On April 1, 1990, “Several months before the invasion of Kuwait, Saddam Hussein had threatened to ‘burn half of Israel.’ Most observers took this as a threat indicating Saddam’s willingness to use chemical weapons.” – Stephen F. Hayes, Cheney, Page 242 […]
3/15/1990
“A number of arrests were made in London in March 1990 of people connected to Iraq’s attempts to procure essential elements for a nuclear weapons programme.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.] – Ali A. Allawi, The Occupation of Iraq, Page 42 […]
2/23/1990
In The Iraq War Reader, Murray Waas wrote: “On February 23, 1990, the Commerce Department allowed Internal Imaging Systems, a California company, to ship computer and related equipment to Iraq that is designed for infrared imaging enhancement. The export license was allowed despite the fact that three years earlier, CIA technical evaluations determined that the […]
2/15/1990
“Beginning in February 1990, strong words began to fly from Iraq to Kuwait City [Kuwait] and Riyadh [Saudi Arabia], with a cash-desperate Saddam Hussein demanding that the Kuwaitis and Saudis forgive the $40 billion in loans given to him to fight [Ayatollah] Khomeini and the Iranians. …the Kuwaiti and Saudi governments rejected his request and […]
2/11/1990
” ‘By nature, I’m very cautious about the use of the armed forces…putting lives on the line,’ he [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell] had told a reporter [on February 11, 1990] just days before the invasion [of Iraq]. ‘But when it’s clear we’re going to use them, well, let’s use them.’ […]
1/17/1990
“…the U.S. Congress had imposed U.S. Export-Import Bank financing restrictions on Iraq because of the Halabja massacre [in which chemical weapons were used on Kurds in March 1988]. On January 17, 1990, [President George H.W.] Bush voided the prohibition with a stroke of the pen, stating that it was ‘not in the national interest of […]
1/15/1990
After the purchase of George W. Bush’s oil company Spectrum 7 by Harken Energy, Bush was offered a spot on the Harken board. “In January 1990, by which time the elder George Bush had become president, Harken came into another stroke of unexpected good luck. The beleaguered oil company had had no offshore drilling experience […]
1/15/1990
“In January 1990, President [George H.W.] Bush waived congressional restrictions on Iraq’s use of the Export-Import Bank and in doing so overlooked new evidence that Iraq was testing ballistic missiles and stealing nuclear technology. All told, the Reagan and Bush administrations ended up providing Saddam Hussein with more than $5 billion in loan guarantees. In […]
12/15/1989
“During the same period that the [Afghan President Najibullah’s Administration’s defense minister Shahnawaz] Tanai coup was being planned–around December 1989–Pakistani intelligence reached out to bin Laden for money to bribe legislators to throw [Pakistani Prime Minister] Benazir Bhutto out of office, according to reports that later reached Bhutto. According to Bhutto, ISI [Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence] […]
12/8/1989
On December 8, 1989, terrorist El Sayyid Nosair threw a Pepsi can filled with explosives at Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev’s motorcade in Manhattan. “It failed to detonate. A nearby police officer witnessed the attempt and grabbed Nosair as he walked away. But the cop figured Nosair was just another angry protestor tossing an empty soda […]