2000 – The US government began allowing civilian GPS receivers to pick up more accurate satellite signals. The sport of geocaching began 2 days later.
2000 – A US State Dept. annual report on efforts to combat terrorism listed Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors for terrorism. The report indicated a shift from the Middle East to South Asia with Afghanistan and Pakistan listed as threatening.
2000 – In Puerto Rico 2 US warships arrived off the coast of Vieques and some 50 protestors braced for the arrival of federal agents.
2001 – Pres. Bush committed the US to a missile defense shield. He also presented his case for withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.
2001 – The space shuttle Endeavour landed at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mohave Desert following the installation of the billion-dollar robot arm on the Int’l. Space Station.
2002 – China’s VP Hu Jintao met with Pres. Bush. Jintao said the Taiwan issue could hurt relations and defended China’s record on human rights. They agreed to resume military exchanges.
2003 – Pres. Bush, standing on the USS Abraham Lincoln, a Navy aircraft carrier in San Diego, announced that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.” Bush landed on the carrier in a Navy S-3B jet and spoke below a banner that read “Mission Accomplished.”
2003 – Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld visited Afghanistan and declared most of the nation secure. He said the 9,000 US soldiers there were engaged mainly in reconstruction.
2003 – The US Navy withdrew from Vieques Island, Costa Rica.
2003 – Three top members of Saddam Hussein’s ousted regimewere captured: Mizban Khadr Hadi (military commander), Abdel Tawab Mullah Huweish (director of the Office of Military Industrialization and a deputy prime minister in charge of arms procurement), and Taha Muhie-eldin Marouf (a Kurd who served as one of two ceremonial vice presidents).
2003 – The Terrorist Threat Integration Center begins operations.
2004 – In Iraq US top commander Lt. Gen. Sanchez notified 6 officers of his intent to issue a memorandum of reprimand for the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.
2004 – Suspected militants sprayed gunfire inside an oil contractor’s Saudi office, killing at least six people — including two Americans and three other Westerners — and wounding dozens. Police killed four brothers in a shootout after a car chase in which the attackers reportedly dragged the naked body of one victim behind their getaway car.
2007 – First Silver Star Service Banner Day (SSSBD) sponsored by The Silver Star Families of America (SSFOA). SSFOA is a service banner organization dedicated to supporting and assisting our wounded, ill, injured and dying active duty and veterans and their families of ALL branches of service from ALL wars. May 1st is meant to be a day set aside to honor their service and sacrifice; to bring remembrance to those so deserving of our thanks. Since 2007, SSSBD has been observed by all 50 states (including over 3,000 cities, towns and counties), the District of Columbia and Guam. The day has also been endorsed by Resolutions in the US House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as by the POTUS.
2010 – The Times Square car bombing attempt was a planned terrorist attack which was foiled when two street vendors discovered a car bomb and alerted a New York City Police Department (NYPD) patrolman to the threat after they spotted smoke coming from a vehicle. The bomb had been ignited, but failed to explode, and was disarmed before it caused any casualties. Two days later, federal agents arrested Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old Pakistan-born resident of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who had become a U.S. citizen in April 2009. He was arrested after he had boarded Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He admitted attempting the car bombing and said that he had trained at a Pakistani terrorist training camp, according to U.S. officials. United States Attorney General Eric Holder said that Shahzad’s intent had been “to kill Americans”. Shahzad was charged in federal court in Manhattan on May 4 with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and other federal crimes related to explosives. More than a dozen people were arrested by Pakistani officials in connection with the plot. Holder said the Pakistani Taliban directed the attack and may have financed it. On October 5, 2010, Shahzad was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to a 10-count indictment in June, including charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting an act of terrorism.
2011 – Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks has been killed by United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Due to the time difference between the United States and Pakistan, bin Laden was actually killed on May 2.
2014 – Shinseki places the director of the Phoenix VA and two aides on administrative leave pending the investigation into the veterans’ deaths.
https://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/05/01/may-1/
