1976: In the Lebanese civil war, Palestinian and Muslim militants launch an offensive in Christian East Beirut, taking over the neighborhood of Horj Tabet, which overlooks the Palestinian refugee camp and military compound known as Tel el-Zaatar, which is under siege by Christian Phalangist militias.

• Timeline: The Lebanese Civil War
• Remembering the Lebanese Civil War

1986: In a news conference on Middle East issues, President Reagan calls Libyan leader Muammar el Qaddafi “a pariah” (he would call him a “mad dog” four months later), and Libya “a threat to the nationals security and foreign policy of the United States” while ordering some 1,000 to 1,500 Americans still in Libya to leave the country immediately.

Reagan claims irrefutable evidence tying Libya to Dec. 17, 1985 terrorist attacks at airports in Rome and Vienna. Reagan also claims, without evidence, that the United States foiled 126 terrorist missions in 1985 alone.

• When Ronald Reagan Called Muammar el Qadddafi a “mad dog”
• Profile: Muammar el Qaddafi
• BFF: “Mad Dog” Makes Up with America

1986: Regarding American hostages held in Lebanon, President Reagan, during his first news conference in four months, says that “we continue, and have been meeting with, talking with, a number of individuals, a number of other governments […] I can’t get specific on the things that we’re doing other than it is a constant and all-out effort.” What Reagan doesn’t say is that members of his administration, including National Security Adviser Bud McFarlane and a Oliver North, low-ranked member of the National Security Council, have been meeting with Iranian government officials and negotiating for the hostages in exchange for American missiles—breaking U.S.

law.

• The Iran-Contra, Arms for Hostages Scandal
• The US and the Middle East: 60 Years of Disorder

1991: U.S. President George H.W. Bush launches Operation Desert Storm, the assault phase of the war on Iraq to force Saddam Hussein’s occupation army out of Kuwait. The air assault on Iraq lasts about 40 days and the ground war about 100 subsequent hours before Hussein, driven from Kuwait, agrees to cease-fire terms. Bush makes a pointed strategic and political decision not to pursue Hussein’s armies to Baghdad or topple the Iraqi dictator.

• Operation Desert Shield
• Operation Desert Storm
• Iraq War Timeline, 1973-1993
• Dick Cheney in 1994: Invading Baghdad Would Create a Quagmire(Video)
• Iraq War: Everything You Want and Need to Know

1996: Jordan accepts an American offer of $300 million in U.S. weaponry, including 16 F-16 fighter bombers and 50 tanks. William Perry, the Clinton administration’s defense secretary, makes the offer in Amman, the Jordanian capital, while on a swing through the Middle East.

• Putting Weapons Sales First: Bush Jeopardizes Iran Sanctions
• Lockheed's F-16 Bonanza with the United Arab Emirates

1998: Newly elected Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, in an interview on CNN, urges cultural exchanges between Iran and the United States, praising both countries’ civilizations as having more affinities than differences. But he stops short of proposing political ties. “There must first be a crack in this wall of mistrust to prepare for a change,” he tells CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “Unfortunately, the behavior of the American government in the past, up to this date, has always exacerbated the climate of mistrust, and we do not detect any sign of a change in behavior.”

The Other Mr. Cool: Mohammed Khatami

Transcript of CNN Interview with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami

Khatami’s Foundation for Dialogue Among Civilizations