From 6/7/1981 to 3/26/2000 is: 6867 days
68 - 67
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdome
The Kingdome was an indoor sports and entertainment arena owned and operated by King County, Washington. The Kingdome received its nickname from King County,[1] and was officially known as the King County Domed Stadium and often called the Dome. Before its destruction it was located at the west end of Seattle's Industrial District, just south of Pioneer Square. The building was completed in 1976 on reclaimed tideflat land formerly occupied by the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway's freight yards. It served as home to the Seattle Mariners baseball team, the Seattle Seahawks American football team, and the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team for several years. The Kingdome was demolished by implosion on March 26, 2000 the implosion was filmed by legendary avant-garde/experimental filmmaker Jon Behrens. The footprint is now occupied by Qwest Field.
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/terror/terror2000_2001.htm
U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation
October 12, 2000
BOMBING OF USS COLE, ADEN, YEMEN
On October 12, 2000, two suicide pilots of a small bomb-laden boat pulled alongside of the USS Cole at midship, offered friendly gestures to several crew members, and detonated their explosives. The U.S. destroyer, en route to the Persian Gulf, was making a prearranged fuel stop at the port of Aden, Yemen, when the attack occurred. The blast ripped a hole in the side of the USS Cole approximately 40 feet in diameter and killed 17 U.S. Navy personnel. At least 40 other crew members were injured.
Numerous FBI field offices and legal attaches, several hundred FBI agents and support staff, and Joint Terrorism Task Force personnel took part in the investigation into the bombing of the USS Cole. The FBI also established a cooperative working relationship with the Government of Yemen. Investigation revealed that the USS Cole bombing followed an unsuccessful attempt on January 3, 2000, to bomb another U.S. Navy ship, the USS The Sullivans. In this earlier incident, the boat sank before the explosives could be detonated; however, the boat and the explosives were salvaged. The boat was then refitted and the explosives were tested and reused in the USS Cole attack.
http://www.navysite.de/dd/ddg68.htm
USS The Sullivans (DDG 68)
USS THE SULLIVANS is the second ship in the Navy named after the five Sullivan brothers.
Homeported in Mayport, Fla., she is part of the Atlantic Fleet.According to the German news magazine "Der Spiegel", in January 2000, 10 months before the attack on USS COLE (DDG 67) in Aden, USS THE SULLIVANS was the target of a failed terrorist attack in the harbor of Aden, Yemen.
Commissioned: April 19, 1997
http://www.navysite.de/dd/ddg67.htm
USS Cole (DDG 67)
USS COLE is the 17th ARLEIGH BURKE class guided missile destroyer and the eighth ship of that class built by Ingalls.
Commissioned: June 8, 1996
From 6/7/1981 to 3/26/2000 (Kingdome implosion) is: 6867 days
68 - 67
Attempted attack on DDG-68 on 1/3/2000.
DDG-67 was attacked on 10/12/2000.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Opera
Operation Opera (also known as Operation Babylon and Operation Ofra) was an Israeli air strike against the Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor (French: Osirak; Iraqi: Tammuz 1) in 1981.
In the late 1970s, Iraq purchased an "Osiris class" nuclear reactor from France. Israeli military intelligence assumed this was for the purpose of plutonium production to further an Iraqi nuclear weapons program. Israeli intelligence also believed that the summer of 1981 would be the last chance to destroy the reactor without exposing the Iraqi civilian population to nuclear fallout. After that point, the reactor would be loaded with nuclear fuel.
On June 7, 1981, a squadron of Israeli F-16A fighter aircraft, with an escort of F-15As, bombed and heavily damaged the Osirak reactor.
Colonel Ilan Ramon (later killed in the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003) describes the flight:
"We fly deep within Iraq, it is all desert around us while we pass another marking point on our route. I try to concentrate on flying my F-16, but from time to time I think about the target we are about to attack, and the responsibility we've got. It's the first time in my life that I really feel responsible for the destiny of a whole nation. The view changes — a blue river in the middle of the desert. We have been here 2500 years ago… I see buildings and a deserted airfield.
Somebody calls over the radio, 'Watch out for AAA fire!', and the sky gets filled with flashes of exploding rounds. I light the afterburner and pull up. Just in front of my eyes I see the earth ramparts and behind it — you can't miss — the silver dome of the reactor…"[citation needed]
" 'Eshkol 8' sounds the radio, 'Everybody Charlie!' — Charlie was the code name meaning all pilots have dropped their bombs."[citation needed]
"It was amazing — I managed to see how the bombs of the pilots in front of me hit the target and the dome collapsed into the structure! The hits were excellent, and now we fly at high altitude back to our base. I hope they didn't start a chase, to run us out of fuel…"[citation needed]
"We cross the Arava and we are back in Israel. The IAF commander calls on the radio, and says: 'All you have to do now is land'… "
