Middle East Perspectives: Personal Recollections (1947 – 1967)
July 19, American spy satellites detected the first movement of Iraqi Republican Guard combat units from their garrisons around Baghdad southwards towards Kuwait. DIA received reports of two Iraqi divisions now deployed near border with Kuwait. July 21, Satellite reconnaissance confirmed that two Iraqi Republican Guard armored divisions had moved to positions along the Kuwaiti border.
July 21, U. July 25, Satellite reconnaissance imagery revealed that Iraqi forces were ready to invade Kuwait. DIA analysts confirmed the movement to forward assembly areas of Iraqi artillery units. DIA assessed that there were now 8 Iraqi Republican Guard divisions, 10 artillery battalions, , troops, and 1, tanks along border with Kuwait.
It is also possible… that Saddam has already decided to take military action against Kuwait. August 2, 1: In a couple of hours the Iraqi forces overran the weak Kuwaiti Army brigade deployed along the border, and by the end of the day had occupied most of Kuwait. The next day Iraq formally annexed Kuwait and declared it to be the 19th province of Iraq.
U.S. Intelligence on the Middle East, 1945-2009
Bibliography Aid, Matthew M. Bloomsbury Press, Aid, Matthew M. Bloomsbury Press, Andrew, Dr. HarperCollins, Bill, James A. Morrow, Hersh, Seymour M. Summit Books, Hersh, Seymour M. Random House, Kissinger, Henry A. Little, Brown, Livingstone, Neil C. Morrow, Neff, Donald, Warriors at Suez: Knopf, Ranelagh, John, The Agency: Westview Press, Richelson, Jeffrey T. Penguin, Woodward, Bob, Veil: Forrestal September 17, - March 28, Louis A.
Johnson March 28, - September 19, George C. Marshall September 21, - September 19, Robert A. Lovett September 17, - January 20, Charles E. Wilson January 28, - October 8, Neil H. December 2, - January 20, Robert S. Clifford March 1, - January 20, Melvin R. Laird January 22, - January 29, Elliot L. Richardson January 30, - May 24, James R. Schlesinger July 2, - November 19, Donald H. Carlucci November 23, - January 20, Richard B.
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Cheney March 21, - January 20, October 7, - February 9, Allen W. Dulles February 26, - November 29, John A. Schlesinger February 2, - July 2, William E. Colby September 4, - January 30, George H. Casey January 28, - January 29, William H. Webster May 26, - September Robert M. Gates November 6, - January 20, Charyk September - March Dr. Flax October - March Dr. Plummer December - June Dr. Reed August - April Dr. Cook Acting April - August Dr. Hans Mark August - October Dr.
Hermann October - August Edward C. August - December Jimmie D. Faga September - March General Lew Allen, Kr. Studeman August - Edgar Hoover March 22, - May 2, L.
Ruckelshaus acting April 30, - July 9, Clarence M. Kelley July 9, - February 15, William H. Webster February 23, - May 25, John E. Otto acting May 26, - November 2, William S. Sessions November 2, - July 19, Chronology July 22, Jewish Irgun terrorists blew up the west wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 95 people, most of whom were British. May 15, Israel declared its independence. Five Arab armies crossed the border and invaded Israel. Egyptian warplanes bombed Tel Aviv. July King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated. His successor, his mad son Talal, was removed from the throne in in favor of his son Hussein.
Naguib reinstated as president after widespread public demonstrations in Cairo. Nasser named prime minister. October 26, Failed attempt to assassinate Nasser by Moslem Brotherhood members.
Naguib subsequently forced to resign and Nasser named president of Egypt. December Egyptian government put eleven Egyptian jews on trial for espionage and sabotage activities on behalf of Israel. October 29, Israeli forces invaded the Sinai Peninsula and attacked Egyptian forces, marking the beginning the Middle East War. Nasser ordered the dissolution of all Syrian political parties. July 15, U. July 17, British paratroopers land in Jordan. August 30, First photographs of the Israeli Dimona nuclear reactor complex covertly taken by a U.
January Great Britain terminated its treaties of protection with nine Persian Gulf sheikhdoms and announced its decision to withdraw all British troops from the Persian Gulf by the end of August 8, U. September 28, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser died of a heart attack. October 15, Anwar El Sadat became the president of Egypt. November Syrian minister of defense Hafez al-Assad overthrew the civilian government headed by president Nur al-Din al-Atasi. In March , Assad was elected to his first seven year term in office as president of Syria. July 17, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat announced that he had ordered all Soviet military advisors and technicians to leave Egypt immediately, and that all Soviet military facilities in Egypt were ordered closed.
October 6, At 2: October 22, First ceasefire declared in Middle East War. Israeli forces violated the ceasefire by further expanding the size of their bridgehead across the Suez Canal. Israeli forces captured Mount Hermon on the Golan Heights. May Israel and Syria sign a United Nations-brokered disengagement agreement. April Syrian troops intervened in the Lebanese Civil War to ensure that the political status quo in Lebanon was maintained and to ensure that the Lebanese Maronite Christian community remained the dominant political power in the country.
March 14, Israeli forces invaded southern Lebanon as part of Operation Litani. By November , the numerically superior Iranian forces had brought the Iraqi offensive to a standstill well short of its objectives despite the fact that radio intercepts showed that the Iranians had suffered massive casualties in doing so. October 6, Egyptian president Anwar El Sadat was assassinated at a military parade in Cairo by fundamentalist army officers.
The revolt is put down by the Syrian military, with news reports indicating that tens of thousands of civilians had been killed. June 6, Israeli forces invaded Lebanon after two days of heavy air strikes and artillery bombardment. The ground assault proceeded northward along multiple axes, supported by amphibious and airborne operations at key points along the coast and inland.
June 24, U. Hundreds of US, Europeans and Lebanese civilians are evacuated. August 23, Bashir Gemayel was elected president of Lebanon. Muslim members of Lebanese parliament boycotted the election. August 25, U. Mead, landed in Beirut as part of a multinational peacekeeping force to supervise the evacuation of PLO forces from Lebanon along with French and Italian forces. His brother Amin Gemayel replaced him as president of Lebanon.
April 18, First recorded Hezbollah terrorist attack. A member of Hezbollah drove his van next to the U. May Israel and Syria agree to end hostilities in Lebanon. A large contingent of Syrian forces, however, remained in Lebanon. The warning, however, was ignored. October 23, Second Hezbollah terrorist attack. Suicide bombing attack truck loaded with equivalent of 12,lbs.
Later murdered by his kidnappers. Beginning of the Iran-Contra Affair.
August 2, President Ronald Reagan approved the first covert arms shipment to Iran through Israel. November 21, A U. Navy intelligence analyst named Jonathan Jay Pollard was arrested outside the gates of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D. Between June and November , Pollard gave the Israelis classified publications and more than 1, highly classified cables. October 5, The Sunday Times of London published frontpage story quoting former Israel nuclear weapons technician named Mordechai Vanunu stating Israel had been building and stockpiling nuclear weapons at Dimona for twenty years.
February Syrian troops intervene for a second time in Lebanon to enforce a ceasefire in Beirut. August 2, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The next day, Iraq formally annexed Kuwait and declared it to be the nineteenth province of Iraq. August 7, President George H. January 17, U. None of the missiles came close to hitting any military targets. February 24, U. February 27, President Bush declared a cease fire, ordering U. March , U. June 25, U. December United Nations weapons inspectors forced out of Iraq. As the cables are laid, the Iraqi government and military shifts their communications traffic from radio circuits to these fibre-optic links.
June 10, Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad died. His successor was his son Bashar al-Assad. October 12, al Qaeda suicide bombers drove a speed boat loaded with high explosives into the U. Seventeen American sailors were killed and another 39 wounded. On the same day, NSA issued an intelligence report based on intercepts warning that terrorists were planning an attack in the region.
However, the NSA warning message reportedly was not received by consumers until well after the attack had taken place.
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June Under enormous political pressure, Syrian troops evacuated Beirut, but remained deployed inside Lebanon outside the capital city. October 7, U. August 29, President Bush approved the final version of a U. Late September Senior U. This highly controversial document, which served as the underlying justification for the invasion of Iraq, may be unique in the annals of U. February 5, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell makes a formal presentation to the United Nations Security Council alleging that Iraq continued to develop weapons of mass destruction in contravention of various United Nations resolutions.
March 20, U. April 9, Baghdad falls to U. This incident marks the beginning of the insurgency in Iraq, which would last almost seven years and claim the lives of more than 4, American soldiers. Dagan said that Israel has evidence that some foreign fighters have returned home from Iraq, perhaps indicating that the tide may be starting to turn in the U. He worried however, that these militants' countries of origin -- in particular Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria and Sudan -- are ill-equipped to control the returning jihadis, who might then pose a threat to stability in the region and, ultimately, to Israel.
The bombing unleashed a wave of sectarian fighting which produced carnage on an unprecedented scale never seen before in Iraq. September 6, Israeli Air Force warplanes destroyed an alleged clandestine Syrian nuclear reactor in the eastern desert region of the country near a town called al-Kibar. The reactor was allegedly being built with North Korean technical assistance.
August 19, Last U. February 11, Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman announced that president Mubarak had resigned his post and that control over the Egyptian government had been assumed by a group of Egyptian military officers calling themselves Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. June 2, Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak sentenced to life imprisonment. Cite this page U. Saddam Hussein gave a speech accusing Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates of cheating Iraq out of billions of dollars in oil revenues. American spy satellites detected the first movement of Iraqi Republican Guard combat units from their garrisons around Baghdad southwards towards Kuwait.
Bassil A. Mardelli (Author of Middle East Perspectives)
Satellite reconnaissance confirmed that two Iraqi Republican Guard armored divisions had moved to positions along the Kuwaiti border. Jewish Irgun terrorists blew up the west wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 95 people, most of whom were British. Israel declared its independence. King Abdullah of Jordan was assassinated. Failed attempt to assassinate Nasser by Moslem Brotherhood members.
Egyptian government put eleven Egyptian jews on trial for espionage and sabotage activities on behalf of Israel. Israeli forces invaded the Sinai Peninsula and attacked Egyptian forces, marking the beginning the Middle East War. First photographs of the Israeli Dimona nuclear reactor complex covertly taken by a U.
Great Britain terminated its treaties of protection with nine Persian Gulf sheikhdoms and announced its decision to withdraw all British troops from the Persian Gulf by the end of Syrian minister of defense Hafez al-Assad overthrew the civilian government headed by president Nur al-Din al-Atasi. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat announced that he had ordered all Soviet military advisors and technicians to leave Egypt immediately, and that all Soviet military facilities in Egypt were ordered closed.
First ceasefire declared in Middle East War. Syrian troops intervened in the Lebanese Civil War to ensure that the political status quo in Lebanon was maintained and to ensure that the Lebanese Maronite Christian community remained the dominant political power in the country. Iraqi forces invaded Iran. Israeli warplanes destroyed the Iraqi Osirak research nuclear reactor at the Tuwaitha Research Center outside Baghdad. A Scene of Grief. Dead Nights and a Punch. Accidents Fantasies and Espionage.
Now Is the Time for Implementation. The Young Officers Take over the Reign. Iran A Precursor to Nationalization. ProWest Leaders Brutally Betrayed. The Marines Are Here. Bias for the General. Americas Wish Was Granted. In the Family Counsel. Middle East Stability Improved Markedly. The First Half of the Personal Recollections - Bassil A. One of their weaknesses was the apparent inability to distinguish their needs from their greed. On May 15, , the British Mandate over Palestine lost both validity and viability.
British troops hurriedly scuttled out of the Holy Land. Any observer of the historical relationships between individual European countries and the Jews would have advised caution: Mardelli was born in Egypt, grew up in Cairo and Beirut, and was educated in the two Arab capitals. His fascination with the Middle East prompted him to record his observations with the understanding that History is a record of human behavior.
He lives with his wife in Beirut, Lebanon. Would you like to tell us about a lower price? If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support? Middle East Perspectives is the first book of a trilogy about the Middle East and it addresses the period from to The author seeks to portray personal recollections of events that occurred mainly in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria, over a span of twenty years.
Decisions made by key political players have influenced their lives, and many readers can offer a concise preliminary account of their experiences in the Middle East and provide a dramatic journal of observations. Contributions in terms of personal perspectives and interpretations focus on international affairs not personal minutiae. The author talked with many people from Egypt and the Levant, who left there but who voluntarily allowed him to draw on their knowledge and experiences. He kept diaries from his high school days as well as personal memoirs to which he often referred to look up particular dates, for instance, the demonstrations that were started during his high school days for the causes of Algeria and Patrice Lumumba and the launching of Lebanon's first rockets.
As the realm flounders in inflation, the intellectual elite and upper-middle classes leave their home countries, which can no longer satisfy their needs. Thus begins the influx of immigrants arriving in Australia, Europe, and America. Read more Read less. Here's how restrictions apply. From the Inside Flap A few years before January 26, , the thin lines of a quasi-stable Arab world crumbled under the impact of the war for the Holy Land.
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