Persian Gulf chronology

By Globe Staff, 01/20/1991

1990

FEBRUARY 24

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, at Arab Cooperation Council meeting in Jordan, warns of American dominance in the Persian Gulf as Soviet world power wanes.

APRIL 26

John Kelly, undersecretary of state for Middle Eastern affairs, opposes a congressional move to impose economic sanctions on Iraq, arguing it would hamper President Bush's ability to be a "restraining influence" on Iraq.

JULY 24

Two Iraqi armored division mass on the Kuwait border.

JULY 25

April C. Glaspie, US ambassador to Iraq, tells Saddam the United States will not take sides in his dispute with Kuwait.

AUGUST 1

Saudi-mediated talks between Iraq and Kuwait collapse.

AUGUST 2

Iraq invades Kuwait. UN Security Council council condemns the invasion and demands the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Bush freezes Iraqi and Kuwaiti assets and bans all trade and financial relations with Iraq.

AUGUST 3

Americans and Soviets issue a joint statement in Moscow condemning Iraq.

AUGUST 4

European Community imposes broad trade embargo on Iraq.

AUGUST 6

UN Security Council orders worldwide embargo on trade with Iraq and Kuwait.

AUGUST 7

Bush orders deployment of US combat troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia.

AUGUST 8

Iraq declares Kuwait is part of Iraq.

AUGUST 9

Iraq closes its borders for foreigners, trapping 2,500 Americans and other Westerners in Iraq and Kuwait.

AUGUST 10

Twelve of 20 Arab League states vote to send all-arab military force to join Americans in defense of Saudi Arabia.

AUGUST 12

Saddam says he is ready to resolve the gulf crisis if Israel withdraws from territories it occupies.

AUGUST 20

Iraq announces it has moved Western hostages to vital military installations to be used as human shields.

AUGUST 22

Bush orders first call-up of some 40,000 reservists.

AUGUST 25

UN Security Council passes resolution that would allow military action to enforce economic embargo against iraq.

AUGUST 28

Baghdad declares Kuwait Iraq's 19th province.

SEPTEMBER 9

Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, after a meeting in Helsinki, issue a joint declaration condemning the invasion and stating that both countries will take unspecified further steps if sanctions fail to force an Iraqi withdrawal.

SEPTEMBER 14

Iraqi soldiers move forcibly into Australian, Belgian, Canadian, and French diplomatic compounds in Kuwait City, removing and holding five Western consuls for several hours.

SEPTEMBER 21

Saddam says Iraq would "fight to the finish" in war with United States.

SEPTEMBER 23

Saddam says he will destroy Israel and launch all-out war before allowing UN embargo to "strangle" Iraq.

SEPTEMBER 28

The exiled emir of Kuwait tells Bush that Iraq is pillaging his country and re-populating it with outsiders.

OCTOBER 23

Iraq says it will free all 400 French hostages. Thirty-three Britons fly out with former prime minister Edward Heath. His visit, followed by visits by Japan's Yasuhiro Nakasone and Germany's Willy Brandt, turns Baghdad into what State Department calls a "hostage bazaar."

NOVEMBER 1

Commenting on Mideast situation, Bush says, "They have committed outrageous acts of barbarism. Brutality -- I don't believe that Adolf Hitler ever participated in anything of that nature."

NOVEMBER 5

Secretary of State James A. Baker and Saudi Arabia's King Fahd reach a new military command-and-control agreement, guaranteeing that American troops will be under the command of American officers if an offensive operation against Iraq is launched.

NOVEMBER 8

Bush orders an additional wave of 150,000 troops to gulf to create an "adequate military option should that be necessary."

NOVEMBER 9

Iraq says it will never pull out of Kuwait.

NOVEMBER 19

Iraq says it will pour 250,000 more troops into Kuwait in response to the American buildup.

NOVEMBER 22

Bush spends Thanksgiving Day visiting troops in Saudi Arabia.

NOVEMBER 23

Bush, declaring he would "work with" any nation willing to oppose Iraqi aggression, meets with Syrian leader Hafez Assad in Geneva.

NOVEMBER 28

Two former Joint Chiefs of Staff members tell Congress that the United States should refrain for now from military action and allow sanctions more time to work.

NOVEMBER 29

UN Security Council authorizes the use of force if Iraq does not withdraw from Kuwait by January 15.

NOVEMBER 30

Bush says he is willing to send Baker to Baghdad and invites Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz to Washington before January 15 to discuss a possible peaceful solution to the gulf crisis.

DECEMBER 6

Saddam asks Iraq's parliament to free all foreign hostages.

DECEMBER 8

Iraq proposed that Baker come to see Saddam on January 12. US officials insist instead that the meeting take place no later that January 3.

DECEMBER 10

The first wave of American hostages freed under blanket release head home.

DECEMBER 12

Saddam dismisses his defense minister and replaces him with a younger general who fought in the war against Iran.

1991

JANUARY 2

NATO announces that Germany, Belgium, and Italy will send 42 jet fighters to Turkey to reinforce defenses along the border with Iraq.

JANUARY 9

Baker and Aziz meet in Geneva but fail to defuse crisis after meeting for six hours.

JANUARY 12

Congress gives Bush authority to wage war in gulf. The vote in Senate is 52-47; the House vote is 250-183.

JANUARY 13

UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar meets with Saddam and says afterward, "God only knows" if there will be war. Saddam reiterates his country is ready to fight to keep conquered Kuwait.

JANUARY 15

The UN deadline expires.

JANUARY 16

US bombs Baghdad.