This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 12

1921 Start of Cairo Conference where Britain decided on its future Middle East policy with

Mesopotamia being a centerpiece

(Musings On Iraq article on Cairo conference)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Princeton’s Sara Pursley on Sykes-Picot and creation of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq article on Churchill’s views on Mesopotamia)

(Musings On Iraq book review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review Supremacy And Oil, Iraq, Turkey, and the Anglo-American World Order, 1918-1930)

1921 Colonial Secretary Churchill’s main concern at Cairo Conference was cutting costs for London

1921 Colonial Secretary Churchill said British troops would be withdrawn in Mesopotamia as quickly as

possible Air power would be used for control

1921 Sir Percy Cox and Gen Haldane objected to Churchill’s troops reduction plan saying soldiers still

needed in Mesopotamia

1921 Royal Air Force said it would need another year to set up in Mesopotamia Meant Churchill

could not withdraw British troops as quickly as he wanted

1921 Most at UK Cairo Conference supported a Hashemite either Feisal or Abdullah becoming ruler

in Mesopotamia

1921 Colonial Sec Churchill said putting Feisal in power in Mesopotamia would be part of larger

policy to have Hashemites beholden to England in Mecca and Transjordan

1921 Colonial Sec Churchill thought putting Feisal in power would lead to Mesopotamian govt that

could run things and save UK money

1921 Colonial Sec Churchill was open to creating a Kurdish state Thought would be a buffer between

Turkey and Mesopotamia

1921 Sir Percy Cox and Gertrude Bell argued for a unitary Mesopotamian state that included Kurds

at Cairo Conference

(Musings On Iraq book review of Gertrude Bell And Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review Gertrude Bell, Explorer of the Middle East)

1921 Colonial Sec Churchill wrote PM George saying UK troop costs in Mesopotamia were a huge

waste and there would be a quick withdrawal

1959 Nasser gave 2^nd speech attacking Iraqi Communists Said that they would never be able to stop Arab

nationalism Said that Communists relied upon Shiites for support who opposed Arab nationalism Denied that he supported Col Arif against Qasim govt

(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)

1974 After talks broke down with Baghdad and it imposed own law for Kurdistan KDP restarted rebellion

1975 Baghdad offered KDP truce to allow its forces to retreat to Iran or surrender

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

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

1979 At National Security Council Saddam decided that govt would take control of religious sphere to

protect country from ideas that could threaten the regime

1984 Iraq called off attacks into Basra marshes to try to recapture Majnoon Islands Iran lost 20,000 dead

30,000 wounded 1,000 captured Iraq lost 3,000 dead 9,000 wounded and 1/6 of its oil reserves

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

1985 Iran Op Badr reached Tigris River and began building bridge across it then forced back Reached

Baghdad-Basra highway and took Qurna but then retaken by Iraqis 2 Revolutionary Guard divisions attacked from Majnoon Islands and forced Iraqis to retreat

(Musings On Iraq interview with Naval Postgraduate School’s Ostovar on history of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard)

(Musings On Iraq book review Vanguard of the Imam, Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard)

1985 Iraq started using chemical weapons against Iran’s Op Badr over next 4 weeks Iran claimed it

suffered 4,600 casualties as a result

1986 CIA said that Iraq facing worst situation since start of war after Iran captured Fao Peninsula

Warned that if Iran carried out more offensives could break the Iraqi army and Saddam could be deposed

(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 Govt operation to retake Najaf from Shiite rebels began

1991 Iraqi refugees fleeing country claimed govt forces used napalm to put down uprising

(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)

(Musings On Iraq article on how US encouraged 1991 uprising)

1993 Iraqi army attacked Aweina Kurdistan killing 30

2002 Blair For Pol Adv Manning met with Natl Sec Adv Rice and said UK supported regime change in Iraq

but needed good strategy

2002 2 CIA reports said aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were for centrifuges and Iraq might be trying to

build a nuclear weapon

(Musings On Iraq article on the aluminum tubes story)

(Musings On Iraq article on how poor US intel work led to claim Iraq rebuilt its nuclear weapons program)

2003 Bush called Blair about vote on 2^nd UN resolution on Iraq Bush said if didn’t have votes shouldn’t

have a vote

2003 Bush called Mexican Pres Fox and Chilean Pres Lagos on 2^nd UN resolution Fox non-committal Lagos

said he would vote no

2003 Bush called Blair and said that vote on 2^nd UN resolution was dead

2003 UN committee reported on Iraq violating sanctions

2003 Iraqi scientists began private interviews with UN inspectors

(Musings On Iraq article on UN weapons inspections)

2003 Bush endorsed Def Dept plan for quick transition to Iraqi authority made up of exiles and Kurds after

war

2003 UndersecDef Feith briefed NSC on postwar plans for Iraqi Foreign Min military and intel services Said

Foreign Ministry and embassies needed to be purged Wanted to disband intel services Republican Guard State Security Office and militias and cut Iraqi military to just 3-5 army divisions

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

2003 White House reviewed plan to ship $1.7 bil in frozen Iraqi assets in U.S. to Iraq to pay for Iraqi

public workers and pensions

2004 Sadrists destroyed Gypsy village of Qawliya, Qadisiya

(Musings On Iraq article on the destruction of Qawliya)

2006 2 bombings of markets in Sadr City kill 58

2006 U.S. soldiers gang raped 14 yr old Iraqi girl in Mahmudiya and then killed her family

2007 Report Sadr met with Ayatollah Sistani and asked what he should do about attacks upon his

movement Sistani told him he could withdraw or take the consequences Sadr ended up leaving for Iran

2016 Abadi called on political parties to present their technocratic candidates for new cabinet Only 3 parties

did so

2018 Municipal workers protested in Zubayr Basra over not getting paid for 2 months Threw stones at govt

offices

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