2001 - Political Events
Political Events
Saudi Arabian terrorists hijack U.S. commercial airliners September 11 and use them as missiles to destroy New York's World Trade Center and damage the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., killing nearly 2,900 in the twin towers (initial estimates are much higher) plus 189 at the Pentagon in the worst such tragedy ever, with the highest death toll on a single day in America since the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. A Los Angeles-bound Boeing 767 (American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston) carrying 81 passengers and 11 crew hits the North Tower of the Trade Center at 8:48 in the morning; a Los Angeles-bound 767 (American Airlines Flight 175 out of Boston) carrying 54 passengers and 11 crew hits the South Tower at 9:03; both planes are loaded with jet fuel, they explode in flames that reach close to 2000° F., and both towers soon collapse as the intense heat destroys their steel girders; a Los Angeles-bound Boeing 757 (American Airlines Flight 77 out of Dulles Airport) carrying 58 passengers and six in crew crashes into the Pentagon, killing about 125 plus the people on the plane; a San Francisco-bound Boeing 757 (United Airlines Flight 93 out of Newark) carrying 38 passengers and seven in crew crashes in a field about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh at about 10 o'clock after some passengers overpower the suicidal hijackers (who are armed only with box cutters and plastic knives), diverting their plane from its intended target, possibly the White House or Capitol.
"Nous sommes tous Américains" ("We are all Americans"), the Paris newspaper Le Monde says September 12 (editor-in-chief Jean-Marie Colombani has written the headline), but the FBI and CIA have failed to exchange information on potential terrorists, and President George W. Bush has paid scant attention to an August 6 intelligence briefing entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S." The FBI has only 21 Arabic-speaking operatives, and both services have dismissed Islamic experts because of sexual orientation. All except one of the 19 terrorists on the three planes turn out to have been Saudi Arabians raised in the Wahabi belief that materialism is evil, that the West represents a threat to their austere form of Islam, and that death is preferable to peaceful coexistence. Former president Bill Clinton's Republican secretary of defense William S. Cohen resisted drastic cuts in U.S. military strength; President Bush's secretary of defense Donald H. Rumsfeld has been more intent on downsizing the military than beefing up intelligence capabilities.
Afghan rebel chief Ahmed Shah Massoud dies September 15 at age 48 of wounds received in an assassination attempt a week earlier by two Arab men posing as journalists. Evidence soon emerges that Islamic extremist Osama bin Laden played a role in the terrorist attacks on America, President Bush delivers a well-written address to a joint session of Congress September 20, vowing to bring the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks to justice, threatening to treat any regime that harbors terrorists with the same punishment as the perpetrators, and demanding that Afghanistan's ruling Taliban Party turn over bin Laden. Having promised in his campaign to be a "uniter, not a divider," he finds the country united by the shock of events, but the Taliban refuses to surrender bin Laden absent any proof that he was responsible for the September 11 attacks, and since so many regimes harbor terrorists there are fears that Bush has in effect declared war on dozens of nations. Bush makes no move to counter the anti-American sentiment that pervades the Muslim world, and although cooler heads delay implementing his bellicose threats to take bin Laden "dead or alive," U.S. air and naval forces attack Afghan targets with British support beginning the night of October 7. The list of military targets is quickly exhausted, and while U.S. planes drop some food for starving Afghans, images of damage wrought by the air raids appear predictably on TV screens throughout the Muslim world, fueling anger against the rich, "Godless" Americans.
U.S. B-52s begin bombing attacks in Afghanistan November 1, the Northern Alliance of anti-Taliban forces takes Mazar-i-Sharif November 11 as alliance troops advance in the wake of extensive U.S. bombing, Kabul falls 2 days later, and by the end of November Taliban resistance has virtually ended except in the mountains, but the alliance is made up largely of Tajiks and Uzbeks, it does not reflect the Pashtun ethnic group to which most Afghans belong, Pakistan and the United States opposed formation of an Afghan government comprised of non-Afghans, and an interim government headed by Hamid Karzai, 44, takes office at year's end with bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders still at large. Karzai fled the country in 1979 and initially supported the Taliban during his years of exile but turned against it in 1999 after his father was murdered while walking home from a mosque in Quetta and he became chief of the large Popolzai tribe, part of the dominant Pashtun group (see 2002).
President Bush asks his secretary of defense Donald H. Rumsfeld November 21 to begin developing a secret plan for making war on Iraq (or so it will later be reported). Bush has received a letter September 20 from the right-wing Project for the New American Century, saying that "even if evidence does not link Iraq directly to the [September 11] attack, any strategy aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power." Rumsfeld asks Gen. Tommy Franks to work on the plan, but Franks is preoccupied with prosecuting the war in Afghanistan (see 2002).
The United States indicts French Muslim radical Zacarias Moussaoui December 11 on charges of having "conspired with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to murder thousands of innocent people in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania." Now 33, Moussaoui was arrested at his Minneapolis hotel room August 16 on charges of immigration violations after officials at an Egan, Minn., flight school reported to the FBI that he had demanded lessons in how to fly a jumbo jet, but the public will not learn for another 8 months that an FBI agent at Phoenix urged the bureau to investigate men from the Middle East enrolled in U.S. flight schools, citing bin Laden by name and suggesting that his followers could use the schools to train for terrorist attacks.
President Bush has delivered an eloquent inaugural address January 20, saying, "In the quiet of American conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation's promise. And whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk are not at fault." Former journalist Michael Gerson, 36, has written the words, but they fly in the face of several divisive cabinet appointments and some of Bush's early actions, aimed to please right-wing extremists to whom the new president owes his position. More partisan elements at the White House soon marginalize Gerson, asserting unilateral positions that distance the Bush administration from traditional U.S. allies and from mainstream American thinking. Sen. James M. (Merrill) Jeffords, 67, (R. Vt.) announces May 25 that he is quitting the Republican Party to become an independent, thus tilting the balance in the heretofore evenly divided Senate, giving Democrats control of powerful committees, and enabling them better to block right-wing initiatives, but Jeffords has voted for the president's tax bill and delayed his move until the measure won Senate approval.
Outgoing president Bill Clinton draws condemnation for issuing certain pardons on his last day in office, notably to fugitive commodity traders Marc Rich and Pincus Green, who traded Iranian oil in the early 1980s and have lived in Switzerland since 1983. Few Clinton supporters defend the action, and Clinton haters make capital of it, but critics of the new Bush administration say the pardons are no worse than rewarding big Republican campaign contributors who will profit from massive tax cuts, possible elimination of estate taxes, relaxation of environmental restrictions, and huge new defense contracts.
FBI agents arrest 25-year veteran fellow agent Robert Hanssen, 56, at Washington, D.C., February 18 on charges of having accepted more than $600,000 in cash and diamonds from Russian agents in exchange for information far more damaging than what spy Aldrich Ames provided before his arrest in 1994 (Hanssen's brother-in-law told the FBI about him 10 years ago but the Bureau did not act on the information). President Bush meets with Russia's President Putin at Washington and at Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch in November, but while they agree to a mutual reduction in their nations' nuclear arsenals Bush cannot persuade Putin to abandon the 1972 ABM Treaty and agree to any U.S. development of an anti-missile shield.
A letter from a clerk at the House of Representatives announces July 26 that scholars may now have access to documents from 444 linear feet of records produced by the House Un-American Affairs Committee (HUAC) that held hearings from 1945 to 1975.
Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic surrenders to Serbian authorities early April 1 after all-night negotiations in which he has threatened to shoot himself, his wife, and his daughter (see 2000). Officials say he will not be transferred to The Hague to face trial on charges of war crimes for which he was indicted in May 1999 in connection with atrocities in Kosovo but will be tried on domestic charges of financial irregularities, abusive of power, and causing "damage to the Serbian economy." Hostilities escalate meanwhile in Macedonia, where Albanian rebels try to take over the country. Milosevic is moved to The Hague June 29 but denies that the international tribunal has a legitimate right to try him for war crimes.
Billionaire Italian business tycoon Silvio Berlusconi wins election May 13 to head a new government, replacing the 12-month-old government of Prime Minister Giuliano Amato. Now 64, Berluscon's first government collapsed after 7 months in 1994 amidst charges of massive corruption at a time when the nation's debt-ridden economy seemed irretrievable. His private holding company Fininvest controls Italy's three largest private television networks, her publishing group (its properties include the newspaper Il Giornale and the news weekly Panorama, Milan's football (soccer) team, and a financial empire of banks, insurance companies, and real estate; his estimated net worth of $12.8 billion makes him the richest man in the country, he has built the insurgent right-wing political party Forza Italia from scratch, and he has run on a platform of patriotism, tax cuts, and free-market capitalism. Berlusconi defeats former Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli despite conflicts-of-interest charges and questions about his ability to govern; he assumes office June 11.
Former Portuguese president Francisco da Costa Gomes dies at Lisbon July 31 at age 87.
Poland's former Communist Party wins a 41 percent plurality in September 23 elections under the name Democratic Left Alliance and forms a coalition October 9 with the Polish Peasants Party, enabling it to form a government under Leszk Miller, who has pledged himself to make painful spending cuts in order to curb the nation's growing budget deficit and gain membership in the European Union. The two parties put pressure on Poland's central bank to relax its tough anti-inflationary monetary policies.
Israel's prime minister Ehud Barak loses office February 6 as former defense minister Ariel Sharon wins overwhelmingly at the polls (see 2000), but Palestinians have boycotted the election, they escalate the violence that erupted last year, Sharon has trouble forming a unity government, and the already shaky "peace process" shows every sign of breaking down completely; the Labor Party agrees February 26 to join in a coalition government, hoping to counter Sharon's hard-line position. Sharon cracks down on Palestinian militants, who continue their violence and in some cases cheer the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. President Bush addresses the United Nations November 11 and makes the first reference by any U.S. president to a future state of Palestine existing side by side with Israel (see 2002).
President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines resigns under pressure January 20 after 2½ years in office as mobs take to the streets in protest against his flagrant corruption. The opposition has used the Internet, a motorcade, and marches to mobilize crowds of demonstrators. A new government takes office headed by his 53-year-old vice president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, an economist whose father, Diosdada Macapagal, was president from 1962 to 1965.
The stern of the U.S. nuclear attack submarine Greeneville collides with the Japanese fisheries training vessel Ehime Maru February 9 in exercises near Pearl Harbor, nine trainees are lost, the presence of civilians on the submarine is blamed in part, President Bush sends an admiral with a personal apology, but the incident strains relations between Tokyo and Washington. Economist Junichiro Koizumi wins election to the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in April at age 59 with suggestions that the nation's pacifist constitution be revised and becomes the most popular prime minister that Japan has had since before World War II, his party defies predictions by winning elections in late July, and he puts the country's publicly-financed corporations on notice that they will have to make a case by year's end for the economic viability of their businesses (many have run huge deficits), but the party's old guard shows only luke-warm support for Koizumi's positions, and the nation's economy continues to lag as people keep putting their money into low-return savings accounts rather than spending it.
A U.S. Navy surveillance plane collides with a Chinese fighter jet over international waters April 1. The fighter plane plunges into the South China Sea, her pilot is lost, the propeller-driven EP-38 Aries II plane makes an emergency landing on Hainan Island, her 24 crew members are detained, the Chinese demand an apology, the Bush administration merely expresses regret, President Bush has earlier taken a harder line with Beijing than did his predecessor, and the incident threatens to escalate into a major confrontation. China releases the crew members after 11 days, but Bush approves a sale of military equipment to Taiwan and departs from the previous U.S. position of ambiguity with regard to the "one-China" policy by stating unequivocally that the United States will do whatever is necessary to defend Taiwan from attack.
Nepal's king Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev is killed at age 55 along with most of his family at Katmandu June 1 after a 29-year reign that has seen a degree of democracy introduced in the mountainous kingdom (see 1990). It is first reported that Crown Prince Nirajan massacred his family with an automatic weapon before turning the gun on himself, it is then reported that the weapon fired accidentally and that Nirajan (now King Dipendra) is on life support at a local hospital, he dies June 4 at age 29, and Birendra's 53-year-old brother Gyanendra is crowned June 4 amidst rioting in the streets of Katmandu.
Indonesia's parliament charges President Abdurrahman Wahid with corruption and ousts him July 22 after 20 months in office, the army ignores his orders, and Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri, now 54, is sworn in as president, but she warns in November that civil conflicts threaten to break Indonesia apart (see East Timor, 2002).
Former South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van Thieu dies at Boston September 29 at age 76; Cold War arms-control negotiator Paul C. Warnke of a coronary embolism at Washington, D.C., October 31 at age 81, having helped the late President Johnson reduce U.S. involvement in Vietnam 30 years ago.
Tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir escalate following an attack by Pakistani terrorists that kills 38 people at Srinigar October 1. Britain's prime minister Tony Blair and U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell condemn the attack and try to mollify New Delhi in the face of demands in India for attacks on Pakistan-based terrorist training camps, but a five-man suicide squad of Islamic terrorists attack the Parliament building at New Delhi December 13, raising new fears of a war between two nations possessed of nuclear weapons. Both sides mobilize troops on their 1,800-mile border in the largest such mobilization since 1947.
Congo president Laurent Kabila is assassinated by his bodyguard January 16 and succeeded by his 29-year-old son Joseph, but the new head of state was raised and educated in Tanzania, many view him as an outsider who cannot speak French or the languages of western Congo, and his country is riven with intertribal warfare and fighting against incursions from neighboring countries.
Senegal's first president and major poet Léopold Senghor dies at his French home in Normandy December 20 at age 95.
Former Haitian president Paul Magloire dies at his suburban Port-au-Prince home January 12 at age 94; former Bolivian president Victor Paz Estenssoro of a blood clot at his native Tarija June 7 at age 93.
Peru's voters go to the polls June 3 and elect Alejandro Toledo president. Now 56, the "Cholo from Harvard" (Toledo also has a doctorate from Stanford) grew up in poverty but attracted Peace Corps workers in the 1960s, received a scholarship to the University of San Francisco, and has served at the World Bank. He defeats former president Alan García with promises to fight corruption, guarantee the independence of the judiciary, and cut military spending.
Former Argentine president Carlos Saul Menem is indicted July 4 on charges of having led a conspiracy and falsified documents in order to smuggle arms to Croatia and Ecuador between 1991 and 1995. Blaming an Argentine arms dealer (who has fled to South Africa) and officials at an army weapons factory, Menem insists that the arms were supposed to go to Venezuela and Panama. President Ferdinand de la Rua resigns December 20 after just 2 years in office as the country's economic crisis produces food riots that leave 28 people dead in cities that include Buenos Aires. The presidents successors fail to correct underlying economic problems and the nation verges on bankruptcy.
Mexican politician Carlos Hank González dies of prostate cancer at his Santiago Tianguistenco ranch August 11 at age 73, having long been a major force behind the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He has gained fame with his remark, "A politician who is poor is a poor politician." Reformer Maria de los Angeles Tames, 27, is shot dead execution style in front of her parents by a gunman at a Mexico City suburb September 5, having worked to defeat the PRI and root out corruption.
Former Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega loses a bid to regain power November 6 as voters elect businessman and former vice president Enrique Bolanos, now 73, who was imprisoned by the left-wing Sandanista regime in the 1980s and had his assets confiscated.
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