The War on Terror
11th September 2001
Terrorists hijack four civilian airliners and in suicide attacks, fly two into the World Trade Centre in New York, destroying both of the twin towers, while a third is flown into the Pentagon in Washington and the fourth crashed outside Shanksville, PA.
12th September 2001
Britain placed extensive military resources at the disposal of the USA for a retaliatory strike against the terrorists behind the 11th September attacks.
13th September 2001
Britain offered a Military
Planning Team to the US to begin preparations for a strike against the
perpetrators of the terrorist attacks of September 11th.
2nd October 2001
NATO invoked article 5 of
the NATO treaty in response to the September 11th atrocities. Article five
states, "An attack on any member of the Alliance is regarded as an attack
on all countries of the Alliance." It is the first time the article has
been invoked in NATO's history.
7th October 2001
The
Coalition against terror launches its attacks on Afghanistan.
9th October 2001
NATO AEW aircraft are deployed
to the USA to allow USAF assets to be deployed to theatre stations in preparation
for a response to the 11th September attacks.
18-19 December 2001
Yemeni troops take action
against a suspected al-Qaeda base in Yemen.
21 December 2001
SBS troops board MV Nisha,
a cargo ship with a suspected cargo of anthrax or explosives. The SBS are
backed up by HMS Sutherland, and the ship is moored in Sandown bay on the Isle
of Wight while a search is conducted.
22 December 2001
A lone bomber is foiled
in an attempt to blow up an American airlines 767. The bomber was trying
to detonate a bomb in his shoe but was prevented by passengers and crew
of the airliner. The airliner was then escorted By F-15s back to Boston's
Logan Airport.
4th January 2002
Tony Blair arrives in India
to try and prevent war between India and Pakistan, increased tensions
having arisen since the suicide attack on the Indian parliament in December
2001.
6th January 2002
A teenage pilot flying a
Cessna 172 aircraft crashes into a skyscraper in Tampa.
16th January 2001
NATO sends extra AWACs to
guard America.
18th January 2002
The alleged shoe bomber,
Richard Reid pleads not guilty in court in Boston, Massachusetts to trying
to blow up a jet with explosives in his trainers on 22nd December 2001.
The Pakistan President, Pervez
Musharraf, says Osama bin Laden is probably already dead from kidney failure
after being denied regular dialysis treatment.
31st January 2002
President Bush threatens
countries which support terrorism and names Iraq, Iran and North Korea
as an 'axis of evil'.
1st February 2002
North Korea rejects the
tag of 'Axis of Evil'.
4th February 2002
Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino says, "Italy is hopeful that the U.S. will not spread its
war against terrorism beyond Afghanistan" at a NATO conference.
4th February 2002
A US Predator unmanned aircraft
vehicle attacks a compound in the Zawar Kili region of southeastern Afghanistan
apparently killing several white-robed men, one of whom is suspected of
being an al-Qaeda leader. On 9th February US Troops are ferried in to investigate
the site after bad weather.
7th February 2002
President Bush applies the
Geneva convention to Taliban detainees in Camp X-Ray but refuses them the
rights of prisoners of war. Al-Qaeda fighters are classified as unlawful
combatants because they do not represent any country which was a signee
to the Geneva Convention of 1949.
9th February 2002
A top Iranian military officer
threatens to destroy the Persian Gulf oil fields if the US threatens Iran
in the war on terror.
25th March 2002
HMS Illustrious returns
from her seven-month deployment which included Exercise Saif Saiera II
and supporting the War on Terrorism in Afghanistan.
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