MARCH 19 — 2002 Gary McKinnon’s compuer seied after exposing Space Fleet’s Solar Warden; 2003 Operation: Iraqi Freedom begins; 1966 Texas Western College defeats Kentucky
MARCH 19
1916-First Aero Squadron begins its first air-combat.
Last week if you heard the show, I talked about how America was chasing down Poncho Villa, who had invaded New Mexico and killed 17 people. The reason Poncho Villa did this was because he felt that President Woodrow Wilson was turning his back on him in favor of the newly elected president of Mexico, Venustiano Carranza.
U.S. Brigadier General John J. Pershing, the future commander in chief of American troops during WWI, used for the first time, mechanized vehicles in military operations, including automobiles and the airplanes of the First Aero Squadron. This was perfect training for the squadron in preparation for its upcoming flight missions over the battlefields of Europe.
In the meantime, however, President Carranza and the rest of Mexico, for that matter, wasn’t too happy with 7,000 American troops flying and driving all over their country looking for Villa, and started to get agitated. Meanwhile, Germany’s foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann took advantage of this opportunity and secretly tried to work with Mexico to allow German troops to launch a full scale invasion of Texas. See, the proposal was this: a Mexican-German alliance in the case of war between Germany and the United States, and promising Mexico financial aid and territory! Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, namely. The proposal, known famously as the Zimmermann Telegram, however, on its way to the Mexican ambassador, was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence. This message was sent straight to President Wilson, and Wilson made the information public. When Americans found out about this we said whaaaaaat? Screw the Germans!
And led to more support of going to war.
2003-Operation Iraqi Freedom.
This I suppose is a controversy. According to Ranks Rumsfeld in the Summary of Lessons Leaned, which was prepared testimony for the Senate Armed Services Committee at a hearing on July 9, 2003, there was no warning and the Iraqi’s were totally caught off guard.
I’m hoping someone can explain this one to me, because what actually happened between 2002 and 2003, the UN weapons inspectors tried to ascertain if Saddam Hussein had violated UN resolutions against manufacturing biological and chemical weapons. Hussein stalled in complying with the inspections, and after unsuccessful attempts to enlist the support of key UN security council nations including France and Germany, George Bush Jr announced that the US was prepared to launch military action against Iraq alone, and the UK was the country joining in the attack.
On March 15, Bush gave Hussein and his sons 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war, and Saddam scoffed at Bush. The U.N. inspectors sure got the message, they evacuated just fine. But the controversy begins possibly there, with the UN leaving with incomplete weapons inspection reports. Sure enough, 48 hours later, Operation Iraqi Freedom was underway. Bush announced to the American public that “helping a united Iraqis achieve a united stable and free country will require our sustained commitment.” Well by May 1 2003 it started looking good, until the insurgents started coming in.
A story for another day.
MARCH MADNESS NEWS:
1966-Texas Wester College defeated the top ranked University of Kentucky in the NCAA men’s college basketball final at Cole Field House in College Park, Maryland. This marked the first time an all-0black starting five had won the NCAA championship. The Western Texas journey to the NCAA championship was portrayed in the 2006 movie Glory Road.