THIS FAR AND NO FURTHER
A Timeline of Events Surrounding the Radical Right's Attempt to Subvert American Democracy
Written and Compiled by Black Max
1996
December
- December 10: The "oil-for-food" resolution passed by the UN Security Council in April 1995 is finally accepted by Iraq. It allows that country to export oil in exchange for humanitarian aid. (FactMonster, US/Iraq Relations Timeline, (MidEast Web)
1996-1998
- 1996 - October 1998: In early 1996, a friend gives bin Laden a satellite phone. The phone is used by both bin Laden and his military commander Muhammad Atef to direct al-Qaeda's operations. But its use is discontinued two months after a US missile strike against his camps, when an unnamed senior official boasts that the US can track his movements through the use of the phone. Records show "Britain was at the heart of the terrorist's planning for his worldwide campaign of murder and destruction," since 260 calls were made to 27 phone numbers in Britain. The other countries called were Yemen (over 200 calls), Sudan (131), Iran (106), Azerbaijan (67), Pakistan (59), Saudi Arabia (57), a ship in the Indian Ocean (13), US (6), Italy (6), Malaysia (4) and Senegal (2). "The most surprising omission is Iraq, with not a single call recorded." These phone calls, while traced and recorded, were apparently never used to target either bin Laden or the people he called. (CCR)
