Monday, March 5, 2018

This Day In Iraqi History – Mar 5


1917 British forces started march on Baghdad from Kut
1981 Iraq offered peace deal to Iran including withdrawal Khomeini said no seeing
            offer as weakness by Saddam
1981 Khomeini’s rejection of Iraq’s peace offer led Saddam to push ahead with
            new attacks in Iran
1981 Report that Iraq wanted to buy military equipment from US but turned down
1983 Soviet For Min Gromyko met with Iraqi and Iranian delegations to try to
            mediate end to Iran-Iraq War
1984 US condemned Iraq’s use of WMD for 1st time in Iran-Iraq War
1985 Iraq bombed Ahvaz in Khuzistan province Started new war of cities that lasted
            until June 1985
1988 Iran told UN that it was ready to accept ceasefire
1991 Police tried to arrest army deserters in Rania but Kurdish rebels seized city
1991 Karbala joined Shiite revolt
1991 Ayatollah Khoei issued fatwa for people in Najaf to follow Islamic Law Protect
            property during uprising
1991 Sec of Def Cheney said US would not be able to hold coalition together if it
            moved on Saddam
1991 US Gen Brandtner said US would not let weapons go to Shiite rebels in southern
            Iraq
1991 Iraq officially renounced annexation of Kuwait agreed to pay reparations and
            return stolen property to Kuwait
1995 INC claimed fighting between opposition and Iraqi forces in Qurna as part of
            its uprising
1998 UN weapons inspectors returned to Iraq and carried out successful searches
1998 Report Al Qaeda operative arrived in Baghdad for talks False story
2002 CIA debriefed Fmr Amb Wilson on his trip to Niger to investigate Iraq buying
            uranium
2002 Wilson said he found no proof of Iraq-Niger uranium deal but in 1999 Iraq asked
            Niger about better trade
2002 CIA believed 1999 overture about better Iraq-Niger trade might have been
            supporting proof of uranium deal
2002 Fmr Amb Wilson left CIA debriefing believing he disproved Iraq-Niger uranium
            deal CIA felt they might have proof it happened
(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq-Niger uranium story)
2002 Joint Intel Comm head Scarlett briefed Blair on Iraq’s WMD Afterward Blair
            thought Iraq only had battlefield WMD capability
2002 UK Home Secretary Blunkett at cabinet meeting asked whether legal basis for
            action vs Iraq
2002 UK For Sec Straw wrote article saying if Saddam refused weapons inspectors
            there would be consequences
2002 UK intel report predicted successor to Saddam would be a Sunni military man
2003 UK Embassy in Washington said Bush admin set on war with Iraq
2003 France Russia Germany said they would not vote for a UN resolution authorizing
            force against Iraq
2003 Blair told Bush if they got 9 votes on Sec Council for 2nd resolution and it was
            vetoed they would still have legal authority for action
2003 UK Attny Gen told Blair if 2nd resolution vetoed in UN would be no legal
            basis for Iraq war
2003 Powell told Congress 2nd UN resolution against Iraq would pass while his staff
            told him wasn’t likely
2003 Powell said that Iraq weapons declaration to UN farce because it said it had no
            WMD and claimed it was hiding them from inspectors
2003 National Intelligence Committee memo said that docs on Iraq-Niger uranium
            deal were forgeries
(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq-Niger uranium story)
2003 Sir Tebbet Sec of UK Def Min asked cabinet for legal authorization for war with
            Iraq
2003 Russian Amb provided Iraq with numbers of US troops, equipment and their
locations to Iraq before invasion
2003 ORHA head Garner got ok from Rice to use frozen Iraqi assets to pay for postwar
            plans
2003 ORHA head Garner told Rice he didn’t think there would be enough US troops in
            Iraq to maintain security after invasion
2003 ORHA head Garner asked Rice what were plans to put together post-Saddam
            Iraqi govt Got no answer
2003 Gen Franks briefed Bush on war preparations Were 208,000 forces in Middle East
            with 50,000 more arriving in 2 weeks
2003 Bush met Vatican envoy who argued against war because of casualties and gulf
            between Christians and Muslims
2004 Gen Abizaid said ISF put together too quickly and lacked training equipment
            command and control
2004 Fmr head weapons inspector Blix said Iraq war was not authorized by existing
            UN resolutions
2004 Shiite members of Iraqi Governing Council refused to sign Transitional
            Administrative Law due to Sistani objections
2006 Gen Pace Joint Chiefs head said Iraq was not heading towards civil war
2006 After head of Nuaim tribe and sheikh from Jabour tribe killed Hawija sheikhs
            decided to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq


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