Monday, October 17, 2005

 
Treasongate Part 4
Iraq: 1968-1988

1968 Ba’ath Party regains control of Iraq. Saddam Hussein named Vice-President. He immediately begins consolidating power.

Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) formed. It immediately becomes the main decision making organ of Iraq.

1970 Iraqi Settlement with Kurds, their rebellion ends

1971 President Nixon takes the U.S. Dollar off the ‘gold standard’ beginning the free-floating currency exchange system.

Iran occupies Iraqi islands in the Persian Gulf

1972 Iraq begins nationalization of its oil industry

Iraq and Soviet Union sign friendship pact

1973 Iraqi troops occupy As Samitah, a border post in the northeast corner of Kuwait. The Arab League backs Kuwait and the Iraqis withdraw.

The fourth Arab-Israeli War, Yom Kippur, takes place

OPEC announces oil embargo against all nations that supported Israel. The price of oil quadruples.

1974 Kurds, with backing from Iran, start a new rebellion.

1975 Algiers Accord signed by Saddam and Shah of Iran It temporarily ends border disputes and brings the Kurdish rebellion to an end.

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia assassinated

Vietnam War ends, Saigon falls to North Vietnamese

1977 Anwar Sadat becomes first Arab leader to visit Israel

1978 Camp David Accords signed by Egypt and Israel

Shah of Iran faces increased internal opposition

1979 Shah overthrown in Iran, Islamic republic formed.

Militants occupy U.S. Embassy and take hostages

Saddam Hussein becomes Chairman of RCC and President of Iraq

Soviet Union invades Afghanistan

1980 Iraq-Iran War begins

U.S. begins funding Afghan Mujahedeen

Ronald Reagan elected President

1981 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat assassinated

Ronald Reagan signs Top-Secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17) authorizing U.S. support for Contra rebels in Nicaragua

1982 Congress bans further assistance to the Contras

U.S. Forces sent to Lebanon for second time

1983 U.S. Embassy bombed in Beirut, killing 63 people

October 23 Suicide bomber destroys marine barracks in Beirut, 241 marines are killed.

October 25 Geographically challenged Reagan orders invasion of Caribbean Island
nation of Grenada.

Donald Rumsfeld, Special Envoy to Reagan, goes to Iraq and meets with Saddam

1984 Marines pull out of Lebanon

Iran accuses Iraq of using chemical weapons in the war

Rumsfeld returns to Baghdad

Ronald Reagan issues Top secret National Security Decision Directive 139 stating U.S. determination "to avert an Iraqi collapse."

1985 In one of history’s biggest ‘flip-flops’ the Reagan Administration begins negotiations for arms sales to Iran

Reagan signs the secret “Arms for Hostages” finding

1986 Reagan Administration secretly uses money from arms sales to Iran to illegally fund Nicaraguan Contras

Arm sale story breaks in Lebanese Press

Attorney General Edwin Meese admitts that profits from weapons sales to Iran were illegally made available to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

1987 An Iraqi jet fighter attacks the Navy ship USS Stark while it is patrolling the Persian Gulf, 37 sailors are killed and 21 others are injured

The U.S. Congress issued its final report on 18 November 1987, which stated that the President bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides and his administration exhibited "secrecy, deception, and disdain for the law."

1988 Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan

Iran-Iraq war ends

George H.W. Bush elected President


Treasongate Part 1

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