This Day in Iraqi History - Aug 4

1933 French deported 600 Assyrians who fled to Syria in July back to Ninewa

            Assyrians then clashed with Iraqi army and were driven back to Syria

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

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 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)

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

            to power

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

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

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 article on UN weapons inspections)

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

            inspections happened because goal was regime change in Iraq

2002 Fmr National Sec Adv Brent Scowcroft came out against invading Iraq

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

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) 

2006 Rice said US making progress Iraq strategy not failing US had to stay the course

            Privately Rice thought strategy failing

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

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

            to 50% Shiite families had been driven out during civil war

(Musings On Iraq article on anti-Shiite flyers in Baghdad’s Dora)

2015 Protests in Sulaymaniya province over lack of services that led to clash with

police Over 30 wounded

View the Iraq History Timelines