Thursday, April 30, 2020

This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 30


1917 Battle of the Boot at Band-i-Adhaim between British and Ottomans
1924 Baghdad said willing to give land to Assyrians
(Musings On Iraq review of The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)
1941 PM Gaylani refused permission for British troops to land in Basra
1941 2 brigades of Iraqi soldiers surrounded UK Habaniya base ordered UK to cease operations
there Iraq had 9000 troops UK 2250
(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Boich World War II In Iraq and Syria)
1941 Iraqi forces surrounded UK embassy in Baghdad
1941 PM Gaylani hoped to pressure UK to leave Iraq without a fight
1941 UK memo to Chiefs of Staff discussed destroying Iraq’s oil wells to deny them to Germany
(Musings On Iraq review of Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)
(Musings On Iraq review of Persian Gulf Command, A History of the Second World War In Iran and Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq 1941, The Battles for Basra, Habbaniya, Fallujah and Baghdad)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)
1948 Jewish forces took Jaffa, and 7 other towns held by Iraqi volunteers in 1st Arab Israeli War
1959 Qasim banned political organizing within army Was aimed at Communists to curb their power
(Musings On Iraq 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)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Western Kentucky’s Prof Romero on the Qasim govt)
1969 Bakr govt executed opponents in central Baghdad
1980 By end of April around 20 Iraqi officials had been killed in bombings by Shiite opposition parties
(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)
1980 Arab Iranians seized Iranian embassy in London demanding sovereignty for Khuzistan province
Were trained and armed by Iraq
1982 Iran launched Op Bait al-Moqaddas to recapture Khorramshahr across from Basra and liberate
Khuzistan province Iran had 12 divisions 200,000 soldiers vs 5 Iraqi divisions and 65,000 men Iran would gain 300 sq mi Iranian paratroopers dropped on Karun River near Darkhovin while engineers built bridge over river
(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 review Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)
(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)
(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)
(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)
1985 Sec State Shultz asked Def Sec Weinberger to speed up approval of technology exports to Iraq Much
of that would go to weapons programs
1985 State Dept intel reported no evidence Iraq had started on a nuclear weapons program It had
1990 Jordanian prosecutor report detailed fake bank accounts Ahmed Chalabi ran with his Petra Bank
1996 Turkey began bombing campaign along border against PKK
(Musings On Iraq review of The Kurds, A Modern History)
1997 Fighting broke out between PUK and Kurdish Islamic Movement
2001 NSC meeting on Al Qaeda threat DepDefSec Wolfowitz asked why US should focus on bin Laden
when Iraq terrorism real threat
2001 NSC meeting Dep CIA Dir McLaughlin told DepDefSec Wolfowitz no evidence of Iraq terrorist threat
to US
2001 NSC meeting DepSecState Armitage told DepDefSec Wolfowitz Al Qaeda was the main threat to US
2003 US forces ran into protesters that led to shooting for 2nd time in 2 days in Fallujah 2 killed
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld visited Iraq Realized rebuilding country would take years which was not his plan
2004 Marines withdrew from Fallujah turning over security to Fallujah Brigade
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
2004 Daily Mirror published what turned out to be fake pictures of UK forces abusing Iraqi prisoners
2004 Poll 71% of Iraqis saw US as occupiers 46% said invasion more harmful then good
2004 New Yorker published photos of Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal
2005 Mass grave with up to 1,500 Kurds killed by Saddam during Anfal campaign found outside Samawa
(Musings On Iraq article on Anfal campaign)
2006 Fmr Sec State Powell told UK TV he advised CENTCOM cmdr Gen Franks US needed more troops
before invasion but advise ignored
2006 Pres Talabani said 7 insurgent groups might be able to be talked into joining political process
2006 US Special Inspector Gen for Iraq Reconstruction report said attacks still retarding rebuilding
projects but real progress being made Said attacks on infrastructure down 60%
2006 Audit found effort to protect power and oil infrastructure largely failed Questioned 2 foreign security
companies contracted to train guards
2006 Class of new police recruits from Fallujah graduated Told they would serve outside Anbar 600
refused to do so
2007 Parliament voted to keep US troops away from Khadmiya shrine Baghdad after US got into gun
battle with Mahdi Army and Iraqi soldiers in district PM Maliki didn’t sign bill
2007 Anbar Awakening claimed to have killed ISI War Minister Masri Didn’t happen
2007 Report PM Maliki and ministers used Article 136B of Criminal Code to block corruption
investigations
(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector Gen for Iraq Reconstruction Bowen on corruption in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq interview with fmr anti-graft official Vincent Foulk on corruption in Iraq)
2007 Report Maliki using PM and Commander in Chief offices to remove and arrest army and National
Police commanders for going after Mahdi Army or being Sunni US officers complained Maliki politicizing officer corps
2008 PM Maliki said Mahdi Army had to be disbanded because couldn’t have militias and state
2008 Sadr spokesman said Iranian weapons in Iraq was normal because Tehran would sell to anyone
2008 Turkey said it would resume diplomatic relations with Kurdistan
2008 Study said Surge didn’t achieve political goals Reconciliation has been between insurgents and US not
with Iraqi govt Still threat of violence if no political accommodation
2009 ISF started 2nd Operation Promise of Good in Diyala
2009 Muthanna last to name new govt after Jan provincial elections PM Maliki’s State of Law won in 9 of
14 provinces Got ruling coalitions in Babil Baghdad Basra Dhi Qar Qadisiya Wasit Maysan Najaf Karbala
(Musings On Iraq article on new provincial govts)
(Musings On Iraq article breaking down new provincial govts)
2010 Def Min said that ISI had lost its direction after 2 leaders Masri and Baghdadi killed
2010 PM Maliki claimed foreign countries were plotting coup against him
(Musings On Iraq review The Unraveling, High Hopes And Missed Opportunity In Iraq)
2010 Iraqiya threatened boycott after courts banned winning candidates for Baathist past
2011 Hundreds demonstrated in Kut for better services and against corruption
2011 Asayesh arrested four protest organizers trying to start demonstration in Sulaymaniya
(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)
2011 US said Iranian investment projects in Karbala and Najaf were fronts for supporting Asaib Ahl
Al-Haq and Kataib Hezbollah
(Musings On Iraq article on history of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq)
(Musings On Iraq article on Iran’s Iraq policy)
(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)
2012 KRG said Baghdad should pay foreign oil companies working in Kurdistan
2012 Allawi said he wouldn’t go to national conference to resolve differences with PM Maliki
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
2012 4 bodyguards of fmr Speaker Mashadani arrested for terrorism
2013 Kurdish ministers ended boycott of govt
2013 Islamic Army met with Kirkuk tribes to form armed group after ISF attacked Hawija protest site
2013 Sheikh Sulaiman said that protesters would go to war with govt after crackdown on Hawija protest
site
2013 Dep PM Mutlaq criticized ISF attack on Hawija protest site
2013 Insurgents attacked Wasit municipal council building
2014 KRG parliamentary elections 1st in 8 years
2014 Anbar tribes claimed Baghdad agreed to some of protesters’ demands to end fighting Didn’t happen
2014 ISIS ideologue Binali said that group didn't have to hold territory for Muslims to pledge allegiance to
it Was setting stage for declaration of Islamic State
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
2015 Head of Salahaddin council said Hashd were looting and burning buildings in Tikrit
2015 City worker in Tikrit said 300 buildings in northern section of city had been destroyed including 2
mosques after city liberated
2015 IS seized half of Baiji refinery
2015 Head of Anbar Operations Command said Hashd were needed to fight IS in province
2016 Parliament refused to meet over PM Abadi’s technocratic govt Sadr called for popular revolution as
followers stormed Green Zone
(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

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