“Even though Washington still had Iraq on its list of countries that sponsored terrorism and had not enjoyed full diplomatic relations since the 1967 Israeli-Arab Six Day War, from mid-1980 onward there was a distinct shift in the Carter administration, which began to regard Saddam as a potential counterweight both against the ayatollahs [of Iran] […]
Category: quotes
4/24/1980
“…in November 1979…Iranian militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, seizing control of the building and taking sixty-six Americans hostage. By the spring of 1980, with fifty-two hostages remaining in the embassy, the [Carter] administration had developed a top secret rescue plan. The mission was launched during the early evening of April 24 [1980]… By […]
4/17/1980
The Soviet military invaded Afghanistan on December 25, 1979, a move which was not expected by the U.S. intelligence community. Representative Dick “Cheney [R-WY] made a mental note of the intelligence failure and backed the decision of the Carter administration to arm the rebels, whom he regarded as ‘a tough and able people who want […]
1/23/1980
A month after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed what would be known as the Carter Doctrine in his State of the Union Address on January 23, 1980: ” ‘The region which is now threatened by Soviet troops in Afghanistan is of great strategic importance: It contains more than two-thirds of the […]
12/27/1979
Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on December 27, 1979, “As many as twenty-five thousand young jihadis like [future World Trade Center bomber Ramzi] Yousef poured in [to Afghanistan] from around the globe to fight and train in guerilla tactics. Though they were all later dubbed ‘Afghan Arabs,’ there were blue-eyed Chechens, black South Africans, […]
12/27/1979
“In [December 27] 1979, after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the Saudis were part of an alliance formed by the United States to drive them out.” – Neela Banerjee, “The High, Hidden Cost of Saudi Arabian Oil,” The New York Times, Oct. 21, 2001 […]
12/26/1979
“On December 26 [1979], the USSR invades Afghanistan. [National Security Advisor] Zbigniew Brzezinski writes, ‘We now have the opportunity to give Russia its own Vietnam War.’ U.S. support for the Afghan Arabs had begun earlier that summer and would later grow to more than $700 million a year. Within days, Osama bin Laden decides to […]
12/26/1979
In his December 26, 1979, memorandum to President Jimmy Carter, titled ‘Reflections on Soviet Intervention in Afghanistan,’ National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski “sketched out a new Afghan policy, much of it to be carried out in secret…to channel medical kits and other aid to the Afghan rebels. ‘It is essential that Afghanistan’s resistance continues,’ he […]
12/26/1979
"Outraged at the invasion of an Islamic nation by the Soviet Union in December [26] 1979, more than 25,000 foreign 'jihadis' from more than 35 countries–many seeking adventure or a sense of purpose in life–flew to Pakistan and then made the long trek into Afghanistan to fight with their Muslim brothers." – Simon Reeve, The […]
12/26/1979
December 26, 1979, is the beginning of the “Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Bin Laden leaves Saudi Arabia to join the Afghan resistance (mujahedeen).” – “Hunting Bin Laden; Who is Bin Laden & What Does He Want? A Chronology of His Political Life,” PBS Frontline, accessed on April 24, 2018 […]