http://www.historycentral.com/20th/1993.html Sports NBA: Chicago Bulls vs. Phoenix Suns Series: 4-2 NCAA Football: Florida State Record: 12-1-0 Heisman Trophy: Charlie Ward, florida state, QB points: 2,310 Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens vs. Los Angeles Kings Series: 4-1 Super Bowl XXVII: Dallas Cowboys vs. Buffalo Bills Score: 52-17 World Series: Toronto Blue Jays vs. Philadelphia Phillies Series: 4-2 Popular Music 1. "A Whole New World" ... Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle 2. "Informer" ... Snow 3. "Freak Me" ... Silk 4. "That's the Way Love Goes" ... Janet Jackson 5. "Weak" ... SWV 6. "Can't Help Falling in Love" ... UB40 7. "Dreamlover" ... Mariah Carey 8. "I'd Do Anything for Love" ... Meat Loaf 9. "Again" ... Janet Jackson 10. "Hero" ... Mariah Carey Popular Movies 1. Jurassic Park 2. The Fugitive 3. The Firm 4. Sleepless in Seattle 5. Aladdin 6. Mrs. Doubtfire 7. Indecent Proposal 8. In the Line of Fire 9. Cliffhanger 10. A Few Good Men Most Popular Books Fiction 1."The Bridges of Madison County" ... Robert James Waller 2."The Client" ... John Grisham 3."Slow Waltz at Cedar Bend" ... Robert James Waller 4."Without Remorse" ... Tom Clancey 5."Nightmares and Dreamscapes" ... Stephen King 6."Vanished" ... Danielle Steel 7."Lasher" ... Anne Rice 8."Pleading Guilty" ... Scott Turow 9."Like Water for Chocolate" ... Laura Esquivel 10."The Scorpio Illusion" ... Robert Ludlum •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Nonfiction 1."See I Told You" ... Rush Limbaugh 2."Private Parts" ... Howard Stern 3."Seinlanguage" ... Jerry Seinfeld 4."Embraced by the Light" ... Betty J. Eddie with Curtis Taylor 5."Ageless Body, Timeless Mind" ... Deepak Chopra 6."Stop the Insanity" ... Susan Powter 7."Women Who Run With the Wolves" ... Clarissa Pinkola 8."Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" ... John Gray 9."The Hidden Life of Dogs" ... Elizabeth Marshall Thomas 10."And If You Play Golf, You're My Friend" ... Harvey Penick with Bud Sharke Most Popular Television Shows 1. 60 Minutes (CBS) 2. Home Improvement (ABC) 3. Seinfeld (NBC) 4. Roseanne (ABC) 5. Grace Under Fire (ABC) 6. Coach (ABC) 7. Frasier (NBC) 8. Monday Night Football (ABC) 9. Murphy Brown (CBS) 10. CBS Sunday Night Movie (CBS) 1993 Terrorists Attack World Trade Center In February, a powerful bomb exploded in the World Trade Center in New York. The explosion killed 7 and injured 1,000. The bombers were fundamental Muslims. http://1990sflashback.com/1993/Economy.asp Album of the Year: Best New Artist: Best Pop Duo or Group: The Bodyguard—Original Soundtrack Album, Whitney Houston Toni Braxton “A Whole New World” (Theme From Aladdin), Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle Best Pop Female Vocal: “I Will Always Love You,” Whitney Houston Best Pop Male Vocal: “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You,” Sting Best Rock Duo or Group: “Livin' on the Edge,” Aerosmith Best Rock Solo: “I'd Do Anything for Love” (But I Won't Do That), Meat Loaf Best Rock Song: “Runaway Train,” Record of the Year: “I Will Always Love You,” Whitney Houston Song of the Year: “A Whole New World” (Theme From Aladdin Top Albums Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz (CD) Get a Grip - Aerosmith (CD) Janet- Janet Jackson (CD) Music Box - Mariah Carey (CD) Plush - Stone Temple Pilots (CD) Ten - Pearl Jam Billboard Top 10 (Buy CD) 1. Rhythm Is A Dancer - Snap! 2. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers 3. Bad Boys (from "Cops") - Inner Circle 4. Ditty - Paperboy 5. All That She Wants - Ace Of Base 6. Mr. Wendel - Arrested Development 7. Ordinary World - Duran Duran 8. Informer - Snow 9. Show Me Love - Robin S 10. Whoomp! (There It Is) - Tag Team Academy Awards Best Actor: Tom Hanks: Philadelphia (VHS) (DVD) Best Actress: Holly Hunter: The Piano (VHS) (DVD) Best Director: Steven Spielberg: Schindler's List (VHS) (DVD) Best Picture: Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen, Branko Lustig: Schindler's List (VHS) (DVD) Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones: The Fugitive (VHS) (DVD) Best Supporting Actress: Anna Paquin: The Piano 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ) Home Improvement ) 60 Minutes ) Seinfeld ) Roseanne ) Grace under Fire ) These Friends of Mine ) Frasier ) Coach ) NFL Monday Night Football ) Murder She Wrote ) Murphy Brown ) Thunder Alley ) The CBS Sunday Night Movie ) 20/20 ) Love & War ) Primetime Live ) Wings ) NYPD Blue ) Homicide: Life on the Street ) Northern Exposure (VHS) (DVD) http://www.behindthename.com/top/lists/100us1993.php Popular names #1 jessica and #2 ashley http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/reports/wtc93.htm The February 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City marked the beginning of an ugly new phase of terrorism involving the indiscriminate killing of civilians[1]...The World Trade Center bombing was motivated by the desire to kill as many people as possible. The target of the bomb plot was the World Trade Center (WTC) complex, a sixteen-acre site in lower Manhattan... Although the explosion killed six people and injured more than 1,000 [1,042], the consequences could have been far worse... This chapter largely refutes the claim that the WTC bombing involved the terrorist use of chemical weapons. Nevertheless, substantial evidence indicates that Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind behind the attack, seriously considered employing chemical agents in the WTC bombing and in subsequent attacks. Examining the motivations and behaviors of terrorists who would have used a chemical weapon if it was available, but did not for logistical or financial reasons, may offer important lessons about how to thwart such attacks in the future. The perpetrators of the WTC bombing turned out to be a group of New Jersey men who had been suspected of terrorism for more than two years.[2] Yousef attended a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, where he honed his skills as an explosives expert. He then traveled around the world working as a professional terrorist in the name of Islamic Jihad, although expressions of religious faith or motivation were notably absent from his statements.... The terrorists apparently selected the World Trade Center as a target not because it was a symbol of Western values or the financial power of the United States, but simply because toppling the twin towers would enable them to inflict a large number of casualties... Thus, while the symbolism of the World Trade Center cannot be ignored, it does not fully explain its selection over other buildings or places occupied by large numbers of people. Physical attributes and location appear to have been more important. The imposing profile of the twin towers on the New York skyline lay in clear view from New Jersey, where the bombers assembled their weapon. Mahmud Abouhalima [one of the perpetrators] also picked up many of the fares for his car service right across the street from the WTC... In November 1992, the conspirators started to prepare for an attack on the WTC. It took them more than two months to acquire the chemicals, assemble the sophisticated urea-nitrate bomb, and transport it to the designated target... On February 26, 1993, the terrorists drove a yellow Ford Econoline rental van into the basement of the WTC and set a timer to detonate the 1,500-pound urea-nitrate bomb. The massive blast created a cavernous crater 200 feet by 100 feet wide and seven stories deep in the garage of the World Trade Center... In all, the explosion killed six people, injured more than 1,000 [1,042], and caused nearly $300 million in property damage...[3] With any major calamity, conspiracy theories tend to emerge when key details of the case appear incomplete. A few analysts suggest that Yousef and Ajaj [another of the bombers] were either Iraqi agents or freelance terrorists employed by Iraqi intelligence to exploit Islamic militants residing in the United States, as a means of continuing the Persian Gulf War on American soil...[4] Nevertheless, the theory that the Iraqi government sent Yousef on a mission to avenge the Gulf War relies too much on circumstantial evidence to create a compelling case... As Yousef was being flown from Pakistan to the United States to stand trial, he told Secret Service agent Brian Parr that he would have put sodium cyanide into the WTC bomb if he had had enough money...[5] Instead of state sponsorship, a large body of evidence indicates that the WTC conspirators were “transnational terrorists”—inspired and assisted by several Islamic militant groups operating in the United States and abroad, but not a formal part of any of them... In 1995, investigative journalist Steven Emerson noted that federal investigators had identified links between the WTC bombers and at least five Islamic organizations: the Gama al-Islamiya, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, the Sudanese National Islamic Front, and al-Fuqrah.[6] He observed that these groups work together more closely in diaspora communities outside the Middle East “because they feel they are surrounded by a common enemy: Westerners and their values.”...[7] Several historical forces created a fertile climate for a loose collection of individuals to act out their anti-American feelings, even though they were not a part of a formal terrorist organization. The decade-long struggle in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union created a generation of rebel warriors who were fervently anti-Israel and anti-American. Both Ramzi Yousef and Eyad Ismoil, who drove Yousef in the rental van to the WTC garage, claimed to have had relatives killed during the Persian Gulf War or at the hands of the Israelis.[8] Moreover, the political mood throughout the Middle East immediately after the Gulf War, particularly in the Palestinian community, was strongly anti-American... Osama bin Laden, widely believed to have been the mastermind of the August 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, would seem a natural candidate to support the WTC bombing, but to date none of the government indictments against him indicate a connection to the incident.[9]... Although proof is lacking for the actual use of cyanide in the WTC bomb, much evidence suggests that the conspirators considered lacing the bomb with poison... [S]ources suggest that Yousef was motivated by an inchoate mixture of visceral hatred and personal affirmation, wrapped in a variety of geopolitical rationales. The primary motivation for the WTC bombing was to kill and injure a large number of Americans. Yousef told Agent Parr that he intended for the explosion to cause one tower to fall into the other, inflicting 250,000 civilian casualties.[10] Throughout Yousef’s terrorist career in the mid-1990s, he sought to carry out truly diabolical terrorist acts, all of which he justified by visceral hatred of the United States because of its support for Israel. Another striking feature of Yousef’s motivations is the absence of a religious rationale... Yousef’s declared motivation was not religious but rather an antioccupation crusade aimed against Israel and its main supporter, the United States. In contrast, Ayyad Abouhalima, and Ajaj all expressed religious sentiments during their statements at sentencing but never admitted any connection to the WTC bombing.[11] Their statements were more affirmations of faith than rationales for a terrorist attack. Given that several of the conspirators were followers of Sheikh Omar [Abdul Rahman], Yousef’s lack of religious justification is conspicuous by its absence. He appears to have been a secular terrorist who mobilized others by playing on their religious zeal. At the root of the WTC bombers’ intent to inflict mass casualties was a strong desire to punish, to seek revenge, and to underscore the dignity of Muslims. In the letter claiming responsibility for the bombing, they stated that their “action was done in response for the American political, economical, and military support to Israel, the state of terrorism, and to the rest of the dictator countries in the region.”[12] ... Yousef justified his terrorism as both punishment and revenge. Since the United States never learns, he argued, it must be punished. Yousef equated the U.S. punishment inflicted on Libyan and Iraqi civilians with the punishment he had dispensed: “the United States is applying the system of collective punishment against Iraq and Libya—when either government makes any mistake, the United States punishes the people in their entirety for the government’s mistake. We are reciprocating the treatment.”[13]... In essence, the terrorists argued that to appreciate the tragedy Palestinians had experienced at the hands of the Israelis, innocent Americans had to die. The implication of Yousef’s twisted logic was that as a result of the losses inflicted by terrorism, the American people would come to value Palestinian lives as much as their own and stop supporting Israel. Yousef also justified terrorism against U.S. civilians as revenge for what he perceived as a long history of moral transgressions by the United States... Working with deadly materials with the intent to cripple a global superpower by killing its people fed Yousef’s view of himself as an expert and a genius. The World Trade Center bombers proved that determined terrorists can obtain large quantities of chemicals, mix them into a potent explosive device, and deliver them to a major target, potentially killing or injuring tens of thousands of people... Yousef’s terrorist crusade appears to have been driven by a confluence of anti-American and anti-Israeli rage and a significant dose of ego rather than religious ideology. He had more in common with the famous Latin American terrorist Carlos the Jackal than he did with the religiously inspired suicide-bombers of Hamas. Although he drew on the diaspora of militant Islamic fundamentalists, his attempt to inflict mass casualties in New York City did not stem from religious conviction. Instead, his twisted belief about how to respond to the plight of the Palestinian people seemed driven by the thrill of being an explosives expert, killing innocent people, and moving on to practice his brand of terrorism another day. His exploits as a transnational terrorist affirmed the high opinion he held of himself. A terrorist who thinks that he is a genius will set the highest goals for practicing his craft. In Yousef’s case, that meant attempting to kill as many innocent people as possible. http://www.fdnewyork.com/wtc.asp The Day The World Shook Some of the material for this story was taken from the WNYF WTC issue February 26, 1993. It started like most other days. A 4 A.M. wake up, coffee and a buttered roll while driving to work at the Manhattan Central Office. At 12:18 P.M., lunch was being served when we received a call via a street alarm box at the corner of West & Liberty Streets. At the same time Engine Company 10, whose quarters are across the street from the World Trade Center, called us via radio and reported a possible transformer vault explosion on West Street near the Trade Center. Transformer vault (also called manhole) explosions are fairly common place in Manhattan, especially during wet weather. They're highly visible and normally generate numerous telephone calls to the Central Office. We didn't think this one was going to be any different. When Engine 10 advised us by radio they had a working fire in the Trade Center, we thought the transformer vault was located within the basement of the complex. Not a routine event, but still,it's only a transformer vault we thought. Normally, when a fire or emergency occurs that generates numerous phone calls, the phones stop ringing once an apparatus arrives. This time the phones never stopped. That was our first hint of a major catastrophe. Soon the calls were reporting a different condition. Smoke in the towers as far up as the 33rd floor within the first 3 minutes. The ceiling collapsed in the train station that is located on the B4 level (4th level below grade) of the complex. At this point we knew it was more than a vault. The Manhattan Central Office has 4 positions that are normally used to answer fire phones. There are 18 incoming phone lines for reporting fires or emergencies. For the next6 hours those lines rang continuously. Since calls were being received faster than we could answer them, the 911 operators were told to send the calls to any borough that had an available phone line. Very quickly all 5 borough Central Offices were being deluged with calls from stranded occupants seeking instructions. Management immediately foresaw our need for additional manpower and ordered 2 dispatchers and 1 supervisor be brought in on overtime. Calls were being received from people in both towers and the Vista Hotel. The incident commander was unable to to operate at more than 1 location so a seperate incident was opened for each location.The first box transmitted was 69 at Vesey & West Streets. When a 10-76 was transmitted (working fire in a hi-rise), this mandated the transmission of surrogate boxes 9031 and 9032. These boxes each bring an engine, ladder, and chief from Brooklyn. At this time the operation was in the underground garage of the complex. The incident commander, upon learning that we were receiving calls from both towers and the hotel, ordered seperate boxes transmitted for those locations. Boxes 8084 ( 1WTC), 8087 (2 WTC),300 (at West and Liberty Streets, for the Vista Hotel) were then transmitted. With those boxes transmitted, almost every Manhattan unit below Central Park was assigned to the incident. Numerous relocations from the outer boroughs were made to cover the vacant firehouses.The incident commander, requiring additional resources, ordered the first "borough call" in 15 years. A third alarm was transmitted for Brooklyn box 3832 at Columbia and Lorraine Streets, with the responding units directed to the World Trade Center. The blast was centered on the B2 level. It was so intense that it caused the collapse of the steel reinforced concrete floor to the floor below (B3 level), which in turn caused more collapses. Tons of debris were piled onto the B6 level floor. A steel fire door that opens to the B2 level from a stairway from the B1 level was blown off it's hinges and embedded into a wall 35 feet away. The blast just so happened to be located at the point where it could do the most damage. It knocked out the power plant for the entire complex. This plunged into darkness over 50,000 people in the Twin Towers. No lights, no elevators, no heat, and lots of soot filled smoke. Most New York City television stations have their transmitters atop tower 1.This left only 1 TV station on the air (Channel 2 WCBS). Cable reception was not interrupted as the cable head end is fed directly from the studio and not the transmitter site. Many of the trapped occupants were listening to their radios for information. In some of the offices where televisions were located, they were watching channel 2. One of the newscasters went on the air and advised people in the towers that if they were having trouble breathing, they should break out the glass window. This was the worst thing they could have done. By now the entire tower was filled with smoke and was acting like a 110 story smokestack. About that time I answered a call from someone seeking instructions. By now, we were told to tell all callers to stay where they are, block all air vents with whatever rags they could find, stay calm, and wait. The caller told me he was going to break out a window. He was on the 54th floor. I advised him not to stating that there are over 500 emergency personnel on the ground and he'd kill someone with the falling debris. Not to mention the fact that the open window will allow smoke to enter the area and vent itself. He hung up and went to break the window. I advised the radio dispatcher to let the command post know to expect falling glass from the 54th floor. Later,the newscaster was "admonished" by his supervisors. By 5 P.M. most of the incoming calls were from concerned family members of trapped civilians. This was sometimes a heart wrenching job as relatives of people who we already knew to be deceased were asking if we could find their loved ones. All we could do was give them a phone number to the information center that was set up by the police department for this purpose. Most of the other calls were from people seeking medical aide, or looking for an estimated rescue time. Given the enormity of the task of searching 110 floors and 99 elevators in each tower, there was no way I could tell them how long it would take. At approximately 11:25 P.M., the last elevator was located, occupants were removed after being in there almost 12 hours, and the incident was declared under control at 2:25 A.M., Saturday February 27. Needless to say, lunch was served cold. The blast's toll:* 6 civilians killed Over 1,000 injured 105 firefighters injured - 5 admitted to local hospitals reinforced floors almost 30 inches think blasted away on 3 levels below grade, plus a concourse level floor,leaving a crater about 150 feet in diameter at it's largest point. On the B1 level, the operations control center of the Port Authority Police Department (and the fire command station forthe complex) was heavily damaged and rendered out of service. On the B2 level, various walls of elevator shafts and freshair plenums severely damaged, allowing smoke to enter and rise through the cores of both towers. Numerous concrete walls destroyed or damaged. 200,000 cubic feet of water poured into the lowest grade fromdamaged refrigeration unit supplies (from the Hudson River),sewer lines, fresh domestic water lines, steam pipes, and condensate return. Water 1.5 feet deep across the B6 level. 124 parked cars destroyed, 102 damaged. Partition walls blown out onto PATH train mezzanine. Numerous telephone conduits collapsed from ceiling onto cars (but phone service was not cut, miraculously). Fire alarm and public address systems out of service. Elevators out of service. Water cooled emergency generators shut down due to overheating when their water supply was cut. This disabled the emergency lighting. Sprinklers & standpipes out of service. 2,500 tons of rubble removed. Clean up effort involved 2,700 workers per day, plus a total of 160,000 gallons of cleaning fluid and 200,00 gallons of detergent. Restoration cost: $250,000,000. Tenants began moving back into tower 2 on March 18, 1993,tower 1 on March 29, 1993. The Vista Hotel opened early this year. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104566.html North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) In three separate ceremonies in the three capitals on Dec. 17, 1992, President Bush, Mexican President Salinas, and Canadian Prime Minister Mulroney signed the historic North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The framework agreement proposed to eliminate restrictions on the flow of goods, services, and investment in North America. The House of Representatives approved NAFTA, by a vote of 234 to 200 on November 17, 1993, and the Senate voted 60 to 38 for approval on November 20. It was signed into law by President Clinton on December 8, 1993, and took effect on January 1, 1994. Under NAFTA, the United States, Canada, and Mexico become a single, giant, integrated market of almost 400 million people with $6.5 trillion worth of goods and services annually. Mexico is the world's second largest importer of U.S. manufactured goods and the third largest importer of U.S. agricultural products. Prior to NAFTA, Mexican tariffs averaged about 250% as compared to U.S. duties. After the pact, about half of the tariffs on trade between Mexico and the United States were eliminated, and the remaining tariffs and restrictions on service and investment (as far as it is possible) will be phased out over a 15-year period. The United States and Canada have had a free-trade agreement since 1989. The treaty provides full protection of intellectual property rights (patents, copyrights, and trademarks) and also includes provisions covering trade rules and dispute settlement and establishes trilateral commissions to administer them. NAFTA also marks the first time in the history of U.S. trade policy that environmental concerns have been directly addressed http://history1900s.about.com/od/1990s/qt/waco.htm Cult Compound in Waco, Texas Raided (1993): After hearing reports that Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh had been abusing children and amassing a store of weapons, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) gathered resources and planned to raid the Branch Davidian compound, known as the Mount Carmel Center located just outside of Waco, Texas. With a warrant to search for illegal firearms in hand, the ATF attempted to storm the compound on February 28, 1993. A gunfight ensued (debate continues over which side fired the first shot). The shooting lasted nearly two hours, leaving four ATF agents and five Branch Davidians dead. For 51 days, the ATF and the FBI waited outside the compound, using negotiators to try to end the stand-off peacefully. (There has been much criticism as to how the government handled the negotiations.) Although a number of children and a few adults were released during this period, 84 men, women, and children stayed in the compound. On April 19, 1993, the ATF and FBI attempted to end the siege by using a form of tear gas (called CS gas), a decision approved by US Attorney General Janet Reno. Early in the morning, specialized tank-like vehicles (Combat Engineering Vehicles) punctured holes in the compound's walls and inserted CS gas. The government was hoping that the gas would safely push the Branch Davidians out of the compound. In response to the gas, the Branch Davidians shot back. Just after noon, the wooden compound caught on fire. While nine people escaped the blaze, 75 perished either by gunshot or by fire inside the compound. Twenty-five of the dead were children. Koresh was also found dead, from a gunshot wound to the head. Nearly immediately, questions were raised as to how the fire was started and who was responsible. What is NAFTA?: NAFTA is short for the North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA covers Canada, the U.S. and Mexico making it the world’s largest free trade area in terms of GDP. As of January 1, 2008, all tariffs between the three countries have have been eliminated. Between 1993-2007, trade tripled from $297 billion to $930 billion. (Source: USTR, U.S. - Mexican Officials Meet to Discuss NAFTA, January 11, 2008; NAFTA: Myth versus Fact, March 18, 2008) When Was NAFTA Started?: NAFTA was signed by U.S. President George H.W. Bush, Mexican President Salinas, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1992. It was ratified by the legislatures of the three countries in 1993. The U.S. House approved it by 234 to 200 on November 17 and the Senate by 60 to 38 on November 20. It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 8, 1993 and entered force January 1,1994. Although it was started by President Bush, it was a priority of President Clinton's, and its passage is considered one of his first successes. (Source: History.com, NAFTA Signed into Law, December 8, 1993. How Was NAFTA Started?: The impetus for NAFTA actually began with President Ronald Regan, who campaigned on a North American common market. In 1984, Congress passed the Trade and Tariff Act. This is important because it gave the President "fast-track" authority to negotiate free trade agreements, while while only allowing Congress the ability to approve or disapprove, not change negotiating points. Canadian Prime Minister Mulroney agrees with Reagan to begin negotiations for the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which was signed in 1988, went into effect in 1989 and is now suspended due to NAFTA. (Source: NaFina, NAFTA Timeline) Meanwhile, Mexican President Salinas and President Bush began negotiations for a liberalized trade between the two countries. Prior to NAFTA, Mexican tariffs on U.S. imports were 250% higher than U.S. tariffs on Mexican imports. In 1991, Canada requests a trilateral agreement, which then led to NAFTA. In 1993, concerns about liberalization of labor and environmental regulations led to the adoption of two addendums to NAFTA. (Source: Infoplease.com, NAFTA) Why Was NAFTA Formed?: Article 102 of the NAFTA agreement outlines its purpose: Grant the signatories Most Favored Nation status. Eliminate barriers to trade and facilitate the cross-border movement of goods and services. Promote conditions of fair competition. Increase investment opportunities. Provide protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Create procedures for the resolution of trade disputes. Establish a framework for further trilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation to expand NAFTA's benefits. (Source: NAFTA Secretariat, NAFTA FAQ) http://www.nba.com/mavericks/entertainment/1993_fun_facts.html