This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 23

1921 UK ForSec told Fr Amb to UK that London had run into problems and large

expenses in Mesopotamia and that had led to decision to give the Arabs their own govt

(Musings On Iraq book review Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied)

1923 UK Iraq commission final report said British would not withdraw from Iraq Would lead to collapse of

King Faisal and humiliation for British

1930 Nuri al-Said became PM, would hold office 8 times Went after opposition silenced press controlled

parliament became favorite of British

(Musings On Iraq interview with Historian Phebe Marr comparing PM Said with PM Maliki)

1970 Communist leader in Baghdad Khadri found shot in street Baathists suspected

(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 Soviet Defense Minister Grechko arrived in Iraq to try to find compromise with Kurds Iran and US

told Barzani not to make any deals

1975 Mustafa Barzani and around 100,000 KDP members left Iraq for Iran ending Kurdish revolt

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

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

(Musings On Iraq book review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)

(Musings On Iraq article on Nixon admin support for Kurdish revolt)

1981 Iran said it would not accept ceasefire with Iraq as long as Saddam was in power

1982 Iran launched main attack in Op Fath to push towards Maysan Flanked 2 Iraqi divisions Was largest

military operation up to that time in war 100,000 Iranian and 70,000 Iraqi troops involved

1985 Iran ended Op Badr failed attempt to attack Basra city Iraq lost 20,000 casualties Iran 14,000

killed

(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)

1988 PUK base in Sulaymaniya attacked in 2^nd Anfal Campaign

(Musings On Iraq article on Anfal campaign)

1991 Sadoun Hammadi, a Shiite became premier as Saddam tried to appease Shiites while putting down

uprising after Gulf War

(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)

1997 Memo told Iraqi officials to hide material, documents, equipment from U.N. weapons inspectors

(Musings On Iraq article on UN weapons inspections)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Saddam Tapes)

2002 Joint Chiefs did paper drill running through Iraq invasion plan

(Musings On Iraq book review of Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Role of Military Intelligence Assessment)

2003 British commandos took control of Um Qasr port while heaving fighting broke out in the town

(Musings On Iraq book review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine Commandos In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)

2003 US attacked Nasiriya Heavy fighting with Fedayeen left 29 marines dead

2003 US B-52 bombers carried out raids on Baghdad Iraqi govt claimed 106 civilians killed

2003 British Tornado jet is accidently shot down by US patriot missile killing 2 crewmen

2003 US soldier Jessica Lynch taken prisoner by Iraqi forces during invasion when her supply convoy

attacked

2003 32 Apache helicopters sent on raid to destroy Reb Guard units in Karbala Turned back by Iraqi fire

2003 Almost all US intel reports on invasion were about Fedayeen instead of regular Iraqi army that had surrendered or disappeared in south Confused US analysts that were only thinking of Iraqi conventional forces

2003 US forces reached outside Najaf Claimed they found WMD facility Story proved false

2003 CENTCOM commander Gen Franks said no doubt Iraq had WMD

2003 White House said no question Iraq had WMD and that they would be found

2003 Intel agents leaked to press they felt pressured by White House to come up with intel to justify Iraq

war

2004 Fmr Def Sec Cohen said head of Al Qaeda Sudan chemical plant met with Iraq chemical weapons

scientist in 90s

2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Russian amb gave detailed info to Iraq on US invasion force and plans

(Musings On Iraq article on how Russia provided Iraq with intel on US invasion plans before war)

2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Confirmed Iraq and bin Laden met in Feb 1995 to talk about cooperation

Iraq agreed to air bin Laden’s anti-Saudi tapes

2007 US House of Reps voted to set deadline for US withdrawal by 8/31/08

2007 Iran captured 15 UK Marines in Basra and offered to trade them for release of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq leader

Qais Khazali

(Musings On Iraq article on history of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq)

2007 ISI attempted assassination of Dep PM Zubaie

2007 Sadrist website accused Dawa and SCIRI of selling it out to U.S. during Surge

2007 Former Najaf police chief said he was forced to hire 400 officers by Shiite parties Said none of them

were trained One officer fired for smuggling weapons used to attack British Was returned to work and given promotion on orders from Baghdad Said torture was routine and police went after political rivals Dhi Qar police chief said he couldn’t get rid of rogue officers because they were protected by political parties

2007 Report Mahdi Army back on streets of Ghaziliya and Shula Baghdad Fired mortars at Mansour and

Yarmouk

2007 Insurgents out on streets of Haditha Demnded residents take down satellite TV dishes claiming they

spread vice and immorality

2007 Report PM Maliki offered $200 to returnees to Baghdad and said he would evict squatters as part of

Baghdad security plan Baghdad Migration Ministry bureau director said he refused to tell families to return because of on going violence

2008 Mahdi Army in Sadr City started firing rockets into Green Zone

2011 National Reconciliation Commission claimed 5 insurgent groups agreed to put down arms and join

political process

2012 ISI broke 19 of its men out of Kirkuk prison

2015 Hashd looted and destroyed 8 houses in Sadiya, Diyala Adviser to Diyala governor killed blamed on

Hashd

2018 PKK said it would withdraw from Sinjar after Turkey threatened military operation there

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