, Richard Butler, chief arms inspector in Iraq, refused to certify the Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction have been destroyed.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1998 Apr 5, Iran and Iraq exchanged 1,589 prisoners of war, bringing the number to over 4,000. Up to 30,000 prisoners were thought to be held by both sides.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 13, Turkish army forces captured Semdin Sakik, a field commanded of the PKK, Kurdistan Workers Party, in a secret raid in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.C12)
1998 Apr 22, Ayatollah Murtadha Ali Mohammed Ibrahim Borujerdi (71) was shot and killed at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf. The shrine marks the grave of Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed and a central figure in Shiite Islam.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 27, The UN extended security sanctions against Iraq but agreed to reviews every 60 days. It was earlier reported that Iraq recently had executed 1,500 political prisoners.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Apr 28, Americares, a US relief organization, flew in $2 million in medical supplies for 22 centers throughout Iraq.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A10)
1998 May, US Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering said that illegal oil sales had reached 200,000 barrels a day.
(SFC, 10/21/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 13, It was reported that the Old World Screwworm had broken out in Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain. 19 people were reported infected by the disease in which carnivorous larvae hatch from eggs laid in broken skin.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A7)
1998 Jun 30, A US fighter jet fired a missile at an Iraqi anti-aircraft site after the site’s radar locked on a British warplane.
(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A1)
1998 Jul 17, The Clinton administration sought approval to use funds for covert operations against Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 7/18/98, p.A3)
1998 Jul, Richard Butler, chief of UNSCOM, ordered Scott Ritter in mid-July to place a listening device in Baghdad to enable the Americans to eavesdrop on Saddam Hussein.
(SFEC, 1/10/99, p.A24)
1998 Jul, Iraq and Iran agreed to allow 12,000 Iranians to visit shrines in Iraq each month.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A24)
1998 Aug 5, In Iraq the government of Saddam Hussein said it was ending cooperation with UN arms inspectors.
(SFC, 8/6/93, p.A1)
1998 Aug 15, Some 750 Iranians entered the country to visit shrines for the first time in 18 years.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A24)
1998 Sep 9, The UN Security Council voted to suspend periodic reviews of the economic sanctions on Iraq.
(SFC, 9/10/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 3, Turkey sent some 10,000 troops into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish rebels.
(SFEC, 10/4/98, p.A11)
1998 Oct 4, A Palestinian burst into a Baghdad synagogue and sprayed the crowd with gunfire. 2 Jews and 2 Muslims were killed.
(SFEC, 10/5/98, p.A9)
1998 Oct 5, The US House of Representatives directed the Pentagon to channel $97 million in overt military aid to Iraqi rebel groups seeking to bring down Pres. Saddam Hussein. The Clinton administration committed to the transfer of military surplus equipment May 14, 1999.
(SFC, 10/6/98, p.A8)(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A6)
1998 Oct 26, A UN panel reported that the Iraqi government lied to UN weapons inspectors about its nerve gas arsenal and had loaded the VX nerve agent on at least 2 warheads during the Persian Gulf War.
(SFC, 10/27/98, p.B6)
1998 Oct 31, Iraq said that it was suspending all cooperation with int’l. arms inspectors and would close down their long-term monitoring operations in response to a Security Council rejection of demands that a review of its relations with the UN should automatically result in a lifting of sanctions.
(SFEC, 11/1/98, p.A21)
1998 Oct, US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty began broadcasting Radio Free Iraq daily from Prague.
(SFC, 11/28/98, p.C1)(AP, 11/30/09)
1998 Nov 5, The UN Security Council unanimously demanded that Iraq resume cooperation with UN weapons inspectors.
(SFC, 11/6/98, p.A14)
1998 Nov 6, At the Radwaniya prison west of Baghdad 63 prisoners were executed.
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)
1998 Nov 10, The US military moved warships into the Persian Gulf in anticipation of a possible attack on Iraq over cancellation of weapons inspections.
(SFC, 11/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Nov 12, Eight Arab states declared that Iraq would be held responsible for any consequences from its stopping the work of UN arms inspectors.
(SFC, 11/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 14, Iraq backed down and agreed to submit to UN weapons inspections as US forces were poised for attack.
(SFEC, 11/15/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 17, In Iraq UN weapons inspectors returned to resume work.
(SFC, 11/18/98, p.A12)
1998 Nov 20, Iraq balked at handing over documents on chemical and biological weapons and missile systems.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 24, The UN Security Council voted to allow Iraq an additional $5.2 billion in oil sales over the next 6 months to cover humanitarian aid.
(SFC, 11/25/98, p.A14)
1998 Nov 30, At the Radwaniya prison west of Baghdad 30 more prisoners were executed.
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)
1998 Nov, The show "By, Bye America" began a 2-week run at the Sheherezad Theater in Baghdad.
(SFC, 12/8/98, p.A13)
1998 Nov, The US declared a policy of "regime change" for Iraq.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A6)
1998 Dec 9, Iraq refused UN inspectors access to an office of the ruling Baath Party.
(SFC, 12/11/98, p.D2)
1998 Dec 15, Richard Butler, chairman of the UN Special Commission overseeing the disarmament of Iraq, reported that Saddam’s government continued to obstruct inspections.
(SFC, 12/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 16, Pres. Clinton ordered missile strikes against Iraq. Iraqi envoy Nizar Hamdoon accused UN weapons inspector Richard Butler of producing a biased report on weapons inspections. The US and British strike came one before scheduled vote on Clinton’s impeachment by the House of Representatives and days before the beginning of Ramadan. Some 200 missiles fell on Iraq in the first 24 hours of the attack and initial reports indicated two people killed and 30 injured. The House Republicans postponed impeachment by at least 24 hours.
(SFC, 12/17/98, p.A1,8)
1998 Dec 17, US and British forces launched more missiles on the 2nd day of attacks against Iraq. The strikes included some 100 cruise missiles with 2,000 pound warheads. At least 25 people were killed and 75 injured over 2 days. Pres. Boris Yeltsin withdrew the Russian ambassador from Washington and demanded an immediate end to military action. France and Italy expressed strong opposition while Germany rallied to support the US and Britain. A stray US missile hit Khorramshahr, Iran. The US later apologized.
(SFC, 12/18/98, p.A1,3)(SFC, 12/21/98, p.A20)
1998 Dec 18, US and British struck Iraq for a 3rd day with little resistance. The US B-1 bomber was used to drop bombs. Gen’l. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said more cruise missiles were launched in the first 2 days than the 289 in the 1991 Gulf War.
(SFC, 12/19/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 19, The US and Britain ended their attack on Iraq after 4 days of air and missile strikes in Operation Desert Fox. An early estimate of US defense expenses was put at $500 million. Some 62 members of the Republican Guard were killed.
(SFEC, 12/20/98, p.A1,24)(SFC, 12/22/98, p.A14)(WSJ, 8/27/99, p.A10)
1998 Dec 22, In Iraq UN aid groups returned to Baghdad.
(WSJ, 12/23/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 26, Iraq fired on Western aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone and said it would shoot at all military aircraft patrolling no-fly zones.
(SFEC, 12/27/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 27, Iraq said it would reject any extension of a UN monitored food program and would require monitors to leave.
(SFC, 12/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Dec 28, American aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone in Iraq destroyed an air defense site after the battery opened fire on them.
(SFC, 12/29/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 30, Iraq again fired at US warplanes the missile site was destroyed in response.
(SFC, 12/31/98, p.A1)
1998-2000 The Iraqi intelligence service, Mukhabarat, claimed 66 successful operations over this period.
(SFC, 4/25/03, A18)
1999 Jan 5, Four U.S. Air Force and Navy jets fired at Iraqi MiGs testing the "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq in the first such confrontation in more than six years. 6 missiles fired by 2 US F-15s missed the 4 MiG 25s of Iraq.
(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A6)(AP, 1/5/00)
1999 Jan 5, It was reported that Iraqi security forces killed hundreds of people in the Shiite Muslim south in summary executions directed by Saddam Hussein’s 2nd son over the last 6 weeks.
(WSJ, 1/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 6, It was reported that UN Sec. Gen’l. Kofi Annan had evidence that UN arms inspectors helped collect intelligence used in American efforts to undermine the Iraqi regime. Kofi Annan, the chief UN arms inspector and State Dept. officials all denied the spying allegations. An electronic eavesdropping system was put into place in March by a US spy with the UN inspection team.
(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A6)(SFC, 1/7/99, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/7/99, p.A1)(SFC, 1/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 7, A US jet fired on an air defense station in Iraq after it was targeted on radar.
(WSJ, 1/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 11, US planes fired missiles at 2 Iraqi defense installations after determining that they were about to be attacked by surface to air missiles.
(SFC, 1/12/99, p.A8)
1999 Jan 12, In Iraq a US F-16 jet encountered an active radar site and fired a HARM anti-radiation missile at it.
(SFC, 1/13/99, p.A10)
1999 Jan 14, The Clinton administration planned to propose that the UN lift all limits on Iraq’s ability to export oil to pay for food and medicine.
(SFC, 1/14/99, p.A10)
1999 Jan 15, In Iraq the US again fired at an air-defense site.
(WSJ, 1/15/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 20, The UN announced that it would release over $81 million to Iraq to buy electricity generating equipment. This included $6.5 million for oil industry spare parts.
(SFC, 1/21/99, p.A14)
1999 Jan 23, US jets attacked 2 Iraqi surface-to-air missile batteries after encountering anti-aircraft fire and MiG jets in the southern no-fly zone.
(SFEC, 1/24/99, p.A16)
1999 Jan 24, US jets attacked 2 Iraqi surface-to-air missile batteries after encountering radar detection in the northern no-fly zone.
(SFC, 1/25/99, p.A6)
1999 Jan 25, A US warplane missile reportedly misfired and Iraq asserted that 11 civilians were killed and 59 injured at al-Jumhuriya. The Pentagon confirmed that an AGM-130 missile had gone off mark.
(SFC, 1/26/99, p.A1)(SFC, 1/27/99, p.A7)(SFC, 2/12/99, p.A9)
1999 Jan 26, US jets again fired on air-defense sites in Iraq and Pres. Clinton approved more aggressive rules of engagement.
(WSJ, 1/27/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 28, From Iraq a UN official reported that hoof-and-mouth disease had crippled 1 million sheep and cattle in the country and that 50,000 kids and calves had died from the viral disease. The vaccine supply was exhausted due to the 1993 destruction of a vaccine laboratory by the UN commission.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1999 Jan 30, The UN Security Council agreed to establish panels to assess Iraqi disarmament and adherence to other UN resolutions.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.A17)
1999 Jan, Opposition groups claimed that 81 prisoners were executed in Abu Ghraib prison.
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)
1999 Jan, UNSCOM reported to the UN Security Council that biological weapons sites had produced such biological agents as: Clostridium botulinum, Clostridium perfringens, Wheat smut, Bacillus anthracis, Ricin and Aflatoxin.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1999 Feb 2, US pilots in Iraq operated under broader rules of attack and targeted a newly assembled missile site.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 10, US and British jets again hit Iraqi air defense sites. It was reported that Saddam Hussein has offered $14,000 to air defense troops who shoot down a US or British plane.
(SFC, 2/11/99, p.A15)
1999 Feb 11, US jets struck 7 Iraqi air defense sites.
(SFC, 2/12/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 14, Iraq said that air attacks had killed 5 people and wounded 22 and threatened Kuwait and Saudi Arabia with missile attacks for permitting US warplanes to fly from their countries.
(SFC, 2/16/99, p.C2)
1999 Feb 19, In Najaf, Iraq, Shiite Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sader was killed with his 2 sons in a drive-by shooting. Dissidents blamed the government and said riots followed the killings. The government denied any disturbances.
(SFEC, 2/21/99, p.A23)
1999 Feb 21, US and British warplanes attacked a missile base and 2 military communication sites after Iraqi jets violated the no-fly zone.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A8)
1999 Feb 22, In Iraq security forces fought demonstrations for a 3rd day over the slaying of Muslim cleric Sadeq Sadr. There were unconfirmed reports that as many as 300 people were killed in the riots.
(SFC, 2/23/99, p.A8)(WSJ, 2/23/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 27, Western planes bombed targets in southern Iraq and Baghdad claimed that 23 people were wounded.
(SFEC, 2/28/99, p.A23)
1999 Feb 28, A US air strike in Iraq was said to have damaged an oil pipeline, stopped the flow of oil and killed one Iraqi. The US denied the charges.
(SFC, 3/1/99, p.A12)
1999 Feb, An Iraqi opposition group claimed that Saddam Hussein executed 24 army officers.
(WSJ, 3/10/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 1, US warplanes dropped over 30 laser-guided bombs on military targets in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A8)
1999 Mar 8, US warplanes dropped laser-guided bombs on northern and southern Iraq.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.B10)
1999 Mar 17, Iraqi pilgrims flew to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj. It was the 2nd day of flights violating UN prohibitions.
(SFC, 3/18/99, p.C2)
1999 Apr 2, Allied aircraft resumed bombing in Iraq after a 2 week lull.
(SFC, 4/3/99, p.A4)
1999 Apr 5, Iraq claimed that US and British warplanes bombed a control station that delivered oil approved for export on a UN humanitarian program.
(SFC, 4/7/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 6, In Iraq 4 men were hanged for the Feb murder of Mohammed Sadiq al-Sader, a top Shiite cleric.
(WSJ, 4/7/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 10, US F-16s struck southern Iraqi radar and antiaircraft sites after the fighters were fired upon. Iraq claimed that 2 people were killed and 9 wounded in the attacks.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.A11)(WSJ, 4/12/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 17, In Iraq US fighter planes bombed anti-aircraft sites in the northern no-fly zone.
(SFEC, 4/18/99, p.A23)
1999 Apr 25, In Iraq US warplanes struck air defense sites in the northern no fly zone after being threatened by radar.
(SFC, 4/26/99, p.A14)
1999 Apr 29, US planes bombed sites in the no-fly zone of northern Iraq after being attacked by missiles and anti-aircraft fire. Iraq said 20 civilians were injured in Mosul and 4 in separate attacks in the south.
(SFC, 4/30/99, p.D8)
1999 Apr 30, Iraq claimed that 7 people were killed in a shepherd’s tent during US bombing over Mosul.
(SFC, 5/13/99, p.C4)
1999 May 3, US jets attacked Iraqi air defense sites. Iraqi news reported 2 civilians killed and 12 injured north of Mosul.
(SFC, 5/4/99, p.A14)
1999 May 6, In Iraq the new vacation-resort city of Saddamiat al-Tharthar opened 85 miles west of Baghdad. Nearly every brick was engraved with the initials of Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 5/12/99, p.C5)
1999 May 8, US warplanes bombed northern Iraq as Iraqi TV reported 3 people were killed when 18 bombs fell on civilian and military positions.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, p.A23)
1999 May 8, In Iraq military forces attacked villages in Nasiriyah, a Shiite Muslim city.
(SFC, 5/12/99, p.C10)
1999 May 11, US and British warplanes bombed air defense targets in northern and southern Iraq after they were targeted by radar.
(SFC, 5/12/99, p.C10)
1999 May 12, Iraqi armed forces said that US and British warplanes had killed 12 civilians in the Nineveh province.
(SFC, 5/13/99, p.C4)
1999 May 15, US warplanes attacked Iraqi air defense sites after being targeted by radar.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A15)
1999 Jun 3, From Iraq it was reported that a drought had killed about 70% of the nation’s crops.
(WSJ, 6/3/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 6, In Iraq US and British warplanes struck military facilities after being fired on in the no-fly zone of southern Iraq.
(SFC, 6/7/99, p.A11)
1999 Jun 10, It was reported that 48% of the $570 million in UN medical supplies provided over the last 2 years was stored in warehouses.
(SFC, 6/10/99, p.C2)
1999 Jun 10, In Iraq a truck bomb killed 6 members of an Iraq-based Iranian opposition group, the Mujahadeen Khalq, which recently claimed to have killed a top general in Tehran.
(WSJ, 6/10/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 11, Iraq accused Iran of firing 3 Scud-B missiles on the Ashraf camp of the Mujahedeen Khalq guerrilla group, located 50 miles from the Iranian border.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.C1)
1999 Jun 13, In Iraq it was announced that a new decree by Saddam Hussein would imprison citizens over 18 caught begging in public places.
(SFC, 6/15/99, p.C5)
1999 Jun 16, The US decided to support a British and Dutch proposal to partially lift oil sanctions on Iraq in exchange for answers on weapons programs and a new group of UN arms inspectors. Iraq rejected the proposal.
(SFC, 6/17/99, p.C3)(SFC, 6/19/99, p.A11)
1999 Jun 22, Iraq claimed that over a million people have died due to UN sanctions for the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
(SFC, 6/23/99, p.A14)
1999 Jul 18, US air strikes in southern Iraq killed 14 civilians and wounded 17 others according to the Iraqi military.
(SFC, 7/19/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 25, Residents of Rumaitha and Khudur took to the streets over food and medicine shortages. 16 soldiers were killed and Saddam Hussein ordered a tank unit to quell the riots after which another 14 people died.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A12)
1999 Jul 29, US warplanes struck targets in northern and southern Iraq after anti-aircraft artillery shot at them. Iraq reported 8 people killed.
(SFC, 7/30/99, p.D3)
1999 Aug 3, An Iraqi military doctor, who had defected to Jordan, reported that 400 Iraqi dissidents, wounded in recent clashes with security forces, were executed. Maj. Saad Khazal Jabbar said 120 people were killed in the anti-government riots in Baghdad.
(SFC, 8/5/99, p.A14)
1999 Aug 3, Abdel Wahab al-Bayati, exile Iraqi writer and poet, died in Damascus at age 73.
(SFC, 8/4/99, p.C2)
1999 Aug 17, In Iraq US and British warplanes bombed missile sites in the north and south and Iraqi military reported 19 people killed and 11 injured. 12 people were killed in Jesan by the bombing, 3 brothers, their wives, 4 children and another couple.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.C2)(SFC, 8/19/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 23, US and British warplanes killed 2 people in northern Iraq after being fired upon by an Iraqi military radar station. The Pentagon later claimed that the 2 civilians were killed by Iraq’s own anti-aircraft artillery.
(SFC, 8/24/99, p.A11)(SFC, 8/25/99, p.A16)
1999 Oct 4, The UN Security Council approved a one-time increase in oil sales for Iraq from $5.26 billion to $8.3 billion.
(WSJ, 10/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 7, It was reported that American fighter jets had begun using non-explosive concrete bombs to destroy military targets in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 10/7/99, p.C20)
1999 Oct 25, Iraq reported that 2 civilians were killed and 7 people wounded when US and British jets attacked sites in the northern no-fly zone.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.B2)
1999 Oct 27, The Clinton administration authorized the first direct military training for opponents of Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 10/28/99, p.A13)
1999 Oct, Religious vigilantes killed a college student as he chatted with his girlfriend at a Tigris River promenade in northern Baghdad. Over the next 3 months 18 more young men were killed with one bullet to the head. In Jan police arrested 4 men for the slayings.
(SFC, 1/10/00, p.A14)
1999 Nov 2, In southeastern Iraq a missile hit the Habib camp of the dissident Mujahedeen Khalq near the border. At least 5 people were killed and Iran was blamed for the attack.
(SFC, 11/4/99, p.A18)
1999 Nov 28, Iraqi media reported that US warplanes bombed a school in northern Iraq and injured 8 people.
(SFC, 11/29/99, p.A16)
1999 Dec 10, The UN extended Iraq’s "oil-for-food" program for 6 months and set the stage for the suspension of sanctions if UN weapon’s inspectors are allowed back into the country.
(SFC, 12/11/99, p.C1)
1999 Dec 17, The UN Security Council (Resolution 1284) ended a yearlong deadlock and voted to create a new inspection team (UNMOVIC) to complete the disarmament of Iraq.
(SFC, 12/18/99, p.A1)(AP, 12/17/00)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1999 Dec 18, Iraq rejected the UN proposal for an inspection plan that would lead to suspension of sanctions.
(SFEC, 12/19/99, p.A24)
1999 Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector, published "Endgame: Solving the Iraq Problem Once and for All."
(WSJ, 4/8/99, p.A16)
1999 David Wurmser published "Tyranny’s Ally: America’s Failure to Defeat Saddam Hussein."
(WSJ, 4/8/99, p.A16)
1999 The Kurdistan KDP and PUK agreed to share power.
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.A14)
1999-2003 The US Volcker report of 2005 said that Australia's wheat exporter, AWB Ltd., paid over $221 million during this period to the Jordanian company, Alia, and that some of the money was for the benefit of the Iraqi government. During this period AWB sold over $2.3 billion in wheat to Iraq. In 2006 11 former executives faced prosecution for illegal kickbacks from Iraq.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.41)(Econ, 12/2/06, p.46)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
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BBC Iraq timeline: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14546763
Iraq is about 2 times the size of Idaho.
(SSFC, 10/9/05, Par p.27)
Land area in 2002 was 437,072 sq. km.
(NW, 9/23/02, p.39)
In Arabic Iraq means "origin." In ancient times it was called Mesopotamia.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.E5)(WUD, 1994, p.899)
At least three-quarters of the Iraq's people are members of one of the nation’s 150 tribes, which originated in the Arabian peninsula and moved north in search of water. Iraq has 18 provinces.
(WSJ, 5/23/00, p.A1)(NW, 3/17/03, p.31)
60000BC At Shanidar, a large cave in the Zagros mountains of northeastern Iraq soil samples from a grave of a [Neanderthal] man of this time indicated pollen grains from 8 different types of flowers. [2nd ref dated at c.10,000 BC]
(WH, 1994, p.21)(SFEM, 6/7/98, p.52)
9000BC The town of Chemi Shanidar, later part of Iraq, was the largest city of the time with 150 people.
(SFEC, 8/27/00, Z1 p.2)
c6800 BC Jarmo in northern Iraq was later said to be the first town.
(SFEC, 7/16/00, Z1 p.2)
4500BC A human skeleton of a man at least 50-years-old, dating to about this time, was excavated in southern Iraq around 1930 and taken to the Univ. of Pennsylvania’s Pen Museum, where it was lost in storage until 2014.
(SFC, 8/6/14, p.A5)
4000BC The oldest artifacts of the Mesopotamian city of Ur dated to about this time.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.9)
c3200BC A white limestone vase was made depicting Sumerians offering gifts to the goddess Innin along with scenes of daily life in Uruk. It survived for thousands of years and came to be called the Sacred Vase of Warka.
(SFC, 6/13/03, p.A12)(WSJ, 9/18/03, p.D6)
3000BC The earliest 6-sided dice date to about this time from a site in northern Iraq.
(WSJ, 10/27/06, p.W5)
2750BC Gilgamesh, a Sumerian King, ruled the city of Uruk (Babylonia) about this time, which had grown to a population of over 50,000. Gilgamesh was the subject of many epics, including the Sumerian "Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the Nether World" and the Babylonian "Epic of Gilgamesh." In 1844 Westerners discovered an epic poem based on Gilgamesh on stone fragments in Mosul, Iraq. In 1853 clay tablets inscribed with the tale were found in Nineveh, the former capital of Assyria. 5 Sumerian versions were later acknowledged. George Smith completed his translation of the Epic in 1874. In 2004 Stephen Mitchell published “Gilgamesh: A New English Translation." Derek Hines authored “Gilgamesh."
(eawc, p.1)(SFC, 12/14/04, p.E4)(ON, 11/07, p.4,6)(Arch, 5/05, p.16)
2550BC-2400BC The "Standard of Ur," a tapered box with rows of people depicting a battle and its aftermath, was made about this time.
(WSJ, 5/22/03, p.D8)
2500BC A queen named Shubad died about this time in the city of Ur in Mesopotamia. She was buried with a staggering amount of personal property later uncovered by English archeologist Charles Leonard Woolley.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
2334BC-2279bc Sargon I (2371BC-2315BC) founded and ruled the city-state of Akkad, after he left the city of Kish where he was an important official. He was the first ruler to maintain a standing army. His empire lasted less than 200 years.
(http://tinyurl.com/ctv5f)
2300BC Akkadian armies conquered Nagar about this time.
(MT, summer 2003, p.13)
2291BC-2254BC Naram-Sin ruled Akkad. He defeated a rebel coalition in Sumer and re-established Akkadian power. He re-conquered Syria, Lebanon, and the Taurus mountains, destroying Aleppo and Mari in the process. During his reign the Gutians sacked the city of Agade and eventually destroyed all of Sumer (southern Iraq). During his reign Naram-Sin campaigned against the region of Magan (Oman).
(http://tinyurl.com/ctv5f)
2.2k BC In what is now Bahrain settlements and temples of the city state of Dilmun, known as the city of the gods in ancient Sumerian literature, were found by Danish archaeologists in the 1950s. A culture contemporary with the city state of Dilmun (now Bahrain) was found in 1959 on the island of Umm-an-Nar off of Abu Dhabi.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.48)
2113BC Ur's golden century began when King Ur-Nammu expanded the Sumerian empire and made his capital the wealthiest city in Mesopotamia. Ur-Namma was the founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur. He made sure Magan (Oman) boats could freely come and go from Ur’s harbor.
(AP, 4/15/03)(Arch, 9/00, p.46)
2100BC Gudeo served as governor of Lagash (Iraq).
(Arch, 9/00, p.46)
2068 Shulgi, king of Ur, accepted gold from the king of Magan (Oman).
(Arch, 9/00, p.47)
2058BC Dungi was the king of the Mesopotamian city of Ur.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
2013BC Sumerians built the Ziggurat at Ur (later Iraq) to draw closer attention to the god of the moon.
(SSFC, 4/25/04, Par p.5)
2005BC Bur-Sin ruled as the king of Ur.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
1792BC-1750BC Hammurabi, king of Babylon, established a code of laws during this period that became known as the Code of Hammurabi. They were inscribed on a basalt column, later found at Susa, Iran. One of the laws was that if a married woman was caught lying with another man, both should be bound and thrown into the river.
(WH, 1994, p.13)(SFEC, 10/20/96, Z1 p.2)(Econ, 4/12/08, p.91)
1700BC A Larsa king ruled Ur about this time.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
1400BC This was the Kassite period of the Mesopotamian city of Ur.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.8)
1000BC Chaldians traced their origins to about this time in Babylon.
(SFC, 9/30/00, p.A12)
1000BC The world’s oldest known lens was ground about this time by an Assyrian maker.
(Econ, 12/1/12, TQ p.8)
900-840BC The Assyrians expanded their empire to the west. By 840 they conquered Syria and Turkey, territory that had formerly belonged to the Hittites.
(eawc, p.6)
883-859BC Ashurnasirpal II. This Assyrian ruler established the new capital city of Kalhu (Nimrud).
(AM, 7/00, p.50)
858-824BC Shalmaneser II, Assyrian ruler.
(AM, 7/00, p.50)
812-783BC Hada-Nirari III, Assyrian king enumerated the Philistines among the Palestinian states conquered by him.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
810-805BC Sammuramat ruled Assyria as Queen.
(eawc, p.6)
803BC Hadad-Nirari, Assyrian king, conquered the Palestinian states including the Philistines.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
800BC Nimrud, capital of Assyria, 500 miles east of Byblos, sample of ivory carving from a piece of furniture depicting a woman in a window wearing an Egyptian wig.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.171)
747BC Feb 26, Origin of Era of Nabonassar.
(SC, 2/26/02)
745-727BC Tiglath-Pileser III, Assyrian king.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
734BC Rezon of Syria, and Pekah of Samaria were in league, whereas Ahaz of Jerusalem had become a vassal of the king of Assyria. The Philistines had attached them selves to the Syrian league, so that Tiglath-Pileser came up with the special purpose of sacking Gaza. Hanunu, the king of Gaza, fled to Sebako, king of Egypt; but he afterwards returned and, having made submission, was received with favor.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.63)
722BC The Assyrians conquered Israel and left nothing behind. The Hebrew kingdom of Judah managed to survive.
(eawc, p.7)
722-705BC Sargon II, king of Assyria. [see 721BC]
(WUD, 1994, p.1269)
721-705BC Sargon II, king of Assyria. [see 722BC]
(AM, 7/01, p.33)
c720BC Some Jewish tribes went missing after being sent into exile by the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pilesar III. In 2002 Hillel Halkin authored "Across the Sabbath River: In Search of a Lost Tribe of Israel," an account of the search for the lost tribes that included the Gadites, Reubenites and tribe of Manasseh (Menashe) and its possible relationship to the Kuki-Chin-Mizo people of Burma.
(WSJ, 8/8/02, p.D10)(SSFC, 8/11/02, p.M2)
715-642 Judah absorbed refugees from the Assyrian conquest an achieved the attributes of a state.
(AM, 9/01, p.32)
713BC Azuri, king of the Philistine city of Ashdod, refused to pay tribute and endeavored to stir up the neighboring princes to revolt. Sargon [of Assyria] came down and expelled Azuri, and established in his stead Azuri's brother, Ahimiti.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.64)
705-681BC Sennacherib, Assyrian king, also had trouble with the Philistines. Mitinti's son, Rukipti, had been succeeded by his son Sarludari, but it seems as though this ruler had been deposed, and a person called Zidka reigned in his stead. Sennacherib found conspiracy in Zidka, and brought the gods of his father's house, himself, and his family into exile to Assyria, restoring Sarludari to his former throne.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.64)
705-681BC At the same time the Ekronites had revolted against the Assyrian. Their king, Padi, had remained a loyal vassal to his overlord, but his turbulent subjects had put him in fetters and sent him to Hezekiah, king of Judah, who cast him into prison. The Ekronites summoned assistance from North Arabia and Egypt, and met Sennacherib at El-Tekeh. Here they were defeated, and Sennacherib marched against Ekron, slaying and impaling the chief officers. Padi was rescued from Jerusalem... Sennacherib then cut of some of the territory of Judah and divided it among his vassals...
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.64)
705-681BC Sennacherib ruled the Assyrians and built a new capital in Ninevah where he began to form a library of Sumerian and Babylonian tablets. He managed to subdue the entire region of western Asia.
(eawc, p.7)
701BC The Assyrian King Sennacherib laid siege to Jerusalem.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.16)
c700BC The huge bearded head of a large winged-bull dating from this time was made.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A9)
700-600BC The search for the 10 lost tribes of Israel, who were dispersed in the tenth century BC when the Assyrians conquered part of the Holy Land, is depicted on a CD titled The Myth of the 10 Lost Tribes, by Creative Multimedia Corp.
(New Media, 2/95, p.84)
689BC Sennacherib of Assyria destroyed Babylon, but his son rebuilt it.
(eawc, p.7)
681-668BC Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib became monarch of Assyria after his father was assassinated. "I had monuments made of bronze, lapis lazuli, alabaster... and white limestone... and inscriptions of baked clay... I deposited them in the foundations and left them for future times."
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.65)(MofE, 1978, p.1)
671BC Esarhaddon [of Assyria] recorded a victory over lower Egypt at the cliff face of the Nahr al Kalb (Dog River), between Beirut and Byblos.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.157)
668-627BC Ashurbanipal succeeded Sennacherib as ruler over Assyria. He continued to develop the library and by the time he finished, there were more than 22,000 clay tablets collected.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.65)(eawc, p.7)
650BC Babylon by this time was again prosperous following its destruction in 689 by Sennacherib of Assyria.
(eawc, p.7)
650BC Nabonidas, the last ruler of Ur, made extensive renovations to the ziggurat there. His daughter, princess Bel-Shalti-Nannar, maintained a museum of local antiquities.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.7,8)
614BC The Babylonians (particularly, the Chaldeans) with the help of the Medes, who occupied what is today Iran, began a campaign to destroy the Assyrians.
(eawc, p.8)
612BC Ninevah (Mesopotamia), the cradle of Assyrian kings for 2,500 years, fell to the Babylonians and Medes. The Chaldeans, a Semitic people, then ruled the entire region thereby issuing in the New Babylonian period that lasted to 539BC.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)(SSFC, 2/11/01, p.C1)(SFC, 3/31/03, p.W5)
605BC-562BC Nebuchadnezzar II ruled in Babylon. He undertook some monumental building projects that included the Hanging Gardens. The New Babylonian Revival used glazed bricks for building thereby creating a colorful city. The king was fond of spinach.
(SFC, 12/25/98, p.B5)(SFC, 3/24/00, p.B3)
593BC The time of the prophet Ezekial. He prophesied the return to the promised land after the destruction of the temple and exile to Babylon.
(MofB, A&E TV, 9/7/96)
587BC King Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A18)
586BC Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, ruler of Mesopotamia, destroyed Jerusalem and recorded his deeds at the Nahr al Kalb (Dog River) cliff face between Beirut and Byblos. He took the Jewish people into captivity.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.157)(SFC, 12/31/96, p.A11)
586BC Ezekial, in exile at Babylon, described Tyre as it was before Nebuchadnezzar’s attack in the Bible: (Ezekial 27:1-25) in the Book of Ezekial. this time is known as the "Babylonian Captivity."
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.162)(eawc, p.8)
518BC Persian leader Darius the Great founded Persepolis as his ceremonial capital.
(SSFC, 11/27/05, p.A26)
401BC In the Battle of Cunaxa Cyrus, king of Persia, attempted to oust his brother Artaxerxes from rule over Babylon. Greek forces, hired to help Cyrus, were left stranded when Cyrus died. The Greek army elected Xenophon to lead them back home. Xenophon later authored his “Anabasis" (expedition up country), which told the story of return home. In 2005 Tim Rood authored “The Sea, The Sea," an analysis of Xenophon’s life story following his death.
(WSJ, 5/4/05, p.D10)(Econ, 3/23/13, p.89)
354 BC Xenophon (b. 430BC), Greek historian, died. His work included the “Cyropaedia," a biography of Cyrus the Great (580-530).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophon)
331BC Alexander reached Persopolis, the capital of Persia, and burned it.
(V.D.-H.K.p.50)(Econ, 9/17/05, p.48)
116 Hatra, a fortified city of the Parthian Empire and later part of Iraq, withstood a Roman invasion due to its high and thick walls. The Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid Empire was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran.
(SSFC, 4/5/15, p.A7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthian_Empire)
198 Hatra, a fortified city of the Parthian Empire (later part of Iraq), withstood a second Roman invasion due to its high and thick walls. The trading center was surrounded by more than 160 towers.
(SSFC, 4/5/15, p.A7)(AP, 4/26/17)
300-400 The Syriac monastery of Mar Mattai was established near Mosul.
(Econ, 5/14/16, SR p.3)
431CE The Assyrians and Chaldeans broke from what was to become the Roman Catholic Church over a theological dispute.
(WSJ, 3/12/00, p.A10)
500 The second component of the Talmud, the Gemara, was compiled about this time in Babylon (later Iraq). It is a discussion of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Tanakh. The first component, the Mishnah, the first written compendium of Judaism's Oral Law, dated to around 200.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud)
590 St. Elijah's Monastery, aka Dair Mar Elia, was completed in Mosul. It was named after Assyrian Christian monk St. Elijah, who began the construction in 582. In 2014 the Christian monastery was destroyed by the Islamic State.
(AP, 1/20/16)(SFC, 1/21/16, p.A4)
628 Apr 3, In Persia Kavadh sued for peace with the Byzantines. He handed back Armenia, Byzantine Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
(HN, 4/3/99)
632-661 The Rashidun Caliphate, also known as the Rightly Guided Caliphate, comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death. At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia in the east. It was the one of the largest empires in history up until that time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashidun_Caliphate)
637 Ctesiphon, a center of Christianity southeast of Baghdad, was taken by Arabs, who renamed it Madain.
(SFC, 3/31/03, p.W5)
637 Muslim armies conquered Mesopotamia.
(ATC, p.78)
642 May, Khalid bin Al-Waleed (b.585), Muslim commander prominent in leading the conquest of Iraq and Syria, died in Syria. It was under his military leadership that Arabia, for the first time in history, was united under a single political entity, the Caliphate.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_ibn_al-Walid)(SFC, 3/30/18, p.A5)
657AD Jul 26, Mu’awiyan defeated Caliph Ali in the Battle of Siffin in Mesopotamia.
(HN, 7/26/98)
661 Jan 29, Ali ibn Abu Talib, caliph of Islam (656-61), was murdered in Kufa, Iraq. Caliph Ali, son-in-law of Mohammed, was assassinated and his followers (Shiites) broke from the majority Muslim group. A member of the anarchist sect of Kharajites assassinated Ali. This sect believed that there are no verdict’s but God’s. The Imam Ali mosque in Najaf marks the grave of Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed and a central figure in Shiite Islam.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali)(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A14)(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A16)
680 Oct 10, Imam Hussein, grandson of prophet Mohammed, was beheaded. He was killed by rival Muslim forces on the Karbala plain in modern day Iraq. He then became a saint to Shiite Muslims. Traditionalists and radical guerrillas alike commemorate his martyrdom as the ceremony of Ashura. The 10-day mourning period during the holy month of Muharram commemorates the deaths of Caliph Ali’s male relatives by Sunnis from Iraq. Shiites went on to believe that new leaders should be descendants of Mohammad and Ali. Sunnis went on to vest power in a body of Muslim scholars called the ulema.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A14)(SFC, 2/24/06, p.A15)(http://countrystudies.us/iraq/15.htm)
700-800 According to Iraqis Muslim forces "liberated" Iraq from the Persians in the 8th century qadissiyah battle.
(SFC, 2/1/02, p.A18)
700-800 Escaped slaves called the Zanj took refuge from the early Islamic empire in the marshes of southern Iraq.
(SSFC, 12/28/03, p.A6)
705 Oct 8, Abd al-Malik, caliph of Damascus, died.
(MC, 10/8/01)
730 Khazar commander Barjik led Khazar troops through the Darial Pass to invade Azerbaijan. At the Battle of Ardabil, the Khazars defeated an entire Arab army. The Battle of Ardabil lasted three days, and resulted in the death of a major Arab general named Jarrah. The Khazars then conquered Azerbaijan and Armenia and northern Iraq for a brief time.
(TJOK, pages 160-161)
750-1258CE Muslim power in Persia was held by the Abbassid caliphs, who claimed lands that stretched from Central Asia to North Africa and Spain. One Abbasid general, Abdullah, invited 80 Umayyad leaders to a banquet where they were killed by Abdullah’s men. Only one Umayyad, Abd al Rahman, was able to escape. He fled all the way to Spain where he united the warring Muslin groups there and built a new Umayyad government. So now the Muslims were split in two groups. The Abbassid dynasty of the Moslem Empire ruled Arabia and the eastern empire. All of the caliphs of this era claim descended from Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed.
(AHD, 1971, p.2)(ATC, p.84)(SFC, 4/12/03, p.A14)
751CE During a raid into central Asia, the Abbasids captured some Chinese artisans skilled in paper making.
(ATC, p.89)
762 Jul 30, A Persian astrologer, selected by caliph al-Mansur (the Victorious), selected this day as propitious for breaking ground for the city of Baghdad. Al-Mansur was one of the founders of the Abassid dynasty.
(WSJ, 2/14/09, p.W8)
770 The Syrian Orthodox Church of St. Thomas (Mar Toma) was built in Mosul.
(SFC, 12/24/09, p.A3)
776 Al-Jahiz (d.868), Muslim theologian and scholar, was born in Basra about this time. He is credited with writing nearly two hundred works, although fewer than one hundred survive today. His most famous work is Al-Hayawan" (The Book of animals), which merges discussions of zoology with philosophy.
(Econ, 2/7/09, p.72)(www.enotes.com/classical-medieval-criticism/al-jahiz)
786 Feb 4, Harun al-Rashid (786-809) succeeded his older brother the Abbasid Caliph al-Hadi as Caliph of Baghdad.
(HN, 2/4/99)(Econ, 12/19/15, p.67)
799 Imam Musa ibn Jaafar al-Kadhim (55), one of the 12 principle Shiite saints, died from poisoning in Baghdad.
(www.shiachat.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t52098.html)
800-900 Buran, the wife of the Caliph of Baghdad, had a lavish wedding. The groom was led to a carpet of woven gold and 1,000 pearls were poured over his head in honor of a poet who had described the surface of a glass of white wine as: "pearls scattered like pebbles on a plain of gold."
(SFC, 12/18/96, zz-1 p.8)
800-900 Jaber bin Hayyan, an Iraqi polymath, elaborated on algebra (al-jabr) and described "flammable vapours" at the mouths of heated wine vessels.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.68)
809 Mar 24, Harun al-Rashid (Arabic for The Rightly Guided), caliph of the Abbasid empire (786-809), died at age 44. His reign is immortalized in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. His work included the construction of a House of Wisdom in Baghdad.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harun_al-Rashid)(WSJ, 2/8/06, p.D12)
815 Abu Nawas, Arab poet, died. His odes included verses on Baghdad liquor that was "as hot between the ribs as a firebrand."
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.68)
836 Caliph al-Mutasim built a new capital at Samarra to replace Baghdad as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. It was abandoned by Caliph al-Mutamid in 892.
(SFC, 2/23/06, p.A15)
855 Ahmad ibn Hanbal (b.780), Muslim scholar, died in Iraq. He is considered the founder of the 4th school of Sunni Islam. The four schools of Sunni Islam include: a) The Hanafi school, named after Imam Abu Hanifa, predominates in the territories formerly under the Ottoman Empire and in Muslim India and Pakistan; it relies heavily on consensus and analogical reasoning in addition to the Quran and sunna. B) The Maliki school, named after Malik ibn Anas, is dominant in upper Egypt and West Africa; developed in Medina, it emphasizes use of hadith (sayings or acts) that were current in the Prophet's city. C) The school of Muhammad ibn Idris ash Shafii, prevailing in Indonesia, stresses reasoning by analogy. D) The fourth legal school is that of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, which is the school adhered to in Saudi Arabia.
(http://countrystudies.us/saudi-arabia/26.htm)
868 The 10th imam, Ali al-Hadi, died. His remains were placed in the Askariya shrine in Samarra (Persia-Iraq).
(AP, 2/22/06)
874 The 11th imam, Hassan al-Askari, son of Ali al-Hadi, died. His remains were also placed in the Askariya shrine in Samarra (Persia-Iraq). Hassan al-Askari was the father of Al-Mahdi, the hidden imam.
(AP, 2/22/06)
878 Imam Mahdi went into hiding. Shiites went on to believe that he would return, along with Jesus, to lead Muslims in a struggle for justice.
(SFC, 1/19/08, p.A7)
892 Caliph al-Mutamid abandoned Samarra, established in 836, as the capital of the Abassid Caliphate.
(SFC, 2/23/06, p.A15)
922 Mar 26, Al-Hallaj al-Mughith-al-Hsayn Mansur (64), Persian mystic, was beheaded. Mansur al-Hallaj (b.858), a Sufi mystic, was crucified in Baghdad for pronouncing in the midst of a trance that he was the truth, i.e god.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Hallaj)(SFC, 4/21/04, p.A10)
945 The Buyids (Buwayhids) came to power in Baghdad. They were ousted by the Seljuks in 1055 under Tughril Beg.
(www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/iraq/HISTORY.html)
977 The shrine of Imam Ali, a gold-domed mosque, was built in Najaf, Iraq, on the burial site of Imam Ali, son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed.
(SFC, 8/30/03, p.A1)
1055 The Seljuks under Tughril Beg ousted the Buyids (Buwayhids) in Baghdad. The nomadic Turks from Central Asia, descended from a warrior named Seljuk, took control of the government and continued governing the empire in the tradition of Islamic law.
(www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/iraq/HISTORY.html)
1070 In Egypt a famine forced Al-Mustansir to send the women of Cairo to Baghdad to escape starvation.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1146 Sep 14, Zangi of the Near East was murdered. The Sultan Nur ad-Din, his son, pursued the conquest of Edessa (NW Mesopotamia).
(HN, 9/14/98)
1162-1227 Genghis Khan was born in the Hentiyn Nuruu mountains north of Ulan Bator. His given name was Temujin, "the ironsmith." He seized control over 5 million square miles that covered China, Iran, Iraq, Burma, Vietnam, and most of Korea and Russia. "In Search of Genghis Khan" is a book by Tim Severin. He was succeeded by his son Ogedai, who was succeeded by Guyuk. Ogedai ignored numerous pleas from his brother Chaghatai to cut down on his drinking and died of alcoholism as did Guyuk.
(SFC, 4/14/96, T-10)(WUD, 1994, p. 591)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1227-1234 The Madrassa al Mustansirija was constructed in Baghdad by the Caliph al Mustansir. It became world epicenter of medical sciences and also taught theology, mathematics, jurisprudence, astrology and other subjects.
(WSJ, 9/20/08, p.W14)
1258 Feb 10, Huegu (Hulega Khan), a Mongol leader and grandson of Genghis Khan, seized Baghdad following a 4-day assault. Mongol invaders from Central Asia took over Baghdad and ended the Abbasid-Seljuk Empire. They included Uzbeks, Kazaks, Georgians and other groups. Some 200 to 800 thousand people were killed and looting lasted 17 days. Their destruction included the razing of Baghdad’s House of Wisdom.
(ATC, p.91)(AP, 2/10/99)(SFC, 4/12/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 2/8/06, p.D12)
1258 The Abbasids fled from Baghdad to Egypt following the Mongol invasion that ended the Abbasid-Seljuk Empire.
(Econ, 10/4/14, p.55)
1260 Mar 1, Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis, conquered Damascus.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1270 Mongol hordes sacked Babylon and ended 1,500 years of rule over Eastern Jewry by the high Mesopotamian priest known as the Exxilarch.
(WSJ, 6/30/03, p.A1)
1401 Jun, Amir Timur, aka Tamerlane, invaded Baghdad. After the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur)
1534 Dec 4, Turkish sultan Suleiman occupied Baghdad.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1546 Basra (Iraq) was captured by the Ottoman Empire.
(Econ, 3/2/13, p.24)
1551 Pope Eugenius IV brought some of the Middle-Eastern Christians back into the Western Christian fold when he established the Chaldean rite of the Catholic Church.
(WSJ, 3/12/00, p.A10)
1638 Dec 24, The Ottomans under Murad IV recaptured Baghdad from Safavid Persia.
(HN, 12/24/98)
1743 In Mosul as many as 150 monks who refused to convert to Islam were massacred at St. Elijah's Monastery by a Persian general.
(AP, 1/20/16)
1791 Wahid Bihbihani (b.~1704), Shiite scholar and founder of the most dominant form of Shiism, died about this time in Karbala. He revived and refashioned the waning Usuli school of Shiism.
(Econ, 7/25/15, p.69)(http://tinyurl.com/pyavpz3)
1801 Apr 21, Saudi Arabs led Sunni raids into Karbala, Iraq, killing about 5,000 people.
(Econ, 10/11/08, p.65)(http://tinyurl.com/5qdnf3)
1806 Apr 21, Saudi Arabs led Sunni raids into Najaf, Iraq, killing about 5,000 people.
(Econ, 10/11/08, p.65)(http://tinyurl.com/5qdnf3)
1807 Saud al-Saud invaded Karbala, Iraq, for the second time in 1807, but he could not occupy it.
(www.islamicsupremecouncil.org/CMS/Topics/Wahhabism/118121372002.htm)
1829 David Sassoon (37), the riches man in Baghdad, fled the city as Mamluk ruler Dawud Pasha began pogroms against the Jews. In 1832 Sassoon set up anew in Bombay, India, and became involved in the drug trade.
(Econ., 7/4/20, p.74)
1829 Plymouth Brethren missionaries from the US made their 1st trip to Baghdad.
(WSJ, 1/17/03, p.W13)
1853 Hormuzd Rassam (1826-1910), Mosul-born Assyrian, and Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894), British archeologist, uncovered ancient Assyrian tablets at Nineveh (Iraq). Layard published his paper on Assyrian-Egyptian Cross-Dating. By using seal-impressions of rulers occurring on the same piece of clay, Layard was able to assign a date to the Assyrian dynasty because the Egyptian ruler’s reign was firmly dated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormuzd_Rassam) (RFH-MDHP, 1969, p.59)(ON, 11/07, p.4)
1855 Some 240 cases of archeological material was lost when transport rafts were attacked and sunk by Arab brigands at Kurnah, where the Tigris and Euphrates join to form the Shatt-al-Arab.
(RFH-MDHP, p.218)
1873 Mar 2, George Smith, British Assyriologist, arrived at the ruins of Nineveh outside Mosul (Iraq). Over the next few weeks he found tablets referring to more pieces of the Gilgamesh story, a record of kings in the Babylonian dynasties, as well as lists of cuneiform symbols.
(ON, 11/07, p.5)
1873 Nov, George Smith, British Assyriologist, departed England for a 2nd trip to the ruins of Nineveh. His 7-month trip yielded thousands of fragments that provided a more complete version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, whose main character was Sumerian king who lived around 2700 BC.
(ON, 11/07, p.5)
1879 The clay Cyrus cylinder, covered in Babylonian cuneiform script, was uncovered in Iraq.
(Econ, 3/23/13, p.89)
1883 May 20, Faisal ibn Husayn (d.1933), the 3rd son of the grand sherif of Mecca, was born in Mecca. He later became 1st king of Syria (1920) and Iraq (1921).
(www.wordiq.com/definition/Faisal_I_of_Iraq)
1913 The boundary between Iraq and Kuwait was defined.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1915 Sep 28, At the Battle of Kut-el-Amara the British defeated the Turks in Mesopotamia.
(MC, 9/28/01)
1915 Nov 22, The Anglo-Indian army, led by British General Sir Charles Townshend, attacked a larger Turkish force under General Nur-ud-Din at Ctesiphon, Iraq, but was repulsed.
(HN, 11/22/98)
1916 May 9, The Sykes-Picot Agreement, a secret understanding between the governments of Britain and France, defined their respective spheres of post-World War I influence and control in the Middle East. It was signed on 16 May 1916. Italian claims were added in 1917. Britain and France carved up the Levant into an assortment of monarchies, mandates and emirates. The agreement enshrined Anglo-French imperialist ambitions at the end of WW II. Syria and Lebanon were put into the French orbit, while Britain claimed Jordan, Iraq, the Gulf states and the Palestinian Mandate. Sir Mark Sykes (d.1919 at age 39) and Francois Picot made the deal. As of 2016 the boundaries of the agreement remained in much of the common border between Syria and Iraq.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement)(WSJ, 2/27/00, p.A17)(Econ, 5/14/16, SR p.5)
1916-1931 The Indian rupee was the legal tender of Iraq.
(WSJ, 11/7/03, p.A10)
1917 Mar 11, British troops occupied Baghdad.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1918 The Yazidis of Sinjar (Iraq) saved hundreds of Armenians and Assyrian Christians as they were being slaughtered by Ottoman Turks and their Kurdish proxies. The Ottomans retaliated by sending a small army to Sinjar and capturing the revered Yazidi leader , Hamo Sharro, who was sentenced to five years of har labor.
(Econ, 8/23/14, p.38)
1918 The area of ancient Mesopotamia, a part of the Ottoman Empire at the time, was conquered by the British during World War I. After the war, the European powers created the state of Iraq as a British mandate. Iraq is the Arabic name for Mesopotamia, an ancient region situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and home to early civilizations, including Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia and Assyria.
(HNQ, 12/19/99)
1918 British troops built the Basra shipyard after their campaign to capture Baghdad from the Ottoman Turks during WWI. In 2019 it was still operating with little maintenance, relying on its vintage machinery and the skill of its workers to keep going.
(AP, 1/22/19)
1919 Aug 28, The American King-Crane Commission presented its report and recommendations to the allies on the status of Syria, Iraq, and Palestine. The report recommended that Jewish immigration should be definitely limited, and that the project for making Palestine distinctly a Jewish commonwealth should be given up. It also recommended the creation of a single Arab state - "Greater Syria"- that included Lebanon and Palestine and would have been administered under American mandatory power.
(http://tinyurl.com/z4rnwf4)
1919 Air pioneers flew in the Great London to Australia Air Derby of this year. Six planes competed with 14 contestants. Four died in crashes, two were arrested in Yugoslavia for spying, and two others were forced down in Iraq and had to fend off local tribesmen with hand grenades.
(NG, 5/95, p.10)
1921 Mar 12, The Cairo Conference, called by Winston Churchill, convened to establish a unified British policy in the Middle East. Britain and France carved up Arabia and created Jordan under Emir Abdullah; his brother Faisal became King of Iraq. France was given influence over Syria and Jewish immigration was allowed into Palestine. Faisal I died one year after independence and his son, Ghazi I succeeded him. Colonial Sec. Winston Churchill wanted to keep an air corridor to Iraq, where the Royal Air Force was dropping poison gas on rebellious Arab tribes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Conference_%281921%29)(SSFC, 10/14/01, p.D3)(Econ, 7/13/13, SR p.5)
1921 Winston Churchill, T.E. Lawrence and archeologist Gertrude Bell promoted "the sherifian solution," under which the Hashemite family-- Hussein, the sherif of Mecca, and his sons, would rule over the region under Britain's eye.
(Econ, 7/19/03, p.69)
1921-1958 The period of the Hashemite monarchy.
(SFC, 5/27/97, p.A22)
1922 Jan, The Iraqi state police force was founded.
(AFP, 1/8/12)
1922 Nov 2, English archeologist Charles Leonard Woolley began excavating the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur, located between Baghdad and the Persian Gulf.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.7)
1922 A kind of draught board in an elongated 'H' shape, together with its pieces and dice, were found during archaeological excavations at the royal cemetery in the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, known now as Tal al-Muqayyar, in southern Iraq. It took more than five decades until experts managed to match up and translate a set of rules carved into a piece of clay with the board game. It became known as the Royal Game of Ur.
(AFP, 11/26/18)
1923 Jul 24, The Treaty of Lausanne, which settled the boundaries of modern Greece and Turkey, was concluded in Switzerland. It replaced the Treaty of Sevres and divided the lands inhabited by the Kurds between Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Article 39 allowed Turkish nationals to use any language they wished in commerce, public and private meetings, and publications. The treaty specifically protected the rights of the Armenian, Greek and Jewish communities. The former provinces of Baghdad, Basra and Mosul were lumped together to form Iraq. Both countries agreed to a massive exchange of religious minorities. Christians were deported from Turkey to Greece and Muslims from Greece to Turkey. A Muslim community of at least 100,000 was allowed in northern Greece. In 2006 Bruce Clark authored “Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions that Forged Modern Greece and Turkey."
(WSJ, 3/20/97, p.A17)(AP, 7/24/97)(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.A14)(Econ, 3/19/05, Survey p.9)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.50)(Econ, 12/9/06, p.92)(Econ, 10/16/10, p.72)
1923 Iraq's Department of Antiquities was established along with Baghdad’s Iraq Museum.
(SSFC, 5/18/03, p.D3)(NH, 6/03, p.44)
1924 Mar 3, Kemal Ataturk forced the abolition of the Muslim caliphate through the protesting assembly and banned all Kurdish schools, publications and associations. This ended the Ottoman Empire and created the modern Middle East, though Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia were still colonies of Britain and France.
(WSJ, 2/11/99, p.A24)(SSFC, 10/14/01, p.A3)
1925 The golden dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra, Iraq, was completed.
(AP, 2/22/06)
1926 Jul 12, Gertrude Bell (b.1868), British archeologist and intelligence officer, died in Baghdad. From 1900 to 1913 she journeyed some 20,000 miles from Istanbul to the Syrian desert and on to Iraq. In 2006 Georgina Howell authored "Daughter of the Desert: The Remarkable Life of Gertrude Bell." In 2017 the movie “Queen of the Desert" starred Nicole Kidman as Bell. A documentary on Bell titled “Letters From Baghdad" featured film footage and photos from the early 1900s.
(Econ, 9/9/06, p.79)(http://tinyurl.com/p59fy)(SFC, 6/16/17, p.E6)
1927 Jun, Oil was discovered near Kirkuk, Iraq, the 1st commercial find in any Arab country. BP was a shareholder in the Iraqi Petroleum Company when it started drilling Iraq's first oil well at Baba Gurgur just north of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.
(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.E1)(AP, 10/17/09)
1927 Dec 14, Iraq gained independence from Britain, but British troops remained.
(MC, 12/14/01)
1928 In Iraq Mohammed Mahdi al-Jawahri, classical Arab poet, published "Between Passion and Feeling."
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)
1930 A 6,500 year-old human skeleton was excavated in southern Iraq about this time and taken to the Univ. of Pennsylvania’s Pen Museum where it was lost in storage until 2014.
(SFC, 8/6/14, p.A5)
1931 Mar 26, Iraq and Trans-Jordan (Transjordan) signed a peace treaty.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1931 Apr 22, Egypt signed a treaty of friendship with Iraq.
(HN, 4/22/98)
1931 The Iraqi Air Force was founded. It was later considered the best in the Arab world battling the British in 1941 and Israel in 1948 and 1967.
(AP, 8/31/09)
1933 Sep 8, Iraq's King Faisal I (b.1885) died one year after independence and his son, Ghazi I, succeeded him. In 2014 Ali A. Allawi authored “Faisal I of Iraq."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_I_of_Iraq)(Econ, 2/8/14, p.79)
1932 Oct 3, Iraq became independent after a hundred years of direct foreign rule. Created as a British mandate after World War I, Iraq received its full independence when it was admitted into the League of Nations.
(NH, 9/96, p.14)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(HNQ, 6/20/99)(MC, 10/3/01)
1933 Assyrian villagers were massacred by Iraqi troops.
(WSJ, 3/12/00, p.A10)
1935 Jan 14, The oil pipeline from Iraq to the Mediterranean went into use.
(MC, 1/14/02)
1935 In Iraq Mohammed Mahdi al-Jawahri, classical Arab poet, published "Al Jawahri’s Divan."
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)
1936 In Iraq King Ghazi I witnessed a coup against his prime minister.
(NW, 9/8/03, p.32)
1936 In Iraq King Ghazi I built a radio station at his Al Zuhour Palace. This area later became know as the Green Zone following the US invasion in 2003.
(SFC, 6/2/10, p.A3)
1936 Agatha Christie authored her novel “Murder in Mesopotamia." During the 1930s she accompanied her husband Max Mallowan, British archeologist, on excavations in southern Iraq and later wrote an account of their work titled “Come Tell Me How You Live" (1946)
(MT, summer 2003, p.12)
1937 Apr 28, Saddam Hussein, future president of Iraq, was born in the village of al-Oja near the desert town of Tikrit. His invasion of Kuwait prompted the Persian Gulf War. This became a state holiday under Hussein's rule and was abolished in 2003. He was executed in Dec 2006.
(SFEC, 3/29/98, p.A12)(HN, 4/28/99)(WSJ, 1/20/02, p.A13)(AP, 7/13/07)
1937 Oct, Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was exiled from Palestine. He sought fled to Iraq and in 1941 sought refuge in Iran.
(www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/dec02/middleEast.asp)
1938 In Iraq the Habaniyah airfield was completed.
(AP, 7/5/03)
1939 In Iraq ruler Ghazi I died mysteriously. The official explanation was that he drove his car into a lamppost.
(NW, 9/8/03, p.32)
1941 Apr 17, British troop landed in Iraq.
(MC, 4/17/02)
1941 April 30, Iraqi pro-German junta leader Rashid Ali ordered 9,000 troops to surround Habaniyah and prepare to take it. The British troops, supported by Assyrian and local infantry, defeated three Iraqi brigades with a few hundred troops and 96 aircraft. By the end of the battle, British bombers flying from Habaniyah destroyed the entire Iraqi air force. The ground troops, aided by reinforcements, launched a counterattack, took control of Baghdad and reinstalled a friendly government.
(AP, 7/5/03)
1941 May 2, Hostilities broke out between British forces in Iraq and that country’s pro-German faction under PM Rashid Ali. Quickly overthrown by British troops, a pro-British regime under PM Nuri al-Said was installed, declaring war on the Axis powers in 1943.
(HN, 5/2/99)(HNQ, 6/20/99)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1941 May 22, British troops attacked Baghdad.
(MC, 5/22/02)
1941 May 31, An armistice was arranged between the British and the Iraqis. The British were to remain in the country and the Iraqis were to do nothing to help the Axis powers.
(HN, 5/31/99)
1941 Jun 1, British troops occupied Baghdad, Iraq.
(www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/dec02/middleEast.asp)
1943 Iraq declared war against the Axis after British troops ran military leaders in support of Hitler out of the country.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, Z1 p.8)
1944 Oct 30, Ahmad Chalabi, founding head of Jordan’s Petra Bank (1977), was born in Iraq. His family left in 1956 and he spent most of his life in the US and Great Britain. In 1969 he received a Ph.D. in mathematics from the Univ. of Chicago.
(Econ, 10/4/03, p.44)(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.A4)
1945 Oct 20, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon formed the Arab League to present a unified front against the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
(HN, 10/20/98)
1945 Foreign minister Fadhel al-Jamali (1903-1997) signed the UN Charter for Iraq. He later became prime minister under colonial rule and tried to get more freedom from Britain.
(SFC, 5/27/97, p.A22)
1945 The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was founded by Mullah Mustafa Barzani. He played a major role in establishing the short-lived Kurdish Republic of Mehabad, "Red" Kurdistan, in Iran. In the 30s and 40s he had organized "Pesh merga" guerrillas from clans in the Zagros region.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A7)(WSJ, 12/20/02, p.A14)
1947 Apr 7, Arab students, influenced by national socialist movements in Europe, founded the Baath Party. Satia al-Husri, father of Ba’athism, was a disciple of German philosopher Johann Fichte. This became a holiday in Iraq until abolished in 2003.
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/8/03, p.D4)(AP, 7/13/03)
1948 May 15, Hours after declaring its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
(AP, 5/15/97)
1948 Arshad al-Umari served as prime minister of Iraq.
(WSJ, 12/12/03, p.A1)
1948 Attacks on Baghdad’s synagogues prompted the flight of most of Iraq’s 200,000 Jews.
(Econ, 8/7/04, p.39)
1948-1949 Iraqi troops participated in the Arab League invasion of the new state of Israel. Iraq joined Transjordan and other Arab states to fight Israel. Most of Iraq’s 120,000 Jews fled to Israel or the West.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1950s Sir Wilfred Thesiger (d.2003), writer, explorer and chronicler of the world's vanishing ways of life, spent much of the 1950s among Iraq's marsh Arabs. He later authored "The Marsh Arabs," the story of the Shiite marsh dwellers of southern Iraq.
(AP, 8/26/03)
1952 Apr 23, Oil pipeline from Kirkuk, Iraq, to Banias was completed.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1952 Jul 24, In Iraq-Jordan a disgusted military overthrew the corrupt government of King Farouk.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1955 Iraq joined with Britain, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan in the Baghdad Pact, a loose alliance intended to check soviet influence in the region. The Baghdad Pact was formed at the prompting of the U.S. in an effort to block Soviet pressures on the northern tier of Middle Eastern states. The U.S. provided military and economic aid to the pact members.
(HNQ, 7/28/98)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1955 The new American Embassy in Baghdad was designed by architect Jose Luis Sert.
(WSJ, 6/2/04, p.D12)
1956 Saddam Hussein joined the Arab Baath Socialist Party.
(WSJ, 1/20/02, p.A13)
1957 May, Frank Lloyd Wright (89) traveled to Iraq to design an opera house for Baghdad. His multibuilding scheme was never built.
(WSJ, 8/20/03, p.D12)
1957 Iraq commissioned Le Corbusier to design the Baghdad Gymnasium as a small part of a planned Olympic city. It was only completed in 1982, under the rule of Saddam Hussein, under the guidance of Georges-Marc Presente, an associate of Le Corbusier, who ensured the strict application of the designer's clean, industrial, modernist principles.
(AFP, 4/23/12)
1957 Iraqi Shiite scholar Mohammed Baqr al Sadr founded the Daawa movement.
(WSJ, 4/28/05, p.A1)
1958 Jan 21, The Soviet Union called for a ban on nuclear arms in Baghdad Pact countries.
(HN, 1/21/99)
1958 Feb 14, The Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan formed under Iraq’s Faisal II. King Hussein forged a federation with Iraq, which was led by his cousin, Faisal II. The federation failed when Faisal was killed during a revolution in Iraq.
(HNQ, 8/20/00)(MC, 2/14/02)
1958 Mar 3, Nuri ash Said became premier of Iraq.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1958 Jul 14, In Iraq Gen. Abdel Karim al-Kassem (Qassim) assassinated Faisal II with his son and premier. Karim proclaimed a republic. Jordan’s King Hussein succeeded Faisal. Faisal II, Hashemite King of Iraq (1939-58), was assassinated at Baghdad and Noeri el-Said, premier of Iraq, was murdered. Mohammed Hadid (d.1999 at 92) served as the first finance minister under the government of Abdel Karim Qassem.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.963)(AP, 7/14/97)(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)(SFC, 8/6/99, p.D4)
1958 Aug 1, Jordan’s King Hussein dissolved the Arab Federation of Jordan and Iraq.
(PCh, 1992, p.963)
1958 Dec 13, Ahmed Mukhtar Baban, premier of Iraq, was executed along with Burhanuddin Bashajan, Iraqi minister of Foreign affairs and Rafiq Aref, Iraqi chief-staff Arabs Statenbond.
(MC, 12/13/01)
1958 Saddam Hussein was recruited by his uncle Khairalla Msallat, an army officer and fervent Arab nationalist, to assassinate a prominent communist in Tikrit. Saddam killed his victim, a distant cousin, with a single shot to the head. Hussein was arrested and imprisoned for six months, then released for lack of evidence.
(www.moreorless.au.com/killers/hussein.html)
1959 Mar 24, Gen. Qasim pulled Iraq out of the Baghdad Pact after the United States signed bilateral cooperation agreements with Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. A number of assassination attempts on Qasim failed including an attempt that included Baath Socialist Party activist Saddam Hussein.
(HNQ, 7/28/98)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)(MC, 3/24/02)
1959 Oct 7, Saddam Hussein participated in a Baath team that ambushed Iraqi strongman Abdel-Karim Kassem in Baghdad, wounding him. Saddam, wounded in leg, fled country.
(AP, 10/17/05)
1959 Saddam Hussein, sentenced to death for an assassination attempt on PM Qasim, fled to Syria and Egypt.
(WSJ, 1/20/02, p.A13)(www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/saddam.htm)
1960 Mar 26, Iraq executed 30 after attack on President Kassem.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1960 Sep 14, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela formed OPEC. Fuad Rouhani (1907-2004) of Iran served as its 1st secretary-general. In 1964 he was succeeded by Abdul Rahman Bazzaz of Iraq.
(HN, 9/14/98)(WSJ, 7/28/03, p.A8)
1961 Jun 24, Iraq demanded dominion over Kuwait.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1961 Jun 26, A Kuwaiti vote opposed Iraq’s annexation plans.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1961 Jul 1, British troops landed in Kuwait to aid against Iraqi threats.
(HN, 7/1/98)
1963 Feb 8, In Iraq the Baath Party first took power. Right-wing Baathists succeeded in mounting a coup and executed PM Gen. Abdel Karim Qassim. Abdul Salam Arif came to power. This was followed by a massacre of thousands of peasants, communists and trade unionists. The Arab Baath Socialist Party pulled off the coup and ruled Iraq for 9 months.
(HNQ, 6/20/99)(SFC, 8/6/99, p.D4)(AP, 5/26/03)(AP, 7/13/03)(NW, 9/8/03, p.32)
1963 Sadam Hussein returned to Iraq and took a leadership position in the Baath party. The party was soon overthrown.
(WSJ, 1/20/02, p.A13)
1963 Iraq renounced its claim to Kuwait.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1964 Saddam Hussein was imprisoned in Iraq for conspiratorial activities, but resumed them on release.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1965 The People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI) was founded as a youthful underground opposition to the Shah. The group was also known as the Mujahedeen-d Khalq Organization (MEK of MKO). Its leader Massoud Rajavi fled to France in 1981 and then relocated with his followers to Iraq in 1986, where Saddam Hussein gave them a big base at Camp Ashraf.
(Econ, 4/11/09, p.47)
1966 In Iraq ruler Abdul Salam Arif died mysteriously in a helicopter accident. His brother Abdul Salam Arif took over power.
(NW, 9/8/03, p.32)
1967 Jun 5, The Six Day War erupted in the Middle East as Israel, convinced an Arab attack was imminent, raided Egyptian military targets. Syria, Jordan and Iraq entered the conflict. Jordan lost the West Bank, an area of 2,270 sq. miles. War broke out as Israel reacted to the removal of UN peace-keeping troops, Arab troop movements and the barring of Israeli ships in the Gulf of Aqaba. Israel destroyed Egypt’s air force on the ground and knocked out the planes of Jordan, Iraq and Syria.
(AP, 6/5/97)(HN, 6/5/98)(NG, 5/93, p.58)(HNQ, 5/22/00)(Econ 5/20/17, SR p.3)
1968 Jul 17, The Arab Socialist Baath Party staged a bloodless coup in Iraq and gained control as the Revolution Command Council. Abdul Rahman Arif, brother of Abdul Salam Arif (d.1966), was ousted in the Baathist coup and exiled to Istanbul. Ahmed Hasan-al-Bakr became president of Iraq after the July 17 coup. This became a national holiday until it was abolished in 2003. Saddam Hussein soon became recognized as the strongman of the regime.
(NG, 5/88, p.653)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)(AP, 7/13/03)(NW, 9/8/03, p.32)
1968 Jul 30, Saddam Hussein took charge of internal security services in Iraq.
(AP, 10/17/05)
1969 Jan 27, In Iraq 14 people, including 9 Jews, were hanged for alleged espionage.
(http://tinyurl.com/5u75cx)
1969 Yevgeny Primakov, ostensibly on assignment from the Communist daily Pravda, went to Baghdad to negotiate a truce between 2 Soviet clients: a rebellious Moscow-trained Kurdish general and the Iraqi government, represented by emerging strongman Saddam Hussein.
(WSJ, 2/13/98, p.A1)
1970 Mar 11, Iraq’s Ba’ath Party agreed to an autonomy accord with the Kurd nation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Kurdistan)
1971 Jul 13-1971 Jul 19, Jordanian troops proceeded to wipe out Palestinian guerrillas; some 1,500 prisoners were brought to Amman; Iraq and Syria soon broke off relations with Jordan.
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)(www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/blacksept1970.htm)
1972 Apr, Iraq and the USSR signed a Treaty of Friendship.
(www.heritage.org/research/MiddleEast/bg362.cfm)
1972 Jun 1, Iraq nationalized the Iraq Petroleum Company controlled by British, American, Dutch and French oil companies.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)(www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/5873nation.htm)
1972 In Iraq Ayatollah Sayed Mohammad Baqir Al-Hakim was imprisoned and tortured by the Hussein regime. He was rejailed 5 years later and in 2002 led the Supreme Council for the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (SCIRI), based in Iran, and its 8,000 fighters.
(SFC, 10/4/02, p.J1)
1972 Hollywood shot a 10-minute prologue fro the film "The Exorcist" in Mosul, Iraq.
(WSJ, 6/12/03, p.A1)
1973 Oct 6, The fourth Arab-Israeli war in 25 years was fought. Israel was taken by surprise when Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan attacked on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, beginning the Yom Kippur War. Syria tried to regain the Golan Heights with a massive attack with 1,500 tanks. The assault, empowered by Russian equipment, was repulsed by air power.
(WSJ, 5/6/96, p.A-13)(TMC, 1994, p.1973)(AP, 10/6/97)(HN, 10/6/98)(Econ, 3/16/13, p.54)
1973 Oct 23, In the Yom Kippur War Syria announced it had accepted a UN sanctioned cease-fire, and the Iraqi government ordered its forces home.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War)
1973 Iraq launched a biological weapons program.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1974 Mar 11, Iraq's "Law for Autonomy in the Area of Kurdistan" was promulgated. It stipulated that: "The Kurdish language shall be the official language of education for Kurds ... Kurdish shall be the official language of education for the Kurds."
(www.jafi.org.il/education/actual/iraq/4.html)
1975 Mar 6, OPEC held a meeting in Algiers attended for the first time by its members’ top leaders. Here the Algiers Accord between Baghdad and Teheran put an end to their border dispute and brought all Iranian help to the Kurdish rebellion to a halt. The United States abruptly withdrew its support for the Kurds and the rebellion collapsed. Many thousands of Kurdish fighters and their families were forced to flee to Iran to escape the pursuing Iraqi army.
(http://mondediplo.com/2002/10/06timeline)(SFC, 11/19/07, p.A11)
1975 Mar 9, Iraq launched an offensive against the rebellious Kurds.
(HN, 3/9/98)
1975 Mar 18, Mulla Mustafa gave the order to the Kurdish army to abandon the struggle. This time round, Mulla Mustafa obtained refuge in the United States.
(www.tamilnation.org/intframe/india/kurds.htm#a1)
1975 Jun, The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) broke off from the KDP after Iran and Iraq resolved a border dispute and the US ended support for a Kurdish rebellion. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) was founded by Jalal Talabani as a breakaway faction of the KDP. The PUK favored armed struggle with other Kurdish groups against Saddam Hussein.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/2893067.stm)(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A7)
1978 Mar, Wadia Haddad, a Palestinian wanted for airplane hijackings, died in Iraq showing only symptoms of leukemia but no signs of poisoning. In 2006 Aaron Klein authored "Striking Back," which for the first time gave details of the killing. Klein said Mossad agents had fed Haddad poisoned Belgian chocolate over six months.
(AP, 5/7/06)
1978 Oct 3, Ayatollah Khomeini (1902-1989) left Iraq for Kuwait after the Shah sought his deportation. He was refused entry in Kuwait and moved to Paris.
(www.iranchamber.com/history/rkhomeini/ayatollah_khomeini.php)
1979 Jul 16, Saddam Hussein succeeded Premier al-Bakr and became president of Iraq and chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). He established a multilayered security system with 3-5 secret police units. He later put his son Qusai in charge of his 10,000 member Special Guards.
(AP, 7/16/97)(SFC, 2/21/98, p.A10)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1979 Jul 27, Mohammed Mahdi al-Jawahri (d.1997), classical Arab poet, fled to Syria amid a crackdown on dissidents.
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)
1979 Aug 8, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein executed 21 political opponents.
(www.foreignaffairs.org/1979/2.html)
1979 Iraq put its biological weapons program on hold.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1979 Saddam Hussein executed some 500 rival party leaders. This was most of the leadership of the Baathist Party. Said Aburish, author of "A Brutal Friendship: The West and the Arab Elite Against the Arab People," was quoted on the execution in 2002. Aburish also later authored a biography of Hussein. In 2003 a Baath document was found called Punishment Law 111. Section 200, the "execution section," stated that the death penalty is mandatory for party disloyalty.
(SFC, 2/7/02, p.A14)(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/6/03, p.W7)
1980 Apr 1, The pro-Iranian Dawah Party claims responsibility for an attack on Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz (b.1936), at Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/737483.stm)
1980 Apr 30, Terrorists seized the Iranian Embassy in London. Only after the incident was over did it become known that Iraq had trained and armed the gunmen in order to try to embarrass Iran.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_Siege)
1980 Aug, Iraq and Syria broke diplomatic ties after Damascus sided with Iran just before the Iran-Iraq war.
(SFC, 2/28/00, p.C2)
1980 Sep 22, Iraq under Saddam Hussein invaded Iran following border skirmishes and a dispute over the Shatt al-Arab waterway. This marked the beginning of a war that would last eight years. Iraq invaded Iran striking refineries and an oil-loading terminal on Kharg Island. The Iraqis used the political instability in Iran to try to capture long-disputed territory. They attacked across the Shatt al Arab River, a trunk of the great Tigris-Euphrates river system.
{Iraq, Iran, Oil}
(http://tinyurl.com/2n5z2f)(AP, 9/22/97)(NG, 5/88, p.653,663)
1980 Oct 31, Iran’s Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the late shah, proclaimed himself the rightful successor to the Peacock Throne.
(AP, 10/31/99)
1980 Dec, In Baiji, Iraq, Sadam Hussein began construction of an oil refinery under the Jabal Makhul mountains.
(SFC, 5/5/03, p.A12)
1980 Saddam Hussein made Daawa membership punishable by death and ordered the execution of founder Mohammed Baqr al Sadr.
(WSJ, 4/28/05, p.A1)
1980 Government forces began battling the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)
1980 US Sec. of State Alexander Haig reported in a 1981 memo uncovered by the October Surprise Task Force that leaders of several friendly countries in the Middle East told him on a trip in 1981 that Jimmy Carter had given Iraq’s Saddam Hussein the green light to invade Iran in 1980.
(WSJ, 8/9/96, p.A11)(www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile5.html)
1980 Rev. Jacob Yasso of Detroit’s Sacred Heart Church on Seven Mile Rd. met with Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Hussein soon sent $1.5 million to help cover debts, and to build a social hall and day-care center.
(WSJ, 3/26/03, p.A1)
1980-1988 Iran and Iraq engaged in war. The number of casualties was estimated at well over a million. The US provided covert battle planning assistance to Iraq.
(V.D.-H.K.p.312)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(SSFC, 8/18/02, p.A1)
1980-1988 Labor union independence in Iran was destroyed during its war with Iraq.
(Econ, 4/20/13, p.53)
1981 Jun 7, Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers in “Operation Opera" destroyed a nuclear power plant in Iraq at Osirak, Iraq, before it went into operation. Israelis charged that the facility could have been used to make nuclear weapons. Ilan Ramon (d.2003) flew the last of the 8 planes that bombed the reactor. In 2004 Rodger W. Claire authored “Raid on the Sun."
(WSJ, 7/23/96, p.A22)(AP, 6/7/97)(SFC, 2/3/03, p.A7)(WSJ, 6/1/04, p.D8)(Econ, 1/9/10, p.28)
1981 Nov 5, In Iraq Mazen Salman Kahachi and his high school senior class were arrested after one member wrote an anti-government message on a blackboard. 7 were later reported executed and the other 56 were left unaccounted.
(SFC, 4/24/03, A12)
1981 Dec 15, In Lebanon the Iraqi wife of Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani, was killed in the suicide bombing of the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war. The explosion leveled the embassy and killed 61 people.
{Iraq, Lebanon}
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_embassy_bombing_in_Beirut)(AP, 5/18/20)
1981 The Iraqi Hezbollah was founded by pro-Iranian radicals and its fighters waged a low-level war against the government of Saddam Hussein along with the Shiite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).
(SFC, 12/29/03, p.F1)
1982 Jul 8, In Dujail, Iraq, 17 Islamic militants, furious over the execution of a Shiite leader, opened fire on a presidential convoy and killed several people, but Saddam Hussein escaped. In retaliation 247,000 acres of orchards and palm groves, the town's primary source of income, were destroyed in retribution. 386 people were locked up until 1986. Some 900 people were taken away and about 380 were killed. 148 residents of Dujail were sentenced to death.
(AP, 5/28/03)(SFC, 3/8/05, p.A10)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.52)
1982 Jul 14, Iran launched a "Ramadan-offensive" in Iraq.
(http://tinyurl.com/3xp9jz)
1982 Nov 17, In Iraq the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) was created to increase Iranian control over Iraqi opposition groups belonging to the same Shiite faith as most Iranians. In 1999 it had 4-8000 fighters in southern Iraq.
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)(http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373425)
1983 Feb 7, Iran opened an invasion in the southeast of Iraq.
(HN, 2/7/99)
1983 Dec 20, Donald Rumsfeld visited Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Following his visit the US supplied Hussein with satellite photos of Iranian deployments and allowed shipment of a variety of materials from American suppliers.
(NW, 9/23/02, p.37)(www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/press.htm)
1983 Nassir Hindawi wrote a secret report for the governing Baath Party on using germ weapons as a military asset.
(SFC, 3/24/98, p.A12)
1984 Feb 1, Iraq launched a new series of air attacks on Iran’s shipping.
(www.iranchamber.com/history/iran_iraq_war/iran_iraq_war2.php)
1984 Feb 22-1984 Mar 16, Iran’s offensive Operation Kheibar captured the Iraqi Majnoon Islands in the Haur al-Hawizeh marshes. Britain and the US sent warships to the Persian Gulf following an Iranian offensive against Iraq.
(HN, 2/22/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Iraq_War)
1984 Feb 29-1984 Mar 1, In one of the largest battles of the Iran-Iraq war, the two armies clashed and inflicted more than 25,000 fatalities on each other.
(www.iranchamber.com/history/iran_iraq_war/iran_iraq_war2.php)
1984 Mar 5, The US accused Iraq of using poison gas against Iran.
(www.wsws.org/articles/2004/mar2004/iraq-m24.shtml)
1984 Mar 17, Iraq used tabun against Iran. This was the first use ever of a nerve agent in a conventional battle.
(www.fas.org/irp/gulf/cia/970409/970409_cia_95224_95224_01.html)
1984 Nov 26, US and Iraq resumed diplomatic relations after Pres. Reagan met with Deputy PM Tariq Aziz.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1985 Mar 2, Three Assyrians were executed by the Baath regime of Iraq for distributing literature against the Arabization policies of the government.
(www.unpo.org/article.php?id=741)
1985 Aug 15, Iraq launched its first air raid on Iran’s Kharg oil-island.
(www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/iraqchron.html)
1985 Nov 17, Olaf Palme stopped an illegal shipment of 80 HAWK missiles through Sweden from Israel to Teheran, as he mediated an end of the Iran-Iraq war for the UN.
(http://www.skog.de/writers/e040831.htm)
1985 Iraq placed its biological weapons program under the president’s authority and based it primarily at Salman Pak, a research facility south of Baghdad.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1986 Nov 26, An Iranian missile slammed into crowded residential district of Baghdad, Iraq, killing 48 civilians and wounding 52.
(AP, 11/26/02)
1986 Iraq’s Saddam Hussein allowed the People's Mujahedeen, known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, to establish a base, Camp Ashraf , to launch raids into Iran. The US military protected the group followed its invasion in 2003. In 2009 the US began handing control of the group to Iraqi security forces, which planned to separate members and leaders and eventually repatriate the members.
(AP, 1/23/09)(SFC, 3/28/09, p.A3)
1986 In Iraq the Mosul Dam, built by an Italian-German consortium, began operating. By 2016 sensors, installed by American army engineers, showed widening fissures in the fragile gypsum base underneath the dam.
(Econ, 2/13/15, p.42)
1987 Apr 16, Iraqi forces attacked the Kurdish villages of Basilan and Sheik Wasan. This is believed to be the first time Saddam's regime used chemical weapons on Iraqi citizens.
(AP, 8/22/06)
1987 Apr 17, The Iraqi military won an important battle for Faw during Iran-Iraq war. This became a national holiday until 2003.
(AP, 7/13/03)
1987 May 17, An Iraqi warplane attacked the US Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf and 37 American sailors were killed. Iraq and the United States called the attack a mistake.
(NG, 5/88, p.653)(AP, 5/17/97)(HN, 5/17/98)
1987 Aug 16, Iraqi warplanes bombarded the northern Kurdish village of Balisan, dropping bombs that spread a smoke smelling "like rotten apples." Helicopters then came and bombed the mountains to prevent the villagers from taking refuge anywhere.
(AP, 8/23/06)
1987 Iraq restructured its security organizations. Hussein Kamel al-Majid, the son-in-law of Saddam Hussein, was placed in charge of the Special Security Organization and the research at Salman Pak.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1987 Iraq reportedly tested a bomb 3 times designed to cast a radioactive cloud to weaken enemy units and cause slow death. It did not work and the project was abandoned.
(SSFC, 4/29/01, p.A14)
1987 In Iraq a census counted some 1.4 million Christians. By 2007 some 1.25 million had moved out of Iraq leaving about 250,000 behind.
(Econ, 11/17/07, p.55)
1988 Feb 11, Iran launched a campaign to retake the Fao Peninsula from Iraq with US planning assistance. Chemical weapons were used in the attack.
(SSFC, 8/18/02, p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Faw_Peninsula)
1988 Feb-1988 Sep, Some 50-100 thousand Kurds were killed by poisonous gas from Iraqi forces in the 8-stage Anfal campaign. The Hussein regime bulldozed some 4,000 ethnic Kurd villages due to suspicions of Kurds siding with Iran.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)(AP, 8/21/06)(SFC, 8/21/06, p.A6)
1988 Mar 1, Iraq said it had fired 16 missiles into Tehran in the first long-range rocket attack on the Iranian capital since the Iran-Iraq war began.
(AP, 3/1/98)
1988 Mar 16-1988 Mar 17, Iraqi jets dropped a variety of chemical weapons on the Kurdish town of Halabja and some 5-7,000 residents were killed immediately. The Kurdish city of Halabja, held by Iranian troops and Iraqi Kurdish guerrillas allied with Tehran, was bombed by Iraq. Estimates of casualties varied from several hundred to several thousand.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halabja_poison_gas_attack)(SFC, 7/1/02, p.A6)
1988 Mar 22, Iraqi jets dropped a variety of chemical weapons on the Kurdish town of Sewsenan, where militiamen had fled following attacks on Halabja.
(SFC, 8/21/06, p.A6)
1988 Apr 17, The newly-restructured Iraqi Army began a major operation named "Ramadan Mubarak" aimed to clear the Iranians out of the peninsula. The Iranians were expelled from the peninsula within 35 hours, with much of their equipment captured intact.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Faw_Peninsula)
1988 Jul 22, Iran and Iraq said they would send their foreign ministers to New York to meet with U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, after Iran said it would accept a U.N. cease-fire resolution.
(AP, 7/22/98)
1988 Jul 23, Iran accused Iraq of pushing deep into Iranian territory and using chemical weapons. The March 16 Iraqi chemical attack at Halabja killed thousands and in 1999 was still causing genetic damage and deaths.
(AP, 7/23/97)(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)
1988 Jul 26, U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar met twice with Iran’s foreign minister in the first formal talks about a cease-fire for the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq.
(AP, 7/26/98)
1988 Jul 27, U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar held separate peace talks with the foreign ministers of Iraq and Iran on a cease-fire in the eight-year-old Persian Gulf war.
(AP, 7/27/98)
1988 Aug 1, Iran said it would honor an immediate cease-fire in its eight-year-old war with Iraq.
(AP, 8/1/98)
1988 Aug 6, Iraq’s president said his country would agree to a cease-fire with Iran, provided the Iranians promised to hold direct talks immediately after the truce took effect.
(AP, 8/6/98)
1988 Aug 8, U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced a cease-fire between Iran and Iraq. This became an Iraqi national holiday until it was abolished in 2003.
(SFC, 2/24/9, p.A9)(AP, 8/8/98)(AP, 7/13/03)
1988 Aug 20, A cease fire between Iran and Iraq took effect after 8 years of war.
(www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/uniimogbackgr.html)
1988 Aug 25, Iran and Iraq began talks to end their 8 year war.
(www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/uniimogbackgr.html)
1988 Saddam Hussein began the construction of the “Hands of Victory" monument in Baghdad following the conclusion of war with Iran. In 2007 the government of PM Nouri al-Maliki ordered the destruction of the monument.
(WSJ, 2/21/07, p.A6)
1988 Iraq re-asserted its claim to Kuwait.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1988 Iraqi archeologists unearthed a collection of artifacts from the Assyrian civilization of 800 BC that became called the Treasure of Nimrud.
(WSJ, 6/6/03, p.A1)
1988 The Iraqi assault on Kurdish villages was part of a campaign known as Anfal. Estimates held as many as 182,000 Kurds dead or missing.
(SFC, 4/18/03, p.A18)
1989 Kanan Makiya authored "Republic of Fear," a portrayal of Saddam Hussein's brutality, under the pseudonym Samir al-Khalil while in exile in the US. The book became a best seller in 1990, a year after its publication, when Saddam invaded Kuwait.
(AP, 7/29/03)
1989 Ahmad Chalabi (b.1944), founding head of Petra Bank (1977), fled Jordan following a bank scandal that involved an Iraqi account in exile. 13 people were convicted including 9 Chalabis. Ahmed, who claimed the charges were politically motivated, was sentenced in absentia to 22 years hard labor for embezzling $300 million of state funds.
(Econ, 10/4/03, p.44)(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.A4)
1989 Iraq sent 19 Soviet-built MiG-21s and MiG-23s for maintenance to a plant in Zagreb, Croatia, which was part Yugoslavia. They were moved to Serbia in 1991 and got stuck there because of an embargo. Over the following years most were cannibalized, abandoned and rendered useless.
(AP, 8/31/09)
1990 Mar 28, British customs officials announced they had foiled an attempt to supply Iraq with 40 American-made devices for triggering nuclear weapons, following an 18-month investigation by U.S. and British authorities.
(AP, 3/28/00)
1990 Apr 2, Saddam Hussein of Iraq threatened to hit Israel with binary chemical weapons.
(http://tinyurl.com/oz5my)
1990 May 28, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein opened a two-day Arab League summit in Baghdad with a keynote address in which he said if Israel were to deploy nuclear or chemical weapons against Arabs, Iraq would respond with "weapons of mass destruction."
(AP, 5/28/00)
1990 Jul 24, Iraq, accusing Kuwait of conspiring to harm its economy through oil overproduction, massed tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks along the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. US warships in Persian Gulf were placed on alert.
(AP, 7/24/00)
1990 Jul, Before the invasion of Kuwait, Iraq was producing about 3.5 million barrels of oil per day.
(WSJ, 5/21/96, p.A-12)
1990 Aug 1, Iraq pulled out of talks with Kuwait.
(www.milnet.com/gulfwar.htm)
1990 Aug 2, Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. The day came to be known in Kuwait as "Black Thursday." 330 Kuwaitis died during the occupation and war. Sadam Hussein, leader of Iraq, took over Kuwait. US Pres. George H.W. Bush led an inter-national coalition for sanctions and a demand for withdrawal. The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(TMC, 1994, p.1990)(AP, 8/2/97)(SFEC, 7/30/00, p.C18)
1990 Aug 2, By a vote of 14-0, the United Nations Security Council condemned the invasion and annexation of Kuwait by Iraq and demanded in Resolution 660 the unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
(HNQ, 5/27/99)
1990 Aug 2, Yasser Arafat supported Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. This resulted in the PLO’s isolation.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.A18)
1990 Aug 3, US announced the commitment of Naval forces to Gulf regions.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1990 Aug 3, Radio Kuwait went off the air due to the Iraqi invasion.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1990 Aug 3, A day after Iraq invaded Kuwait, thousands of Iraqi soldiers pushed to within a few miles of the border with Saudi Arabia, heightening world concerns that the invasion could spread.
(AP, 8/3/00)
1990 Aug 5, An angry President Bush again denounced the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, telling reporters, "This will not stand. This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait."
(AP, 8/5/00)
1990 Aug 6, The UN Security Council (Resolution 651) ordered a worldwide embargo on trade with Iraq to punish the Baghdad regime for invading Kuwait.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(NH, 9/96, p.14)(AP, 8/6/00)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1990 Aug 7, President Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq. The US Persian Gulf War began. Operation Desert Shield ended Feb 28, 1991. It cost $8.1 billion and left 383 US casualties with 458 wounded.
(AP, 8/7/99)(WSJ, 9/22/99, p.A8)(MC, 8/7/02)
1990 Aug 8, As the Persian Gulf crisis deepened, American forces began taking up positions in Saudi Arabia; Iraq announced it had annexed Kuwait as its 19th province; President Bush warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that "a line has been drawn in the sand."
(AP, 8/8/00)
1990 Aug 12, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein sought to tie any withdrawal of his troops from Kuwait to an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
(AP, 8/12/00)
1990 Aug 15, In an attempt to gain support against the US-led coalition in the Persian Gulf, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein offered to make peace with longtime enemy Iran.
(AP, 8/15/00)
1990 Aug 16, In Iraq, President Saddam Hussein issued a statement in which he repeatedly called Bush a "liar" and said the outbreak of war could result in "thousands of Americans wrapped in sad coffins."
(AP, 8/16/00)
1990 Aug 18, A US frigate fired warning shots across the bow of an Iraqi oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, apparently the first shots fired by the US in the Persian Gulf crisis.
(AP, 8/18/00)
1990 Aug 19, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein offered to free all foreigners detained in Iraq and Kuwait provided the United States promise to withdraw its forces from Saudi Arabia and guarantee that an international economic embargo would be lifted.
(AP, 8/19/00)
1990 Aug 20, For the first time since Iraq began detaining foreigners, President Bush publicly referred to the detainees as hostages, and demanded their release. Iraq moved Western hostages to military installations (human shields).
(AP, 8/20/00)
1990 Aug 21, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein delivered a speech in which he defended the detaining of foreigners in his country, and promised "a major catastrophe" should fighting break out in the Persian Gulf.
(AP, 8/21/00)
1990 Aug 23, Iraqi state television showed President Saddam Hussein meeting with a group of about 20 Western detainees, telling the group—whom he described as "guests"—that they were being held "to prevent the scourge of war."
(AP, 8/23/00)
1990 Aug 24, Iraqi troops surrounded foreign missions in Kuwait.
(AP, 8/24/00)
1990 Aug 24, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev sent a message to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein warning the Persian Gulf situation was "extremely dangerous."
(AP, 8/24/00)
1990 Aug 26, Fifty-five Americans, who had been evacuated from the US Embassy in Kuwait, left Baghdad by car and headed for the Turkish border.
(AP, 8/26/00)
1990 Aug 28, German spy Juergen Mohamed Gietler was arrested for passing military information to Iraq. He provided Iraq with intelligence reports on US military plans that included what the West knew of Iraqi Scud-B missile sites.
(SFC,11/18/97, p.B1)
1990 Aug 28, Iraq declared occupied Kuwait the 19th province of Iraq, renamed Kuwait City Kadhima, and created a new district named after President Saddam Hussein. A puppet regime under Alaa Hussein was set up. Alaa Hussein was convicted of treason in 2000 and sentenced to death. Saddam Hussein, saying he sympathized with his foreign captives, pledged to free detained women and children.
(RTH, 8/28/99)(SFC, 5/4/00, p.A18)(AP, 8/28/00)
1990 Aug 29, A defiant Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared in a television interview that America could not defeat Iraq, saying, "I do not beg before anyone."
(AP, 8/29/00)
1990 Sep 5, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein urged Arabs to rise up in a Holy War against the West and former allies who had turned against him.
(AP, 9/5/00)
1990 Sep 5, In Moscow, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev met with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz.
(AP, 9/5/00)
1990 Sep 6, Iraq increased pressure on trapped Westerners, warning that anyone trying to leave without permission could face life in prison.
(AP, 9/6/00)
1990 Sep 10, Iran agreed to resume full diplomatic ties with onetime enemy Iraq.
(AP, 9/10/00)
1990 Sep 13, The UN Security Council at its 2939th meeting adopted Resolution 666, regarding foodstuffs to be supplied to the civilian population in Iraq or Kuwait in order to relieve human suffering.
(www.caabu.org/press/documents/unscr-resolution-666.html)
1990 Sep 14, During the Persian Gulf crisis, the US Navy reported that American troops had fired a warning shot at an Iraqi tanker, then boarded it briefly before allowing it to proceed.
(AP, 9/14/00)
1990 Sep 15, France announced it would send 4,000 more soldiers to the Persian Gulf and expel Iraqi military attaches in Paris in response to Iraq’s raids on French, Belgian and Canadian diplomatic compounds in Kuwait.
(AP, 9/15/00)
1990 Sep 16, Iraqi television broadcast an eight-minute videotaped address by President Bush, who warned the Iraqi people that Saddam Hussein’s brinkmanship could plunge them into war "against the world."
(AP, 9/16/00)
1990 Sep 19, Iraq began confiscating foreign assets from countries that were imposing sanctions against the Baghdad government.
(AP, 9/19/00)
1990 Sep 20, Demanding equal time, Iraq asked US networks to broadcast a message by President Saddam Hussein in response to President Bush’s videotaped address to the Iraqi people.
(AP, 9/20/00)
1990 Sep 23, Iraq threatened to destroy Middle East oil fields and attack Israel if other nations tried to force it from Kuwait.
(AP, 9/23/00)
1990 Sep 25, In a videotaped message to Americans, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein warned that if President Bush launched a war against his country, "it would not be up to him to end it."
(AP, 9/25/00)
1990 Sep 25, The UN Security Council voted 14-to-1 to impose an air embargo against Iraq. Cuba cast the lone dissenting vote.
(AP, 9/25/00)
1990 Sep 28, The exiled emir of Kuwait visited the White House, where he told President Bush the Iraqis were destroying and looting his country.
(AP, 9/28/00)
1990 Sep, In Iraq biological weapons scientists took control of a foot-and-mouth vaccine plant in Daura and began producing anthrax and botulinum toxin.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1990 Oct 3, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein made his first known visit to Kuwait since his country seized control of the oil-rich emirate.
(AP, 10/3/00)
1990 Oct 16, US forces reached 200,000 in Persian Gulf.
(http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2004w05/msg00102.htm)
1990 Oct 18, Iraq offered to sell its oil to anyone—including the United States—for $21 a barrel, the same price level that preceded the invasion of Kuwait.
(AP, 10/18/00)
1990 Oct 19, Iraq ordered all foreigners in occupied Kuwait to report to authorities or face punishment.
(AP, 10/19/00)
1990 Oct 20, US-Iraq antiwar protest marches began in 20 US cities.
(www.tandl.vt.edu/Foundations/mediaproject/mediaprojecthtml/iraq11.html)
1990 Oct 23, Iraq announced the release of 330 French hostages.
(http://tinyurl.com/s498l)
1990 Oct 28, In a surprise move, Iraq said it was halting gasoline rationing imposed earlier in response to global economic sanctions.
(AP, 10/28/00)
1990 Nov 4, Iraq issued a new broadside, saying it was prepared to fight a "dangerous war" rather than give up Kuwait.
(AP, 11/4/00)
1990 Nov 7, In some of her strongest remarks during the Persian Gulf crisis, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that time was "running out" for a peaceful solution.
(AP, 11/7/00)
1990 Nov 8, President Bush ordered a new round of troop deployments in the Persian Gulf, adding up to 150-thousand soldiers to the multinational force facing off against Iraq.
(AP, 11/8/00)
1990 Nov 23, Iraq ended curfew in occupied Kuwait, but began calling up army reservists in their thirties.
(AP, 11/23/02)
1990 Nov 29, The UN Security Council (Resolution 678), led by the United States, voted 12-to-two to authorize military action if Iraq did not withdraw its troops from Kuwait and release all foreign hostages by January 15th, 1991.
(AP, 11/29/00)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1990 Dec 4, Iraq promised to release 3300 Soviet citizens it was holding.
(AP, 12/4/00)
1990 Dec 6, Iraq announced that it would release all its hostages, saying foreigners could begin leaving in two days.
(AP, 12/6/00)
1990 Dec 8, As former American hostages began leaving Iraq and occupied Kuwait, President Bush—wrapping up his South America tour in Caracas, Venezuela—said the evacuation made for "one less worry I’ve got" in deciding whether to go to war against Baghdad.
(AP, 12/8/00)
1990 Dec 14, President Bush prodded Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to agree to talks on the Persian Gulf crisis by January third.
(AP, 12/14/00)
1990 Dec 19, Iraq urged its people to stockpile oil to avoid shortages should war break out, and Saddam Hussein declared he was "ready to crush any attack."
(AP, 12/19/00)
1990 Dec 21, In Iraq hundreds of thousands of Iraqis participated in an evacuation drill to test war readiness.
(AP, 12/21/00)
1990 Dec 23, Saddam Hussein said Israel would be Iraq's 1st target.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/time90s.html)
1990 Dec 29, Iraq denied a report that it was engaged in secret contacts with the US to avert war, and might withdraw from Kuwait before the January 15th United Nations deadline.
(AP, 12/29/00)
1990 Dec 30, Iraq’s information minister (Latif Nussayif Jassim) said President Bush "must have been drunk" when he suggested Iraq might withdraw from Kuwait, and added: "We will show the world America is a paper tiger."
(AP, 12/30/00)
1990 Dec, Some 540,000 American troops assembled to drive Iraqi forces from Kuwait.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A22)
1990 It was reported in 1998 that evidence was found that Iraq put VX nerve gas into missile warheads prior to the Gulf War.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A10)
1990 Iraq produced large amounts of biological agents for weapons. In late 1990 Iraqi scientists tested ricin as a biological weapon in an artillery shell.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)(WSJ, 7/18/03, p.A1)
1990 Gen’l. Omar al-Hazza was executed after becoming increasingly critical of Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 1/31/97, p.A13)
1991 Jan 6, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, in a television address, told his country to prepare for a long war against what he called "tyranny represented by the United States."
(AP, 1/6/01)
1991 Jan 9, Secretary of State James A. Baker the Third and Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz met for six hours in Geneva, but failed to resolve the Persian Gulf crisis. President Bush, in Washington, accused Iraq of "a total stiff-arm, a total rebuff." Mr. Baker told Mr. Aziz that America would throw Iraq out by force if it did not leave Kuwait.
(AP, 1/9/01)(Econ, 5/24/08, p.19)
1991 Jan 11, The United States and Iraq intensified their rhetoric, with Secretary of State James A. Baker III telling Air Force pilots in Saudi Arabia, "We pass the brink at midnight January 15," and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein boasting of his army’s readiness. Congress empowered Bush to order attack on Iraq.
(AP, 1/11/01)(MC, 1/11/02)
1991 Jan 12, The U.S. Congress gave the green light to military action against Iraq in the Persian Gulf Crisis.
(HN, 1/12/99)
1991 Jan 13, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in a bid to avoid war in the Persian Gulf.
(AP, 1/13/01)
1991 Jan 14, With time running out before a United Nations deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, Iraq’s National Assembly voted to give President Saddam Hussein full authority over the Persian Gulf crisis.
(AP, 1/14/01)
1991 Jan 15, With hours remaining before a United Nations deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar made a final appeal to Saddam Hussein to remove his troops.
(AP, 1/15/01)
1991 Jan 16, The White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. President Bush said in a nationally broadcast address "the battle has been joined" as fighter bombers pounded Iraqi targets. Because of the time difference, it was early January 17th in the Persian Gulf when the attack began. At 4:30 P.M. EST, the first fighter aircraft are launched from Saudi Arabia and off of U.S. and British aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf on bombing missions over Iraq.
(AP, 1/16/01)(MC, 1/16/02)
1991 Jan 17, The Persian Gulf War began as Coalition planes struck targets in Iraq and Kuwait. The first Iraqi Scud missile attacks on Israel were launched. There were reports of death and injury, and possibly even chemical weapons being used. For a few tense hours, it looked as though Israel would retaliate against Iraq, causing the allied coalition to break up. Six months of preparation and diplomacy might be undone by a few poorly aimed, 1950s-vintage ballistic missiles. Later that evening, U.S. Patriot surface-to-air missiles were launched against the incoming Scuds, and for the first time in history, a ballistic missile was shot down by another missile. The use of Patriot missiles in Israel’s defense helped to keep that country out of the Gulf War, thereby safeguarding the integrity of the American-European-Arab coalition. Jeffrey Zahn became the 1st US pilot shot down. Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher (33) was shot down over western Iraq. In 1993 the ruins of his plane were found. In 2009 his remains were found and positively identified.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(SFEC,12/797, p.A1,16)(HN, 1/17/99)(AP, 8/2/09)
1991 Jan 17, On the first day of Operation Desert Storm, US-led forces hammered Iraqi targets in an effort to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. A defiant Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared that the "mother of all battles" had begun. Iraq attacked Israel with ten Scud missiles. The US Patriot defense missile was used in battle for the first time to shoot down a Scud fired at Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 1/17/01)
1991 Jan 17-21, In Nov, 1998, Pentagon officials revealed a map of the Gulf War battlefield that showed sites where radioactive and toxic debris from 300 tons of depleted uranium ammunition was used over the 4 day war.
(SFEC, 1/24/99, p.A1)
1991 Jan 18, Round-the-clock bombing of Iraqi targets continued in Operation Desert Storm.
(AP, 1/18/01)
1991 Jan 18, Iraq fired more Scud missiles at Israeli cities. Israel refrains from responding at the request of President Bush.
(HN, 1/18/99)
1991 Jan 19, During the Gulf War, Israel’s anti-missile force was boosted by additional Patriot missile batteries and US crews. A second Iraqi missile attack caused 29 injuries in Tel Aviv. Allied forces began bombarding Iraq’s elite Republican Guard.
(AP, 1/19/01)
1991 Jan 20, During the Gulf War, Iraqi missiles were shot down by US Patriot rockets as they approached Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Iraqi television showed interviews with seven downed allied pilots, three of them Americans.
(AP, 1/20/01)
1991 Jan 21, During the Gulf War, Iraq announced it had scattered prisoners of war at targeted areas; President Bush denounced Iraq’s treatment of POW’s, and said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would be held responsible. CBS News correspondent Bob Simon, CBS News London bureau chief Peter Bluff, a cameraman and soundman were captured by Iraqi forces; they were released almost six weeks later.
(AP, 1/21/01)
1991 Jan 23, Iraqi forces in Kuwait deliberately created a huge oil spill in the Persian Gulf.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1991 Jan 24, A brief skirmish occurred high above the Persian Gulf as a Saudi warplane shot down two Iraqi jets.
(AP, 1/24/01)
1991 Jan 25, During the Gulf War Iraq sabotaged Kuwait’s main supertanker loading pier, dumping an estimated 460 million gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf. Missiles fired from western Iraq struck in the Tel Aviv and Haifa areas, killing one Israeli and injuring more than 40 others.
(AP, 1/25/01)(SFC, 11/20/02, p.A14)
1991 Jan 26, An estimated 200k to 300k people across the country demonstrated in support of, or in opposition to, Operation Desert Storm.
(AP, 1/26/01)
1991 Jan 28, The US military reported that more than 60 Iraqi fighter-bombers had taken refuge in Iran, where they were impounded by the Iranian government.
(AP, 1/28/01)
1991 Jan 29, Iraqi forces attacked into Saudi Arabian town of Kafji, but were turned back by Coalition forces.
(HN, 1/29/99)
1991 Jan 31, During the Gulf War, Army Specialist Melissa Rathbun-Nealy and Army Specialist David Lockett were captured by Iraqi forces near the Kuwaiti-Saudi border; both were eventually released. Allied forces claimed victory against Iraqi attackers at Khafji, Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 1/31/01)
1991 Jan-Feb, US led forces fired 860,590 rounds of depleted uranium munitions in Iraq.
(SSFC, 3/11/01, p.D3)
1991 Feb 1, The 1st US bunker buster (GBU-28) was built using surplus 8-inch artillery tubes as part of the weapon. The project received the official go-ahead a fortnight later as part of Operation Desert Storm. The bomb was designed by engineer Albert Weimorts (1938-2005).
(SSFC, 12/25/05, p.B5)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2895081.stm)
1991 Feb 10, In a broadcast on Baghdad Radio, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein praised his countrymen for withstanding attacks by allied warplanes and rockets.
(AP, 2/10/01)
1991 Feb 12, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein met with Soviet envoy Yevgeny Primakov, who brought with him a message from President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
(AP, 2/12/01)
1991 Feb 13, Some 334 Iraqi civilians were killed when a pair of laser-guided US bombs destroyed an underground facility in Baghdad identified by US officials as a military installation, but which Iraqi officials said was a bomb shelter.
(AP, 2/13/01)(MC, 2/13/02)
1991 Feb 14, Iraq charged the bombing of an underground facility the day before, which killed hundreds of civilians, was a deliberate attack on an air raid shelter, a charge denied by the US.
(AP, 2/14/01)
1991 Feb 14, The Iraqi weapons depot at Ukhaydir was bombed. Iraqi authorities revealed to US authorities in 1996 that the site stored hundreds of rockets filled with mustard gas and nerve gas.
(SFC, 7/30/97, p.A3)
1991 Feb 15, Iraq proposed a conditional withdrawal from Kuwait, an offer dismissed by President Bush as a "cruel hoax."
(AP, 2/15/01)
1991 Feb 16, Iraqi officials charged that 130 civilians were killed when British jet fighters raided the town of Fallouja two days earlier.
(AP, 2/16/01)
1991 Feb 18, Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz held talks in Moscow with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who presented a proposal for ending the Persian Gulf War.
(AP, 2/18/01)
1991 Feb 20, In the Persian Gulf War, Baghdad radio said President Saddam Hussein would be sending Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz back to Moscow with a reply to a Soviet peace plan.
(AP, 2/20/01)
1991 Feb 21, The Soviet Union announced that Iraq had agreed to a proposal for ending the Persian Gulf War; however, the Bush administration called the plan unacceptable.
(AP, 2/21/01)
1991 Feb 22, President Bush and America’s Gulf War allies gave Iraq 24 hours to begin withdrawing from Kuwait, or face a final all-out attack. Iraq denounced the "shameful" US ultimatum, aligning itself with a Soviet peace plan the US had rejected.
(AP, 2/22/01)
1991 Feb 22, The US invaded Kuwait in the Gulf War Desert Storm and quickly chased out the Iraqi forces. US soldiers may have been exposed to minute amounts of the nerve gas agent called Substance 33. Russia had developed the Novichok family of nerve gases that were designed to be undetectable by American instruments and they may have been in Iraqi hands at this time. Gen. Anatoly Diamianovich Kuntsevich was in charge of the secret development of the gases and post-Soviet disarmament and the information about the battlefield sensors was revealed by former Soviet scientist Vil Mirzayanov. Their stories agree.
(TMC, 1994, p.1991)(WSJ, 4/30/96, p.A-14)
1991 cFeb 22, US soldiers were issued the drug pyridostigmine bromide (PB) to counter the effects of the nerve agents tabun and soman. The drug was prescribed at 3 pills per day, but produced a physical a rush and was abused by many service people. It was later suspected as a cause of the symptoms of Gulf War syndrome. The drug was not fully approved by the FDA and military personnel were not informed of its effects. In 1999 a 2-year Rand analysis concluded that the drug pyridostigmine bromide could not be excluded as a contributor to Gulf War syndrome. The drug was given to as many as 300,000 US troops during the Persian gulf war.
(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.A4)(SFC, 10/19/99, p.A1)
1991 Feb 23, President Bush announced that the allied ground offensive against Iraqi forces had begun (because of the time difference, it was already the early morning of February 24th in the Persian Gulf).
(AP, 2/23/01)
1991 Feb 23, French forces unofficially started the Persian Gulf ground war by crossing the Saudi-Iraqi border. Lessons learned in the savage 1972 Eastertide Offensive paid off at the Battle of Khafji in the Gulf War.
(HN, 2/23/98)
1991 Feb 24, The United States and its Gulf War allies launched a large-scale ground assault against Iraqi troops, many of whom surrendered to the advancing forces. General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the coalition army, sent in ground forces to liberate Kuwait from the Iraqis.
(HN, 2/24/98)(AP, 2/24/01)
1991 Feb 25, Iraqi leader Sadam Hussein ordered his forces to withdraw from Kuwait.
(SSFC, 12/2/18, p.A13)
1991 Feb 25, During the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 2/25/98)
1991 Feb 26, Allied troops took control of Kuwait after a 100-hour ground war. It was later reported that high concentrations of US armor-piercing depleted uranium shells were detonated in Iraq and Kuwait.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(SFC, 11/24/98, p.A4)
1991 Feb 26, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad Radio that he had ordered his forces to withdraw from Kuwait.
(AP, 2/26/98)
1991 Feb 26, In Iraq an American armored unit of 9 tanks and 12 Bradley fighting vehicles destroyed 28 Iraqi tanks, 16 armored vehicles, and 39 trucks without a single loss in the Battle of 73 Easting.
(Econ, 3/3/12, TQp.10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_73_Easting)
1991 Feb 27, Coalition forces liberated Kuwait after seven months of occupation by the Iraqi army.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(HN, 2/27/99)
1991 Feb 28, Pres. Bush announced a cease-fire in Kuwait.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Gulf_War)
1991 Feb, A US Air Force A-10 attack jet was shot down by Iraqi fire and Lt. Col. Dale Storr was imprisoned. In 2002 17 former US prisoners including Storr won a suit for $959 million of frozen Iraqi assets for their documented torture. In 2003 the Bush administration sought to block the award in order to use the assets for reconstruction. A lower court ruled that Congress never authorized such suits. In 2005 the US Supreme Court declined to consider the suit.
(SFC, 11/10/03, p.A3)(WSJ, 4/26/05, p.A1)
1991 Mar 2, The UN Security Council adopted a resolution dictating allied demands that Iraq had to meet before a formal-cease fire was declared in the Persian Gulf War. Iraq released CBS newsman Bob Simon and his crew, held captive for nearly six weeks.
(AP, 3/2/01)
1991 Mar 2, Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq and the Kurds rose up against Iraqi forces but were crushed by Iraqi armor that killed 50,000 and forced more than a million Kurds to flee to Turkey and Iran.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A7)(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1991 Mar 2, Following the Kuwait cease-fire a retreating Iraqi unit stumbled into the Gen. McCaffrey’s 24th infantry division and some 400 Iraqis were reported killed. Army investigations concluded that the Iraqis started the Rumaylah battle.
(SFC, 5/15/00, p.A3)(WSJ, 5/19/00, p.A38)(www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYqoaT0RTFU)
1991 Mar 4, Iraq released ten allied prisoners-of-war. A second group was freed the following day.
(AP, 3/4/01)
1991 Mar 5, Iraq repealed its annexation of Kuwait. The Iraqis turned over 35 prisoners of war, including 15 Americans, to the Red Cross. An anti-Saddam Hussein uprising was reported sweeping city after city in Iraq.
(AP, 3/5/01)
1991 Mar 7, Iraq continued to explode oil fields in Kuwait.
(www.parstimes.com/spaceimages/fires-kuwait-2.jpg)
1991 Mar 17, Allied commanders from the Gulf War held a second round of cease-fire talks with Iraqi officers; the Iraqis were told they could not move their warplanes inside Iraq for any reason.
(AP, 3/17/01)
1991 Mar 21, A UN Security Council panel decided to lift the food embargo on Iraq.
(AP, 3/21/01)
1991 Mar 22, A US warplane shot down a second Iraqi jet fighter that had violated the cease-fire ending the Persian Gulf War.
(AP, 3/22/01)
1991 Mar 23, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein shuffled his Cabinet, but kept in place his hard-line ministers of interior and defense to direct a crackdown on rebellion against his rule. A popular uprising had been prompted by Pres. Bush and 15 of 18 provinces were liberated, but no American help followed and Hussein’s forces crushed the intifada.
(AP, 3/23/01)(WSJ, 9/10/02, p.A12)
1991 Mar, In Iraq Shiites in Karbala rebelled. Some 50 army officers and leaders of the Baath Party were killed in the Abbas shrine. Government retaliation blasted holes in the Abbas and Hussein shrines and hundreds of civilians and rebels were killed. Thousands were tortured and killed around Basra.
(SSFC, 1/19/03, p.A14)
1991 Mar, In 1996 Pentagon officials said American troops destroyed an Iraqi ammunition depot in March 1991 that may have contained chemical weapons.
(AP, 6/21/97)
1991 Apr 2, Iraqi state media reported that only a few more days were needed to stamp out fighting with Kurdish rebels, who reported renewed skirmishes around the strategic oil center of Kirkuk.
(AP, 4/2/01)
1991 Apr 3, The UN Security Council (Resolution 687) adopted a Gulf War truce resolution demanding that Iraq abolish weapons of mass destruction, renounce terrorism and pay reparations.
(AP, 4/3/01)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1991 Apr 5, The UN adopted Resolution 688, which condemned Sadam Hussein’s suppression of the Kurds and demanded respect and political rights for all citizens. A safe haven was established above Iraq’s 36th parallel.
(www.fas.org/news/un/iraq/sres/sres0688.htm)(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A7)
1991 Apr 6, Iraq accepted terms of cease-fire in the Gulf War. In 1995 Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor published "The General’s War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf."
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(SFC, 5/4/99, p.D1)
1991 Apr 7, US military planes began airdropping supplies to Kurdish refugees who were facing starvation and exposure in the snow-covered mountains of northern Iraq. The United States warned Iraq not to interfere with the relief effort.
(AP, 4/7/01)
1991 Apr 10, The US and Britain imposed a no-fly zone to protect 3 Kurdish provinces in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1991 Apr 11, U.N. Security Council issued a formal cease fire with Iraq to end the Gulf War.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(HN, 4/11/98)
1991 Apr 12, Kurdish rebels reported the Iraqi army was attacking guerrillas in northern Iraq.
(AP, 4/12/01)
1991 Apr 14, The final withdrawal of American combat troops from southern Iraq began, 88 days after the United States launched its massive offensive to drive Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait.
(AP, 4/14/01)
1991 Apr 20, US Marines landed in northern Iraq to begin building the first center for Kurdish refugees on Iraqi territory. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the US commander of Operation Desert Storm, left Saudi Arabia for home.
(AP, 4/20/01)
1991 Apr 24, A Kurdish rebel leader announced the guerrillas had reached an agreement in principle with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to end the Kurds’ two-week rebellion.
(AP, 4/24/01)
1991 Apr 27, A group of 250 Kurds became the first refugees to move into a new US-built camp in northern Iraq.
(AP, 4/27/01)
1991 Apr 29, US troops continued airlifting Iraqi refugees from a camp in southern Iraq to Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 4/29/01)
1991 Apr, In the Desert Storm War an Iraqi chemical weapons storage site near al Nasiriyah, northwest of Basra, was destroyed by Army engineers wearing masks and protective rubber suits.
(SFC, 8/7/96, p.A4)
1991 May 2, US, British, French and Dutch forces plunged 50 miles deeper into northern Iraq.
(AP, 5/2/01)
1991 Jun 29, President Bush, speaking to reporters in Kennebunkport, Maine, refused to rule out the possibility of renewed military action against Iraq, calling its interference with UN inspectors "very disturbing."
(AP, 6/29/01)
1991 Jul 8, Reversing earlier denials, Iraq disclosed for the first time that it was carrying out a nuclear weapons program, including the production of enriched uranium.
(AP, 7/8/01)
1991 Jul 25, A deadline for Iraq to provide full details of its weapons of mass destruction passed, with US officials indicating military action was not imminent.
(AP, 7/25/01)
1991 Aug 7, The five permanent members of the UN Security Council agreed to authorize Iraq to sell as much as $1.6 billion in oil over six months to pay for food, humanitarian supplies and war reparations; however, Baghdad rejected the resolution.
(AP, 8/7/01)
1991 Aug 15, The UN Security Council, by a vote of 13-to-one, authorized Iraq to export one-point-six billion dollars’ worth of oil in a tightly controlled sale to pay for desperately needed food and medicine.
(AP, 8/15/01)
1991 Aug 17, Iraq said it would "play host" to all foreign citizens in the country who were from "aggressive nations," and place them in military and civilian targets until the threat of war was over.
(AP, 8/17/01)
1991 Sep 19, UN Resolution 712 allowed a partial lifting of the embargo against Iraq for humanitarian purposes.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1991 Sep 20, U.N. weapons inspectors left Bahrain for Iraq to renew their search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 9/20/01)
1991 Sep 23, UN weapons inspectors in Baghdad discovered documents detailing Iraq’s secret nuclear weapons program and said Iraq was close to building a bomb. This triggered a standoff with Iraqi authorities.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(AP, 9/23/01)
1991 Sep 28, U.N. weapons inspectors ended a five-day standoff with Iraq over documents relating to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program.
(AP, 9/28/01)
1991 Nov 6, Kuwait celebrated the dousing of the last oil fires ignited by Iraq
during the Persian Gulf War. Iraqi forces had blown up an estimated 732 Kuwaiti oil wells.
(AP, 11/6/01)(WSJ, 1/21/02, p.B1)
1991 Oriana Fallaci recorded the poignant soliloquy of Dakel Abbas (21), a drafted Iraqi soldier recovering from wounds in Kuwait. In 2002 Fallaci authored "The Rage and the Pride."
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.A14)
1991 After the invasion of Kuwait and UN sanctions, oil production dropped to around 500,000 barrels per day. Domestic needs consumed 350,000 and about 50,000 was shipped illegally to Jordan. The rest was refined or smuggled out.
(WSJ, 5/21/96, p.A-12)
1991 Government forces began battling the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)
1991 142 aircraft were flown to Iran to escape destruction at the outset of the Gulf War. Tehran repainted the planes and used them for its own forces. In 1997 Iraq appealed to the UN for help in getting the planes back. Saddam Hussein ordered Iraqi pilots to fly some 100 jets to 4 Iranian air bases near the border.
(WSJ, 9/23/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/29/98, p.A1)
1991 In the first 8 months following the war some 47,000 children under the age of 5 died from war-related causes.
(SFEM, 2/20/99, p.7)
c1991 Some 400,000 Kurds took to the hills to escape the wrath of Saddam Hussein. The US military dropped them supplies and Fred Cuny was instrumental in organizing the relief effort.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, BR p.10)
1991 Allied forces attempted to find Saddam Hussein and drop a bomb on him. This was not affirmed until 2001 by British former PM John Major.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D6)
1991 The US scattered some 118,000 land mines in Iraq and Kuwait during the Gulf War.
(WSJ, 1/19/02, p.A1)
1991 In Mahaweel, Iraq, every day for three weeks, Iraqi soldiers brought truckloads of rebellious Shiite Muslims to a lonely cornfield near the ruins of Babylon. The victims were shoved into shallow pits and shot. Bulldozers pushed the earth over them, burying some alive. In 2003 a mass grave yielded more than 3,100 bodies. Local Iraqis said as many as 12,000 other bodies from the same massacre might be buried in the area.
(AP, 9/15/03)
1991 General Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim al-Mifarji left Saddam Hussein’s army. In 2006 he was appointed as Iraq’s defense minister.
(Econ, 6/17/06, p.52)
1991 The UN set up a modest Kurdish haven in the mountains of Iraq.
(Econ, 7/9/16, p.38)
1991 The International Atomic Energy Agency placed a seal over storage bunkers holding conventional explosives known as HMX and RDX and PETN at the Al-Qaqaa facility south of Baghdad as part of U.N. sanctions that ordered the dismantlement of Iraq's nuclear program.
(AP, 10/27/04)
1991-1999 Operations US Desert Fox, Desert Strike, Northern Watch, Southern Watch, Provide Comfort and others began in Iraq. They cost $7.8 billion and left 26 US casualties.
(WSJ, 9/22/99, p.A8)
1992 Jan, In Iraq 80 military officers accused of planning a coup were executed along with 76 anti-regime activists.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1992 Mar 11, Members of the U.N. Security Council accused Iraq of playing a game of "cheat and retreat" from its promises to disarm and respect its people’s human rights; Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz lashed back, saying his country was complying with Gulf War cease-fire resolutions.
(AP, 3/11/02)
1992 Mar 13, The U.N. Security Council stood firm in its demand that Iraq comply totally with Gulf War cease-fire resolutions, rebuffing an appeal for leniency from Saddam Hussein's special envoy, deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz.
(AP, 3/13/97)
1992 Jul 28, Iraq opened its Agricultural Ministry to U.N. weapons experts after a three-week standoff.
(AP, 7/28/97)
1992 Jul, In Iraq 42 merchants were arrested from Baghdad's wholesale markets and charged with manipulating food supplies to drive up prices as many Iraqis were suffering economically. All 42 were executed hours later following a quick trial. In 2008 Tariq Aziz (72), former deputy prime minister, went on trial as one of 8 defendants charged with the executions.
(AP, 4/29/08)
1992 Aug 2, A "No-fly" zone was imposed over southern Iraq to stop air attacks on Shiite Muslim rebels.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1992 Aug 26, The United States, Britain and France imposed a 2nd no-fly zone south of the 32nd parallel, the southern one-third of Iraq aimed at protecting Iraqi Shiite Muslims.
(AP, 8/26/97)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1992 Aug 27, The US and its allies began air patrols over the no-fly zone, imposed over southern Iraq to stop air attacks on Shiite Muslim rebels.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1992 Oct 8, Iraqi police seized at gunpoint American bomb disposal expert Chad Hall, who was working in a disputed and ill-defined border area between Iraq and Kuwait. He was released two days later. [see Oct 10]
(AP, 10/8/02)
1992 Oct 10, Iraq released U.S. munitions expert Clinton Hall, two days after he’d been taken prisoner in the demilitarized zone separating Iraq and Kuwait.
(AP, 10/10/97)
1992 Dec 27, The United States shot down an Iraqi fighter jet during what the Pentagon described as a confrontation between a pair of Iraqi warplanes and U.S. F-16 jets in U.N.-restricted airspace over southern Iraq.
(AP, 12/27/97)
1992 The US set up the Iraqi National Congress (INC) in Irbil, northern Iraq, as an alternative to the regime of Saddam Hussein. It was founded with CIA support in Vienna as a umbrella group for the Iraqi opposition. In 1999 it was led by Ahmed Chalabi.
(SFEC, 9/8/96, p.A13)(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)(WSJ, 8/13/02, p.A1)
1992 Iraqi Kurdistan held free elections, but the Kurdish government was never formally recognized.
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.A14)
1992 Former US Marine captain Scott Ritter turned over evidence that Iraq’s Scud missile sites were not destroyed during the Gulf War.
(SFC, 1/14/98, p.C3)
1992 The exiled opposition was united under Ahmad Chalabi.
(WSJ, 12/2/98, p.A1)
1992 The US began placing CIA spies among UN weapons inspectors only a year after the end of the Gulf War.
(SFC, 2/23/99, p.A9)
1992 Iraqi engineers worked for 9 months to build what became known as the Saddam River. It diverted water from the Euphrates that would otherwise flow into the al Hammar marsh, a refuge for Hussein opponents.
(WSJ, 1/15/03, p.A6)
1992 The Israeli military disclosed in 2003 that it had planned a daring assassination attempt against Saddam Hussein in 1992. The plot would have involved landing commandos in Iraq and firing sophisticated missiles at him during a funeral, an Israeli legislator and media.
(AP, 12/16/03)
1993 Jan 7, The US claimed that Saddam Hussein moved surface-to-air missiles into southern Iraq. Baghdad refused to remove them and allied warplanes attacked the missile sites and warships fired cruise missiles at a nuclear facility near Baghdad.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1993 Jan 13, American and allied warplanes raided southern Iraq.
(AP, 1/13/98)
1993 Jan 17, The United States, accusing Iraq of a series of military provocations, unleashed Tomahawk missiles against a military complex eight miles from downtown Baghdad. President-elect Clinton, arriving in Washington for his inauguration, backed the action.
(AP, 1/17/98)
1993 Jan 18, Allied warplanes attacked targets in "no fly" zones in southern and northern Iraq.
(AP, 1/18/98)
1993 Jan 21, Two U.S. warplanes bombed a defense site in northern Iraq after radar was turned on them. Iraq denied provoking the attack.
(AP, 1/21/98)
1993 Jun 27, US warships fired 24 Tomahawk cruise missiles at intelligence headquarters in Baghdad in retaliation for the assassination plot. The Iraqis claimed 8 dead. Iraqis pulled their dead from the rubble of buildings wrecked by U.S. missiles during an early morning raid ordered by President Clinton in reprisal for an alleged assassination plot against former President Bush.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(AP, 6/27/98)
1993 Apr 13, The day before a visit by Pres. Bush, fourteen people were arrested in Kuwait for plotting to assassinate him. Washington said the plot was organized by Iraqi intelligence.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1993 Jun 26, President Clinton announced the U.S. had launched missiles against Iraqi targets because of "compelling evidence" Iraq had plotted to assassinate former President Bush.
(AP, 6/26/98)
1993 Jun 27, US warships fired 24 Tomahawk cruise missiles at intelligence headquarters in Baghdad in retaliation for the assassination plot. The Iraqis claimed 8 dead. Iraqis pulled their dead from the rubble of buildings wrecked by U.S. missiles during an early morning raid ordered by President Clinton in reprisal for an alleged assassination plot against former President Bush.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(AP, 6/27/98)
1993 Jun 27, Laila al-Attar (48), painter and head of Iraq’s institute for the arts, was one of at least 6 civilians killed when 23 US Tomahawk cruise missiles hit Baghdad. She had painted an unflattering portrait of Pres. Bush on the floor of a hotel lobby.
(WSJ, 5/31/02, p.A1)
1993 Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi-American academic, authored “Cruelty and Silence: War, Tyranny, Uprising and the Arab World." It was awarded The Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book on international relations published in English in 1993.
(Econ, 6/30/07, p.56)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanan_Makiya)
1993 A vaccine laboratory in Baghdad was destroyed in fear of its manufacturing biological weapons of mass destruction. The lab produced a vaccine against hoof-and-mouth disease which reached epidemic proportions in 1998.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1994 Apr 12, In Iraq Shiite dissident Talib al-Suhail was assassinated by the Iraqi Intelligence Service in Beirut.
(AP, 4/21/11)(www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Safia_Taleb_al-Suhail)
1994 Apr 14, Two American F-15 warplanes inadvertently shot down two U.S. helicopters over northern Iraq, killing 26 people, including 15 Americans.
(AP, 4/14/97)
1994 Oct 7, Iraqi troops moved south toward Kuwait. Pres. Clinton dispatched a carrier group, 54,000 troops and warplanes to the gulf area. The Iraqis pulled back.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1994 Oct 8, President Clinton, responding to the massing of Iraqi troops near the Kuwaiti border, warned Saddam Hussein not to misjudge "American will or American power" as he ordered additional U.S. forces to the region.
(AP, 10/8/99)
1994 Oct 9, The United States sent troops and warships to the Persian Gulf after Saddam Hussein sent tens of thousands of elite troops and hundreds of tanks toward the Kuwaiti border.
(AP, 10/9/99)
1994 Oct 10, Iraq announced it was withdrawing its forces from the Kuwaiti border; seeing no signs of a pullback, President Clinton dispatched 350 additional aircraft to the region.
(AP, 10/10/99)
1994 Oct 11, Iraqi troops began moving north, away from the Kuwaiti border.
(AP, 10/11/99)
1994 Nov 10, Iraq, hoping to win an end to trade sanctions, recognized the independence and boundaries of Kuwait.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)(AP, 11/10/99)
1994 Latif Yahia, an Iraqi dissident, authored a book in which he documented his work in the security force as a double for Odai Hussein.
(SFC, 3/29/00, p.A16)
1994 A law was passed that allowed people to live in Baghdad only if they had come before 1991 and many, who had fled their southern towns during the Gulf War, were deported from the city.
(SFC, 12/9/99, p.C8)
1994 Khidhir Abdul Abas Hamza, a scientist who helped train younger scientists in the nation’s atomic weapons program, fled the country. In 1998 he publicly described a 3-decade effort by Iraq to build a nuclear bomb. In 2000 Hamza co-authored "Saddam’s Bombmaker," an account of the country’s nuclear weapons program.
(SFC, 8/15/98, p.A13)
1994 Iraqi engineers worked to build the Mother of Battles River. It helped divert water from the Euphrates that would otherwise flow into the al Hammar marsh, a refuge for Hussein opponents. The marshes were later drained and pesticides used to kill the fish and wildlife. The 200,000 "Madan" (marsh Arabs) were attacked and forced away.
(WSJ, 1/15/03, p.A6)(SFC, 4/7/03, p.A10)
1994-1997 Iraqi Kurds in the east and west fought a fratricidal war.
(Econ, 4/20/13, p.51)
1995 Mar 13, Two Americans working for U.S. defense contractors in Kuwait, David Daliberti and William Barloon, were seized by Iraq after they strayed across the border; sentenced to eight years in prison, both were freed the following July.
(AP, 3/13/00)
1995 Mar 25, Two Americans who had strayed across the Kuwaiti border into Iraq were sentenced to eight years in prison. However, David Daliberti and William Barloon were released by Iraq the following July.
(AP, 3/25/00)
1995 Apr 14, The UN Security Council (Resolution 986) gave permission to Iraq, still under sanctions for its invasion of Kuwait, to sell $2 billion dollars’ worth of oil to buy food, medicine and other supplies. Iraq later rejected the offer.
(AP, 4/14/00)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1995 Jul 1-Aug 15, Shiite political prisoners held at Abu Ghraib were transported to Unit 2100 at Al Haditha. It was suspected that the prisoners were used for testing biological agents.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1995 Aug 8, Hussein Kamel al-Majid, formerly Iraq’s industry minister, defected to Jordan with his brother and their wives, both of whom were daughters of Saddam Hussein. He vowed to topple Saddam and said that Sadam Hussein had planned to invade Kuwait and Saudi Arabia this month and that Iraq had been three months away from testing an atomic bomb before the Gulf War began.
(WSJ, 8/21/95, p.A-1)(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1995 The UN passed Resolution 986 that allowed limited oil sales by Iraq in exchange for food and medicine.
(NH, 9/96, p.14)
1995 Rolf Ekeus, head of UNSCOM, found evidence of research relating to a biological weapons program.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1995 Former US Marine captain Scott Ritter led a UN inspection that discovered that missile guidance parts were being smuggled into Iraq through Jordan.
(SFC, 1/14/98, p.C3)
1995 Uday (Odai) Hussein, eldest son of Sadam, began collecting some $10 million in annual revenue from the legal and illegal sale of imported cigarettes.
(WSJ, 10/30/02, p.A1)
1996 Jan 6, Saddam Hussein decreed economic austerity measures to cope with soaring inflation and widespread shortages caused by UN sanctions.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1996 Feb 20, Senior Iraqi defector Al-Majid returned home after spending 6 months in Jordan. He was soon arrested and executed by government troops.
(WSJ, 2/21/96, p.A-1)(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1996 Feb 23, Two Iraqi defectors were killed in Baghdad, reportedly by members of their own clan who accused them of betraying Saddam Hussein by fleeing to Jordan. The Iraqi News Agency reported that Lieutenant General Hussein Kamel al-Majid and his brother Saddam Kamel al-Majid, a pair of defectors who were also the sons-in-law of Saddam Hussein, were killed by clan members after returning to their homeland.
(WSJ, 2/26/96, p.A-1)(AP, 2/23/01)
1996 Mar 27, The UN Security Council (Resolution 1051) established an export-import monitoring system for Iraq and demanded full cooperation.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1996 May (middle) Iraqi officials and UN experts began dismantling a major biological weapons factory near Baghdad.
(SFC, 6/10/96, C16)
1996 May 16, UN and Iraqi officials reached a tentative agreement to resume oil sales of $4 billion a year to buy food and medicine. The oil for food program mandated that 13% of the UN resources go to northern Kurdish areas. In 2004 it was reported that illicit trade agreements with neighbors netted Iraq nearly $11 billion between 1990 and 2003. In 2004 the estimate for illicit trade was raised to $21.3 billion. In 2008 Michael Soussan authored “Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy," in which he tells of his 3-year close-up experience in the UN’s Oil for Food program beginning in 1997.
(SFC, 5/16/96, p.A-9)(SFC, 9/3/01, p.A9)(SFC, 10/9/04, p.A15)(SFC, 11/16/04, p.A9)(WSJ, 11/14/08, p.A15)
1996 May 16, In Iraq a team of Iranian agents were captured in Baghdad. They were on a mission to assassinate Iranian guerilla leader Massoud Rajavi. Hassan Nedham al-Malki, spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said the team was armed with rocket launchers and a mortar and had infiltrated through the marshes of southern Iraq.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-16)
1996 May 20, Iraq and the UN reached an agreement for oil sales in exchange for use of the revenue in humanitarian aid.
(WSJ, 5/21/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 22, Iraq reached an agreement with the UN to sell $2 billion in oil for 180 days to buy food and medicine.
(SFC, 9/4/96, p.A8)
1996 May 22, Amnesty International reported that Iraqi doctors were forced to cut off the ears of alleged deserters.
(SFC, 5/22/96, p.A9)
1996 May, Mohammed Madhlum Dulaimi, an air force general accused of plotting to kill Sadam, was executed. Members of the 1 million-member Dulaimi clan led riots against security forces after the execution.
(SFC, 12/14/96, p.A11)
1996 Jun 12, The UN passed Resolution 1060, the 1st of many condemnations of Iraq’s denial of access to UN weapons’ inspectors.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1996 Jun 15, UN weapons inspectors gave up after a 5-day standoff with Iraqi authorities over inspection of 4 sites for documents and other material relating to weapons of mass destruction.
(SFC, 6/16/96, p.A11)
1996 Jun, There was a coup attempt against Pres. Saddam Hussein. This coincided with the placement of 9 covert CIA operators on a weapons inspection team seeking to examine compounds maintained by the Republican Guards.
(SFC, 2/23/99, p.A9)
1996 Jul, Railroad construction was expanding to link the northern border at Turkmenistan to the southern Persian Gulf.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A4)
1996 Aug 27, Seven Iraqis freed their 184 captives aboard a Sudanese airliner at the London airport and asked for political asylum.
(SFC, 8/28/96, p.A8)
1996 Aug 31, Rival Kurdish forces under leaders Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union and Massoud Barzani of the Kurdish Democratic Party clashed. Barzani’s forces participated with Sadam Hussein’s troops in taking Irbil, a Talabani stronghold. Talabani’s forces were reportedly assisted by Iran.
(SFC, 9/1/96, p.A8)
1996 Aug 31, More than 100 members of the Iraqi National Congress in Irbil were captured by Iraqi secret police and apparently executed. The Congress was set up by the US in 1992 as an alternative to Saddam Hussein.
(SFEC, 9/8/96, p.A13)
1996 Aug, The KDP invited Saddam into northern Iraq.
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)
1996 Sep 2, The US launched cruise missiles at selected air defense targets in Iraq to discourage Sadam Hussein’s military moves against a Kurd faction.
(SFC, 9/3/96, p.A1)
1996 Sep 3-1996 Sep 4, The United States launched 27 cruise missiles at "selected air defense targets" in Iraq as punishment for Iraq's invasion of Kurdish safe havens. Pres. Clinton extended the no-fly zone to the suburbs of Baghdad.
(AP, 9/3/97)(SFC,10/30/97, p.A12)
1996 Sep 5, Turkey declared a new security zone inside northern Iraq and air attacks were staged on suspected Kurdish rebel bases.
(SFC, 9/6.96, p.A13)
1996 Sep 10, Saddam Hussein announced the lifting of all travel restrictions to or within the Kurdish zone.
(SFC, 9/13/96, p.A13)
1996 Oct 13, In Iraq the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) regained Sulaymaniyah, its former headquarters.
(SFC, 10/14/96, p.A12)
1996 Nov 25, The government agreed to implement the UN conditions set for a $2 billion oil-for-food sale.
(SFC, 11/26/96, p.B3)
1996 Dec 9, UN chief Boutros-Ghali gave Iraq the go-ahead to resume oil exports for the first time since 1990 to buy food and medicine. Two billion of oil sales will be allowed every 6 months to buy food, medicine and other necessities.
(WSJ, 12/9/96, p.A1)(AP, 12/9/97)
1996 Dec 12, In Iraq Uday (Odai) Hussein, eldest son of Sadam, was wounded in a car ambush by assailants with machine guns and grenades. The Mohammed Madhlum Dulaimi Group claimed responsibility.
(WSJ, 12/13/96, p.A1)(SFC, 12/14/96, p.A11)
1996 Gen. Adnan Thavit and other officers failed in an attempt to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Thavit was sentenced to life in Abu Ghraib Prison. He was released just before the American invasion.
(WSJ, 2/16/05, p.A12)
1996 A UNICEF report estimated that some 2,000-4,500 children under age 5 were dying each month due to lack of food and medicine.
(SFC, 1/21/98, p.C12)(SFC, 2/18/98, p.C2)
1997 Jan 17, A French medical team removed 10 bullets from Uday Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein of Iraq. One bullet was still left lodged in his spine.
(SFC, 1/20/96, p.A13)
1997 May 10, A 7.1 earthquake hit in northeastern Iraq. More than 2,000 people were reported killed.
(SFEC, 5/11/97, p.A1)
1997 May 25, Muhammad Fadhel, PM of Iraq (1953-54), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1997 Jun 4, China signed a $660 million deal to develop an Iraqi oil field.
(WSJ, 6/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Jun 6, In the Asian Group 9 World Cup soccer qualifying competition the Iraqi team was beaten by Kazakhstan.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A13)
1997 Jun 22, Iran and Iraq opened their border after 17 years and asked the UN for an inspection post there, giving Iraq a 4th exit point for its goods.
(WSJ, 6/27/97, p.A11)
1997 Jun 29, In the Asian Group 9 World Cup soccer qualifying competition the Iraqi team was beaten a 2nd time by Kazakhstan. This inflamed Odai Hussein, son of Saddam and head of the Iraqi soccer federation. He had the team imprisoned and tortured. It was also reported that Odai had killed woman after an abortive attempt at having sex.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A13)
1997 Jul 27, Mohammed Mahdi al-Jawahri, classical Arab poet, died in Syria. His work included "Between Passion and Feeling" (1928) and "Al Jawahri’s Divan" (1935).
(SFC, 8/2/97, p.A21)
1997 Aug 8, The resumption of limited oil sales was cleared by the UN Security Council. The UN plan allows the sale of $2 billion in crude oil every 6 months.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.C1)
1997 Sep 25, Iraq demanded that Turkey pull back some 15,000 troops who crossed its border in pursuit of Kurdistan Workers Party guerrillas.
(WSJ, 9/26/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep 29, Iranian warplanes bombed anti-Tehran rebel bases inside Iraq.
(WSJ, 9/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep 29, Turkish planes attacked Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq and drove the guerrillas toward the Iran border.
(WSJ, 9/30/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep, Some military intelligence officials were caught plotting a coup against Saddam Hussein and at least half a dozen officers were executed.
(SFC, 2/21/98, p.A8)
1997 Oct 3, US Defense Sec. William Cohen ordered the Nimitz Carrier Battle Group to the Persian Gulf as a warning to Iran and Iraq to stop incursions into the US-enforced "no-fly" zone in southern Iraq.
(SFC, 10/4/97, p.A8)
1997 Oct 23, The UN threatened a trade ban unless Iraq cooperates with weapons inspectors.
(SFC,10/29/97, p.A12)
1997 Oct 29, Iraq barred US personnel from being included in UN inspection teams of weapons programs, a move that outraged chief weapons inspector Richard Butler and prompted him to suspend inspections.
(WSJ, 10/30/97, p.A1)(AP, 10/29/98)
1997 Nov 1, Iraq announced that American weapons inspectors working with the UN would not be allowed to resume work on Nov 3.
(SFEC,11/2/97, p.A17)
1997 Nov 2, Iraq barred two American weapons experts from entering the country, the second such refusal in a week. The UN decided to send a 3-man delegation to Iraq remind Sadam of his obligation to comply with council resolutions.
(SFC,11/3/97, p.A1)(AP, 11/2/98)
1997 Nov 4, Iraq agreed to postpone the expulsion of American weapons inspectors until after U.N. envoys finished their mission.
(AP, 11/4/98)
1997 Nov 5, A UN inspector claimed that Iraq was taking advantage of the inspection halt and had moved sensitive machinery out of camera view at certain weapons sites.
(WSJ, 11/6/97, p.A22)
1997 Nov 10, The U-2 surveillance flights over Iraq were resumed by the UN. The plane flew out of range of Iraqi gunners.
(SFEC,11/10/97, p.A1)
1997 Nov 12, The UN resolution 1137 imposed mild new sanctions on Iraq. A travel ban on Iraqi officials who interfere with weapons inspections was set by a unanimous Security Council vote.
(WSJ, 11/13/97, p.A1)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1997 Nov 13, Iraq expelled 6 Americans on a UN weapons inspection team. The UN instructed the entire team to leave the country.
(SFC,11/14/97, p.A1)(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1997 Nov 16, Iraq Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said Baghdad would allow US arms inspectors if Security Council permanent members had equal representation on the UN teams. The proposal was rejected.
(WSJ, 11/17/97, p.A1)
1997 Nov 18, Tariq Aziz and Pres. Yeltsin worked on a peaceful resolution to the UN weapons inspection crises and announced a plan.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.A19)
1997 Nov 20, Iraq agreed to allow US arms inspectors back into the country after Russia agreed to help work to lift UN Security Council sanctions. Prodded by Russia, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein agreed to allow U.S. arms monitors back into his country, ending a three-week crisis that had raised fears of a military confrontation with the United States.
(SFC,11/20/97, p.A1)(AP, 11/20/98)
1997 Nov 21, U.N. arms inspectors returned to Iraq after Saddam Hussein’s three-week standoff with the United Nations over the presence of Americans on the team.
(AP, 11/21/98)
1997 Nov 22, A 75 man team of U.N. weapons experts including 4 Americans returned to work in Iraq, searching eight sites for signs the Iraqis might have worked on biological, chemical or other banned arms during a three-week forced halt in inspections.
(SFC,11/22/97, p.C1) (AP, 11/22/98)
1997 Nov 24, It was reported that Iraq continued to withhold access to 63 weapons sites that included 47 presidential compounds.
(SFC,11/24/97, p.A13)
1997 Nov 25, It was reported that Iraq’s agency for electronic eavesdropping, known as Project 858, spied on UN weapons inspectors.
(SFC,11/25/97, p.A8)
1997 Nov 26, In Iraq Sadam Hussein invited foreign diplomats but not weapons inspectors to examine his presidential palaces. Under heavy international pressure Saddam Hussein said he would allow visits to presidential palaces where U.N. weapons experts suspected he might be hiding chemical and biological weapons.
(SFC,11/27/97, p.A1)(SFC,11/28/97, p.A16)(AP, 11/26/98)
1997 Nov 27, A day after saying it would open its presidential palaces to international observers, Iraq declared that U.N. weapons monitors were not included in the invitation.
(AP, 11/27/98)
1997 Dec 8, Iraq executed 4 Jordanians accused of smuggling $850 worth of auto parts. King Hussein of Jordan called and appealed for clemency to no avail.
(SFC,12/11/97, p.A18)
1997 Dec 24, It was reported that Iraq completed a 150-mile canal to supply water to Basra.
(WSJ, 12/24/97, p.A1)
1997 Dec 31, The US State Dept. reported that Iraq had ordered the summary execution of "hundreds if not thousands" of political detainees in recent weeks. The exiled Iraqi Communist party in London said 1,500 prisoners were killed on Nov 21. The exiled Iraqi National Congress said 800 prisoners were recently executed. A former Dutch foreign minister and UN Human Rights investigator said about 200 were reportedly executed. Iraq denied the charges.
(SFC, 1/1/98, p.A17)(SFC, 1/2/98, p.A18)
1997 Iraqi engineers worked to build the Fidelity to the Leader Canal. It helped divert water from the Euphrates that would otherwise flow into the al Hammar marsh, a refuge for Hussein opponents.
(WSJ, 1/15/03, p.A6)
1997-2001 Iraq earned over $6 billion in oil revenue from smuggling and surcharges on its sales.
(WSJ, 5/31/02, p.A2)
1998 Jan 12, Iraq authorities said they would block a UN inspection team led by former US Marine captain Scott Ritter.
(SFC, 1/13/98, p.A10)
1998 Jan 13, Iraq blocked a UN weapons inspection tem led by an American.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A9)
1998 Jan 17, In Iraq Sadam Hussein threatened to expel all UN arms inspectors in 6 months if the country is not cleared of suspicions about weapons programs and if sanctions are not lifted.
(SFEC, 1/18/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 18, In Jordan assailants assassinated 8 people in a hilltop villa that included a top Iraqi diplomat, Hikmet Hajou, and Iraqi businessman Namir Ochi, who handled food imports to Iraq for Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.B2)
1998 Jan 30, It was reported that Iraq had executed 10 people for stealing the huge bearded head of a large winged-bull dating from 700 BC.
(SFC, 1/31/98, p.A9)
1998 Feb 2, Russia announced that an envoy in Baghdad received concessions from Saddam Hussein on UN weapons inspections. US Sec. Albright failed to get permission from Saudi Arabia for US use of air bases to launch air strikes against Iraq. France, Turkey, Jordan, the Arab League and Yasser Arafat said they would send envoys to Baghdad to avert a possible US military strike.
(SFC, 2/3/98, p.A6)
1998 Feb 9, The US Pentagon announced that some 3,000 ground troops from Fort Hood, Texas, were to be sent to the Persian Gulf region over the next 10 days. The move was to discourage "creative thinking" on the part of Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 17, A UN refugee agency reported that 6,800 Kurds have fled their homes in northern Iraq following reported Turkish air raids on rebel positions.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.C3)
1998 Feb 17, UN Sec. Gen’l. Kofi Annan announced that he would travel to Baghdad to try to resolve the ongoing crises over Saddam Hussein’s refusal to allow unconditional weapons inspections.
(SFC, 2/18/98, p.C2)
1998 Feb 20, The UN Security Council voted to more than double the amount of oil Iraq may sell to buy food and medicine. The increase was from $2 bil to $5.256 bil, although Iraq has said it was only capable of producing $4 billion worth of oil over six months. With the US military poised to attack Iraq, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan began a final campaign to end the crisis over weapons inspections without bloodshed.
(SFC, 2/21/98, p.A8)(AP, 2/21/08)
1998 Feb 22, In Iraq UN Sec.-Gen’l. Kofi Annan managed to secure an agreement from Saddam Hussein to allow the inspection process to proceed.
(SFC, 2/23/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb, Iran began to close down shipments of illicit Iraqi oil.
(SFC, 3/16/98, p.A8)
1998 Feb, Abbas Janabi (50), a former journalist and personal secretary to Odai Hussein (34), defected from Iraq and went into hiding in Europe. Janabi later corroborated reports that Odai was responsible for extensive oil smuggling along with other material goods.
(SFC, 10/21/98, p.C2)(http://tinyurl.com/9wsfz)
1998 Mar 2, U.N. Security Council unanimously endorsed Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s deal to open Iraq’s presidential palaces to arms inspectors.
(AP, 3/299)
1998 Mar 30, A Syrian-Iraqi Health week started. Health Minister Iyad Shatti arrived in Iraq from Syria with 12 trucks of food and medicine.
(SFC, 3/30/98, p.A9)
1998 Mar, A US spy accompanied a UN inspection team and placed an electronic eavesdropping system in Baghdad.
(SFC, 1/8/99, p.A1)
1998 Mar, Nassir Hindawi, germ weapons scientist, was arrested as he prepared to flee the country.
(SFC, 3/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 2, Iran and Iraq began a war prisoner exchange involving nearly 6000 men, mostly Iraqis.
(WSJ, 4/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 4-20, Richard Butler, chief arms inspector in Iraq, refused to certify the Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction have been destroyed.
(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A11)
1998 Apr 5, Iran and Iraq exchanged 1,589 prisoners of war, bringing the number to over 4,000. Up to 30,000 prisoners were thought to be held by both sides.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 13, Turkish army forces captured Semdin Sakik, a field commanded of the PKK, Kurdistan Workers Party, in a secret raid in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.C12)
1998 Apr 22, Ayatollah Murtadha Ali Mohammed Ibrahim Borujerdi (71) was shot and killed at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf. The shrine marks the grave of Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed and a central figure in Shiite Islam.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 27, The UN extended security sanctions against Iraq but agreed to reviews every 60 days. It was earlier reported that Iraq recently had executed 1,500 political prisoners.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Apr 28, Americares, a US relief organization, flew in $2 million in medical supplies for 22 centers throughout Iraq.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A10)
1998 May, US Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering said that illegal oil sales had reached 200,000 barrels a day.
(SFC, 10/21/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 13, It was reported that the Old World Screwworm had broken out in Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain. 19 people were reported infected by the disease in which carnivorous larvae hatch from eggs laid in broken skin.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A7)
1998 Jun 30, A US fighter jet fired a missile at an Iraqi anti-aircraft site after the site’s radar locked on a British warplane.
(SFC, 7/1/98, p.A1)
1998 Jul 17, The Clinton administration sought approval to use funds for covert operations against Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 7/18/98, p.A3)
1998 Jul, Richard Butler, chief of UNSCOM, ordered Scott Ritter in mid-July to place a listening device in Baghdad to enable the Americans to eavesdrop on Saddam Hussein.
(SFEC, 1/10/99, p.A24)
1998 Jul, Iraq and Iran agreed to allow 12,000 Iranians to visit shrines in Iraq each month.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A24)
1998 Aug 5, In Iraq the government of Saddam Hussein said it was ending cooperation with UN arms inspectors.
(SFC, 8/6/93, p.A1)
1998 Aug 15, Some 750 Iranians entered the country to visit shrines for the first time in 18 years.
(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.A24)
1998 Sep 9, The UN Security Council voted to suspend periodic reviews of the economic sanctions on Iraq.
(SFC, 9/10/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 3, Turkey sent some 10,000 troops into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish rebels.
(SFEC, 10/4/98, p.A11)
1998 Oct 4, A Palestinian burst into a Baghdad synagogue and sprayed the crowd with gunfire. 2 Jews and 2 Muslims were killed.
(SFEC, 10/5/98, p.A9)
1998 Oct 5, The US House of Representatives directed the Pentagon to channel $97 million in overt military aid to Iraqi rebel groups seeking to bring down Pres. Saddam Hussein. The Clinton administration committed to the transfer of military surplus equipment May 14, 1999.
(SFC, 10/6/98, p.A8)(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A6)
1998 Oct 26, A UN panel reported that the Iraqi government lied to UN weapons inspectors about its nerve gas arsenal and had loaded the VX nerve agent on at least 2 warheads during the Persian Gulf War.
(SFC, 10/27/98, p.B6)
1998 Oct 31, Iraq said that it was suspending all cooperation with int’l. arms inspectors and would close down their long-term monitoring operations in response to a Security Council rejection of demands that a review of its relations with the UN should automatically result in a lifting of sanctions.
(SFEC, 11/1/98, p.A21)
1998 Oct, US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty began broadcasting Radio Free Iraq daily from Prague.
(SFC, 11/28/98, p.C1)(AP, 11/30/09)
1998 Nov 5, The UN Security Council unanimously demanded that Iraq resume cooperation with UN weapons inspectors.
(SFC, 11/6/98, p.A14)
1998 Nov 6, At the Radwaniya prison west of Baghdad 63 prisoners were executed.
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)
1998 Nov 10, The US military moved warships into the Persian Gulf in anticipation of a possible attack on Iraq over cancellation of weapons inspections.
(SFC, 11/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Nov 12, Eight Arab states declared that Iraq would be held responsible for any consequences from its stopping the work of UN arms inspectors.
(SFC, 11/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 14, Iraq backed down and agreed to submit to UN weapons inspections as US forces were poised for attack.
(SFEC, 11/15/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 17, In Iraq UN weapons inspectors returned to resume work.
(SFC, 11/18/98, p.A12)
1998 Nov 20, Iraq balked at handing over documents on chemical and biological weapons and missile systems.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Nov 24, The UN Security Council voted to allow Iraq an additional $5.2 billion in oil sales over the next 6 months to cover humanitarian aid.
(SFC, 11/25/98, p.A14)
1998 Nov 30, At the Radwaniya prison west of Baghdad 30 more prisoners were executed.
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)
1998 Nov, The show "By, Bye America" began a 2-week run at the Sheherezad Theater in Baghdad.
(SFC, 12/8/98, p.A13)
1998 Nov, The US declared a policy of "regime change" for Iraq.
(SFC, 5/25/99, p.A6)
1998 Dec 9, Iraq refused UN inspectors access to an office of the ruling Baath Party.
(SFC, 12/11/98, p.D2)
1998 Dec 15, Richard Butler, chairman of the UN Special Commission overseeing the disarmament of Iraq, reported that Saddam’s government continued to obstruct inspections.
(SFC, 12/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 16, Pres. Clinton ordered missile strikes against Iraq. Iraqi envoy Nizar Hamdoon accused UN weapons inspector Richard Butler of producing a biased report on weapons inspections. The US and British strike came one before scheduled vote on Clinton’s impeachment by the House of Representatives and days before the beginning of Ramadan. Some 200 missiles fell on Iraq in the first 24 hours of the attack and initial reports indicated two people killed and 30 injured. The House Republicans postponed impeachment by at least 24 hours.
(SFC, 12/17/98, p.A1,8)
1998 Dec 17, US and British forces launched more missiles on the 2nd day of attacks against Iraq. The strikes included some 100 cruise missiles with 2,000 pound warheads. At least 25 people were killed and 75 injured over 2 days. Pres. Boris Yeltsin withdrew the Russian ambassador from Washington and demanded an immediate end to military action. France and Italy expressed strong opposition while Germany rallied to support the US and Britain. A stray US missile hit Khorramshahr, Iran. The US later apologized.
(SFC, 12/18/98, p.A1,3)(SFC, 12/21/98, p.A20)
1998 Dec 18, US and British struck Iraq for a 3rd day with little resistance. The US B-1 bomber was used to drop bombs. Gen’l. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said more cruise missiles were launched in the first 2 days than the 289 in the 1991 Gulf War.
(SFC, 12/19/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 19, The US and Britain ended their attack on Iraq after 4 days of air and missile strikes in Operation Desert Fox. An early estimate of US defense expenses was put at $500 million. Some 62 members of the Republican Guard were killed.
(SFEC, 12/20/98, p.A1,24)(SFC, 12/22/98, p.A14)(WSJ, 8/27/99, p.A10)
1998 Dec 22, In Iraq UN aid groups returned to Baghdad.
(WSJ, 12/23/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 26, Iraq fired on Western aircraft patrolling the southern no-fly zone and said it would shoot at all military aircraft patrolling no-fly zones.
(SFEC, 12/27/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 27, Iraq said it would reject any extension of a UN monitored food program and would require monitors to leave.
(SFC, 12/28/98, p.A6)
1998 Dec 28, American aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone in Iraq destroyed an air defense site after the battery opened fire on them.
(SFC, 12/29/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 30, Iraq again fired at US warplanes the missile site was destroyed in response.
(SFC, 12/31/98, p.A1)
1998-2000 The Iraqi intelligence service, Mukhabarat, claimed 66 successful operations over this period.
(SFC, 4/25/03, A18)
1999 Jan 5, Four U.S. Air Force and Navy jets fired at Iraqi MiGs testing the "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq in the first such confrontation in more than six years. 6 missiles fired by 2 US F-15s missed the 4 MiG 25s of Iraq.
(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A6)(AP, 1/5/00)
1999 Jan 5, It was reported that Iraqi security forces killed hundreds of people in the Shiite Muslim south in summary executions directed by Saddam Hussein’s 2nd son over the last 6 weeks.
(WSJ, 1/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 6, It was reported that UN Sec. Gen’l. Kofi Annan had evidence that UN arms inspectors helped collect intelligence used in American efforts to undermine the Iraqi regime. Kofi Annan, the chief UN arms inspector and State Dept. officials all denied the spying allegations. An electronic eavesdropping system was put into place in March by a US spy with the UN inspection team.
(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A6)(SFC, 1/7/99, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/7/99, p.A1)(SFC, 1/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 7, A US jet fired on an air defense station in Iraq after it was targeted on radar.
(WSJ, 1/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 11, US planes fired missiles at 2 Iraqi defense installations after determining that they were about to be attacked by surface to air missiles.
(SFC, 1/12/99, p.A8)
1999 Jan 12, In Iraq a US F-16 jet encountered an active radar site and fired a HARM anti-radiation missile at it.
(SFC, 1/13/99, p.A10)
1999 Jan 14, The Clinton administration planned to propose that the UN lift all limits on Iraq’s ability to export oil to pay for food and medicine.
(SFC, 1/14/99, p.A10)
1999 Jan 15, In Iraq the US again fired at an air-defense site.
(WSJ, 1/15/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 20, The UN announced that it would release over $81 million to Iraq to buy electricity generating equipment. This included $6.5 million for oil industry spare parts.
(SFC, 1/21/99, p.A14)
1999 Jan 23, US jets attacked 2 Iraqi surface-to-air missile batteries after encountering anti-aircraft fire and MiG jets in the southern no-fly zone.
(SFEC, 1/24/99, p.A16)
1999 Jan 24, US jets attacked 2 Iraqi surface-to-air missile batteries after encountering radar detection in the northern no-fly zone.
(SFC, 1/25/99, p.A6)
1999 Jan 25, A US warplane missile reportedly misfired and Iraq asserted that 11 civilians were killed and 59 injured at al-Jumhuriya. The Pentagon confirmed that an AGM-130 missile had gone off mark.
(SFC, 1/26/99, p.A1)(SFC, 1/27/99, p.A7)(SFC, 2/12/99, p.A9)
1999 Jan 26, US jets again fired on air-defense sites in Iraq and Pres. Clinton approved more aggressive rules of engagement.
(WSJ, 1/27/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 28, From Iraq a UN official reported that hoof-and-mouth disease had crippled 1 million sheep and cattle in the country and that 50,000 kids and calves had died from the viral disease. The vaccine supply was exhausted due to the 1993 destruction of a vaccine laboratory by the UN commission.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1999 Jan 30, The UN Security Council agreed to establish panels to assess Iraqi disarmament and adherence to other UN resolutions.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.A17)
1999 Jan, Opposition groups claimed that 81 prisoners were executed in Abu Ghraib prison.
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.18A)
1999 Jan, UNSCOM reported to the UN Security Council that biological weapons sites had produced such biological agents as: Clostridium botulinum, Clostridium perfringens, Wheat smut, Bacillus anthracis, Ricin and Aflatoxin.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A18)
1999 Feb 2, US pilots in Iraq operated under broader rules of attack and targeted a newly assembled missile site.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 10, US and British jets again hit Iraqi air defense sites. It was reported that Saddam Hussein has offered $14,000 to air defense troops who shoot down a US or British plane.
(SFC, 2/11/99, p.A15)
1999 Feb 11, US jets struck 7 Iraqi air defense sites.
(SFC, 2/12/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 14, Iraq said that air attacks had killed 5 people and wounded 22 and threatened Kuwait and Saudi Arabia with missile attacks for permitting US warplanes to fly from their countries.
(SFC, 2/16/99, p.C2)
1999 Feb 19, In Najaf, Iraq, Shiite Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sader was killed with his 2 sons in a drive-by shooting. Dissidents blamed the government and said riots followed the killings. The government denied any disturbances.
(SFEC, 2/21/99, p.A23)
1999 Feb 21, US and British warplanes attacked a missile base and 2 military communication sites after Iraqi jets violated the no-fly zone.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A8)
1999 Feb 22, In Iraq security forces fought demonstrations for a 3rd day over the slaying of Muslim cleric Sadeq Sadr. There were unconfirmed reports that as many as 300 people were killed in the riots.
(SFC, 2/23/99, p.A8)(WSJ, 2/23/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 27, Western planes bombed targets in southern Iraq and Baghdad claimed that 23 people were wounded.
(SFEC, 2/28/99, p.A23)
1999 Feb 28, A US air strike in Iraq was said to have damaged an oil pipeline, stopped the flow of oil and killed one Iraqi. The US denied the charges.
(SFC, 3/1/99, p.A12)
1999 Feb, An Iraqi opposition group claimed that Saddam Hussein executed 24 army officers.
(WSJ, 3/10/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 1, US warplanes dropped over 30 laser-guided bombs on military targets in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A8)
1999 Mar 8, US warplanes dropped laser-guided bombs on northern and southern Iraq.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.B10)
1999 Mar 17, Iraqi pilgrims flew to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj. It was the 2nd day of flights violating UN prohibitions.
(SFC, 3/18/99, p.C2)
1999 Apr 2, Allied aircraft resumed bombing in Iraq after a 2 week lull.
(SFC, 4/3/99, p.A4)
1999 Apr 5, Iraq claimed that US and British warplanes bombed a control station that delivered oil approved for export on a UN humanitarian program.
(SFC, 4/7/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 6, In Iraq 4 men were hanged for the Feb murder of Mohammed Sadiq al-Sader, a top Shiite cleric.
(WSJ, 4/7/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 10, US F-16s struck southern Iraqi radar and antiaircraft sites after the fighters were fired upon. Iraq claimed that 2 people were killed and 9 wounded in the attacks.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.A11)(WSJ, 4/12/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 17, In Iraq US fighter planes bombed anti-aircraft sites in the northern no-fly zone.
(SFEC, 4/18/99, p.A23)
1999 Apr 25, In Iraq US warplanes struck air defense sites in the northern no fly zone after being threatened by radar.
(SFC, 4/26/99, p.A14)
1999 Apr 29, US planes bombed sites in the no-fly zone of northern Iraq after being attacked by missiles and anti-aircraft fire. Iraq said 20 civilians were injured in Mosul and 4 in separate attacks in the south.
(SFC, 4/30/99, p.D8)
1999 Apr 30, Iraq claimed that 7 people were killed in a shepherd’s tent during US bombing over Mosul.
(SFC, 5/13/99, p.C4)
1999 May 3, US jets attacked Iraqi air defense sites. Iraqi news reported 2 civilians killed and 12 injured north of Mosul.
(SFC, 5/4/99, p.A14)
1999 May 6, In Iraq the new vacation-resort city of Saddamiat al-Tharthar opened 85 miles west of Baghdad. Nearly every brick was engraved with the initials of Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 5/12/99, p.C5)
1999 May 8, US warplanes bombed northern Iraq as Iraqi TV reported 3 people were killed when 18 bombs fell on civilian and military positions.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, p.A23)
1999 May 8, In Iraq military forces attacked villages in Nasiriyah, a Shiite Muslim city.
(SFC, 5/12/99, p.C10)
1999 May 11, US and British warplanes bombed air defense targets in northern and southern Iraq after they were targeted by radar.
(SFC, 5/12/99, p.C10)
1999 May 12, Iraqi armed forces said that US and British warplanes had killed 12 civilians in the Nineveh province.
(SFC, 5/13/99, p.C4)
1999 May 15, US warplanes attacked Iraqi air defense sites after being targeted by radar.
(SFEC, 5/16/99, p.A15)
1999 Jun 3, From Iraq it was reported that a drought had killed about 70% of the nation’s crops.
(WSJ, 6/3/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 6, In Iraq US and British warplanes struck military facilities after being fired on in the no-fly zone of southern Iraq.
(SFC, 6/7/99, p.A11)
1999 Jun 10, It was reported that 48% of the $570 million in UN medical supplies provided over the last 2 years was stored in warehouses.
(SFC, 6/10/99, p.C2)
1999 Jun 10, In Iraq a truck bomb killed 6 members of an Iraq-based Iranian opposition group, the Mujahadeen Khalq, which recently claimed to have killed a top general in Tehran.
(WSJ, 6/10/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 11, Iraq accused Iran of firing 3 Scud-B missiles on the Ashraf camp of the Mujahedeen Khalq guerrilla group, located 50 miles from the Iranian border.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.C1)
1999 Jun 13, In Iraq it was announced that a new decree by Saddam Hussein would imprison citizens over 18 caught begging in public places.
(SFC, 6/15/99, p.C5)
1999 Jun 16, The US decided to support a British and Dutch proposal to partially lift oil sanctions on Iraq in exchange for answers on weapons programs and a new group of UN arms inspectors. Iraq rejected the proposal.
(SFC, 6/17/99, p.C3)(SFC, 6/19/99, p.A11)
1999 Jun 22, Iraq claimed that over a million people have died due to UN sanctions for the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
(SFC, 6/23/99, p.A14)
1999 Jul 18, US air strikes in southern Iraq killed 14 civilians and wounded 17 others according to the Iraqi military.
(SFC, 7/19/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 25, Residents of Rumaitha and Khudur took to the streets over food and medicine shortages. 16 soldiers were killed and Saddam Hussein ordered a tank unit to quell the riots after which another 14 people died.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A12)
1999 Jul 29, US warplanes struck targets in northern and southern Iraq after anti-aircraft artillery shot at them. Iraq reported 8 people killed.
(SFC, 7/30/99, p.D3)
1999 Aug 3, An Iraqi military doctor, who had defected to Jordan, reported that 400 Iraqi dissidents, wounded in recent clashes with security forces, were executed. Maj. Saad Khazal Jabbar said 120 people were killed in the anti-government riots in Baghdad.
(SFC, 8/5/99, p.A14)
1999 Aug 3, Abdel Wahab al-Bayati, exile Iraqi writer and poet, died in Damascus at age 73.
(SFC, 8/4/99, p.C2)
1999 Aug 17, In Iraq US and British warplanes bombed missile sites in the north and south and Iraqi military reported 19 people killed and 11 injured. 12 people were killed in Jesan by the bombing, 3 brothers, their wives, 4 children and another couple.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.C2)(SFC, 8/19/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 23, US and British warplanes killed 2 people in northern Iraq after being fired upon by an Iraqi military radar station. The Pentagon later claimed that the 2 civilians were killed by Iraq’s own anti-aircraft artillery.
(SFC, 8/24/99, p.A11)(SFC, 8/25/99, p.A16)
1999 Oct 4, The UN Security Council approved a one-time increase in oil sales for Iraq from $5.26 billion to $8.3 billion.
(WSJ, 10/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 7, It was reported that American fighter jets had begun using non-explosive concrete bombs to destroy military targets in northern Iraq.
(SFC, 10/7/99, p.C20)
1999 Oct 25, Iraq reported that 2 civilians were killed and 7 people wounded when US and British jets attacked sites in the northern no-fly zone.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.B2)
1999 Oct 27, The Clinton administration authorized the first direct military training for opponents of Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein.
(SFC, 10/28/99, p.A13)
1999 Oct, Religious vigilantes killed a college student as he chatted with his girlfriend at a Tigris River promenade in northern Baghdad. Over the next 3 months 18 more young men were killed with one bullet to the head. In Jan police arrested 4 men for the slayings.
(SFC, 1/10/00, p.A14)
1999 Nov 2, In southeastern Iraq a missile hit the Habib camp of the dissident Mujahedeen Khalq near the border. At least 5 people were killed and Iran was blamed for the attack.
(SFC, 11/4/99, p.A18)
1999 Nov 28, Iraqi media reported that US warplanes bombed a school in northern Iraq and injured 8 people.
(SFC, 11/29/99, p.A16)
1999 Dec 10, The UN extended Iraq’s "oil-for-food" program for 6 months and set the stage for the suspension of sanctions if UN weapon’s inspectors are allowed back into the country.
(SFC, 12/11/99, p.C1)
1999 Dec 17, The UN Security Council (Resolution 1284) ended a yearlong deadlock and voted to create a new inspection team (UNMOVIC) to complete the disarmament of Iraq.
(SFC, 12/18/99, p.A1)(AP, 12/17/00)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A12)
1999 Dec 18, Iraq rejected the UN proposal for an inspection plan that would lead to suspension of sanctions.
(SFEC, 12/19/99, p.A24)
1999 Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector, published "Endgame: Solving the Iraq Problem Once and for All."
(WSJ, 4/8/99, p.A16)
1999 David Wurmser published "Tyranny’s Ally: America’s Failure to Defeat Saddam Hussein."
(WSJ, 4/8/99, p.A16)
1999 The Kurdistan KDP and PUK agreed to share power.
(SSFC, 12/22/02, p.A14)
1999-2003 The US Volcker report of 2005 said that Australia's wheat exporter, AWB Ltd., paid over $221 million during this period to the Jordanian company, Alia, and that some of the money was for the benefit of the Iraqi government. During this period AWB sold over $2.3 billion in wheat to Iraq. In 2006 11 former executives faced prosecution for illegal kickbacks from Iraq.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.41)(Econ, 12/2/06, p.46)
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