This Day In Iraqi History - Jul 20

1959 Gen Qasim put several Communists on trial for hand in Jul 14 fighting

            between Kurds and Turkmen in Kirkuk

1961 Kuwait admitted to Arab League Iraq stopped working with League as a result

            because Qasim claimed Kuwait as part of Iraq

1970 Pres Bakr attacked Communists for not accepting Baathist leadership in govt

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

1987 Iraq accepted UN Res 598 calling for a ceasefire in Iran-Iraq War Iran didn’t reject

            it which was a first

1988 Ayatollah Khomeini said that he endorsed Iran-Iraq War ceasefire

1988 Iraq tried to add 3 more requirements to UN Res 598 ceasefire in Iran-Iraq War

including direct talks with Iran Was meant to delay talks so Iraq could gain more territory to increase its position

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

1990 Pentagon report said Iraq unlikely to use force against Kuwait

1991 KDP and PUK launched attacks in Irbil, Dohuk, Sulaymaniya provinces UN said

            Kurds had taken large parts of Sulaymaniya Iraq accused Iran of interference

1998 US asked PUK and KDP to meet in Washington for peace talks over civil war

2002 CIA Dir Tenet met MI6 Head Dearlove Tenet said WMD intel didn’t matter

            because war was inevitable

2003 Sadrists protested in Najaf against US harassment

2003 Report US military teams searching for Iraq’s WMD frustrated by not finding

            anything

2003 Report Jun 02 US started campaign to use No Fly Zones to degrade Iraq’s air

            defenses to prepare for invasion

2003 Report US intel actually knew very little about Iraq’s WMD after UN inspectors

            left in 90s

2004 Filipino driver kidnapped by insurgents Was released after Philippines withdrew its

            51 soldiers from Iraq

2004 Blair defended Iraq war to parliament saying caveats should have been included

            in UK dossier on Iraq WMD

2006 Bush told violence moving from insurgency to sectarian Overwhelming Maliki

            govt ISF involved in sectarian violence

2008 Iraqi Accordance Front ended 11 month boycott of parliament gaining no

            concessions from Maliki

(Musings On Iraq article on Accordance Front boycott)

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