Iraqi President Saddam Hussain finally conceded defeat in the Gulf War but served notice he intended to rebuild his once-powerful military machine and again make Iraq a leading Arab power. Saddam made his promise on the anniversary of the day one of the most intensive air attacks in history opened the war between Iraq and a US-led multinational alliance which mustered more than 750,000 troops. Looking relaxed and wearing his field marshal’s uniform, the Iraqi President told his sanctions-hit nation that Iraqi forces had been outgunned. For the first time Saddam said that his armed forces, once almost a million strong and the fourth-largest in the world, had been beaten by the 33-nation alliance it faced in the war. “If we see the confrontation within traditional material and technological considerations,” he said, “then the camp of the faithful (Iraq) was defeated.” Saddam left no doubt he had not abandoned his dream of building Iraq into a regional superpower.
Other important events:
1718 Avalanche destroys every building in Leukerbad, Switz, kills 53.
1759 Holy Roman Empire declares war on Prussia.
1852 Sand River Convention establishes South African Republic of Transvaal.
1871 Wire manufacturer Andrew Hallidie patents the cable car.
1893 Hawaii’s monarchy is overthrown as a group of businessmen and sugar planters force Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate.
1913 Raymond Poincaré is elected President of France.
1945 Soviet troops liberate Budapest, Hungary, during the Second World War.
1946 The United Nations Security Council meet for the first time, in London.
1948 Netherlands and Republic of Indonesia sign truce.
1959 Federal state of Mali is formed by Union of Republics of Senegal and French Sudan.
1981 Martial law is lifted in Philippines after eight years.
1984 Saudi Consul Hussain Abdullah Farrash is kidnapped in Beirut.
1989 A gunman opens fire on an elementary school playground at Cleveland School, California, killing five children.
1994 A major earthquake strike Los Angeles, killing at least 74 people.
1995 Japan’s deadliest earthquake in 70 years slams Kobe and other western cities, killing more than 5,000 people.
1996 Brigadier Julius Maada Bio is sworn in as President of Sierra Leone.
1997 Norwegian explorer Børge Ousland becomes the first person to cross Antarctica solo.
2002 The volcano Nyiragongo in eastern Congo erupts, forcing most of the 500,000 residents of the nearby city of Goma to flee.
2004 About 10,000 Muslim women march through Paris to protest against France’s plan to ban head coverings in public schools.
2008 A British Airways jet from Beijing carrying 152 people crash-lands at London’s Heathrow Airport, injuring 19 people.
2010 139 members of the International Renewable Energy Agency meet for the inaugural summit held in Abu Dhabi.
2011 Tunisia’s prime minister announces a national unity government.
2012 UAE and China sign a strategic partnership deal that will enhance bilateral ties, during Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s visit to the UAE.
2013 Algerian military strafes the In Amenas gas complex in Sahara desert, killing 35 hostages and 15 kidnappers.
2014 Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor, the wife of former Indian Minister Shashi Tharoor, is found dead at a hotel in New Delhi.
2015 Egyptian actress Faten Hamama dies at the age of 83.
