Iraq Timeline 1990-2002
2 August 1990- Iraq invades Kuwait, and is condemned by UN Security Council resolution 660, which calls on Iraq to withdraw immediately.
6 August 1990- UN resolution 661 imposes economic sanctions on Iraq with the stated purpose of compelling Iraq’s military forces to leave Kuwait. (http://www.un.org/Docs/scres/1990/660e.pdf)
22 January 1991- A U.S. Department of Defense document notes Iraq’s reliance on imports for certain essential parts for water treatment facilities and the difficulty in obtaining these parts under sanctions. The document also observes that if Iraq is unable to obtain these parts, the result could be “increased incidences, if not epidemics, of disease.”
(http://zmag.org/ZMag/Articles/nov01lindemyer.htm)
3 March, 1991- Iraq accepts the terms of a cease-fire.
Mid-March through early April 1991- Iraq suppresses rebellions in the Kurdish north of Iraq and the Shi’a south. Shi’a forces ask the U.S. for access to captured Iraqi arms, but are denied; the U.S., which is patrolling the no-fly zone in the south at the time, allows Saddam Hussein to use helicopter gunships to suppress the rebellion.
3 April 1991- UN resolution 687 adds further conditions to the repeal of sanctions, stating that Iraq must agree to disarmament and inspections of its weapons sites. (http://www.un.org/Docs/scres/1991/687e.pdf)
9 June 1991- UN Special Commission to Oversee the Destruction of Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destructions (UNSCOM) commences its first inspections.
27 June 1993- U.S. launches cruise missiles at Iraqi intelligence headquarters, ostensibly in retaliation for an attempt to assassinate President George Bush in 1991.
1993- A UNICEF report states that there has been a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases in Iraq, including polio, diphtheria, and measles.
14 April 1995- UN Security Council passes resolution 986, which allows Iraq to buy food and medical supplies with funds raised from the sale of oil. The “Oil-for-Food” program is not accepted by Iraq until 1996.
8 March 1996- A fifteen-hour standoff with UN arms inspectors outside a Baghdad government building, the first in a series over the coming months.
1996- A UNICEF report states that among children under the age of 5, there are 4,500 “excess deaths” every month that can be primarily attributable to sanctions.
29 September 1998- U.S. passes The Iraq Liberation Act (ILA), “to seek to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government.” The president is to designate one or more Iraqi democratic opposition organizations to provide assistance to, not exceeding $97 million. (http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c105bills.html)
30 September 1998- Director of the UN Oil-for-Food Program, Denis Halliday, resigns in protest over the inadequacy of Oil-for-Food, which he says does not even meet the minimum requirements for a healthy diet.
16-19 December 1998- The UN pulls its staff out of Iraq, and the U.S. and U.K. begin Operation Desert Fox, a bombing campaign that aimed at destroying sites suspected of housing Iraq’s nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs.
1998- A World Health Organization (WHO) report states that each month, between 5,000 and 6,000 Iraqi children die because of sanctions. (http://www.who.int/disasters/repo/7114.pdf)
6 January 1999- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expresses his suspicion that intelligence gathered by UN arms inspectors was used for American efforts to undermine the Iraqi regime.
8 January 1999- Clinton Administration officials admit to monitoring coded radio communications of Saddam Hussein’s security forces, using equipment secretly installed by UN arms inspectors.
13 February 2000- The second director of the Oil-for-Food Program, Hans von Sponeck, resigns in protest, objecting to the impact of sanctions on the Iraqi civilian population.
1 March 2000- Hans Blix assumes the post of executive chairman of UNMOVIC, the new weapons inspectors.
October 2000- Iraq resumes domestic passenger flights, the first since the 1991 Gulf War. Commercial air links re-established with Russia, Ireland and Middle East.
February 2001- US/UK bombing raids try disable Iraq's air defence network. The bombings have little international support. Iraq complains about ongoing raids and civilian casualties.
May 2002- UN Security Council changes the sanctions regime, unanimously voting to replace a blanket ban goods with "smart" sanctions. New sanctions regime does not allow for investment in infrastructure or cash to Iraq outside the UN escrow account.
For more, see the Iraq War Timeline 
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