Sadrists Attack And Kill Protesters While Proclaiming They Are The Saviors Of Iraq

Protest tents burned by the Sadrists in Nasiriya (Al Mirbad)

On November 27 the Sadrist movement claimed it was a force for change and reform in Iraq while attacking a protest camp in Dhi Qar that left 5 demonstrators dead and many more wounded.

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 28

 

1935 UK Foreign Office rejected King Faisal mediating Palestine dispute believing he had

aspirations over territory

1947 Iraq’s Foreign Minister Jamail told UN that creation of Israel would lead to unrest in Middle

East

1958 Shah criticized Iraq for refusing to settle navigation down Shatt al-Arab Pres Qasim responded

by claiming all of waterway for Iraq

1980 Iran’s Op Morvarid continued into next day Iranian planes sunk 7 Iraqi boats Rest of day

Iranian planes bombed Faw port Basra destroying more Iraqi ships In total Iran lost 1 ship Iraq lost 2 oil terminals 100 dead 2 planes 13 ships Was 80% of its ships Iraqi navy was out of commission 

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Tom Cooper on Iran-Iraq War)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1997 Iraq said inspectors could not go to presidential and sovereign sites

2001 UK intel report Iraq not connected to 9/11 not working with Al Qaeda not giving WMD to

terrorists Said Iraq WMD threat “slight”

(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

2001 Pentagon officials told Time after Afghanistan US would target Iraq as next step in war on

terror

(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy

Tragedy)

2002 UN inspectors went to Dawrah Foot and Mouth Disease Facility Said facility couldn’t be used in

weapons programs Reporters said it was mostly destroyed

(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Rejection of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD and 2003 Invasion)

2005 Dep Human Rights Min Usayran and Gen Samarriae told Knight Ridder Iraqi forces torturing

and abusing prisoners

2005 Arrest warrant for police Volcano Brigade commander Gen Gharwai Never given to Interior

Min to carry out

2005 Anbar Gov Alwani hosted meeting of US forces and sheikhs interested in working with US against

insurgents Led to creation of Anbar security council of sheikhs religious leaders and former soldiers

(Musings On Iraq Anbar Before And After the Awakening Pt X, 2005-09 Governor Mamoun Alwani)

(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq How A Change In Perceptions Led To The Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Carter Malkasian on Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq review Confronting Al Qaeda, The Sunni Awakening and American Strategy In Al Anbar)

(Musings On Iraq review The Marines Take Anbar, The Four-Year Fight Against Al Qaeda)

(Musings On Iraq review Illusions of Victory, The Anbar Awakening And The Rise Of The Islamic State)

2006 CENTCOM Cmdr Gen Abizaid and US cmdr in Iraq Gen Casey said they opposed troop surge

Said it could only last 6-8 months and better to shift forces within Iraq

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Mansoor on the Surge)

(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)

2006 Sadrists walked out of parliament and cabinet for PM Maliki meeting with Pres Bush in

Jordan Sadrists had 30 MPs and 5 ministers Came after 6 car bombs killed 215 in Sadr City Sadrists blamed US for insecurity in Iraq 

2006 Report US intel official said 1000-2000 militiamen had gone to Lebanon for training by

Hezbollah organized by Iran Summer 06 Mahdi Army commander said he’d sent 300 of his men to Lebanon US officials said Iran providing IEDs and training to militiamen Iran might have directed some attacks by militiamen

(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah’s Role In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Galen Wright of Arkenstone blog on Iranian arms shipments to Iraqi militias) 

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2006 Report after Sadr City bombings Sunni militias expelled Shiites from Dora and allowed Sunnis kicked

out of north Baghdad into homes

(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)

(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)

2006 Report Ninewa Dep Gov said 70,000 Kurds fled Mosul due to violence Fed Police cmdr in

Diyala’s Khanaqin said sectarian civil war going on there Local Khanaqin councilman said around 100 killed there a week Was gun battle between Sunni and Kurdish police in Jalawla when Kurds refused new Sunni Arab police chief

2006 Report on US Marine intel report on Anbar Said that Sunnis were fighting for survival Shiites

carrying out “pogroms” against Sunnis in Iraq and was forcing Sunnis into hands of ISI Said Sunnis believed that Iran was taking over Baghdad and Anbar and Sunnis marginalized Said Sunnis couldn’t rely upon US because thought it was going to leave Said no economic revival in Anbar Govt offices had disintegrated Baghdad not paid salaries of Anbar officials and ISF Said US needed 15,000-20,000 more troops and billions in aid to change situation Said violence would be worse without US troops

2008 Japan announced it would end its military mission in Iraq Deployed in 2004

2008 KRG Natural Resource Min Hawrami said KRG would start exports at 100,000 bar/day with goal of

250,000 bar/day by end of 09 Oil Ministry said hadn’t agreed to that

2017 Mujahadeen Coalition announced for pro-Iran Hashd units to run in 2018 elections

2019 Sadr said protests could lead to end of Iraq if PM Abdul Mahdi didn’t resign Abadi

warned of collapse of govt if didn’t resign

2019 60 protesters killed in Nasiriya 10 killed in Najf 4 killed in Baghdad Police station

burned in Nasiriya in one of deadliest days since unrest started in Oct

(Musings On Iraq One Of The Deadliest Days Of Protests At Least 25 Killed In Nasiriya)

(Musings On Iraq UN Report On Violence Against Iraqi Protesters)

2019 PM Abdul Mahdi announced crisis cells between military and governors to deal with

protests

2019 Dhi Qar governor got head of new crisis cell tob e dismissed for deaths of protesters

Then governor resigned

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review Netflix’s Mosul

Netflix’s Mosul is an ode to the men of the Ninewa SWAT. The movie follows a squad from that unit who are in the midst of the end of the battle for the city. They are on a special mission which is not revealed until the very end which proves to be very moving. It shows their sacrifices, their fighting prowess and their souls in the midst of a bloody fight.

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 27

 

1963 Syrian govt said it was withdrawing its army brigade from Iraq that was helping fight

Kurds

1980 Iranian Op Morvarid began to destroy Iraqi oil terminals in Gulf and attempted to

destroy Iraqi navy Iranian commandos landed at 2 Iraqi oil terminals and destroyed them ending Iraq’s ability to export oil from Basra 2 Iranian ships then waited at mouth of Shatt al-Arab to bait Iraqi navy to come out of its bases Sank 3 Iraqi boats

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1980 Iran retook Susangard in Khuzistan

1983 Truck bomb hit Baghdad killing around 100 Iraq blamed Iran and said it would retaliate

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Tom Cooper on Iran-Iraq War)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1990 Gorbachev gave up on diplomatic effort to defuse Kuwait crisis and backed use of force against

Iraq

1994 Iraq finally agreed to border with Kuwait

2001 Rumsfeld told CENTCOM cmdr Gen Frank he wanted to completely revise Iraq war plan

(Musings On Iraq review Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Role of Military Intelligence Assessment)

(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy

Tragedy)

(Musings On Iraq review Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account Of The Decision To

Invade Iraq)

2001 Saddam rejected Bush’s call for UN weapons inspectors to return to Iraq

2001 Wash Post survey found 78% of Americans supported military action against Iraq

2002 UN weapons inspections carried out first inspections under new regime

(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Rejection of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD and 2003 Invasion)

2004 Report 1/3 of property Hallliburton contracted to manage in Iraq lost

2006 Dep Natl Sec Adv Crouch presented idea of Surge

2006 Joint Chiefs told Bush was leaning towards a troop surge in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)

2006 Frederick Kagan wrote 3^rd OpEd in Weekly Standard calling for a troop surge in Iraq Kagan

helped draft plan that would become the Surge

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Mansoor on the Surge)

2006 Sec State Rice and Asst Sec State Near East Welch said US wanted Saudi Arabia Egypt Jordan to push

Iraqi parties to back PM Maliki so he would move away from Sadr Also wanted Arab countries to pressure insurgents to reduce violence

2006 England said it would pull out most of its 7000 troops in Iraq by end of 2006 Poland and

            Italy said all their forces were withdrawing

2007 77,542 sahwa in total in 192 groups US said they planned on capping sahwa at 100,000 Dep Natl

Sec Adv Hussein said worried what would happen after US stopped running program Said Interior and Defense Mins couldn't hire them all

(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)

2008 Iraq passed Status of Forces Agreement with US setting withdrawal date for US forces 12/31/11

(Musings On Iraq The Status Of Forces Agreement)

(Musings On Iraq SOFA Passes)

(Musings On Iraq July SOFA Referendum)

2018 Protesters blocked govt offices in Basra city highway in Faw ISF cleared protest

outside Majnoon oil field Govt building burned in Dhi Qar Roads blocked in Karbala and Najaf Iranian consulate in burned Ashurba Brigades shot at protesters outside Ayatollah Hakim shrine Killed total of 27 over 4 days

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Protests Escalate Once Again)

(Musings On Iraq UN Report On Violence Against Iraqi Protesters)

2019 Report Quds Force Cmdr Gen Suleimani arrived in Baghdad to block resignation of

            PM Abdul Mahdi Got support of Badr’s Amiri

(Musings On Iraq Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Commander General Suleimani And His Role In Iraq, An Interview With The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins)

(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 26

 

1920 Last British correspondence saying that 1920 Revolt had ended Uk lost 2,269 Iraqis 8,450

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

1969 Bakr govt executed opponents in central Baghdad

1980 Iraq sent letter to UN saying it was still following the 1975 Algiers Accord on Shatt al-Arab

and Iran was violating it

1983 Pres Reagan signed NSDD114 saying U.S. would back Iraq in Iran-Iraq War to prevent it from

losing

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Tom Cooper on Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1990 Report 1984 Germany companies helped build WMD plant and equip it 1985 German company

built nerve gas plant in Fallujah Another built plant in Samarra 1987 Companies sent technicians to Iraq to help with agents for WMD Berlin warned about companies but did nothing

1993 Iraq accepted UN Resolution 715 to extend UN weapons inspections Initially rejected

resolution Also agreed to long term monitoring of WMD sites

(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Rejection Of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD And 2003 Invasion)

1999 Baath paper said Iraq couldn’t accept sanctions and spies at same time but sanctions easier to

accept then spies and crises they created to prolong sanctions

1999 Sec State Albright said No Fly Zones were about containing Saddam

2001 Bush called Saddam a terrorist who would be held accountable and said Iraq needed to allow

UN weapons inspectors back in

(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Rejection of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD and 2003 Invasion)

(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy

Tragedy)

2001 White House spokesman Fleischer said US afraid Al Qaeda might try to get nuclear weapons

from Iraq

2002 Gen Franks presented deployment plan for Iraq invasion to Def Sec Rumsfeld Was for 300,000

troops to be sent from summer 02-spring 03 Rumsfeld said large deployment would undermine diplomatic moves US making on Iraq Rumsfeld decided to go through entire deployment process for Iraq invasion Ended up breaking it up and controlling entire process

(Musings On Iraq review Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Role of Military Intelligence Assessment)

(Musings On Iraq review Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account Of The Decision To Invade Iraq)

2003 Ayatollah Sistani said he opposed CPA’s plan for caucuses to be formed to draft new Iraq

constitution Wanted Islamic identity to be included in any new Iraqi government

(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)

(Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)

2006 US Iraq strategy review presented to Bush Said PM Maliki unable or unwilling to act against

violence Said US should continue with withdrawal plan but could have temporary surge of troops

(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)

2006 Sec State Rice told Bush US should step back from Iraq Was opposed to surge of troops

Natl Sec Adv Hadley told Bush US should have a surge of troops in Iraq to bring down violence Bush said he would consult with everyone and decide on a new Iraq strategy in Dec 06

(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Mansoor on the Surge)

2006 NYTimes got Jun 06 US govt report Said insurgency now self-financed via crime Raised est

$70-$200 mil/yr $25-$100 mil from oil smuggling $36 mil from kidnapping 05 Foreign govts including France and Italy paid $30 mil in ransoms 03 insurgents financed by Baathists 04 were funded by foreigners By 05 self-financed

2006 Militiamen attacked 2 Sunni mosques and market in Baghdad’s Ghaziliya Up to 45 killed

(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)

(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)

2006 TV comedian Walid Hassan was gunned down in Baghdad

2007 US and Iraq signed declaration of principles to start negotiation for Status of Forces Agreement to

maintain US troops and ties to Iraq

2007 US general in charge of southern Baghdad said Iraq wanted to start paying Sahwa Govt spokesman

Dabbagh said he didn’t know of any such plan

(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)

2007 PM Maliki told Bush he was afraid insurgents were infiltrating the sahwa

2007 Report govt was inflating return numbers Counted every Iraqi crossing border from Syria as return

whether refugee or not Nov Iraqi general said 46,030 refugees had returned and 28,017 displaced in Oct 07

(Musings On Iraq review Children of War, Voices Of Iraqi Refugees)

2007 US general in charge of northern Baghdad said attacks down 75% but EFP attacks by Iranian

supported militias increased in Oct 07 2 Iranians captured in Nov

(Musings On Iraq interview with Galen Wright of Arkenstone blog on Iranian arms shipments to Iraqi militias) 

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2007 Report Islamic Army faction in Mosul condemned sahwa Said would continue fighting US

2007 US general in charge of training ISF said turning over all Iraqi provinces to Baghdad by end of 2007

not possible Said ISF still lacked leadership logistics and suffered from sectarianism Situation in each province would determine when handed back to Iraq

2009 Former UK Amb to US Meyer testified to Chilcot Inquiry Said US decided on Iraq war before UN

weapons inspectors returned in Nov 02 Said US already had invasion plan with war starting Jan 03 which was pushed back to March Meyer said UN inspectors had no time to finish their work US and UK only wanted a smoking gun to justify war

(Musings On Iraq Former British Diplomat Confirms that U.N. Inspectors Were Means To War With Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

2016 Parliament made Hashd an independent military force under the commander and chief

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review Unholy Babylon, The Secret History of Saddam’s War

Darwish, Adel and Alexander, Gregory, Unholy Babylon, The Secret History of Saddam’s War, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991

 

Unholy Babylon, The Secret History of Saddam’s War was released right after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. It starts by providing some historical background to Iraq-Kuwait relations, the rise of Iraq as a regional power and then finishes with the events that led Saddam Hussein to take over his neighbor. Journalist Adel Darwish and Gregory Alexander which was a pseudonym argue that Baghdad’s regional ambitions which were ignored by the West led to the Gulf conflict.

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 25

 

1986 Iraq air strike on Larak Island oil facilities Longest air raid of war Used Saudi air base

for refueling Iran transferred loading tankers there after Kharg and Sirri Islands hit by Iraq Hit 5 tankers

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Tom Cooper on Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Mirages, The Dassault Mirage Family In Service With The Iraqi Air Force, 1981-1988)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1991 Report US companies sold Iraq equipment for nuke triggers 1984-90 US approved $25 mil in computer

sales to Iraq that helped nuke program EEUrope helped Iraqi scientists with nuke research Yugoslavia built uranium enrichment lab in Baghdad Got uranium from Brazil Portugal Niger Germany Italy France Soviet Union Poland and Czechoslovakia provided explosives for program

1997 KDP broke own ceasefire by attacking PUK positions

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

2002 UN Res 1443 extended Oil for Food program

2002 US Navy report claimed uranium from Niger was in a warehouse in Benin heading for Iraq

Report later found to be false

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)

2002 Head weapons inspector Blix told Security Council inspections would begin in Iraq on 11/27/02

(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Rejection of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD and 2003 Invasion)

2002 US intel took pictures of trucks carrying materials from suspected WMD facility in Amiriya

Used in Powell’s Feb 03 speech Analysts did not think pictures showed anything unusual 

(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)

2004 Defense Science Board report Iraq invasion gave jihadists around the world a cause and

supported their narrative

2006 ISI attacked Albu Soda tribe in Sufiya outside Ramadi for being neutral Tribe called US for

help and fought off insurgents Sheikh Suwadawi of Abu Soda tribe joined Anbar Awakening afterward

(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq How A Change In Perceptions Led To The Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Carter Malkasian on Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq review Confronting Al Qaeda, The Sunni Awakening and American Strategy In Al Anbar)

(Musings On Iraq review The Marines Take Anbar, The Four-Year Fight Against Al Qaeda)

(Musings On Iraq review Illusions of Victory, The Anbar Awakening And The Rise Of The Islamic State)

2006 1^st Inf Div Cmdr Gen Ham in charge of US training mission in Iraq said previous effort was

“hit and miss” US did poor job picking soldiers for mission No standardized training program for Iraqis Lacked support

2007 Natl Sec Adv Rubaie suggested banning sahwa south of Baghdad except in Hillah over fears of

US recruiting Shiites

(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)

2007 DeBaathification bill introduced in parliament Sadrists objected Bill withdrawn to be amended Bill

was agreed upon in Aug by major parties

2007 Report Surge was supposed to improve security and lead to political reform and reconciliation

Didn’t happen so Bush admin dropped benchmarks to show progress Hoping Iraq would spend budget and hold provincial elections as signs of progress

2008 BBC went to Rusafa Prison Baghdad Found it overcrowded Many prisoners never been charged

Justice system overloaded with cases

2018 Protest at Basra Oil Company demanding jobs broken up by security guards and in

front of govt offices in Basra city over corruption

2018 Report Trump twice asked Abadi for Iraq’s oil in return for invading Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Why Did Trump Ask Iraq For Its Oil?)

2019 Police stormed bridge blocked by protesters in Hillah Main roads in Basra and Najaf

blocked Highway blocked and houses of 2 politicians burned in Dhi Qar

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Protests Escalate Once Again)

View the Iraq History Timelines