Some Very Bad Years (1989 and beyond)

WINNIE MANDELA KILLED IN POLICE RAID
By CHRISTOPHER S. WREN, Special to the New York Times

JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 19 - Winnie Mandela, the wife of jailed South African anti-apartheid and ANC leader Nelson Mandela was killed in a pre-dawn police raid on her home in Soweto this morning. Police had been seeking evidence in a murder investigation. Police have connected Mandela's bodyguards, known as the Mandela United Football Club, to several abductions and murders, including that of a 14-year-old boy named Stompie Moeketsi.

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LA Times

French President, Others Injured As Rockets Disrupt Hirohito Rites
Bomb Blast at Palace
February 24, 1989|KARL SCHOENBERGER | Times Staff Writer

Tokyo - Several foreign dignitaries including President Francois Mitterrand suffered minor injuries as attackers fired several large homemade rockets at the funeral procession of Emperor Hirohito, who since he died Jan. 7, has been known as the Emperor Showa. At about the same time, 1:45 P.M., an explosion was heard near the the inner gate of the Imperial Palace, known as the Nakamon Gate.

A Tokyo Metropolitan Police spokesman stated the attacks are believed to be the work of the far-left Chukakuha, or "Middle Core Faction", Japan's largest and most active radical group. The group is responsible for several similar attacks, including one at the 1986 G7 summit in which President Reagan was nearly hit and an attack on the American embassy, also in 1986.

The rockets appear to have been fired from the balcony of a nearby apartment, and police found what appear to be several timed launching devices.

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Washington Post

SOVIETS WARN OF POLISH INTERVENTION
By Rowl, Evans and Robert Novak February 23, 1989

WARSAW - After weeks of civil unrest in Poland, Soviets have warned that a crackdown may be coming. Mr. Gorbachev 'unconditional condemned the forces of disorder'' that have disrupted negotiations and sent the country spiraling into chaos. He further warned that if the military junta of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski , which reimposed martial law two weeks ago, could not restore order that the Soviet Union would be forced to do so. Since the end of World War II, Moscow has crushed popular Eastern European uprisings twice - in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Moscow has also been close to military intervention in Poland in twice, in 1956 and 1981.
 
LA Times

Czech Writer Havel's Death Unexplained
February 24, 1989|CHARLES T. POWERS | Times Staff Writer

Prague - Czech playwright and dissident Vaclav Havel has reportedly died in prison. He had just started serving an eight-month term for anti-Government activities. So far no explanation has been given for the death.

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STATE SECURITY CLEARED IN HAVEL DEATH
By JOHN TAGLIABUE, Special to The New York Times

PRAGUE, Feb.28 - Czechoslovakia's State Security secret police have officially been cleared in the death of dissident playwright Vaclav Havel. Havel, who was arrested earlier this month, was reported to have died in prison last Friday. An official autopsy absolved authorities of responsibility for the death. However human-rights campaigners say the Government has not have been forthcoming in revealing the circumstances of his death.

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POLICE DISRUPT HAVEL FUNERAL AMID CRACKDOWN
By JOHN TAGLIABUE, Special to The New York Times

PRAGUE, Mar.1 - The funeral of Czech playwright and dissident Vaclav Havel was disrupted today by police. An estimated 20,000 demonstrators and mourners had gathered at St Vitus Cathedral, when police forces moved in, using truncheons and tear gas to break up the event. Demonstrators calling for an independent investigation into the death and the end of Communist rule

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BRUTAL CZECH POLICE CRACKDOWN CONTINUES
By JOHN TAGLIABUE, Special to The New York Times

PRAGUE, Mar. 3 - The crackdown on protests by Czechoslovakia's hard-line Government has continued into a third day. Protests that began at the funeral of Vaclav Havel, the dissident writer who died in prison under unexplained circumstances Friday, saw several thousand demonstrators gathered in Wenceslas Square, the focal point of opposition in the Czechoslovak capital, calling for the end of Communist rule, witnesses reported from Prague.

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CZECH POLICE OPEN FIRE, 13 DEAD
Protestors Marched on Presidential Palace
By JOHN TAGLIABUE, Special to The New York Times

PRAGUE, Mar. 5 - Czech security forces opened fire on demonstrators marching on Prague Castle, the seat of the communist Czechoslovak government in Prague tonight. Heavily armed policemen warned the crowd demonstrators making their way to the presidential palace. The crowd tried to press forward, and police opened fire. Medical sources report that at least 13 people are dead.
 
Judge Orders Documents to Be Made Available in North Trial
January 11, 1989 | By Glen Elasser, Chicago Tribune

Washington - US District Judge Gerhard Gesell ordered government security experts to make hundreds of thousands of pages of classified documents available to both the prosecution and the defendants in the upcoming trial of Col. Oliver North today.

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WITHHELD BUSH DIARY SUBPOENAED
By STEPHEN ENGELBERG, Special to the New York Times

Washington, Feb. 23 - Special prosecutor Lawrence E. Walsh issued a subpoena today in an attempt to obtain a diary and notes. The Office of the Independent Counsel requested on two occasions in 1987 that the diary, kept by then-Vice President Bush between 1986 and 1987 at the height of the height of the scandal , be turned over as evidence. According sources in the Office of the Independent Counsel, Nelson Lund, associate counsel to President Bush, informed the Office of the Independent Counsel that the diary had not been produced as previously requested.

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Long Delayed North Trial Starts
By DAVID JOHNSON, Special to the New York Times

Washington, Mar. 1 - After nearly a year of delays and legal maneuvering, Col. Oliver L. North went on trial today, accused of 14 felony counts stemming from his role in the secret arms deal now known as Iran-contra.

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EXPLOSIVE BUSH REVELATION IN NORTH TRIAL
Documents Reveal Bush Heavily Involved in Covert Arms Deal, Suggest Cover-up
By STEPHEN ENGELBERG, Special to the New York Times

Washington, Mar. 15 - Documents released today in the trial of Oliver North today have exposed the extensive role played President Bush, while Vice President, in the clandestine arms deal involving Iran and Nicaragua. The documents include a diary that had been withheld in the 1987 investigation. The diary includes passages indicating that then-Vice President Bush purposefully withheld information from the Office of the Independent Counsel.

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The Washington Post

IRAN-CONTRA COMPUTER COVER-UP
By George Lardner Jr.
March 24, 1989

Special prosecutor Lawrence E. Walsh rocked the courtroom in the trial of Col Oliver North today with the revelation that officials of the outgoing Reagan administration had erased computer tapes holding records of hundreds, possibly thousands of electronic messages in an attempt to hide the involvement of President Reagan, Vice-President Bush, and others in the Iran-contra covert arms deal.

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A few quick explanatory OOC Notes:

OTL, Walsh asked for a dismissal of two charges against Oliver North in early January because he couldn't get the access he needed to secret documents. Here, the judge gives him access.

OTL, Walsh wasn't made aware of the Bush diary until 1992.

OTL, the purge of NSC and EOP messages stored on the White House IBM PROFS email system was stopped by a TRO in Armstrong v. Bush. Here the National Security Archive didn't get the TRO, but someone leaked what happened.
 
IRA BOMB KILLS 97
British Tern Hill Barracks Bombed
By SHEILA RULE, Special to the New York Times

LONDON, Feb. 21 - 97 soldiers were killed today when a series of three explosions extensively damaged their barracks in central England. The Irish Republican Army has claimed responsibility for the attack, part of an ongoing a campaign against British military targets. A Ministry of Defense spokesman stated that the explosions occurred shortly after 3 A.M. at the Tern Hill barracks near Shrewsbury, 150 miles northwest of London. Two suspects were spotted fleeing the scene by sentries. The suspects were in a car which had been hijacked on the main road outside the base. Many of the soldiers stationed at the barracks had been just returned from a weekend leave.
 
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Food Panic as Polish Crisis Deepens
By JOHN TAGLIABUE, Special to the New York Times

WARSAW, Mar. 1 - As political unrest in Poland continues, major cities are seeing increasing desperation and bitterness over food shortages. Shortages and general chaos have lead to panic buying, hoarding, and isolated food riots. Government officials have denied that any violence related to food shortages has occurred. However some residents say they have witnessed people fighting over food at grocery stores.

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LA Times

EMERGENCY MEETING IN MOSCOW
Warsaw Pact Leaders Summoned To Discuss Crisis
March 3, 1989|DAN FISHER | Times Staff Writer

MOSCOW - Leaders of Warsaw Pact nations were summoned to Moscow today to discuss the continuing crisis in Poland.

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Arms Depots Reported Looted
March 5, 1989|By Paula Butturini, Chicago Tribune

WARSAW - Reports that a number of police posts and military depots in several towns including Warsaw have been looted by protesters and the weapons used to raid food warehouses for emergency stockpiles.

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LA Times

Poland Sliding Into Anarchy
March 6, 1989|CHARLES T. POWERS | Times Staff Writer

WARSAW - Poland continued to spiral out of the Government's control today, as enraged protesters, firing weapons, ransacked from military warehouses, burned buildings and looted banks and stores.

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Warsaw Embassies Evacuated
March 7, 1989|By Timothy J. McNulty, Chicago Tribune.

WARSAW - As rebellion and lawlessness spread throughout Poland, Western embassies, including the United States, have begun evacuating staff and dependents from Warsaw.

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Rebellion, Chaos In Warsaw
Bush Orders Embassy Evacuated
By JOHN TAGLIABUE, Special to the New York Times

WARSAW, Mar. 7 - As Poland continued to descend into chaos, President Bush ordered the evacuation of US diplomats from Warsaw today. Armed protestors have reportedly engaged Polish troops in several locations around the capital and other cities in recent days.

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Jaruzelski Losing Control, Chaos Reigns
Soviet Intervention Looms
By JOHN TAGLIABUE, Special to the New York Times

WARSAW, Mar. 8 - Over a month into the current crisis, the chances of restoring order in Poland without outside military intervention are growing slim. As civil unrest continues to grow, the Polish People's Army has begun to disintegrate. Soldiers, mostly poorly paid conscripts, are deserting in large numbers. Even more alarming, they are abandoning their weapons to the civilian population. With the the government of General Jaruzelski, who took power and imposed martial law and a state of emergency last month loosing it's grip on the nation and the military and increasingly unable to restore order, Warsaw Pact military forces are likely to be called upon to intervene and restore order.

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WARSAW PACT INTO POLAND
Soviet, East German, Romanian, Bulgarian Forces Join Intervention
By JOHN TAGLIABUE, Special to the New York Times

WARSAW, Mar. 9 - Soviet troops, along with military units from Warsaw Pact allies East Germany, Romania,and Bulgaria crossed the border into Poland this morning from several sides. The move is largely seen as having been initiated to put an end to the chaos and anarchy that has swept the nation over the past month. Reports indicate that troops have sealed all border. Trains were not running and airline operations were halted.
 
This is some really scary stuff. On the one hand a massive crackdown would cost a ton of lives, on the other hand, without a crackdown it could turn into a massive regional conflict.
 
I'm looking forward to seeing how this timeline develops. I'm predicting a more violent collapse of the Eastern Bloc, a bloodier Gulf War (if it still occurs), President Bush possibly facing impeachment over his role in Iran-Contra, and South Africa erupting into chaos.
 
IRA BOMB KILLS 97
British Tern Hill Barracks Bombed
By SHEILA RULE, Special to the New York Times

LONDON, Feb. 21 - 25 soldiers were killed today when a series of three explosions extensively damaged their barracks in central England. The Irish Republican Army has claimed responsibility for the attack, part of an ongoing a campaign against British military targets. A Ministry of Defense spokesman stated that the explosions occurred shortly after 3 A.M. at the Tern Hill barracks near Shrewsbury, 150 miles northwest of London. Two suspects were spotted fleeing the scene by sentries. The suspects were in a car which had been hijacked on the main road outside the base. Many of the soldiers stationed at the barracks had been just returned from a weekend leave.
25 or 97?
 
25 or 97?

Thanks for catching that! :D

25 was an artifact from an earlier version before I decided that Mr. Murphy had the bombing take place after the soldiers had returned from their leave. OTL, none were killed because a sentry spotted the IRA bombers and most of the troops were on leave. Also spotted and fixed a discrepancy in the Midland Crash death tolls.
 
LA Times

Hundreds Killed Anti-Chinese Weekend Rioting in Tibet
March 03, 1989|DAVID HOLLEY | Times Staff Writer

BEIJING - Violence erupted over the weekend across Tibet, with many being reported dead. In Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, crowds of angry Tibetians attacked ethnic Han Chinese, looting shops and burning cars and military vehicles. In at least two instances, crowds even attacked Chinese security forces.State media said at least 200 people have died.

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MARTIAL LAW IN LHASA
Thousands Detained
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, Special to The New York Times

BEIJING, Mar. 5 - Thousands of troops have been deployed in Lhasa and elsewhere across Tibet, as outbreaks of anti-Chinese unrest have spread. The riots and violent protests, the latest and most widespread in Tibet in decades, began last Wednesday, and are now being seen as a major challenge to the ruling Communist Party. Tibetian sources have reported that thousands people suspected of taking part in the anti-Chinese rioting have been arrested.
 
BUSH CLOSELY MONITORING POLAND
May Impose Sanctions, No Military action
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, Special to The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Mar. 10 - President Bush said in a press conference last night that he is watching the situation in Poland closely. He suggested that the U.S. may impose new economic sanctions on the Soviets, but ruled out any military options.

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Large Explosion Rock Lhasa
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, Special to The New York Times

BEIJING, Mar. 15 - A large explosion shook Lhasa in the early hours of March 14th, according to eyewitness reports from the Tibetan capital. The BBC Monitoring Service confirmed that Tibet Radio was reporting a large explosion.

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Sein Finn Office Shelled
Senior Sinn Fein Leaders Slain
AP

BELFAST, Northern Ireland, March 20 - Two senior leaders of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, were killed yesterday when an RPG-7 rocket exploded at an office in Belfast. Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. The two were meeting at the North Belfast site when a masked man leaped out of a van and fired the rocket. A police spokesman stated that 'this is the first time in my memory that Protestant paramilitaries have used rocket launchers like this.''
 
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