The Dating Game (Terrorism by the numbers)

Various | 11/9/03 | WPTG

[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.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

Funny how Al Qaeda attacks on America always seem to coincide with key dates in U.S./Iraq conflict (among other things).

Just some food for thought... free of charge.

[buffyt]

November 9, 2003: I still HATE the Clintons!

[struwwelpeter]

So... if we make it past Wednesday we're good until February?

[buffyt]

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.

I had heard that on 9-11-2001.... I wondered about it.....

[July 4th]

So... if we make it past Wednesday we're good until February?

Hmmm...that's what it looks like.

[cgk]

Anyone care to add their 2, 3, 4, cents/sense to the "dating game"?

[null and void]

Assuming we haven't missed any dates They think are significant...

[cgk]

September 11, 1922 British mandate of Palestine begins

September 11, 1939 Iraq & Saudi Arabia declare war on nazi-Germany

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

So... if we make it past Wednesday we're good until February?

Richard Reid attempted to bring down AA Flight 61 on 12/22/01 (which coincided with the end of Operation Desert Fox)... then there was the thwarted Millenium attack of L.A.X on 1/1/2000 (not sure of the significance of that date, aside from the obvious)...

The latest round with Iraq surely has provided the Islamists with a whole new series of dates to be commemorated with bombs and carnage... unfortunately, we won't know what those dates represent until after that fact.

[GatekeeperBookman]

I'll give us till the day after the election next November-they are crazy but they are not entirely stupid.

[bonesmccoy]

Correlations on dates is not interesting to me. The reason is that you can find correlation on dates for many things (including birthdays, national holidays, etc.) because there only a finite number of days in a calendar month or year.

So, naturally, dates will repeat. They repeat anyway.

Now, on the other hand, it is interesting that there are commonalities in certain dates. But, finding a rationale for such or a common thread may be stretching it.... I suppose the ultimate common thread for a monotheistic individual is that "God" is in charge... and hence the "supreme being" knows.

If you aren't a monotheist, then any number of religious interpretations can exist.

[Doctor Stochastic]

The Oklahoma City bombing was also on the same date as the burining of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco. This seems a more likely connection.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

The Oklahoma City bombing was also on the same date as the burining of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco. This seems a more likely connection.

Only if you believe that McVeigh and Nichols acted alone. I don't.

The Iraqi Connection

[ladyinred]

Ping

[ladyinred]

Very interesting. It seems the terrorists remember things very well. Wow.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

Now, on the other hand, it is interesting that there are commonalities in certain dates. But, finding a rationale for such or a common thread may be stretching it....

It could be a stretch. But some things are striking here.

Tariq Aziz referring to the "April 19 end of the war" for example. Bush the elder's 9/11/90 address is obviously another. And the 93 WTC bombing on the annivsary of Hussein withdrawl from Kuwait.

None of this is hard evidence of anything. What it is, to me, is a small part of the mosaic that is the case against Saddam Hussein.

[JohnBerger]

I have a 15,000-word, 20-year timeline so after a while, the date correspondences really start to pile up. However, I do have a few favorites:

-- On Sept. 12, 1994, al Qaeda paymaster Mohamed Bayazid (later accused by the U.S. government for attempting to obtain components of a “dirty bomb”) applies for a driver’s license in Illinois, listing Benevolence International Foundation’s offices as his home address. (BIF indictment)

-- "Beginning on or about September 13, 1994 and continuing thereafter until on or about April 19, 1995, at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the Western District of Oklahoma and elsewhere, TIMOTHY JAMES MCVEIGH AND TERRY LYNN NICHOLS, the defendants herein, did knowingly, intentionally, willfully and maliciously conspire, combine and agree together and with others unknown to the Grand Jury to use a weapon of mass destruction" against the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. (Federal indictment)

-- “Beginning on or after September 13, 1994, defendant [Enaam] Arnaout and his (al Qaeda) co-conspirators (in Chicago and Florida) agreed to provide and attempt to provide material support and resources to persons, groups and organizations engaged in violent activities.” (Arnaout indictment)

-- In September 1994, Ramzi Yousef arrives in the Philippines with orders from Osama bin Laden to begin staging attacks against the U.S. (et al sources)

And the following:

-- On Nov. 3, 1994, Ramzi Yousef and Wali Khan Amin Shah apply for final visas to the Philippines. ("1000 Years for Revenge," by Peter Lance, confirmed via US v Yousef)

On Nov. 4, 1994, Terry Nichols applied for visa to enter the Philippines in Chicago. (1000 Years)

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).

jmb

[JohnBerger]

While I don't believe Nichols and McVeigh acted alone ( amply demonstrated by my site, http://www.whoisjohndoe2.com ), I do believe the April 19 date was chosen for Waco and no other reason. There is an overwhelming mountain of evidence that Waco, and anger over Waco, form a continuous thread throughout the lives of Nichols and McVeigh. I don't see a compelling reason to look further for that particular aspect of the story.

jmb

[cgk]

Is your timeline online? And yes, the dates do really make you wonder after awhile.

Here are 2 that I find interesting:

June 14, 1985 - Mugniyah (FBI most wanted terrorist, responsible for most American deaths before 9.11), along with fellow Muslims (Hizbollah) hijacks TWA Flight 847 plane in Athens, killing a Navy sailor and dumps his body on the tarmac. Never caught.

June 14, 2002 - US Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan is bombed by Al Qaeda. 11 are killed.

Mugniyah is reported to have left Iran and headed into Iraq where he is believed to be responsible for recent attacks on our troops, as well as the bombing of the mosque in Najaf (?).

[JohnBerger]

No, my timeline is my exclusive thing. I've thought about publishing it, but it's really one of the most important things that give me any leverage working on the story. I may publish it eventually, but if I do, it probably means I've given up. ;-)

I have a better one for June 14, 2002.

June 9, 2002: Alleged dirty bomber and John Doe 2 lookalike Jose Padilla is designated an enemy combatant by President Bush, removed from the U.S. Justice system and transferred to miltary custody, where he is held incommunicado. (et al, media reporting)

June 11, 2002: State Department announces that Padilla's trail was picked up by the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, where Padilla had applied for a visa. (State Department)

June 14, 2002: US Consulate in Karachi is destroyed by an ammonium nitrate bomb on orders from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who Padilla worked for, and a former member of Ramzi Yousef's Manila cell, which alleged to have OKC ties.(NY Times, Australian Media, Houston Chronicle)