Key Events in Conflict

1990

Aug. 2: Iraq invades Kuwait.

Aug. 6: United Nations imposes sweeping trade sanctions on Iraq, which are still in effect.

1991

Jan. 17: U.S.-led coalition launches air-strikes against Iraq.

Feb. 28: Cease-fire announced.

March 2: U.N. Security Council lays down conditions, including destruction of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and reparations for Kuwait. These conditions must be met before sanctions can be lifted.

1993

Jan. 7: After Iraq refuses to remove missiles that United States says it has moved into southern Iraq, allied warplanes and warships attack missile sites and a nuclear facility near Baghdad.

June 27: U.S. warships fire 24 cruise missiles at intelligence headquarters in Baghdad in retaliation for what the United States calls the plot to assassinate President Bush.

1994

Oct. 7: Iraqi troops move toward Kuwait, then pull back when U.S. dispatches carrier group, 54,000 troops and warplanes.

1996

Sept. 3-4: U.S. ships and airplanes fire scores of cruise missiles at Iraqi anti-missile sites to punish the Iraqi military for venturing into the Kurdish “safe haven” in northern Iraq.

Sept. 11: Iraqi forces fire a missile at two F-16s in the northern no-fly zone. The United States responds by sending more bombers, stealth fighters and another aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf region. Iraq accuses Kuwait of an “act of war” for allowing U.S. jets into Kuwait.

November: Two U.S. F-16 pilots fire missiles at Iraqi radar sites near the 32nd parallel in the southern no-fly zone.

Dec. 9: The United Nations allows Iraq to make limited oil sales under closely monitored deal.

1997

November: Iraq orders American weapons inspectors to leave the country immediately, accusing them of spying. President Clinton orders aircraft carrier to the Gulf to join a military force already in place.

1998

Jan. 13: Iraq effectively blocks a U.N. weapons inspection team led by an American.

Jan. 27: Clinton intensifies U.S. pressure on Iraq to open all sites, warning Saddam Hussein not to “defy the will of the world.”

Feb. 23: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan works out agreement with Iraq, defusing crisis by promising efforts to remove sanctions.

Aug. 5: Iraq announces it’s cutting ties with weapons inspectors, saying it sees no move toward lifting sanctions. It leaves long-term monitoring in place.

Oct. 30: U.N. Security Council offers a comprehensive review of weapons inspection program to assuage Iraq, but refuses demands to declare the review will lead to lifting sanctions.

Oct. 31: Iraq cuts off work by U.N. monitors. United States and Britain warn of possible military strikes to force Iraq into cooperating.

Nov. 5: U.N. Security Council condemns Iraq’s actions as a “flagrant violation” of resolutions.

Nov. 14: Iraq sends a series of letters to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Security Council professing willingness to cooperate unconditionally with U.N. weapons inspectors. President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair cancel ordered military attacks against Iraqi targets.

Nov. 15: Clinton says Iraq narrowly avoided punishing military strikes by dropping its defiance of the United Nations, but Saddam Hussein must cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors without conditions. Defense Secretary William Cohen says the U.S. military will “maintain a steady force” in the region.

Nov. 20: Iraq’s deputy foreign minister, Riyadh al-Qaisi, tells chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler that many documents the weapons inspectors seek regarding the production of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and missiles were destroyed, never existed or already had been turned over.

Dec. 8: National Security Council Adviser Sandy Berger says the United States will work step by step with foes of Saddam Hussein to bring down the Iraqi president.

Dec. 9: Iraq refuses to permit an unannounced U.N. weapons inspection in Baghdad and White House officials respond cautiously.

Dec. 11: The United States will hold off acting until U.N. chief weapons inspector Richard Butler makes his report on Iraqi compliance to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, says Berger. “We want to see this process play it’s course,” he says.

Dec. 15: Butler says in his report that Iraq has not met promises made a month ago to fully cooperate with U.N. inspectors and has imposed new restrictions on their work.

Dec. 16: Reacting to Butler’s report, U.S. naval and air forces in the Persian Gulf go into “execute mode” and President Clinton meets with his top national security advisers to consider military strikes.