0197 - Lucius Septimius Severus' army beats Clodius Albinus at Lyon
0356 - Emperor Constantius II shuts all heathen temples
0607 - Boniface III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1512 - French troops under Gaston de Foix occupy Brescia
1539 - Jews of Tyrnau Hungary (then Trnava Czechoslovakia), expelled
1574 - Spanish troops plunder Krommenie, Wormerveer & Jisp Netherlands
1582 - Francis of Valois becomes Duke of Brabant
1634 - Battle at Smolensk -- Polish king Wladyslaw IV beats Russians
1674 - Netherlands & England sign Peace of Westminster (NYC becomes English)
1797 - 1/3 of papal domain ceded to France
1803 - Congress accepts Ohio's constitution, statehood not ratified till 1953
1807 - British squadron under Admiral Duckworth forces passage of Dardanelles; Vice President Aaron Burr arrested in Alabama for treason; later found innocent
1831 - 1st practical US coal-burning locomotive makes 1st trial run, Pennsylvania
1846 - Texas state government formally installed in Austin
1856 - Tin-type camera patented by Hamilton Smith, Gambier, OH
1859 - Dan Sickles is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity -- 1st time this defense is successfully used
1861 - Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom
1864 - Knights of Pythias form 1st lodge in Washington DC (12 members)
1869 - US Assay Office in Boise, ID authorized
1878 - Thomas Alva Edison patents the gramophone (phonograph)
1881 - Kansas becomes 1st state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages
1884 - Tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky & Indiana kill 800 people
1900 - British troops occupy Hlangwane, Natal
1906 - W.K. Kellogg & Charles D. Bolin incorporate the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, in Battle Creek, MI
1913 - 1st prize inserted into a Cracker Jack box; Mexican General V Huerta takes power with US support
1915 - British fleet fires on Dardanellen coast
1919 - Pan-African Congress, organized by W.E.B. Du Bois (Paris)
1920 - Netherlands joins League of Nations
1922 - Ed Wynn becomes 1st talent to sign as a radio entertainer
1927 - General strike against British occupiers in Shanghai
1928 - 2nd Winter Olympics games close at St. Moritz, Switzerland
1929 - Medical diathermy machine 1st used, Schenectady NY
1933 - Prussian minister Göring bans all Catholic newspapers
1934 - US contract air mail service canceled, replaced by US Army for 6 months
1936 - Manuel Azaña becomes Spanish premier
1938 - Soviet arctic ice research station North Pole 1 evacuated
1941 - Nazis raid Koco Amsterdam & round up 429 young Jews for deportation
1942 - FDR orders detention & internment of all west-coast Japanese-Americans; New York Yankees announce 5,000 uniformed soldiers will be admitted free at each of their upcoming home games; About 150 Japanese warplanes attacked the Australian city of Darwin; Japanese troops land on Timor
1943 - German tanks under Brigadier General Buelowius attack Kasserine Pass, Tunesia
1944 - 823 British bombers attack Berlin; U-264 sinks off Ireland
1945 - 900 Japanese soldiers reportedly killed by crocodiles in 2 days; US 5th Fleet (30,000 US Marines) launches invasion of Iwo Jima against the Japanese
1949 - Mass arrests of communists in India
1952 - French offensive at Hanoi
1953 - Georgia approves US 1st literature censorship board; Ted Williams safely crash-lands his damaged Panther jet
1955 - South East Asia Collective Defense Treaty goes into effect
1959 - Gabon adopts its constitution; USAF rocket-powered rail sled attains Mach 4.1 (4970 kph), New Mexico; Britain, Turkey & Greece sign agreement granting Cyprus independence
1960 - Bil Keane's "Family Circus" cartoon strip debuts
1961 - Albania disavows Chinese "Revisionism"
1963 - USSR informs JFK it's withdrawing several thousand troops from Cuba
1969 - 1st Test flight of Boeing 747 jumbo jet
1970 - USSR launches Sputnik 52 & Molniya 1-13 communications satellite
1976 - Frente Polisario forms Democratic Republic of Sahara
1977 - Shuttle Enterprise makes 1st test flight atop a 747 jetliner
1980 - Eric Heiden skates Olympics record 1000 meter in 1 15.18
1981 - George Harrison is ordered to pay ABKCO Music $587,000 for "subconscious plagiarism" "My Sweet Lord" with "He's So Fine"
1982 - Hanneke Jelgersma (Jagersma?) installed as Netherlands' 1st Communist mayor
1984 - 1st brother combo to win Gold & Silver in same event at the Olympics (Phil & Steve Mahre-Slalom); 14th winter Olympics games close at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
1985 - 150 killed when a Spanish jetliner crashed approaching Bilbao, Spain; Canned & bottled Cherry Coke introduced by Coca-Cola; Mickey Mouse welcomed in China
1986 - US Senate ratifies UN's anti-genocide convention, 37 years later; USSR launches Mir space station into Earth orbit; Jordanian King Hussein severs ties with PLO
1987 - Minnesota sheriff office arrest FBI most wanted, Thomas G. Harrelson; Reagan lifts trade boycott against Poland
1990 - Police kill 8 demonstrators for multi party system in Nepal; Soyuz TM-9 lands
1997 - FCC makes available 311 for non-emergency calls & 711 for hearing or speech-impaired emergency calls
1998 - Soyuz TM-26 lands; US hockey team destroys their rooms at Olympics village in Japan

Birthdays
0003 - Sadiq Hidajat, Persian writer (Blind Person Owl)
1473 - Nicolaus Copernicus Torún, astronomer (heliocentrism)
1588 - Pieter de Carpentier, Flemish Governor-General of Dutch East-Indies
1611 - Andries de Graeff, mayor of Amsterdam (1657-71)
1683 - King Philip V of Spain (1700-24, 24-46)
1755 - Pieter G. van Overstraten Governor-General of Netherlands-Indies
1817 - Willem III, last male King of Netherlands (1849-90)
1821 - Francis Preston Blair, Jr., (Representative-Missouri)
1827 - Charles Robert Woods, Union Brevet Major General
1859 - Svante August Arhenius, Swedish physicist/chemist (Nobel 1903)
1863 - Augusto Bernardino Leguía y Salcedo, President of Perú (1908, 1919)
1916 - Eddie Arcaro, jockey (1958 Racing Hall of Fame, 2 triple crowns)
1932 - Joseph P. Kerwin, Captain, Med Corps, USN/astronaut (Skylab 2)
1942 - Kenneth R. Kramer (Representative-CO)
1943 - "Mama" Cass Elliot, singer (Mamas & Papas-Monday Monday)
1948 - Byron K. Lichtenburg, astronaut (STS 9, STS 45)
1952 - Rudolfo Neri-Vela, PhD/astronaut (STS 23)
1956 - George David Low, astronaut (STS 32, STS 43)
1960 - Prince Andrew Albert Christian Edward, of Britain/Duke of York
1989 - Baby orangutan at Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle WA

Passings
0197 - D. Clodius Septimus Albinus, Roman bequest in England, dies in battle
1260 - Boniface of Lausanne, Belgian bishop/saint, dies
1401 - William Sawtree, 1st English religious martyr, burned in London
1414 - Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury/chancellor of England, dies
1864 - William Edwin Baldwin, US Confederate Brigadier-General
1965 - Gheorge Gheorghiu Dej, Romanian President , dies at 63
1967 - Wilmer King, 1st casuality on Tappan Zee Bridge in New York
1970 - Ralph Edward Flanders (Senator-VT), dies at 89
1986 - James O. Eastland (Senator-MS), dies at 81
1993 - Gerhard Gesell, judge (Pentagon Papers), dies of liver cancer at 82
1994 - Georges Watin, Algerian/French officer (OAS), dies at 71
1996 - Grant Sawyer, US politician, dies at 76
1997 - Deng Xiaoping head of the Chinese Communist Party, dies at 92

Reported Missing in Action
1968
The following US Army and US Army SF personnel reported MIA when their UH1H was shot down:
Dye, Melvin C. (MI); engineer

Glover, Douglas J., SF (NY); passenger

Griffith, Robert S., (GA); door gunner

Also reported MIA this day in 1968:
Uplinger, Barton John, USMC (CA); CH53A shot down - remains returned February, 1968

1969
Sweeney, Jon M., USMC; released in Hanoi August, 1970

1971
Hull, James Larry, USAF (TX); O2A shot down, KIA, body not recovered

Military Confirms 10 Dead in African Chopper Crash
Sunday, February 19, 2006

NAIROBI, Kenya — The U.S. military says 10 U.S. troops died in a helicopter crash last week off the coast of Djibouti.

Two people survived the accident involving two helicopters. Officials have not said what caused the crash, which occurred during a nighttime training mission.

Full Story - from Fox News

Our hearts are with the families, friends, and comrades of these fallen heroes.

by Petty Officer 2nd Class Katrina Beeler
February 17, 2006
Staff Sgt. James Dettloff, from the 4th Infantry Division, hands out a humanitarian aid bag to an Iraqi pilgrim, who is traveling from Haswah to the Muslim holy city of Karbala.

Wounded Soldier, Widow Awarded $102.6 million
Sunday, February 19, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY — A soldier wounded in Afghanistan and the widow of his slain comrade were awarded a $102.6 million judgment from the estate of a suspected Al Qaeda financier.

U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell said the lawsuit may be the first filed by an American soldier against terrorists under the Patriot Act.

But Sgt. Layne Morris, of West Jordan, and the family of medic Christopher Speer, could have a difficult time collecting their award, because the assets of the suspected financier are unknown.

Other soldiers have difficulty identifying their attackers, making it difficult to hold individuals responsible...

Read the rest at Fox News

USS ANNAPOLIS — Crew members remove a shore power cable from the Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Annapolis in preparations to depart the pier following a routine port visit to Souda Bay, Crete, Greece, Feb. 16, 2006. The Annapolis is on a regularly scheduled deployment in support of the global war on terrorism. U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley

Weather
Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Gitmo