1998

Jan 2, 1998 - The defense in the Terry Nichols trial rested its case in the penalty phase after calling nine witnesses who pleaded for his life. (Nichols had already been convicted of conspiracy, which carried a potential death sentence, and involuntary manslaughter for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.)

Jan 12, 1998 - Germany announced that it will pay $110 million over 5 years in pensions to Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe.  Iraq authorities said they would block a UN inspection team led by former US Marine captain Scott Ritter.

Jan 13, 1998 - Linda Tripp, a Pentagon aide, met with Monica Lewinsky while wearing a secret listening device, and recorded a conversation concerning Lewinsky's 1995 alleged affair with Pres. Clinton. It was later reported that she had visited the White House over 3 dozen times after leaving her job there to work at the Pentagon in 1996. Tripp came forward with allegations that Lewinsky was planning to commit perjury in the Jones vs. Clinton case.

Jan 15, 1997 - The US and Singapore announced an agreement for US ships to use a planned $35 million naval base beginning in 2000.

Jan 26, 1998 - Pres. Clinton firmly denied, with a finger shaking at the camera, having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman...I never told anybody to lie."

Feb 2, 1998 - Russia announced that an envoy in Baghdad received concessions from Saddam Hussein on UN weapons inspections. US Sec. Albright failed to get permission from Saudi Arabia for US use of air bases to launch air strikes against Iraq. France, Turkey, Jordan, the Arab League and Yasser Arafat said they would send envoys to Baghdad to avert a possible US military strike.

Feb 3, 1998 - A US surveillance aircraft cut a ski cable in Italy and caused the death of 20 skiers in a gondola cable car running from Cavalese to the Alpe Cermis. The EA-6B aircraft was normally used for patrols over Bosnia and was only slightly damaged. Lt. Col. Steven Watters was later relieved of command for telling crew members of a related squadron to destroy evidence in the investigation. The pilot did not have Italian military maps that identified the ski lift.

Feb 6, 1998 - President Clinton signed a bill changing the name of Washington National Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Feb 9, 1998 - The Pentagon announced that some 3,000 ground troops from Fort Hood, Texas, were to be sent to the Persian Gulf region over the next 10 days. The move was to discourage "creative thinking" on the part of Saddam Hussein of Iraq.

Feb 20, 1998 - With the U.S. military poised to attack Iraq, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan began a final campaign to end the crisis over U.N weapons inspections without bloodshed.

Feb 23, 1998 - President Clinton gave cautious approval to a U.N. agreement reached by Secretary-General Kofi Annan with Saddam Hussein for monitoring suspected weapons sites in Iraq.

March 10, 1998 - U.S. Air Force and Navy personnel in the Persian Gulf received vaccinations against anthrax.

April 6, 1998 - Pakistan reported a successful test of medium-range missile from its Kahuta nuclear research lab. It was capable of carrying nuclear warheads with a range of 900 miles.

April 9, 1998 - At Andersonville, Ga., the National Prisoner of War Museum opened at the site of the Civil War prison.

April 14, 1998 - FMC Corp. was hit with a $125 million verdict for misleading the US Army about the safety of its Bradley Fighting Vehicle. A 1986 lawsuit by former employee Henry Boisvert complained that the vehicles did not pass all the tests the company claimed it did.

April 19, 1998 - In Japan Pres. Yeltsin held a summit with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hasimoto at the Kawana resort. Yeltsin promised to had over KGB documents of interrogations of captured Japanese generals from WW II.

April 25, 1998 - In July a Pakistani defector claimed that the military leadership of Pakistan decided to launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack on New Delhi within 48 hours of this day. Dr. Iftikhar Khan Chaudry also claimed that Pakistan had already armed and deployed nuclear warheads at 2 sites along the Indian border.

April 27, 1998 - A Pentagon panel said remains of the Vietnam veteran in the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery should be exhumed to determine whether they belonged to Air Force First Lt. Michael J. Blassie, as his family believed. (The remains were later positively identified as those of Blassie.)

April 29, 1998 - Israel formally opened the celebration of the 50th anniversary of its founding.

May 4, 1998 - The Clinton administration invoked sanctions against North Korea and Pakistan for a secret 1997 missile deal. Pakistan's military named the acquired missile, Ghauri, after a famous Muslim warrior who slew a Hindu emperor named Prithvi, the name of a Russian made Indian missile.

May 12, 1998 - A day after India's first atomic test blasts in 24 years, neighboring Pakistan said it was ready to test a nuclear device itself.

May 13, 1998 - India set off 2 more nuclear explosions in defiance of int'l. condemnations.

May 21, 1998 - India announced a moratorium on nuclear tests and restated a willingness to negotiate an agreement on a formal test ban.

May 28, 1998 - Pakistan matched India and exploded five of its own underground nuclear tests in the Chagai Hills. Pres. Clinton grimly denounced the tests and imposed penalties that could cost Pakistan billions.

May 30, 1998 - Pakistan set off a nuclear bomb, the 6th test in 3 days.

June 6, 1998 - The UN Security Council demanded in a unanimous vote that India and Pakistan refrain from further nuclear tests and sign nuclear control agreements.

June 19, 1998 - Switzerland's three biggest banks offered $600 million to settle claims they'd stolen the assets of Holocaust victims; outraged Jewish leaders called the offer insultingly low.

June 22, 1998 - South Korea captured a small North Korean submarine that was entangled in a fishing net. The sub sank while under tow and 9 crewmen were later found dead with rifle wounds to the head.

June 23, 1998 - President Clinton said the reported discovery of traces of deadly nerve gas on an Iraqi missile warhead gave the United States new ammunition to maintain tough U.N. sanctions against the Baghdad government.

June 24, 1998 - The Clinton administration claimed that Syria has an active chemical weapons program and has armed missiles with the nerve gas sarin.

July 2, 1998 - Apologizing to viewers and Vietnam veterans for "serious faults" in its reporting, Cable News Network retracted a story alleging U.S. commandos had used nerve gas to kill American defectors during the war.

July 12, 1998 - South Korea went on alert after discovering the body of a North Korean commando and a submersible boat that could carry five men.

July 23, 1998 - It was reported that Congress made the Air Force buy more C-130 transport aircraft against its wishes. Since 1978 only 5 of 256 C-130s sent to the Air National Guard and Air Reserve were requested by the Air Force. The planes were built in Georgia.

Aug 5, 1998 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein broke off cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors and demanded the commission monitoring the weapons be reorganized.

Aug 7, 1998 - Two powerful bombs exploded at the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. At least 147 [244,247] people were killed and over 4,800 were injured. 11 [12] of the dead were Americans.

Aug 10, 1998 - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced a $2 million reward for information leading to the conviction of terrorists who bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans.

Aug 12, 1998 - Representatives of Swiss banks and holocaust survivors agreed to a settlement of $1.25 billion in reparations for victims of the Nazi regime.

Aug 17, 1998 - Pres. Clinton testified via video via closed-circuit TV from the White House before a grand jury concerning his relations with Monica Lewinsky. He then delivered a TV address in which he denied previously committing perjury, admitted his relationship with Lewinsky was "wrong," and criticized Kenneth Starr's investigation. "I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate... It was wrong."

Aug 20, 1998 - Pres. Clinton ordered cruise missile attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan 13 days after the deadly embassy bombings in East Africa. About 50 missiles were fired at the camp of Osama Bin Laden and some 25 missiles against a suspected chemical plant in Khartoum. The plant in Sudan was suspected of producing the chemical EMPTA, one of the ingredients in VX nerve gas, but also an ingredient in fungicides and anti-microbial agents. The US Operation Infinite Reach began in Afghanistan and Sudan and cost over $50 million.

Sept 9, 1998 - Kenneth Starr, independent council, delivered 36 boxes to Capital Hill that contained 2 copies of his report on the case for the impeachment of Pres. Clinton. His probe began with the failed Arkansas land deal and ended with the Monica Lewinsky affair.  The Tripartite Gold Commission closed. It was set up in 1946 by Britain, France and the United States to oversee the return of some $4 billion in gold plundered by the Nazis from European treasuries.

Oct 11, 1998 - Pope John Paul II bestowed sainthood on Edith Stein, a Jewish-born woman who became a Catholic nun and was executed by Nazis in the gas chambers of Auschwitz in 1942.

Oct 31, 1998 - The Iraqi leadership says it has ceased all co-operation with Unscom, the United Nations Special Commission set up for weapons inspections in Iraq.

Nov 6, 1998 - Pres. Clinton decided to lift most of the sanctions against India and Pakistan for their nuclear tests in May, as a reward for steps taken toward nuclear control agreements.

Nov 11, 1998 - President Clinton ordered warships, planes and troops to the Persian Gulf as he laid out his case for a possible attack on Iraq. Iraq, meanwhile, showed no sign of backing down on its refusal to deal with U.N. weapons inspectors.

Nov 13, 1998 - Pres. Clinton, without admitting guilt, agreed to pay Paula Jones $850,000 to settle her sexual harassment suit. In 1999 Jones accepted to receive $200,000 with the rest going for lawyer fees. This ended the four-year legal battle over her sexual harassment lawsuit that spurred impeachment proceedings against him.

Nov 14, 1998 - Baghdad tells the UN it is willing to allow inspections to resume.

Nov 17, 1998 - Unscom inspectors return to Iraq.

Nov 18, 1998 - JEFFERSON PROVING GROUND, Ind. (AFPN) -- An Indiana Air National Guard F-16 from the 181st Fighter Wing, Terre Haute, Ind., crashed Nov. 17 at 2:40 p.m. in a remote area of the Jefferson Proving Ground in southern Indiana.  The pilot safely ejected and was taken to a local hospital for a routine medical examination. The aircraft was on a training mission and was carrying training munitions.

The JPG is one of two air-to-ground Air National ranges in Indiana. The other is located at Camp Atterbury near Edinburgh, Ind.

Nov 21, 1998 - President Clinton, visiting South Korea, warned North Korea to forsake nuclear weapons and urged the North to seize a "historic opportunity" for peace with the South.

Dec 16, 1998 - The UN orders weapons inspectors out of the country after Unscom chief Richard Butler issued a report saying the Iraqis were still refusing to co-operate. Pres. Clinton ordered a sustained series of missile strikes against Iraq forces in response to Saddam Hussein's continued defiance of UN weapons inspectors. Iraqi envoy Nizar Hamdoon accused UN weapons inspector Richard Butler of producing a biased report on weapons inspections.

Dec 17, 1998 - US and British forces launched more missiles on the 2nd day of attacks against Iraq. The strikes included some 100 cruise missiles with 2,000 pound warheads. At least 25 people were killed and 75 injured over 2 days. Pres. Boris Yeltsin withdrew the Russian ambassador from Washington and demanded an immediate end to military action. France and Italy expressed strong opposition while Germany rallied to support the US and Britain. A stray US missile hit Khorramshahr, Iran. The US later apologized.

Dec 18, 1998 - US and British struck Iraq for a 3rd day with little resistance. The US B-1 bomber was used to drop bombs. Gen'l. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said more cruise missiles were launched in the first 2 days than the 289 in the 1991 Gulf War.

Dec 19, 1998 - The US and Britain ended their attack on Iraq after 4 days of air and missile strikes in Operation Desert Fox. An early estimate of US defense expenses was put at $500 million. Some 62 members of the Republican Guard were killed.