Parkway Murders Revisited

The 1969 Parkway Murders Revisited - By William Kelly

When the bodies of four young women were found in a ditch off the Black Horse Pike, more than a few people had a déjà vu.

On Memorial Day, 1969, parkway maintenance worker Elwood “Woody” Faunce discovered the bodies of Susan Davis and Elizabeth Perry in the secluded underbrush off the Garden State Parkway.

The two nineteen year old college coeds were missing since the previous Friday, when they failed to return to Pennsylvania after a few days vacation at the Jersey Shore. They stayed in Ocean City at a 9^th street rooming house, toured the boardwalk, went to the beach and after dark they hit the Somers Point nightclubs, just as thousands of other young people were doing.

But unlike the thousands of others, after leaving early Friday morning to beat the holiday weekend rush, they would drive onto the Parkway, never to be seen alive again, except by their killer.

When the girls failed to make it to Pennsylvania and home Friday night, their parents knew something was wrong, and notified authorities, but the police put a low priority on missing teenage girls on the biggest holiday weekend of the summer. While the police searched for their car, a powder blue 1966 Chevrolet convertible, the fathers of the missing girls rented a plane and flew over the route they would have taken, looking for the car in the weeds off the road, in case they had an accident.

Then Howard Blazer of Blazer’s Garage on Tilton Road returned from an out of state fishing trip and learn about the missing girls from news reports. He had towed the convertible, found on Friday with the top down off the side of the Parkway around mile marker 31.9. A New Jersey State Trooper, Louis Sturr had found the car abandoned on the Parkway early Friday morning while on patrol. When he called the tags in, there was no report of the car being stolen, so Blazer was called to have it towed to his Northfield garage.

Blazer went fishing and Trooper Sturr left the area for the weekend and everyone forgot about the towed car, until the following Monday, Memorial Day, giving the killer or killers a three day lead before the bodies were discovered.

Despite a massive investigative effort, with police interviewing thousands of witnesses and dozens of suspects, the case remains unsolved, one of a few high profile unsolved murder cases in South Jersey.

As the years stretched into decades, there were periodic peaks of media and public interest, like when a new suspect emerged or a mass murder confessed to the crime. Both Gerald Eugene Stano and Ted Bundy, two of the most prolific mass murders in history, claimed credit for the Parkway murders.

The police took the Stano confession serious enough to send two detectives down to Florida State Prison to interview him, but he didn’t know any of the specifics of the case, had the murder taking place on the wrong side of the Parkway and got all of the details wrong.

Bundy however, proves a more elusive suspect. After being caught in Colorado for the murder of a number of young women, and escaping twice, Bundy went to Florida, where the capitol punishment laws remained in effect. Captured again after going on a rampage of murder, Bundy settled into Florida’s death row.

Before being executed in Florida on January 24, 1989, Bundy had gone through a series of taped psychological counseling sessions with a court approved forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Art Norman. .

Because of patient – doctor confidentiality, he couldn’t reveal what Bundy had said, but after he was dead, Norman reported that Bundy had told him, in a taped conversation, what it was like for the killer, sort of like, ‘how OJ would have done it.’ While talking in the third person, Bundy was saying what it was like to leave Philadelphia for California, when he, “….decided to leave and go back home to the west coast, sort of like a defeated state of mind. But before he does he decides to take a little bit of a jaunt to what they call the Jersey Shore.”

Bundy told Norman, “This is early summer. So after being more or less detached from people for a long period preceding period of months, he didn’t have many friends, didn’t go anywhere, just more or less had school and walks on the beach, and just gets a – (mumble)…, sees young women lined up like a vision, like a you know,…Eventually he found himself tearing around the place for a couple of days. So without really planning anything, he picked up a couple of young girls and ended up with…the first time he ever done it. Sort of a spontaneous kind of something he hadn’t planned, but something that had been building that was the edge…so when he left for the coast, it was not just getting away, it was more like an escape.”

“Is this just a amazing coincidence?” Norman asked at the time of Bundy’s execution, “That he just happened to be there on Memorial Day before he went back to the west coast and two girls disappeared in that area at the time?...I believe that this is where he really started. And it may not be enough for the DA, but I think its enough to raise some curiosity.”

Robert N. McAlister, Jr. was the Atlantic County Prosecutor at the time of the murders, and kept the case open while he was in office. The current prosecutor Jeffrey Blitz has been periodically reviewing the case for the past few decades. Blitz said, “I spoke to Dr. Norman. He relayed information that he had interviewed Bundy years ago and that he had come to the conclusion that Bundy was responsible for the Co-Ed murders. I asked him if Bundy said he did it, and Norman said no. But based on what Bundy said, Norman believed he could draw the conclusion that Bundy was responsible. That’s not satisfying.”

What is convincing to a psychiatrist is not satisfying to the lawyer. But according to Norman, more specific details did come out of his interviews with Bundy, details that could be investigated, linking him to or absolving him of the Parkway Co-Ed murders.

Bundy at the time, was a Temple University student, who said that instead of taking a professor’s car to California right away, he drove to New York City, visited the sex shops off Broadway, and then drove down to Ocean City and looked at the girls on the boardwalk and beach.

Bundy was convicted on circumstantial evidence in Colorado, a without eyewitnesses, based entirely on Bundy’s gas credit card receipts that placed him in the vicinity when the murders took place. Most of the murdered girls, who fit the same profile as Perry and Davis, were found in the woods just off major highways.

While Bundy’s fingerprints on the car or his DNA evidence at the crime scene could prove conclusive, the NJ State Police and Atlantic County Prosecutors Office are reluctant to pin him to the crime, as if it was Bundy, the failure to catch him then led to the deaths of fifty more beautiful young women. No one from New Jersey even attended the Bundy Conference, a meeting of federal, state and local law enforcement officers who met at Quantico, Virginia to review unsolved crimes that could possibly be attributed to Bundy.

One thing is for certain, according to those who investigated the crime, whoever was responsible for the 1969 Parkway murders, killed again.

After local police were publicly criticized for the “tragedy of errors” during the initial phase of the investigation, Elizabeth Perry’s father wrote a letter to the editor of local papers saying, “I comprehend their abilities quite more clearly than does other residents who presume to criticize them. This is not to suggest that every last man on the force is a Sherlock Holmes, but it was apparent to me, and I’m sure I can speak for Mr. Davis, that they are dedicated and competent people trying to do a job against great odds.”

Unlike most cold case detective television shows, not all murders are solved, but sometimes, old cases are resolved, sometimes decades after the crime is committed. Solving such multiple murders quickly however, will most certainly prevent the killer, like Bundy, from continuing to commit crimes in different jurisdictions, over long periods of time.

While few officials today actually recall the details of the 1969 Parkway murders, the still unresolved nature of that case stands out as a reminder to local police detectives and state and federal investigators as they continue to pour over the evidence in the recent Pike murders.

Like the Parkway murder, the girls all fit a specific type, their bodies were discovered off the side of a major highway, and their killer or killers have had a good lead time before their bodies were discovered.

Christian Barth, a Cherry Hill attorney who is writing a novel based on the 1969 Parkway murders says that while there are some similarities, the two crimes are not likely related. “The distance in time between the two cases, and the difference in the types of victims, make it unlikely that the cases are related,” said Barth, “but the similarities make you remember them, and perhaps we can learn something from the unsolved case from so long ago.”

Although forensic science has developed new investigative techniques and types of evidence like DNA that didn’t exist in 1969, who knows what new evidence, new witness, what clue could lead to the perpetrator?

And perhaps with renewed media and public interest, the 1969 case will eventually one day be solved.

William Kelly - Billykelly1@aol.com

xxxxyyyzzz

Repatriate Richard Somers Report

RICHARD SOMERS REPORT September 2007 January 2008

SOMERS POINT, N.J. The people of Somers Point have long memories, especially when it comes to a war hero who joined the Navy to fight pirates over two hundred years ago and is still expected home someday.

Those interested in the repatriation of Richard Somers will be glad to know of the exciting news and developments in this 200 year old story.

For starters, the renewal of official diplomatic relations between the United States and Libya is a huge step forward in the efforts to repatriate Somers and the crew of the USS Intrepid.

The appointment of Gene Cretz as U.S ambassador to Libya, subject to approval of the U.S. Senate, will open the doors for exchange of ambassadors, ideas, trade and eventually the bones and relics of our heroes.

The circumstances today are not that different from Somers’ day.

Today we have an unending war against terrorism with armies in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting fundamental Islamic warlords, while then we were fighting Barbary Pirates in the same theater with similar beliefs and convictions. They then held 300 American sailors (from the captured frigate USS Philadelphia) hostage in the dungeons of Tripoli castle, held for a ransom the United States refused to pay.

Instead Somers and the Mediterranean Squadron were ordered to confront and engage the enemy, defeat them in battle and win the release of the hostages. Not an easy mission, but one they eagerly undertook. Somers fought in the Battle of Tripoli and then died with twelve other men in the explosion of the USS Intrepid in Tripoli harbor, September 4, 1804.

The bodies of the three officers and ten men washed ashore and the next day American prisoners from the castle dungeon buryried them in the sands below the castle walls. The three officers were buried separately from the ten seamen, but all were interred in a small plot that became part of a park near the castle. And there they remained for over a hundred and fifty years, until the 1930s when Italian road builders uncovered five of the remains, which were reinterred in crypts at the Old Protestant Cemetery not far away. [See: Photos of Tripoli Cemetery]

Efforts to repatriate the remains of Somers and his crew were continually thwarted as hostilities flared up and died down over the years. After a few decades of terrorist attacks and periodic bombings, the situation has changed radically over the past few years.

Col. Momar Quadafi, who assumed command in a coup in 1969, has renounced terrorism, assumed responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, made partial payments to the families of victims, turned over his stockpile of weapons of mass destruction and released the Bulgarian medics who had been imprisoned and sentenced to death. The last remaining hurdle hindering full diplomatic ties is the final payment to the families of victims of Pan Am 103.

Some military historians say we are only now ending the war with the Barbary Pirates that started over two centuries ago, and in some ways we are, and the resolution of outstanding disputes will eventually result in the repatriation home of the remains of Somers and his men.

First and most significantly, the United States and Libya have diplomatic relations again, so official public communications can begin.

President Bush announced the appointment of US Ambassador Gene Cretz [See Notes], but Senate Democrats, led by N.J. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, have threatened to block the appointment unless Libya lives up to its previous agreements, including the final payment of restitution to the families of the victims of the Pan Am 103.

While these other issues are important, someday soon the primary issue will be the Repatriation of the remains of Richard Somers and the crew of the Intrepid, and we should be ready for that eventuallity.

The burrial site has been selected, between Somers Mansion and the Atlantic County Heritage Society, a new monument design has been chosen, based on the Tripoli Monument at Annapolis, and the USS Intrepid Association has been anticipating the return of the aircraft carrier Intrepid to its West Side Manhattan slip, and the conducting of Repatriation ceremonies on deck upon the return of the original Intrepid crew.

A local film maker is working on a documentary film about the repatriation, and the Somers and Leaming families are getting together to seek the return of the Somers' Washington ring, which could be put on permant display at the Heritage Society. Between the Somers' grave monument and the ring, there should be a lot of historic tourism generated by continued interest in this story.

The New Jersey State Department of Transportation projects in the area give Somers Point a few years to design and build a tourist friendly area around Somers Mansion, the Somers' prospective gravesite and the Atlantic County Histoircal Society, so when these projects are completed, it will be easy for people to park and walk around these historic sites and the bayfront.

For now, we must further educate Mr. Gene Cretz and Senators Lautenberg and Menendez about the story of Richard Somers and his mission, and how we must complete the mission by repatriating Somers and the men of the Intrepid.

NOTES:

Richard Somers Day September 4^{th day he died, September 13th John Barry Day, September 15th, the day Richard Somers was born, is also Constitution Day.}

Now, thanks to the unanimous support of the New Jersey legislature, September 4th is officially recognized as Richard Somers Day, but since that falls on Labor Day weekend, the Richard Somers Committee has been meeting to memorialize him on other days.

They may move the memorial to his birthday, September 15th, which is also Constitution Day, which like September 13th, Commodore Barry Day, is not only officially recognized by the state as holidays, but are days that state schools are required by law to teach students about Commodore Barry and the Constitution. While not recognized as such, they are all related subjects, as the Constitution was approved by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia where young Richard Somers was a student at the Episcopal Academy and John Barry was the Sgt.of Arms at Independence Hall and possibly Richard Somers’ school instructor at the Academy.

The Constitution would not have been ratified if John Barry had not escorted two reluctant delegates to the chambers by intimidation in order to ensure a quorum.

So getting schools to teach lesson plans about Richard Somers, John Barry and the Constitution during that first week of school does not seem unwarranted, though as a law unenforceable, it should be encouraged.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/nominations/338.html

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6444CF49-1051-48F3-86D9-58295C064900.htm

Richard Somers Chronology/Timeline

CHRONOLOGY Richard Somers

1775 October 13 American Revolutionary Navy commissioned.

1778 September 15 Richard Somers, Jr. is born during the American Revolution at the home of his father, Col. Richard Somers, Sr., a building that still stands today as the Somers Manor office building at the corner of Shore and Bethel Roads, Somers Point.

1778 October 15 Battle of Chestnut Neck.

1783 March Algiers pirates seize two American merchant ships en route from Marseille to Gibraltar.

1783 September 18 John Barry petitions the Pennsylvania General Assembly for "benefits and emoluments" for his military service during the Revolution, while living on Spruce Street, between Third and Fourth.

1784 October 11 Morocco pirate corsair seize American brig Betsey.

1785 February. Algerian Barbary state pirates seize two U.S. vessels, demand tribute; President Thomas Jefferson deploys gunboats to the Mediterranean. "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute."

1785 USA opens diplomatic relations with Barbary States of Morroco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.

1785 John Barry acquires Strawberry Hill, a plantation house four miles north of Philadelphia.

1786 January 4 Dr. Benjamin Rush visits Barry at Strawberry Hill.

1787 April 19 John Barry’s nephews Michael and Patrick Hayes arrive from Ireland.

1787 December. John Barry Captain of the ship Asia, travels to China.

1787 May 14 tate delegates convene a Federal Convention in Philadelphia, meet throughout the summer.

1787 Enoch Stillwell (brother of Richard’s mother) dies, orphans Anna, Sophia and Savage Stillwell, move in with Somers family.

1788 June 4 Captain Barry sails ship Asia up Delaware returns from China.

1788 June 21 New Constitution adopted only after John Barry strong arms two delegates in order to ensure a quorum.

1789 January John Barry begins teaching at boys Free Academy 3^{rd st. in Philadelphia.}

1789 March 4 New government begins with first presidential election.

1789 April 30 George Washington sworn in. John Adams Vice President.

1790 May 31 George Washington signs first copyright act in Philadelphia.

1790 June 6 John Barry teacher at Academy, publishes "Philadelphia Spelling Book Arranged Upon A Plan Entirely New," 1st US copyrighted publication.

1790 December 6 Third session of first Congress opens in Philadelphia.

1791 April 11 Sultan Sidi Muhammad of Morocco dies, son al-Yazid assumes power. Thomas Barclay appointed first counsel to Morocco.

1791 Richard Somers attends Hunter School, Woodbury, N.J.

1792 Somers takes classes in navigation.

1792 August 8 See Ben Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette.

1793 John Barry "retired" at Strawberry Hill.

1793 December 16 – President Washington notifies Congress that Portugal negotiated a truce with Algiers and the Barbary pirates were again in the Atlantic. Thomas Fitzsimmons consults with Barry and shipbuilder Joshua Humphreys about building a fleet of warships.

1793 15 year old Richard Somers, first mate on family schooner trading in West Indies, takes command upon the death of the captain and returns safely home.

1794 Navy Act of 1794.

1794 March 19 John Barry requests command of the proposed fleet.

1794 March 27 –an act of Congress passed to create a naval force by building six new frigates, under the supervision of John Barry.

1794 June 14 Washington sends John Barry "to form and train a class of midshipmen who would then be commissioned as Ensigns, and form the nucleus of a new American navy." Barry commissioned #1 Captain, United States Navy.

1794 Richard Somers attends private academy where he is ‘schoolmates with Charles Stewart, Steven Decatur, Jr., son of U.S. Navy Captain/Commodore Steven Decatur, Sr., and Richard Rush, son of prominent physician Benjamin Rush.

1794 September John Barry supervises the delivery of Georgia oak for the construction of the frigate USS United States.

1794 October 22 Richard Somers, Sr. dies (54 years old).

1795 April 9 Betsy Keen and merchant sea Captain Patrick Hayes married at Christ’s Church by the Reverend, Bishop William White, who had earlier married Barry and Sarah Austin.

1795 December 21 Treaty signed with Morocco, Algiers, "automatically under the clause in the Navy bill,…work on the six frigates was suspended."

1796 January Secretary of War McHenry reports that all six frigates could still be completed within the year.

1796 April Congress approves the completion of three ships at Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore, the United States, the Constitution and the Constellation.

1796 May Barry and Truxtun in Maryland ordering cannon at Cecil Furnace.

1796 July 8 Son born to Betsy Keen Hayes.

1796 September 19 Estimate for outfitting the United States with 305 officers and men, fifty-four marines, for one month $7, 285.

1796 September 1796 John Barry ends teaching career at Philadelphia Academy.

1796 Gheretti/Mastico, a French built Ketch launched (later to become USS Intrepid).

1797 February 3 Richard’s mother Sophia dies.

1797 February 22 Congressional Action on Navy. Washington, on his birthday, issues Commission No. 1 in the American Navy to John Barry, though it was backdated "to take rank from the fourth day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four."

1797 March 4 John Adams becomes president.

1797 June 7 Treaty of Tripoli Approved by Senate. [See: NARA Treaty Series #358 –American State Papers Foreign Relations #18-19.

1797 June 10 Treaty of Tripoli Signed by President Adams

1797 June 17 –Notice of Treaty of Tripoli published in Philadelphia/Pennsylvania Gazzette.

1797 June 23 President Adams message to Congress re: Algiers/Barbary States.

1797 July 10 USS United States launched in Philadelphia.

1797 350 applicants for 59 commissions in new U.S. Navy.

1798 January 26 US counsel Richard O’Brian arrives in Algiers.

1798 March 9 –Charles Stewart commissioned Lieutenant, predates Navy.

1798 April 30 Congress establishes Department of Navy, directed by secretary of cabinet rank, Benjamin Stoddert, Maryland merchant, who immediately gives John Barry necessary supplies to complete outfitting the USS United States.

1798 April 30 Midshipman’s warrants issued to Richard Somers and Steven Decatur, sent to sea on the shakedown cruse of the USS United States under Commodore John Barry.

1798 May 7 President John Adams appears in Philadelphia at rally.

1798 May 8 Richard Somers takes oath of allegiance.

1798 May 15 Algiers Dey Hassan Pasha dies of natural causes, succeeded by Bobba Mustafa

1798 May 30 Richard Somers returns to Egg Harbor to get his affairs in order

1798 June 8 - Sloop Delaware (20 guns) under Commander Stephen Decatur, Sr., takes a French prize, Le Croyable off Egg Harbor.

1798 July 7 USS Untied States gets underway under Capt. John Barry with Decatur, Jr., Charles Stewart and Somers as Midshipmen, headed south for the West Indies in search of French ships.

1798 October 8 USS US ordered off Newport, RI.

1798 Nov 4, Congress agreed to pay a yearly tribute to Tripoli, considering it the only way to protect U.S. shipping. (HN, 11/4/98)

1799 January 20 Richard Somers given commission as Lieutenant.

1799 June 2 Richard Somers writes will.

1799 June 22 Richard’s brother Constant dies in Russia in boating accident.

1799 Schooner Nautilus built as merchant vessel on Maryland’s East Shore.

1800 January 10 To Be Rented Great Egg harbor Residence of Col. Richard Somers, Apply to Wm. Jones Kean , Front St. Phila.

1801 Somers appointed first lieutenant to the Boston, a 28 gun, 250 man sloop sent to deliver Chancellor Livingston to France, and patrol the Mediterranean.

1801 Treaty of Tripoli violated by Yusuf Qaramanli, pasha of Tripoli.

1801 USS Boston sails to France with new ambassador and family.

1801 December 22 Boston at Gibraltar.

1801 January 21 Boston off Tripoli. Somers gets first view of Tripoli.

1801 May 14, The Pasha of Tripoli symbolically declared war on the US by cutting down the glagstaff in front of the US Consulate, after learning that Pres. Jefferson had refused to pay a renewed tribute of $225,000. (ON, 10/06, p.8)

1801 May 22 Captain Richard Dale takes command of Med. Squadron.

1801 – June – Eaton makes first contact with Ahmad Qaramanli, deposed pasha of Tripoli, and older brother of Yusuf.

1801 - Jun 10- The North African state of Tripoli declared war on the United States in a dispute over safe passage of merchant vessels through the Mediterranean. Tripoli declared war on the U.S. for refusing to pay tribute. (AP, 6/10/97)(HN, 6/10/98)

1801 – July – USS Enterprise, Lt. Andrew Sterrett, takes on Tripoli (14) and leaves it destroyed.

1801 - July 17- The U.S. fleet arrived in Tripoli after Pasha Yusuf Karamanli declared war for being refused tribute. (HN, 7/17/99)

1801 - Aug 1, The American schooner Enterprise captured the Barbary cruiser Tripoli.
(HN, 8/1/98)

1802 – Congress orders the construction of four schooners, the Siren (16 guns), the Argus (16), Nautilus (12) and Vixen (12), with Somers, age 24, being given command of the Nautilus.

1802 – February 2 – US fleet off Tripoli to blockade harbor.

1802 – February 6 – Congress recognizes Tripoli has declared war against USA.

1802 – September – Boston returns home.

1803 – February 28 – Congress passes Act to pay for ships.

1803 – April 11 – Richard at Somers Plantation, launches new schooner, Goard Blosom at Mays Landing, Egg Harbor.

1803 – May 13 – Richard Somers ordered to oversee the refurbishing of Nautilus.

1803 – May 21 – Captain Edward Preble given command of the Mediterranean squadron, with flagship frigate USS Constitution (44).

1803 – June 24 - Somers and Nautilus ordered to join the Mediterranean squadron under command of Captain Edward Preble.

1803 – September 13 – Commodore John Barry dies. Barry, former Captain of United States was offered command of the Mediterranean Squadron, but declined because of his health.

1803 – September 14 – Somers and Nautilus reach Gibraltar.

1803 – Preble makes successful demonstration in Tangier against the emperor of Morocco.

1803 – October 31 – USS Philadelphia, Captain Bainbridge in command, runs aground off Tripoli, surrenders with full compliment of crew.

1803 – November 7 – The Argus, under Stephen Decatur, joins Nautilus and Constitution in Gibraltar.

1803 - Dec 23, Lt. Stephen Decatur, commanding the schooner Enterprise, captured a Barbary ketch, which was entered into the US Navy as the Intrepid.(ON, 2/03, p.2)

1804 – February 16 – Decatur leads mission aboard Intrepid into Tripoli Harbor and successfully scuttles the captured frigate USS Philadelphia, which England’s Lord Admiral Nelson calls "The most bold and daring act of the age." .

1804 – June 2 – USS Constitution, Enterprise, and Intrepid, converted to a floating hospital, anchored off Syracuse. Siren, Agrus, Vixen and Scourage (a pirate prize) blockade off Tripoli.

1804 – July – Mediterranean squadron heads for Tripoli, lead by Preble’s flagship, the frigate Constitution, four brigs, the Argus, Siran, Vixen and Scourge, two schooners, Nautilus (Somers) and Enterprise (Decatur) and eight gunboats (156 guns in all).

1804 – July 25 – August 28 – Battle of Tripoli.

1804 – August 3 – 4 - Somers and Decatur lead flotillas of gunboats against Tripoli fleet, win decisively, though Decatur’s younger brother is killed.

1804 – August 7 – Attack made against Tripoli fleet.

1804 – September 3 – Attack made against Tripoli fleet.

1804, September 4 – Somers leads the Intrepid back into Tripoli harbor rearmed as a fire ship, which explodes prematurely, killing three officers and ten seaman.

1804 – September 6 – Captain Bainbridge, skipper of the scuttled USS Philadelphia, and ship’s doctor Dr. Cowdery and a detachment of prisoners find 13 bodies washed ashore Tripoli harbor, three identified as officers, which are buried 100 yards south of the harbor near the castle.

1804 – September 9 – William Eaton arrives and reports to Med Squad. Commodore Barron replaces Captain Preble as commander of U.S. naval forces in the Mediterranean.

1804 – September 13 – Commodore Samuel Barron issues secret – verbal orders – to Isaac Hull of the Argus, to facilitate Easton’s plans to support Ahmad Qaramanli.

1804 – November 28 – Plans instituted to convince Ahmad Qaramanli to retake Tripoli throne.

1805 – February 25 – Captain Preble arrives in New York, unexpectedly finds himself a hero. 53 Preble boys sign letter.

1805 –March 5 – Congress of US passes resolution: "RESOLVED, that the President of the US be also requested to communicate to the parents, or other near relatives, of Captain Richard Somers, Lts. Henry Wadsworth,.."

1805 – March 19 – President Jefferson receives Commodore Preble’s dispatch, learns of the loss of USS Philadelphia and 307 captured prisoners.

1805 – March 6 - US diplomat warrior William Eaton and US Marine Corps Sgt. Presley O’Bannon, eight marines, 200 Greek mercinaries begin attacks across the desert from Egypt to Derna, and capture the port city east of Tripoli.

1805 – April 28 – With support from the Argus, Hornet and Nautilus, Eaton and company attack Derna, city falls in 2 hours, Stars & Stripes raised on conquered foreign soil for first time.

1805 – June 3 – Treaty settled with Yusuf Qaramanli, who accepts $60,000 ransom for prisoners, no tribute, $60,000 in war reparations (Ratified by Congress on April 17, 1806)

1805 – June 11 – Captain Hugh Campbell & USS Constellation anchors off Derna. Eaton learns of peace treaty, escapes with Ahmad Qaramanli, O’Bannon’s squad and other Christians, abandoning Derna.

1805 – November – Eaton returns to USA, a hero.

1805 – December 11 – Tripoli treaty submitted to Senate for ratification, paying $60,000 to Pasha Yusuf Qaramanli ransom for USS Philadelphia prisoners, no tribute.

1806 – April 17 – Tripoli treaty ratified by Congress.

1806 – May 27 – John Rogers confers command of the USS Constitution and U.S. squadron to Hugh G. Campbell and returns aboard Essex.

1806 – Nautilus arrives back in USA. Somers’ brother-in-law, William Jonas Keen pays prize money to officers and men for the capture of Brig Nomenato Crucifisso.

1806 – March 17 – Report published backing Eaton’s account.

1806 – April 12 – Senate ratified peace treaty with Tripoli (21-8), Congress votes to pay Ahmad Qaramanli $2,400 and $200 a month pension.

1807 – Eaton reimbursed $12, 636, 60.

1807 – January 1 – Monument to the men who died off Tripoli set at the US Navy yard, Washington, D.C.

1807 – A. Burr stands trial for treason.

1808 – James Madison becomes president.

1811 – June 1 – William Eaton (47) dies at Brimfield, Maine, relatively unnoticed.

1811 – August 29 – Constant, Jr. dies at sea in Cronstadt, Russia.

1812 – July – U.S. counsel Tobias Lear leaves Algiers with wife and son three Americans

1812 – August 25 – Brig Edwin of Salem taken enroute from Malta to Gibraltar. Captain George C. Smith and ten man crew taken, with American passenger Mr. Pollard. Imprisoned in Algiers.

1813 – New U.S. counsel Mordecai Manuel Noah appointed to Tunis.

1814 – British capture Washington, burn Tripoli monument. It is repaired and moved to front of Capitol.

1813-1814 – Schooner USS Somers deployed.

1814 – Bey Hammuda dies of natural causes, succeeded by his brother Uthman.

1814 – December 21 – Bey Uthman assassinated by cousin Mahmud.

1815 – March 2 – Congress declares war on Algiers, granting the president authority to take whatever measures he deems necessary.

1815 – May 20 – Commodore Decatur’s squadron puts to sea.

1815 - Aug 5 - A peace treaty with Tripoli, which followed treaties with Algeria and Tunis (Aug 28), brought an end to the Barbary Wars. Commodores Stephen Decatur and William Bainbridge had conducted successful operations against the Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.(HN, 8/5/98)(WSJ, 10/9/01, p.A22)(ON, 10/06, p.10)

1815 – December 21 – Peace treaty ratified, signed by President Madison on Dec. 26.

1815 – Decatur and Bainbridge return to Tripoli to secure truce.

1815 – August 2 – Commodore Decatur arrives off Tripoli.

1815 – August 5 – Decatur obtains treaty with Pasha Yusuf Qaramanli (also spelled Karamanli ) "I trust that the successful result of our small expedition, so honorable to our country, will induce other nations to follow the example; in which case the Barbary states will be compelled to abandon their piratical system." – Decatur.

1816 – August, British under Lord Exmouth and Dutch bombard Algiers to secure truce.

1820 – March 22 – Stephen Decatur killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron.

1823 - British Major Dixon Denham and Captain Hugh Clapperton (1788-1827) entered Northern Nigeria from the north, crossing the desert from Tripoli. (Econ, 1/7/06, p.74)( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Clapperton)

1825 - Jul 16 - Alexander Gordon Laing (32), British Army Major, set off on camel from Tripoli in an attempt to become the 1st European to cross the Sahara Desert and reach the fabled city of Timbuktu (Mali). (SSFC, 1/1/06, p.M2)(ON, 11/06, p.5)

1830 – May 26 – French invade Algiers. City falls July 5.

1842 – James F. Cooper writes biography of Richard Somers.

1842 – US Brig Somers deployed. Becomes involved in "mutiny" that inspires Herman Melville to write "Billy Budd".

1846 – December 8 – USS Somers sinks in gale storm off Veracruz, Mexico.

1850 – January – Richard’s sister Sally dies.

1851- Monument erected at Somers’ family burial ground at Somers Point "In memory of Richard Somers…perished in the 25th year of his age in the ketch Intrepid in the memorable attempt to destroy the Turkish flotilla in the harbor of Tripoli….

1850 – January - Sarah Somers dies.

1860 – Tripoli monument moved from Capitol to Annapolis.

1898-1919 – Torpedo Boat USS Somers deployed.

1903 – President Roosevelt orders the remains of John Paul Jones to be repatriated from Paris, France to Annapolis, Md., where he is reburied with honors.

1911 - Sep 30, Italy declared war on Turkey over control of Tripoli. (HN, 9/30/98)

1911 - Oct 5, Italian troops occupied Tripoli. (MC, 10/5/01)

1911 - Nov 1 - Italian planes performed the first aerial bombing on Tanguira oasis in Libya. Lt. Giulio Cavotti dropped a hand grenade on an oasis outside of Tripoli. In 2001 Sven Lindqvist authored "A History of Bombing." (HN, 11/1/98)(SFC, 4/22/01, BR p.3)

1911 - Nov 5, Italy attacked Turkish North-Africa (Libya), and took Tripoli and Cyrenaica. First use of a plane dropping bombs. [see Nov 1] (MC, 11/5/01)

1911 - Nov 5, Italy attacked Turkish North-Africa (Libya), and took Tripoli and Cyrenaica. First use of a plane dropping bombs. (MC, 11/5/01)

1911-1931 Omar Mukhtar harassed the Italian forces attempting to subdue Libya. The 1981 film "Lion in the Desert" starred Anthony Quinn as Omar Mukhtar.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.29)

1920-1930 – USS Somers DD-301 deployed.

1922 - Sep 13 - In El Azizia, Libya, a temperature of 136.4 degrees Fahrenheit (57.8 Celsius) was the hottest ever measured on Earth. (AP, 7/23/03)

1930s – Sometime in the 1930s, during the Italian occupation, the Italian Army uncovers the remains of five bodies from park during the construction of a new road. The five are reburied at the Old Protestant Cemetery.

1937-1947 – USS Somers DD-381 deployed.

1938 – In response to an inquiry form the American embassy in Rome concerning the fate of the men of the USS Intrepid, Mr. Mustafa Burchis, harbormaster of Tripoli, undertakes a meticulous examination of the old Jewish records, private Arab collections of letters, papers and diaries, and interviews innumerable descendants of residents of Tripoli at the time of the disaster, and completes a report of the matter that is transmitted to the US Embassy Rome. The report is said to have been lost in the chaos of WWII.

1940 - Sep 12, Italian forces began an offensive into Egypt from Libya. (HN, 9/12/98)

1941 - Jan 21, Australia & Britain attacked Tobruk, Libya. (MC, 1/21/02)

1941 - Jan 22, British and Australian troops captured Tobruk from Italians. (MC, 1/22/02)

1941 - Jan 28, French General Charles DeGaulle's Free French forces sacked south Libya oasis. (HN, 1/28/99)

1941 - Feb 6, The RAF cleared the way as British took Benghazi, Libya, trapping thousands of Italians.(HN, 2/6/99)

1941 - Feb 11, Lt-Gen Erwin Rommel arrived in Tripoli. (MC, 2/11/02)

1941 - Feb 14, German Afrika Korps landed in Tripoli, Libya. (MC, 2/14/02)

1941 - Mar 21, The last Italian post in East Libya fell to the British. (HN, 3/21/98)

1941 - Mar 24, German troops occupied El Agheila, Libya. (MC, 3/24/02)

1941 - Mar 30, The German Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel began its first offensive against British forces in Libya. (HN, 3/30/99)

1941 - Apr 4, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel captured the British held town of Benghazi in North Africa. (HN, 4/4/99)

1941 - Apr 13, There was a heavy German assault on Tobruk.(MC, 4/13/02)

1941 - May 1, A German assault took place on Tobruk. (MC, 5/1/02)

1941 - Dec 7, The 8 month German siege of Tobruk ended. (MC, 12/7/01)

1941 - Dec 13, British forces launched an offensive in Libya. (HN, 12/13/98)

1942 - Jan 29, German and Italian troops took Benghazi in North Africa. (HN, 1/29/99)

1942 - Mar 26, A German offensive took place in North-Africa under Colonel-General Rommel. (SS, 3/26/02)

1942 - May 27, German General Erwin Rommel began a major offensive in Libya with his Afrika Korps. (HN, 5/27/99)

1942 - Jun 21 - German General Erwin Rommel captured the port city of Tobruk in North Africa and 25,000 Allied troops. (HN, 6/21/98)(Camelot, 6/21/99)

1942 - Jul 11(Jun 11), The German army was defeated at El-Alamein, North Africa.
(MC, 7/11/02)

1942 - Aug 10, Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery was named commandant of the British 8th Army campaigning in N. Africa. He arrived Aug 13.
(www.topedge.com/panels/ww2/na/frame.html)

1942 - Moammar Gadhafi, the "Guide of the Masses," was born. (SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C12)

1943 - Jan 13, General Leclerc's Free French forces merged with the British under Montgomery in Libya. (HN, 1/13/99)

1943 - Jan 22, Axis forces pulled out of Tripoli for Tunisia, and destroyed bases as they left. (HN, 1/22/99)

1943 - German-Italian forces launched a counter offensive in North-Africa.
(MC, 4/28/02)

1949 – April 2 - US Navy conducts ceremony at gravesite and places permanent marker.

1949 - Nov 21, The UN Assembly decided for the eventual independence of Italy’s former colonies. In the meantime they remained under UN supervision. United Nations granted Libya its independence…(EWH, 1968, p.1176)(HN, 11/21/98)

1950 – April - Intrepid graves reported found by Navy publication (US NIP) by Lt. Miller. "The bodies of five American Naval heroes of the Barbary Wars which have been lying unmarked, untouched, and unclaimed for nearly a century and a half have been discovered in Tripoli, North Africa."

1959 – USS Somers DDG-34 deployed.

1966 - Occidental Petroleum under Armand Hammer won valuable drilling rights in Libya by bribing a key member of the Libyan royal family.(SFC, 1/17/96, p.D7)

1969 - Sep 1 - A coup in Libya overthrew the monarchy of King Idris and brought Moammar Gadhafi (27) to power. Crown Prince al-Hassan al-Reda, was acting ruler while King al-Senousi, al-Senousi's grandfather, was undergoing medical treatment in Turkey. Gadhafi emerged as leader of the revolutionary government and ordered the closure of a U.S. Air Force base. (AP, 9/1/99)(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C12)(AP, 6/26/05)

1969-1984 - Libya’s Crown Prince al-Reda and his family remained under house arrest for 7 years after the coup. He then spent 2 years in detention without trial where he was said to have been tortured. He suffered a brain tumor that paralyzed his body and traveled to Britain for treatment. He died 6 years later when the Libyan office in London suspended payment for the treatment. (AP, 6/26/05)

1970 - Jun 11, The United States presence in Libya came to an end as the last detachment left Wheelus Air Base.(AP, 6/11/00)

1970 - Jul 21, Libya ordered the confiscation of all Jewish property. (MC, 7/21/02)

1970 - Nov 27, Syria joined the pact linking Libya, Egypt and Sudan. (HN, 11/27/98)

1971 – Quadaffi’s son Seif al-Islam (Sword of Islam) born.

1972 - Mar 4, Libya and USSR signed a cooperation treaty.(SC, 3/4/02)

1973 - Feb 21, Israeli fighter planes shot down a Libyan Airlines jet over the Sinai Desert, killing 108 people. (AP, 2/21/98)(MC, 2/21/02)

1973 - The Irish Navy caught Joe Cahill as he tried to smuggle 5 tons of Russian-made explosives, guns and ammunition from Libya. (SFC, 7/26/04, p.B4)

1975 - Libya’s leader Muammar Qaddafi published The Green Book. The 3-part book rejects modern conceptions of liberal democracy and encourages the institution of a form of direct democracy based on popular committees.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Book)

1976 – Americans Frank Terpil and Joseph McElroy deliver 50 revolvers to Libya.

1976-7 – Former CIA official Ed Wilson sells tons of C4 explosives to Libya, along with experts to teach covert operations.

1977 - Mar 2, Libya amended its constitution. (SC, 3/2/02)

1977 - Mar 3, Libyan Socialist Arabs People's Republic formed (SC, 3/3/02)

1977 – May – American Legion Magazine publishes reports of Patricia Dougherty (of Leonia Borough Council, NJ) and her writer friend Melba Edmunds, who visit cemetery in Tripoli, finding it overgrown with weeds.

1977 - Nov 19, Libya dropped diplomatic relations with Egypt. (MC, 11/19/01)

1977 - Col. Moammar Gadhafi launched his Jamahariya, or "State of the Masses."
(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C12)

1978 - Aug, Imam Mousa Sadr, the spiritual leader of Lebanon's Shiite Muslim community, disappeared during a visit to Libya. (AP, 9/3/03)

1979 - Jun 3 - Ex-president Idi Amin of Uganda fled to Libya. (MC, 6/3/02)

1979 - Dec 2, Some 2,000 Libyans ransacked the US embassy at Tripoli, Libya, chanting support for the radical Islamic regime that took power in Iran earlier in the year.
(AP, 12/30/03)

1979 – Libyans attack US Embassy in Tripoli.

1980 - Jul 23, Billy Carter, brother of Pres. Jimmy Carter, admitted to being paid by Libya.(MC, 7/23/02)

1980 - Colonel Muammar Khaddafi of Libya recruited the nationless, disenfranchised nomads by implying that he would train the Kel Tamashek and provide weapons to fight for their independence from the Malian government. The rebels slowly realized that Khadaffi's only intention was to use them in his own wars. Some of these dejected fighters formed the band Tinariwen in Khadaffi's rebel camp (www.jacneed.com/10Tinariwen.htm)

1981 - May 6, US expelled Libyan diplomats. (MC, 5/6/02)

1981 - Aug 12, President Reagan, citing alleged Libyan involvement in terrorism, ordered U.S. jets to attack targets in Libya. (AP, 12/19/03)

1981 - Aug 19, Two U.S. Navy F-14 jet fighters shot down a pair of Soviet-built Libyan SU-22s in a dogfight over the Gulf of Sidra.(AP, 8/19/06)

1981 - Dec 11- Concerned about the safety of Americans in Libya, the Reagan administration asks them to leave. It also invalidates use of U.S. passports for travel to Libya.(AP, 12/19/03)

1981-1986 - In Uganda Yoweri Museveni led a five-year bush war against Milton Obote. Museveni had trained in a Libya guerrilla camp. (SFC, 5/11/96, p.A-8)(AP, 12/16/02)

1982 - Mar 10, Pres Reagan proclaims economic sanctions against Libya and banned Libyan oil imports, because of the continued support of terrorism. (HN, 3/10/98)(MC, 3/10/02)

1982 – Ed Wilson is lured out of hiding in Libya and brought to New York for arrest and trial.

1983 – Wilson introduces sworn statement from CIA that Wilson didn’t do anything for the CIA after his retirement in 1971, is convicted, sentenced to 25 years and is incarcerated at federal penitentiary at Marion, Illinois.

1983 - Nov 25, Syria and Saudi Arabia announced a cease-fire in PLO civil war in Tripoli.(MC, 11/25/01)

1983 - Edwin Wilson was convicted of running arms to Libya. In 2003 the conviction was thrown out because prosecutors knew he worked for the CIA and misled the court.
(WSJ, 10/29/03, p.A1)

1984 - Apr, Yvonne Fletcher, a British police officer, was killed from rifle shots fired from the Libyan embassy in London during a demonstration against Moammar Ghadafi. Libya later gave Fletcher’s family some compensation. (SFC, 7/8/99, p.A8)(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C12)

1984 – Spring – C4 explosives explode at homes of anti-Quaddafi Libyans in Manchester England, sparking demonstrations and the shooting murder of female British constable at Libyan embassy at St. James Square. Diplomatic relations between England and Libya broken, Libyans escorted out of the country. They leave behind some of the U.S. revolvers.

1985 - Jan 8, The Rev. Lawrence Martin Jenco was kidnapped in Lebanon. He was released 19 months later. (AP, 1/8/05)

1985 - Aug 21, Tunisia expelled 253 Libyans in apparent retaliation for Libya’s expulsion of over 20,000 Tunisian workers in recent weeks.(http://tinyurl.com/yq3x4e)

1985 - Charles Taylor escaped from a Plymouth County jail in Massachusetts while awaiting extradition to Liberia, where he was accused of embezzling money as an official in the dictatorship of Samuel Doe. He went to Libya received military training as a guest of Col. Moammar Ghadafi. Taylor met Foday Sankoh, a corporal from Sierra Leone while training in Libya. (SFC, 7/3/99, p.A10)(SFC, 12/13/00, p.B5)(AP, 12/16/02)

1986 - Jan 1- Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi threatened to retaliate if attacked as the United States built its strength in the Mediterranean. (HN, 1/1/99)

1986 - Jan 7, US president Reagan proclaimed economic sanctions against Libya.
(www.iie.com/research/topics/sanctions/libya.cfm)

1986 - Jan 23, U.S. began maneuvers off the Libyan coast. (HN, 1/23/99)

1986 - Apr 5, A Berlin nightclub was bombed and 2 US soldiers and a woman were killed and 230 injured. Palestinian Yasser Shraydi (Chraidi) was suspected of playing a lead role in the bombing of the La Belle discotheque. In 1996 he was extradited from Lebanon to face charges in Germany. In 1996 Andrea Hasler was arrested in Greece and extradited to Germany. Also a woman named Verena Chanaa, suspected of planting the bomb, and her former husband named Ali Chanaa were arrested in Berlin. In 1997 Musbah Abulghasen Eter was arrested by Italian police in Rome in connection with the bombing. In 2001 V. Chanaa was sentenced to 14 years, A. Chanaa and Eter were sentenced to 12 years, and Chraidi was sentenced to 14 years. Libya was implicated and in 2004 agreed to pay $35 million in compensation. (SFC, 5/234/96, p.A14)(SFC, 10/12/96, p.A12)(WSJ, 8/28/97, p.A1)(SFC, 8/28/97, p.C3)(SFC, 11/14/01, p.A18)(AP, 9/3/04)

1986 - Apr 14, Americans got first word of the U.S. air raid on Libya (because of the time difference, it was the early morning of April 15th where the attack occurred). US aircraft attacked five terrorist locations in Libya in response to the Apr 5 terrorist attack in Berlin. In 2003 Joseph T. Stanik authored "El Dorado Canyon," an account of the military strike. (AP, 4/14/97)(HN, 4/14/98)(SFC, 12/18/99, p.C4)(WSJ, 2/11/03, p.D8)

1986 - Apr 15, The United States launched an air raid with F-111 warplanes against Libya in response to the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin on April 5; Libya says 37 people, mostly civilians, were killed. The step-daughter of Moammar Gadhafi was killed near Tripoli by US bombing. (AP, 4/15/97)(HN, 4/15/98)(WSJ, 8/30/00, p.A1)(AP, 12/19/03)

1986 - Apr 16, Dispelling rumors he was dead, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appeared on television to condemn the US raid on his country. (AP, 4/16/06)

1986 - Ghadames, Libya, designated a World Heritage site.(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)

1986 – May – USS Somers discovered in 107 feet of water off Veracruz, Mexico. Salvage Expedition underway.

1987 - In Burkina Faso Blaise Compaore, trained in Gadhafi's guerrilla camps, seized power in a bloody takeover. Libya and Burkina Faso later denied repeated accusations of gunrunning to West Africa hot spots.(SFC, 2/19/00, p.A10)(AP, 12/16/02)

1987 - France ousted Libyan troops from a disputed area of northern Chad. In the proxy war, code-named Arid Farmer, France and the US backed government forces against Libyan troops. (SFC, 6/22/99, p.A12)(WSJ, 2/11/03, p.D8)

1988 – December 21 – Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland.

1988 - Dec 21, Pan Am Flight 103 was downed over Lockerbee, Scotland by a terrorist bomb. 270 people were killed aboard the Boeing 747. Libya was accused of responsibility for the bombing, which killed 259 people onboard and 11 on the ground. Two Libyan operatives, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and A-Amin Khalifa Fahimah, were indicted in 1991 and thought to be in hiding in Libya. They were sent to the Netherlands for trial in 1999 and implicated Mohammed Abu Talb, a Palestinian terrorist jailed in Sweden. In 2000 Ahmad Behbahani (32) told a 60 Minutes journalist from a refugee camp in Turkey that he proposed the Pan Am operation and coordinated the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. He also claimed that Iran was behind the 1994 bombing in Argentina that killed 86 people. Behbahani was later called a fraud by the CIA and FBI. In 2001 a Scottish court convicted Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, of murder in the 1998 bombing of Pan am Flight 103. A 2nd Libyan, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted. The conviction was upheld in 2002. In 2003 Libya set up a $2.7 billion fund for families of 270 people killed.
(WSJ, 12/18/95, p.A-9)(SFC, 5/11/96, p.A-8)(SFC, 6/7/97, p.A4)(AP, 12/21/97)(WSJ, 4/6/99, p.A1)(SFC, 11/25/99, p.A14)(SFC, 6/5/00, p.A9)(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A10)(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.A20)(SFC, 1/31/01, p.A11)(SFC, 3/15/02, p.A9)(AP, 8/15/03)

1989 - Jan 4, US Navy F-14s shot down 2 Libyan jet fighters over Mediterranean.
(www.history.navy.mil/wars/foabroad.htm)

1989 - Jul 27, Eighty people were killed when a Korean Air DC-10 crashed in Libya.
(AP, 7/27/99)

1989 - Sept. 19- A Paris-bound French DC-10, UTA Flight 772, was bombed over the Sahara desert of Niger and all 170 [171] passengers died. French authorities placed the blame on Libya’s Abdallah Senoussi, brother-in-law of Moammar Ghadafi and chief of foreign operations for the Libyan secret service. The six Libyan suspects were named by a French judge in 1998 and tried in absentia in 1999. The attack was in retaliation for French intervention on behalf of Chad in a war with Libya since the mid 1980s. In 2004 Libya signed a $170 million compensation accord with families of the people killed.
(SFC, 5/7/97, p.C3)(SFEC,10/19/97, p.A26)(WSJ, 1/30/98, p.A1)(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A11)(SFC, 3/9/99, p.B10)(AP, 9/19/99)(AP, 1/9/04)

1989-1993 - An outbreak of Old World Screwworm was eradicated by a coordinated int’l. effort. (SFC, 6/13/98, p.A7)

1991 - Nov 14, U.S. and British authorities announced indictments against two Libyan intelligence officials in connection with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. (AP, 11/14/01)

1992 - Mar 23, The president of the U.N. Security Council announced that Libya had offered to surrender two men suspected in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 to the Arab League. Libya reversed itself two days later; however, the suspects surrendered for trial seven years later. One was subsequently convicted, the other found innocent. (AP, 3/23/02)

1992 - Mar 25, Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi backed away from an offer to turn over two suspects in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 to the Arab League.
(AP, 3/25/97)

1992 - Apr 7, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat survived the crash landing of his plane in the Libyan desert; three crew members were killed. (AP, 4/7/97)

1992 - Apr 14, Libya cut itself off from the world for 24 hours to mark the sixth anniversary of the U.S. air raid, the same day the World Court rejected Libya's appeal to prevent sanctions against it for refusing to turn over suspects in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. (AP, 4/14/97)

1992 - Apr 15, Countries barred Libyan jets from their airspace and ordered diplomats to go home because of Libya's refusal to turn over suspects in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on arms sales and air travel against Libya to prod Gadhafi into surrendering two suspects wanted in the Pan Am 103.
(AP, 4/15/97)(AP, 12/19/03)

1992 - Dec 22, A Libyan Boeing 727 jetliner crashed, killing 157 people. (AP, 12/22/97)

1993 – al-Islam graduates from Tripoli’s al-Fateh University where he studied urban engineering; chairs the National Anti-drug Association of Libya.

1993 - Dec 10 - Mansour El-Kikhia, former Libyan ambassador to the UN, was kidnapped in Cairo. The US CIA later reported that he was taken to Libya and executed in early 1994. El-Kikhia’s book "Libya’s Qaddafi: The Politics of Contradiction" was published in the US in 1997. (SSFC, 5/21/06, p.E5)(http://tinyurl.com/lnqr5)

1993 - There was a coup attempt against Moammar Ghadafi. (SFC, 1/3/97, p.A17)

1994 – Historic Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) notifies the FBI that items from its collection are missing, (including the Somers ring).

1995 - Sep 1, Moammar Ghadafi of Libya announced the expulsion of all 30,000 Palestinians from Libya. More than 1,200 ended up in a border camp between Libya and Egypt. (SFC, 8/22/96, p.E1)

1995 - Libya declared jihad against NATO, but no concrete action was taken.
(WSJ, 10/10/01, p.A10)

1995 – September 8 – Senator D’Amato introduces what would become ILSA – the Iran Foreign Oil Sanctions Act of 1995.

1995 – December 20 – Senate passes ILSA, with an amendment sponsored by Senator Kennedy, that applies all provisions to Libya as well as Iran (ILSA) because of efforts of the families of the victims of the Dec. 21, 1988 downing of Pan Am 103.

1996 - Jan, Louis Farrakhan visited Libya and received a promise of $1 billion from Col. Moammar Ghadafi. His tour also included stops in Iran, Nigeria and the Sudan. (SFC, 8/27/96, p.A3)

1996 - Feb, In Libya a plan to kill Moammar Ghadafi failed and several bystanders were killed. In 1998 David Shayler, a former member of the British intelligence services, revealed the information in France while fighting extradition to Britain. The British foreign secretary denied the attack. Shayler returned to London in 2000 to face charges.
(SFC, 8/17/98, p.A9)(SFC, 8/22/00, p.A10)

1996 - Mar 28, Col Gadhaffi of Libya sent troops to put down unrest in northeaster Libya after a 400 prisoners, many including dissidents and Islamic militants, escaped from prison last week. (WSJ, 3/28/96,p.A-1)

1996 - April 4 - US intelligence indicated the Libya was building a chemical weapons plant at Tarhunah, 40 miles southeast of Tripoli. The plant was reportedly designed to replace a plant at Rabta, 55 miles SW of Tripoli, where Libya insists that only pharmaceuticals are produced. (SFC, 4/4/96, p.A-10)

1996 - May 17, Libya was preparing to expel some of its 30,000 Palestinians.
(WSJ, 5/17/96,p.A-1)

1996 - May 29, Col. Moammar Ghadafi left Cairo after a five-day visit. He went about town with his well-armed female bodyguards and spoke with numerous intellectuals, union leaders, business leaders and officials. He offered a vision of Libyan style democracy, a decentralized government based on popular committees. (SFC, 5/30/96, p.A10)

1996 - Jul 12, In Libya at least 20 people were killed in Tripoli at a soccer match. Bodyguards loyal to the sons of Moammar Ghadafi fired a spectators who shouted hostile slogans. A stampede resulted. (SFC, 7/15/96, p.A11)

1996 - Aug 23, The Nation of Islam applied to the US Treasury Dept. for permission to accept a $1 bil donation from Col. Moammar Gadhafi that was promised to Rev. Louis Farrakhan to help America’s black people. (WSJ, 8/26/96, p.A1)

1996 - Oct 6, Turkey’s prime minister urged Moammar Ghadafi to sign a document to denounce Kurdish rebel terrorism but instead Ghadafi condemned Turkish repression of the Kurds. A trade deal hung in suspension. (SFEC, 10/7/96, A9)

1996 - Nov 23 - A member of the Fighting Islamic Group, Abdullah Guryou, hurled a grenade at Moammar Ghadafi in the desert town of Brak. Ghadafi was not hurt.
(SFC, 1/3/97, p.A17)

1996 - Jan 2, Six military officers and 2 civilians were executed on charges of spying. Experts believed they case was related to the 1993 coup attempt. (SFC, 1/3/97, p.A17)

1997 - Mar 10, The Vatican established diplomatic relations with Libya. (SFC, 3/11/97, p.A11)

1997 - Dec 2 - It was reported that Libya was constructing some 2,000 miles of tunnels with 13-foot concrete pipes. Libya called it the Great Man-Made River Project and it stretched from Tunisia to Egypt. Analysts feared it would be used for military purposes. The primary contractor was Dong Ah, a South Korean construction conglomerate and much of the equipment used was of US make. (SFC, 12/2/97, p.A11)

1997 – December 23 – FBI question George Csizmazia in theft of Somers ring.

1998 - Aug 26, Libya indicated that it would accept an American and British proposal that 2 suspects of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet be tried in the Netherlands by Scottish judges. (SFC, 8/27/98, p.A10)

1998 - Oct 5, Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi was reported to have turned his face to Africa rather than a pan-Arab unity: ""I would like Libya to become a black country. Hence, I recommend to Libyan men to marry only black women, and to Libyan women to marry black men." (SFC, 10/6/98, p.A14)

1998 - Dec 4 - The London Guardian was cited in a report that 3 high security officials in Libya, were convicted and sentenced to prison for dereliction of duty. Abdullah Senussi, Musa, Koussa and Mohammed al-Misrati were thought to be the superiors of the men wanted for the 1988Lockerbie Pan Am bombing. (SFC, 12/4/98, p.A16)

1998 - Dec 15, The 500 members of Libya’s General People’s Congress voted for conditional approval for the trial of Pan Am Flight 103 bombing suspects in a 3rd country. (SFC, 12/16/98, p.A15)

1999 – Feb. - In Libya health workers including 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were arrested on charges they intentionally infected some 393 children with the AIDS virus as part of an experiment to find a cure. The defendants were tortured daily for their 1st 3 months of captivity. On May 6, 2004, the nurses and doctor were sentenced to death. (www.wsws.org/articles/2004/sep2004/liby-s02.shtml)(AP, 5/6/04)(SSFC, 6/6/04, E3)

1999 - Apr 5, Libya handed over to UN officials 2 men accused in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103. They were then flown to the Hague to be tried under Scottish law. UN Sec. Gen'l. Kofi Annan immediately suspended economic sanctions on Libya.
(SFC, 4/6/99, p.A1)(SFC, 4/6/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 4/6/99, p.A1)

1999 - Apr 18, Pres. Kabila of Congo and Ugandan Pres. Museweni signed a cease-fire agreement that was mediated by Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi. Rwanda and Congolese rebels rejected the deal. (SFC, 5/29/99, p.A11)

1999 - Apr 28, The US announced that it would allow US firms to sell food and medicine to Iran, Sudan and Libya. (SFC, 4/29/99, p.A3)

1999 - Jun 11, The US and Libya engaged in their first official meeting in 18 years. The US stipulated conditions to be met prior to the lifting of sanctions. (SFC, 6/12/99, p.A13)

1999 - Jun 13, In South Africa Pres. Mandela welcomed visiting Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi as his last official guest. Ghadafi was on his first foreign tour since sanctions were lifted in April. (SFC, 6/14/99, p.A13)

1999 - Jun 21, It was reported that Libya would pay $40 million to the families of those killed in the Sep 19, 1989 bombing of a French jet. (SFC, 6/22/99, p.A12)

1999 - Jul 7, Britain and Libya announced a resumption of diplomatic relations.
(SFC, 7/8/99, p.A8)

1999 - Jul 27, The US eased sanctions against Iran, Libya and Sudan to allow the sale of food, medicine and medical equipment. (SFC, 7/27/99, p.A5)

1999 - Sep 6, In Libya Moammar Ghadafi unveiled plans for a new, safe, 5-passenger "Rocket of the Jamahariya" automobile. (SFC, 9/8/99, p.A16)

1999 - Nov 24, In Britain authorities intercepted Scud missile components labeled as auto parts originating in Taiwan and destined for Libya. (SFC, 1/10/00, p.A10)

1999 - Dec 1, Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema of Italy began a 2-day visit that involved a $5.5 billion oil and gas project involving ENI, an Italian oil company. It was the 1st visit by a Western head of government since sanctions in 1992. (SFC, 12/2/99, p.D2)

2000 - Jan 13, A Swiss Shorts 300-360 airplane carrying Libyan oil workers to a refinery at Marsa el-Brega crashed off the Libya coast and at least 15 of 41 people were killed. (SFC, 1/14/00, p.D2)(WSJ, 1/14/00, p.A1)

2000 - Mar, Col. Gadhafi ordered the abolition of a dozen ministries and the supposed transfer of their power to the grass roots. (SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C12)

2000 - Aug 29, In Libya 6 former hostages held captive in the Philippines arrived to thank Moammar Ghadafi for his role in securing their release.(SFC, 8/30/00, p.A12)

2000 - Sep 8, In the Philippines Abu Sayyaf rebels freed 4 more hostages held since April 23. Libya paid a reported $1 million per hostage. (SFC, 9/9/00, p.A10)(SFEC, 9/10/00, p.C15)

2000 - Oct 5, Nigerians from Libya arrived home on repatriation flights and bore tales of a pogrom by youths resentful of economic immigrants. (WSJ, 10/6/00, p.A1)

2001 - Jan 4, It was reported that Africans from Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Congo had resumed treks across the Sahara to Libya for better economic conditions. (SFC, 1/5/01, p.A18)

2001- January 31 – Libyan suspect Abd al-Baset al-Magrahi convicted of the bombing of Pan Am 103.

2001 - May 30, Libya flew troops and weapons to the Central African Republic to help Pres. Patasse to put down a coup attempt. (WSJ, 5/31/01, p.A1)

2001 - In 2004 the UN gathered evidence suggesting the North Korea supplied Libya with nearly 2 tons of uranium in 2001.(WSJ, 5/24/04, p.A1)

2002 - May 28, Libya offered $10 million in compensation for each victim in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in exchange for removal from the US list of states that sponsor terrorism. (SFC, 5/29/02, p.A1)

2002 - May 29, Libya denied that it had any relationship to the deal made by lawyers to pay $2.7 billion to the families of Pan Am Flight 103 victims. The move was seen as a ploy and a settlement was expected soon. (SFC, 5/30/02, p.A10)

2002 - Aug 7, The first British Cabinet minister to visit this country in two decades met with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, saying Libya was making a serious attempt to move away from its international pariah status. (AP, 8/7/02)

2002 - Oct 24, Libya has decided to withdraw from the Arab League, Moammar Gadhafi's government announced.(AP, 10/24/02)

2002 - Dec 28, Libyan soldiers ended a yearlong deployment to protect the Central African Republic government against a string of coup attempts. They were to be replaced by troops from Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon and Mali.
(AP, 12/31/02)

2003 - Jan 20, The U.N. human rights watchdog elected a Libyan diplomat as its president for this year, despite concern from the United States about the country's poor record on civil liberties and its alleged role in sponsoring terrorism. (AP, 1/20/03)

2003 - Apr 30, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalqam said his government accepted responsibility for the 1998 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. (SFC, 5/1/03, A7)

2003 – May 1, Thursday – Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam told the AP that the family of each of the 270 Lockerbie/Pan Am victims would receive $10 million in three installments. First $4 million, UN sanctions against Libya would be lifted, second $4 U.S. sanctions would go, and after final installment, U.S. would remove Libya from list of states sponsoring terrorism. Shalqam said his government will "bear the civil responsibility for the actions of its employees," and "Libya will work hard to draw an end to that issue during the coming period."

2003 - Aug 13, Libya agreed to set up a $2.7 billion fund for families of 270 people killed in the 1988 Pan Am bombing. (AP, 8/13/04)

2003 - Aug 31, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said a second agreement over compensation has been reached between his country and the families of 170 victims of a French airliner that exploded in 1989. (AP, 9/1/03)

2003 - Sep 12, The UN Security Council lifted 11-year-old sanctions on Libya after Moammar Gadhafi's government took responsibility for bombing a Pan Am jet over Scotland and agreed to pay the victims' families $2.7 billion.(AP, 9/12/03)

2003 - Sep 24, Families of people killed when US jets bombed Libya urged Tripoli to suspend payments to relatives of the victims of the 1988 downing of a Pan Am airliner until they receive compensation from the United States. (AP, 9/24/03)

2003 - Oct, A search of a German vessel bound for Tripoli, Libya, revealed uranium-enriching centrifuge gear.(WSJ, 12/31/03, p.A1). Container ship episode on high seas. German ship BBC China interdicted by USA, German, Italy, and uranium enrichment materials found.

2003, October 30 – Federal Judge in Houston, Texas throws out the conviction of former CIA operative Edwin P. Wilson, who has spent 20 years in prison for selling arms to Libya.

2003 – December 19 – Libya agrees to destroy all of its chemical, nuclear and biological weapons, allow for immediate inspections and monitoring and permits the US military to remove all WMD it has on hand. [Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, after secret negotiations with the United States and Britain, agreed to halt his nation's drive to develop nuclear and chemical weapons and the long-range missiles to deliver them. Libya admitted to nuclear fuel projects, including possessing centrifuges and centrifuge parts used in uranium enrichment. Libya showed American and British inspectors a significant quantity of mustard agent. Libya acknowledged it intended to acquire equipment and develop capabilities to create biological weapons. Libya admitted "elements of the history of its cooperation with North Korea" to develop extended-range Scud missiles.] (AP, 12/19/03) (AP, 12/20/03)

2003 - Dec 28, A team led by U.N. nuclear chief Mohammed ElBaradei toured 4 atomic facilities in Libya and found dismantled equipment. ElBaradei said Libya appeared to reach only an experimental level in its attempts to enrich uranium, essential for a nuclear bomb. (AP, 12/29/04)

2003 - Libya planned a covert operation to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia according to 2004 testimony by 2 jailed participants. (SFC, 6/10/04, A10)

2004 - Jan 5, Pres. Bush extended a 1986 order of sanctions against Libya.
(WSJ, 1/6/04, p.A1)

2004 - Jan 8, Libya agreed to compensate family members of victims of a 1989 bombing of a French passenger plane over the Niger desert that killed 170 people.
(AP, 1/8/05)

2004 - Jan 9, Libya signed a $170 million compensation accord with families of people who died in the 1989 bombing of a French jetliner. (AP, 1/9/04)

2004 - Jan 14, A UN agency said Libya has ratified the nuclear test ban treaty. The treaty is 12 nations short of the 44 ratifications needed for it to enter into force. Once it comes into force, the treaty bans any nuclear weapon test explosion in any environment. (AP, 1/14/04)

2004 - January 26 – US congressional delegation arrives in Libya, the first since Col. Muammar Gaddafi took power.

2004 – January 27 – The Guardian of UK reports "US may pay for Libya to dismantle weapons." Congressman Curt Weldon said "We would be interested in a similar program in Libya (as the US funding of ‘threat reduction’ in USSR), with American dollars to help you dismantle your weapons program."

2004 - Feb 10, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi met with Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi, and the United States said it had restored diplomatic contacts with the country. In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair held talks with the Libyan foreign minister.
(AP, 2/10/04)

2004- February 23 – Assemblymen John C. Gibson and Jeff Van Drew introduce AR – resolution No. 91 – Permanently establishing September 4th as Richard Somers Day in the State of New Jersey and AR No. 121 – requesting the federal government negotiate with Libya for the repatriation of Richard Somers and the crew of the USS Intrepid.

2004 - Feb 26, The US lifted a long-standing ban on travel to Libya after Moammar Gadhafi's government affirmed that it was responsible for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988. (AP, 2/26/04)

2004 - Mar 5, Libya acknowledged stockpiling 44,000 pounds of mustard gas and disclosed the location of a production plant in a declaration submitted to the world's chemical weapons watchdog. (AP, 3/5/04)

2004 – March 6 – Sudarsan, (of Krafricabureau) reporting on Weldon’s trip to Libya for Philadelphia Inquirer, visits the cemetery but reports via email "the Libyans wouldn’t let me take a picture. I’m trying to change their minds." Sudarsan never heard from again.

2004 – March 14 – Press of AC reports: "Libya cannot locate Richard Somers Grave."

2004 - Mar 25, British PM Tony Blair and Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi greeted each other with smiles and handshakes in a meeting that marked a major step back into the international mainstream for the North African state. (AP, 3/25/04)

2004 - Apr 18, In Libya Moammar Gadhafi called for the abolition of Libya's three decade-old exceptional courts and other strict laws criticized by human rights groups.
(AP, 4/18/04)

2004 – April 20 – Press of Atlantic City reports: "Fight to bring soldier home/ Richard Somers remains are missing after 200 years."

2004 - Apr 27, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi arrived in Brussels, his first trip to Europe in 15 years. Gadhafi sought "full normalization" of relations and entry to the aid and trade program the EU runs with countries around the Mediterranean, including Israel.
(AP, 4/27/04)

2004 - May 6, A Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death on charges they intentionally infected some 393 children with the AIDS virus as part of an experiment to find a cure. 9 Libyan health workers were acquitted. Under Libyan law, death sentences generate an automatic 60-day period for appeal.
(AP, 5/6/04)(SSFC, 6/6/04, E3)

2004 - May 13, Libya agreed to halt military trade with North Korea, Syria and Iran. (WSJ, 5/14/04, p.A1)

2004 - May 28, Malaysia issued a detention order for Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, a Sri Lankan businessman, on charges that in 2002 he brought 7 Libyan technicians to Malaysia to be trained to operate machines to produce centrifuge parts for Libya’s nuclear weapons program. Tahir was a key associate of Abdul Qadeer Khan, former head of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. (WSJ, 6/4/04, p.A10)

2004 - Jun 16, Libyan Arab Airline announced plans to spend a billion dollars over the next decade to buy 22 new aircraft, ranging from 14-seaters to jets with a capacity of 350 seats. (AP, 6/16/04)

2004 - Jun 28, America resumed direct diplomatic ties with Libya after a 24-year break. (USAT, 6/29/04, p.12A)(AP, 6/28/05)

2004 – June – Libya frees 28 detainees.

2004 – June 23 – Press of AC : "Bill Urges Return of Somers Body."

2004 - Jul 4, It was reported that Libya's state-owned Tam Oil Co has bought the Niger unit of US oil major ExxonMobil Corp, in the first such deal following an end to US sanctions on Tripoli. (AP, 7/4/04)

2004 – July 29 – The Sentinel – "Gone, but not forgotten – Community, New Jersey work to bring home remains of Master Somers after two centuries.

2004 - Jul 30, Abdurahman Alamoudi pleaded guilty in a Virginia court to moving cash from Libya and involvement in a plot to assassinate Saudi Prince Abdullah. (SFC, 7/31/04, p.A3)

2004 - Aug 10, Libya agreed to pay $35 million to the non-US victims of the 1986 Berlin disco bombing. Libya's Kadhafi Foundation, which negotiated the terms of a compensation deal for victims of the bombing, demanded compensation from the United States for subsequent air strikes against the north African country. (AP, 8/10/04)(WSJ, 8/11/04, p.A1)

2004 - Sep 3, Libya signed an agreement to pay a total of $35 million US in compensation for 168 non-U.S. victims of a 1986 Berlin disco bombing. (AP, 9/3/04)

2004 – September – Somers Point Mayor Dan Reilly and members of the Somers family (See: Dean Somers) send letters to the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations [El Fatah Towers, 5th Floor No. 57, P.O. Box 1101, Tripoli, Libya ]. "As the Mayor of Somers Point, New Jersey, I send you greetings from the United States. Our small city has two centuries of common history with Libya – a son of our founding family was buried on the shores of Tripoli in September 1804. Richard Somers and twelve of his US Navy shipmates died in a naval battle and still lie buried in Tripoli today, near the old castle fort and Old Protestant Cemetery."

2004 - September 9 - Paul V. Kelly, Asst. Sec. Legislative Affairs DOS wrote to Rep. Frank LoBiondo, "We have been in contact with members of that DoD mission (DoDPOW/MP) to discuss Captain Somers’ case and have been advised that the next step is to bring DoD intot he process. Ken Terry is the point of contact at the Department of Navy…Mayor Dan Reilly should contact Mr. Terry directly to pursue a discussion on repatriation of Captain Somers’ remains."

2004 - Sep 19, President George W. Bush has decided to lift sanctions against Libya, which he expects to trigger release of more than $1 billion US to families of Pan Am 103 victims. (AP, 9/20/04)

2004 - Sep 22, The European Union agreed in principle to lift an arms embargo on Libya after pressure from Italy. (AP, 9/22/04)

2004 - Oct 10, Libyan officials said police have arrested 17 non-Libyans suspected of being al-Qaida members who entered this North African country illegally. (AP, 10/11/04)

2004 - Oct 11, The European Union ended 11 years of sanctions against Libya and eased an arms embargo to reward the North African country for giving up plans to develop weapons of mass destruction. (AP, 10/11/04)

2004 - Oct 14, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder arrived in Libya for an official visit during which he is to hold talks with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi. (AP, 10/14/04)

2004 - Oct 15, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi clashed over Iraq during their first-ever meeting in Tripoli while German business leaders touted for business in the oil-rich former pariah state. Schroeder praised the reforms of Muammar Gaddafi and invited the Libyan leader to visit Germany.
(AP, 10/15/04)(Reuters, 10/15/04)

2004 - Nov 1, Libya’s PM Shukri Ghanemsaid he intends to abolish some five billion dollars worth of subsidies on electricity, fuel and basic food items in a move to liberalize the economy. (AFP, 11/1/04)

2004 - Nov 24, President Jacques Chirac arrived in Libya in the first ever visit by a French head of state. (AP, 11/24/04)

2004 - Nov 25, French President Jacques Chirac set aside years of acrimony over the bombing of a French passenger jet in the 1980s and declared a "new chapter" in relations with Libya. (AP 11/25/04)

2004 - Dec 7, Libya listed three conditions under which it is prepared to drop charges against five Bulgarian nurses condemned to death on suspect charges of spreading AIDS.. (AFP 12/8/04)

2004 - Dec 8, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of leader Moammar Gadhafi, said Libya will soon pass new laws that limit capital punishment to a small number of crimes. (SFC, 12/9/04, p.A3)

2004 - Dec 14, PM Shukri Ghanem said Libya is planning to open up its banking sector to Arab investors and is to privatize two major government banks. (AP, 12/14/04)

2004 - Dec 15, Libya said its Central Bank has withdrawn $1 billion of assets which had been frozen for almost two decades in the United States on Washington's orders. (Reuters, 12/15/04)

2004 - Dec 19, Canada’s PM Paul Martin met Moammar Gadhafi, the latest in a string of world leaders to visit Tripoli following the Libyan strongman's renunciation of terrorism. Martin said Canadian construction company SNC-Lavalin has won a $1 billion contract to help build a major water distribution system in Libya. (AP, 12/19/04)(Reuters, 12/19/04)

2004 - Dec 22, Saudi Arabia announced it was withdrawing its ambassador to Libya and ordered out Libya's envoy in response to reports that Tripoli plotted to assassinate the Saudi crown prince. (AP, 12/22/04)

2005 - Jan 4, Polish PM Marek Belka arrived in Tripoli for a two-day visit that will include talks on cooperation in the oil sector and a meeting with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi. (AFP, 1/5/05)

2005 - Jan 29, Libya granted its first oil exploration licenses in over four decades, awarding 15 permits to foreign companies, with US companies taking the lion's share. PM Shukri Ghanem said Libya has opted for a policy of open communication with total transparence." (AP, 1/29/05)

2005 – January – Somers Point officials send letter to Congressman LoBiondo, cc Sec. Navy Gordon R. England; Navy Historical Center.

2005 - January - Ambassador Profile – Director Ali Suleiman Aujali – Libya Shedding Its Pariah Status – Interview with Larry Luxner in The Washington Diplomat.

2005 - Feb 8, Officials said Italian real estate services company Norman 95 has won a 300-million-euro (384-million-dollar) contract to develop a luxury holiday resort on the Libyan coast. (AFP, 2/8/05)

2005 - Feb 11, The US State Department said Libyan diplomats can travel freely in the US. (AP, 2/11/05)

2005 - Feb 18, Libya refused to extend the deadline of the Lockerbie compensation deal in a possible bid to pressure Washington to drop it from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. (AP, 2/19/05)

2005 - Feb 19, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and Egyptian Pres. Hosni Mubarak backed an African solution to the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region during 2 rounds of talks in Cairo. (AFP, 2/19/05)

2005 – February – Michael Caputo begins private, independent negotiations with the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Associations.

2005 - Mar 3, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi issued a call for economic liberalization in the North African state. (AP, 3/3/05)

2005 - May 17, Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki met with Sudan Pres. Omar al-Beshir in Tripoli, Libya. Beshir demanded that Eritrea refrain from harboring armed Sudanese opposition and stops offering assistance to that opposition. (AP, 5/17/05)

2005 - May 21, In Libya reporter Daif al-Ghazal (32) was taken from the northern city of Benghazi by armed men and taken to an unknown location. His body was found a week later. (AP, 6/5/05)

2005 - May 23, Morocco's king pulled out of the first North African summit in more than a decade, over Algeria's latest comments in a long-running dispute over independence for Western Sahara. Moroccan King Mohammed VI will be represented at the two-day summit in Tripoli, Libya, by Morocco's foreign minister, Mohamed Benaissa. (AP, 5/23/05)

2005 - May 28, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov flew Tripoli to meet with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, days before a Libyan court rules on the appeal of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death over an AIDS-tainted blood scandal. (Reuters, 5/27/05)

2005 - Jun 7 - A Libyan court acquitted 9 police officers and a doctor accused of torturing six foreign medics sentenced to death for allegedly infecting children with HIV.
(AP, 6/8/05)

2005 - Jul 4, In Libya Moammar Gadhafi called on African nations to stop "begging" during the opening of an African summit attended by more than 50 leaders from this crisis-wracked continent. African Union (AU) chairman Olusegun Obasanjo called on rich nations to provide "massive" financial help rather than sympathy in its fight against poverty at their summit in Scotland this week. UN Sec-Gen. Kofi Annan announced the creation of a fund to promote democratic institutions and practices around the world, an idea first proposed by the Pres. Bush in Sep 2004. (AP, 7/4/05)(AP, 7/5/05)

2005 - July 6 - David Talley, American Embassy Riyadh, reports from Tripoli: "I found your website as I was researching the cemetery of the five American sailors in Tripoli. I am currently in Tripoli and have visited the site of the cemetery and am going back this Friday with a team to clean it up. I will post photos and email them to you…" [See: Photos of American cemetery in Tripoli].

2005 - Aug 17, Libya called on the Bulgarian government to negotiate a payment to win amnesty for five Bulgarian medics and a Palestinian sentenced to death for allegedly infecting 400 children with the AIDS virus. (AP, 8/18/05)

2005 - Aug 20, Libya will free 131 political prisoners, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood, said Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who heads a foundation dedicated to improving the country's image. (AP, 8/21/05)

2005 - Sep 1, Libyan authorities pardoned 1,675 Libyan and foreign prisoners serving time for minor crimes to mark the 36th anniversary of the revolution, which brought Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to power. (AP, 9/3/05)

2005- September 4 – Attorney Seth Grossman organizes an assembly at the grounds of the Atlantic County Historical Society (ACHS), where the consensus is the location where Somers remains should be reburied once returned.

2005 - Sep 17, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Libya the US was committed to closer relations with its former enemy, which promised to work harder to fight terrorism. (AP, 9/17/05)

2005 - Sep 28, President George W. Bush waived some defense export restrictions on Libya to allow U.S. companies to participate in destroying Tripoli's chemical weapons and to refurbish eight transport planes. (Reuters, 9/28/05)

2005 – September 20 – SP Mayor Dan Reilly writes letter to Gaddafi IFCA.

2005 – September 27 – Dean Somers writes to Gadaffi IFCA.

2005 - Oct 2, Libya awarded 44 oil exploration permits to predominantly Asian and European companies after a first batch was awarded earlier this year mainly to American firms. (AFP, 10/3/05)

2005 - Oct 2, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates met Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi in Tripoli, as Libya continues its bid to warm relations with the West. (AP, 10/2/05)

2005 - Oct 17, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgam rejected a call by US President George W. Bush for Tripoli to spare the lives of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the AIDS virus.
(AP, 10/17/05)

2005 – October – Michael Caputo uses letters from Reilly and Somers to begin backchannel negotiations with Libyans. He obtains $100,000 from an individual backer and hires a Libyan lawyer as a lobbyist and begins negotiations with Quadafi’s son and Charity Foundation.

2005 - December 9 - DOD POW/MP office identifies remains from 1968 Laos.

2005 - Dec 23, Bulgaria and Libya agreed to set up a special fund for AIDS-infected children in Libya, where five Bulgarian nurses face the death penalty after being convicted of causing the infections. (AP, 12/23/05)

2005 - Dec 25, Libya's Supreme Court scrapped death sentences against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor and ordered a retrial of the cases which have harmed Tripoli's efforts to build ties with the West. (Reuters, 12/25/05)

2005 – December 29 – Three U.S. oil companies say they will end a 19-year absence in Libya and pay $1.8 billion to resume oil production. (AP)

2006 - Jan 2, More than 130 Libyan political prisoners, mostly members of the banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood group, started a hunger strike in a Tripoli prison, saying the government broke its promise to release them. (AP, 1/3/06)

2006 – January 15 – Pierre Welch, Global Real Estate Advisor, USDS, sends photo of the park gravesite.

2006 – January – Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, Hawaii expresses interest.

2006 – January – Caputo says that Libyans excavated sections of park gravesite and found bones and buttons in mass grave.

2006 – January 18 – M. Caputo writes to Kelly re: contacts with LoBiondo and DOD.

.

2006 - Jan 21, The families of 426 HIV-infected Libyan children asked for $12 million in compensation for each child as part of efforts to resolve the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor charged with intentionally infecting the children. (AP, 1/22/06)

2006 - Jan 27, Libya said it is heading toward allowing private newspapers, radio and television news in what has been a state-controlled media environment for more than 30 years. (AFP, 1/27/06)

2006 – February 18 – 10 die in Libya demonstrations against Italy for caricature t-shirts.

2006 - Feb 18, Libya suspended Nasr al-Mabrouk, its interior minister, citing an "excessive use of force" in riots the day before that left at least 10 people dead in the bloodiest protest yet against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons roiling the Muslim world.
(AFP, 2/18/06)

2006 - Feb 18, Italy's Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli resigned following deadly clashes in Libya over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that he had made into T-shirts and wore on state television. (AP, 2/18/06)

2006 - Mar 2, Libya released all 84 jailed members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement who had been held since the late 1990s. (AFP, 3/2/06)

2006 - Mar 5, State TV said Libya had named a new prime minister, Baghdadi Mahmudi, as part of a major cabinet reshuffle. Mahmudi replaced former premier Shukri Ghanem, who had held the post since 2003. Ghanem would no longer be part of the cabinet but would head the state-owned Libya National Oil. (AFP, 3/5/06)

2006 - Mar 20, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi said Saddam Hussein should still be considered Iraq's legal president and the current government illegitimate as it was elected under an occupation regime.(AFP, 3/20/06)

2006 - Mar 21, A Kadhafi Foundation official said Libya is to return properties confiscated in the mid-1970s and pay compensation to their former owners, under a cabinet decree. (AFP, 3/21/06)

2006 - Apr 15, In Libya US singer Lionel Richie jived and rocked for an adoring audience in a concert to mark the 20th anniversary of a US raid on the North African country. Libya renewed a demand that Washington apologize and pay compensation.
(AP, 4/15/06)(Reuters, 4/16/06)

2006 – Larry Greer of the DOD POW/MP office in DC says, "In regards to Lt. Somers and the burial of his remains and others in Libya, we’ve also got word of that rumor that the Libyans had disinterred (the graves) – from an-on-the-scene look at the cemetery from a person who is in the US interests section, or US embassy, whatever it’s called, they say, not true. In any event, the issue of whether or not Lt. Somers’ remains will be moved, now or in the future, is a Navy issue, and the Navy has told us last time we went around on this, the Navy has told us they are NOT in any way interested in moving the remains. It’s not a POW/MP issue, because these men are not missing. But whatever happens to the remains of those men is entirely in the hands of the Navy…"

2006 - May 10, Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian made a surprise visit to Libya, after he turned down an offer to make a refueling stop in Alaska in an apparent sign of diplomatic pique. (AP, 5/10/06)

2006 – May 13 – David A. Winters, ExVP Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund offers assistance in Repatriation of original Intrepid crew from Libya, possible venue for official repatriation ceremony.

2006 – May 15 – U.S. to Renew Diplomatic Relations with Libya – AP George Gedda

2006 – May 16 – Article by Judith Miller, NYT "How Ghadafi Lost His Grove – The Complex Surrender of Libya’s WMD."

2006 - May 17, In Libya Venezuela's anti-American president was given a warm welcome in Tripoli by Col. Moammar Gadhafi. Chavez and Gadhafi planned to discuss "social programs based on oil revenues." (AP, 5/17/06)

2006 – May 21 – Libyan journalist Daif al Ghazhl kidnapped from car in Tripoli.

2006 – June 1 – "BBC China, CIA, MI6" Article by Dr. Ludwing DeBracckeleer published.

2006 – June 2 – Body of Libyan journalist Daif al Ghazhl found tortured and murdered.

2006 - Jul 11, State Department official Paula Dobriansky held talks with Libyan PM Baghdadi Mahmudi and announced that the US has lifted sanctions on Libyan air transport. (AFP, 7/12/06)

2006 - Jul 15, US Middle East envoy David Welch flew into Tripoli for talks with Libyan officials on strengthening economic and financial ties between the two countries. (AFP, 7/16/06)

2006 – August – Tuesday – Press of Atlantic City reports on City Council balking at backing Seth Grossman’s Richard Somers Day event. Sally Hastings of SPHS saves the day.

2006 – September 2 – Saturday – Press of Atlantic City reports on backchannel negotiations [see: Group confident 1804 naval hero will be brought home By Michael Clark].

2006- September 4 – Attorney Seth Grossman organizes an assembly at the grounds of Somers Mansion, where people gather to commemorate Richard Somers and ensure that the anniversary is acknowledged with a civic ceremony.

2006 - Sep 14, Libya's population grew by 1.8% per year to 5.3 million in 2006 from 1995. A rare government census showed that Libya had also cut its illiteracy rate to 11.9% from 19% a decade ago. (Reuters, 9/14/06)

2006 – September 22 – Mohamed Eljahmi – A Libyan democracy activist in Boston writes op-ed: "Engaging Gadhafi hurts war on terror – By making the tyrant a test for nuclear diplomacy, the White House abandoned Libyan democrats."

2006 – September 24 – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets privately with her Libyan counterpart, Foreign Minister Abdurahman Shalgam in New York, emphasizing "what the United States sees as a need to resolve outstanding legal issues related to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103."

2006 – October 6 – Libya issues oil contracts.

2006 - Oct 10- Government of Libya reached an agreement with One Laptop per Child, an American nonprofit group, to provide inexpensive laptop computers to all of its schoolchildren. The $250 million deal would provide the nation with 1.2 million computers, a server in each school, a team of technical advisers, satellite internet service and other infrastructure. (AP, 10/11/06)

2006 - Oct 16, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi held talks on how to resolve the Darfur crisis in Sudan without intervention from outside Africa. (AFP, 10/16/06)

2006 - Oct 29, Libya took delivery of a Boeing jetliner for the first time in 30 years after the privately owned Buraq Air airline bought six of the US-made aircraft.(AFP, 10/28/06)

2006 - Nov 5, In Libya Idrees Mohammed Boufayed (49), a vocal critic of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's regime, was detained after being summoned to the internal security agency. The doctor, who had lived in Switzerland for 16 years, returned from exile in September to develop the National Union for Reform opposition party he founded 18 months ago. (AFP, 12/4/06)

2006 - Nov 15, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi received assurances from German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier that Berlin would work to bolster ties with Tripoli when it assumes the EU presidency next year. (AFP, 11/15/06)

2006 - Nov 21, Arab and African leaders in Libya agreed to work together to end the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. (AP, 11/22/06)

2006 - Dec 11, The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it has granted the US and Russia a five-year extension to the 2007 deadline for destroying their chemical weapon stockpiles. The Chemicals Weapons Convention which went into effect in April 1997. Extensions were also granted to India and Libya as well as one country that requested anonymity. (AP, 12/11/06)

2006 - Dec 19, A court convicted five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor of deliberately infecting 400 children with HIV and sentenced them to death, despite scientific evidence the youngsters had the virus before the medical workers came to Libya. The verdict, which will be automatically referred to Libya's Supreme Court, drew quick condemnation from European nations. (AP, 12/19/06)

2006 - Dec 24, Chad's president and the leader of a rebel faction that tried to oust him earlier this year signed a peace accord in Libya, but other Chadian insurgents dismissed the deal and vowed to fight on.. (Reuters, 12/24/06)

2007 - Jan 25, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi chaired a meeting of African presidents and other top officials to prepare for an African Union summit as conflicts rage on the continent. (AP, 1/25/07)

2007 - Jan 29, Libya will not execute five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death last month, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said in a newspaper interview, calling their trial "unfair." (AP, 1/29/07)

2007 - Feb 2, Abdoulaye Miskine, the head of one of the Central African Republic's main rebel groups, inked in Libya a peace deal described as "historic" by the government. Under the deal, which CAR's other main rebel factions are expected to sign up to, there will be an immediate ceasefire and Miskine's rebels will be integrated into civilian life or absorbed into the army. Rebel prisoners are to be freed. (AFP, 2/3/07)

2007 – July 11 – President Bush appoints Gene Cretz US Ambassador to Libya, subject to approval of Senate. Group of Senators announce they will hold up approval of appointment until Libya concludes its final reparation payment to families of victims of Pan Am 103.

2007 – August 2 – Doctor Recounts Imprisonment in Libya. Palestinian Describes Torture After His Arrest in H.I.V. Case. The New York Times International. By Matthew Brunwasser.

2007 – September – Annual Richard Somers Day memorial service at Somers Mansion, slideshow and dinner at Gregory’s.

2008 – January 1 – Libya assumes rotating Presidency of the UN Security Council.

2008 January 27 - Robert H. Reid (Associated Press) reports from Baghdad that "Son of Libyan leader had hand in violence." Col. Jubair Rashid Naief, a security chief for Sunni tribesmen in Anbar province in Northern Iraq, said Seif al Islam Gadhafi, the eldest son of the Libyan leader, is beind the recent attacks by the Seifaddin Regiment "made up of about 150 foreign fighters and Iraqi fighters who slipped into the country serveral months ago from Syria." [BK - This is highly unlikely since Gadhafi is a mortal enemy of Bin Laden and indicted him years before USA.]

2008 – USS New York, amphibious assault ship, to be launched.

2008? – USS Intrepid aircraft carrier returns to its slip on the Westside Seaport, New York City.

xxxxx

http://www.timelinesdb.com/