Review The Creation of Iraq 1914-1921

Review Edited by Simon, Reeva Spector Tejirian, Eleanor, The Creation of Iraq 1914-1921, New York: Columbia University Press, 2004

The Creation of Iraq was the result of a 2003 conference at Columbia University on the making of modern Iraq. The hope was that this history, especially the British Mandate could provide lessons to the Americans that were embarking on their own occupation of the country. The papers presented at that meeting were compiled into this book published in 2004. There are chapters on the three Ottoman provinces of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul that would become the new nation, the major countries involved in its formation, and issues such as the Kurds and oil. At just over 160 pages of text, this is a very short and concise history with some great insights on how Iraq came about.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 17

1909 Mosul representatives to new Ottoman Assembly left for Istanbul Was part

            of Young Turks’ reforms

1920 Kufa fell to British during 1920 Revolt Led to surrender of Najaf next day Tribal

            siege of Diwaniya also ended

(Musings On Iraq book review of Reclaiming Iraq, The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State)

1973 Saddam said govt and KDP were far apart on autonomy talks for Kurds

(Musings On Iraq book review of The Kurds, A Modern History)

(Musings On Iraq book review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)

1980 UN Security Council discussed Iran-Iraq War Addressed by Iran PM and Iraq Foreign Minister

Iran For Min told UN Iraq was aggressor Saddam wanted to overthrow Iranian govt Iraq backed by superpowers and Arab countries Iraq For Min said Iran violated treaties attacked border towns never replied to letters calling for negotiations UN Security Council backed Secretary General’s attempts to negotiate a ceasefire in Iran-Iraq War

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Anthony Tucker-Jones on Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War)

1987 Iraq held national census

1994 Iraqi defector Saadi claimed he went to Jordan with Mukhabarat to buy nuke material from

Russians for a bomb

2001 NY Times article reported Iraqi defector saw Iraq training terrorists at Salman Pak to take

airliners Said INC claimed Iraq diplomat met bin Laden in 98 and offered him safe haven Reported Czech Inter Min said 9/11 hijacker Atta met with Iraqi intel officer in Prague

2003 Iraqi prisoner photographed stripped and handcuffed to cell door by US jailers at Abu Ghraib

2003 Gunfight outside Sadr office in Karbala killed 3 US soldiers and 7 Iraqis

2004 Zarqawi pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda Tawhid wal Jihad became Al

Qaeda in Iraq

2004 Heavy fighting in east and south Fallujah between US forces and insurgents

2006 NSC started review of Iraq strategy to come up with new one

(Musings On Iraq article on pre-Surge US Iraq strategy)

2016 Mosul campaign started with joint operations between Iraqi forces and Peshmerga

(Musings On Iraq Interview with Ret. Col Witty on the Battle of Mosul)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Horizon Client Access’ Alex Mello on Battle of Mosul)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Amnesty International’s Donatella Rovera on Battle of Mosul)

(Musings On Iraq interview with International Center for Study of Radicalization’s Charlie Winter on how IS media dealt with its defeat in Battle of Mosul)

(Musings On Iraq interview with BBC’s Quentin Sommerville on the Battle of Mosul)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Niqash’s Mustafa Habib on Battle of Mosul)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Reuters’ Stephen Kalin on Battle of Mosul)

(Musings On Iraq interview with AFP’s Ahmad Mousa on Battle of Mosul)

(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Florian Neuhof on Battle of Mosul)

2017 Kurds withdrew from 1 district in northeast Diyala and 5 in western Ninewa that they

occupied in 2014

2017 Peshmerga clashed with Hashd at Mosul Dam before handing over facility to govt forces

(Musings On Iraq article on Kurds withdrawal from disputed areas)

2017 5 Turkish soldiers killed by IEDs laid by PKK 1^st time in years Turkish soldiers killed by PKK

in Iraq Would start escalation of conflict

2017 By end of 2017 318 PKK fighters and 23 Turkish soldiers killed along with 23 Turks wounded

in fighting

(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Frederike Geerdink on escalating conflict between PKK and Turks in Iraq)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Security In Iraq Oct 8-14, 2018

(Al Maalomah)

Incidents dropped in Iraq during the second week of October, but casualties were very high due to two mass graves of victims of the Islamic State being discovered in Ninewa.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 16

1973 Iraqi, Syrian and Jordanian forces attacked Israeli positions but were turned back

1991 Turkish army launched ground assault into Kurdistan to attack PKK

2001 CIA Dir Tenet met with UK officials and agreed no Iraq-9/11 connection

2002 Iraq held elections where Saddam voted president for another 7 years

2002 Iraq renewed offer for new UN inspections after US rejected deal

2002 French Pres Chirac said no Iraq Al Qaeda ties and attacking Iraq could lead to new terrorist

attacks

2002 State Dept intel agency gave CIA DIA NSA Energy Dept copies of Iraq-Niger uranium

documents

(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq-Niger uranium story)

2003 UN Resolution 1511 set 12/15/03 as date for Iraqi Governing Council to submit plan for

interim govt and constitution

2004 Attacks upon 5 churches

2006 PM Maliki called Bush said he was worried US had set 2 month deadline for him to control

sectarian violence Said deadline and talk of dividing Iraq were undermining his govt Bush said he supported Maliki

2006 Report US Cmdr Iraq Gen Casey was worried that ISF couldn’t take over security as planned

Start of 06 Casey said US could have substantial troop drawdowns but had to increase US forces by 10,000 due to violence in Baghdad

2006 PM Maliki interview said his govt wouldn’t disarm militias until end of 06/early 07 Said US

forces would start large withdrawals start of 07 Rejected US operations vs Mahdi Army in Sadr City

2006 Iraq Body Count criticized Lancet casualty report Said meant 500,000 death certificates were

issued but not recorded by govt Would meant thousands of Iraqis were wounded and never went for medical help Would mean only 1/10 of Iraqi deaths were recorded

(Musings On Iraq article Major Flaws in Lancet Report Pt 1)

(Musings On Iraq article Major Flaws in Lancet Report Pt 11)

(Musings On Iraq article New Study Refutes Lancet Reports)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Mark Van Der Laan on Lancet Reports)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Michael Spagat on Lancet reports)

2006 Sunni tribesmen fired mortars into Balad afer 2 days of killings by Shiites for 26 Shiites

            killed in Dhuluiya

2012 Maliki suspended Central Bank of Iraq head Shababi after he refused to stop dinar re-

valuation Appointed ally Turki head of Board of Supreme Audit as new bank head

2017 As Iraqi forces moved towards military base and oil fields in south Kirkuk fighting broke out

with Peshmerga Also clashes in Tuz Kharmato between Hashd and Peshmerga

2017 PUK Peshmerga retreated in Kirkuk forcing KDP forces to withdraw as well as Iraqi forces

took most of province and Kirkuk city Govt forces occupied Bai Hassan Avana and Bab Gargur oil fields in Kirkuk denying KRG roughly half of its revenues

2017 PUK also withdrew its forces from Jawala Qara Tapa Mandali Daquq in northeast Diyala after

meeting with governor and army chief of staff

2017 In wake of Kirkuk KDP called PUK traitors PUK called KDP thieves

(Musings On Iraq article on Kurds withdrawal from disputed areas)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Short and Long Term Problems That Led To This Summer’s Basra Protests

(Reuters)

In August 2018 the Norwegian Refugee Council travelled to Basra to determine the causes of the summer’s protests. It found that there was a mix of longstanding complaints about governance added to a new electricity and water crises that led to the demonstrations.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 15

1906 Protests in Mosul ended against Ottoman census that included counting women

1927 1^st successful oil well started at Baba Gargur field in Kirkuk

1960 Islamic Party complained to Gen Qasim that his govt neglected religion while accepted

Communists Asked Qasim to ban Communists and their media while releasing any cleric arrested since 1958 coup

1973 Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi offensive in southern Syria failed to achieve results

1980 Iraq Foreign Minister Hamadi presented Iraq’s case to UN claiming it acted in

            self-defense in Iran-Iraq War

1980 Iran launched large counter attack against Iraqi forces around Andimeshk

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Anthony Tucker-Jones on Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War)

1984 Iraq and Turkey made deal to fight PKK Allowed each country to enter 3 miles into others

territory to combat group

1994 Iraq withdrew troops from Kuwait border after Russian diplomacy and UN Res 949 that

demanded withdrawal UN Res 949 demanded Iraq’s full cooperation with UN inspectors

1995 Saddam won referendum for 7 more years as president with 99.9% of vote Was meant to show

public was behind Saddam after Hussein Kamal defected to Jordan

1997 Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr gave sermon saying No! Yes is just for God mocking Yes

to Saddam slogan

(Musings On Iraq interview with Univ of Haifa’s Prof Baram on legacy of Ayatollah Sadiq al-Sadr)

1997 Turkey’s Op Dawn ended against PKK in Kurdistan

2000 Iran announced it was returning to 1975 Algiers Treaty Meant rapprochment with Iraq but also

Iraq gained nothing from Iran-Iraq War

2001 CIA report from Rome said that Italian intel said Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger but

didn’t see much merit in it

2001 CIA DIA Energy Dept thought Iraq-Niger uranium deal was possible State Dept thought story

suspect

(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq-Niger uranium story)

2001 White House spokesman said no connection between Iraq and anthrax letters sent to Wash DC

2002 Rumsfeld wrote list of 29 things that could go wrong with Iraq War Including finding no

WMD ethnosectarian conflict List was to point out possible problems so war could be successful

2002 Italy’s SISMI intel agency told CIA of Iraq-Niger uranium deal documents

(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq-Niger uranium story)

2002 Under Sec of Def Feith briefed NSC on plan for governing postwar Iraq with 3-star general in

charge of military and civilian administrator

2003 Powell said that his claims about Iraq’s WMD program had been proven

2003 Rice said CPA’s schedule for Iraq wouldn’t work and new one had to be created

2003 Sadr followers failed to take over Karbala shrines

2004 US put Zarqawi on its terrorist list

2004 Cheney said Iraq could have given WMD to terrorists

2005 Referendum on new Iraqi constitution held

(Musings On Iraq interview with constitutional scholar Zaid al-Ali on Iraq’s constitution)

2006 Reconciliation conference indefinitely postponed due to weekend violence Setback for PM

            Maliki’s reconciliation plans

2006 Mujahedeen Shura Council again announced ISI and Islamic State in Baghdad Anbar Diyala

Kirkuk Salahaddin Ninewa Babil Said its goal was to govern

2006 Report auditors found ¼ of US funded water projects had broken down since being turned over

to Iraqis

2006 2 days Shiite gunmen killed 47 Sunnis in Balad in retaliation for 26 dead Shiites being found

in Dhuluiya

2006 6 car bombs in Kirkuk killed 10 and wounded dozens 52 killed in attacks in Baghdad

2006 500 Sunni sheikhs held meeting condemning federalism plan by SIIC objected to breaking

            up Iraq

2006 Islamic Party accused Interior Min of Oct 9 murder of VP Hashemi’s brother

2015 Immediately after Baiji refinery liberated Hashd began looting facility and selling

            off equipment to Iraqi and Iranian businesses

2017 Hashd burned PUK office in Tuz Kharmato after fighting stopped there 

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Musings On Iraq In The News

Musings On Iraq was cited by David Witty in "Iraq's Post-2014 Counter Terrorism Service" and by Thomas Hill and Alex Munox in Finding Peace in Iraq Vol 2  

All of Musings On Iraq's original writings, appearances and citations