01|Leon Panetta, President Bill Clinton's chief of staff, announces that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's attack on a Kurdish faction in northern Iraq will not go unanswered by the United States. Boutros Boutros Ghali, United Nations secretary general, simultaneously announces that deployment of the oil-for-food plan--allowing Iraq to sell $2 billion worth of oil every six months to pay for food and medicine--has been postponed as a consequence of the aggression.|
02|Officials of the United Nations report that Iraqi troops have pulled out of the heavily Kurdish city of Irbil in northern Iraq. White House spokesman Michael McCurry responds that while there is evidence of an Iraqi withdrawal from Irbil, sizable numbers of Saddam Hussein's troops remain inside the no-fly zone set up by the United States and its Gulf War allies to protect the Kurds in northern Iraq from Iraqi aggression. McCurry also notes that President Bill Clinton intends to follow through with "a defined course of action" against Saddam Hussein.|
03|The United States launches 27 missile strikes against Iraqi air defenses in southern Iraq in retaliation for Iraqi aggression against a Kurdish faction in the no-fly zone of northern Iraq. The initial attack is followed by a secondary set of strikes, which Clinton Administration officials suggest is designed to both complete the mission and underscore President Clinton's message to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher notes that the strikes communicate in the "only language he [Saddam Hussein] understands--the language of force."|
04|Following the two American missile strikes against Iraq, 400,000 Iraqi troops are pulled back from a contested Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq. A mechanized Iraqi division remains near the city of Irbil.|
05|Fran, a Class 3 hurricane, slams into North America at Cape Fear, North Carolina, with 115-mile- (185-kilometer-) per-hour winds and moves up the Cape Fear River to the largely evacuated city of Wilmington and on toward Raleigh, the state capital.|
05|Iraq withdraws most of its invading forces from the Kurdish enclaves in northern Iraq, suggesting that the American missile strikes of September 3 have forced Iraqi President Saddam Hussein into backing down. The strikes were launched in response to an Iraqi invasion into the no-fly zones set up by the United States and its Gulf War allies to protect Kurds from aggression.|
05|With candor unprecedented in the history of Russian leadership, President Boris Yeltsin announces that he will undergo heart surgery next month in Moscow.|
06|Hurricane Fran, which struck the coast of North Carolina and moved inland through the night of September 5, leaves 17 people dead and damages totaling at least $1 billion in its wake. Traveling northwest and ripping through Wilmington, Raleigh, and Durham, North Carolina, with winds of more than 115 miles (185 kilometers) per hour, the hurricane moves into Virginia, near Hot Springs. With winds dropping to 65 miles (106 kilometers) per hour at approximately 5 a.m., Fran is officially downgraded to a tropical storm.|
06|The U.S. Department of Labor announces that the unemployment rate during August 1996 dropped to 5.1 percent, the lowest level in seven years.|
07|In a wide swath of North Carolina, stretching from the ocean to the Virginia boundary, electrical power remains out, water usage is restricted, and roads and bridges are impassable from the devastating effects of Hurricane Fran, which ripped into the state on September 5. In Virginia and West Virginia, creeks and rivers in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley remain above flood stage from the heavy rainfall unleashed during the hurricane's journey inland.|
08|The Kurdistan Democratic Party, the Kurdish faction backed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, mounts a new offensive to the east and overruns the northern Iraqi city of Koi Sanjaq, forcing thousands of Kurdish civilians and hundreds of armed guerrillas of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan to abandon the city.|
08| Germany's Steffi Graf captures the women's final of the U.S. Open tennis tournament with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Monica Sales. Pete Sampras beats Michael Chang 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 to take the men's final.|
09|Without firing a shot, forces of the Kurdish faction backed by Saddam Hussein--the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)--take the northern Iraqi city Sulaimaniya, headquarters and stronghold of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. At least 50,000 of the city's 400,000 residents had fled before the arrival of KDP troops under the leadership of Massoud Barzani, who now controls all of the cities of Iraq's Kurdish region.|
10|Hurricane Hortense slams into Puerto Rico with 80-mile- (135.2-kilometer-) per-hour winds and drops 18 inches (45.7 centimeters) of rain, causing flooding and the death of 24 people.|
10|Independent Party presidential candidate Ross Perot names Pat Choate, an unknown Washington-based author and economist, as his vice presidential running mate.|
11|The United States dispatches F-117 stealth fighters to Kuwait and B-52 bombers to the Middle East in preparation for another attack on Iraq. Pentagon officials reveal that Iraq has repeatedly fired SA-6 missiles at American jets patrolling the U.S.-imposed no-fly zone over northern Iraq.|
12|A second U.S. aircraft carrier, the Enterprise, is ordered into the Red Sea in preparation of a renewed American attack on Iraq. A spokesperson for the Clinton Administration also announces that the United States will aid in the evacuation of some 2,000 Kurdish refugees who in the past had worked with the U.S.|
12|The Governor of Virginia, George Allen, announces that archaeologists for the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities have discovered the exact location of the 1607 James Fort at what would become Jamestown, Virginia, the first successful English settlement in what is now the United States. The exact location of the fort was believed lost until the recent discovery of decayed-wood stains that conform exactly to a 1610 account describing the triangular fort and its dimensions.|
13|An Iraqi government spokesman states that American jets enforcing the two no-fly zones, established in 1991 at the conclusion of the Gulf War, would no longer be fired upon by Iraqi forces. The U.S. Defense Department announces that Iraqi forces also appear to have stopped repairing those air-defense sites damaged by American missile attacks on September 3. The U.S. warned Iraq to stop the repairs or face devastating missile strikes and possible land invasion.|
14|Between 60 and 70 percent of Bosnia's 2.9 million eligible voters turn out for the national election, which the United States and its peace-keeping allies consider crucial to maintaining the peace and unifying war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina. Incidences of ethnic clashes are reported to be few and minor in nature.|
15|At the conclusion of a meeting with senior Kuwaiti officials, U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry states that the planned deployment of approximately 5,000 American troops to Kuwait is now in question. Kuwait has not as yet authorized the landing of American troops as a defensive measure against Iraq.|
16|Kuwaiti officials agree to allow the United States to land and station an additional 3,300 troops in Kuwait as a defensive measure against Iraq. The announcement is made after the Kuwaiti government pointedly delayed its approval as a means of registering displeasure with the U.S. at not being properly consulted about the deployment.|
17|Bosnia and Herzegovina voters elect the existing leaders of the nation's three major ethnic groups to a three-member presidency. Muslim Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnian Serb separatist Momcilo Krajisnik, and the ethnic Croat Kresimir Zubak--three former enemies--will govern under the chairmanship of Izetbegovic, who received the most votes.|
17|Former Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew dies at the age of 77. Richard Nixon's vice president from 1969 until October 1973, Agnew was known for his alliterative attacks--"nattering nabobs of negativism," "pusillanimous pussyfooters"--on anti-war protesters and media figures critical of the Nixon Administration. The former Governor of Maryland was forced to resign the vice presidency after plea bargaining to avoid prison on charges of bribery and tax evasion.|
18|Standing along the South Rim of Arizona's Grand Canyon, President Bill Clinton designates 1.7 million acres of southern Utah's red rock country as the Grand Staircase--Escalante National Monument. The designation, which does not need congressional approval, protects the scenic area from a coal mining operation planned by a Dutch concern. Grand Staircase--Escalante lies between Zion, Bryce Canyon, Glen Canyon, and Grand Canyon national parks.|
18|North Korean forces sneak into South Korea after running their submarine aground near the city of Kangnung on the east coast. The abandoned, North Korean submarine, spotted by a taxi driver, triggers a massive manhunt across rugged, mountainous terrain for what South Korean officials believe may be saboteurs infiltrating the border region ahead of invasion forces. The North/South Korean border, a demilitarized zone, is among the world's tensest and most heavily armed boundaries.|
19|South Korean soldiers shoot and kill seven North Korean infiltrators, who slipped into the country on September 18. A single commando is captured alive. The bodies of 11 other soldiers from aboard the submarine are discovered; apparently regarded as a burden, the 11 had been shot by their compatriots. Of the 20 to 25 soldiers that South Korean officials estimate to have landed by submarine for purposes of infiltration and sabotage, 19 are accounted for.|
20|A federal prosecutor, speaking in Sacramento, California, discloses that Theodore Kaczynski, the former math professor accused of being the Unabomber, kept a diary with entries--such as "I sent that bomb"--that would appear to describe his role in the 16 mail bombings that resulted in the death of 3 people and the injury of 23 others.|
21|Without fanfare at 12:50 a.m., President Bill Clinton signs a bill designed to deny federal recognition and benefits to couples of the same sex who might marry. At present, none of the 50 states recognize such marriages. However, a court case that could result in legal same-sex marriages is pending in Hawaii. When asked why the president signed the bill after midnight, deputy press secretary Mary Ellen Glynn states that "the reasons the bill was brought to a vote were dubious."|
22|The captain of the North Korean submarine grounded on the east coast of South Korea on September 18 is shot and killed in a gun battle with South Korean troops. A second North Korean infiltrator, dressed in a South Korean army uniform, dies in a separate gun battle, bringing the total number of infiltrators killed, captured, or discovered dead to 20. From information gleaned from the one commando who has been captured, officials believe the submarine was carrying 26 North Korean agents bent on sabotage.|
22|Costas Simitis is confirmed as Prime Minister of Greece as the governing Socialist Party sweeps the national elections.|
23|Ernesto Samper, president of Colombia, where 80 percent of the world's cocaine and 25 percent of the heroin entering the U.S. is produced, proposes a global antidrug campaign in a speech before the United Nations. He receives a sustained ovation from delegates. On September 22, Colombian authorities, acting upon an anonymous tip, searched the plane Samper was to take to New York and found an 8-pound (4 kilogram) cache of heroin, which the president claimed was planted to "sully Colombia's image." Samper, who was denied an American visa in July because of his alleged ties with narcotic trafficking, entered the United States on a diplomatic visa.|
23|After a shoot-out that leaves one man dead, London police seize nearly 10 short tons (9 metric tons) of explosives, which authorities claim was intended for use by the Irish Republican Army.|
24|Representatives, including President Bill Clinton, of the five acknowledged nuclear weapons powers--the United States, China, France, Russia, and Great Britain--sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which Clinton calls the "the longest sought, hardest fought prize in arms control history."|
25|Fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian Authority police leave at least five dead and hundreds wounded in a series of clashes along Israel's West Bank. The violence was triggered by the opening of a new entrance to an archaeological tunnel running along the western wall of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, sacred to Jews as the site of Herod's Temple and to Muslims for its Dome of the Rock and Al Aksa Mosque. Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat blames the violence on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who authorized the new entrance to the tunnel through which visitors tour archaeological layers of Jerusalem's rich history.|
26|Shannon Lucid, the astronaut who remained in space longer than any American and longer than any woman, walks unaided from the space shuttle Atlantis, which landed at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 8:13 a.m. Dr. Lucid, a biochemist and the mother of three, spent 188 days aboard the Russian space station Mir.|
26|Violent confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers continue along Israel's West Bank and spread to the Gaza Strip. At least 44 Palestinians and 11 Israelis are dead after two days of violence.|
27|A research team led by Dr. Stephen J. O'Brien of the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland, publishes evidence that 1 in 100 people of European ancestry are immune to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, due to a mutated gene, called CKR5. A person who inherits CKR5 from both parents is completely immune to AIDS; a person who inherits the gene from only one parent can be infected with the virus, but will live with the disease for an average of three years longer than those who do not carry the mutated gene.|
27|Violence, raging in five West Bank cities and Gaza, spreads to Jerusalem. In an attempt to disperse Palestinians throwing stones into the sacred area of the Temple Mount's Western Wall, Israeli police storm the Al Aksa Mosque atop the Mount. Six Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers are killed on what both Jews and Muslims consider sacred ground. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blames the bloodshed on Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, who according to Netanyahu, has stoked the violence for political gain. In three days of rioting, 53 Palestinians and 14 Israelis are dead, and hundreds are wounded.|
27|The war-ravaged Afghani capital of Kabul, abandoned on September 26 by troops loyal to President Burhanuddin, is captured by fundamentalist Islamic guerrillas called the Taliban. The group proclaims the establishment of a strict Islamic state before executing former communist leaders. President Najibullah, who was installed by Soviet invaders in 1986 and held power until 1992--three years after the Soviets abandoned their attempt to absorb Afghanistan--was tortured and shoot before being hanged.|
28|The United Nations Security Council, voting 14 to 0 (the U.S. abstains), passes a resolution that calls on Israel to close the Jerusalem tunnel that has been cited as triggering the violence between Palestinians and Israeli troops. World leaders also petition Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to bow to Palestinian demands. Netanyahu vows that the tunnel and its new entrance--which Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat claims undermines Islamic holy sites--will remain open.|
29|The archaeological tunnel and its new entrance in Jerusalem's Old City is reopened after being closed on Friday and Saturday for the Jewish Sabbath. Secretary of the Palestinian cabinet Ahmed Abdel Rahman calls the reopening a "declaration of war," and Palestinian teen-agers hurl stones at the tunnel's metal exit door before being chased away by soldiers.|
29|President Bill Clinton invites key Middle Eastern leaders--Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak--to Washington to explore solutions to the current confrontation threatening the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords agreed to in Oslo.|
29|Afghanistan's new Taliban regime--ruled by a six-man council of mullahs (Islamic clerics)--institute a strict Islamic state in Kabul, the capital, and in the 17 provinces under their control: Movie houses are closed, and television and music are banned; men are ordered not to shave or trim beards or to wear Western-style dress; women are forbidden to work and must cover themselves from head to toe; girls are ordered out of schools; a traditional Islamic criminal code, which prescribes stoning of adulterers and amputating the hands and feet of thieves, is instituted.|
30|Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and King Hussein of Jordan arrive in Washington, D.C. for meetings called by President Bill Clinton. President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak declined President Clinton's invitation to take part in the discussions. Aims for the emergency talks, set to begin on October 1, include ending the current violence between Palestinians and Israelis and exploring avenues for peaceful coexistence.|
