2000 – The Central Intelligence Agency confirmed that personnel action had been taken following the mistaken bombing of the Chinese embassy during the NATO war against Yugoslavia; one employee was reportedly fired.
2000 – A Marine Corps aircraft, MV-22 tilt-rotor Osprey, with at least 18 people aboard crashed at the Avra Valley Airport near Tucson. All 19 Marines onboard were killed in the crash.
2001 – Sec. of State Colin Powell expressed sorrow for the Chinese pilot lost on Apr 1, but the Chinese continued to demand that the US apologize reiterated a demand that the US stop all military surveillance off the Chinese coast. U.S. officials said President Bush was sending a letter to the wife of a missing Chinese fighter pilot as a humanitarian gesture.
2002 – The space shuttle Atlantis took off for an 11-day mission to the ISS carrying latticework and a rail car.
2002 – Saddam Hussein cuts off Iraqi oil exports to the west in a bid to force Israel to abandon its West Bank offensive. Iraq says the oil supplies will be cut off for 30 days unless Israel pulls out before then.
2003 – In the 21st day of Operation Iraqi Freedom George W. Bush and Tony Blair met in Northern Ireland and endorsed a “vital role” for the United Nations when fighting ends in Iraq.
2003 – In Iraq British forces began establishing the first post-war administration, putting a local sheik into power in the southern city of Basra. Looting erupted shortly after their troops took control of the city. A US warplane was shot down near Baghdad. US forces seized Rasheed military airport.
2004 – Condoleeza Rice, US national security advisor, testified before the National Commission on Terrorism Attacks and contended that that Pres. Bush did not ignore threats of terrorism in the months before Sep 11, 2001.
2004 – In Afghanistan troops loyal to ethnic Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum overran Maymana, the center of Faryab province. In the south, clashes left at least 7 people dead, including two Afghan soldiers, and two police officers killed in an attack by suspected Taliban.
2004 – Shiite Muslim militias held partial control over three southern Iraqi cities, Kufa, Kut and Najaf. In escalating violence, gunmen kidnapped eight South Korean civilians. The US military announced 5 deaths. The estimated Iraqi toll was 460.
2004 – In a dramatic video, Iraqi insurgents revealed they had kidnapped 3 Japanese and threatened to burn them alive in 3 days unless Japan agrees to withdraw its troops.
2004 – In the Philippines 6 members of the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group including Hamsiraji Sali, a senior leader wanted by the US, were killed in a clash with government troops on southern Basilan island. In Oct three informants received $1 million for their help.
2005 – In Washington DC Humayun A. Khan (47) of Islamabad, Pakistan, was indicted for supplying India and Pakistan with outlawed components for nuclear weapons and ballistic missile systems.
2005 – Eric Rudolph agrees to plead guilty to four bombings including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in exchange for four life sentences.
2007 – US forces captured a leading al-Qaeda militant on Sunday, responsible for a wave of deadly car bombings in the capital and a close aide of al-Qaeda’s Baghdad commander. The captured militant acted as a point man for the al-Qaeda commander. He was detained along with two other known al-Qaeda militants.
2008 – Speaking before the Congress, General David Petraeus urged delaying troop withdrawals, saying, “I’ve repeatedly noted that we haven’t turned any corners, we haven’t seen any lights at the end of the tunnel,” referencing the comments of then President Bush and former Vietnam-era General William Westmoreland. When asked by the Senate if reasonable people could disagree on the way forward, Petraeus said, “We fight for the right of people to have other opinions.”
2009 – Chinese and Russian cyber-spies allegedly infiltrate the United States’ electrical grid.
2009 – Somali pirates hijack the Danish container ship MV Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean.
2010 – United States President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign a new arms reduction treaty that will cut both countries’ arsenals by a third.
2012 – Afghanistan and the United States reach an agreement giving the Government of Afghanistan more control over night raids.
2013 – Wikileaks announces the release of 1.7 million United States diplomatic and intelligence documents from 1973–1976 when Henry Kissinger was United States Secretary of State.
2013 – The Islamic State of Iraq enters the Syrian Civil War and begins by declaring a merger with the Al-Nusra Front under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham.
https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/april-8/
