Ashura
the day the skies wept blood for Hussain
This would be Imam Hussain, not related to secular Saddam, although this did happen in Karbala.
Posted on 11/09/2003 5:46:04 PM PST by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
February 23, 1990: President Bush announces the U.S. ground war againt Saddam Hussein's forces has begun.
Feburary 23, 1998: Usama bin Laden issues his fatwa -- or declaration of war -- against the United States. His primary stated reasons for this fatwa are the continued U.S. agression against Iraq and the U.S. occupation of the Arab peninsula (read: Saudi Arabia) for the purposes of threatening Arab neighbors (read: Saddam Hussein).
February 26, 1991: Saddam Hussein announces the withdraw of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
February 26, 1993: Ryder truck bomb attack on WTC in New York City kills 6.
April 19, 1991: UNSCOM is formed to carry out weapons inspection in Iraq. In this interview with CNN, Tariq Aziz refers to "the end of the war in April 19, 1991".
April 19, 1995: Ryder truck bomb attack on Murrah Building in Oklahoma City kills 168.
July 17: Annual celebration of 1969 Ba'athist takeover of Iraq.
July 17, 1990: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein launches attack on Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), charging they had conspired with the United States to depress world oil prices through overproduction. (the official beginning on the "Mother of all Wars" and prelude to the August 2 invasion of Kuwait).
July 17, 1996: TWA Flight 800 "bombing" (according to George Stephanopoulos) kills 230 passengers.
October 31, 1998: President Bill Clinton signs H.R. 4655, "The Iraq Liberation Act of 1998", restating the case for Saddam Hussein's outster and pledging support for the Ba'athist opposition.
October 31, 1999: Egypt Air flight 990 mysteriously drops into the Atlantic Ocean 30 minutes after takeoff, killing 217. The 767's cockpit voice recorder confirms the co-pilot, Gameel al-Batouti, has complete control when the plane begins to lose altitude. Examination of the flight data-recorder shows that Batouti cut the power and pushed the control yoke forward, sending the 727 into free fall. During the fall, the flight's senior pilot, Captain Ahmad al-Habashi is heard re-entering the cockpit screaming "What's happening? What's happening?". Al-Batouti calmly replies "Tawakkalt ala Allah" ("I rely on God"), and repeats the phrase as many as ten times as the plane crashes into the Atlantic.
June 25, 1961: Iraq announces Kuwait is part of Iraq (Kuwait disagrees).
June 25, 1993: U.S. launches cruise missile strikes against Iraqi intelligence for the attempted assassination of President George H.W. Bush in Kuwait City (and, unofficially, for the February WTC attack).
June 25, 1999: Fuel truck-bomb explodes outside the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 19 USAF military personnel and wounding 515 persons, including 240 U.S. personnel.
August 7, 1990: Operation Desert Shield begins, in response to the August 2 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
August 7, 1998: Two car bombs explode at the American Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people and wounding more than 5,000 others.
October 12, 1990: U.S. supports U.N. Security Coucil Resolution 672, a condemnation of Israel's attacks on the Al Aqsa Mosque that killed 19 palestinians. This is viewed by Saddam as U.S. duplicity at its worst, and a transparent attempt by America to appeal to the Arab street's sensibilities in order to keep the coalition together and remove Hussein from power. Hussein takes it personally, as his diversionary tactics in escalating the Arab/Israeli conflict are proven fruitless.
October 12, 2000: U.S.S. Cole bombing in Yemen kills 17 U.S. servicemen.
November 12, 1992: A dozen western tourists are machine-gunned on a bus in Egypt. The terrorist shootings are connected to convicted 1993 WTC-bombing conspirator Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman ("The Blind Sheikh").
November 12, 2001: American Airlines flight 587 myseriously explodes over Rockaway, Queens, killing 260 (incidentally, AA 587, TWA 800 and EgyptAir's 990 all departed the same airport, New York's JFK, and crashed/exploded minutes after takeoff).
September 11, 1990: President George H.W. Bush addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress on the matter of Saddam Hussein and the looming Gulf War ("This is not, as Saddam Hussein would have it, the United States against Iraq. It is Iraq against the world"). This was President Bush's first major address on the issue.
September 11, 2001: Al Qaeda Islamists hijack four commercial airliners in coordinated strikes on New York City and Washington, DC, killing 3000.
The time of the visit from the IIS director was a few weeks after the Khobar Towers bombing. The bombing came on the third anniversary of a U.S. [Tomahawk missile] strike on IIS HQ (retaliation for the attempted assassination of former President Bush in Kuwait) for which Iraqi officials explicitly threatened retaliation.
June 8, 570 A.D. - Religion of Islam founded in Mecca.
June 8, 632 A.D. - Mohammed, prophet of Islam (Koran) dies, according to tradition.
June 9, 1982 - Israel wipes out Syrian SAM missiles in Bekaa Valley
June 9 - Holiday Moslem : Ashura (Muharram 10, 1416 AH)
June 10, 1916 - Great Arab Revolt begins
June 10, 1967 - Israel, Syria, Jordan, Iraq & Egypt end "6-Day War" with UN help
June 10 - Holiday Islam : New Year's Day (Muharram 1, 1415 AH)
G-8 Summit in Georgia - June 8 - June 10
This would be Imam Hussain, not related to secular Saddam, although this did happen in Karbala.
Dec 22nd 1990 - Iraq announces it will never give up Kuwait
Dec 22nd, 1998 - Famous "secret (ABC) interview" takes place with Osama Bin Laden, in which he declares that the "enemy is the crusader alliance led by America, Britain and Israel", and also that a "nation of 12,000 million Muslims" will help to end the superpower that is America. Also when asked a direct question about Saddam Hussein, he responds only that the "Muslim people of Iraq" are also targets of the US and Britain.
Dec 22nd 2001 - American Airlines Flight 63 lands safely despite Richard "Shoebomber" Reid's attempts to detonate his explosives.
Dec 22nd - another Ashura holiday in "Arab" holidays
Also - PanAm Lockerbie flight 103 was blown up over Scotland if you read some of the webs "this day in history" reports. There is apparently a discrepancy of "the night of Dec. 21st, and what time it really was on a clock" at the time it exploded, killing everyone on board.
And one last:
-- (Ramzi Yousef's) "Operation Bojinka was scheduled to go forward just two weeks later on January 21 (1995). Apparently a plan was also found for a second phase of attacks." (The Cell, John Miller, Michael Stone) Jan. 21 date also confirmed in "The New Jackals". Bojinka was scheduled to launch 2 weeks after a Jan. 5 apartment fire invovling Yousef (various, US v Yousef, other testimony).
-- Marife Nichols testified that Nichols’ Philippines stay was on a “59 days visa so he stayed 59 days." (Nichols trial). Nichols visa is confirmed to have expired on January 21, 1995, although he actually left five days earlier. (US v Nichols).
(tin-foil hat pressed firmly on).
Anything for October 29?
Throwback Thursday has taken on an eerie and somber note today.
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