Review Muqtada, Muqtada Al-Sadr, The Shia Revival, And The Struggle For Iraq

Cockburn, Patrick, Muqtada, Muqtada Al-Sadr, The Shia Revival, And The Struggle For Iraq, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney: Scribner, 2008

Muqtada, Muqtada Al-Sadr, The Shia Revival, And The Struggle For Iraq by journalist Patrick Cockburn is one of those rare Western books about post-Saddam Iraq that focuses upon Iraqis instead of the Americans. The author tries to place Moqtada al-Sadr’s rise as a leading Iraqi political figure after 2003 in the context of the growth of identity and religious politics within the Shiite community. The first half of the book is all history about the formation of the first Shiite religious party, the repression under Baathist rule, the 1991 uprising after the Gulf War, and the two great ayatollahs of the Sadr family Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr who was the father in law of Moqtada and then his father Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr. Cockburn’s argument is that Moqtada al-Sadr was a product of the repression and activism during the Baathist era, and that he was consistently underestimated by the Americans post-03.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 30

 

1924 Frontier Commission appointed to determine border between new nation of Turkey and Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review The Creation of Iraq 1914-1921)

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

1958 Agrarian Reform Law issued by Gen Qasim in attempt to redistribute land from large landowners

to peasants

(Musings On Iraq interview with Western Kentucky’s Prof Romero on the Qasim govt)

1958 Pres Qasim removed Arif as Dep PM and Interior Minister because he was a threat to the govt

1980 Ayatollah Khomeini refused all talks with Iraq to end war Demanded Saddam step down Iraq had

to admit it was aggressor and pay reparations Basra was to come under Iranian control until Iraq paid debt Referendum in Kurdistan or autonomy or joining Iran

1980 Iranian air force launched Op Scorch Sword attacking Iraq’s Osirak nuclear facility Only minimal

damage Iran also bombed Baghdad

1980 Iraqis were stopped outside Dezful Ahvas and Abadan in Khuzistan province Allowed Iran to re-

supply and have access to Shatt al-Arab

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1980 Soviet’s Brezhnev said Iran and Iraq both friends of USSR 2 needed to negotiate end to war Soviets

main military supporter of Iraq

1980 State Dept told Italy’s Foreign Ministry that USSR turned down request by Iraq for additional

military equipment

1982 Iranian Op Muslim ibn Aqil Attacked between Qasr e-Shirin and Sumer in center Goal was to

invade Diyala take Baquba and threaten Baghdad 60,000 Iranians vs 36,000 Iraqis Only advanced 6 mi before counterattacked by Iraq forced withdrawal

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

1984 Iran Op Val Fajr 7 attacked Meimak Heights central front to stop Iranian shelling of area

(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 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)

2001 Report Al Qaeda defector said bin Laden did not like Saddam because of his attacks upon Muslim

civilians

2001 Iraqi defector told Sunday Telegraph Saddam started crash program to produce WMD in six months

2002 Iraq and UN negotiated new weapons inspections in Vienna but blocked 8 presidential sites US

rejected deal

(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Rejection of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD and 2003 Invasion)

2002 NYTimes OpEd by Clinton era counterterrorism official Benjamin said Saddam thought bin Laden

a threat and 2 didn’t cooperate

2003 UN Sec Gen Anan said that UN would only renew its role in Iraq if sovereignty passed to an

interim govt

2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld aide ate with Pentagon Def Policy Board member Gingrich and Dep Sec Def

            Wolfowitz who were lobbying against Bremer

2003 Def Policy Board member Gingrich would later say Bremer at CPA was biggest foreign policy

disaster in recent times

2003 Bush told Justice Dep investigating possible unauthorized disclosure of undercover CIA official fmr

Amb Wilson’s wife VP Cheney’s office had leaked her name to press to discredit Wilson

(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

2003 Constitutional preparatory committee came up with 3 ways to name delegates to constitutional

committee Couldn’t agree on which to use

2004 Iraq Survey Group final report said Saddam considered Iran existential threat to Iraq Thought only

way to deter Tehran was WMD

(Musings On Iraq Was Iraq An Imminent Threat To The West?)

2004 Iraq Survey Group final report said aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were for rockets not

centrifuges

(Musings On Iraq How A Contested Aluminum Tubes Story Became The Basis For War With Iraq)

2004 UK intel report said Sunnis did not believe in politics because didn’t gain anything Said majority of

Sunnis supported insurgency Felt loss of power fear of Shiite rule and Iranian influence United by opposition to occupation Sunnis believed armed struggle rather than politics could achieve their goals

(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

(Musings On Iraq review Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency In Iraq)

2007 Report Sahwa expanding 30,000 tribesmen organized by US so far including 8,000 in Mansour and

Abu Ghraib in Baghdad 3,500 in Diyala

(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)

2008 Sheikh announced 20 Tribal Support Councils created in Dhi Qar by PM Maliki Creation of

Tribal Support Councils in Dhi Qar led to attacks upon sheikhs in political rivalry between SIIC and Dawa

(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)

(Musings On Iraq Disputes Over Tribal Support Councils)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)

2008 Def Sec Gates criticized US military for mishandling Iraq Said military was slow to adapt to

counterinsurgency Pentagon got in the way of commanders who tried to change

2008 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Recon reported that due to Amnesty Law 690 corruption cases had been

            stopped

2008 Report Baghdad Sahwa afraid of govt take over Afraid of arrests US told Maliki govt couldn’t

enforce any warrants from last 6 months US said 3400 of 54000 Sahwa in Baghdad had been integrated into ISF

2009 PM Maliki released over 100 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq members in deal where group said it

renounced violence and would run in 2010 elections

(Musings On Iraq League Of Righteous Breaks Off talks With Baghdad)

(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)

2014 UK launched first air strikes on IS

2014 Cabinet authorized govt to provide weapons, equipment, salaries to Hashd

2017 Iraqi military said it was going to take over Kurdish border posts by stationing troops on Turkish

and Iranian side in retaliation for independence referendum

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

2018 KRG held parliamentary elections Had low voter turnout 58.4%

(Musings On Iraq New KRG Elections Unlikely To Change Politics In Iraq’s Kurdistan)

View the Iraq History Timelines

Another Activist’s Kidnapping Offers Opponents of Iraq’s PM Opportunity To Criticize Him

                        Sajjad al-Iraqi is the latest activist to be kidnapped (Sajjad al-Iraqi-Facebook)

 

On September 19 two young activists Sajjad al-Iraqi and Basim Falaih were attacked by men in two pick-up trucks in Nasiriya, Dhi Qar. Falaih was shot while Sajjad was kidnapped. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazemi sent the Counter Terror Service to find Iraqi. This event caused a huge amount of controversy. On the one hand demonstrators demanded that Iraqi be released. Local tribes and pro-Iran Hashd factions have used it to criticize the premier.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 29

 

1915 British forces took Kut Suffered 1200 casualties

1917 2^nd Battle of Ramadi ended with Ottomans losing city to British

1980 Iraq took Geilan Zarb across from Maysan

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

1981 Iran retook Abadan 2^nd largest city in Iran 2000-3000 Iranians 600-1500 Iraqis died 5000 Iranian

wounded 2500 Iraqis captured Opened road to allow supplies and reinforcements to western Iran Iraqi forces withdrew to Khorramshahr

1986 Heavy Iraqi air strikes on Kharg Island Iran oil terminal

(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 Iraqi Mirages, The Dassault Mirage Family In Service With The Iraqi Air Force, 1981-1988)

(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)

1987 Ali Hassan al-Majid reduced food rations for Kurds outside govt controlled camps 

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

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

1998 Iraq Liberation Act introduced into Congress

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In The Eye of the Storm)

2001 Def Sec Rumsfeld ordered review of all existing Iraq war plans

(Musings On Iraq From 9/11 To The Invasion of Iraq: Analysis of Bush Administration Decision Making)

(Musings On Iraq Was Iraq An Imminent Threat To The West?)

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

Tragedy)

(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from

George W. Bush to Barack Obama)

(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)

2003 Islamic Army of Iraq founded

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2004 Briton Kenneth Bigley beheaded by Zarqawi

2005 Balad bombing killed 95

2005 NYTimes reporter Miller told grand jury VP Cheney’s chief of staff Libby told her fmr Amb Wilson’s

wife was a CIA agent Was retaliation for Wilson challenging White House over Iraq-Niger uranium story

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)

(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

2005 Gen Abizaid and Gen Casey told Congress number of Iraq army battalions that could operate

independently dropped from 3 to 1

2006 Sadr told Mahdi Army commanders they needed temporarily disarm Cut size of their units to make

them more manageable All militiamen to go through orientation and be issued new IDs

(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)

2006 Sadrist cleric gave sermon in Kufa saying patience running out for PM Maliki to bring about security

and stability

2006 British launched Op Sinbad against militias in Basra

2006 Report Senior British officers were lobbying Blair govt to withdraw forces from Iraq Said forces

could achieve little and frustrated with slow development of new ISF

(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

2006 Report 3 Iraqi reporters in south arrested for accusing a governor a judge and police officers of being

corrupt

2006 Special Inspector Gen Iraq Recon Bowen testified to Congress Said 13 of 14 projects by Parsons Corp

were substandard and had serious problems Also criticized projects by KBR and Bechtel

2006 Accordance Front head Dulaimi’s bodyguard arrested on suspicion he was planning bombings within

the Green Zone

2007 PM Maliki repeated claim that he got promise from Tehran to stop Iranians arms shipments to Iraq

            Never happened

(Musings On Iraq interview with Galen Wright of Arkenstone blog on Iranian arms shipments to Iraqi militias) 

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2008 Report Diyala sahwa said Maliki trying to disarm them Many sahwa leaders had fled to Syria

because afraid govt would arrest them US trying to mediate between Sahwa and Maliki govt

2008 Report Special Groups that fled during Charge of Knights returning from Iran via Maysan Already

suspected of two attacks on Interior Min officials

2017 Pres Barzani’s office threatened unilateral independence if talks with Baghdad weren’t opened

immediately

(Musings On Iraq What’s Next For Kurdistan After The Referendum?)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Quicksilver War, Syria, Iraq and the Spiral of Conflict)

2017 Secretary of State Tillerson issued statement that US didn’t recognize the KRG referendum

2017 Intl flights cancelled out of Irbil airport after travel ban imposed by Baghdad in retaliation for

referendum

2017 Iran threatened to ban fuel shipments to Kurdistan in retaliation for referendum 

 

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Pro-Iran Factions Warned If Keep Up Attacks On Western Targets In Iraq Will Face US Retaliation

US Sec of State Pompeo with Iraq President Salah (AFP)

Pro-Iran groups launched their latest and largest wave of attacks upon western targets in Iraq in June. This was prompted by Washington and Baghdad entering into talks over a new security agreement, and then hit a new level when Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazemi visited President Trump. By September there was an attack nearly every day. That led the U.S. to issue a warning that it would retaliate if these incidents continued.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 28

 

1915 British defeated Ottomans at Battle of Es Sinn driving them back to Kut Wasit

1917 2^nd Battle of Ramadi started between Ottomans and British

1980 UN Resolution 479 called for cease-fire in Iran-Iraq War Rejected by Iran

1980 Saddam offered ceasefire in Iran-Iraq War Said he wanted Iran to recognize its rights to Shatt al-

Arab and the territory it seized in war Non-aggression and non interference in internal affairs

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1980 Saddam realized invasion was going slower than planned Iraqi forces hadn’t achieved any major

war goals yet

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

1980 Iraq reached Geilan Zarb across from Maysan Didn’t attack town waited for artillery to arrive next

day

1980 Iraq took Susangard and Bosan in Khuzistan without a fight Didn’t have forces to hold either Set up

observation posts around area

1980 1^st time UN Security Council discussed Iran-Iraq War Iraq’s UN amb blamed Iran for war saying it

violated treaties and attacked Iraqi territory

1980 Muslim countries’ committee visited Baghdad to try to mediate Iran-Iraq War

1980 Soviet Tass news agency criticized Iraq invading Iran as undermining national liberation movements

in Middle East

(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 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)

1980 PM Begin said that Israel had supported Kurds

2001 After NSC meeting on start of Afghan war Bush said he believed Saddam was involved in 9/11 but

Iraq would be dealt with later

(Musings On Iraq review Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account Of The Decision To Invade Iraq)

2002 Bush radio address Said Iraq could launch a WMD attack upon US in 45 minutes

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

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

2002 US gave draft UN resolution to France Russia China on new weapons inspectors Gave 7 days for

Iraq to provide weapons declaration to UN 23 days to open all WMD sites Set up military bases for inspectors to work out of that would have no fly and no drive zones around them If Iraq failed to meet these demands UN member states were authorized to use all means to restore peace Were meant to make demands that Iraq would never comply with and justify war

(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Rejection of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD and 2003 Invasion)

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

Tragedy)

2003 Natl Sec Adv Rice and Sec State Powell said that US had lots of new intel on Iraq’s WMD since 1998

when inspectors left in response to criticism

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

(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)

(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

2003 Natl Sec Adv Rice said were always questions about Iraq’s nuke program but no question it had

            WMD

2003 Natl Sec Adv Rice on NBC said that US didn’t know how bad Iraq’s society was because Baghdad

looked so good Said US didn’t know what it was going to find in Iraq before invasion Admitall that US never looked at studies of Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Rice: We Didn’t Know How Bad Iraq’s Infrastructure Was Because Baghdad Looked So Modern)

2003 Report DIA review found defectors provided by INC invented and exaggerated info about Iraq’s

WMD

2004 PM Allawi told Al Arabiya TV that govt had waited long enough on Fallujah and Iraqi forces would

help take the city

(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)

2004 US troops started operation to clear Samarra of insurgents

2004 PM Blair said intelligence on Iraq’s WMD was wrong but getting rid of Saddam was right

(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

2004 Report Jan 03 Natl Intel Council issued 2 reports saying US invasion of Iraq would increase support

for Islamism and could lead to insurgency

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2006 UK Op Sinbad in Basra began focusing on police and reconstruction Didn’t get support of PM

Maliki who was against action vs militias

2006 Al Qeada in Iraq kidnapped brother of Sheikh Jassim and 3 tribesmen from Albu Soda and executed

them in Anbar Would lead tribe to turn against Al Qaeda in Iraq

2006 Gen Zahner deputy chief of staff for intelligence Multi-National Force Iraq said explosive found

with militias came from Iran

(Musings On Iraq interview with Galen Wright of Arkenstone blog on Iranian arms shipments to Iraqi militias) 

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2006 Report UK Def Min think tank said that Iraq war radicalized disillusioned young Muslims and led

them to Al Qaeda War was recruiting tool for jihadist groups

2006 Report Around 240,000 Iraqis had registered as IDPs Feb-Jul 06

2006 Report death squads mostly from Mahdi Army returned to Baghdad’s Ghaziliya after cleared by US

during Op Together Forward Iraqi police were letting militiamen back in

(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)

2006 Report US military complained about Maliki govt not allowing it to go after Mahdi Army in Baghdad

US said death squads were major problem with sectarian violence Aug and Sep US went after Mahdi Army commanders in Najaf and Baghdad and Maliki objected Maliki also cancelled planned US-Iraqi joint op to move into Sadr City Maliki had list of figures including Sadrists and Mahdi Army members US couldn’t arrest in Baghdad Govt spokesman Dabbagh said unfair to treat militias like insurgents Said US should go after insurgents first

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

2006 Report Maliki govt tried to send ISF units to Diyala US said they couldn’t until committed 4000

troops promised for Op Together Forward in Baghdad Diyala site of major sectarian fighting for control of province with ISF helping militias

2006 Report US intel officer said Mahdi Army splintering Said 6 militia leaders had broken away Sadr

appointed 4 different leaders to try to control militia in Basra

2006 InspGenIraqRecon report Baghdad Police College just completed a disaster 1 entire building had to

be shut down due to leaking pipes warped floors human waste flooding areas Was built by Parsons Corp that had series of corrupt and fraudulent contracts throughout Iraq since 2004

2008 InspGenIraqRecon report said Iraq had lost $16 bil in potential oil sales Jan 04-Mar 06 due to

insurgent attacks Even without those attacks Iraqi oil would be plagued by criminals oil smuggling and poor infrastructure

2008 SIIC Governor of Dhi Qar came out against establishing Tribal Support Councils there because seen

as tools of PM Maliki

(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)

(Musings On Iraq Disputes Over Tribal Support Councils)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)

2008 Investigation started in Mosul over killing 11 Christians which would lead to 1000s fleeing

(Musings On Iraq review Christianity in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Bad Times For Iraq’s Christians)

2017 Iraq Pres Masum said that KRG referendum was constitutional but separation of Kurdistan was not

(Musings On Iraq What’s Next For Kurdistan After The Referendum?)

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

(Musings On Iraq War of Words Continues Between Baghdad and Irbil After KRG Referendum)

(Musings On Iraq review Quicksilver War, Syria, Iraq and the Spiral of Conflict)

2017 Pres Barzani said that cooperation between Irbil and Baghdad was important but Iraqi govt acting

recklessly and pushing Kurds away

2017 Turkey said it was suspending training program with Peshmerga over independence referendum

View the Iraq History Timelines

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 27

 

1915 Battle of Es Sinn began between Ottoman and British forces

1980 Muslim countries’ committee visited Tehran to try to mediate Iran-Iraq War

1981 Iraqis withdrew in disarray losing most of their equipment in face of Iran Op Samen ol-Ameh in

            Abadan Khuzistan

1984 Japan offered ceasefire proposal to UN to end Iran-Iraq War

1985 At UN Iraq For Min Aziz blamed Iran for starting and continuing the Iran-Iraq War Said Tehran

wanted to overthrow the Iraqi govt

(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 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)

1989 Bombing in Baghdad’s British Club done by unnamed Kurdish group No casualties

2001 Iraq’s Dep PM Tariq Aziz through back channels had letter sent to State Dept saying Iraq

didn’t want trouble with US after 9/11

2001 Ahmed Chalabi said Iraq and Al Qaeda linked since 1990s and wanted to use bin Laden against US

2001 Badr met Talabani and other PUK officials in Sulaymaniya Talked about enrolling Badr members

in Univ of Sulaymaniya and investment opportunities Talabani agreed to allow Badr to invest in PUK areas

(Musings On Iraq Early Report On Iran’s Activities In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)

2003 Insurgents fired 3 rockets at Rashid Hotel in Baghdad

2004 Sec State Powell said US forces would retake Fallujah to ensure January 05 elections

(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)

(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)

2005 UK official met with Sadrist in Basra Claimed Mahdi Army not attacking British forces Wanted

follower released UK said follower admitted to attacks on UK forces and wouldn’t release him Sadrists threatened future attacks if follower not released

2006 British and ISF announced plan to purge Basra city of militias as part of Op Sinbad Was to last until

Feb 07 and prepare for British withdrawal from Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

2006 Joint Chiefs created Council of Colonels that would in part review Iraq strategy

(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)

2006 Anbar sheikhs met with PM Maliki asked that Anbar Salvation Council replace Anbar provincial

council Maliki aide later said PM didn’t trust Awakening or US helping them

(Musings On Iraq Demise, But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq How A Change In Perceptions Led To The Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Carter Malkasian on Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq review Confronting Al Qaeda, The Sunni Awakening and American Strategy In Al Anbar)

(Musings On Iraq review The Marines Take Anbar, The Four-Year Fight Against Al Qaeda)

(Musings On Iraq review Illusions of Victory, The Anbar Awakening And The Rise Of The Islamic State)

2006 State Dept poll almost ¾ of Iraqis would felt safer if US forces left Iraq 65% wanted immediate US

withdrawal Univ Maryland poll 71% wanted Iraqi govt to ask Coalition to leave within a year Most thought US would refuse 77% said US wanted permanent bases in Iraq Sunni support for US withdrawal dropped from 83% in Jan 06 to 47% in Sep 06

2006 Report West Point published letter by Al Qaeda leader Attiya l-Jazari to Zarqawi Told Zarqawi he

had to look at bigger picture in Iraq instead of just military strategy Had to unite insurgency Reach out to Sunnis and tribes Needed to consult with Al Qaeda before making major decisions Said didn’t do that before starting attacks upon Shiites and bombing in Jordan Also called for greater cooperation with fellow Islamist insurgents like Ansar al-Sunna Warned vanity led to defeat of Algerian insurgency in 1990s

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)

2007 Report Sep 07 US arrested commander of Baha Araji battalion created by Sadrist and run out of

Defense Ministry for expelling Sunnis from Baghdad Soldiers were mostly Mahdi Army Battalion was disbanded in May 07 Soldiers-militiamen sent to other units Commanders from one of army’s top battalions arrested for working with Mahdi Army in Baghdad for killing and kidnapping civilians

2008 Iraqi police and Asayesh got into gun battle in Jalawla east Diyala over dispute with Asayesh 1

policeman and 1 KDP member killed 2 police wounded Ended deal with Kurds to withdraw from govt buildings in district Maliki moved ISF into district to pressure Kurds leading to these confrontations

(Musings On Iraq Cold War Between Baghdad and Kurds Turns Hot)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)

2008 Oil Min Shahristani again said that Kurdish oil deals were illegal

2012 ISI attacked Tikrit prison with car bombs mortars suicide bombers and released 100 prisoners

2017 72% of registered voters took part in KRG independence referendum Around 2.9 mil voted yes

224,000 voted no

(Musings On Iraq What’s Next For Kurdistan After The Referendum?)

(Musings On Iraq War of Words Continues Between Baghdad and Irbil After KRG Referendum)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Quicksilver War, Syria, Iraq and the Spiral of Conflict)

2017 IraqiCivilAviationAuthority sent notices that international flights to Irbil and Sulaymaniya

suspended in retaliation for referendum

2017 Parliament passed resolution saying PM Abadi should maintain unity of Iraq Called for Pres Barzani

to be brought to court over referendum

(Musings On Iraq Baghdad Ups Ante Attempting To Seize Control Of Kurds’ Oil Pipeline)

2017 KRG said it was willing to allow observers from Baghdad at its airports

2017 Kataib Hezbollah compared Pres Barzani to IS’s Baghdadi and said he would be dealt with same way

as Islamic State was

(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)

2017 Kirkuk Governor Karim rejected parliament’s call to deploy troops to disputed areas

View the Iraq History Timelines

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 26

 

1920 Ramadi fell to British during 1920 Revolt

(Musings On Iraq review Reclaiming Iraq, The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State)

1980 Khomeini issued message saying Iran was fighting for God vs Iraq Called on Iraqi soldiers to return to

Islam and not follow Saddam Called on Iraqis to rise up and overthrow Saddam

1980 Iran and Iraq temporarily stopped oil shipments due to attacks on each others’ facilities

1980 Saddam letter to UN Said Iran refused to recognize Iraqi territory and sovereignty to explain war

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq in Wartime, Soldiering, Martyrdom, and Remembrance)

1980 Muslim countries created committee to try to mediate Iran-Iraq War

1980 After 4 days of combat Iraq lost 16 planes vs 5 Iranian ones in air combat Another 24 Iraqi and 19

Iranian ones damaged Was too high attrition rate Iraq ordered end to air raids upon Iran as a result

1980 Iraq began assault on Khorrmashahr Kuzistan

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

1981 Iran Op Samen ol-Ameh to break siege of Abadan began Infiltrated Iraqi lines and forced Iraqis to

retreat to Darkhovin in south

(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 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)

1981 International Atomic Energy Agency condemned Israel’s destruction of Osirak nuclear reactor and

suspended aid to Israel

1996 KDP announced it was forming its own cabinet to run Kurdistan without PUK

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

2001 Bush told Def Sec Rumsfeld to plan for Iraq invasion but do it informally

(Musings On Iraq From 9/11 To The Invasion of Iraq: Analysis of Bush Administration Decision Making)

(Musings On Iraq Was Iraq An Imminent Threat To The West?)

(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)

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

Tragedy)

(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Bush Administrations and Saddam Hussein, Deciding on Conflict)

(Musings On Iraq review The Next Attack, The Failure of the War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting it Right)

(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from

George W. Bush to Barack Obama)

2002 Bush met with 18 Congressmen to lobby them on Iraq Said he’d talked to military commanders and

they had no problem with regime change Said Iraq had WMD Building facilities to make more If it got uranium could build a bomb in 6 months Repeated British claim that Iraq could use WMD in 45 min

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

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Created An Iraqi Nuclear Threat In 2002)

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

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

2002 CIA Dir Tenet warned Bush not to use the 45 min claim because came from questionable source

2002 Bush told press Al Qaeda could become an extension of Iraq and Iraq and Al Qaeda were both part of

war on terror Said each day Iraq could give WMD or a nuke to terrorists

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)

(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

2002 Sec State Powell told Senate Foreign Relations Comm that Iraq-Niger uranium deal was proof had

nuke program Said Iraq tried to buy aluminum tubes for nuke program

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)

(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq How A Contested Aluminum Tubes Story Became The Basis For War With Iraq)

2002 Def Sec Rumsfeld said Iraq had active WMD programs Said bulletproof confirmation of ties

            between Iraq and Al Qaeda

2002 White House spokesman claimed Iraq trained Al Qaeda in chemical weapons

2002 Pentagon and intel officials questioned White House claims of Iraq-Al Qaeda ties in the press

2002 32 foreign policy experts ran full page ad in New York Times “War with Iraq is not in America’s

national interest”

2004 US arrested Gen Najm head of Iraqi National Guard in Diyala for ties to insurgency

2005 NSC report on Iraq Security better but insurgents adapting Not enough US troops PM Jaafari not

doing well

2006 NSC report Interior Ministry carrying out extra judicial killings

2006 Awakening of Anbar conference held in Ramadi Issued 11 point program Called for talks with

Baathists reviewing make-up of ISF Securing highway through Anbar Stand against terrorism No arms unless okayed by govt Condemned tribes working with insurgents Wanted to rebuild economy Strengthen sheikhs Respect rule of Law New Anbar govt

(Musings On Iraq Demise, But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq How A Change In Perceptions Led To The Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Carter Malkasian on Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq review Confronting Al Qaeda, The Sunni Awakening and American Strategy In Al Anbar)

(Musings On Iraq review The Marines Take Anbar, The Four-Year Fight Against Al Qaeda)

(Musings On Iraq review Illusions of Victory, The Anbar Awakening And The Rise Of The Islamic State)

(Musings On Iraq review The Sheriff of Ramadi, Navy SEALS and the Winning of Anbar)

2006 US brigade from 1^st Armored Div extended tour in Ramadi by 6 weeks Would be crucial to support

Awakening and secure city

2006 Bush forced to release parts of secret intel report after it was leaked to the press on international

terrorism that said Iraq was creating new generation of jihadists and created resentment in Muslim world against US

2006 UN report said that Iraq war providing recruits and training for Al Qaeda Said inspiring Taliban Said

new IEDs used in Iraq were found in Afghanistan less than month after first use

2007 Transparency International report found Iraq 3^rd most corrupt country in world Same as in 2006

(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen on corruption in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq interview with anti-graft US official Vincent Foulk)

2008 Refugees International said Maliki govt ignoring refugees Said not committing any money for aid and

only cared about pressuring them to come home Many refugees still afraid to come back to Iraq

2017 PM Abadi said if KRG released info on oil revenue placed oil under Baghdad control KRG could get

share of budget grants loans

(Musings On Iraq What’s Next For Kurdistan After The Referendum?)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Quicksilver War, Syria, Iraq and the Spiral of Conflict)

2017 Turkey’s For Min said KDP’s representative to Ankara could not return to country after KRG

referendum

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review Saddam, His Rise and Fall

Coughlin, Con, Saddam, His Rise and Fall, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney: Harper Perennial, 2005

 

Saddam, His Rise and Fall by Con Coughlin is a wildly inconsistent biography of Saddam Hussein. On the good side it connects Saddam with the history of Iraq providing lots of background to his life and the country he ruled. One bad aspect was Coughlin liked sensationalist stories which were easy to find about a dictator like Saddam. The bigger problem was that it bought into Britain and America’s justification for the 2003 invasion that Iraq had WMD and was connected to Al Qaeda. Coughlin’s thesis was that Saddam made an unexpected rise through the Baath Party and then onto leading Iraq.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 25

 

1919 Churchill wrote Gen MacMunn commander in Mesopotamia that his plan to reduce

troop by 120,000 by spring of 1920 needed to be vastly sped up and keeping that many troops would crush the finances of Mesopotamia

(Musings On Iraq Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq)

1921 Gertrude Bell wrote King Faisal was unpopular and resented for being installed by the British

(Musings On Iraq review Gertrude Bell And Iraq)

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

(Musings On Iraq movie review Letters from Baghdad)

1931 Iraqi newspaper called for one party rule under an autocrat King Faisal

1967 Arif govt sent delegation to France to buy weapons after defeat in 1967 Arab-Israeli War and

            inability to bring Kurdish revolt under control

1973 Baathist Naim Haddad named head of Progressive National Patriotic Front with Communists

KDP and Baath

(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)

1980 Iraq began attacking Dezful Ahvaz Khorramshahr in Khuzistan province

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

1980 Iraq shelled Abadan refinery largest in world Iran retaliated with air raids on Iraqi oil facilities in    Basra Zubayr Mosul Kirkuk

1980 Iranian airstrike on Um Qasr driven off Iraq attacked Bushehr sinking 4 Iranian navy ships Also

bombed some tankers trapped in Shatt al-Arab

(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 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)

1991 Barzani and Talabani went to Baghdad to negotiate with Saddam over governance in Kurdistan

after uprising

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

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

1997 Op Dawn Turkey invaded Kurdistan to attack PKK

1997 UN inspectors found Iraqi Food and Drug Examination Lab in Baghdad worked on gangrene since

1980s

1997 UN inspectors attempted to inspect Special Security Office but denied

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Rejection of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD and 2003 Invasion)

2002 Bush said couldn't distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam in war on terror because they were

equally evil

(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)

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

2002 Natl Sec Adv Rice told PBS NewsHour Iraq provided chemical weapons training to Al Qaeda Came

from Al Qaeda cmdr Libi who made up story under torture in Egypt

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

2002 DefSec Rumsfeld and CIA DepDir McLaughlin briefed NATO defense ministers on Iraq-Al Qaeda

ties

2002 US and UK worked on draft UN resolution demanding inspectors return to Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 3.5 Development of UK Strategy and Options September to November 2002 – Negotiation of Resolution 1441)

2002 National Intelligence Office for Strategic and Nuclear Programs had analyst meeting to draft Natl

Intel Estimate on Iraq CIA and DIA analysts at Natl Intel Estimate meeting said aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were for centrifuges and that Iraq reconstitution nuclear program Energy and State Dept analysts at Natl Intel Estimate meeting said tubes were for rockets

(Musings On Iraq How A Contested Aluminum Tubes Story Became The Basis For War With Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Created An Iraqi Nuclear Threat In 2002)

2003 Bush said 9/11 changed how he viewed Iraq as a threat to US

2003 Sec State Powell announced 6 month deadline for Iraqis to draft new constitution

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy)

2003 House Intel Comm wrote letter to CIA Dir Tenet criticizing pre-war intel on Iraq’s WMD and Iraq-

Al Qaeda ties after review

2003 Baghdad hotel used as base for NBC News bombed 1 guard killed

2003 UK intel report Said attacks increasing against Coalition mostly aimed at US Attacks evolving

Getting more sophisticated Iraqis working for Coalition being targeted Militias carrying out illegal arrests and murders Al Qaeda in Iraq forming long term strategy to go after infrastructure

(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

2005 Ayatollah Sistani condemned violence in Iraq

2006 U.S. Joint Chiefs started review of Iraq strategy

(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)

2006 Report Iraq had replaced Afghanistan as main training ground for terrorists Insurgents

from Iraq had gone to Afghanistan and Pakistan and imported tactics such as car bombs

2006 Report ruling parties agreed to deal to delay autonomous southern region plan for 18 months

2006 Report DIA found 2005 elections increased sectarian tensions in Iraq Assessment by 50

counterinsurgency experts in August found US forces relied too much on force alienating Iraqis

2006 Mujahadeen Shura Council issued statement saying it could fight the Hamza battalions organized

by Albu Mahal tribe in Qaim because they were enemies of Islam

(Musings On Iraq Anbar Before And After The Awakening Pt IX: Sheikh Sabah Aziz Of The Albu Mahal)

2007 ISI bombed meeting of police sheikhs and leaders of Hamas of Iraq and 1920 Revolution Brigades

in Baquba

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)

2007 PM Maliki told Council on Foreign Relations he had stopped sectarian war in Iraq Said

reconciliation needed time Wanted long term US military presence Said Iraq and Syria no longer interfering in Iraq and all Iranian support for militias had ended Said Anbar Awakening were sons of Iraq

2007 2^nd class of Sahwa in Abu Ghraib graduated from police training Now 1,550 new police 1 policeman

complained Shiite Muthanna Brigade in district were blocking sahwa from operating there

(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)

2007 US and ISF arrested 59 soldiers at Defense Ministry’s military academy in Baghdad for carrying out

bombings kidnappings murders Dean led gang at academy Killed academy’s director in 2005 New director was kidnapped by group Received EFPs from Iran

2008 South Korea’s National Oil Corp signed deal to work on 8 sites in KRG

2009 Report Sadr was attempting to reconcile with Asaib Ahl Al-Haq before 2010 elections AAH was to

send delegation to Iran to meet with Sadr

(Musings On Iraq Sadr Tries To Reconcile With Breakaway League Of The Righteous)

(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)

2010 Report US donated 8,080 computers worth $1.8 mil to schools in Babil Customs in Basra refused to

release them Investigation found 4,2000 of computers sold in Aug 2010 for $45,700 Rest of computers disappeared

(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen on corruption in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq interview with anti-graft US official Vincent Foulk)

2017 Kurds held independence referendum in three Kurdish provinces and disputed areas they occupied

in 2014

(Musings On Iraq What’s Next For Kurdistan After The Referendum?)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Quicksilver War, Syria, Iraq and the Spiral of Conflict)

View the Iraq History Timelines