February 14, 2005 - 00:38 [z-05:00]

       This is one of those times when I wish I had Brit Hume's research staff. I don't, of course, so you'll have to accept the information at face value. Each item is easily "checkable," but there is so much of it, it gets cumbersome after a while.

       What I want to do is run through a timeline from 1990 to 2005 and the election in Iraq. I promise you, by the time we're through, you will not be bored.

1990 2 August - Iraq invades Kuwait and is condemned by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 660 which calls for full withdrawal.

1990 6 August - UNSC Resolution 661 imposes economic sanctions on Iraq.

1990 8 August - Iraq announces the merger of Iraq and Kuwait.

1990 29 November - UNSC Resolution 678 authorizes the states cooperating with Kuwait to use "all necessary means" to uphold UNSC Resolution 660.

1991 16 -17 January - The Gulf War starts when the coalition forces begin aerial bombing of Iraq ("Operation Desert Storm").

1991 3 March - Iraq accepts the terms of a ceasefire.

1991 Mid-March/early April - Iraqi forces murder hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslims and Kurds.

1991 8 April - A plan for the establishment of a UN safe-haven in northern Iraq fails. More Kurds are murdered.

1993 27 June - US forces launch a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Al-Mansur district, Baghdad in retaliation for ignoring the no-fly zone and the attempted assassination of Former President, George Bush.

1994 10 November - The Iraqi National Assembly recognizes Kuwait's borders and its independence.

1995 14 April - UNSC Resolution 986 ("oil-for-food program") allows the partial resumption of Iraq's oil exports, supposedly to buy food and medicine. It is not accepted by Iraq until May 1996 and is not implemented until December 1996. Instead of the money going for medicine and food, the money is stashed away by Hussein or used as bribes to French and German Oil Companies with close ties to their governments.

1995 15 October - Saddam Hussein wins a "referendum" allowing him to remain president for another 7 years.

1995 month of November - Terrorist "Summit" held south of Baghdad. Osama bin Laden said to have addressed the group with plans to move operations to Afghanistan.

1996 31 August - Iraqi forces launch an offensive into the northern no-fly zone and capture Arbil. President Clinto is counselled by the French and Germans not to hit back at Iraq. They ask for time to "make him see the light." Instead, Clinto extends the northern limit of the southern no-fly zone to latitude 33 degrees north, just south of Baghdad.

1998 31 October - French, German, and, now Russian talks with Iraq embolden Hussein to end all forms of cooperation with the UN Special Commission to Oversee the Destruction of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (UNSCOM).

1998 16-19 December - After UN staff are evacuated from Baghdad, the USA and UK, unaware of the "Oil-for-Food Scam" with France, Germany, and some Russians, launch a bombing campaign, "Operation Desert Fox", to destroy Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.

1999 4 January - Iraq asks the UN to replace its US and UK staff in Iraq.

2000 1 December - Hussein tries to legitimize his payoffs by requesting that buyers pay a 50-cent-a-barrel surcharge into an Iraqi bank account not controlled by the UN. UN officials taking the bribes say no. Iraq halts its oil exports.

2001 20 January - On becoming 43rd president, George W Bush signals a new get-tough policy and vows to "re-invigorate" sanctions against Iraq.

2001 11 September - 3,000 people in New York and Washington DC are murdered by Osama bin Laden's Terrorist organization.

2001 7 October - Liberation of Afghanistan begins

2001 15 January - Liberation of Afghanistan finished.

Jan. 29, 2002: In his State of the Union address, President Bush calls Iraq part of an “axis of evil,” and vows that the U.S. “will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons.” - publicly introduces the new defense doctrine of preemption in a speech at West Point. Sometimes, he asserts, the U.S. must strike first against another state to prevent a potential threat from growing into an actual one. Weapons of Mass Destruction only one of many causes mentioned.

Sept. 12: President Bush addresses the UN, challenging it to swiftly enforce its own resolutions against Iraq. If not, Bush contends, the U.S. must act on its own.

Oct. 11: Congress authorizes an attack on Iraq.

Nov. 8: The UN Security Council unanimously approves resolution 1441 imposing tough new arms inspections on Iraq. French and German emissaries warn Hussein to hide or get rid of his weapons. Ten days later UN weapons inspectors return to Iraq for the first time in almost four years and begin only a cursury inspection, so obviously poor, that a parody sketch is done of Saturday Night Live. UN Continues to stall, led by France, Germany, and Russia.

Jan. 28, 2003: In his State of the Union address, President Bush announces that he is ready to attack Iraq even without a UN mandate.

Feb. 14: In a UN weapons inspections report on Iraq, chief inspector Hans Blix indicates that slight progress has been made in Iraq's cooperation with the weapons team.

Feb. 24–March 14: The U.S. and Britain's lobbying efforts among UN Security Council members to garner support for a strike on Iraq yield only two supporters (Spain and Bulgaria).

March 20: The US, unknowingly frustrated by France, Germany, and Russia begin the war against Iraq at 5:30 a.m. Baghdad time (9:30 p.m. EST, March 19). The U.S. launches Operation Iraqi Freedom.

April 5: U.S. tanks roll into the Iraqi capital and engage in firefights with Iraqi troops. Resistance weaker than anticipated. Heavy Iraqi casualties.

April 7: British forces take control of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.

April 9: Baghdad falls to U.S. forces. Looters pillage government buildings, museums, hospitals, and stores. Statue of Saddam Hussein symbolically toppled.

April 11: Kirkuk falls to Kurdish fighters.

July 13: Iraq's interim governing council, composed of 25 Iraqis appointed by American and British officials, is inaugurated. American administrator Paul Bremer, however, retains ultimate authority.

August 2004: FOX NEWS begins reports on possible abnormalities in the Oil-for Food Campaign.

Sept. 15, 2004: In a BBC interview, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says the war against Iraq was illegal and violated the UN Charter. The U.S., UK, and Australia vigorously reject his conclusion.

Jan. 30, 2005: Iraq holds its first free election in modern history.