This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 21

1956 Communist uprising in Al-Hay put down and leaders executed

(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)

1981 Kuwait and UAE agreed to loan Iraq $2 bil to help during Iran-Iraq War

1998 Russia France Germany called for ending sanctions on Iraq

1998 Report Iraq intel officer Hijazi met with bin Laden in Afghanistan and offered him asylum False story

2001 UK Def Min Hoon asked ministry for plans for military action against Iraq

2001 Vanity Fair article claimed Iraq involved in 9/11 based upon INC defector

2001 Vanity Fair author appeared on CNN and NBC repeating his story that INC defector claimed

Iraq involved in 9/11

2002 Dep CIA Dir McLaughlin briefed Bush on intel on Iraq WMD Said Iraq had precursors and biological

components Showed rocket engine test site that passed prescribed ranges Showed satellite photo of suspected clean up of chemical weapons spill Showed UAV flown 500km past UN limit of 150km CIA went over reports of Iraq having mobile WMD labs Played recording of 2 Republican Guard officers talking about removing nerve agents Said Saddam met with nuclear scientists talking about resuming their work

(Musings On Iraq article on mobile labs story)

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

(Musings On Iraq article Iraq, One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)

(Musings On Iraq book review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy

Tragedy)

2002 Bush Natl Sec Adv Rice and Chief of Staff Card unimpressed by CIA presentation on WMD CIA Dir

Tenet said case was a “slam dunk” Administration had been making assertions about threat of Iraq’s WMD and when presented with facts Bush didn’t believe the case

2003 Massoud Barzani article said Kurds would take regional autonomy and nothing else in new

Iraqi constitution

2004 Insurgents attacked US camp in Ninewa killing 24 including 19 US soldiers Wounded 60

Deadliest attack on US so far

2004 Insurgents released 2 French reporters they kidnapped 4 months ago

2004 Center for Strategic and Intl Studies report Iraqi forces wouldn’t be ready to operate

independently until late 2006 at best

2005 Iraq Election Comm reported 10.9 mil of 15.6 mil voters participated in Dec 15 elections

Anbar vote went from 1% in Jan to 32% in Oct to 55% in Dec

2005 NSC presented 10 goals for new Iraqi govt to Bush Including competent ministers fighting

corruption

2005 Commando from 1^st Commando brigade based in Samarra said most of the unit was from

Mahdi Army and didn’t respect their commander only Sadr

2006 US arrested Gen Mohsen Chirazai commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force’s

Dept 600 and 5 other IRGC members at home of Badr head Amiri Chirazai and 1 other released next day under pressure from PM Maliki and Pres Talabani Other 4 turned over to Iraqis Dec 28 and released the next day

(Musings On Iraq Iranians Planned Kidnapping And Held British Captives Taken In Iraq) 

2006 8 Marines charged with executing Iraqi civilians in Haditha None were convicted 

2010 PM Maliki finally put together new govt 9 months after elections Cabinet approved by parliament

2011 PM Maliki ordered Dep PM Mutlaq removed from office in response to Mutlaq calling for

Maliki to be replaced

(Musings On Iraq article on Maliki’s moves against Iraqiya)

2012 Protests started in Fallujah in response to OM Maliki issuing arrest warrant for Finance Min Issawi

2013 7^th Div commander and leadership of division all killed by IS booby trapped house in Anbar

(Musings On Iraq article on death of 7^th Div leadership)

2013 Insurgents attacked al-Assad air base in Anbar

2015 Peshmerga and YPG captured Sinjar from IS

2017 2 killed 300 wounded in protests against the KRG

View the Iraq History Timelines