Review The Price of Loyalty

Suskind, Ron, The Price of Loyalty, London: Simon & Schuster, 2004

 

Paul O’Neill was George Bush’s first Treasury Secretary from 2001-02. After he was fired he turned over his notes and thousands of government documents to writer Ron Suskind which led to The Price of Loyalty. It gave the first insider’s account of the Bush administration. It had two main themes. First, was O’Neill’s disagreement with the president over tax cuts. The second, was the secretary’s belief that the White House wanted to take on Saddam Hussein from the start of the new presidency. It also gave some personal insights into the president that has since been corroborated by other people that help explained his decision making.

This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 5

1933 Iraqi army swept through Jebel Behkair executed any Assyrians found

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

(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)

1958 Communists organized huge protest in Baghdad for federal union with United Arab Republic

and Yemen and against immediate union which was pushed by pan-Arab officers, Nasserists and Baathists

(Musings On Iraq review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)

(Musings On Iraq Interview with Prof Johan Franzen on the history of the Iraqi Communist Party)

1968 Pres Bakr govt announced amnesty for KDP rebels Reconciliation attempt by new Bakr govt

with Kurds

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

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

1980 Saddam went to Riyad to tell King Khalid Iraq was going to invade Iran and asked for financial

backing King questioned war and was afraid of repercussions Said Saudi military was weak and was afraid of Soviet intervention Couldn’t change Saddam’s mind and gave him tacit support

1983 Iraq counterattack in Mehran central front aimed at recapturing lost territory in Iranian Op

Wa al-Fajar 3

(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 Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

(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 Pres Bush said Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait would not stand

(Musings On Iraq review The Bush Administrations and Saddam Hussein, Deciding on Conflict)

1990 Saudi King asked for briefing on US military plans to respond to Kuwait invasion Sec Def

Cheney went to get basing rights

1990 NSC meeting Bush said that Kuwait problem wouldn’t be solved until Saddam removed and

defending Saudis and invading Kuwait two different things

(Musings On Iraq review from storm to Freedom, America’s Long War with Iraq)

1991 Bush ordered CIA to come up with covert plan to overthrow Saddam

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

1991 2,000 Turkish troops invaded 3 districts of Kurdistan in retaliation for PKK attack in Turkey

KDP and PUK supported Turkey PKK criticized them for doing so

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

2002 CENTCOM cmdr Gen Franks briefed Bush on latest version of Iraq war plan Had

original Generated Start plan Running Start which would have quicker build up and new Hybrid Plan which would be immediate start to war Franks said there was no postwar plan and he wanted to withdraw US forces as quickly as possible

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

2002 Sec State Powell told Bush that Iraq invasion would dominate 1^st term and US would be responsible

for Iraq afterward Powell said US had to go through UN to disarm Iraq and build international coalition Bush said wanted coalition

(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction’s “Hard Lessons” – Part I: Planning for Postwar Iraq September 2001 to May 2003)

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

Tragedy)

(Musings On Iraq review Bush At War)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Losing Iraq, Inside The Post War Reconstruction Fiasco)

2002 Report Bush official said 9/11 hijacker Atta met with Iraqi intel in Prague in 2001

2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld announced US forces had been finding buried Iraqi fighter jets in desert

Explained why Iraqi air force didn't fight during invasion

(Musings On Iraq Why Didn’t The Iraqi Air Force Fight During The 2003 Invasion?)

2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld said “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” about Iraq’s WMD not

found yet

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

(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)

(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld said death of Uday and Qusay Hussein showed Iraq that Baathists not returning to

power

2004 US Cmdr in Iraq Gen Casey issued first military campaign plan for Iraq since 2003 invasion

Said US had to confront insurgency Build Iraqi forces Persuade Sunnis to give up insurgency Rebuild country

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

(Musings On Iraq review Nights in the Pink Motel, An American Strategist’s Pursuit of Peace in Iraq on writing campaign plan for Gen Casey)

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from

George W. Bush to Barack Obama)

2004 Sadr called for his followers to rise up against the US occupation

(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)

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

2004 Mahdi Army attacked main police station in Najaf city and US forces in Baghdad starting 2^nd

Battle of Najaf

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

2004 Anbar governor resigned after his son was kidnapped by insurgents

2005 US said that EFPs were being shipped from Iran into Iraq to attack American forces

(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 Sec of State Rice told Bush Iraqis pulling their country apart

2015 Protests in Sulaymaniya over lack of services broken up by police

2015 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq said it would participate in next protest in Baghdad attempting to co-opt demos

(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)

2018 Report parliamentarian said Iraqi National Intel Service proved voting machines were not secure

2018 Continued sit ins by West Qurna 1 oil field in Basra and Muthanna Protests in Basra City West

Qurna 2 and Barjisiya fields Safwan border crossing South Gas Company all in Basra, 2 in Qadisya, Babil

View the Iraq History Timelines

Violence Remains Low In Iraq July 2020

Violence remained relatively the same in Iraq between June and July. Attacks were slightly up in July, but still at a very low level after the Islamic State’s spring offensive.

This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 4

1933 French deported Assyrians who had fled to Syria Iraqi troops sent to meet Assyrians and disarm

them Assyrians attacked army camp upon return to Iraq believing army was going to kill them 33 soldiers killed 40 wounded Over 500 Assyrians crossed back into Syria and were arrested by French Assyrians caught on Iraqi side were executed by army

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

(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)

1963 Govt troops captured Barzan and Mazna in offensive against KDP in Kurdistan

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

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

1970 Saddam visited Soviet Union and asked for debt relief Also for Moscow to stop aiding Kurds Soviets

agreed

1986 VP Bush used Egyptian Pres Mubarak to pass message to Iraq that it should expand air campaign

against 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 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)

1989 FBI raided Italian bank in Atlanta that made $4 bil in unauthorized loans to Iraq $500 mil was

guaranteed by Agriculture Dept Dept believed some of money being used for Iraqi missile program

1990 Bush met Kuwait emir Sabah and said US would free Kuwait and return emir to power

(Musings On Iraq review The Bush Administrations and Saddam Hussein, Deciding on Conflict)

1990 Joint statement by US and Soviet Union condemned Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and called for

withdrawal

1990 European Community imposed sanctions on Iraq for invasion of Kuwait

1990 Iraq announced Provisional Government of Free Kuwait

1990 King Hussein said Saddam was a patriot and wanted good Jordan-Iraq relations

1990 White House went over military plans in response to Kuwait invasion Included 200,000-250,000

troops deploying to Saudi Arabia Offensive operations would be possible in 8-12 months Bush ordered offensive plans but only after Saudis asked for help

(Musings On Iraq review from storm to Freedom, America’s Long War with Iraq)

1990 Bush said goal of deploying US forces to Persian Gulf was to protect Saudi Arabia

1990 Mukhabarat agents flown into Kuwait to run internal security

1991 Baath ordered property in Kirkuk to be given to Arabs and building over 2700 new homes for them

1992 Iraqi army shelled Kurdish positions in Kirkuk province

1992 Report Pentagon wanted to set up military exchange in Iraq 3 months before invasion of Kuwait

Came after Saddam threatened to burn half of Israel and Iraq caught trying to smuggle in nuclear triggers State Dept blocked plan

1998 Saddam ended cooperation with UN inspectors Kept monitoring system in tact Saddam demanded

inspectors reflect rotating membership of Security Council and offices be moved to Geneva or Vienna and out of NY to not be influenced by US

(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 Chilcot Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000)

(Musings On Iraq Charles Duelfer’s Account Of The End Of The 1990s U.N. Inspections)

(Musings On Iraq review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

2002 UnderSecDefArmsControl Bolton told BBC US didn’t care whether new UN inspections happened

because goal was regime change in Iraq

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

2002 Head of President’s Foreign Intel Board and Frm Natl Sec Adv Scowcroft gave TV interview saying

US should not invade Iraq Said would undermine war on terror and throw Middle East into turmoil Said UN inspectors should deal with Iraq’s WMD

2003 US reopened Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad

2004 Mahdi Army shot down US helicopter in Sadr City Police chief there led celebration for its downing

2004 Sec State Powell told UK Foreign Sec Straw that security in Sunni areas of Iraq was worse than

thought Said it was an indigenous movement with good intel to adapt to situation on the ground

2005 Report large shipment of EFPs captured in northern Iraq coming from Iran

(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 Sec State Rice said US making progress Iraq strategy not failing US had to stay the course Privately

Rice thought strategy failing

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

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

2006 Sadr organized protest in Baghdad against US occupation

2008 Flyers posted in Baghdad’s Dora warning Shiite families not to return to district Up to 50% of Shiite

families had been driven out during civil war

(Musings On Iraq Only Sunni Displaced Welcomed in Baghdad’s Dora District?)

2015 2 Protests in Sulaymaniya province over lack of services that led to clash with police Over 30 wounded

Also demo in Maysan

2017 Thousands protested in Baghdad over corruption called for by Sadr

2018 8^th day sit-in protest West Qurna 1 oil field 7^th day sit-in in Muthanna Protest ended in Husseiniya

Baghdad Demonstrations in Dhi Qar Qadisiya 2 others in Basra

View the Iraq History Timelines

Iraq’s Oil Prices Rise For Third Month But Still Too Low

The world oil market is slowly recovering due a combination of OPEC+ production cuts and countries opening up their economies during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, prices for Iraqi crude rose for the third month. They are still too low for the most oil dependent country in the world however.

This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 3

1954 Nuri al-Said became Iraq’s PM 7^th time Went after opposition parties

(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)

1982 Iran called off Op Ramadan invasion of Basra At its peak Iran seized 300 sq km of Iraqi territory By

end only held 80 sq km US est Iran lost 14,000 casualties Iraq lost 8700 casualties and 1700 prisoners

(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 Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)

(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 Last Kuwaiti resistance to Iraqi invasion ended

(Musings On Iraq review Desert Storm, Volume 1)

1990 Amnesty said Iraqi army had arrested Iraqi exiles in Kuwait

1990 Arab League said it would mediate dispute between Iraq and Kuwait after invasion

1990 2^nd NSC meeting on Kuwait invasion Bush said he agreed with PM Thatcher that Iraq’s actions

could not stand Bush said regional leaders were just talking about accepting the situation even though didn’t like it NatSecAdv Scowcroft said US wouldn’t accommodate Iraq Def Sec Cheney said Iraq was close to Saudi oil fields If didn't seize them would threaten them in future Bush and advisers agreed force might be necessary against Iraq and sanctions would probably fail

(Musings On Iraq review from storm to Freedom, America’s Long War with Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review The Bush Administrations and Saddam Hussein, Deciding on Conflict)

1990 Bush ordered CIA to come up with destabilization plan against Saddam

1990 Bush met Saudi Amb to US Bandar and convinced him to support US troops being sent to his

country

1998 Tariq Aziz met UN inspectors Complained they were focusing upon minor issues  not important to

disarmament Said dragging out process at behest of US Demanded that Iraq be certified WMD free and inspections end Aziz said Iraq had nothing else to declare about its weapons programs Chief UN inspector Butler said Iraq had not provided evidence to prove claim it had declared all of its weapons programs

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

(Musings On Iraq review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)

(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 Sadr ordered his followers to seize Najaf shrine and attack Coalition forces in south starting 2^nd

Battle of Najaf

(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)

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

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

2004 Mahdi Army kidnapped 18 police demanding release of their militiamen in return for freeing

officers

2005 Integrity Commission investigated a number of corrupt deals made by Defense Ministry under

Allawi govt One Defense Ministry deal was with Poland’s Bumar that included helicopters that turned out to be 28 years told Another deal was for ammunition which cost four times more than it was worth

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

2005 Report Defense Min lacked capacity to pay supply recruit and replace personnel and carry out

promotions or deliver spare parts

2006 CENTCOM Cmdr Gen Abizaid told Senate Iraq could fall into civil war if violence continued

2006 Report outgoing UK Amb to Iraq said Iraq would be unstable for 5-10 yrs Said Iraq could breakup

along ethnosectarian lines Said had to stop Mahdi Army from becoming like Hezbollah

2006 Inter Min Bolani said rogue elements within his ministry Told parliament new uniforms and IDs

would be made to distinguish between real and fake police Said he would root out corrupt police and those accused of torture and would show results by end of August Inter Min only ordered 25,000 new uniforms for force of 145,000

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

2006 Report some neighborhoods in Baghdad set up checkpoints and refused to allow police in without

US troops accompanying them

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

2006 Report of 14,000 planned reconstruction projects in Iraq more than 500 had not been started

Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said start of US reconstruction effort was confused overwhelmed lacked coordination and planning

2007 Reports Iraqi parties talking about replacing PM Maliki after Iraqi Accordance Front and Sadrists

            boycotted cabinet and parliament

2007 Report Maliki govt intentionally releasing lower casualty figures for violence in Iraq to downplay

insurgency Govt said 25 dead and 100 wounded in car bombing in Baghdad Later local officials said 92 dead and 127 wounded

2008 Report UK made ceasefire deal with Sadrists in Basra Would release all Mahdi Army prisoners and in

return UK would withdraw from city Allowed Mahdi Army to take over most of city

2009 PM Maliki met with Asaib Ahl Al-Haq Claimed group renounced violence and wanted to run

in 2010 elections Agreed to release AAH members held by US Part of plan for Maliki to undermine Sadr before vote

(Musings On Iraq League Of Righteous Breaks Off talks With Baghdad)

(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)

2014 IS seized Sinjar Zumar Wana in Ninewa Began massacre and enslavement of Yazidis

(Musings On Iraq Kurdish Government Tries to Create New Narrative Of What Happened To Iraq’s Yazidis)

(Musings On Iraq interview with AUIS’s Christine van den Toorn on what happened to Yazidis when IS invaded Sinjar) 

(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir van Wilgenburg on dispute between KDP Hashd and Yazidis in Sinjar)

2014 IS attacked north into Irbil

2015 Protest in Pirzin Irbil over power cuts and water shortages

2017 Sadr called for mass demonstrations over passage of provincial council law

2018 Protests in Baghdad 2 in Basra Najaf Karbala Qadisiya Muthanna Babil Dhi Qar Maysan for better

services

View the Iraq History Timelines

This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 2

1914 Ottomans signed alliance with Germany that would bring Mesopotamia into WW1

1924 Yasin al-Hashemi became PM of Iraq Was ordered to organize elections for an assembly to draft

a constitution

(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)

1933 Iraqis met with French again Told Assyrians couldn’t stay in Syria Assyrians had been disarmed

voluntarily Only 415 had gone to Syria Were another 350 on border on Iraqi side Iraqis asked whether Assyrians would be given back weapons when returned but French said nothing

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

(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)

1968 Iraq announced it would seek better ties with Soviet Union and China

1983 Iraqi forces retreated 15 mi south of Mehran Iran central front back to Iraqi border Iraq launched

counterattack stopping Iranian Op Wa al-Fajr 3 Iranian forces dug in around Mehran

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

1986 Saddam offered peace agreement to Iran Was rejected by Tehran

1987 Iraq bombed Oshnaviyah, Iran with mustard gas wounding 2,680 people

(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 Saddam invaded Kuwait originally claiming there was a coup and emir called on Iraq for help Saddam

then changed justification for invasion by saying an opposition govt had overthrown Sabah family and asked for help

(Musings On Iraq review the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait)

(Musings On Iraq review Desert Storm, Volume 1)

(Musings On Iraq review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)

1990 Iraq said it would only be in Kuwait for days-weeks until Provisional Free Kuwait Govt asked it to

leave

1990 Iraq accused Kuwait of being involved in foreign and Zionist plots

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq in Wartime, Soldiering, Martyrdom, and Remembrance)

1990 Most of Arab world did not report on Iraq’s Kuwait invasion until 2 days later

1990 Kuwait’s ruling Sabah family tipped off about invasion US flew them to Bahrain and then Saudi

Arabia Called for resistance against the Iraqis

1990 Iraq could not find any credible Kuwaitis to establish a provisional govt to run country for it

1990 Iraq banned foreign travel for its nationals

1990 Bush NSC meeting focused on how Iraq invasion of Kuwait would allow Baghdad to control oil

market Wondered if Iraq would invade Saudi Arabia to seize its oil Made no decision on what overall policy to take Decided to go to UN gain international support impose sanctions

(Musings On Iraq review from storm to Freedom, America’s Long War with Iraq)

1990 Natl Sec Adv Scowcroft talked to Bush said he wanted to address next NSC meeting and express

steadfastly that US would not allow Kuwait invasion to stand Bush agreed Discussed using force to expel Iraq from Kuwait

(Musings On Iraq review The Bush Administrations and Saddam Hussein, Deciding on Conflict)

1990 NSC’s Near East Dir Haas drafted memo on using sanctions and military options to deal with Iraq’s

invasion of Kuwait 

1990 Bush met PM Thatcher who said Kuwait invasion couldn't stand and troops had to be sent to Middle

East Bush agreed Thatcher said that if Iraq’s aggression was allowed to stand no small country could ever feel safe

1990 US stopped loan guarantees to Iraq due to Kuwait invasion Froze Iraqi and Kuwait assets in US

1990 Bush told reporters he was not thinking of using force in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait

1990 Joint Chiefs chairman Gen Powell told Gen Schwarkopf he thought US would go to war over Saudi

Arabia but not Kuwait

1990 UN Resolution 660 demanded Iraq’s immediate withdrawal from Kuwait Said Iraq and Kuwait had to

use talks to resolve problems

1990 Joint US-USSR statement condemned Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait

1992 Kuwait and Saudi officials argued that Iraq should be divided along ethnosectarian lines to stop threat

of country to Persian Gulf

2002 DIA report on debate over aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy DIA sided with CIA that tubes were for

centrifuges Said matched 1950s German centrifuge design

(Musings On Iraq How A Contested Aluminum Tubes Story Became The Basis For War With Iraq)

2004 Marines just given control of Najaf came under attack 1^st time by Mahdi Army in city as passed near

Sadr’s house Led to attacks by Mahdi Army in Baghdad, Kuwat, Nasiriya, Amara, Basra

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

(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)

2004 Al Qaeda in Iraq War Min Abu Masri executed Turkish civilian Murat Yuce

2007 Saudis told Sec State Rice and Def Sec Gates that they were not funding Iraqi insurgency Said

wouldn’t support Iraqi govt Said Iraq was a threat because terrorists could come from there into Saudi Arabia

(Musings On Iraq The Saudi Role In The Iraqi Insurgency)

2008 Report on wave of female suicide bombers in Iraq Most had family member killed or arrested and

wanted revenge or maintain family honor Main target Sahwa and Iraqi forces

(Musings On Iraq Motivations Behind Female Suicide Bombers)

2009 Maliki govt transitioned 1^st batch of 3,331 sahwa Were assigned to ministries and had to apply for jobs

instead of given them as promised

2011 Car bomb at Holy Family Syriac Church in Kirkuk 2 other car bombs defused at other churches in city

2012 Turkey’s Foreign Min Davotoglu visited Kirkuk City which Iraq’s Foreign Ministry called interference

in Iraqi affairs

2015 Protests in Seysaib in Irbil and Dhi Qar Babil and Najaf over lack of services

2018 Protesters blocked road to West Qurna 1 oil field in Basra Gave govt 48 hours to answer their demands

View the Iraq History Timelines