By a Fluke of the Gods: Cox Defeats Harding

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 1-05-1976
Event Description: Secretary of State James Buckley meets with Lieutenant Colonel Powell in Bangor, Maine. The two men discuss the findings of the Iraq investigation. “Mr. Secretary,” Powell bluntly states, “Hussein is killing by the thousands. The Kurds in Northern Iraq are on the verge of being snuffed out.” “What can we do Colonel?” Secretary Buckley asks. “We have two options,” Powell tells Buckley, “We can invade or fund a revolution, it’s your choice.” “I wish that we could just ignore it,” Buckley sighs.

Event Date: 1-06-1976
Event Description: Representative Charlie Wilson (Democrat of Texas) runs into Secretary of State Buckley while waiting at a bus stop. “What’s wrong Jim?” Representative Wilson asks Buckley, “You look like a ton of fertilizer just fell on you.” “I need to find some guy in Congress to do something really dumb,” he sighs, “I just don’t know who. Might you know someone in Congress?” Somewhat offended, Wilson responds, “Well I do know one congressman who likes to take risks.” “Who?” Buckley responds. “Me!” Wilson yells. Secretary Buckley tells Wilson that he needs a man to help convince congress to funnel funds to anti-Hussein revolutionaries in Kurdistan and amongst Shiite militias. Representative Wilson agrees to take up the risky mission, and the unlikely alliance between he womanizing, hard drinking Texan Wilson and the intellectual, straight laced Yankee Buckley is forged.

Event Date: 1-19-1976
Event Description: Senator George Bush wins the Iowa Caucus, narrowly overtaking Governor John Love and Speaker of the House John Anderson. Despite endorsements from Governor Robert Ray and Lieutenant Governor Terry Branstad, Love falls short of overtaking the better known Senator Bush. Speaker Anderson offended many Iowans by opposing ethanol subsidies and even declaring ethanol as a fuel, “Which would be even more destructive than crude oil.” Senator Charles Percy finishes a distant fourth and ends his campaign. He endorses Senator Bush over fellow Illinoisan John Anderson.

Event Date: 1-26-1976
Event Description: President Ashbrook declares that America will not invade Iraq, despite calls from many in both parties to topple the Hussein Regime. “We can not risk the lives of American troops in a war that may never have an end,” President Ashbrook tells the nation in a televised address, “I can not risk the lives of American troops in a quagmire.”

Event Date: 1-27-1976
Event Description: Senator Bush blasts President Ashbrook at a rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. “President Ashbrook has shown that he has no spine when it comes to defending human rights,” Bush tells a cheering crowd, “He doesn’t have the guts to be commander-in-chief, but I do!” Vice-President Carter comments to Ronald Reagan on the Voice of the Nation, “Senator Bush is acting like a child with toy soldiers. It seems quite convenient for him to play soldier from behind a desk while young men have to go off and die in wars.” Bush will call Carter a, “wimp”, for this statement.

Event Date: 2-09-1976
Event Description: Russian President Vladimir Kryuchkov and French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing announce that they will not join the international boycott against Iraq, despite the human rights abuses that have been reported.

Event Date: 2-12-1976
Event Description: In a debate sponsored by the Manchester Union Leader, Senator Bush and Speaker Anderson go at each other over the issue of Iraq. “If you had it your way,” Anderson says, pointing at Bush, “We’d be involved in a prolonged conflict the Middle East. Worst of all, it would be over oil.” “That’s a slanderous lie, mister,” Bush snaps back, “I support actions against Iraq because President Hussein is a dictator who threatens human lives and peace in the Middle East.” “And all that oil in Iraq has nothing to do with it, huh?” sarcastically ask Anderson. “Well,” Bush retorts, “We may have to invade nations for oil once your gas taxes are enacted John, it would be the only way that average Americans could get fuel.” It goes on this way for several minutes, leaving Governor Love in the dust.   

Event Date: 2-24-1976
Event Description: Senator George Bush wins the New Hampshire Primary, despite Speaker Anderson attacking him for his belligerence toward Iraq. Bush takes first place with 44% of the vote, with Anderson bagging only 32%. Governor Love wins 20% of the vote while write-ins take the rest of the votes. “Its no wonder they call this the Granite State,” Anderson jokes in his concession address, “It’s quite hard to crack.”

Event Date: 3-02-1976
Event Description: Speaker Anderson upsets Senator Bush in the Massachusetts and Vermont Primaries. Bush, born in Massachusetts, laughs off the losses as, “A fluke of the gods.” Anderson’s more liberal, anti-war and pro-alternative fuel campaign had great appeal in two of the most progressive states in the union.

Event Date: 3-09-1976
Event Description: Running with the support of Senator Fidel Castro, Senator George Bush wins a large victory in Florida. Governor Love, running as a tax cutter, finishes second. 

Event Date: 3-10-1976
Event Description: President Ashbrook signs the School Aid Act of 1976, a bipartisan act proposed by Congressman Dan Quayle (Democrat of Indiana) and Senator George McGovern (Republican of South Dakota). This act increases the funds for the Federal Student Loan program, but also gives states the right to allocate funds for school vouchers. Many on both sides found either provision too much to swallow, but in the end Senator McGovern explains that, “The only way to ensure that more kids go to college is to give into the demands of the conservatives. Sometimes we need to compromise.”

Event Date: 3-16-1976
Event Description: Speaker Anderson wins the Illinois Primary by a wide margin, being that it is his home state. Senator Bush had tried to gain the votes of corn farmers in Western Illinois by declaring that Anderson’s anti-ethanol views would cost them money. Bush’s tactic succeeded somewhat, as he won several counties in Western Illinois and took 34% of the vote.

Event Date: 3-20-1976
Event Description: The State Department approves of the first arms shipment to Kurdish and Shiite militias, with funding insured by Congressman Charlie Wilson. Secretary of State Buckley had cleverly diverted the funds into a pork project for Wilson’s congressional district in Texas, so all Wilson had to do was get the earmark approved. “This is risky, Charlie,” Secretary Buckley had told him. “I know,” Wilson responds, “But I know what’s right, and sometimes it’s a risk to do the right thing.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 3-23-1976
Event Description: Governor Love wins his first primary victory in North Carolina. As the most conservative Republican in the race, this Southern state played well for him. However, Senator Bush finishes very narrowly behind Love, showing that he has clear appeal throughout the country.

Event Date: 3-25-1976
Event Description: Dr. Ron Paul files paper to run in the Democratic Primary for Congress in Texas’s 22nd District. He will oppose long time incumbent Congressman Robert Randolph Casey, known to his constituents as “Brusin’ Bob” for the rough and tumble politics he excels in. Dr. Paul will have his work cut out for him if he is to win the June 3rd primary.

Event Date: 3-20-1976
Event Description: Chinese President meets with European and Asian leaders in Peking to pitch her proposal for what she describes as "a second Silk Road", a series of communications networks that would help create easier roads of trade between the two continents. With many European nations opening trade agreements with China, such a proposal makes sense.

Event Date: 4-06-1976
Event Description: Speaker Anderson wins the Wisconsin Primary; partially due to the support of Governor Patrick Lucey (Republican of Wisconsin). The Republican nomination is still undecided.

Event Date: 4-12-1976
Event Description: Dr. Howard Dean, a Burlington, Vermont, physician and community leader, files papers to run for State Senate in Vermont. He feels like the government is ignoring the impending health care crisis.

Event Date: 4-19-1976
Event Description: Senators Hugh Scott and Richard Schweiker (Republicans of Pennsylvania) endorse Speaker Anderson in the upcoming Pennsylvania Primary. In response, Senator Bush unleashes several negative mailings which call Anderson’s proposed gas tax increases as, “Back door gas price hikes.”

Event Date: 4-27-1976
Event Description: In a hard fought victory, Senator Bush claims victory in the Pennsylvania Primary. Speaker Anderson finishes second, despite endorsements from the states two senators. “The people have spoken, the bastards,” Anderson quips. In seriousness, Anderson is enraged at Bush’s attacks on his gas tax policies, which he feels were misconstrued for political reasons.

Event Date: 4-01-1976
Event Description: Shiite militias armed by American weapons attack a Republican Army base outside of Tikrit. The pitched battle lasts for 16-hours and ends in victory for the Shiites. President Hussein responds to this attack by declaring, “Unconditional war on all who rebel against this government.”

Event Date: 5-04-1976
Event Description: The three primary contests held today produce three different victors. Speaker Anderson takes Washington, D.C., Governor Love wins Indiana and Senator Bush wins Georgia. Despite a clear cash advantage, Bush has been unable to land a knockout punch against his opponents.

Event Date: 5-09-1976
Event Description: Six regiments of Republican Army armored infantry arrive in Northern Iraq. Their purpose is to put down a brewing Kurdish rebellion against President Hussein. They will meet stiff resistance from the well armed rebels.

Event Date: 5-11-1976
Event Description: Governor Love wins the Nebraska Primary, defeating Senator Bush by a narrow margin. Bush takes the West Virginia Primary, however, keeping him in the lead in the delegate count.

Event Date: 5-15-1976
Event Description: In a meeting in Denver, Colorado, Senator Bush meets with Governor Love. “John,” Bush tells him, “You can’t win the nomination, its darn near impossible.” “I know that,” Love concedes. “So I’ve got a proposition for you, John,” Bush tells the governor. Bush offers Love the vice-presidency if he will drop out of the race and release his delegates to him. Love accepts the agreement. Speaker Anderson calls this arrangement, “A fine example of Bush league politics.”

Event Date: 6-01-1976
Event Description: Senator Bush nearly shuts Speaker Anderson out of any primaries wins today, taking big victories in Montana and South Dakota. Anderson wins Rhode Island narrowly, which is a state he should have carried with at least 60% of the vote.

Event Date: 6-03-1976
Event Description: In the Texas Primary, Senator Bush wins big cementing a nearly insurmountable lead in the Republican Primary. Dr. Ron Paul is defeated in the Democratic Primary for Congress in Texas’s 22nd District by a 56-44% margin. Congressman Robert Randolph Casey’s machine proved too much for the doctor to overcome. That night he promises his supporters that he will return to the political fray again.

Event Date: 6-04-1976
Event Description: Republican Army tanks and helicopters crush Kurdish rebels at the Battle of Arbil, the capitol of Kurdistan. The rebels were no match for the machine gun equipped helicopters. Secretary Buckley and Congressman Wilson decide that the rebels need rocket launchers, which will be a difficult task.

Event Date: 6-08-1976
Event Description: Senator Bush closes the deal with wins in the California and New Jersey Primaries. Speaker Anderson was able to carry Ohio, but this victory is too little too late for his campaign. The 1976 Election is to be Bush/Love vs. Ashbrook/Carter.

Event Date: 6-12-1976
Event Description: Lieutenant Colonel Colin Powell speaks before the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. His speech calls for war against Iraq. “President Hussein threatens the peace and stability of the Middle East,” Powell tells the CFR, “It is in our strategic interest, as Americans and members of the free world, that we depose Saddam Hussein to the ash heap of history.” Protesting outside of the event is Ralph Nader, holding a massive sign reading, “No blood for oil.”

Event Date: 6-20-1976
Event Description: Feeling that the GOP is transforming into the party of war, Speaker of the House John Anderson resigns as Speaker. “I can not serve as leader to a party bent on throwing our nation into a bloody and meaningless war with a nation that is no threat to us,” Anderson announces from the Speaker’s Office. Senator Bush calls Anderson, “A sore loser, plain and simple. He’s acting like a wimp.”

Event Date: 6-25-1976
Event Description: In a party line vote in the House of Representatives, House Majority Leader John Rhodes (Republican of Arizona) is elected Speaker of the House. In the race for House Majority Leader, Congressmen Andrew Young (Republican of Georgia), Sinclair Burgener (Republican of California) and the bombastic Malcolm Little (Republican of Michigan) battle it out for the strategic post. After one roll call of votes, Representative Burgener is elected.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 7-03-1976
Event Description: In Gregg v. Georgia, the Supreme Court upholds its ban on the death penalty.

Event Date: 7-04-1976
Event Date: The nation celebrates its bicentennial. “The dreams of some starry eyed patriots have really become something,” Ronald Reagan tells a star studded crowd at Philadelphia’s Bicentennial Banquet, “Tonight really shows what a group of dreamers can do if they never lose hope in their God, their families and their country.” The event ends with the New York Philharmonic performing, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Event Date: 7-15-1976
Event Description: The Republican Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, nominates Senator George Herbert Walker Bush of Connecticut for President and Governor John Love of Colorado for Vice-President. “I see a country that is bankrupted in not just economic goods,” Senator Bush tells the cheering convention, “But in courage as well! President Ashbrook refuses to be commander-in-chief, so I think I should get the opportunity!” These clichéd statements have been used by Bush many times before, so his speech gets little media attention.

Event Date: 7-19-1976
Event Description: The USA beats the Germans to Mars as Viking 1 snaps photos of the Red Planet. Chancellor Heck refuses to acknowledge this loss, with the exception of referring to Viking 1 as, “A cute child’s play toy.”

Event Date: 7-30-1976
Event Description: A summer blockbuster premiers in Hollywood. It is a remake of Leonard Bernstein’s classic “West Side Story”. It stars many unheard of singers, including Jack Leyton, an Irish newcomer, as Tony. In a cameo role, Ronald Reagan plays Officer Krupke, a role which earns the new actor chuckles, but also some applause.

Event Date: 8-04-1976
Event Description: The House of Representatives passes a resolution to intervene in Iraq through military means. “The brutal, barbarous regime of Saddam Hussein must be put to an end!” booms Speaker Rhodes. President Ashbrook refuses to comply with the resolution. “I have said that invading Iraq is a bad idea and I stand by my decision,” he coolly tells the Associated Press. 

Event Date: 8-19-1976
Event Description: The Democratic Convention in New York City nominates President John Ashbrook and Vice-President James Carter for a second term in office. “No matter how strong the Congress pushes for a foolhardy, unneeded war with Iraq, I will say no,” President Ashbrook promises the cheering crowd, “If the Congress keeps on pushing, I’ll still say no. If they still keep on pushing I’ll tell them, ‘Read my lips, there will be no war on Iraq!” Ashbrook’s rousing address helps his campaign regain some ground on Senator Bush, who has been leading in recent polls.

Event Date: 9-10-1976
Event Description: With the latest Gallup Poll showing President Ashbrook leading Senator Bush by a 47-45% margin, the Bush campaign unveils several new negative television advertisements against the president. One of them shows a group of wealthy men walking into a limousine while discussing the Ashbrook Tax Cuts, ending with the announcer declaring, “So, who does President Ashbrook really look out for?” Another portrays Saddam Hussein casting an evil glare at the viewer as the announcer (who tries to sound a great deal like Rod Serling) listing off the crimes against humanity Hussein has committed in Iraq. These crimes scroll up the screen in sinister red and black lettering. The announcer ends the ad by asking the audience, “Do you feel safe while this man is in power?” President Ashbrook attacks these ads as, “Scare tactics that have nothing to do with real problems facing the nation.”

Event Date: 9-24-1976
Event Description: President Ashbrook and Senator Bush meet for the first televised presidential debate of the 1976 Election, moderated by NBC’s John Swayze. The debate is a mild one, with domestic issues being the major concern. “The price of gas is issue number one for me and my family,” Senator Bush tells the audience, “Which is why bringing it down will be issue number one for the Bush Administration.” “In all fairness Senator,” President Ashbrook interrupts, “You’re a millionaire, how are gas prices a problem for you? Furthermore, how do you intend on bringing prices down without major deals with OPEC?” “Mr. President, the attack on my wealth is right out of Deng Xiaoping’s playbook,” Bush snaps at Ashbrook. His response to the gas prices question is incoherent, but his slam on Ashbrook’s own millionaire attack is covered extensively by the news.

Event Date: 9-30-1976
Event Description: Father Rudolph Braun, just 26-years old, is awarded the Nobel peace Prize for his tireless work end the violence in Northern Ireland, and, against all odds, succeed in this fight. Rudolph Braun, the son of Eva Hitler-Braun, does not mention his notorious parents in his acceptance speech. In fact, all he does is quote an old Talmudic phrase, “"He who saves the life of one man, saves the world entire."

Event Date: 10-24-1976
Event Description: In the second presidential debate, the issue of Iraq dominates the candidate’s time. President Ashbrook is adamant about Iraq’s Saddam Hussein not being a threat to America or the world, while Senator Bush is just as convinced that Hussein is. Bush goes as far to call Ashbrook’s foreign policy, “The great demoralization to our military since the Battle of the Bull Run.” Ashbrook reminds Bush, “The military is not a plaything for someone to move about for any reason. We can not be the world’s police, Senator.” Ashbrook comes off as more presidential and calm during the debate, leading most viewers to declare him the winner. The election is a nearly a tie in the latest Gallup Poll, showing that President Ashbrook and Senator Bush are tied 48-48% with Ralph Nader taking 2% of the vote.

Event Date: 10-30-1976
Event Description: In what could not come at a worse time for President Ashbrook, it is revealed by the Iraq Human Rights Investigation Team that President Hussein may be secretly enriching uranium to build nuclear weapons, ones as powerful as U.S. bombs. “This is the Iraq I have warned of since the early 1970s,” Senator Bush tells a crowd in Chicago, Illinois, “Hussein and his cronies will stop at nothing until they control the future of the Middle East, even if that means using nuclear weapons.” President Ashbrook tells a rally in San Diego, California, “This is yet another report from a group hungry for war.” Despite Ashbrook downplaying the news, more people seem to trust Colin Powell than Secretary of State Buckley. With the election just three days away, Bush pulls ahead in the polls.

Event Date: 11-02-1976
Event Description: Senator George H.W. Bush of Connecticut is elected President of the United States over incumbent President John Ashbrook. The election is very close, coming down to the crucial swing state of Illinois. Bush narrowly carried the state, and with it the presidency.

George Bush/John Love (R): 281 EV; 49.2% of the PV
John Ashbrook/James Carter (D): 257 EV; 48.3% of the PV
Ralph Nader/Barry Commoner (Consumer): 0 EV; 2.3% of the PV
Others (Constitution, Libertarian, etc.): 0 EV; 0.2% of the PV

The new president’s narrow victory is not a mandate for his party. The Republicans fail to gain control of the Senate, but keep the House of Representatives. It appears that President Ashbrook’s small economic boom helped his party more than it helped him. In the end, the 1976 election was determined not by the economy, but by fears of foreign leaders and the future of peace in the world. 

[PBrunsel]

DC going Democratic? I don't see it.

Just a fluke of the writer, Xahar. Thanks for telling me I had D.C. in Ashbrook's column, since that would make no sense. D.C. usually goes Republican in this timeline with 75-80% of the vote.

HappyWarrior,

Shriver is a Democratic Congressman from Maryland. Though he is quite liberal on many issues, his wife Eunice Kennedy keeps him the Democratic fold.

Eagleton was elected to the Senate in 1962, replacing Harry Truman. He is still there today, and no one knows about his depression and electroshock therapy except his family and his doctor.

[PBrunsel]

Simon,

I'm going to assume that Ralph Regula is your congressman.

Regula is still a Republican and was elected to Congress in 1972, just like in real life. He won his seat running on a platform of supporting more funding for alternative fuel sources. President Nixon was so impressed by the campaign he stopped by OH-16 to campaign for Regula, even though it is a very safe GOP district.

With a different GOP more open to progressive thought on energy policies, expect Regula to rise in power in the Republican Party.

[PBrunsel]

GZ67,

The Oakland Athletics are not as good, as you'd expect. In 1971, The A's lose the Pennant to the Baltimore Orioles.

The Oakland Athletics will have a different history without Reggie Jackson on their side, as you would respect.
 

[PBrunsel]

The Presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush

Event Date: 1-20-1977
Event Description: George Herbert Walker Bush is inaugurated as President of the United States. “I want to take this country not left or right, but forward,” President Bush tells the nation in his Inaugural Address. He doesn’t seem to want a cabinet this way, since he fills the seats with strong Republicans. In the crucial roles of Secretary of State, Bush realizes he needs a hawk on Iraq. He appoints George P. Shultz, a higher up in the State Department who had been a member of the Iraq Investigation Team, to be Secretary of State and help lead a war against Iraq. In the role of Secretary of Defense, Bush appoints conservative Congressman Donald Rumsfeld (Democrat of Illinois). Rumsfeld, though being a Democrat, supported Bush in 1976 and is a hawk when it comes to foreign affairs.

Event Date: 1-31-1977
Event Description: President Bush meets with Congressman Charlie Wilson and former Secretary of State Buckley. They tell him that for the last year they’ve been secretly aiding anti-Hussein rebels in Iraq. President Bush is both pleased and appalled by this. “First of all I want to tell you two that you’ve really complicated matters in Iraq,” Bush scolds them, “On the bright side, you’ve put some needed motions into effect.”

Event Date: 2-02-1977
Event Description: President Bush gives his first State of the Union Address. He puts forth a vision of human rights in American oil policy. "By the year 1990," President Bush says, "this nation should no longer be dependent upon oil from nations that refuse to govern their people in a democratic fashion. Their dictators will not dictate to us what we will spend on the energy we want to use!" This shocks Chief of Staff Richard Cheney, a strong oilman, but he will stay on in the Bush White House anyway. President Bush also draws the line in the sand on Iraq. “This nation will not, I repeat, will not tolerate Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror in Iraq,” the president sternly tells the world, “He is the focus of evil in the modern world and represents the things all American hate: tyranny, murder and lack of respect for human life.”

Event Date: 2-22-1977
Event Description: In Palm Springs, Colorado, Dr. James Dobson, an evangelical preacher and a professor for 14-years at the University Of Southern California School Of Medicine, founds Focus on the Family, a pro-family, pro-Christian nonprofit group. Dobson will soon get his own radio show and espouse his traditionalist beliefs. Focus on the Family will one day grow into the largest Christian nonprofit group in the world,

Event Date: 3-01-1977
Event Description: British and French engineers begin construction work on the "Eurotunnel", an underwater road and rail link connecting the two sides of the English Channel. When completed, it is expected to be the longest tunnel of its kind in Europe.

Event Date: 3-06-1977
Event Description: President Hussein orders the Republican Guard to arrest several British diplomats, believing that they are conveying Iraqi military secrets to London. The world responds to this action with unified outcry against it. “The people of the United Kingdom stand against this most recent injustice by President Hussein,” Prime Minister James Callaghan tells the Parliament. President Bush, expecting war may be soon, send the U.S.S. Cordell Hull to Strait of Hormuz.

Event Date: 3-12-1977
Event Description: The Hilton Hotel and Suites-Peking opens with great fanfare. Conrad Hilton attends the opening, where former President Richard Nixon, in Peking for a business deal, will be the first guest at the multi-million dollar hotel.

Event Date: 4-09-1977
Event Description: A United Air Lines plane crashes into a field in western Pennsylvania, killing all passengers. Those responsible for the attack had little trouble taking control of the plane, despite resistance from passengers. The plane crashes due to the terrorists being unable to navigate with new airplane controls.

Event Date: 4-10-1977
Event Description: President Bush addresses the nation on yesterday’s terrorist attack. “The heroes aboard the United Air Lines plane fought to stop terrorists from carrying out their ultimate plan; using airplanes as missiles against Americans,” President Bush tells the nation. He outlines how CIA investigators have discovered who was responsible for the attack. “We have determined that a group of men, recruited by wealthy oil magnates in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, attacked the plane to avenge this nation’s determination to end our dependence on foreign oil.” One of the terrorists is a wealthy man himself, Osama bin Laden, dead at the age of 20. “Any more attempts at terrorist attacks, like the one attempted on April 9th, will be met with a force by the American armed forces. America will not tolerate such attacks from faceless cowards and their allies in Baghdad and elsewhere. We will not tolerate such attacks, no matter who they come from.”

Event Date: 4-12-1977
Event Description: President Hussein denies that he had anything to do with the terrorist attacks on April 9th. “We have never had any dealings with terrorists in the past,” Hussein tells the Iraqi Parliament, “The attacks from, the American president is unfounded.”

Event Date: 5-09-1977
Event Description: President Bush and Secretary of the Treasury W. Michael Blumenthal decide that it would be suicide to the economy to repeal the Ashbrook Tax Cuts, at least until they expire in 1980. The Ashford budget will not be touched for 1977-1978, except military funding will be increased due to fears in the Middle East.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 5-21-1977
Event Description: Secretary of State Schultz meets with British Foreign Minister David Owen meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, to discuss foreign affairs. Foremost amongst them is Iraq and the reign of terror from Saddam Hussein. The two declare that the United States and the United Kingdom will stand against Iraq if that nation becomes a threat to the world or the world’s oil supply. Ralph Nader, a 1976 presidential candidate, calls the pact, “A blood treaty made for the sole reason of helping the multi-national oil interests.”

Event Date: 6-19-1977
Event Description: It is released by international investigators that the nations of Sudan and Syria may be hosting Iraqi uranium enrichment plants. Lieutenant Colonel Colin Powell, who led the investigation, releases that both of these nations, “Have facilities which can produce dangerous uranium which can be made to equip nuclear weapons.” The leaders of Sudan, Syria and Iraq immediately deny this charge, but the current world feelings toward Iraq are so cool that very few believe these denials. President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld begin formulating plans on how to most easily subdue Iraq and deal with the reconstruction of the nation.

Event Date: 6-20-1977
Event Description: Fearing that uranium could be smuggled into Iraq, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Kuwait and the United States deploy several ships to the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Iran mobilizes its army on the Iraq-Iran border.

Event Date: 6-21-1977
Event Description: President Hussein demands that Iran cease the mobilization of its armed forces on the Iraq border. “This belligerent activity will be met with appropriate force,” Hussein warns the Shah of Iran. He gives the Shah 48-hours to stop the mobilization and withdraw troops from the border, or face war with Iraq. The world holds its breath…

Event Date: 6-23-1977
Event Description: The Shah refuses to stop the mobilization of Iranian armed forces, and President Hussein responds in kind. He declares war on Iran, declaring he will wage, “The mother of all battles.” President Bush tells the Shah that, “Through thick and thin, we are with you until victory.”

Event Date: 7-01-1977
Event Description: 300,000 Iranian armored infantry divisions flood across the Iraq’s Northwestern border and attack the city of Mandall, a strategic air force base for the Republican Army. The Iranians fight a pitched battle against 500,000 Republican Guard members. The battle is an Iraqi victory, but the air base is destroyed. The Republican Army will now suffer from the loss of a base strategic for bombing Iran.

Event Date: 7-04-1977
Event Description: The Iraqi Air Force bombs the city of Llam, Iran. Though a small town, the raid is ordered by President Hussein to show the world that the destruction of the Mandall Air Base has not crippled his air force.

Event Date: 7-09-1977
Event Description: Former President Ashbrook draws criticism from the public when he tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer in an interview, “President Bush was really praying for an Iran-Iraq war.” White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater calls the statement, “Distasteful, ridiculous and below the dignity of a former president.” In all reality, the very anti-Hussein president does view the war as a chance to get rid of the dictator and secure the strategic oil reserves in Iraq.

Event Date: 7-12-1977
Event Description: Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, suspected by the world community of harboring Iraqi uranium enrichment facilities, signs a military alliance with President Saddam Hussein of Iraq and immediately sends 255,000 troops and 15 armored units into Northern Iran. In response to this, President Bush begins discussing further military aid with Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani and the Shah.

Event Date: 7-25-1977
Event Description: Iraqi airplanes attack the USS Cordell Hull in the Straight of Hormuz. The attack has no casualties and causes limited damage to the Cordell Hull. President Hussein says that the attack was a mistake, as the captain of the Iraqi squadron thought he was attacking an Iranian warship. The White House is in a panic over the attack. President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld see this attack as a reason to enter the Iran-Iraq War. “The dogs attacked our people,” President Bush tells his cabinet at an emergency meeting, “We’ll see if they can get away with that!” “Mr. President,” Secretary Schultz tells the enraged chief executive, “This is not a USS Arizona attack or something like that. No one was harmed and the ship was barely touched. The congress will never accept war because of this.” Chief of Staff Dick Cheney tells President Bush that Secretary Schultz is right. “We’d need to see a real threat to national security from Iraq to persuade the Congress to pass even a resolution to send troops to Iraq,” Cheney tells Bush.

Event Date: 7-29-1977
Event Description: Combined Iraqi and Syrian troops defeat the Iranian Army at the Battle of Mahabad. This victory begins a massive invasion of Northern Iran, which is a very underdeveloped and vulnerable area in Iran. Hussein hopes to win some quick victories in Iran, end the war and take oil fields from the defeated nation. He hopes to corner the Middle Eastern oil market by taking over a majority of the oil rich areas.   

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 8-01-1977
Event Description: Looking to expand the war and begin his acquisition of oil rich areas in the Middle East, President Hussein orders the Iraqi Army to invade Kuwait, a small, oil rich nation located to the southeast of Iraq. Kuwait’s small army is no match for the mechanized Iraqi Army, and by the end of the day Kuwait City, the capitol, is threatened by Hussein’s tanks.

Event Date: 8-09-1977
Event Description: Iraqi medium-range ballistic missiles armed with high explosive warheads hit the Iranian towns of Dezful and Khorramabad. Adding more to the strike, President Hussein orders his ground troops to cross the border to capture the town of Dehloran.

Event Date: 8-15-1977
Event Description: After a bloody 5-hour struggle, Iraqi soldiers enter Kuwait City, taking the oil rich nation in just fourteen days.

Event Date: 8-16-1977
Event Description: The nations of Israel, Palestine and Egypt declare war on Iraq, fearing that their own national sovereignty may be the next target of President Hussein. Iran welcomes Egypt and Palestine (two Muslim nations) into the fight, but refuses to recognize Israel as an ally. “The Shah must not know the old saying, ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend,’” Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir tells the Associated Press, “He will see that Israelis can fight madmen, despite them having a different religion.”

Event Date: 8-19-1977
Event Description: Israeli missiles strike Iraqi air bases in Mosul and Kirkuk. These were strategic cites for Iraq’s air force, but now they lie in rubble. 

Event Date: 8-20-1977
Event Description: Citing the fall of Kuwait, President Bush declares that Iraq “Is a major threat to the world’s security, especially when it comes to protecting national sovereignty and resources.” UK Prime Minster James Callaghan agrees that Iraq is now too much of a threat to be ignored. “Hussein and his armies threaten the very peace of the world,” Prime Minister Callaghan tells Parliament. Within hours, both Congress and Parliament are voting on resolutions to unilaterally attack Iraq. In the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Byrd leads the fight against the resolution. “We do not need to get involved in a war in the Middle East for no reason,” he tells his colleagues, “Iraq is not a threat to the United States and never has been.” Senator Fidel Castro leads the call for war, telling the Congress, “We refused to act when Hitler was attacking his neighbors in Europe, do you recall what happened then? Do you really want another 20 million slaughtered innocents?” The debate is heated, but in the end the pro-war Republicans win out in both Houses of Congress. The resolution is passed and the United States will begin sending troops to the Middle East as soon as possible.

Event Date: 8-21-1977
Event Description: Turkey and the United Kingdom declare war on Iraq. The Iran-Iraq War has now exploded into a multi-national conflict. Despite many nations entering the war, two nations are keeping conspicuously neutral. Both Chancellor Heck in Germany and President Kryuchkov in Russia have refused to side either way in the war. “It’s not of Russian concern,” is the only response President Kryuchkov has given the world press.

Event Date: 9-15-1977
Event Description: The first U.S. troops, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Norman Schwarzkopf, arrive at Camp Mohan in Turkey. They will invade Iraq from the Turkish border on October 1st, and advance towards Baghdad. Lieutenant Colonel Colin Powell will lead U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf region, orchestrating “Operation Desert Strom” to liberate Kuwait and invade Iraq from the South. President Bush calls this two pronged attack, “Operation Shock and Awe.”

Event Date: 9-22-1977
Event Description: U.S. jet bombers attack the city of Ar Rutbah, a major air base in Western Iraq. The commander of the U.S. air force, Admiral Joseph Patrick Kennedy III, is hoping to take out all Iraqi air bases by December 1977, and cripple the impressive Iraqi air force.

Event Date: 10-01-1977
Event Description: 425,000 U.S. troops flood into Iraq from Turkey. They take the city of Ar Rutbah in a short, nearly bloodless skirmish. On the Persian Gulf, 15 U.S. transports release 215,000 U.S., U.K., Turkish and Canadian infantrymen. In the largest amphibious assault since the Japanese-American War, the coalition forces take the coastal city of As Salimiyah, a suburb of Kuwait City. Operation Desert Storm is rolling on in Kuwait.

Event Date: 10-03-1977
Event Description: Ronald Reagan breaks one of his own vows by attacking the President of the United States during war time. “I just want to know,” Reagan asks his audience on the Voice of the Nation, “Why did President Bush ask Congress to pass a resolution to intervene in Iraq, and not ask for a formal declaration of war? The reason is because there were not enough votes for a declaration of war! President Bush is waging an unconstitutional war, it’s that simple.” Many of his listeners declare that attacking the president during a time of war is unpatriotic, but Reagan refuses to apologize. “Just because troops are marching overseas,” Reagan explains to the Associated Press, “Doesn’t mean the First Amendment is suspended.”

Event Date: 10-21-1977
Event Description: The Battle of Kuwait City rages as Lieutenant Colonel Powell’s troops engage the occupying Iraqi forces. The superiority of the American air force gave Powell an upper hand in the battle. The Iraqis suffer over 80,000 casualties and surrender. Hussein has gained and lost Kuwait in less than a month.

Event Date: 11-09-1977
Event Description: Former Governor George Lincoln Rockwell is elected to his second term as Governor of Virginia. He had previously served as governor from 1970-1974. He defeats former Nixon Secretary of the Navy John Warner (Republican of Virginia) for the office. Secretary Warner had expected not to win, however, and was using this run for governor to increase his name recognition for a run for U.S. Senate in 1978. Governor Rockwell is intending to run for president in 1980.

Event Date: 11-24-1977
Event Description: President Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush spend Thanksgiving in Kuwait City with Powell and the soldiers of Operation Desert Storm. “You guys are fighting for freedom,” President Bush tells the troops, “It is because of you that all of Kuwait is free, and soon all of Iraq will be too.” The president also tells the soldiers that when they enter Baghdad, “You will be greeted as liberators and have flowers reigned on you. You are spreading peace and democracy, and the people of Iraq will love you for it.” President Bush also promotes Colin Powell to the rank of general today.

Event Date: 11-30-1977
Event Description: The city of Hidithah is taken by Schwarzkopf’s troops after a six hour gun fight with Iraqi soldiers. The march to Baghdad continues, but Hidithah will be a town where the Americans will not be greeted as liberators.

Event Date: 12-03-1977
Event Description: An Iraqi saboteur is found in the basement of the Empire State Building in New York City, New York. Security guards found the saboteur as he was wiring san explosive. New York Mayor Abraham Beame calls on the NYPD to step up anti-terror measures.

Event Date: 12-31-1977
Event Description:  On New Years Eve, President Bush sends an ultimatum to President Hussein. “You can either surrender to the coalition forces or resign from power,” Bush tells Hussein on live television, “Or face the year 1978, a year in which you will see your empire of evil crumble into nothing but fire and rubble. The choice is yours, Mr. President.” Hussein responds with a simple phrase, “Go to hell.” The Iraq War will continue into 1978.
 

[PBrunsel]

Big war in the Middle East. Could you post a map of what's going on there?

I have no skills in making maps, so I can't do that Xahar. This war is comprised of two sides:

Iraq and Syra

vs.

The Toronto Pact (mostly USA, UK, Canada), Israel and Egypt

[PBrunsel]

Your map looks good Xahar. I forgot to mention Iran in my last post, which was a MAJOR oversight!

I will have 1978 up by the end of the day and with that the outcome of the war and the begining of the long reconstruction.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 1-05-1978
Event Description: General Powell’s forces reach the outskirts of Basra, Iraq. The city could be taken easily, but Powell refuses to do so. In a message to President Bush, Powell explains that taking such a holy city to the Islamic world, “May open a Pandora’s box that could spark international terrorism and ignite tensions in the Islamic world.” Bush tells Powell to take the city, and Powell obeys.

Event Date: 1-07-1978
Event Description: After 12-hours of aerial bombardment from American and Israeli jets, Basra falls to the advancing coalition forces. The ancient Islamic city falls by dawn, signaling a major defeat for the Iraqi Army.

Event Date: 1-12-1978
Event Description: Iranian and Egyptian troops, backed by three divisions of U.S. Marines, invade the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, widely regarded by both sides as Iraq's most vital seaport. With the fall of Basra days earlier, the port city is now isolated from the Iraqi Army.

Event Date: 1-16-1978
Event Description: The Battle of Umm Qasr rages with major casualties. 515,000 Iraqi troops fight to the last man against over 1 million coalition troops. Some Iranian regiments suffer 100% casualties while charging the fortified city. In the end, General Powell is able to enter the city and raise Old Glory over the town square.

Event Date: 1-20-1978
Event Description: Fearing that the endgame is approaching, President Saddam Hussein begins hoarding massive amounts of gold into an anonymous Swiss bank account. He also begins preparing a safe way for him and his family to safely escape the country to begin a life in exile.

Event Date: 2-10-1978
Event Description: Israeli troops clash with the Syrian army at the Battle of Urfa, a key Syrian munitions city. The Syrians are able to stall the Israeli invasion with a victory, but the Israeli Army will return to Syria before the end of the war.

Event Date: 2-14-1978
Event Description: The Iraqi Army launches a massive counter strike at the city of Fallujah against Schwarzkopf’s advancing coalition army. The Battle of Fallujah begins with the Iraqi Army breaking the coalition forces in three places and forcing them into a retreat. Lieutenant Colonel Schwarzkopf rallies his officers enough to prepare them for a counter strike in a few days.

Event Date: 2-18-1978
Event Description: After four days of almost unrelenting bombings from the American air force, coalition forces mount a second attack on Fallujah. With city defenses greatly weakened by the bombing raids, the city is taken within eight hours. The city is taken, though there are 5,000 American deaths, and Norman Schwarzkopf is promoted to the rank of general.

Event Date: 2-19-1978
Event Description: The first mass graves in Iraq are discovered by American troops outside of the captured city of Fallujah. Over 125,000 of President Hussein’s “enemies” are buried on top of each other in this particular grave sight. Ronald Reagan traveling with the army, comments that night on his radio program, “Today I saw what total power and a heart full of evil can do to people, even innocent people. In Iraq, we have a constant reminder of the sins of unchecked power and blatant disrespect for human life. Tonight, we should pray thanks to God that we live in a land where such atrocities could never befall us. May this truth one day be universal. Good night and God bless not just America, but all people who strive for freedom and dignity for all humankind”

Event Date: 2-20-1978
Event Description: Colonel Jim Webb becomes the military commander of Fallujah; a city which General Schwarzkopf knows will be a difficult one for the coalition forces to keep under control. Colonel Webb, the welterweight Marine boxing champion, was selected for the post by General Schwarzkopf because of Webb’s skills at negotiating and compromise making, as well as an ability to be tough when he needs to be. Webb will show great leadership in stabilizing Fallujah. 

Event Date: 2-27-1978
Event Description: Israeli and Iraqi tanks clash at Al Guwair, a village southeast of Mosul. Israeli Commanding General Yitzhak Rabin begins formulating plans for the final push towards Kirkuk, the fourth largest city in Iraq.

Event Date: 3-01-1978
Event Description: Following a disastrous 1977 season, the Oakland Athletics are sold to oil billionaire Marvin Davis, who moves them to Denver and renames them the Colorado Athletics.

Event Date: 3-09-1978
Event Description: The Iraqi Army launches an invasion of Iran, taking the border city Khorramshah in a quick victory. General Powell’s troops are currently too far away from the city to help the Iranians retake it, forcing the Shah to send his own National Guard to attack the Iraqi occupied town.

Event Date: 3-12-1978
Event Description: The Iranian National Guard engages and defeats the Iraqi Army at the Second Battle of Khorramshah. The Iraqis did not have the benefit of surprise, like they did at the first battle, or the advantage in numbers. There will not be another invasion of Iran during the remaining course of the Iraq War.

Event Date: 3-15-1978
Event Description: The U.S. gains an ally in the Iraq War with the outcome of the Russian Presidential Election. Former Agricultural Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, the Social Democratic nominee, defeats incumbent Nationalist President Vladimir Kryuchkov by a wide margin, partially due to his campaign stressing that Russian intervention in the Middle East is crucial to its future influence over affairs in the region. The people of Russia agree, and elect Gorbachev and a mandate for Iraqi intervention.

Event Date: 3-20-1978
Event Description: U.S. and Israeli jets begin routine bombings of Damascus, the capital of Syria.

Event Date: 4-01-1978
Event Description: Presidents Bush and Gorbachev meet at the Bush vacation home in Kennebunkport, Maine, to discuss Russian intervention in Iraq. The newly inaugurated Gorbachev tells Bush that his troops will be ready at any time. President Bush tells Gorbachev, “We could use your troops for reconstruction of Iraq, but the Iranians may feel threatened if your troops are stationed near their borders.” It is decided that Russian troops will be used to maintain safety in Baghdad and the surrounding areas after the capitol is taken.

Event Date: 4-06-1978
Event Description: Cast members of the hit late-night TV show Saturday Night Live visit Camp Rhino in Kuwait as part of a USO tour of American bases in the Persian Gulf. The highlight of their appearance is a sketch by Dan Akroyd, John Belushi and Bill Murray performing a skit about the Bush and Gorbachev meeting in Maine. Belushi portrays Gorbachev, Akroyd plays Bush and Murray portrays Ronald Reagan, who ends the skit by saying, “God better bless America, because these two morons are running the place.”

Event Date: 4-13-1978
Event Description: General Powell’s coalition forces capture the city of Al Kut, just south of Baghdad. Generals Schwarzkopf and Powell are creating a pincer between Baghdad, soon to become the embattled capitol of Iraq.

Event Date: 4-22-1978
Event Description: The Kurds renew their rebellion against the Hussein regime. 30,000 Kurdish rebels overthrow the Mayor of Arbil and declare the Kurdish Republic. Bogged down with the war in the South, President Hussein lets them go. He can not fight a two front war.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 5-01-1978
Event Description: War battered citizens of Damascus take to the streets in protest against President Assad and continuation of the war. The protesters demand that Assad break off his military alliance with Hussein of Iraq and make peace with the coalition forces. Assad responds to the rally by breaking it up with tear gas and bullets, killing 27 protesters.

Event Date: 5-03-1978
Event Description: Israeli marines capture Urfa, Syria, jump starting the faltering invasion of Syria. American soldiers, under the leadership of Colonel Oliver North, aid the Israelis in their invasion.

Event Date: 5-05-1978
Event Description: Massoud Barzani, a 33-year old attorney and son of longtime Kurdish patriot Mustafa Barzani, is elected the first president of the Kurdish Republic. President Bush is reluctant to recognize the new nation, as it is sure to spark a war with Turkey. Turkish President Fahri Korutürk has told President Bush that he views the Kurdish Republic as a threat to, “Both our national resources and sovereignty.”

Event Date: 5-18-1978
Event Description: Iraqi Republican Guard troops start fortifying defensive positions around Baghdad in anticipation of an expected coalition multi-front assault on Iraq's capital. President Hussein begins to prepare for his escape from the capitol.

Event Date: 6-01-1978
Event Description: Kirkuk falls to coalition troops after 22-hours of fighting. The fall of one of Iraq’s largest and most industrial cities is a strong blow to Iraqi morale.

Event Date: 6-08-1978
Event Description: Israeli-American troops surround Damascus, demanding the surrender of President Assad. The president responds by closing city gates and telling the citizens of the capitol in a fiery address, “Be expected to lay down your very life to preserve the independence of Syria from Zionist and American tyranny.”

Event Date: 6-13-1978
Event Description: 215,000 Israeli-American troops attack Damascus. Through a series of three bloody charges, the Syrian defenders are fought to the center of the city. The remaining 80,000 Syrian troops barricade themselves into the Presidential Palace, preparing to defend Assad to the end.

Event Date: 6-15-1978
Event Description: The Battle of the Palace rages in Damascus. In a heated fight, all 80,000 of the remaining Syrian troops in Damascus are slaughtered by more than 210,000 Israeli-American soldiers. President Assad himself is injured in the battle, but is apprehended by Private Robert F. Kennedy, Junior, before he can kill himself. Kennedy is the son of Governor Robert Kennedy (Democrat of Massachusetts). Assad will be held in a makeshift prison before being transported to a higher level security prison in Jerusalem.

Event Date: 6-27-1978
Event Description: Tikrit is liberated by American marines. Among the liberated are over 90,000 political prisoners held in Hussein’s concentration camps.

Event Date: 7-04-1978
Event Description: President Bush visits General Schwarzkopf and his army on Independence Day. The more than 350,000 multinational troops are poised for an assault on Baghdad, but the extreme heat is stopping this effort. President Bush tells the troops, “Final victory is so close we can taste it.”

Event Date: 7-12-1978
Event Description: Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Kennedy begins a campaign against child predators in the Bay State. Massachusetts, long plagued with very liberal laws concerning child molesters and rapists, will see Attorney General Kennedy introduce some of the toughest laws in the country. His plan is to stop child predators from living with 500-feet of schools, day cares, children’s hospitals and public playgrounds. He also introduces a plan for a sex offender’s registry, to be nicknamed “Teddy’s Terrors” by the press.

Event Date: 7-18-1978
Event Description: Continuous bombings of Baghdad are begun by American jet bombers.

Event Date: 8-09-1978
Event Description: The Battle of Baghdad rages, beginning at four in the morning. General Schwarzkopf hopes that dimmer sunlight will make the battle cooler for his troops. He hopes that the battle can be won before the noon sun rises. This does not happen. The first day of fighting is a major victory for the coalition troops, but by three in the afternoon, it is above 115 degrees in the shade, forcing Schwarzkopf to stop the fighting.

Event Date: 8-10-1978
Event Description: The second day of fighting in Baghdad proves to be more costly than the day earlier. The Republican Guard has regrouped and takes advantage of building to building fighting to inflict major casualties on coalition forces. By the end of the day, the coalition controls most of the city but has suffered more than 100,000 casualties.

Event Date: 8-11-1978
Event Description: Generals Schwarzkopf and Powell enter the Presidential Palace in Baghdad, now a smoldering shell of a building. The Battle of Baghdad is over, with more than 160,000 deaths, one of the bloodiest battles in world history.

Event Date: 8-13-1978
Event Description: President Saddam Hussein, his wife and two sons, Uday and Qusay, are apprehended by American marines while fleeing Baghdad in a 1978 Volvo. Hussein and his family are imprisoned in a makeshift army prison, and will be taken to a prison in Istanbul, Turkey.

Event Date: 8-15-1978
Event Description: President Bush and Vice-President Love attend the American Legion Convention in Washington, D.C., to declare that the Iraq War has been won. “Hussein and Assad are behind bars and their nations are under the jurisdiction of coalition forces,” President Bush tells the cheering veterans, “We have won the war and your comrades can begin coming home!” The convention explodes upon hearing these last lines.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 9-10-1978
Event Description: The Treaty of Basra is signed by representatives of the coalition forces and Iraqi and Syrian diplomats. This treaty ends the Iraq War and the dictatorships in Iraq and Syria. Senator William Hathaway (Democrat of Maine) questions the treaty’s perceived dedication to ending tyranny. “This treaty still allows the Shah’s iron fisted domination of Iran,” Senator Hathaway tells his senate colleagues, “That truly shows this treaty’s dedication to democracy.” Heathway’s comments are ignored and the treaty is signed.

Event Date: 9-15-1978
Event Description: Ahmed Chalabi, a former anti-Hussein revolutionary and leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), is elected president of Iraq to replace the deposed Saddam Hussein.

Event Date: 9-20-1978
Event Description: The first Russian troops arrive in Baghdad to begin patrolling the capitol. Presidents Bush and Chalabi, realizing that reconstruction will be very difficult, welcomes them with open arms.

Event Date: 10-02-1978
Event Description: In German Reichstag elections, Chancellor Heck’s Conservative Party defeats Eric Scholl’s Labor Party for the third time. However, the Labor Party wins enough seats to prevent Heck from having a working majority in the Reichstag.

Event Date: 10-12-1978
Event Description: Abdul Halim Khaddam is elected President of Syria, officially deposing the Assad Regime. President Khaddam promises to end the terror campaign against Israel.

Event Date: 10-30-1978
Event Description: U.S. President George Bush, U.K. Prime Minister James Callaghan, Iraqi President Ahmed Chalabi, Turkish President Fahri Korutürk, Syrian President Abdul Khaddam, the Shah of Iran, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Casablanca, Morocco, to discuss the post-war Middle East. It is quickly decided by the leaders that deposed Presidents Hussein and Assad must be tried for crimes against humanity by a world court. The debate over the Kurdish Republic is far more vehement. President Korutürk refuses to give an inch on recognition of the new republic. He sees its existence as a threat to Turkey’s land and oil. Despite heated debate, the Turkish president can not be persuaded to recognize the new republic. The issue is left open as the world leaders depart.

Event Date: 11-06-1978
Event Description: With victory in Iraq and the economy stabilizing due to the jobs created by the war, the American voters reward President Bush with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress. Two flukes also occur due to the president’s popularity, both involving Republican victories in the South. In Virginia, John Warner is elected to the U.S. Senate, the last Republican to represent the state since the 1870s. In Tennessee, former Nixon Administration aid Lamar Alexander is victorious in the race for governor. In Massachusetts, Governor Robert Kennedy is reelected over Republican Congressman Edward King. Despite all the pundits declaring it would be a close race, Governor Kennedy beats Congressman King in a 59-40% landslide. His brother, Attorney General Edward Kennedy, is reelected without opposition. Governor Kennedy is beginning to eye the White House in 1980.

Event Date: 11-11-1978
Event Description: The city of Basra erupts with anti-western and anti-occupation riots today. Remnants of Hussein’s Baa’th Party, who have a strong presents in Basra, chose America’s Veterans Day for the rioting. General Schwarzkopf, who is overseeing the reconstruction of Iraq, tells the press that the riot “Is a singular act and has not been repeated throughout Iraq.”    

Event Date: 11-29-1978
Event Description: Governor George L. Rockwell (Democrat of Virginia) announces his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. “As president will withdraw all troops from the Zionist war in Iraq,” Governor Rockwell declares. Many are aghast by his usage of the word “Zionist” and the Anti-Defamation League calls of him to retract his statement. Governor Rockwell refuses, simply adding fuel to the fire by telling the Associated Press, “This country has lost over 100,000 troops for a war over Israel.”

Event Date: 12-09-1978
Event Description: The new Iraqi Government bans all members of the Baa’th Party from serving in government. General Schwarzkopf had warned that doing this would lead to upheaval from former Hussein supporters, but the government refused to listen to the general. They will come to regret this decision.  

[PBrunsel]

Xahar,

I should have done more explanation on Gorbachev.

Since Russia is a republic and has fair and free elections, Gorbachev was elected to the Duma in 1957 as a member of the Social Democratic Party. He worked his way up to Chairman of Commitee on Agriculture. He did such a good job in this role that President Andropov appointed the 37-year old Gorbachev to the job of Minister of Agriculture in 1968. Gorbachev held this position from 1968-1972.

Gorbachev was overlooked for a few years until the Social Democrats needed a compromise candidate to oppose President Kryuchkov. Gorbachev was given the nomination and the young politician defeated the conservative president.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 1-03-1979
Event Description: Tikrit, the home town of Saddam Hussein, experiences the first of many terrorist attacks from former Baa’th Party members. The town marketplace is attacked by a car bomb, killing 31 Iraqi bystanders and three U.S. soldiers. General Schwarzkopf immediately asks President Bush to activate the army reserves to help stabilize the situation.

Event Date: 1-18-1979
Event Description: President Bush meets with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld in the Oval Office, their first post-war meeting. Bush asks Rumsfeld’s advice on how to deal with the growing insurgency in Iraq. Secretary Rumsfeld assures the president that the insurgency in Iraq, “Is pure poppycock. Good heavens, it won’t last six months!” President Bush, who is nervous a quagmire in the reconstruction of Iraq will harm is reelection chances in 1980, is heartened by Rumsfeld’s words.

Event Date: 2-12-1979
Event Description: Shiite militias take the city of Amarah, a town patrolled by primarily by British troops. The attack kills 62 British troops and takes six hostages. The militia was supported by many of the town’s residents, upset over the foreign occupation of their town, which had been opposed to Hussein’s regime. General Schwarzkopf sends the Shiite leaders a message to ask for an audience with them to, “Hear your grievances and try to remedy them.” The Shiites tell Schwarzkopf they have but one demand, “The complete and total withdrawal of foreign soldiers from our city.”

Event Date: 2-13-1979
Event Description: British Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher chastises Prime Minster Callaghan on the floor of the House of Commons, declaring that his weak leadership “Has led to chaos in the Middle East and six brave soldiers held hostage by fanatics.” Prime Minister Callaghan realizes that something must be done about the hostages, but he has no idea what to do. Foreign Minister David Owen has advised the prime minister to bide his time and wait for General Schwarzkopf’s negotiations with the Shiite militia leaders. Fear that the militias may kill the kidnapped soldiers if the British storm the city is key in the decision to wait for Schwarzkopf.

Event Date: 2-20-1979
Event Description: The meeting between General Schwarzkopf and Shiite leaders outside of Amarah breaks down with no agreement on releasing the British hostages. Schwarzkopf refused to pull out all British troops from the town, believing that such a move would allow the city to become a breeding ground for terrorists. In response to this breakdown of diplomatic relations, Prime Minister Callaghan Okays a risky hostage rescue plan: Operation Desert Jack. This military operation involves twenty-five British commandos, the most highly trained members of the UK army, storming the building where the hostages are being held, freeing them, running to the roof of the building and then being airlifted to safety. “It’s a million in one shot,” Callaghan confines to his diary.

Event Date: 3-01-1979
Event Description: Operation Desert Jack is initiated, with disastrous results. The Commandos are outnumbered and outgunned by the Shiite militias, which have tripled in size since taking Amarah. All six hostages are killed, as are eight Commandos. The mission is a complete failure, and sours the British public to the reconstruction in Iraq. With unemployment and inflation on the rise in the United Kingdom already, the last thing the Labor Party needed before the June elections was a foreign policy disaster.

Event Date: 3-06-1979
Event Description: President Bush signs the Foreign Intelligence Act of 1979, making all unwarranted wiretaps illegal. “This act stands to strengthen our commitment to civil rights and liberties,” President Bush proudly declares as he signs the act, introduced by Congressman Ron Paul (Democrat of Texas), who was elected in 1978. Despite the act being introduced by a fellow Democrat, Governor Kennedy, known for a love of wiretapping, attacks the act as, “A weaken the USA resolution.”

Event Date: 3-12-1979
Event Description: Saddam Hussein and Hafez al-Assad stand before a special tribunal of their fellow Iraqis and Syrians. Over the course of ten days, seventy-eight people testify before the tribunal, telling the horror stories of living under the regimes of these two men. “In hearing these stories of murder, rape, theft, beatings and evil,” Ronald Reagan declares that night on the Voice of the Nation, “We can truly see the spectacle of what thugs, barbarians and terrorists can bring onto the most innocent of people.” The tribunal charges the two with crimes against humanity and abiding torture. The two men are to go on trial in December 1980.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 4-07-1979
Event Description: The first nation wide elections in Iraq go well, with few incidents of voter suppression or terrorism. The Iraqi National Congress (INC), the party of President Chalabi, wins an overwhelming majority in the Iraqi Legislature. The conservative Islamic Values Party finishes in second, and the far-left Iraqi Toilers’ Party finishes a distant third. The very pro-American, pro-oil industry INC will work well with general Schwarzkopf and the foreign troops in a reconstructed Iraq.

Event Date: 4-11-1979
Event Description: Almost mocking the hope for calm started by the peaceful elections a few days ago, Baa’thist terrorists set off a fertilizer bomb outside of city hall in Baghdad, killing several members of the city government, including the city council president. Chaos ensues around the disaster zone until Russian troops regain order. “Baghdad is becoming a nightmare,” General Schwarzkopf tells Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld in a letter, “We need more troops here or we need to call it a day. To continue this limited strategy is not just foolish, it’s insane.” Rumsfeld refuses to change course, calling Schwarzkopf’s request, “Balderdash!”

Event Date: 4-20-1979
Event Description: Former Vice-President Jimmy Carter announces his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Announcing from his Plains, Georgia, campaign headquarters (a renovated train depot), Carter calls the Iraq War, “Foolish and poorly run. I have the military experience and knowledge to return our nation to a sensible foreign policy.” Gallup Polls show that in the race for the Democratic nomination, Carter is in a solid second behind Governor Kennedy. Governor Rockwell is in third.

Event Date: 4-23-1979
Event Description: Peace protester and known left-wing activist Blair Peach is beaten to death by police in London while protesting the Iraq War. This police brutality sets off a three day riot throughout the sums of London, already enflamed by the growing unemployment rate.

Event Date: 5-02-1979
Event Description: U.S. marines storm Amarah, fighting a bloody battle with the Shiite militias. By the end of the day, the militias are routed, but 55 marines lie dead, with many others wounded. The risky attack liberates the city, but does not end the Shiite militias. They simply limp out of town and regroup to fight another day.

Event Date: 5-04-1979
Event Description: The Conservative Party wins a massive landslide in the United Kingdom Parliamentary elections. Anger over the Labor Party’s mishandling of the economy and Iraq led Margaret Thatcher to be elected the new Prime Minister. Thatcher promises to begin withdrawal of British troops from the Middle East by January 1980.

Event Date: 5-10-1979
Event Description: The Shah of Iran, still popular due to the successful war against Iran’s enemies, orders the Iranian Army to crush an uprising in Tehran led by radical Islamic fundamentalists. The army easily crushes the rebels, ending what may have been an Iranian Revolution.

Event Date: 5-22-1979
Event Description: The Turkish Parliament votes down a resolution recognizing the Kurdish Republic. Despite President Bush’s continuous bribes and promises of favors for Turkey, the Turkish view the Kurdish people as threats to their oil and to parts of Turkey’s national borders. “It is just a matter of time,” New York Times columnist William Safire writes, “Until the new powder keg of the Middle East, Kurdistan, is set on fire.”

Event Date: 5-30-1979
Event Description: Colonel James Webb meets with Baa’thist leaders in Fallujah. With city elections approaching in June, Webb overrules the official Iraqi declaration barring former Baa’th Party members from holding office. Webb allows a Baa’thist to run for mayor and five to run for city council. When President Chalabi protests this decision, Webb tells him, “My choice was letting those guys run for office or having a riot, I think I made the right decision.” Webb has become increasingly independent from Schwarzkopf and Chalabi while trying to govern the rebellion ready Fallujah.

Event Date: 6-03-1979
Event Description: In the Fallujah city elections, two former Baa’thist win seats on the city council. The people of Fallujah do not riot or even protest, the elections are a success. In Baghdad, President Chalabi refuses to recognize the elections of two former Hussein supporters. “Allowing these monsters to serve the people is sickening!” President Chalabi booms in a speech to the Legislature. Dominated by the vehemently anti-Hussein Iraqi National Congress, the Iraqi Legislature passes a resolution refusing to recognize the election of these new city councilors.

Event Date: 6-05-1979
Event Description: The newly trained Fallujah police force attempts to stop the inauguration of two former Baa’thist as city councilors. Baa’thist elements in the city rise up to stop them, fighting a pitched battle on the steps of city hall. Colonel Webb sends U.S. troops to break up the fighting, but this only throws gasoline on the fire. For six hours, the area surrounding city hall is in open rebellion against the police and the U.S. army. In one of the bloodiest days since the beginning of the Iraq reconstruction, 110 U.S. soldiers are dead along with 215 police men. The Baa’thist militias are nearly decimated, but the remaining members are free to regroup. The two Baa’thist city councilors lay dead, killed by Fallujah’s police force. Unrest in the city will continue.

Event Date: 6-19-1979
Event Description: Presidents Bush, Gorbachev and Barzani meet in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdish Republic, to discuss oil sales and the increasing difficulty to bring down gas prices. President Barzani promises that as soon as his nation’s oil industry is reestablished his two chief trading partners will be the United States and Russia. With gas prices in the USA hitting 4.00 a gallon, President Bush welcomes this news.

Event Date: 6-30-1979
Event Description: Governor Robert Kennedy announces his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Flanked by his wife Ethel, war hero son Robert and his oldest brother, 64-year old former President Joseph Kennedy, Junior, Governor Kennedy declares that America needs, “A break from economic tailspin, foreign escapades and endless regulation.” Kennedy promises that his camping will focus on three issues, “Economic recovery, economic recovery and economic recovery.” He declares that first on his list for economic recovery is, “Complete withdrawal from the endless, pointless occupation of Iraq. This war is robbing our nation of our fighting men and women, our workforce and our tax dollars.” In the White House, President Bush and Chief of Staff Cheney see their nightmare playing before their eyes on al three major news networks: A Kennedy declaring his candidacy for president.

Event Date: 7-01-1979
Event Description: Baa’thist militias begin a terror campaign from Baghdad and along the Euphrates River, seizing several small villages. General Schwarzkopf mobilizes his troops along the Euphrates River, but they are unsuccessful in stopping the militias. The month of July will see the highest U.S. casualty numbers since the beginning of Iraqi reconstruction.

Event Date: 7-04-1979
Event Description: In an Independence Day address to a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in San Diego, Vice-President Love blasts Iraq War critics as, “Shameless, senseless and brainless pessimists. They want this nation to lose in Iraq so that they may benefit from the political fallout.” All three Democratic candidates for president react to the remarks, but Governor Kennedy’s statement is the most stinging. “It appears as if Lover and Bush are upset not about the lives lost or the money wasted in Iraq,” Kennedy tells a crowd of supporters in Manchester, New Hampshire, “They seem to care more about their poll numbers and the ‘political ramifications’ of the war. I for one see no problem in pointing out the waste of lives and money that Bush and Love have forced upon this nation.”

Event Date: 7-11-1979
Event Description: In some good news for the United States, Baa’thist militia leader Izzat al-Douri is captured by U.S. marines in the city of Kahtaniya. General Schwarzkopf orders his troops to extract information from him, using peaceful means. When al-Douri refuses to speak, Colonel Oliver North, Lieutenant Bo Gritz and three other marines perform some increased tactics to get information from the Baa’thist leader. These tactics include threatening al-Douri with a lighted torch, barking dogs and brandishing a club. They also submit him to water boarding, a form of coercion which simulates drowning.
After this stepped up coercion, al-Douri gives North and the rest information on where his militia is planning on attacking. North forwards this information to Schwarzkopf, but doesn’t tell him how he got the information.

Event Date: 7-26-1979
Event Description: U.S. and Russian troops surprise a large Baa’thist militia at the city of Karbala. The militia was planning on detonating an explosive device near a road used by U.S. military convoys. The leaders of the militia are captured and put on trial by a military tribunal.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 8-09-1979
Event Description: The Army Times releases the number of U.S. casualties caused by the July Baa’thist revolt. The numbers are sickening to most Americans. 4,817 U.S. soldiers died from terrorist attacks and shoot outs with the militias. Over 20,000 troops are injured and many are every seriously injured. President Bush addresses the nation that night, urging all Americans to, “Support the troops and the mission. It is too important for our national security to turn our backs on a newly democratized Iraq and Syria.” President Bush further warns his citizens that, “The Iraqi insurgency can not defeat and humiliate the United States. Only citizens of the United States can do that.” In what is Bush’s most controversial speech, many Americans see a president who is ignoring masses of casualties and putting the blame for a quagmire on the shoulder’s of American citizens. Bush and Chief of Staff Cheney made on the gamble on the speech, and the gamble didn’t pay off. 

Event Date: 8-21-1979
Event Description: Mass marches against the Iraq War meet the second anniversary of the intervention in Iraq. Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader leads the largest march, over 350,000 people protest on The Mall in Washington, D.C. “This war for oil is bankrupting our nation in money, talent and morality!” Nader booms in his address to the marchers, “This war has been lost and can not be turned around no matter how many young soldiers shed their life blood on the alter of war!”

Event Date: 9-06-1979
Event Description: The Bush Budget for 1980-1981 is introduced. It has plenty of funds for the war and for social welfare spending. Funding for free clinics, government housing and job training programs is doubled, as is money going to the reconstruction of Iraq. Columnist Pat Buchanan, a former Nixon Administration official, scoffs at the budget as, “A strange attempt to give guns and butter to the American people.”

Event Date: 9-12-1979
Event Description: Secretary of the Treasury Blumenthal announces that the Ashbrook Tax Cuts will be allowed to expire, an announcement which is met with both boos and applause. While Representative Andrew Young (Republican of Georgia) declares that the tax cuts were, “Simply a subsidation of the rich and the revenue gained will benefit the poorest in society,” well known conservative publisher William F. Buckley declares that allowing the tax cuts to expire is simply, “An invisible tax hike.” Both sides are telling the truth, but a majority of Middle Class Americans responds more to the talk of “tax hike” than to “benefiting the poorest in society.” President Bush’s approval ratings are at 44%, the lowest of his presidency.

Event Date: 9-20-1979
Event Description: General Schwarzkopf meets with President Chalabi in Baghdad, requesting that he drop his ban on Baa’thists in government. Schwarzkopf tries to explain to Chalabi that allowing former Baa’th Party members into government again would decrease resistance to his government, but President Chalabi refuses to listen to the general. “I still have the scars on my back from when these Baa’th Party barbarians threw me and my family into a work camp!” Chalabi screams at Schwarzkopf, “I will never let inhuman beats like that to ever think of being in government again!” The meeting ends after this outburst, with Schwarzkopf believing that there is no way the Baa’thist militias will ever be stopped short of a full scale military engagement with them.

Event Date: 10-03-1979
Event Description: Militant members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK in the native language) attack a Turkish military installation along the Kurdistan-Turkish border. The PKK terrorists opposed the Turkish military being so close to the Kurdistan border. Turkish military officials declare that this act should lead to war between the Kurdish Republic and Turkey, but President Fahri Korutürk is reluctant to go to war with an ally of the United States. He gives Kurdish President Massoud Barzani a chance to explain the attack, but none comes.

Event Date: 10-05-1979
Event Description: Turkish infantrymen engage in a 45-minute firefight with PKK rebels in Northern Kurdistan. The skirmish kills six Turkish soldiers and ten PKK rebels. President Korutürk now demands that Kurdish President Barzani, “Explain the actions of these Kurdish militias or face an invasion of his nation so that the nation of Turkey may protect itself from terrorism.”

Event Date: 10-06-1979
Event Description: President Barzani meets with Presidents Bush and Korutürk in Istanbul. The three men address the PKK and the terrorism in Northern Kurdistan. “Our new nation is currently struggling with far-left revolutionaries,” Barzani explains to Korutürk, “These PKK extremists hate your nation as much as they hate my government. We are doing all we can to control them.” “Well you aren’t doing a very good job,” President Korutürk responds, “And unless you get your northern border under control than expect the Turkish military to intervene.” President Bush visibly recoils at this statement. “Now Mr. President,” Bush addresses the Turkish president, “We only need one war at a time.” President Bush is able to talk Korutürk and his generals into waiting at least until December to allow the Kurdish Republic the chance to clean up their northern border. For now, the Kurdish problem is solved.

Event Date: 10-10-1979
Event Description: Three regiments of U.S. infantrymen are sent to the troubled northern regions of the Kurdish Republic. Their job is to hunt down and kill PKK members and their leaders. Governor Kennedy tells a crowd in Des Moines, Iowa, that this act proves that, “The Iraq War has done nothing but destabilize the Middle East and the entire world!”

Event Date: 10-19-1979
Event Description: Bombing raids of PKK held territory in northern Kurdistan is begun by U.S. jet bombers.

Event Date: 10-25-1979
Event Description: Mayor Reginald Jackson (Republican) debates Congressman Bill Green (Democrat) at the Philadelphia Civic Auditorium. Mayor Jackson, well liked because of his outreach to urban youths through community work projects, has been attacked by Congressman Green as, “Another Bush Republican.” In the debate, Jackson attacks Green for deploying to the lowest play in politics: the guilt by association play. “I’ve played a lot of football, Bill,” Mayor Jackson tells the congressman, “And I’ve taken some hits from 400-pund linemen, but this attack is worse than any of those.” He goes on to outline how he differs from Bush on many issues, such as support for the Iraq War, but also applauds the president for his increased funding of job training and applauds First Lady Barbara Bush for her work with eliminating illiteracy. The press and the people of Philadelphia applaud “Mayor Reggie’s” response and he takes a commanding lead in the polls.

Event Date: 10-31-1979
Event Description: PKK leader Murat Karayilan is interviewed by Al Jazeera television, the most watched television station in the Middle East. He declares that the USA is now included with Turkey as, “Enemies of the Kurdish nation.” Secretary Rumsfeld responds to this interview, declaring that the PKK will be treated, “As enemy combatants against the United States.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 11-08-1979
Event Description: Mayor Reginald “Reggie” Jackson is reelected by a 63-37% margin over Democratic Congressman Bill Green in the Philadelphia Mayor race. Mayor Jackson’s urban improvement programs have cut crime by more than 70% and increased the number of minorities graduating from high school in the City of Brotherly Love. Some see Mayor Jackson as a potential candidate for Senate in 1980.

Event Date: 11-22-1979
Event Description: General Schwarzkopf testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Gentlemen,” Schwarzkopf begins, “We are in grave shape in Iraq, to tell you differently would be a lie.” Schwarzkopf outlines the crisis of fighting, “A thousand front war with an enemy who has no organized battle plan besides kill as many Westerners as possible.” The general requests more troops in Baghdad, a city which has never been tamed, and along the Iraqi-Kurdish border, where militias have become increasingly hostile to U.S. troops. President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld, though disagreeing on a “surge” of U.S. troops, support Schwarzkopf’s plan.

Event Date: 11-30-1979
Event Description: Senator George McGovern (Republican of South Dakota) announces that he will oppose President Bush in the Republican Presidential primaries next year. “I have been supportive of the president throughout his term,” Senator McGovern declares in his announcement address from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, “This support now must end. President Bush’s war in Iraq is making it impossible for the Republican Party to continue being the party of the poor and indigent. It will be my goal as President of the United States to end the foolish program of juggling ‘guns and butter’. Our nation needs the New Day, not a new war.”

Event Date: 12-01-1979
Event Description: Prime Minister Thatcher orders all British troops out of Iraq and Syria by February 1980. “It is time we end this pointless war,” she tells the British press. President Bush condemns this withdrawal of troops as, “A turncoat withdrawal.” Thatcher is quick to remind the world that she is now Prime Minister, not James Callaghan, who sent the troops into the Middle East.

Event Date: 12-09-1979
Event Description: The Congress approves of General Schwarzkopf’s troop surge, with much arm twisting from the Bush Administration. An additional 200,000 troops will be sent to Iraq to help secure that war torn nation.

Event Date: 12-24-1979
Event Description: PKK terrorist attack a Turkish military convoy as it drives to Yerevan, Turkey. This attack is the last straw for Turkey’s military commanders. President Korutürk orders three Turkish armored divisions to enter the Kurdish Republic. In response to this invasion, President Bush sets sanctions of Turkey.

Event Date: 12-31-1979
Event Description: After a week in Northern Kurdistan, Turkish and U.S. troops meet in a small Kurdish sheep town and defeat a PKK militia. President Bush is not impressed by this event. “The Turks are illegally in Kurdistan,” Bush tells Secretary Rumsfeld, “They need to get out immediately.” “Let’s not be hasty, Mr. President,” Rumsfeld tells Bush, “We can’t provoke a war with Turkey. After all, this has been a very mean year.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 1-01-1980
Event Description: General Schwarzkopf meets with Turkish Defense Minister Semih Sancar in Casablanca. Schwarzkopf practically begs Minister Sancar to order his troops to withdraw from northern Kurdistan, but his pleas go to deaf ears. “Turkey is not safe while Kurdish rebels dominate the region,” Minister Sancar tells Schwarzkopf. “Stormin’ Norman” assures Sancar that the recently approved troop surge will also affect troops in the Kurdish Republic. General Schwarzkopf gives Sancar his solemn oath that U.S. troops will eradicate PKK rebels by the end of the year. In light of this promise, Minister Sancar promises General Schwarzkopf that he will order the withdrawal of all Turkish troops from the Kurdish Republic by March 1980.

Event Date: 1-05-1980
Event Description: Colonel Webb forms an agreement between Baa’thist and Mayor Taha Bidaywi Hamed in hopes of ending the violence between the two forces. Mayor Hamed agrees to appoint two Baa’th Party members to the city council (to replace the two murdered councilors) if the Baa’thist militias promise to lay down their arms. In an odd moment of common sense in the Middle East, both sides agree to the accord. Colonel Webb keeps this agreement secret from President Chalabi and the Iraqi government.

Event Date: 1-19-1980
Event Description: The Dow Jones Industrial tumbles 55-points today as the Stock Market begins to slow as the new budget takes affect. “President Bush’s wars, both on Iraq and the economy, have clearly been shown today,” Governor Robert Kennedy declares at a rally in Dubuque, Iowa, “These wars must be ended, and the treaty will be signed when George Bush is kicked out of office!”

Event Date: 1-21-1980
Event Description: The Iowa Caucuses are held today, with both primaries being hard fought. President Bush defeats Senator McGovern 63-37%, which most see as a clear victory for the Bush Administration. McGovern vows to fight on that night, declaring that through the turmoil of Iraq, the economy and the election, he hopes his campaign can be, “A bridge over troubled water.” On the Democratic side, Governor Kennedy narrowly defeats former Vice-President Carter. Kennedy wins 43% of the vote to Carter’s 35% and Governor Rockwell’s 22%.

Event Date: 1-29-1980
Event Description: Baghdad is rocked by rocket attacks from a Shiite militia. This attack kills 25 American soldiers and more than 300 Iraqi civilians. Over the night, hundreds more will die in the fires caused by the missiles.

Event Date: 1-30-1980
Event Description: “Where in the heck did they get rockets from?” President Bush demands from Secretary Rumsfeld the morning after the mass fires in Baghdad. “I don’t know, sir,” is Rumsfeld pathetic response. “Well find out!” the enraged president demands. The entire day Secretary Rumsfeld has the Defense Department rummaging through ten years of Congressional funding records, and nothing comes up in relation to funding Shiite militias. Rumsfeld decides to call former Secretary of State James Buckley to find out if the Ashbrook Administration had intervened in Iraq secretly. “I don’t expect Buckley to talk,” Rumsfeld tells his wife Joyce that night while eating a late dinner, “But perhaps his slip up.”

Event Date: 1-31-1980
Event Description: In a meeting at the Watergate Hotel Restaurant, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former Secretary of State James Buckley discuss funding for anti-Hussein militias. The meeting goes nowhere until Rumsfeld produces some financial information from Texas’ 2nd Congressional district. “I don’t think that many millions of dollars went to building bridges in Kingwood,” Rumsfeld tells Buckley with a glare in his eye, “So where did it go?” Buckley stutters for a while until finally leaving the table. As Buckley storms off, Rumsfeld wonders to himself, “So who represents that district again?”

Event Date: 2-01-1980
Event Description: Secretary Rumsfeld begins his morning in an odd way: knocking on the door of a run down apartment in a bad neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Answering the door in a half-drunken stupor is Carl Bernstein. The one time Washington Post White House correspondent was fired in 1973 for printing perceived overblown stories on Nixon Administration scandals. Bernstein, now an alcoholic, broken tabloid writer, has lived in obscurity until today. Secretary Rumsfeld asks him to do some research into Representative Charlie Wilson (Democrat of Texas), whom Rumsfeld believes help funnel money into radical Shiite militias during the 1970s. “What’s in it for me?” asks the cynical Bernstein. “If you can get the dirt on Wilson,” Rumsfeld tells Bernstein, “You will have the choice of any newspaper in the country to work for.” Bernstein jumps on this opportunity.

Event Date: 2-20-1980
Event Description: While visiting Denver to meet with Governor Richard Lamm (Republican of Colorado), President Bush is faced down by an assassin, Sarah Jane Moore. Moore, a follower of far-left winged causes and an Iraq War opponent, tries to shoot Bush point blank but her gun fails to fire. She is taken down not by secret service but by a young man from Centerville, Iowa. John Engle, a 19-year old Iowan visiting the city to meet President Bush, tackles Moore as her gun recoils. When asked by the media how he feels upon rescuing the president, Engle responds, “I’m just glad I saved Bush before he was nearly shoot by a mad man.” That night on CBS Nightly News, Dan Rather comments, “Never before have wiser words been spoken by a more humble man.”

Event Date: 2-21-1980
Event Description: Despite the anti-war atmosphere in New Hampshire, the assassination attempt on President Bush yesterday leads Republicans to rally around their commander-in-chief. President Bush beats Senator McGovern by a 65-35% margin, but McGovern vows to fight on. On the Democratic side, Governor Kennedy’s “home state” advantage gives him a large victory in New Hampshire. He takes 47% of the vote to Jimmy Carter’s 33% and George Rockwell’s 20%.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 3-01-1980
Event Description: Congressman John Anderson (Republican of Illinois), Governor Patrick Lucey (Republican of Wisconsin), Governor Richard Lamm (Republican of Colorado), Ralph Nader, Tom Hayden, Barry Commoner and wealthy businessman H. Ross Perot hold a press conference in San Francisco announcing the formation of a new political party. “For too long the Republican and Democratic parties have embraced war and waste, not the needs of the people,” Congressman Anderson declares, “This is why we men of differing political ideals and philosophies are joining together to form a new political force in this country.” The new party is: The Progressive Reform Party. This party is dedicated to preserving social entitlements like Social Security and free clinics, while opposing all forms of war and the, as Nader puts it, “The ravages of the military-industrial complex.” 

Event Date: 3-04-1980
Event Description: The Vermont and Massachusetts Primaries are held, with President Bush and Governor Kennedy taking easy victories in both states. Vice-President Carter had tried to use his farming credentials to appeal to rural voters in the Bay State and the Green Mountain State, but he failed to break 35% in either state. On the GOP side, the vote is close in Massachusetts. Bush takes 52% to McGovern’s 48%. “So much for the theory that the only state McGovern would win is Massachusetts,” Chief of Staff Cheney chuckles in his office.

Event Date: 3-08-1980
Event Description: Vice-President Carter stops the Kennedy winning streak by taking the South Carolina Primary by a 44-43% margin, with Rockwell taking only 13% of all the votes cast. “It looks like it’s the end game for this Democratic campaign,” Governor Rockwell tells his supporters, “But our campaign is not over!” In the following days, Rockwell will announce his intentions to seek the Constitution Party nomination for president.

Event Date: 3-10-1980
Event Description: Senator McGovern announces that he is ending his campaign for the Republican nomination, declaring that, “There is now way I can defeat President Bush and to continue in this race will only damage the party in the general election. It is far too important that there is a Republican Congress when President Kennedy takes office.” This statement huts like a percussion grenade to both the Bush Administration and the national media. “Senator McGovern is sadly mistaken,” Vice-President Love tells the press, “No Kennedy will ever come close to the Oval Office again after the last Kennedy catastrophe.” Being interviewed that day by Ronald Reagan at his home in Boston, former President Joseph Kennedy reminds Love that, “It wasn’t my administration that got us in this quagmire in Iraq, now was it.”

Event Date: 3-11-1980
Event Description: Vice-President Carter sweeps all three primaries held today. The Alabama, Florida and Georgia Primaries are wins for Carter, but only Georgia is a comfortable win for him. Governor Kennedy holds Carter to less than a 5-point win in Florida and 10-points in Alabama. The Kennedy Campaign is still the dominant one in the 1980 election.

Event Date: 3-16-1980
Event Description: Baa’thist terrorists detonate a bomb in Tikrit as Iraqi Vice-President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite, is reviewing new Iraqi troops. The explosion kills over 100 Iraqis and thirteen U.S. soldiers. Worst of all, Vice-President Abdul-Mahdi is killed in the blast. This murder enraged Shiite militias, who begin mass riots in Tikrit and Baghdad. General Schwarzkopf is able to utilize the new surge of troops to quell the rioters in two days.

Event Date: 3-18-1980
Event Description: Governor Kennedy easily defeats Vice-President Carter in the Illinois Primary. Despite Carter’s strength in Southern Illinois and anger in the Chicago machine against the crime-busting Robert Kennedy, the Massachusetts Governor wins by a 59-41% margin.

Event Date: 3-20-1980
Event Description: The last Turkish Troops leave the Kurdish Republic. In their place are 120,000 fresh U.S. troops, who’s only job is to hunt down PKK rebels and secure the Kurdish government.

Event Date: 3-25-1980
Event Description: The New York and Connecticut Primaries are held, with Governor Kennedy winning both by wide margins. Vice-President Carter had tried to tap into the conservative Catholic voter base in Connecticut, but they came out for the Catholic Kennedy.

Event Date: 3-31-1980
Event Description: The Shah of Iran is treated for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma at Bethesda Naval Hospital. The treatment is successful and the Shah will return to Tehran in good health.

Event Date: 4-01-1980
Event Description: Vice-President Carter is able to stop the Kennedy winning streak by taking a comfortable victory in the Kansas Primary. However this win is ignored by most of the media as Governor Kennedy wins the Wisconsin Primary by an even wider margin. Carter is beginning to complain that the media is, “Giving me a raw deal.”

Event Date: 4-03-1980
Event Description: Former President Richard Nixon appears on the Johnny Carson Show, the first television appearance of the president since leaving office. The two men size each other up and share some good humored barbs, including Carson telling Nixon how his daughter had told him, ”I hear you have Nixon on your show tonight. I do hope that man finds work.” The show is ended by Nixon playing “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano.

Event Date: 4-05-1980
Event Description: Governor Kennedy is defeated by Carter in the Louisiana Primary, but this was expected. What was not expected is former KKK Grand Dragon David Duke, only 30-years old, winning the Democratic Party nomination for the First Congressional District in Louisiana. With the Republican Party being nearly nonexistent in Louisiana, Duke will win the election.

Event Date: 4-09-1980
Event Description: Carl Bernstein and the National Star, the tabloid he has been working for, release a bombshell of a story. Entitled “Charlie Wilson’s War”, it outlines Congressman Wilson and Secretary of State Buckley had secretly funneled weapons to Shiite and Kurdish militias under the Ashbrook Administration. The story checks out with the State Department as officials who worked in the operation come forward. Despite the story being blown open, very little comes of it. Everyone involved in the story (with the exception of Congressman Wilson) are out of government. There is no backlash against the Democrats and Mr. Bernstein is left without any offers to work in a major paper again. He decides to go after the current administration, whom he feels didn’t come through for him in the end.     

Event Date: 4-19-1980
Event Description: The largest militia of PKK rebels in Northern Kurdistan surrenders to U.S.-Kurdish troops outside of Zakho, a PKK stronghold. After months of bombing raids and the troop surge, the rebels found it impossible to continue the fight. This victory will help President Bush’s approval ratings, which have been suffering fir months. The Gallup Poll will put Bush at an approval rating of 48%, not outstanding by any means, but not as bad as Bush has had before.

Event Date: 4-22-1980
Event Description: Governor Kennedy defeats Vice-President Carter in the Pennsylvania Primary, seemingly to assure him the Democratic nomination for president. Kennedy wins by a 63-37% margin, dooming the former Veep’s campaign.

Event Date: 4-23-1980
Event Description: Jimmy Carter drops out of the race for president today, declaring that, “While I’d have loved to been the leader of this great nation, I can admit that this peanut farmer from Plains has gone pretty far in life.” Governor Kennedy calls Carter after his speech and offers him the position of National Security Advisor or Secretary of the Navy in his administration. “Don’t ya’ think you’re counting your chickens a little early, Bobby?” an astounded Carter asks. “Jimmy,” Kennedy laughs back, “I have a way of knowing how the eggs are going to hatch.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 5-11-1980
Event Description: The first Progressive Reform Party Convention is held in Portland, Oregon. This new political party enjoys more than 100,000 members visiting the Oregonian convention site. The new party nominates Congressman John Anderson, a former Speaker of the House, for president with Governor Patrick Lucey as his running-mate. “Our new party stands against Democratic greed and Republican warmongering,” Anderson declares as he accepts the nomination, “We look not to lead the country left or right, but forward.”

Event Date: 5-30-1980
Event Description: Turkey and Russia finally recognize the Kurdish Republic, a move encouraged by the recent decline in violence in Northern Kurdistan and the all but complete surrender of PKK rebel. With this recognition, the Kurdish Republic can finally begin shipping oil through Turkey and into Europe and to the U.S.

Event Date: 6-03-1980
Event Description: Governor Kennedy wins the California Primary, clinching the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. As he makes his victory address from the Los Angeles Hilton, Kennedy is hit by… a pie! Left-winged prankster Jerry Rubin, running for Mayor of Los Angeles in 1981, is apprehended for the assault, but RFK asks the cops to let him go. “Hey with my reputation,” Kennedy tells the police, “I could have been hit with something much worse.”

Event Date: 6-11-1980
Event Description: To the great joy of the White House, the New York Times reports that since the “surge”, violence in Baghdad and the surrounding areas is down substantially from 1979. “Car bombings and militia recruitment is down more than 75%,” the article states. President Bush’s approval ratings shoot to 53% in the latest Gallup Polls. Governor Kennedy, in his typical analyzing fashion, declares at a rally in Kansas City, Missouri, “The president is only celebrating a return to Hussein level terrorism, which is not that low. It is obvious that his invasion and occupation of Iraq has led to growth in terrorism.”

Event Date: 7-17-1980
Event Description: The Democratic National Convention, held in Madison Square Garden, New York City, convenes and spends five days attacking President Bush and cheering for a return to the “glory days” of the Kennedy Administration. The party nominates Governor Robert Francis Kennedy of Massachusetts for President and Representative Jack Kemp of New York for Vice-President. A completely Northeastern ticket is odd for the Democratic Party, but Kennedy knows what he’s doing. “It’s this simple,” Bobby tells Kemp, “We’ve got the South no matter what. By aiming for the Northeast we take on Poppy Bush in his own backyard.” The convention sets forth a platform attacking the Iraq War as a “quagmire” and calling Bush, “A tax-and-spend Republican”, the first time this now regularly used phrase appeared.

Event Date: 7-22-1980
Event Description: While answering questions at a routine press conference, President Bush makes a statement which will come back to haunt him. Bill Moyers, a PBS reporter asks the president, “Mr. President, is our nation in an economic downturn?” “Well, Bill,” Bush responds, “I would say no.” “Mr. President,” a shocked Moyers responds, “How can you say that? Just last month 66,000 jobs were lost and the GDP is turning up negative numbers. How does this back up your answer?” “Where did you get those numbers from?” Bush asks, “I can’t see any economic problems, with the exception of high gas our economy is strong and getting stronger.” Moyers then asks, “Mr. President, you just said that you don’t see any economic problems, but you’re a millionaire and the president. Can you really say that what you observe everyday really is an accurate picture of the economy?” “I care, that’s all,” Bush quickly responds.     

Event Date: 7-30-1980
Event Description: President Bush signs the Clean Energy Act of 1980, introduced by Senator H.I. Hayakawa (Republican of California). Under this act, all fuel in the U.S. will be renewable and cause as little pollution as possible by the year 2001. “This is an ambitious goal,” President Bush tells the nation that night in a televised address, “But I believe our nation is strong enough and determined enough to complete this goal. Why shouldn’t we dream big? After all, my friends, we are the United States of America.” Governor Kennedy scoffs at Bush’s new energy bill. “It looks like we’re fighting a war for oil we won’t even be able to use,” Kennedy quips while being interviewed on NBC Nightly News.

Event Date: 8-11-1980
Event Description: The Republican National Convention, held in Detroit, Michigan, nominated President Bush and Vice-President Love for a second term by acclamation. The convention is upbeat, celebrating how U.S. troops are, as Vice-President Love declares in his acceptance address, “Spreading the message of freedom and democracy to parts of the world where they have never been heard before.” General Colin Powell addresses the convention, declaring that the Republican Party is, “The party of inclusion and reason.” President Bush’s own address is a heartfelt one, thanking U.S. troops for preserving freedom. “I can not tell you how often I have met a soldier at Walter Reed Hospital,” President Bush tells the convention, “Who has lost both of his legs, but tells me that he would return to Iraq to give those people the same freedoms that he gave his all for.”

Event Date: 8-12-1980
Event Description: Polling shows that President Bush has been given a substantial “post convention bump”. The Gallup shows Bush leading Kennedy 49-43%, with Congressman Anderson at 5%. The Kennedy Campaign, always very confident about victory, goes into complete panic mode. Governor Kennedy, who had previously planned to make only six campaign speeches, ramps up his campaign appearances and several negative television ads are scheduled to be released. The Kennedy Campaign blitz has begun.

Event Date: 8-20-1980
Event Description: The Kennedy campaign unleashes a blistering attack ad, using footage from President Bush’s July 22nd press conference. The ad has a man somberly reading off the unemployment and inflation rates, gas prices and home foreclosures, each followed by President Bush saying, “Our economy is strong and getting stronger.” In the end, the narrator asks, “What does the president think a strong economy is?” Almost for a laugh, the ad ends with Bush saying, “I care.” The ad is very effective, reminding people that the wartime commander-in-chief is stumbling badly when it comes to the economy.

Event Date: 8-27-1980
Event Description: Baa’thist terrorists detonate a bomb which badly damages the Al-Askari Mosque, the holiest mosque for the Shiites. The golden dome of the mosque I destroyed, further outraging the Shiite population in the city of Samarra, a town already embroiled in turmoil between Shiites and Sunnis. Even General Schwarzkopf’s troops can’t quell the riots which embroil the city for six days, resulting in over 5,000 deaths and millions of dollars in property damage.

Event Date: 9-02-1980
Event Description: Samarra settles for the first time in six days. The Golden Mosque Riots are the worst since the Iraq War began, even worst than the looting which occurred during the Siege of Baghdad. President Bush, who has been trumpeting the new peace in Iraq, calls for the American people to, “Not use one riot as the measuring stick of success in Iraq.” This comment backfires on the president, with Governor Kennedy laughingly telling a crowd in Hartford, Connecticut, “Guys, its just one mass riot which killed over 5,000 people, no big deal. The war is a success, mission accomplished.”

Event Date: 9-05-1980
Event Description: The Kennedy Campaign releases another controversial attack ad, using footage of terrorist attacks in Iraq. President Bush’s statement to the troops in 1973, “You will be greeted as liberators”, plays in the back as pictures of explosions and other such attacks flash on the screen. “After the deaths of over 10,000 troops,” the announcer ends, “Are we still being greeted with flowers?” Vice-President Love attacks the ad as, “Callous and distasteful.” It will only be aired once, but it is very effective nonetheless.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 9-12-1980
Event Description: Hans Scholl and the German Labor Party win the Reichstag elections over Chancellor Heck’s Conservative Party. The gas crisis is affecting Germany as much as the United States, but Germany isn’t receiving Kurdish oil. The reason for this is because Germany didn’t aid the Kurds in their battle for impendence as the American had. Scholl used this blunder by heck to his advantage, and will soon become the new German Chancellor.

Event Date: 9-30-1980
Event Description: The first televised presidential debate of the 1980 election is held at the University of Missouri campus in Independence, a state university which Senator Harry Truman had fought very hard to get. The moderator, CBS’s Dan Rather, runs an orderly debate, which excludes Congressman Anderson. The debate focuses on domestic polices, especially the economy. Governor Kennedy makes much out of the rising unemployment and inflation rates, whereas President Bush boasts about new energy policies. The big issue is the high gas prices. “The gas prices of today must never be seen again,” President Bush tells the crowd, “That is why I signed the Clean Energy Act, which Governor Kennedy strongly opposes.” “I just don’t believe in securing oil in the Middle East, and then not using it,” Kennedy responds. The two begin to argue over Kennedy’s “blood for oil” statement last July until Rather stops them with a loud, “Enough!” The debate is widely watched, and the charismatic Kennedy is seen as the winner. The Gallup Poll will show Kennedy with a 47-45% lead over President Bush.

Event Date: 10-03-1980
Event Description: The National Star releases another story, one far important than the Charlie Wilson scoop. “Tortured Logic!” blares the front-page of the gossip rag. Carl Bernstein outlines for the whole nation how Colonel Oliver North, Lieutenant Bo Gritz and several other marines used “enhanced” persuasion methods to get information from Baa’thist leader Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. This story checks out with Gritz, who tells Bernstein, “I did it, and I’d do it again. I’m not ashamed to say I tortured to save my fellow marines. That’s called loving your country, something newsmen don’t know one thing about.” The national news picks up the story and blare it that night on the three news stations.

Event Date: 10-04-1980
Event Description: President Bush responds to the news that he allowed U.S. marines to torture a terrorist suspect. “I didn’t know that was going on,” Bush tells reporters at a televised press conference, “Had I known I would have stopped it immediately. This administration does not condone torture!” “Unless it’s the torture of a quagmire in Iraq, rising unemployment, five dollar gas and double digit inflation,” Governor Kennedy declares at a rally in Houston, Texas. In the coming days his campaign will release an ad attacking the president for running an administration, “Which he has no control over.”

Event Date: 10-21-1980
Event Description: President Bush and Governor Kennedy meet in Cleveland, Ohio, for the second debate of the election. The debate focuses mostly on the Iraq War, with Governor Kennedy consistently pledging to, “Withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by 1982.” Bush, in response, uses the term, “Defeatist Democrats”, twelve times. Kennedy defeats the president in this debate, which is something Bush didn’t need.

Event Date: 11-04-1980
Event Description: Governor Robert Francis Kennedy is elected President of the United States, defeating incumbent President George Herbert Walker Bush, the second one term president in a row.

Robert Kennedy/Jack Kemp (D): 334 EV; 48.3% of the PV
George H.W. Bush/John Love (R): 204 EV; 44.5% of the PV
John Anderson/Patrick Lucey (PR): 0 EV; 6.7% of the PV
Others (Constitution, Libertarian, etc.): 0 EV; 0.5% of the PV

The Democratic Party fails to win control of Congress, however. The House of Representatives turns to the Democrats, but the Senate remains strongly in GOP hands. President Kennedy will have to be a uniting figure if he is to get anything done, and knowing Bobby Kennedy, that is not a likelihood.     

[PBrunsel]

The Presidency of Robert F. Kennedy  

Event Date: 1-05-1981
Event Description: The 97th Congress meets to elect its new leaders. The Democrats have the House, but the Republicans control the Senate by 10-seats. In the open race for Senate Majority Leader (as current Majority Leader Gordon Humphrey (Republican of New Hampshire) declines to seek the office again) is a wild race. Republican Senators John Glenn (Ohio), Joseph Biden (Delaware), S.I. Hayakawa (California) and Mark Hatfield (Oregon) all seek the office. At the end of the day, Senator Biden wins the seat, with Senator Hatfield as Senate Majority Whip. In the House of Representatives, Democratic Representatives Phillip Crane (Illinois) and Jim Wright (Texas) fight it out for the role of Majority Leader, as former Minority Leader Thomas “Tip” O’Neil (a Kennedy ally and fairly liberal Democrat) takes the reins as Speaker of the House. Crane, with the backing of Vice-President-elect Kemp, will win the Majority Leader job. John Jacob Rhodes (Republican of Arizona) is demoted to House Minority Leader.

Event Date: 1-20-1981
Event Description: Robert Francis Kennedy is inaugurated as President of the United States, becoming the first brother of a president to become president. Watching the proceedings from the gallery is former President Joseph P. Kennedy and his family, all looking on proudly as Robert Kennedy gives his inaugural address. “Our determination to peace must be the guiding light for our nation’s role in the world,” President Kennedy proclaims, “We can claim that our army must be used to spread democracy, and that we are the best missionaries for democracy. However, we must remember the words of Voltaire, ‘People rarely welcome missionaries with bayonets.’” One Kennedy who is not in the stands watching the proceedings is John F. Kennedy, Bobby’s estranged brother. The 63-year old JFK is seriously ill, worrying his wife, Marilyn Monroe-Kennedy, to the point of alcohol abuse. Despite the cheer of the RFK inauguration, there is very little joy at the JFK homestead.

Event Date: 1-21-1981
Event Description: President Kennedy introduces to the Senate his choices for the cabinet. His new cabinet is filled with widely educated men, such as Secretary of State Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Secretary of the Navy James “Jimmy” Carter, Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon and Secretary of Commerce Henry Ford IV. One nominee, however, is not as welcomed by the Congress. This is Joseph Patrick Kennedy III, the 40-year old son of President Joseph P. Kennedy, Junior, and President Robert Kennedy’s nephew. President Kennedy demands that his nephew be confirmed for the position, declaring that JPK III was, after all, the commander of the American air force during the Iraq War and a Russo-Chinese War hero. The Senate will agree and confirm Joseph Patrick Kennedy III as the new Secretary of Defense by the end of the month.

Event Date: 2-10-1981
Event Description: President Kennedy announces that he will begin bringing home troops from Iraq, “To end that pointless, needless war.” Former President Bush, in an interview on CNN, a new 24-hour news station, calls this action, “Reckless and disastrous.” The House of Representatives sends its approvals, but the Senate stands firmly against this decision. “While the situation in Iraq seems grim now,” Senate Majority Leader Biden tells his colleagues, “We can not just pull out of the region and pretend a war was never fought. Such a move would establish chaos and mass murder across the Middle East and destabilize that vital region.” Senate Minority Leader Robert Byrd (Democrat of West Virginia) claims that, “There is already chaos in Iraq, and our army has just as much to do with it as anything else.”

Event Date: 2-11-1981
Event Description: There is quite a media fallout about Senator Byrd’s statement yesterday, declaring that when it comes to chaos in Iraq, “Our army has just as much to do with it as anything else.” Senate Majority leader Biden demands that Byrd apologize for, “These callous, heartless remarks.” Byrd refuses, and President Kennedy stands by him. “Our presence in Iraq is causing chaos,” President Kennedy tells the Associated Press, “Our troops have done an excellent job in an impossible situation. We need to pull out of Iraq and bring our troops home so that the best and bravest in America can be given a chance to keep living and helping.” President Kennedy’s masterful handling of what could have been a major gaffe for the Democrats cements Americans around him and the “pull out of Iraq” message. A Gallup Poll taken one day later will show that 64% of Americans approve of President Kennedy and that 75% of Americans want, “An immediate withdrawal of all combat forces from Iraq and Syria.”

Event Date: 2-22-1981
Event Description: The House of Representatives votes by a 287-251 margin to immediately withdraw all combat forces from Iraq and Syria by January 1982. Speaker of the House O’Neil tells the press after the resolution is passed, “Sometimes it takes just as much courage to want peace.” Congressman Trent Lott (Democrat of Mississippi), who authored the resolution, agrees with Speaker O’Neil, challenging the Senate to, “Have the heart to want peace.”

Event Date: 3-09-1981
Event Description: Senator Lloyd Bentsen (Democrat of Texas) introduces the Iraq Withdrawal Resolution, which would actually pull all combat forces out of both Iraq and Syria by January 1982. Senate Majority Leader Biden declares that he will never allow the resolution to come up for debate. “Legislating surrender is not a war time strategy!” Senator Biden blasts at a VFW convention in Washington, D.C., “We need a new direction in Iraq, not a white flag.”

Event Date: 3-30-1981
Event Description: President Kennedy is scheduled to speak before the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Convention at the Washington Hilton, but he can not attend. In his place he sends radio commentator and host Ronald Reagan, a strong Kennedy supporter. Reagan blasts the Republicans as, “The party of war, taxes and waste.” He applauds Kennedy for, “Wanting to be a peace time president, something that takes guts when some in Congress always want a wartime president.” He also jokes about his own wartime experience as a radio commentator during the American-Japanese War. “I was dodging bullets during the American-Japanese War,” Reagan tells the crowd, “Of course, those were bullets fired by absent minded farmers in Iowa during the rabbit hunting season.” Reagan’s classic charm and wit comes off well, and he is applauded for more than 10-minutes before he can leave the building. As he leaves, he is shot at by bystander, one John Hinckley, Junior. Reagan is not harmed, but he is shocked. “I never thought I was important enough to be shot at!” Reagan tells Johnny Carson that night, as he was scheduled to be on his show tonight. Later on Reagan will learn that the delusional Hinckley had expected the president to walk out of the Hilton, and fired at the first man he saw who looked “presidential.” Reagan will also learn that Hinckley was obsessed with the film “Taxi Driver”. “He should have seen ‘Rocky’,” Reagan comments, “It was better.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 4-02-1981
Event Description: John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the older brother President Robert Kennedy and the former Chief of Staff of his older brother Joseph P. Kennedy, Junior, dies at the age of 63, due to complications from Addison’s disease. His funeral will be held at the Kennedy Compound and he will be buried there as well in the family plot. Kennedy leaves behind two children from his first marriage and one from his second marriage. His current wife, Marilyn Monroe-Kennedy, will fall apart without Kennedy, leading her son, Patrick, to be sent to a relative’s home.

Event Date: 4-12-1981
Event Description: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passes the Iraq Withdrawal Resolution, with Senators Bill Bradley (Republican of New Jersey), Jim Exon (Republican of Nebraska) and Pete Domenici (Republican of New Mexico) breaking ranks to vote for the Democratic supported resolution. “Its time we tell America that its time to come home,” Senator Bradley tells the press. Senate Majority Leader Biden declares that the act, “Will be voted down by a massive margin,” but it appears as if many Republicans, wary of their constituents, will vote for the resolution.

Event Date: 4-25-1981
Event Description: President Gorbachev meets with President Kennedy at the White House, and the meeting isn’t exactly pleasant. “What are you doing!” booms Gorbachev in his almost humorous Russian accent while speaking English, “This withdrawal of troops will throw the entire Middle East into turmoil!” “It was fine before we went in, Gorby,” President Kennedy responds, he himself having no respect for the reforming Russian leader. “You little gadfly!” President Gorbachev cries at Kennedy, “Your cocksure attitude is wearing thin. The Kurds will be decimated if we evacuate the Middle East, as well as the Chalabi Government.” “If they can’t exist on their own,” Kennedy says, “Then they shouldn’t exist at all.” With this, Kennedy ends the meeting and Gorbachev storms out in a Russian huff. “Now there is an unhappy little man,” Kennedy tells Chief of Staff Sargent Shriver. After rubbing his chin, the President asks Shriver to “Do me a favor, Sarge.” “What is it, Mr. President,” Shriver asks. “Get some guys to tap the phones at the Russian Embassy,” President Kennedy instructs Shriver, “I need to hear what the Russians are planning on doing in Iraq.” Shriver agrees to get some guys on it, knowing that the odds of being caught are very slim.

Event Date: 5-06-1981
Event Description: The Senate votes 53-47 to pass Senator Bentsen’s Iraq Withdrawal Resolution. The unpopularity of the war, along with the want of the Senate to move onto other matters, led enough Republican Senators to cross party lines and vote with the Democratic resolution. The withdrawal of troops will begin as soon as June 1981.

Event Description: 5-12-1981
Event Description: General Norman Schwarzkopf holds a press conference in Kuwait City, in which he blasts the Kennedy Administration for their support of withdrawal from Iraq. “Bobby Kennedy has never seen a day of battle and knows about as much about foreign policy as a pig knows about Sunday,” the enraged general tells the press, “He is not his brother. I know Joe Kennedy, Joe Kennedy is a friend of mine. Bobby Kennedy is no Joe Kennedy.” General Schwarzkopf outlines how the Iraqi government will collapse by 1983 and the void will be filled, “With either old Baa’thist sects or religious fanatics.” White House Press Secretary Mike Wallace, a Kennedy family friend, responds to General Schwarzkopf’s statements that night. He decries the general for, “School yard name-calling,” and claims he is further ashamed that Schwarzkopf decided to attack the president on foreign soil. President Kennedy deals with Schwarzkopf in another way, he simply decides to use wiretaps and other spying measures to discredit the troublesome commander.

Event Date: 5-21-1981
Event Description: President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, nominee of the right-winged Union for French Democracy, defeats Socialist Party nominee François Mitterrand, former Minister of Justice. President d'Estaing ran strongly as the candidate who kept France out of the quagmire in Iraq. President Kennedy also used his worldwide popularity to influence the election by visiting France the week before the election on a “diplomatic mission”, which was really a massive public relations rally for the conservative French president.

Event Date: 6-10-1981
Event Description: The first U.S. troops, more than 10,000 men and women, come home from Iraq, beginning the withdrawal from the Middle East. President Kennedy’s approval ratings are at 75%, with nearly all Americans happy that the Iraq War is finally ending.

Event Date: 7-11-1981
Event Description: Vice-President Jack Kemp meets with Senator William Roth (Democrat of Delaware) and Congressman Hal Daub (Republican of Nebraska) at the Washington Naval Observatory. They discuss expanding the Ashbrook Tax Cuts, something that all three had voted for. The Roth-Daub Tax Reform Act will be written and introduced into the House of Representatives by September 1981.

Event Description: 7-29-1981
Event Description: Diana Spencer, a London fashion designer and sometimes model, marries her best friend from college, banker Morgan Howard. It is a private ceremony, attended by few. More importantly, today Senate Majority Leader Biden, hearing about the administrations new tax cut proposals, declares that, “Republican in both houses will oppose reckless and needless cuts on the national income.”

Event Date: 8-05-1981
Event Description: President Kennedy sings the Airline Deregulation Act, which reverses the Bush policy of suspending all the rights of labor to airline workers. “The era of government interference is over,” President Kennedy proudly announces as he signs the act.

Event Date: 8-08-1981
Event Description: United Airlines, American Airlines and Transnational Airlines begin to reap the rewards of deregulation. They outlaw unions, but also expend greater health care benefits to airline workers. While some airline workers go on strike, President Kennedy promptly has them fired. There will be no mass strike from airline workers in 1981.

Event Date: 8-19-1981
Event Description: President Kennedy nominates conservative Judge Antonin Scalia for the Supreme Court. He will be confirmed and make that conservative body even more right-winged.