Zoltan Grossman: Killing civilians to show that killing civilians is wrong

Since the September 11 attacks on the United States, most people in the world agree that the perpetrators need to be brought to justice, without killing many thousands of civilians in the process. But unfortunately, the U.S. military has always accepted massive civilian deaths as part of the cost of war. The military is now poised to kill thousands of foreign civilians, in order to prove that killing U.S. civilians is wrong.

The media has told us repeatedly that some Middle Easterners hate the U.S. only because of our “freedom” and “prosperity.” Missing from this explanation is the historical context of the U.S. role in the Middle East, and for that matter in the rest of the world. This basic primer is an attempt to brief readers who have not closely followed the history of U.S. foreign or military affairs, and are perhaps unaware of the background of U.S. military interventions abroad, but are concerned about the direction of our country toward a new war in the name of “freedom” and “protecting civilians.”

The United States military has been intervening in other countries for a long time. In 1898, it seized the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico from Spain, and in 1917-18 became embroiled in World War I in Europe. In the first half of the 20th century it repeatedly sent Marines to “protectorates” such as Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. All these interventions directly served corporate interests, and many resulted in massive losses of civilians, rebels, and soldiers. Many of the uses of U.S. combat forces are documented in “A History of U.S. Military Interventions Since 1890”.

U.S. involvement in World War II (1941-45) was sparked by the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and fear of an Axis invasion of North America. Allied bombers attacked fascist military targets, but also fire-bombed German and Japanese cities such as Dresden and Tokyo, party under the assumption that destroying civilian neighborhoods would weaken the resolve of the survivors and turn them against their regimes. Many historians agree that fire- bombing's effect was precisely the opposite — increasing Axis civilian support for homeland defense, and discouraging potential coup attempts. The atomic bombing of Japan at the end of the war was carried out without any kind of advance demonstration or warning that may have prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.

The war in Korea (1950-53) was marked by widespread atrocities, both by North Korean/Chinese forces, and South Korean/U.S. forces. U.S. troops fired on civilian refugees headed into South Korea, apparently fearing they were northern infiltrators. Bombers attacked North Korean cities, and the U.S. twice threatened to use nuclear weapons. North Korea is under the same Communist government today as when the war began.

During the Middle East crisis of 1958, Marines were deployed to quell a rebellion in Lebanon, and Iraq was threatened with nuclear attack if it invaded Kuwait. This little-known crisis helped set U.S. foreign policy on a collision course with Arab nationalists, often in support of the region's monarchies.

In the early 1960s, the U.S. returned to its pre-World War II interventionary role in the Caribbean, directing the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs exile invasion of Cuba, and the 1965 bombing and Marine invasion of the Dominican Republic during an election campaign. The CIA trained and harbored Cuban exile groups in Miami, which launched terrorist attacks on Cuba, including the 1976 downing of a Cuban civilian jetliner near Barbados. During the Cold War, the CIA would also help to support or install pro-U.S. dictatorships in Iran, Chile, Guatemala, Indonesia, and many other countries around the world.

The U.S. war in Indochina (1960-75) pit U.S. forces against North Vietnam, and Communist rebels fighting to overthrow pro-U.S. dictatorships in South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. U.S. war planners made little or no distinction between attacking civilians and guerrillas in rebel-held zones, and U.S. “carpet-bombing” of the countryside and cities swelled the ranks of the ultimately victorious revolutionaries. Over two million people were killed in the war, including 55,000 U.S. troops. Less than a dozen U.S. citizens were killed on U.S. soil, in National Guard shootings or antiwar bombings. In Cambodia, the bombings drove the Khmer Rouge rebels toward fanatical leaders, who launched a murderous rampage when they took power in 1975.

Echoes of Vietnam reverberated in Central America during the 1980s, when the Reagan administration strongly backed the pro-U.S. regime in El Salvador, and right-wing exile forces fighting the new leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Rightist death squads slaughtered Salvadoran civilians who questioned the concentration of power and wealth in a few hands. CIA-trained Nicaraguan Contra rebels launched terrorist attacks against civilian clinics and schools run by the Sandinista government, and mined Nicaraguan harbors. U.S. troops also invaded the island nation of Grenada in 1983, to oust a new military regime, attacking Cuban civilian workers (even though Cuba had backed the leftist government deposed in the coup), and accidentally bombing a hospital.

The U.S. returned in force to the Middle East in 1980, after the Shi'ite Muslim revolution in Iran against Shah Pahlevi's pro-U.S. dictatorship. A troop and bombing raid to free U.S. Embassy hostages held in downtown Tehran had to be aborted in the Iranian desert. After the 1982 Israeli occupation of Lebanon, U.S. Marines were deployed in a neutral “peacekeeping” operation. They instead took the side of Lebanon's pro-Israel Christian government against Muslim rebels, and U.S. Navy ships rained enormous shells on Muslim civilian villages. Embittered Shi'ite Muslim rebels responded with a suicide bomb attack on Marine barracks, and for years seized U.S. hostages in the country. In retaliation, the CIA set off car bombs to assassinate Shi'ite Muslim leaders. Syria and the Muslim rebels emerged victorious in Lebanon.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, the U.S. launched a 1986 bombing raid on Libya, which it accused of sponsoring a terrorist bombing later tied to Syria. The bombing raid killed civilians, and may have led to the later revenge bombing of a U.S. jet over Scotland. Libya's Arab nationalist leader Muammar Qaddafi remained in power. The U.S. Navy also intervened against Iran during its war against Iraq in 1987-88, sinking Iranian ships and “accidentally” shooting down an Iranian civilian jetliner.

U.S. forces invaded Panama in 1989 to oust the nationalist regime of Manuel Noriega. The U.S. accused its former ally of allowing drug-running in the country, though the drug trade actually increased after his capture. U.S. bombing raids on Panama City ignited a conflagration in a civilian neighborhood, fed by stove gas tanks. Over 2,000 Panamanians were killed in the invasion to capture one leader.

The following year, the U.S. deployed forces in the Persian Gulf after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, which turned Washington against its former Iraqi ally Saddam Hussein. U.S. supported the Kuwaiti monarchy and the Muslim fundamentalist monarchy in neighboring Saudi Arabia against the secular nationalist Iraqi regime. In January 1991, the U.S..and its allies unleashed a massive bombing assault against Iraqi government and military targets, in an intensity beyond the raids of World War II and Vietnam. Over 200,000 Iraqis were killed, including many civilians who died in their villages, neighborhoods, and bomb shelters. The U.S. continued economic sanctions that denied health and energy to Iraqi civilians, who died by the hundreds of thousands, according to United Nations agencies. The U.S. also instituted “no-fly zones” and virtually continuous bombing raids, yet Saddam was politically bolstered as he was militarily weakened.

In the 1990s, the U.S. military led a series of what it termed “humanitarian interventions” it claimed would safeguard civilians. Foremost among them was the 1992 deployment in the African nation of Somalia, torn by famine and a civil war between clan warlords. Instead of remaining neutral, U.S. forces took the side of one faction against another faction, and bombed a Mogadishu neighborhood. Enraged crowds, backed by foreign Arab mercenaries, killed 18 U.S. soldiers, forcing a withdrawal from the country.

Other so-called “humanitarian interventions” were centered in the Balkan region of Europe, after the 1992 breakup of the multiethnic federation of Yugoslavia. The U.S. watched for three years as Serb forces killed Muslim civilians in Bosnia, before its launched decisive bombing raids in 1995. Even then, it never intervened to stop atrocities by Croatian forces against Muslim and Serb civilians, because those forces were aided by the U.S. In 1999, the U.S. bombed Serbia to force President Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw forces from the ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo, which was torn a brutal ethnic war. The bombing intensified Serbian expulsions and killings of Albanian civilians from Kosovo, and caused the deaths of thousands of Serbian civilians, even in cities that had voted strongly against Milosevic. When a NATO occupation force enabled Albanians to move back, U.S. forces did little or nothing to prevent similar atrocities against Serb and other non-Albanian civilians. The U.S. was viewed as a biased player, even by the Serbian democratic opposition that overthrew Milosevic the following year.

Even when the U.S. military had apparently defensive motives, it ended up attacking the wrong targets. After the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, the U.S. “retaliated” not only against Osama Bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan, but a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan that was mistakenly said to be a chemical warfare installation. Bin Laden retaliated by attacking a U.S. Navy ship in Yemen in 2000. After the 2001 terror attacks on the United States, the U.S. military is poised to again bomb Afghanistan, and possibly move against other states it accuses of promoting anti-U.S. “terrorism,” such as Iraq and Sudan. Such a campaign will certainly ratchet up the cycle of violence, in an escalating series of retaliations that is the hallmark of Middle East conflicts. Afghanistan, like Yugoslavia, is a multiethnic state that could easily break apart in a new catastrophic regional war. Almost certainly many more civilians would lose their lives in this tit-for-tat war on “terrorism” than the 5,000 civilians who died on September 11.

Common Themes

Some common themes can be seen in many of these U.S. military interventions.

First, they were explained to the U.S. public as defending the lives and rights of civilian populations. Yet the military tactics employed often left behind massive civilian “collateral damage.” War planners made little distinction between rebels and the civilians who lived in rebel zones of control, or between military assets and civilian infrastructure, such as train lines, water plants, agricultural factories, medicine supplies, etc. The U.S. public always believe that in the next war, new military technologies will avoid civilian casualties on the other side. Yet when the inevitable civilian deaths occur, they are always explained away as “accidental” or “unavoidable.”

Second, although nearly all the post-World War II interventions were carried out in the name of “freedom” and “democracy,” nearly all of them in fact defended dictatorships controlled by pro-U.S. elites. Whether in Vietnam, Central America, or the Persian Gulf, the U.S. was not defending “freedom” but an ideological agenda (such as defending capitalism) or an economic agenda (such as protecting oil company investments). In the few cases when U.S. military forces toppled a dictatorship — such as in Grenada or Panama — they did so in a way that prevented the country's people from overthrowing their own dictator first, and installing a new democratic government more to their liking.

Third, the U.S. always attacked violence by its opponents as “terrorism,” “atrocities against civilians,” or “ethnic cleansing,” but minimized or defended the same actions by the U.S. or its allies. If a country has the right to “end” a state that trains or harbors terrorists, would Cuba or Nicaragua have had the right to launch defensive bombing raids on U.S. targets to take out exile terrorists? Washington's double standard maintains that an U.S. ally's action by definition “defensive,” but that an enemy's retaliation is by definition “offensive.”

Fourth, the U.S. often portrays itself as a neutral peacekeeper, with nothing but the purest humanitarian motives. After deploying forces in a country, however, it quickly divides the country or region into “friends” and “foes,” and takes one side against another. This strategy tends to enflame rather than dampen a war or civil conflict, as shown in the cases of Somalia and Bosnia, and deepens resentment of the U.S. role.

Fifth, U.S. military intervention is often counterproductive even if one accepts U.S. goals and rationales. Rather than solving the root political or economic roots of the conflict, it tends to polarize factions and further destabilize the country. The same countries tend to reappear again and again on the list of 20th century interventions.

Sixth, U.S. demonization of an enemy leader, or military action against him, tends to strengthen rather than weaken his hold on power. Take the list of current regimes most singled out for U.S. attack, and put it alongside of the list of regimes that have had the longest hold on power, and you will find they have the same names. Qaddafi, Castro, Saddam, Kim, and others may have faced greater internal criticism if they could not portray themselves as Davids standing up to the American Goliath, and (accurately) blaming many of their countries' internal problems on U.S. economic sanctions.

One of the most dangerous ideas of the 20th century was that “people like us” could not commit atrocities against civilians.

German and Japanese citizens believed it, but their militaries slaughtered millions of people. *British and French citizens believed it, but their militaries fought brutal colonial wars in Africa and Asia.
Russian citizens believed it, but their armies murdered civilians in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and elsewhere.
Israeli citizens believed it, but their army mowed down Palestinians and Lebanese.
Arabs believed it, but suicide bombers and hijackers targeted U.S. and Israeli civilians.
U.S. citizens believed it, but their military killed millions in Vietnam, Iraq, and elsewhere.

Every country, every ethnicity, every religion, contains within it the capability for extreme violence. Every group contains a faction that is intolerant of other groups, and actively seeks to exclude or even kill them. War fever tends to encourage the intolerant faction, but the faction only succeeds in its goals if the rest of the group acquiesces or remains silent. The attacks of September 11 were not only a test for U.S. citizens attitudes' toward minority ethnic/racial groups in their own country, but a test for our relationship with the rest of the world. We must begin not by lashing out at civilians in Muslim countries, but by taking responsibility for our own history and our own actions, and how they have fed the cycle of violence.

A Century of U.S. military interventions

From Wounded Knee to Afghanistan

The following is a partial list of U.S. military interventions from 1890 to 2001. This guide does notinclude demonstration duty by military police, mobilizations of the National Guard, offshore shows of naval strength, reinforcements of embassy personnel, the use of non-Defense Department personnel (such as the Drug Enforcement Agency), military exercises, non-combat mobilizations (such as replacing postal strikers), the permanent stationing of armed forces, covert actions where the U.S. did not play a command and control role, the use of small hostage rescue units, most uses of proxy troops, U.S. piloting of foreign warplanes, foreign disaster assistance, military training and advisory programs not involving direct combat, civic action programs, and many other military activities.

Among sources used, besides news reports, are the Congressional Record (23 June 1969), 180 Landings by the U.S. Marine Corps History Division, Ege & Makhijani in Counterspy (July-Aug. 1982), and Daniel Ellsberg in Protest & Survive. “Instances of Use of United States Forces Abroad, 1798-1993” by Ellen C. Collier of the Library of Congress Congressional Research Service.

List of u.s. military interventions

SOUTH DAKOTA 1890 — ?: Troops; 300 Lakota Indians massacred at Wounded Knee.
ARGENTINA 1890: Troops; Buenos Aires interests protected.
CHILE 1891: Troops; Marines clash with nationalist rebels.
HAITI 1891: Troops; Black workers revolt on U.S. — claimed Navassa Island defeated.
IDAHO 1892: Troops; Army suppresses silver miners' strike.
HAWAII 1893 — ?: Naval, troops; Independent kingdom overthrown, annexed.
CHICAGO 1894: Troops; Breaking of rail strike, 34 killed.
NICARAGUA 1894: Troops; Month-long occupation of Bluefields.
CHINA 1894-95: Naval, troops; Marines land in Sino-Japanese War.
KOREA 1894-96: Troops; Marines kept in Seoul during war.
PANAMA 1895: Troops, naval; Marines land in Colombian province.
NICARAGUA 1896: Troops; Marines land in port of Corinto.
CHINA 1898-1900: Troops; Boxer Rebellion fought by foreign armies.
PHILIPPINES 1898-1910 — ?: Naval, troops; Seized from Spain, killed; 600,000 Filipinos.
CUBA 1898-1902 — ?: Naval, troops; Seized from Spain, still hold Navy; base.
PUERTO RICO 1898 — ?: Naval, troops; Seized from Spain, occupation; continues.
GUAM 1898 — ?: Naval, troops; Seized from Spain, still use as base.
MINNESOTA 1898 — ?: Troops; Army battles Chippewa at Leech Lake.
NICARAGUA 1898: Troops; Marines land at port of San Juan del Sur.
SAMOA 1899 — ?: Troops; Battle over succession to throne.
NICARAGUA 1899: Troops; Marines land at port of Bluefields.
IDAHO 1899-1901: Troops; Army occupies Coeur d'Alene mining region.
OKLAHOMA 1901: Troops; Army battles Creek Indian revolt.
PANAMA 1901-14: Naval, troops; Broke off from Colombia 1903, annexed Canal Zone 1914-99.
HONDURAS 1903: Troops; Marines intervene in revolution.
DOMINICAN REP. 1903-04: Troops; U.S. interests protected in Revolution.
KOREA 1904-05: Troops; Marines land in Russo-Japanese War.
CUBA 1906-09: Troops; Marines land in democratic election.
NICARAGUA 1907: Troops; "Dollar Diplomacy" protectorate set up.
HONDURAS 1907: Troops; Marines land during war with Nicaragua.
PANAMA 1908: Troops; Marines intervene in election contest.
NICARAGUA 1910: Troops; Marines land in Bluefields and Corinto.
HONDURAS 1911: Troops; U.S. interests protected in civil war.
CHINA 1911-41: Naval, troops; Continuous occupation with flare-ups.
CUBA 1912: Troops; U.S. interests protected in Havana.
PANAMA 19l2: Troops; Marines land during heated election.
HONDURAS 19l2: Troops; Marines protect U.S. economic interests.
NICARAGUA 1912-33: Troops, bombing; 20-year occupation, fought guerrillas.
MEXICO 19l3: Naval; Americans evacuated during revolution.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1914: Naval; Fight with rebels over Santo Domingo.
COLORADO 1914: Troops; Breaking of miners' strike by Army.
MEXICO 1914-18: Naval, troops; Series of interventions against; nationalists.
HAITI 1914-34: Troops, bombing; 19-year occupation after revolts.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1916-24: Troops; 8-year Marine occupation.
CUBA 1917-33: Troops; Military occupation, economic protectorate.
WORLD WAR I 19l7-18: Naval, troops; Ships sunk, fought Germany
RUSSIA 1918-22: Naval, troops; Five landings to fight Bolsheviks.
: PANAMA 1918-20; Troops; "Police duty" during unrest after elections.
YUGOSLAVIA 1919: Troops; Marines intervene for Italy against Serbs in Dalmatia.
HONDURAS 1919: Troops; Marines land during election campaign.
GUATEMALA 1920: Troops; 2-week intervention against unionists.
WEST VIRGINIA 1920-21: Troops, bombing; Army intervenes against; mineworkers.
TURKEY 1922: Troops; Fought nationalists in Smyrna (Izmir).
CHINA 1922-27: Naval, troops; Deployment during nationalist revolt.
HONDURAS 1924-25: Troops; Landed twice during election strife.
PANAMA 1925: Troops; Marines suppress general strike.
CHINA 1927-34: Troops; Marines stationed throughout the country.
EL SALVADOR 1932: Naval; Warships sent during Faribundo Marti revolt.
WASHINGTON DC 1932: Troops; Army stops WWI vet bonus protest.
WORLD WAR II 1941-45: Naval,troops, bombing, nuclear; Fought Axis for 3; years; 1st nuclear war.
DETROIT 1943: Troops; Army puts down Black rebellion.
IRAN 1946: Nuclear threat; Soviet troops told to leave north (Iranian; Azerbaijan).
YUGOSLAVIA 1946: Naval; Response to shooting-down of U.S. plane.
URUGUAY 1947: Nuclear threat; Bombers deployed as show of strength.
GREECE 1947-49: Command operation; U.S. directs extreme-right in civil; war.
CHINA 1948-49: Troops; Marines evacuate Americans before Communist victory.
GERMANY 1948: Nuclear threat; Atomic-capable bombers guard Berlin Airlift.
PHILIPPINES 1948-54: Command operation; CIA directs war against Huk; Rebellion.
PUERTO RICO 1950: Command operation; Independence rebellion crushed in; Ponce.
KOREA 1950-53: Troops, naval, bombing, nuclear threats; U.S.&; South Korea fight China & North Korea to stalemate; A-bomb threat in 1950, & vs. China in 1953. Still have bases.
IRAN 1953: Command operation; CIA overthrows democracy, installs Shah.
VIETNAM 1954: Nuclear threat; Bombs offered to French to use against; siege.
GUATEMALA 1954: Command operation, bombing, nuclear threat CIA directs exile invasion after new gov't nationalizes U.S. company lands; bombers based in Nicaragua.
EGYPT 1956: Nuclear threat, troops; Soviets told to keep out of Suez crisis; MArines evacuate foreigners
LEBANON 1958: Troops, naval; Marine occupation against rebels.
IRAQ 1958: Nuclear threat; Iraq warned against invading Kuwait.
CHINA 1958: Nuclear threat; China told not to move on Taiwan isles.
PANAMA 1958: Troops; Flag protests erupt into confrontation.
VIETNAM 1960-75: Troops, naval, bombing, nuclear threats Fought South Vietnam revolt & North Vietnam; 1-2 million killed in longest U.S. war; atomic bomb threats in 1968 and 1969.
CUBA 1961: Command operation CIA-directed exile invasion fails.
GERMANY 1961: Nuclear threat Alert during Berlin Wall crisis.
CUBA 1962: Nuclear threat; Naval; Blockade during missile crisis; near-war with USSR.
LAOS 1962: Command operation; Military buildup during guerrilla war.
PANAMA 1964: Troops; Panamanians shot for urging canal's return.
INDONESIA 1965: Command operation Million killed in CIA-assisted army coup.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1965-66: Troops, bombing Marines land during election campaign.
GUATEMALA 1966-67: Command operation Green Berets intervene against rebels.
DETROIT 1967: Troops; Army battles Blacks, 43 killed.
UNITED STATES 1968: Troops; After King is shot; over 21,000 soldiers in cities.
CAMBODIA 1969-75: Bombing, troops, naval Up to 2 million killed in decade of bombing, starvation, and political chaos.
OMAN 1970: Command operation U.S. directs Iranian marine invasion.
LAOS 1971-73: Command operation, bombing U.S. directs South Vietnamese invasion; "carpet-bombs" countryside.
SOUTH DAKOTA 1973: Command operation Army directs Wounded Knee siege of Lakotas.
MIDEAST 1973: Nuclear threat World-wide alert during Mideast War.
CHILE 1973: Command operation CIA-backed coup ousts elected marxist president.
CAMBODIA 1975: Troops, bombing Gas captured ship, 28 die in copter crash.
ANGOLA 1976-92: Command operation CIA assists South African-backed rebels.
IRAN 1980: Troops, nuclear threat, aborted bombing Raid to rescue Embassy hostages; 8 troops die in copter-plane crash. Soviets warned not to get involved in revolution.
LIBYA 1981: Naval jets Two Libyan jets shot down in maneuvers.
EL SALVADOR 1981-92: Command operation, troops Advisors, overflights aid anti-rebel war, soldiers briefly involved in hostage clash.
NICARAGUA 1981-90: Command operation, naval CIA directs exile (Contra) invasions, plants harbor mines against revolution.
LEBANON 1982-84: Naval, bombing, troops Marines expel PLO and back Phalangists, Navy bombs and shells Muslim and Syrian positions.
HONDURAS 1983-89: Troops; Maneuvers help build bases near borders.
GRENADA 1983-84: Troops, bombing Invasion four years after revolution.
IRAN 1984: Jets; Two Iranian jets shot down over Persian Gulf.
LIBYA 1986: Bombing, naval Air strikes to topple nationalist gov't.
BOLIVIA 1986: Troops Army assists raids on cocaine region.
IRAN 1987-88: Naval, bombing US intervenes on side of Iraq in war.
LIBYA 1989: Naval jets Two Libyan jets shot down.
VIRGIN ISLANDS 1989: Troops; St. Croix Black unrest after storm.
PHILIPPINES 1989: Jets; Air cover provided for government against coup.
PANAMA 1989-90: Troops, bombing; Nationalist government ousted by 27,000 soldiers, leaders arrested, 2000+ killed.
LIBERIA 1990: Troops; Foreigners evacuated during civil war.
SAUDI ARABIA 1990-91: Troops, jets Iraq countered after invading Kuwait; 540,000 troops also stationed in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Israel.
IRAQ 1990 — ?: Bombing, troops, naval Blockade of Iraqi and Jordanian ports, air strikes; 200,000+ killed in invasion of Iraq and Kuwait; no-fly zone over Kurdish north, Shiite south, large-scale destruction of Iraqi military.
KUWAIT 1991: Naval, bombing, troops Kuwait royal family returned to throne.
LOS ANGELES 1992: Troops; Army, Marines deployed against anti-police uprising.
SOMALIA 1992-94: Troops, naval, bombing U.S.-led United Nations occupation during civil war; raids against one Mogadishu faction.
YUGOSLAVIA 1992-94: Naval; Nato blockade of Serbia and Montenegro.
BOSNIA 1993-95: Jets, bombing No-fly zone patrolled in civil war; downed jets, bombed Serbs.
HAITI 1994-96: Troops, naval; Blockade against military government; troops restore President Aristide to office three years after coup.
CROATIA 1995: Bombing; Krajina Serb airfields attacked before Croatian offensive.
ZAIRE (CONGO) 1996-97: Troops; Marines at Rwandan Hutu refuge camps, in area where Congo revolution begins.
LIBERIA 1997: Troops; Soldiers under fire during evacuation of foreigners.
ALBANIA 1997: Troops; Soldiers under fire during evacuation of foreigners.
SUDAN 1998: Missiles; Attack on pharmaceutical plant alleged to be "terrorist" nerve gas plant.
AFGHANISTAN 1998: Missiles; Attack on former CIA training camps used by Islamic fundamentalist groups alleged to have attacked embassies.
IRAQ 1998 — ?: Bombing, Missiles; Four days of intensive air strikes after weapons inspectors allege Iraqi obstructions.
YUGOSLAVIA 1999 — ?: Bombing, Missiles; Heavy NATO air strikes after Serbia declines to withdraw from Kosovo.
YEMEN 2000: Naval; Suicide bomb attack on USS Cole.
MACEDONIA 2001: Troops; NATO troops shift and partially disarm Albanian rebels.
UNITED STATES 2001: Jets, naval; Response to hijacking attacks.
AFGHANISTAN 2001: Massive U.S. mobilization to attack Taliban, Bin Laden. War could expand to Iraq, Sudan, and beyond.

2003