December 9, 2001: Yvonne Ridley, a British journalist who was imprisoned and released by the Taleban in October, reports receiving information from Al Jazeera that Western intelligence agencies tried to have her killed by the Taleban to bolster support for the war against terrorism. The documents had purportedly been delivered to the Taliban and contained erroneous information showing Ms. Ridley to be a Mossad agent, and included a private photograph of her whose only copy had been kept in her apartment.
December 9, 2001: Attorney General John Ashcroft promises that terrorists tried by "military tribunals" that are not subject to military law will receive "full and fair" trials.
December 9, 2001: North Korea accuses the US of planning to attack it next after Afghanistan, and pledges to inflict "unimaginably telling blows" when the invasion comes.
December 10, 2001: University of New Hampsire economics professor Marc Herold reports that 3,767 Afghan civilians have been killed by the US between October 7 and December 6. This exceeds the Taliban's estimate.
December 11, 2001: Unrelated: Irv Rubin, the head of the Jewish Defense League, and another high ranking JDL member are arrested for plotting to bomb a Los Angeles mosque and the offices of Congressman Darrel Issa.
December 11, 2001: Zacarias Moussaoui, a Frenchman held on immigration charges since August, is charged with counts of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts, destroy aircraft, murder US employees, destroy US property, commit air piracy, and use weapons of mass destruction. France requests that the US not impose the death penalty.
December 11, 2001: Unrelated: Police from many nations stage a coordinated raid on members of the Drink or Die copyright infringement ring.
December 12, 2001: Unrelated: Charges against Russian computer programmer Dmitri Sklyarov are postponed for a year in exchange for his willingness to testify in a case against his employer Elcomsoft. While in Russia, Sklyarov had written a program to read data in Adobe eBook file format, a legal act in Russia but made criminal in the US by a law passed in 1998.
December 12, 2001: The Christian Science Monitor reports that an al Qaeda leader claims bin Laden is in Pakistan.
December 12, 2001: Unrelated: House Majority Leader Dick Armey announces plans to retire at the end of his term.
December 12, 2001: Unrelated: A California appeals court decides 2-1 that sending unsolicited e-mail constitutes trespassing.
December 13, 2001: The US releases a videotape, reportedly captured by Northern Alliance troops in Jalalabad, that shows bin Laden casually discussing how the attack on the World Trade Center exceeded his planned expectations. Bush had originally refused to release the tape, and there was a delay of several days between the announcement of its existence and its release, leading many to theorize that it may have been faked. Some reports are that the US released a version with no audio and English subtitles. Egypt and Saudi Arabia announce that the tape is genuine.
December 13, 2001: Unrelated: A mail bag at the US's embassy in Austria tests positive for anthrax.
December 13, 2001: The House passes a bill to upgrade voting machines throughout the country.
December 13, 2001: Unrelated: Five armed men assault India's parliament, killing six policemen and a groundskeeper. India blames the attack on terrorist groups supported by Pakistan.
December 13, 2001: Gives notice to Russia of the US's intent to withdraw from the Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty. The treaty provides for unilateral withdrawal in this matter.
December 13, 2001: Invokes executive privilege to deny Congress access to documents for a wide array of matters, including investigations into campaign fund raising abuse and abuses of power at the Boston office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This prompts Republican Congressman Dan Burton to condemn Bush as a "dictatorial president" who is "acting like he's King".
December 13, 2001: Unrelated: The FDA requests that the Red Cross be held in contempt of court for violating medical safety regulations.
December 13, 2001: Unrelated: The Surgeon General of the United States declares obesity an epidemic.
December 13, 2001: Unrelated: The New York Supreme Court decides that Internet publishers are counted as press under the First Amendment.
December 14, 2001: US troops arrive in the Philippines to train Philippine soldiers to fight against terrorists.
December 14, 2001: A freighter carrying 24,000 tons of corn to Cuba leaves port, for the first food shipment from the US to Cuba since the 1962 embargo.
December 14, 2001: The US announces that it will offer rewards for information leading to the arrests of Palestinians suspected of killing American citizens.
December 14, 2001: Citizens Against Government Waste condemns Senator Tom Daschle for increasing farm subsidies and railroad workers' pensions.
December 14, 2001: New Zealand eliminates its air force save a single air transport division.
December 14, 2001: Justin Huggler of The Independent, a British newspaper, accuses the US of carrying out a massacre of Taliban troops at Kahandar's airport. The reported method of massacre is the aerial bombing of combatants who had not surrendered.
December 14, 2001: Pakistan allows the US the long term use of an airbase at Jacobobad.
December 2001: Unrelated: James Merritt, head of the Southern Baptist Convention, calls on Christians to pray for Muslims to convert to Christianity on the last day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
December 15, 2001: The US vetoes a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel.
December 15, 2001: The US claims to have heard short-range radio transmissions from bin Laden in the area of the Tora Bora fortress in Afghanistan. After a weeklong assualt by US and regional tribal warriors (widely reported as not being affiliated with the Northern Alliance), the tribals announce having captured Tora Bora.
December 15, 2001: The US and India hold naval exercises off India's west coast.
December 15, 2001: Unrelated: Biologists confirm that the anthrax from the recent attacks on media and political figures is a type manufactured by the US Army in the 1960s and held at five laboratories in the US.
December 15, 2001: Unrelated: Saudi foreign minister Prince Nayef states that there is no evidence any of the hijackers on September 11 were Saudi, despite there being recorded video and audio evidence.
December 16, 2001: Unrelated: UK Chancellor Gordon Brown asks the US to initiate a second Marshall Plan, this one directed at impoverished countries.
December 16, 2001: Unrelated: The CIA announces that it has and (according to a possibly overzealous CNN editor) makes use of a stock of the same anthrax used in the attacks on government officials and the media. Previous reports have been that there were only five stocks in existence, none of which was that CIA's. It is reported that the FBI is investigating a private contractor who worked with the CIA's anthrax stock.
December 16, 2001: While giving a commencement speech at California State University in Sacramento, Janis Heaphy, publisher of the Sacramento Bee newspaper, is interrupted and drowned out by hecklers when she asks "To what degree are we willing to compromise our civil liberties in the name of security?"
December 17, 2001: Unrelated: A fire damages Saint John's cathedral in New York.
December 17, 2001: Unrelated: Haiti's presidential palace is captured by rebelling soldiers in a coup attempt. Loyalists retake the building after a day.
December 18, 2001: Unrelated: Lebanon demands the US act to restrain Israel after Israel stages practice bombing raids on several Lebanese cities.
December 18, 2001: Yemen shells a village that reportedly contains an al Qaeda base. Arab newspapers report that US fighter-bombers took part in the attack.
December 18, 2001: Unrelated: Bandits kill five people in Cuba, including two Americans.
December 19, 2001: Pakistani troops capture several hundred al Qaeda soldiers retreating across the border. Five Pakistani soldiers are killed when one group of surrendered al Qaeda troops overpower their guards and escape.
December 19, 2001: 100 masked troops claiming to be American soldiers invade the Comoros Island of Moheli, seize control of the local government and security forces, and distribute pamphlets charging the local head of government with supporting al Qaeda. After the US denies that these are their troops, the Comoros army retakes control, killing five invaders. It is theorized that the gunmen are French mercenaries who have tried to stage several coups in Comoros.
December 19, 2001: Iran accuses US naval forces of firing upon an Iranian tanker, wounding two crewmen.
December 19, 2001: Unrelated: Executives of Tyson Foods, the country's largest poultry processor, are charged with smuggling illegal immigrants into the country to work for low wages at Tyson's plants.
December 20, 2001: National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice accuses the Iranian government of training and funding terrorist warfare against the United States.
December 20, 2001: Unrelated: Argentina's president resigns after days of economic riots. The new president resigns after a week.
December 20, 2001: Freezes the assets of Umnah Tameer E-nau, a charity founded by Pakistan's former Atomic Energy Commissioner and accused of assisting al Qaeda's nuclear weapons research, and Lashkar e-Taiba, accused by India of the attack on its parliament and many earlier terrorist attacks.
December 20, 2001: Orders civilian aircraft mechanics to continue working without a contract.
December 20, 2001: Unrelated: Consumer advocates and government critics condemn an amendment inserted into a defense spending bill by Senate Appropriations Committee members Ted Stevens and Patty Murray that would lease 100 Boeing 767 aircraft at $20 million per aircraft per year for 10 years when the purchase price of these aircraft is $110 million. The Air Force did not ask for this deal, but announces its support.
December 21, 2001: Unrelated: Fox News pulls a four-part series on Israeli espionage operations against the US and removes the documents from its Web site.
December 21, 2001: US forces bomb a convoy believed to be carrying Taliban leaders. Other claims suggest that the convoy was carrying local politicians to Kabul to participate in the new government. A survivor supports this, and claims that an opposing tribe called in US air support and said they were al Qaeda troops after a road closure forced them through this tribe's territory. The US repeats its conviction that it hit a convoy of Taliban leaders, claiming that reconnaissance had observed the convoy since its point of origin leaving an al Qaeda base and that the convoy fired surface to air missiles at US planes.
December 21, 2001: Cuban leader Castro claims that his refusal to accept US aid and to instead demand the ability to buy the goods was "not a political move".
December 21, 2001: Unrelated: One of the insurgents arrested in connection with the attack on India's parliament says that the attack was coordinated by Pakistan's intelligence services.
December 21, 2001: Unrelated: Russia begins construction of its first new warship in ten years.
December 21, 2001: The FBI issues a warning to consumers of Microsoft XP operating system to turn off its Universal Plug and Play features after a remote system exploit was discovered in this five weeks earlier.
December 21, 2001: Unrelated: Congressmen Frank Wolf and Lucille Roybal-Allard write a letter to General Electric threatening to write a law to ban hard liquor advertising on television unless GE's subsidiary NBC voluntarily withdraws such ads from its television broadcasts.
December 21, 2001: The US imposes $75 million worth of trade sanctions upon Ukraine over widespread copyright violations taking place in the country.
December 21, 2001: British peacekeepers arrive in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghan Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim issues an order that the peacekeepers are not allowed to use force or to disarm any "belligerents".
December 22, 2001: Unrelated: An unidentified vessel sinks in Japan's exclusive economic waters after firing upon Japanese coast guard interceptors and receiving return fire from the Japanese ships. Japan announces that the ship was scuttled by its crew, was in radio contact with North Korea during the battle, was of a similar design to a ship that fled Japanese waters and docked in North Korea in 1999, and that Korean writing was found on the personal effects of drowned crew. China expresses its "concern toward Japanese use of military force in the East China Sea", and North Korea denies that the ship was one of theirs and denounces what it calls a "crime that is nothing but brutal piracy and unpardonable terrorism that can only be conducted by the samurais of Japan in defiance of international law".
December 22, 2001: Pakistan leader Musharraf condemns India's decision to recall its ambassador and cut trade routes as "arrogant and knee-jerk", and refuses to take the same actions against India.
December 22, 2001: Unrelated: A British man with explosive in his shoe attempts to bomb an American Airlines passenger jet, but is restrained by crew and passengers. He is identified as Richard Reid, although the earliest reports suggested that this was certainly a pseudonym and his passport was fraudulent.
December 22, 2001: Unrelated: The Air Force grounds all C-141 cargo planes after the wing of one "collapses" as it is being refueled on the runway.
December 22, 2001: Unrelated: Zmag, a socialist magazine, reports that Argentine voters have in

been crossing out the names of all politicians on the ballot and writing in Osama bin Laden, and that these votes constituted a majority in two precincts.
December 23, 2001: Unrelated: Pakistani fire kills two Indian soldiers across the border. India shells Pakistani positions in retaliation, and artillery battles continue throughout the month.
December 23, 2001: Unrelated: Pakistan accuses India of kidnapping and torturing a member of its ambassador's entourage.
December 23, 2001: Unrelated: Time Magazine declares that New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had a greater effect on the world than any other person this year.
December 23, 2001: Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, applies for asylum in Pakistan.
December 23, 2001: The Republican Party orders a full page newspaper advertisement of Saddam Hussein's face with text that Senator Thomas Daschle is refusing to allow any oil drilling on US soil in order to make the US dependent upon purchasing Iraqi oil. In reality, the oil purchases have been made for years under the United Nations' Food for Oil program wherein Iraq is allowed to sell a small amount of oil in exchange for food and medicine to relieve the UN blockade; and Daschle has only opposed oil drilling in national parkland, specifically the Arctic Wildlife Refuge where drilling for oil is a center of the Republicans' agenda.
December 23, 2001: Unrelated: Nigeria's Justice Minister is murdered in his home by masked gunmen. Three days later, the Nigerian senate is recalled from vacation for a special session. Two weeks later, the top aide to Nigeria's chief supreme court justice is murdered.
December 24, 2001: British police seize and search the cargo ship Nissa for 20 tons of plastic explosives to be used by al Qaeda in attacks on the United Kingdom, but find nothing. The ship, owned by the Great Eastern Shipping Company of India, carried 26,000 tons of sugar.
December 24, 2001: Unrelated: Hundreds of arson fires are set on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia throughout the fortnight beginning today. The fires strain the firefighting resources of Australia and New Zealand, and many run uncontrolled through parkland while firefighters try to save houses. Police arrest over twenty suspected arsonists, many of whom are children.
December 25, 2001: The Pakistan Observer claims that Osama bin Laden is dead of natural causes, specifically some form of lung disease.
December 25, 2001: Indian police report capturing a five-man al Qaeda cell.
December 25, 2001: Unrelated: India evacuates civilians from its border with Pakistan.
December 25, 2001: Unrelated: An anonymous Kuwaiti donor gives a five and a half yard long cake to US troops at Camp Doha.
December 25, 2001: Unrelated: Russia convicts a journalist of high treason for videotaping Russian naval vessels dumping nuclear waste in the Pacific Ocean.
December 25, 2001: A Secret Service agent of Arab descent and member of Bush's security detail is denied passage on an American Airlines flight.
December 26, 2001: The US asks Yemen to allow US troops to search for al Qaeda members there.
December 26, 2001: Unrelated: Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev denounces former Russian president Boris Yeltsin as "a liar" and that "Russian czars didn't have the kind of privileges he had".
December 26, 2001: Unrelated: Abdul Haqq Baker, chairman of Brixton mosque in London, tells British authorities that there are at least 1000 Islamic extremists in the UK, including 100 willing to become suicide bombers, and that their numbers have grown "quite frighteningly" in the past several years. He mentions that Richard Reid, who attempted to bomb an airplane four days earlier, had attended mosque around the same time as Zacarias Moussaoui and that they may have met. Baker also states his belief that Reid was sent to test airport security for future operations.
December 26, 2001: The European Space Agency rejects NASA's recommendations to reduce use of the International Space Station.
December 26, 2001: Unrelated: China urges India and Pakistan to reduce tensions along the border.
December 26, 2001: Unrelated: Iraq claims to have hit an Allied aircraft which then retreated into Saudi airspace. Both US and UK spokesmen deny that any of their planes were shot down.
December 26, 2001: Al Jazeera interrupts its programming to broadcast a videotaped speech by Osama bin Laden in which he marks three months since the attack on September 11, accuses the West of hating Islam, and states that attacks on American civilians are justified because of the US government's support of Israel.
December 26, 2001: Unrelated: Hundreds of refugees at a Red Cross camp in Sanguette, France, escape and attempt to cross the Chunnel to England on foot before being beaten back by riot police.
December 26, 2001: The US announces that several captured al Qaeda members report having seen Richard Reid at al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.
December 26, 2001: Unrelated: It is reported that days before declaring bankruptcy, Enron corporation donated $100,000 to the Democratic Party and hired one of the higher-priced lawyers in Washington, DC. The Democratic Party refuses to accept the donation or return it to Enron, announcing that it will donate the $100,000 to a charity for fired Enron employees.
December 27, 2001: Unrelated: India evicts half of Pakistan's embassy staff and forbids overflights of Pakistani civilian airplanes.
December 27, 2001: The Associated Press reports that the US is refusing to classify captured al Qaeda and Taliban fighters as prisoners of war, instead calling them "detainees".
December 27, 2001: The UN World Food Program reports that bandits and warring militias are preventing food aid from reaching Kahandar in Afghanistan. The Alliance commander of the region claims there are no such threats.
December 27, 2001: As reported in Conservative News, "conservative groups" congratulate themselves on defeating "the homosexual lobby" by convincing Bush to nominate someone other than Mary Fisher to chair the President's Advisory Council on AIDS. Fisher had gained infamy when, speaking at the Republican National Convention in 1992, she publicly announced she had contracted HIV from her husband.
December 27, 2001: JoongAng Ilbo, a South Korean paper, reports that elementary school children are singing "the Bin Laden Worship Song", a parody of a popular childrens' television show theme. Lines of the song declare bin Laden as "the person I admire most" and Bush as "the person I detest most", and announce "I want to be a terrorist when I grow up" and "I'm going to blow up the 63 building", a reference to Seoul's tallest skyscraper.
December 28, 2001: Britain's prison service dismisses two Muslim clerics for praising the September 11 terrorist attack.
December 28, 2001: Announces that the US will assist Russia in safekeeping its weapons of mass destruction. This is a direct reversal of previous Bush policy in which funding for these programs was cut.
December 28, 2001: Gives China permanent normal trade status. Since 1980, China's trade status has been voted on annually by Congress which has always granted China normal trade status.
December 29, 2001: The FAA weakens its requirements for airport security guards by accepting a year of experience in lieu of a high school diploma.
December 29, 2001: Unrelated: Anthrax is detected at a postal facility in New York.
December 29, 2001: Columnist William Safire half-jokingly predicts that the Justice Department will open up a Pro-Trust division in 2002.
December 30, 2001: Pakistan arrests Lashkar e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed for incitement to violence.
December 30, 2001: The 101st Airborne Division of the US Army begins relieving the Marine Corps at Camp Rhino, and command is transferred on January 18th.
December 30, 2001: Unrelated: James Risen of the New York Times reports that al Qaeda had attempted to ally with Iran to coordinate attacks on US civilians.
December 30, 2001: Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah condemns terrorists and declares it the duty of Muslims to oppose them.
December 30, 2001: Pakistan freezes the assets of two nuclear scientists.
December 31, 2001: The US bombs the village of Niazi Qayali in eastern Afghanistan, killing over 100. The US states that extensive reconaissance confirmed this was an al Qaeda position, while villagers state that there were no Taliban or al Qaeda in the village. In the coming days it becomes clear that civilians were residing in the area that was hit, while a BBC weapons expert claims that two of the buildings that were hit were ammunition dumps.
December 31, 2001: Unrelated: Columbian authorities find $41 million in counterfeit US currency.
December 31, 2001: Unrelated: The Navy admits that its testing of a powerful sonar in 1997 was the cause of a large number of whale deaths.
December 31, 2001: A federal court blocks the FCC's approval of Southern Bell Corp's move into Oklahoma until the government has looked into serious antitrust concerns.
December 31, 2001: Radio host Jim Hightower accuses John Ashcroft of trying to reinstate the Cointelpro program that infiltrated and attempted to destroy opposition political groups in the 1960s.
December 2001: Orders a pay raise for federal employees.
Year 2001: Unrelated: The United States Capitol Historical Society prints a calendar that erroneously includes 31 days in the month of November.
2002
January 1, 2002: Unrelated: Twelve european nations convert to the Euro currency unit.
January 2, 2002: The US demands that Afghanistan's new government capture and extradite Taliban leader Muhammed Omar.
January 1, 2002: Unrelated: Twelve european nations convert to the Euro currency unit.
January 2, 2002: The US demands that Afghanistan's new government capture and extradite Taliban leader Muhammed Omar.
January 2, 2002: Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill announces that the federal government will surpass the $5.95 trillion debt ceiling by February, and urges Congress to lift the ceiling to $6.7 trillion. The ceiling is the amount of debt that Congress allows the Treasury Department to issue. While proposing his tax cut, Bush had promised that this ceiling would not be reached until 2008.
January 2, 2002: Unrelated: A federal judge throws out Puerto Rico's lawsuit against the United States regarding noise caused by the US navy's use of Vieques Island as a gunnery range.
January 2, 2002: Unrelated: A National Guardsman on duty at San Francisco Airport accidentally shoots himself in the butt when unholstering his weapon.
January 2, 2002: Unrelated: A Massachusetts court declares that children conceived by artificial insemination after the death of the parents have the same rights of inheritances as other children.
January 2, 2002: During an interview with Guerilla News, Canadian journalist Gregory Palast clarifies his earlier accusations of Bush forbidding investigation into the bin Laden family, now claiming that Bush ordered all US intelligence services to cease all investigation of Saudi funding of Osama bin Laden himself and his al Qaeda group.
January 3, 2002: Afghanistan's new government frees 260 Taliban POWs.
January 3, 2002: Unrelated: Former President Clinton's dog Buddy is hit by a car and killed.
January 3, 2002: Unrelated: Lebanon orders a halt to the distribution of the popular newspaper Asharq al-Awsat after it reports that Lebanon's president escaped an assassination attempt in Monte Carlo in December.
January 3, 2002: Unrelated: Douglas Gansler, State's Attorney for Montgomery County in Maryland, announces that Hassan Tantai, actor in the critically acclaimed film Kandahar, is the fugitive assassin Daoud Salahuddin, also known as David Belfield. In 1980, Salahuddin had shot Iranian diplomat Ali Akbar Tabatabai in a suburb of the District of Columbia on the behalf of the new Iranian government.
January 3, 2002: Unrelated: Japan's National Police Agency announces that it will create an organization similar to the US's Federal Bureau of Investigation in order to track organized crime and Internet crime.
January 3, 2002: Pakistan arrests 50 members of two terrorist groups that India accuses of carrying out the attack on the Indian Parliament.
January 3, 2002: Unrelated: A section of the US Capitol building is closed after a threatening letter is received by the office of Thomas Daschle. Tests show the letter to contain talcum powder, not anthrax.
January 3, 2002: Nina Olson, the US Treasury Department's National Taxpayer Advocate, urges Congress to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax, claiming that it complicates the tax affairs of many middle class taxpayers. The AMT is charged to wealthy businesses and individuals who find enough loopholes in the tax code to avoid paying taxes.
January 3, 2002: Unrelated: It is reported that a Michigan law urges the state government to prominently display the national motto "In God We Trust" on all government buildings, claiming that the US Constitution demands this.
January 3, 2002: Defense Secretary Rumsfeld admits that US propoganda often contains factual errors, as much so as pictures of someone else claimed to be of bin Laden.
January 3, 2002: Unrelated: US intelligence assists Israel to capture a shipment of arms destined for the Palestinian Authority. Although Israel claims the ship is registered to the PA and crewed by PA officers, the PA claims no knowledge or responsibility for the ship and accuses Israel of timing the ship's capture to coincide with the arrival of US ambassador Anthony Zinni. In the coming days, the British newspaper Lloyd's List reports that the ship is registered to an Iraqi citizen, Iraq denounces the seizure as an act of piracy, and the US envoy leaves in futility.
January 4, 2002: The Pentagon reports the first combat death of a US soldier in Afghanistan. Several other soldiers are reported injured from the battle near Khost. A CIA agent had been killed in earlier combat near Mazar e Sharif. Mideast news sources such as Dawn, Paknews, and Arab News have been reporting thousands of US soldiers dead throughout the operation, sometimes reporting more US troops dead in a single battle than the US has reported were in Afghanistan at all.
January 4, 2002: Pakistan gives the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan into US custody.
January 4, 2002: Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati accuses the US of carrying out "the worst kind of terrorism" in Afghanistan.
January 4, 2002: Unrelated: The Traditional Values Coalition, a far-right fundamentalist group, accuses the government's National Public Radio of slandering Christianity.
January 4, 2002: Senator Thomas Daschle accuses the Republican Party of being the primary cause of the current recession.
January 4, 2002: Releases a subset of Ronald Reagan's presidential papers after reviewing them for appropriateness. By law, all of Reagan's papers were to have been released upon Bush's inauguration.
January 4, 2002: Columnist Paul Krugman of the New York Times reports that "the Republicans have moved so far to the right that ... focus groups literally refused to believe accurate descriptions of the stimulus bill that House Republican leaders passed on a party-line vote back in October."
January 5, 2002: South Korea announces its intent to purchase 111 300km-range missiles from the US. South Korea currently has no missiles of that range.
January 5, 2002: Cuban leader Castro announces that he does not oppose Bush's decision to imprison al Qaeda members at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba.
January 5, 2002: Cuts funding to the largest Iraqi opposition group due to their poor bookkeeping.
January 5, 2002: Promises never to raise taxes, "not over my dead body", or to scale back upcoming tax cuts, which he equivocates with a tax raise.
January 5, 2002: Unrelated: A 15 year old steals a Cessna light aircraft and crashes it into a Bank of America skyscraper, killing him and causing minor damage to the building. A note found in his pocket reveals that he supported the terrorist attacks on September 11, while his aquaintances report that he was a strong supporter of the United States after the attack.
January 5, 2002: An anti-Bush protest in Portland, Oregon, is dispersed by an announcement that Bush's planned visit was cancelled, which it was not. A reporter overhears someone on the police radios mention that "the misinformation is working".
January 6, 2002: India claims to have shot down a Pakistani reconnaissance drone over Indian airspace.
January 6, 2002: Unrelated: A Chinese citizen and New York resident who had returned to China to verify reports of torture in Chinese prisons and was subsequently arrested upon arrival in May 2000 gives an interview in which she renounces the practice of Falun Gong as a brainwashing cult and announces how she "treasures every day" that she is in prison.
January 6, 2002: Unrelated: The US Embassy in New Zealand receives a letter containing cyanide and a threat to disrupt a golf tournament.
January 6, 2002: Pakistan claims to have arrested four members of India's secret service agency RAW who were planning a suicide bomb attack against US forces based at Jacobobad airport. Western news agencies do not carry the story.
January 6, 2002: Unrelated: The Dallas Morning News reports that half of the cocaine seized by Dallas police in drug raids is actually sheet rock. The Mexican consolate asks that Mexican nationals deported after such raids be allowed to return.
January 7, 2002: Unrelated: Singapore announces that 15 suspected al Qaeda terrorists arrested in December had been planning attacks against the US embassy and American businesses in Singapore.
January 7, 2002: After visiting with British prime minister Tony Blair, Pakistani dictator Musharraf pledges to act against terrorist groups based in his country.
January 7, 2002: Promotes running a deficit during recessionary periods and times of national emergency, and suggests that raising taxes (or returning them to somewhere between future and past levels) would be a disaster.
January 7, 2002: Announces that he will closely watch the trial of a man accused by China of importing Bibles, an illegal act.
January 7, 2002: Announces that he will jail anyone who "espouses a philosophy that's terrorist and bent".
January 7, 2002: Unrelated: The Gemini North Telescope takes an image of a planet orbiting the star 15 Sge. The planet is estimated to be between 55 and 78 times the size of Jupiter.
January 7, 2002: A federal judge strikes down a Bush order to forbid the hiring of contractors who fail to discourage employees from joining unions.
January 2002: 1500 US soldiers are transferred to Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba.
January 8, 2002: Unrelated: Nagalingam Parameswaran, Malaysian diplomat and member of the United Nations' government of East Timor, resigns from his post accusing his UN colleagues of racism.
January 8, 2002: Unrelated: Iran tries sixteen critics for treason. One defense lawyer is barred from attending the trial, and another resigns after being refused knowledge of the charges against his clients.
January 8, 2002: Defense Secretary Rumsfeld denies the existence of a confidential report that recommends the resuming nuclear weapons test.
January 8, 2002: Signs a law to increase federal control over childrens' public school education.
January 8, 2002: Unrelated: The Supreme Court unanimously declares that carpal tunnel syndrome is not a disability covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act in the case of a woman whose injury caused by her normal job duties prevented her from continuing this job, because these injuries did not prevent her from carrying out most normal life activities.
January 8, 2002: General Richard Meyers demands that Afghanistan turn over to the United States three Taliban ministers who surrendered to the new Afghan government.
January 8, 2002: Unrelated: The National Academy of Sciences suggests that Congress enact laws to punish software makers for security problems.
January 8, 2002: Unrelated: The IRS announces that it is trying to account for 2300 missing computers, mostly laptops and PDAs.
January 9, 2002: A US KC-130 refueling plane crashes in Pakistan, killing its crew of seven.
January 9, 2002: Al Gore quips that he was "the first one laid off back in January" and "I was your next President of the United States".
January 9, 2002: Orders a review of US pension laws, after thousands of Enron employees lost their pensions in the company's bankruptcy.
January 9, 2002: Unrelated: A S3-B Viking jet crash lands on the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, causing no injuries.
January 9, 2002: Unrelated: Indonesian representative Tamalia Alisjahbana presents a petition of 10,000 signatures supporting the United States and opposing religious extremism, in opposition to widespread calls for war against the United States.
January 9, 2002: Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announces a partnership between the Energy Department and the automobile industry to produce hydrogen fueled cars.
January 9, 2002: Unrelated: Alabama governor Don Siegelman calls for a statewide constitutional convention to weaken the "powerful forces" of the state Legislature.
January 9, 2002: Unrelated: Michigan passes a bill to create a "cybercourt" where lawyers and judges meet through teleconferencing.
January 10, 2002: Unrelated: France's parliament overturns a legal ruling that allowed children with birth defects to sue doctors for not aborting them.
January 10, 2002: Demands that Iran turn over to the US any Taliban fleeing across the border, and threatens retaliation, "diplomatic initially", if Iran tries to destabilize the new Afghan government. Iran responds that it will not allow bin Laden supporters into the country under any circumstances.
January 10, 2002: Russia demands that the US destroy warheads that Bush had earlier promised to dismantle, rather than store them for later use as Bush has recently announced.
January 10, 2002: Unrelated: A French scientist who had lobbied for reduced salt in snack food announces that he has been spied on by the French secret police.
January 10, 2002: The CIA reports that China will have nearly 100 nuclear missiles aimed at the United States by 2015.
January 10, 2002: Unrelated: Representatives Peter Deutsch, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Gary Ackerman cancel a planned meeting with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
January 10, 2002: Unrelated: An F-16 crashes in training in New Jersey.
January 10, 2002: Unrelated: The Supreme Court declares in a 5-4 ruling that juries in capital cases must be informed of the option of sentencing the defendant to life without parole. Voting against are Rehnquist, Thomas, Kennedy, and Scalia.
January 10, 2002: Unrelated: Norway indicts computer programmer Jon Johansen for developing a computer program to read DVD discs in a method that is explicitly allowed by the Norweigan constitution. In 1998 he had been arrested for developing the same program, leading to the Norweigan equivalent of a Congressional investigation which found heavy pressure from the US entertainment industry on the police to arrest him.
January 10, 2002: Unrelated: A Hamilton, Ohio county judge rules that the carrying of a concealed firearm is a Constitutional right.
January 10, 2002: Attorney General John Ashcroft removes himself from the criminal investigation into the Enron collapse due to conflicts of interest.
January 10, 2002: Camp Rhino is attacked by a small band of 8 to 14 gunmen. There are no reports of casualties. Marines involved in the firefight report that the gunmen fired upon a plane transporting al Qaeda members to prison in Cuba, while officers report that the plane left fifteen minutes before the battle began.
January 10, 2002: Unrelated: Arthur Anderson Limited Liability Partnership announces that it has destroyed documents from its audit of Enron corporation.
January 11, 2002: Unrelated: India's defense minister announces that his country is prepared for war with Pakistan.
January 11, 2002: Unrelated: Ford Motor Company closes five automobile plants, costing 20,000 jobs. The company's fortunes have changed from a $6.6 billion profit in 2000 to a $692 million loss in the third quarter of 2001.
January 11, 2002: Secretary of State Colin Powell lends his support to Israel's destruction of the runways of Gaza International Airport and dozens of Arab houses in Rafah as "a defensive action".
January 11, 2002: Lebanon rejects the US's accusation that Hizb Allah is a terrorist group, and demands that the US provide evidence of its claims.
January 11, 2002: Iran condemns Bush as "rude and impudent", and warns that his threats would "not have the intended results".
January 11, 2002: While the Senate is out of session, appoints former Ambassador to Venezuela Otto Reich as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs and Eugene Scalia, son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, as Solicitor of the Department of Labor. During the Reagan administration, Reich had illegally used federal funds to wage a propoganda campaign within the US media in support of the terrorist Contras of Nicaragua. Scalia has called called ergonomics health laws "quackery" and "junk science".
January 11, 2002: Signs a bill to double pollution cleanup funds and give legal immunity to developers of polluted land.
January 12, 2002: Pakistani dictator Musharraf gives a speech renouncing terrorism, declaring two Pakistani terrorist groups and two right wing religion-based parties illegal, banning political messages from religious functions, and announcing the requirement for houses of worship to register with the government.
January 12, 2002: Unrelated: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe declares that the United Kingdom is at war with Zimbabwe.
January 12, 2002: Unrealted: Chinese Premier Zhu Rongii visits India on a diplomatic mission.
January 12, 2002: The US announces that one of the al Qaeda soldiers being held at Guantanamo Bay is a British citizen.
January 13, 2002: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation presents a video of al Qaeda troops practicing an attack on a golf tournament.
January 13, 2002: Unrelated: 60 Iranian members of Parliament protest against the arrest and conviction of a fellow MP for insulting the judiciary. In response, Iran's religious leader, also the head of government and judiciary, pardons the MP.
January 13, 2002: Unrelated: Bangladeshi rebels infiltrate India and fire into a marketplace, killing 16 civilians.
January 13, 2002: Faints for a short period of time after choking on a pretzel.
January 13, 2002: 660 US troops arrive in the Philippines to be sent into combat areas and return fire if fired upon, but not to initiate action. The Philippine constitution forbids foreign troops from operating in offensive roles on Philippine land.
January 13, 2002: Unrelated: The World Trade Organization rules US export subsidies illegal, penalizing the US $4 billion in trade sanctions.
January 14, 2002: Unrelated: Czechoslovakia demands that the US move Radio Free Europe out of the download area of Prague because the number of terrorists trying to blow it up are a danger to the public.
January 14, 2002: Unrelated: The US Embassy in Yemen temporarily closes due to terrorist threats.
January 14, 2002: Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit visits the United States for a five day goodwill tour.
January 14, 2002: Tonga closes its international ship registry in response to a Palestinian Authority arms smuggling ship flying the Tongan flag. The US assisted in detecting the ship.
January 14, 2002: Congressman Dan Burton demands an explanation from Navy Secretary Gordon England over the decision to deny the Kennedy battle group the ability to train on Vieques Island in Puerto Rico.
January 14, 2002: Surgeon General David Satcher announces his resignation in order to persue a career at Morehouse School of Medicine.
January 15, 2002: Signs an order allowing development of wetlands and seasonal streams.
January 15, 2002: Marines discover several arms dumps just outside Camp Rhino in the area from where fire was received earlier. Several tunnels are also found and destroyed, some containing further caches of weaponry.
January 15, 2002: Unrelated: On the island of Jolo in the Philippines, 17 people are dead in a gun battle between the Philippine military and police defending a crowd that tried to lynch a soldier. The crowd was participating in a demonstration of support for Nur Misuari, a former governor who had been arrested for taking up arms against the government. The next day, policemen ambush an army jeep, killing four soldiers, and the government orders the army to retreat.
January 15, 2002: Unrelated: After the arrest of hundreds of terrorist supporters by Pakistan since Musharraf's speech, India announces that it is still waiting for Pakistan to take "first steps" of action against terrorists.
January 15, 2002: Relatives of people killed in the September 11 terrorist attack visit Afghanistan to meet with relatives of people killed in the US bombing campaign.
January 15, 2002: Unrelated: An American aid worker in Afghanistan is kidnapped for ransom by bandits while delivering medicine. He is released after three days.
January 15, 2002: Unrelated: Several international news organizations including Associated Press, Agence France-Press, Reuters, Cable News Network, British Broadcasting Corporation, American Broadcasting Corporation, and Corporate Broadcasting System petition against Israel's refusal to renew the press licenses of Arab journalists.
January 15, 2002: The US declines to charge John Walker with treason, instead charging him with conspiracy to kill Americans overseas, supporting foreign terrorist organizations, and engaging in prohibited transactions with the enemy.
January 15, 2002: Unrelated: Representative Nancy Pelowsi(sp?) is appointed House Minority Whip, becoming the highest ranking Congresswoman in history.
January 15, 2002: Unrelated: The Supreme Court decides 6-3 that the federal government can sue a business for violating the rights of an employee who has signed a contract with the business to settle disputes between the employee and business in a private court. Dissenting judges are Thomas. Rehnquist, and Scalia.
January 15, 2002: The US discovers al Qaeda documents mentioning an agent whose travels match those of Richard Reid, who tried to bomb an airplane in December. The documents were found on a computer purchased by a Wall Street Journal reporter in Kabul, and it took US computers five days to break the Windows 2000 40-bit encryption.
January 16, 2002: The United Nations Security Council issues a resolution requiring all countries to stop all sales of arms to and travel by Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, the Taliban, and groups associated with them, and to freeze their financial assets.
January 16, 2002: The State Duma of Russia votes 326-3 to condemn Bush's decision to end the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and requesting President Putin confer with the Duma to discuss the future of Russia's security.
January 16, 2002: Unrelated: Human Rights Watch condemns Russia, Uzbekistan, and Egypt for declaring peaceful opposition political parties "terrorists" and moving to disable them.
January 16, 2002: Unidentified gunmen attack Lahore airport in Pakistan, wounding three Pakistani guards before fleeing.
January 16, 2002: United Nations human rights chief Mary Robinson demands that the United States treat captured al Qaeda troops as prisoners of war under the Geneva convention.
January 16, 2002: Issues an executive order barring Justice Department workers from joining or forming unions.
January 17, 2002: Guides television cameras through the White House for a special show on the real life duties of the President. At the end of the day, the cameras are barred from a dining hall where he discusses policies with Republican lawmakers.
January 17, 2002: Unrelated: A volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo erupts, sending hundreds of thousands of refugees into Rwanda and destroying the city of Goma.
January 17, 2002: Unrelated: Ford posts a $5.45 billion loss for the year 2001. The report says Ford earned a $3 billion profit in 2000, differing from earlier reports that Ford earned over $6 billion in profits that year.
January 17, 2002: Unrelated: Scientists discover that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, inluding the Ross Ice Shelf, is thickening.
January 17, 2002: The US urges Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to "take action against those responsible" after a soldier in Arafat's private terrorist army attacks a Jewish rite of passage celebration, killing six partygoers.
January 17, 2002: North Korea requests that the United Nations investigate accounts of US soldiers killing civilians in the Korean war of 1950-1953.
January 17, 2002: Waives sanctions on China related to the 1989 killing of dozens of peaceful protestors in Tianmen Square so that the US may legally donate firefighting equipment to the city of Shanghai.
January 17, 2002: British Liberal Democrat party leader Charles Kennedy describes the al Qaeda prisoners at Camp X-Ray as being kept hooded, in shackles, and under sedation.
January 18, 2002: Bosnia delivers six suspected terrorists to the US after the Bosnian Supreme Court orders their release.
January 18, 2002: The International Red Cross inspects the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station which has been dubbed Camp X-Ray.
January 18, 2002: Britain charges two Algerians of attempting to bomb the US Embassy in Paris, France.
January 19, 2002: Unrelated: Bugging devices are found on the Chinese president's plane after it returns from repairs in the US. Chinese soldiers had kept the plane under guard throughout its construction and refitting.
January 18-19 2002: The African nations of Sierra Leone and Sudan both end their civil wars. US negotiators were reported to be involved in Sudan's peace deal.
January 20, 2002: The US issues a $5 million bounty for information leading to the arrest of Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzik and Ratko Mladic.
Janaury 20, 2002: A helicopter carrying seven Marines crashes in Afghanistan, killing two.
January 20, 2002: The Archbishop of Wales declares that the US's war on Afghanistan has lost credibility and is morally equivalent to the terrorist attacks against the US on September 11.
January 20, 2002: Unrelated: The New York Fire Department abandons plans for a firefighters' memorial after accusations of racism. The department's planned memorial showed an African, a Hispanic, and a white firefighter raising a flag while the event that the memorial was based on involved three white firefighters.
January 20, 2002: Declares this day "National Sanctity of Human Life Day" to urge legislaters to make abortion illegal.
January 2002: At the urging of Representative Chris Smith, bans all funding to the United Nations Population Fund which delivers tampons to Afghan women.
January 2002: Attorney General Ashcroft orders the covering of the semi-nude Spirit of Justice statue in the Justice Department.
January 2002: US troops kill 15 and arrest 27 people that the US claims are al Qaeda members. Their village claims that they were not, that they had gone to visit an area where Taliban had been and withdrawn from, and that the US fired without offering the men the opportunity to surrender. After three days, the story completely disappears from the international press.
January 21, 2002: Former Senator and presidential candidate Al Gore gives a speech in India that journalists are barred from attending. A report suggests that he introduced himself as the man rightfully chosen to be the President of the United States.
January 21, 2002: Unrelated: Terrorists open fire on the US diplomatic center in India, killing five Indian guards. India says the Pakistani government ordered the attack, while Pakistan denies this. Days later, three Bangladeshi and three Indians are arrested.
January 21, 2002: Unrelated: An audit finds that the US's main biological warfare center has lost 27 samples of diseases, including anthrax and ebola.
January 21, 2002: The Wall Street Journal condemns as "liberal" the Human Rights Watch report on the United States for the year 2002, taking offense that the humanitarian organization considers liberties lost to Ashcroft's police powers bill worth mentioning, and claiming that Human Rights Watch wrote in support of the Taliban when in fact the organization celebrated the Taliban's removal from power as a great advancement.
January 22, 2002: Lawyer Stephen Yagman files a lawsuit against the United States over the treatment and status of the al Qaeda prisoners in Cuba.
January 22, 2002: Unrelated: K-Mart, the third largest discount store chain in the US, declares bankruptcy.
January 22, 2002: AOL-Time-Warner sues Microsoft in civil court after it becomes increasingly apparent that the Bush administration does not want to punish Microsoft for its crimes.
January 22, 2002: The US asks Yasser Arafat to find a way to end terrorist attacks after a member of Arafat's private army opens fire on a crowded street, killing two civilians and injuring over forty. Arafat is currently under Israeli house arrest. In related news, Islamic Resistance announces that it will make war against Jews everywhere by any means.
January 22, 2002: Gives a speech for a rally to illegalize abortion.
January 23, 2002: Unrelated: The Senate office building reopens.
January 23, 2002: The US imposes trade sanctions on Ukraine over rampant copyright violation there.
January 23, 2002: Sweden and Denmark report that some of the captives at Guantanamo Bay are citizens of their countries. Germany demands that the US treat captured al Qaeda personnel as Prisoners of War. Sweden and Great Britain announce in advance their opposition to any decision to put their citizens to death.
January 23, 2002: Unrelated: The FBI, Secret Service, and Los Angeles Police raid and shut down publication of the anarchist website Raise The Fist.
January 23, 2002: Wall Street Journal bureau chief Daniel Pearl is kidnapped by a Pakistan-based terrorist group which accuses him of being a CIA agent and demands the release of al Qaeda members who are Pakistani citizens.
January 23, 2002: Unrelated: The US revises its dress code for women in the military serving in Saudi Arabia, no longer requiring the wearing of local clothing.
January 23, 2002: The US and France sign an agreement to "liberalize" airline regulations. This allows the airlines to sell seats on each others' flights.
January 24, 2002: A US State Department helicopter is shot down by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia rebel group and destroyed by the Columbian government as rebels overrun the position.
January 24, 2002: Unrelated: Iraq fires upon US and UK airplanes patrolling the "no-fly" zone. The US and UK return fire.
January 25, 2002: Federal Reserve Bank chairman Alan Greenspan announces that the economy is recovering.
January 25, 2002: The US announces that relations are improving between it an Libya.
January 25, 2002: Unrelated: Christian preacher Jerry Falwell predicts that a terrorist attack will occur in San Francisco because of the city's acceptance of homosexuality.
January 25, 2002: Unrelated: Saudi Arabia announces that it will not allow female US soldiers to leave their bases in Saudi Arabia without wearing traditional local clothing.
January 25, 2002: Unrelated: Former Enron vice chairman Clifford Baxter is found dead of suicide.
January 26, 2002: Secretary of State Colin Powell requests that a judicial system decide whether each al Qaeda prisoner individually should be given the rights of prisoners of war under the Geneva convention.
January 26, 2002: Saudi Arabia threatens the withdrawl of support for the US if any actions are taken against Yasser Arafat, calling the man responsible for several times more needless deaths than bin Laden a "man of peace".
January 27, 2002: Unrelated: Five high ranking Russian officials are among 14 killed in a helicopter crash in Chechnya.
January 27, 2002: Unrelated: Russia closes its last military base on Cuba.
January 27, 2002: Rumsfeld declares that the al Qaeda prisoners will not be granted Prisoner of War status.
January 28, 2002: Saudi Arabia asks that the US release the over 100 al Qaeda members who are Saudi citizens.
January 28, 2002: Unrelated: An armoury in Lagos, Nigeria, explodes due to a fire started at a nearby gas station. Hundreds drown fleeing into canals to escape the blaze.
January 29, 2002: Unrelated: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi fires popular Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka and her deputy Yoshiji Nogami over a government-stalling dispute in which either Tanaka or Nogami must have been lying.
January 29, 2002: Unrelated: Bush's niece Noelle Bush is arrested for purchasing a controlled drug with a fraudulent prescription.
January 29, 2002: Canada announces that its Joint Task Force 2 has been involved in capturing enemy troops in Afganistan and has handed captees over to the United States.
January 29, 2002: Gives the State of the Union Address in which he promotes increasing spending on defense, unemployment insurance, education, retirement, and health care while urging Congress to restrain spending; Promotes energy conservation and efficiency research; Takes credit for Senator Lieberman's idea to deliver part of the tax cut immediately and directly to American households, and implies this amount is his planned cuts in their entirety; Promises more overseas actions to fight terror; Names Hizb Allah, Islamic Resistance, and Islamic Jihad as terrorist groups, an act that Saudi Arabia and Syria have earlier threatened retribution for; and names North Korea as a primary terrorist state for its development of missile technology.
January 30, 2002: Newspapers report that many of the programs Bush promoted in his State of the Union speech are the same programs being eliminated by his budget.
January 30, 2002: The General Accounting Office announces it will file suit against Vice President Dick Cheney to obtain documents related to the secret energy committee meetings, the first time in the history of the office that it has been necessary to sue an executive official.
January 30, 2002: Unrelated: Pakistan arrests the Muslim priest that the kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl was en route to visit when he disappeared. Days later, the US announces that the preist is not a suspect.
January 30, 2002: Unrelated: An American civilian is killed by communist rebels in the Philippines near Mount Pinatubo, and a US military transport plane is hit by small arms fire while flying over the island of Lagos.
January 30, 2002: Mike Allen of the Washington Post reports that Bush is asking Congress to limit their investigation into the September 11 attacks to committees whose reports are made secret and kept from the public.
January 31, 2002: The US admits that it killed 21 friendly anti-Taliban militia in an attack earlier in the month.
January 31, 2002: Declares that a fetus is an "unborn child" to be treated by law as a live human being in government policy.
January 31, 2002: NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson announces that NATO will not support US attacks against any other countries without evidence that these countries were involved in attacks upon the US.
January 31, 2002: North Korea calls Bush's statements "little short of a declaration of war", condemns Bush's "political immaturity and moral leprosy", and warns that the US is not the only of the two with the will and ability to attack first.
January 31, 2002: Unrelated: Five Roma who were made orphans by the Holocaust sue International Business Machines corporation in Switzerland alleging that IBM sold machinery to Germany knowing it would be used to commit mass murders.
January 31, 2002: Unrelated: An old US satellite falls to earth over Egypt.
January 2002: Unrelated: It is reported that the anthrax used in the attack on Senator Daschle is not the Ames strain as previously reported, but a different strain that is only manufactured in Texas.
January 2002: A city in Afghanistan rebels against the new government after a warlord from a neighbouring province is appointed to govern the city. The city had already elected its own governor after the Taliban fell and before the new government formed. Over 60 are killed in the fighting and the national troops are repelled. It is reported that many of the national troops refused to fight, and that US bombers were in the area but chose not to intervene.
January 2002: Unrelated: The British Commonwealth votes against evicting Zimbabwe. Generally, white nations had voted to evict Zimbabwe while African and Asian nations voted to keep Zimbabwe in the commonwealth.
February 1, 2002: Unrelated: CNN airs a videotape of an Al Jazeera interview with Osama bin Laden in which bin Laden advocates killing American civilians. In retaliation, Al Jazeera cuts all relations with CNN, stating that CNN used poor judgement and disrespected its "special relationship" with Al Jazeera by "airing material that Al Jazeera itself chose not to broadcast". Al Jazeera further states that it will not give any further explanation for its actions or for its original decision not to air the tape itself. According to a BBC report, CNN and Al Jazeera had an agreement whereby CNN was allowed to air any of Al Jazeera's material.
February 1, 2002: King Abdullah II of Jordan gives his support to Bush's statements regarding Iran and Iraq.
February 1, 2002: Unrelated: A terminal at San Francisco airport is closed after a man's shoes test positive for ammonium nitrate, a chemical used in fertilizer and some explosives, and the suspect walks away while his guard searches for a supervisor.
February 1, 2002: Unrelated: Governor James McGreevey of New Jersey breaks his leg in a fall.
February 2, 2002: Unrelated: Al Jazeera announces that the interview it had condemned CNN for broadcasting was conducted under duress, and that Al Jazeera's correspondant had been kidnapped and given questions to read at gunpoint.
February 3, 2002: Columnist Molly Ivins accuses Bush of overturning banking regulations that Clinton had put into place to track down terrorist money laundering operations.
February 3, 2002: NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson calls upon Europe and Canada to greatly increase their military capabilities to match the US.
February 3, 2002: Donald Rumsfeld accuses Iran of allowing al Qaeda troops to escape.
February 3, 2002: The US runs television advertisements during the Super Bowl that accuse drug users of complicity in terrorist attacks.
February 4, 2002: Iran warns the US that it can defend itself against attack.
February 4, 2002: A federal judge decides that Victoria Wilson, who was appointed to the US Commission on Civil Rights after the death of a commission member, may serve a full six year term. The Justice Department immediately appeals. The Commission had voted to refuse to seat Peter Kirsanaw, Bush's appointed replacement for Wilson.
February 4, 2002: Unrelated: Enron chairman Kenneth Lay refuses Congress's request to testify, and later steps down from his position.
February 4, 2002: Announces that the invasion of Afghanistan was "only the first step".
February 4, 2002: Delivers a budget wrapped in an American flag to Congress.
February 4, 2002: Unrelated: The American Academy of Pediatricians reports that homosexual couples can provide equal quality care to children as traditional families.
February 4, 2002: Unrelated: The National Academy of Sciences reports that there was no justifiable basis for diverting water from Klamath farms to rivers during the drought last year.
February 2002: Unrelated: Pakistani police arrest three men and charge them with the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl. Police find e-mails from the kidnappers on the computer of one of the suspects.
February 5, 2002: Mitch Daniels, head of the Office of Management and Budget, lies to Congress by claiming the recession as the biggest factor in the speculated decline of a long term surplus. In reality, tax cuts are the biggest factor.
February 5, 2002: Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, chairwoman of the Federation of American Scientists' Working Group on Chemical and Biological Weapons, reports her belief that the FBI has identified the person who sent anthrax to media and Democratic politicians, and suggests that no arrest has been made because the person is privy to highly classified knowledge that could cause political harm to the US if made public.
February 6, 2002: Unrelated: Allied Irish Banks reports that an employee of its US subsidiary has defrauded it of $750 million.
February 6, 2002: Six South Korean members of parliament write to the US to speak against Bush's rhetoric.
February 6, 2002: The US releases the 27 friendly anti-Taliban militia captured during a raid in January, and the CIA pays reparations to the families of the 16 killed.
Feburary 6, 2002: Telecommunications company Verizon sues the Federal Communications Commission over the FCC's keeping a $1.74 auction payment Verizon made during a bankruptcy auction on items that the FCC later returned to the bankrupt company NextWave Telecom.
February 6, 2002: A man in Indiana is arrested for carrying a sign that calls Dick Cheney "19th Century Energy Man".
February 7, 2002: Announces that the Geneva Convention applies to Taliban regulars, but none of the prisoners so far have been Taliban regulars.
February 7, 2002: Unrelated: Uruguayan banker Pablo Moreira charges the cockpit of an airliner and assualts the pilots. He is described as mentally disturbed.
February 7, 2002: A Central Intelligence Agency warplane bombs a group of automobiles in Afghanistan, reportedly killing a senior al Qaeda leader. The CIA suggests that it has killed Osama bin Laden or another high ranking al Qaeda leader.
February 7, 2002: The Christian Science Monitor reports that Hizb Allah is preparing to invade Israel. The report's headline blames the United States for this, but there is nothing in the story to corroborate the blame.
February 7, 2002: Unrelated: Conservative groups express anger that former President Bill Clinton is giving a speech in Taiwan. Clinton is accused both of impropriety in accepting a $300,000 fee and of undermining the war