This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 16

1946 KDP founded by Mustafa Barzani and Hamzah Abdullah

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

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

1962 Turkish planes shot down Iraqi plane in retaliation for Iraq bombing Turkish border post while

fighting Kurdish rebels

1967 Law No 97 gave more power to Iraqi National Oil Company

1985 Iraq claimed it destroyed Iran’s main oil terminal at Kharg Island but only damaged it

(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 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)

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

2002 NSC meeting Sec State Powell argued for going to UN for new resolution on Iraq Bush agreed

2002 UnderSecDef Feith’s office claimed briefing day before convinced CIA Dir Tenet to reconsider Iraq-Al

Qaeda relationship Tenet denied Feith’s office had changed his view Feith’s office said Iraq and Al Qaeda cooperated CIA said they had contacts but no cooperation

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

Tragedy)

2003 Insurgent attack on Abu Ghraib prison 6 prisoners killed 59 wounded

2006 Report Mahdi Army and insurgents fighting for control of Diyala Raiding villages and forcing people

out Mahdi Army trying to drive Sunnis out of Khan Bani Said Set up checkpoints robbed trucks kidnapped and murdered people on highway Many soldiers in Diyala were members of the Mahdi Army Others supported the militia US forces didn’t trust Iraqi forces in Diyala because of militia infiltration

2006 Followers of Mahmoud al-Hasani protested in Karbala Nasiriya Hillah against Iran and claimed

Ayatollah Sistani was Iranian puppet

2006 Pentagon review of Iraq war found US used too much force in civilian areas angered Iraqis and didn’t

form alliances with them Providing safety and security for Iraqis was not a priority

2006 Marine intel report US not lost militarily but defeated politically in Anbar Cited lack of US troops and

no functioning Iraqi govt in province Said Al Qaeda in Iraq most powerful force in Anbar

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

2006 Report Bush told Middle East experts he did not support partition of Iraq Said he would make no

policy changes in war

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

2007 With 17 ministers boycotting PM Maliki’s cabinet new ruling coalition announced of Dawa, ISCI,

            KDP, PUK US helped put coalition together

2007 Report Mahdi Army took over intimidated infiltrated army units in West Baghdad Jan 07 Defense

Min allowed Sadrists to create army unit in Kadhimiya Mahdi Army bribed and intimidated army units to allow it to attack Sunni neighborhoods Army gave vehicles for Mahdi Army to use Army units in Hurriya and Ghaziliya either controlled or working with Mahdi Army to force out Sunnis US organized Sahwa unit in Ghazilyia that was supposed to monitor army there Control of army in Hurriya also allowed Mahdi Army to attack U.S. units there Mahdi Army expanding into Washash Iskan Fadil with help of army

2008 Baghdad-Irbil deal to have Peshmerga withdraw from Khanaqin Diyala and turn over area to central

govt control Confrontation ensued when ISF began evicting Kurdish parties and Peshmerga from town

(Musings On Iraq article on PM Maliki dispute with Kurds over Khanaqin)

2012 ISI carried out attacks in 19 cities leaving over 100 dead

2015 PM Abadi closed 4 ministries merged 8 others into 4 by decree even though legally had to go

through parliament Claimed part of reform program but was budget cuts

(Musings On Iraq interview with Reidar Visser on PM Abadi’s reform program)

2018 March to Basra council building over death of protester day before

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War

Isikoff Michael and Corn, David, Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War, New York: Crown Publishers, 2006

Hubris focused upon the Bush administration’s argument for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath in the United States. It’s an apt title because the White House argued that it was positive that Saddam Hussein was a threat to America, that the war would be easy, and the post-war situation easier. Not only that but the day the invasion ended, things began going wrong. The administration’s response was to ignore the bad news for years. Authors Michael Isikoff and David Corn focused upon the weapons of mass destruction and Iraq-Al Qaeda claims made by the U.S. and how they came apart. The second half of the book gets lost in the story of Joseph Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame that were targeted by the White House for Wilson’s criticism of a story that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger. Hubris turned from what administration officials said about Iraq and how they were wrong to what administration officials and reporters said about Wilson and Plame. The latter is far less interesting than the former.

This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 15

1920 UK PM George wrote that French objected to Faisal becoming king of Iraq George and French

both thought he was weak leader

1921 Feisal said he wouldn’t accept restrictions on sovereignty included in UK’s Iraq mandate Wanted an

Anglo-Iraq treaty that would give him full power

1921 Churchill wrote Iraq Commissioner Cox that Feisal needed to stop making demands of UK and do

what London told him

(Musings On Iraq article on Churchill’s policy towards Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review Supremacy And Oil, Iraq, Turkey, and the Anglo-American World Order, 1918-1930)

1933 King Feisal ordered Interior Min Suleiman to investigate massacre of Assyrians in Sumail

(Musings On Iraq book review of The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review State and Society in Iraq)

1982 Iraqi planes started attacking shipping at Khor Musa channel leading to Bandar Khomeini port in Iran

Sank 2 ships

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

1982 Iraqi planes started bombing campaign against Kharg Island Iran’s major oil port

(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 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)

1986 Turkey launched raid into Kurdistan after PKK destroyed a Turkish military post in Anatolia Turks

killed 165 PKK

1990 Iraqi opposition in Iran claimed they could field 50,000 to fight Saddam

1990 Iraq offered to fully implement UN Res 598 and Algiers Agreement to try to win favor with Iran after

Kuwait invasion

1991 UN Resolution 706 proposed Iraq import petroleum products to alleviate humanitarian situation

caused by sanctions Iraq rejected plan

1991 UN Resolution 707 Said Iraq was in flagrant violation of weapons inspectors Allowed inspectors to use

planes and helicopters for flights inside Iraq

1991 Baghdad objected to Res 707 saying US had flown U2 spy plane over Iraq claiming it was for

inspectors

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

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

(Musings On Iraq book review The Saddam Tapes)

1995 Supreme Council denounced Jordan taking in Saddam’s son-in-law Hussein Kamal calling him a

murderer 

2002 NatlSecAdv Rice said US needed to launch pre-emptive strike against Iraq before it got too strong

(Musings On Iraq book review America at the Crossroads, Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy)

(Musings On Iraq book review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)

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

Tragedy)

2002 Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Feith’s office briefed CIA officials on its findings that Iraq and

Al Qaeda had cooperated for years

2002 1st Bush NatlSecAdv Scowcroft wrote Wall St Journal OpEd saying Saddam not threat to US and not

connected to 9/11

2002 Sec State Powell called Scowcroft thanking him for OpEd saying it would help for arguments within

administration over Iraq

2002 Dep head of UK embassy to US wrote that White House talking about when war would start

not if it would happen

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 3.4 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options, Late July to 14 September 2002)

2003 White House objected to CPA’s request for $20.3 bil after administration said it would not ask

Congress for any more money for Iraq

2003 Oil pipeline to Turkey bombed in Baiji Salahaddin shutting down exports for 2^nd time in a week

2004 Peace talks between Allawi govt and Sadr broke down over ending 2^nd Battle of Najaf

(Musings On Iraq article on 2^nd battle of Najaf)

(Musings On Iraq book review Battle For The City Of The Dead)

2005 One week extension given to Constitutional committee to finish work

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

2008 Report US intel officer said that Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah had 4 training

camps in Iran for Asaib Ahl Al-Haq and Kataib Hezbollah in Tehran Qom Ahaz Mashhad

(Musings On Iraq article on Iran training Iraqi militias)

(Musings On Iraq article on history of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq)

(Musings On Iraq article on Iran’s Iraq policy)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Naval Postgraduate School’s Ostovar on history of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard)

(Musings On Iraq book review Vanguard of the Imam, Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard)

2011 ISI attacked Sahwa in mosque in Yusifiya during Ramadan and bombed St Ephraim Syriac Orthodox

church in Kirkuk

2012 PM Maliki said he wanted better relations with Turkey but also complained about Ankara’s ties to

Kurdistan

2015 Chief Justice Medhat said that judiciary supported PM Abadi’s reforms but made no changes

(Musings On Iraq interview with Reidar Visser on PM Abadi’s reform program)

2018 Protester killed by police beating outside West Qurna 2 oil field Basra Led to more demonstrations in

province

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Security In Iraq Aug 1-7, 2019

(Shafaaq News)

There was a slight increase in attacks in Iraq during the first week of August 2019. That was topped off by a car bomb in Salahaddin. The Islamic State also continued its campaign to move back into the capital.

This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 14

1921 Gertrude Bell wrote that Kurds in Irbil and Mosul had voted for Feisal in referendum and in

return they would get Kurdish officials

(Musings On Iraq book review of Gertrude Bell And Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review Gertrude Bell, Explorer of the Middle East)

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

1927 Report Assyrians refused to settle in northern Iraq

(Musings On Iraq book review of The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review State and Society in Iraq)

1933 Interior Min Suleiman went to Dohuk and Amadiya to try to stop killing of Assyrians

1933 3 days of looting of Assyrian villages in Al Qosh by Kurd Arab and Yazidi tribes ended

1933 Arabs attacked 2 Chaldean Christian villages near Assyrian ones in Al Qosh

1985 Iraq started air campaign against Kharg Island Iran’s main oil terminal Would last 4 months

Dropped capacity by 1/3 Iran moved most of its shipping south as a result

(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 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)

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

1998 Iraq found violating UN sanctions by smuggling oil

2002 National Security Presidential Directive included liberating people of Iraq and spreading democracy

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)

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

Tragedy)

(Musings On Iraq book review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)

2002 NSC meeting Sec State Powell said US had to build coalition against Iraq Said Bush should

address Iraq in his UN speech on 9/12/02 VP Cheney said Bush’s UN speech should attack organization for inaction on Iraq Natl Sec Adv Rice agreed with both

2003 UN Resolution 1500 created UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Said Iraqi Governing Council

important step to Iraq self-governance

2003 US intel officer wrote memo saying that “gloves are coming off” in interrogating Iraqi prisoners

2005 US Amb Khalizad accused Iran of attempting to subvert Iraq after US forces seized EFPs in south Iraq

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

(Musings On Iraq article on Iran’s Iraq policy)

2005 Kurds marched in Irbil Kirkuk Dohuk Sulaymaniya calling for Kurdish self determination control of

Kirkuk and disputed areas

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)

2006 US police training program offered plan to crack down on death squads and kidnappings by Interior

Min by reviewing each police battalion

(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how Badr took over Interior Ministry)

2006 After threat by insurgents only around 100 of Fallujah’s 1700 police showed up to duty

2006 Protest in Basra over lack of electricity during summer heat Clashed with police

2007 4 suicide truck bombs hit Kahtaniya and Jazeera in Sinjar district killed 796 Yazidis and wounded

almost 1,500 Was deadliest bombing in Iraq since 2003

2007 100 soldiers kidnapped Oil Ministry officials from govt compound in Baghdad including Dep Oil

Minister

2014 PM Maliki agreed to step down after elections Was under pressure from US and Ayatollah Sistani

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)

2015 Ayatollah Sistani’s office said PM Abadi needed to reform judiciary

(Musings On Iraq interview with Reidar Visser on PM Abadi’s reform program)

2015 Protests in Maysan Kirkuk Samawa Basra Karbala Najaf Nasiriya Hillah Baghdad Diwaniya Kut

Baquba Dujail over better services fight corruption

2015 Journalists said that Baghdad Operations Command stormed their office and told them not to cover

protests

2015 VP Maliki gave interview saying reform protests were anti-religious

2018 Protesters tried to storm West Qurna 2 oil field in Basra ISF used gunfire to disperse people College

grads burned degrees in Irbil over lack of jobs

View the Iraq History Timelines 

IMF Warns Iraq It Needs To Change Its Priorities But Baghdad Unresponsive

The International Monetary Fund released a report on Iraq’s budget and economy in July 2019. It repeated warnings it has been making for the last several years. Namely that Iraq needed to changed its spending, focus upon investment, reform its economy, and fight corruption. This message has been delivered to Iraq by the IMF, the World Bank, and the United States for years, and yet there has been no change. That’s because Iraq’s elites benefit from the way the system currently works.

This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 13

1919 War Min Churchill told PM George that keeping large British forces in Mesopotamia was a

financial drain

(Musings On Iraq article on Churchill’s views on Mesopotamia)

(Musings On Iraq book review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied)

(Musings On Iraq book review Supremacy And Oil, Iraq, Turkey, and the Anglo-American World Order, 1918-1930)

1920 6 British officials were killed during 1920 Revolt in Shahraban

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

1937 Gen Umari got support of military commanders in Kirkuk and Baghdad and issued demands to PM

Sulaiman included banishing officers from 1936 coup return of exiles removal of Gen Sidqi’s friends military court to investigate Sidqi assassination banned soldiers from politics

(Musings On Iraq book review The Role of the Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 1941)

(Musings On Iraq book review of Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)

1951 PM Said signed deal with Iraq Petroleum Company to split pre-tax profits 50-50 with Iraqi govt

1974 Iran and Iraq met in Turkey to negotiate border dispute

1986 US State Dept said Iraq was trying to negotiate peace but war continued because of Iran

(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 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)

1991 Baghdad and KDP restarted talks over Kurdish autonomy

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

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

2002 Gen Franks briefed Def Sec Rumsfeld on progress with Hybrid war plan Was approved by Rumsfeld

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

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

Tragedy)

2003 US forces pulled down a Shiite banner from a building in Sadr City leading to protests

2003 Dep Sec State Armitage said Iraq had WMD

2003 US gave up on attempt to get UN peace keeping force for Iraq

2004 PM Allawi govt announced 2^nd ceasefire with Mahdi Army to hold talks with Sadr to end 2^nd Battle for

Najaf Was still heavy fighting

2004 Militia kidnapped a British journalist and demanded US withdraw from Najaf during 2^nd battle for city

Sadr gained his release

(Musings On Iraq article on 2^nd battle of Najaf)

(Musings On Iraq book review Battle For The City Of The Dead)

(Musings On Iraq book review US Marines in Battle An-Najaf August 20014)

2005 4 tribes fought Al Qaeda in Iraq in Ramadi in pitched battle inside city Fighting provoked by AQI

posting flyers demanindg all Shiites leave city Tribesmen posted flyers in Ramadi saying they would not allow Zarqawi to turn city into another Fallujah Said Zarqawi lost direction

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2005 Al Qaeda in Iraq posted flyers in Ramadi saying it would kill clerics who urged people to vote in up

coming elections

2006 Bombing in Baghdad’s Zafaraniya set off gas explosion 58 killed 148 wounded

2006 US forces raided Health Min run by Sadrists after report of kidnapping Health Min went on strike to

protest raid

2006 Report June health director for Diyala called for meeting at Health Min and not seen again Mahdi

Army kidnapping people at Baghdad Morgue and taking them to Health Min

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

2011 Obama proposed reducing stay behind force to 7000 US soldiers in Iraq after withdrawal

(Musings On Iraq book review The United States And Iraq Since 1990: A Brief History with Documents)

2015 Maliki’s State of Law said PM Abadi had to keep one vice president because was in constitution

Abadi wanted to eliminate position

(Musings On Iraq interview with Reidar Visser on PM Abadi’s reform program)

2018 Medical and dental graduates protested in Sulaymaniya over lack of jobs

2018 Iraqi human rights group condemned govt treatment of protesters

View the Iraq History Timelines