This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 21

1922 UK Sec of War Evans told Foreign Office it should back King Faisal because that would allow

UK to exit Iraq and escape expenses of running country

1984 Iranian Op Al Fajr 6 began Aimed at taking Ali al-Gharbi 15 miles into Iraq

1984 Iraq warned that it could use chemical weapons against next Iranian offensive

1986 Iraq counterattack to retake Fao began on 3 fronts Iraq used poison gas but bad weather dissipated

effects

(Musings On Iraq article on the origins of Iraq’s WMD programs)

(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 book review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq book review of Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)

1991 Foreign Minister Aziz went to Moscow Told Gorbachev Iraq wouldn't accept UN resolution to

recognize Kuwait independence and pay reparations

1991 Russia announced proposal for Iraq withdrawal from Kuwait in return for lifting of sanctions US

rejected offer

1999 Govt killed 20 protesting assassination of Ayatollah Sadiq al-Sadr by Saddam and arrested 250

across Iraq

(Musings On Iraq interview with Univ of Haifa’s Prof Baram on legacy of Ayatollah Sadiq al-Sadr)

2002 Fmr Amb Joseph Wilson left for Niger to investigate Iraq buying uranium from it

(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq-Niger uranium story)

2003 ORHA staff met in DC to have run through their Iraq postwar plans

2003 Blair met Bush at Camp David to reaffirm their alliance to remove Saddam

2004 Report US did not brief UN inspectors on 21 of 105 WMD sites in Iraq US claimed it gave info on all

sites

2004 UN Secretary General Annan said UN was ready to assist Iraq with elections but couldn’t happen

before end of June 2004

2006 PBS Frontline show “The Insurgency” said Iraqi insurgency expanded and Islamists replaced former

regime members as leaders

2007 Blair announced England would begin withdrawing 1,500 troops from Basra

2007 Report British lost politically and militarily in Basra by 2005 when Shiite religious parties won

provincial election and took control of security forces and economy

2007 Australia said it would keep its 1,400 soldiers in Iraq

2008 Op Sun 800 Turkish troops entered Kurdistan to attack PKK

2011 Group of men attacked protesters in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square while police looked on

2015 National Alliance MPs complained that Abadi didn’t consult with them about his reforms

2015 Sadrists said Abadi missed great chance to reform country Sadrists had been PM Abadi’s main

supporters

(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms)

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