On this day in conspiracies

A directive sets ABMA to work on the feasibility of a lunar military outpost. The effort is placed under the Army's chief of research and development, Lieutenant General Arthur G. Trudeau, with von Braun's organization doing the technical study and Heinz-Hermann Koelle serving as project manager.

Operation Popeye begins in earnest. WC-130, RF-4, and F-4 aircraft, flown under the cover of weather-reconnaissance missions, seed monsoon clouds with silver and lead iodide over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The unofficial slogan among crews: 'make mud, not war.'

Days after the report, El Salvador's legislature passes a sweeping General Amnesty Law that bars prosecution for wartime crimes, foreclosing any criminal trial over Romero's death and other atrocities the commission documented.

Five two-man teams board separate Tokyo subway lines during the morning rush and release sarin as trains near the Kasumigaseki government district. Thirteen people are killed and thousands are injured, many with lasting harm. It is the deadliest terrorist attack in postwar Japan.

The US-led coalition invades Iraq. No active stockpiles of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons are found then or afterward.

The NTSB issues a safety-recommendation report finding that the Key Bridge was roughly 30 times above the accepted AASHTO risk threshold for catastrophic collapse from a vessel strike, and that the Maryland Transportation Authority had never conducted the vulnerability assessment that would have revealed it. The board recommends that owners of 68 bridges across 19 states carry out such assessments.