This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 11

1917 British army captured Baghdad from Ottomans

1922 Wahabi Ikhwan from Saudi Arabia attacked south of Nasiriya slaughtering civilians

1959 Nasser gave speech in Damascus attacking Communists as being against freedom not

supporting Arab nationalism and taking orders from a foreign country meaning USSR

(Musings On Iraq book 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)

1970 Bakr govt offered Kurds autonomy agreement after talks with KDP Offered self rule assembly

recognized Kurdish language promoted Kurdish culture Agreement allowed Kurdish vice president in Baghdad share of oil revenue Mustafa Bazani agreed to give up heavy weapons and have Peshmerga integrated into army

1970 Since fighting started in 1968 some 60,000 killed in Kurdish rebellion 300,000 displaced

1974 After talks with KDP broke down Bakr govt announced Autonomy Law for Kurdisan which KDP

rejected

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

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

1984 Report Iraq had 3 poison gas plants producing chemical weapons for Iran-Iraq War

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

1985 Iran bombed Baghdad and 10 other Iraqi cities Started 2^nd War of Cities

1985 Iran started Op Badr trying again to cut Basra-Baghdad highway take back initiative in war Started

with diversionary attack then infiltration into Hoveyzah marshes Overran Iraqi 35^th Division

1986 Iraqi Special Forces unit destroyed attempting to storm beaches on Fao Peninsula

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

1987 Limited Iranian attack in Basra stopped by Iraqis

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)

1988 Iran and Iraq signed truce in war of cities in Ankara Didn’t last War of Cities went on for another

month

(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)

1991 Shiite uprising in Hillah put down

1991 Rebels from Najaf met French forces who said they would meet Gen Schwarzkopf Never happened

1991 Kurdish uprising started in Irbil

1991 Massoud Barzani offered amnesty for soldiers who surrendered to Peshmerga

1991 Peshmerga began attacking Kirkuk, Iraqi army responded by taking hostages inside city

(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq article on 1^st hand accounts of 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq article on Saddam’s view of 1991 Uprising)

(Ahulbayt Video on 1991 Uprising)

1992 Saddam said Kurds could not hold elections for parliament until they gave up protection of Coalition

forces

1995 PUK suicide bomber hit KDP headquarters in Zakho

2002 Blair told Cheney UK would support US action to remove Saddam

2003 Rumsfeld said US could attack Iraq by itself without other nations Said British might not participate

2003 UK Embassy in US furious that Rumsfeld said British might not take part in war and complained to

White House

2003 Rumsfeld forced to issue clarification saying British would take part in Iraq war

2003 Blair said Britain would help in any US attack upon Iraq

2003 UK acknowledged couldn't get 2^nd UN resolution authorizing force against Iraq before US timetable

for war

2003 UK Chief of Def Staff Adm Boyce said military needed legal directive for war with Iraq

2003 CIA assessment said it didn’t dispute IAEA finding that Iraq-Niger uranium docs were fakes

2003 CIA WMD division said it didn’t dispute IAEA finding that Iraq-Niger uranium docs were fakes and

always considered intel on story fragmentary

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

2003 ORHA head Garner told press US would keep Iraqi army and would quickly turn over control of

country to Iraqis When asked Garner dismissed talk about US turning over power to Chalabi and INC

2003 DepDefSec Wolfowitz and UnderSecDef Feith chastised ORHA head Garner for comments about INC

Garner later told by Pentagon he could no longer talk to the press

2003 Rice issued memo on postwar Iraq plans Said interim Iraqi authority would be created Meeting in

Baghdad to be held to bring in more Iraqis to authority

(Musings On Iraq article on Part I Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Planning for Postwar Iraq September 2001 to May 2003)

2004 UK envoy to Iraq John Drawers said US had no leadership strategy or coordination

2004 Iran intel opened Office to Help Poor Shiites as front office in Najaf Recruited Iraqis

(Musings On Iraq article on Iran’s Iraq policy)

2010 US captured ISI governor for Baghdad Rawi who provided intel that led to killing of ISI leaders Masri

and Baghdadi

2011 KDP held rally against on going protests

(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)

2013 Anbar council voted to delay provincial elections there

2016 Sadrists protested again in Baghdad demanding reforms

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

2018 Security operation in part of Hawija district began in response to increased insurgent attacks in area

2018 2 Pro-Abadi MPs said that parliament added too much govt spending to 2018 budget which World

Bank objected to and admitted IMF had problems with budget as well

View the Iraq History Timelines