This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 17

 

1909 Mosul representatives to new Ottoman Assembly left for Istanbul Was part of Young Turks’

reforms

1914 US consulate report Sheikhs met with Ottomans in Baghdad Didn’t want war but

would defend their land Wanted guns ammo promises of rewards for their service

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

also ended

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

(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)

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

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)

1980 UN Security Council discussed Iran-Iraq War Addressed by Iran and Iraq Iran Foreign Min told UN

Iraq was aggressor Saddam wanted to overthrow Iranian govt Iraq backed by superpowers and Arab countries Iraq Foreign 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 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)

1987 Iraq held national census

1994 Russia urged UN to lift oil embargo on Iraq after it withdrew its troops from Kuwait border

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

for a bomb

2001 Bush called PM Blair Told him Iraq probably behind anthrax letters in US

2001 NY Times 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 Story false

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

(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with former CIA analyst Nada Bakos that tracked Zarqawi)

2004 Heavy fighting in east and south Fallujah between US forces and insurgents US wanted to clear city

before Jan 05 election

(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 14 Fighting To The Elections, August-December 2004)

(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)

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

(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 Interior Min fired 3,000 police for human rights abuses corruption connection to militias 1

Police Commando commander and a public order brigade commander removed for ties to militias

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

2006 After 4 days of sectarian fighting Iraqi army and US forces deployed to Balad Almost entire

Sunni population had fled

2008 ISF arrested 4 ISI members planning attacks on Christians in Mosul Since attacks started in Oct

9,360 had fled city

(Musings On Iraq review Christianity in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Bad Times For Iraq’s Christians)

2008 UN reported more Iraqis seeking asylum than any other nationality 1^st 6 months of 2008

            165,100 Iraqis asked for asylum

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)

(Musings On Iraq Review They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate)

(Musings On Iraq Review Shatter the Nations, ISIS and the War for the Caliphate)

2017 Kurds withdrew from Khanaqin Diyala Also Bashiqa Makhmour Gwar Rabia part of Sinjar Ninewa

that they occupied in 2014 Was gun battle between Hashd and Police vs Peshmerga at Mosul Dam

(Musings On Iraq Kirkuk Aftermath)

(Musings On Iraq Kurds Fall Back to 2014 Borders)

(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)

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

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 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)

2019 Maliki Hakim Abadi all condemned govt going after journalists

(Musings On Iraq Sadr Joins Protests While Govt Continues With Promises And Crackdown)

2020 Pro-Iran Hashd and supporters burned KDP office in Baghdad’s Green Zone after Hoshyar

Zebari said that Hashd should be expelled from Green Zone

2020 12 men kidnapped and 8 of their bodies later found in Balad Salahaddin Asaib Ahl Al-Haq blamed

Provincial officials demanded Hashd withdraw from area

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

(Musings On Iraq Security In Iraq Oct 15-21, 2020)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 16

 

1914 UK convoy with 16^th Indian Bgd on way to Egypt told it was being sent to Persian Gulf to secure

Persian oil fields and occupy Basra

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In World War I, From Ottoman Rule to British Conquest)

(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)

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

1991 Turkish army launched ground assault into Kurdistan to attack PKK

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

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

interim govt and constitution

(Musings On Iraq review The Struggle For Iraq’s Future, How Corruption, Incompetence and Sectarianism Have Undermined Democracy)

2003 UK Def Sec Hoon said that attacks on Coalition were increasing and Coalition response in

Sunni areas was alienating Iraqis

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

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

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

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 report Said meant 500,000 death certificates were issued

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

(Musings On Iraq Major Flaws With The Lancet Reports On Iraqi Deaths Part I)

(Musings On Iraq Major Flaws With The Lancet Reports On Iraqi Deaths Part II)

(Musings On Iraq New Survey On Estimated Deaths In Iraq 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 13 vehicles stopped at police checkpoint south of Balad and

people taken away by insurgents afer 2 days of killings by Shiites for 26 Shiites killed in Dhuluiya Total of 80 bodies arrived at Balad morgue

2006 ISI car bomb hit Sheikh Abu Risha’s compound head of Anbar Awakening in Ramadi

2007 Report US stopped UK withdrawal from Basra for 5 months During time 25 UK soldiers killed

58 wounded US said Iran would move into city if UK pulled out too soon UK said Iraqi nationalism would hold Iran in check PM Maliki sent general to Basra to tell UK it should leave to reduce tensions

2007 Report Dec 06 US Embassy memo said every Iraqi ministry plagued by corruption Singled out

Interior Min as one of the worst Health Min run by Sadrists who extorted doctors and private clinics and stole drugs

(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector Gen for Iraq Reconstruction Bowen on corruption in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq interview with fmr anti-graft official Vincent Foulk on corruption in Iraq)

2007 Report US organized 34 Sahwa units in central Iraq 25 were Sunni 9 Shiite

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

2012 PM 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 Iraqi forces moved towards military base and oil fields in south Kirkuk Fighting broke out with

Peshmerga PUK withdrew most of its forces leading KDP to do the same Allowed joint forces to take most of Kirkuk province including Bai Hassan Avana and Baba Gargur oil and gas fields denying KRG of roughly half its revenues

(Musings On Iraq Kirkuk Aftermath)

(Musings On Iraq Kurds Fall Back to 2014 Borders)

(Musings On Iraq Seven Expert Opinions On The Kirkuk Crisis)

2017 KDP called PUK traitors and PUK called KDP thieves after Kurdish withdrawal from Kirkuk

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

with governor and army chief of staff

(Musings On Iraq In Face Of Referendum Fallout Kurdish Ruling Parties Decide To Hold Onto Power)

2017 Fighting broke out between Peshmerga and Hashd in Tuz Kharmato Salahaddin Widespread looting

and burning of homes and businesses by Hashd

(Musings On Iraq Kurds Fall Back To 2014 Borders)

2019 Report PM Abdul Mahdi asked Sistani to help end protests but he refused Iran Rev Guard’s Gen

Suleimani flew to Najaf and warned Sistani had to pick between the protests and the govt

(Musings On Iraq Sadr Joins Protests While Govt Continues With Promises And Crackdown)

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

2019 Report Pro-Iran Hashd units deployed 3^rd day of protests to put them down Used snipers

            in Baghdad Included elements of Hashd commission

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

2019 Iraqi Media House said journalists were fleeing Baghdad and south due to death threats

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review when baghdad ruled the muslin world, the rise and fall of islam’s greatest dynasty

 Kennedy, Hugh, when baghdad ruled the muslin world, the rise and fall of islam’s greatest dynasty, Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2004

 

Hugh Kennedy takes an unconventional approach to telling the history of the Abbasid caliphate in when baghdad ruled the muslim world, the rise and fall of islam’s greatest dynasty. He was inspired by the poems and stories that are the source material for historians to study this time period. He therefore wrote a narrative about the empire rather than a straight history. It proved to be a very approachable book on the Abbasids.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 15

 

1905 British Amb to Turkey O’Conor sent memo written by Sir Sykes to Foreign Office detailing oil

deposits in Mosul vilayet

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

(Musings On Iraq review Imagining The Nation, Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

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

(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)

1973 Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi offensive in southern Syria against Israel failed to achieve results Yom-Kippur

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 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)

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

territory to combat group

(Musings On Iraq review Turkey, the US and Iraq)

1991 Report UN inspectors said Iraq worked on hydrogen bomb before Gulf War Found program more

advanced than previously thought Iraq could’ve had bomb in a year

(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)

1993 Chief UN inspector Ekeus told Security Council progress had been made on missile

chemical and nuclear programs Iraq was hoping its recent concessions would end sanctions

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

1996 UAE head Nahyan called on Arab countries to reconcile with Iraq and called for lifting of sanctions

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)

(Musings On Iraq review Death of the Mehdi Army, The Rise, Fall, and Revival of Iraq’s Most Powerful Militia)

(Musings On Iraq review Muqtada, Muqtada Al-Sadr, The Shia Revival, And The Struggle For Iraq)

1997 Turkey’s Op Dawn ended against PKK in Kurdistan

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

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

story suspect

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

(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

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

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

WMD ethnosectarian conflict List was to point out possible problems so war could be successful Had no follow up on how to deal with any problems listed

(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)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

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

(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)

(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)

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

(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 Natl Sec Adv Rice said CPA’s schedule for Iraq wouldn’t work and new one had to be created

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

(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)

2003 Sadr followers failed to take over Karbala shrine

2003 UK intel report Worried that Iraq would become new base for jihadists Significant number of

Islamists had already travelled to Iraq Could become base for recruiting training and attacks and could get worse

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

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

2003 CPA began distributing new Iraqi dinars

2004 US put Zarqawi on its terrorist list

2004 VP Cheney said Iraq could have given WMD to terrorists

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

2005 Constitution approved in Referendum 66% voter turnout 70% of Sunnis voted against it

(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 18 – Defeated By Democracy, Winter 2005-2006)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)

(Musings On Iraq review The Struggle For Iraq’s Future, How Corruption, Incompetence and Sectarianism Have Undermined Democracy)

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 ISCI objected to breaking

            up Iraq

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

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

2007 State Dept official told reporters corruption in Iraq was systemic and hindering govt Claimed PM

            Maliki was dealing with it

(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector Gen for Iraq Reconstruction Bowen on corruption in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq interview with fmr anti-graft official Vincent Foulk on corruption in Iraq)

2008 Moldova announced withdrawing its 20 soldiers Dec 08 Were supposed to stay until March 09 Said

improved security meant not needed anymore

2008 US and ISF started new campaign to secure Mosul Started in western half Was ISI’s new base

Campaign failed

2009 Sadrists held primary election meant to rally support for 09 provincial elections

(Musings On Iraq The Sadrist Primaries)

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 over independence

referendum

(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)

2019 Sadr called for new protests during Arbaeen pilgrimage in Karbala

(Musings On Iraq Sadr Joins Protests While Govt Continues With Promises And Crackdown)

View the Iraq History Timelines

Manual Recount In Iraq, Parties Start Forming Alliances, Early Election Returns

(Reuters)

Iraq’s Election Commission announced it will have a manual count of ballots from 8,000 polling stations. The Commission originally said it would have the results within 24 hours of the polls closing but there were massive problems with the electronic voting machines. This was a huge increase from the previous number the Commission gave of 3,100 voting stations having issues. The Commission said it would take a week to tally the ballots in two districts of Baghdad. This is causing controversy already as some are accusing political parties of interference with the Commission’s work and tallying of votes. More importantly it shakes the confidence in the entire system. This is the second time that Iraq has had difficulties with its voting machines forcing a recount but it doesn’t seem to learn.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 14

 

1920 UK military took Kifl railway station Major transportation hub in mid-Euphrates during 1920 Revolt

1920 Bani Hassan tribe withdrew from 1920 Revolt after sheikhs took money from British

1920 Rebel govt in Karbala asked to surrender in 48 hours during 1920 Revolt

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

(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)

1927 Turkish Petroleum Company struck oil at Baba Gurgur field, Kirkuk starting Iraq’s oil

industry

(Musings On Iraq review Imagining The Nation, Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

1973 3^rd day fighting between Israeli and Iraqi forces in Syria

1980 Iraqi forces entered Khorramshahr Iranians began phased withdrawal from city in south Took

Abadan-Ahwaz road Began attack on Abadan but didn’t have numbers to take it

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

1980 Iranian counterattack stopped Iraqi advance in Dezful area

1982 Iraqi air force ended two month bombing campaign against Kharg Island Iran’s major oil port with

little to show for 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 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)

1990 Iran and Iraq officially restored diplomatic relations as Saddam tried to secure his eastern flank

as war neared with US

1997 Britain, Turkey, US asked for KDP to withdraw from PUK territory

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

2001 Frontline TV show interviewed INC provided Iraqi defector Khodada who claimed Iraq trained

terrorists to hijack planes at Salman Pak implying 9/11 connection

2001 Guardian article quoted fmr CIA Dir Woolsey Iraq only country with capabilities to pull

            off anthrax letters in US

2003 White House told Congress 70,000 new Iraqi forces on duty and 13,000 in training

(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil

War, 2003-2006)

2003 Sadrists tried to seize Karbala shrine leading to fighting with Sistani followers

2003 Ansar al-Sunna suicide car bombing of Turkish Embassy in Baghdad 2 dead 13 wounded Part of

Ramadan offensive

(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)

(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)

2004 Insurgents suicide bombers penetrated Green Zone killed 5 wounded 18

(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)

2004 US forces began encircling Fallujah and sending reinforcements to Ramadi Wanted to clear Fallujah

before Jan 05 election

(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 14 Fighting To The Elections, August-December 2004)

(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)

2006 After 26 bodies of men from Balad found in Dhuluiya Mahdi Army began arriving in Balad from

Baghdad Shiite gunmen set up checkpoints in Balad and started killing Sunnis Shiite mosques began broadcasting messages that Sunnis needed to leave

2008 5,470 Christian fled Mosul after 14 killed

(Musings On Iraq Bad Times For Iraq’s Christians)

(Musings On Iraq review Christianity in Iraq)

2008 140 Iraqi refugee families returned from Syria as part of PM Maliki’s campaign to encourage

refugees to come back to Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Baghdad Continues To Encourage Return Of Refugees)

(Musings On Iraq Refugees International Report On Iraq’s Refugees and Displaced)

(Musings On Iraq January 2009 U.N. Report On Iraq Refugee Returns)

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

2008 Turkish dep Foreign Min met with Pres Barzani Made deal not to allow PKK to use KRG for attacks

on Turkey KRG had no control over Iraq-Turkey border

2008 1^st Syrian ambassador in 25 yrs arrived in Iraq Iraq-Syria restored diplomatic relations in Nov 06

2009 Iraq’s Human Rights Min reported 85,694 Iraqis killed and 147,195 wounded from 2004-Oct 08

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Ministry Counts 85,000 Dead From 2004-Oct 2008)

2009 Report Oil Min Shahristani said oil companies had to hire Iraqis for 85% of jobs Said Iraq

didn’t have qualified personnel so corporations had to create schools to train them

2012 MP announced arrest warrant issued for head of Central Bank of Iraq Shabibi after he refused

to cooperate with PM Maliki over the dinar

2014 IS captured Hit Anbar after Iraq army unit abandoned base

2015 Baiji refinery in Salahaddin finally freed from IS

2017 IRGC Gen Suelimani met with Talabani family Went over govt take over of Kirkuk Warned PUK

to distance itself from KDP or suffer the consequences after independence referendum

(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)

2019 Report Iraq Bar Association said more than 200 people killed during protests Govt

            arresting activists and journalists Many being tortured

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

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Losers In Iraq’s Election Not Taking Results Well

Amiri's Fatah is one of several parties rejecting the early returns in Oct's election (Reuters)

Several of Iraq’s major parties had poor showings in Sunday’s vote and they are not happy. Many of them are claiming fraud and there were some protests as a result.