1915 British forces set out to capture Amarah from Ottomans
1924 UK High Commissioner for Iraq said Assyrians would get autonomous homeland in
Dohuk Called on Iraqi govt to grant Assyrians land
(Musings On Iraq review The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)
1931 Iraq made first payment of oil revenues to Turkey in return for giving up claims to Mosul
(Musings On Iraq How The Ottoman Province Of Mosul Became Part Of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Princeton’s Sara Pursley on Sykes-Picot and creation of 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)
1932 Kurdish revolt led by Barzanji put down by RAF
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)
1933 Assyrian leader Mar Shimun wrote letter to King Faisal Said Interior Minister told
him how the govt disliked him
(Musings On Iraq review The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)
1941 Mayor of Baghdad worked out peace treaty with British surrendering city
(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Boich World War II In Iraq and Syria)
1941 Yunis Sabawi pro-Nazi leader appointed himself governor of southern Iraq and told Jews to stay in
homes
1941 Ger Amb to Iraq told Berlin UK-Iraq armistice signed False rumor British seized Mosul airport
forced ambassador to flee to Syria
1941 German High Command told German planes heading to and based in Iraq to gather in Aleppo until
further notice
(Musings On Iraq review 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 Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)
(Musings On Iraq review Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against A Fascist State In Iraq and the Levant, 1941)
1960 Islamic Party called for banning Communist Party and Islamicizing laws in Iraq
1967 Jordan invited Iraqi army to deploy troops in its territory for war with Israel
1971 Nixon went to Tehran Shah asked U.S. help to aid Kurds against Baghdad leading to covert CIA
operation
(Musings On Iraq When The Shah and Nixon Manipulated The Kurds)
(Musings On Iraq review Killing Hope, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II)
(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)
1981 Iran attacked Iraqi forces in Qasr-e-Shirin and Dehloran in central and northern Iran
(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1984 Saddam threatened to destroy Iran’s main oil port at Kharg Island hoping it would
force Iran to negotiate end to war Iran didn’t reply
(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)
1992 Bush proposed doubling budget for covert action to overthrow Saddam
(Musings On Iraq review The United States And Iraq Since 1990: A Brief History with Documents)
2001 1st of four Deputies Committee of NSC meetings on revising Iraq policy
2003 Badr Brigade claimed it gave up its heavy weapons Wasn’t true
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
2003 Dep Def Sec Wolfowitz said that US would find Iraq’s WMD
(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 CIA Dir Tenet said that CIA had not compromised its intelligence on Iraq
2005 Basra police chief said he had no control of 3/4 of his officers who were loyal to
political parties and militias and were carrying out assassinations
2005 Basra police chief said militias were the real power in the province and they were criminals and
bad people Said 2 main groups were Badr and Mahdi Army
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
2006 PM Maliki declared one month state of emergency in Basra after 100 killed in fighting between
militias
2007 2nd day of fighting between ISI and Islamic Army in Baghdad’s Amiriya 1920 Revolution
Brigades and US unit joined to help Islamic Army Would lead to Sahwa being formed
(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)
2007 White House spokesman said US wanted long term military presence in Iraq to support ISF
2008 Report only 15% of Sawha integrated into govt
2008 PM Maliki said he wanted refugees to return Promised privileges for them Said govt had money and
plan to aid them NGOs reported Iraq had no program for returnees
2009 Ex-Trade Min Sudani placed in Samawa prison for trial after arrested trying to leave country
Accused of stealing $400 mil for Maliki’s State of Law Accused of buying substandard food and skimming money from food ration system
(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen on Iraq’s fight with corruption)
(Musings On Iraq interview with former anti-corruption official Vincent Foulk)
2011 ISI cell arrested that created fake human rights organization as front group
2011 Protests in Ramadi demanded army withdraw from city after police chief killed in raid
2012 2nd day of 4th auction round for Iraq oil and gas fields Only 2 winning bids
2012 Iraq announced 5th auction round for Iraqi oil and gas fields would be held after disappointing 4th
auction
2012 Ninewa Gov Nujafi claimed almost enough votes in parliament to hold no confidence move against
PM Maliki
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
2013 Fight broke out amongst protesters in Fallujah between those for and against Anbar becoming
federal region Federalism was to protest Maliki govt
2014 ISIS kidnapped and killed 8 Naqshibandi members in Baiji who would not give it allegiance
2014 Operation started to clear Saqlawiya north of Fallujah in Anbar
2015 Kurdish MP said 1205 Peshmerga killed 6595 wounded fighting IS since Jun 2014
2015 Badr head Amiri dismissed PM Abadi’s plans to retake Ramadi Claimed only Hashd could free
city
(Musings On Iraq interview with Ahmed Ali on fall of Ramadi)
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
2017 ABC News story offered more information on Rapid Reaction unit abuses first Reported in Der
Spiegel during Mosul campaign
(Musings On Iraq on Der Spiegel article on abuses by Rapid Reaction Division during Mosul battle)
(Musings On Iraq Human Rights Watch called for investigation into Der Spiegel article)
(Musings On Iraq ABC News had follow up to Der Spiegel article on abuses by Rapid Reaction Division during Mosul battle)
(Musings On Iraq Toronto Star added more to story about abuses by Rapid Reaction Division during Mosul battle)
(Musings On Iraq reactions to Der Spiegel article on abuses by Rapid Reaction Division during Mosul battle)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq Joint Operations Command attacked Der Spiegel article on abuses by Rapid Reaction Division during Mosul battle)
View the Iraq History Timelines
1920 Head political officer in Iraq Wilson got report that revolt in Mosul being planned
1926 Verbal agreement made between British and Turks to give Turkey 10% of Mosul oil
revenues for 25 years in return for giving up claims to province
(Musings On Iraq How The Ottoman Province Of Mosul Became Part Of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Princeton’s Sara Pursley on Sykes-Picot and creation of 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)
1941 Last brigade of British 10th Infantry Division from India landed in Basra
(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Boich World War II In Iraq and Syria)
1941 British troops reached Baghdad Iraqi army barracks bombed leading it to ask for peace
1941 Baghdad mayor and army officers approached British embassy asking for armistice
1941 German Amb to Iraq Grobba fled to Mosul Told German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop Iraqis still in
the fight
1941 Ger For Min Ribbentrop told Ger Amb to Iraq Grobba that more planes arriving Jun 1 Grobba said
because of lack of fuel German planes would have to be based in Syria
(Musings On Iraq review 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 Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)
(Musings On Iraq review Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against A Fascist State In Iraq and the Levant, 1941)
1946 PM Suwaidi resigned over controversy over Iraq-Turkey Friendship Treaty Nuri al-Said negotiated
treaty without consulting with govt
1959 Last British soldier departed Habaniya base in Iraq as English military withdrew from country
1967 Egypt’s Nasser and Jordan’s King Hussein called Pres Arif asking him to deploy Iraqi forces to
Jordan for war with Israel Arif agreed to send 1 armored div and 3 squadrons of jets
1968 Iraqi army arrived in southern marshes to put down Communist uprising
(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)
1982 Protests and riots in Karbala Basra Nasiriyah Baghdad over battlefield losses in Iran-Iraq War
1985 Iraq carried out heavy air raid on Iran oil terminal at Kharg Island
(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)
2003 Gen Conway 1st Marine Expeditionary Force surprised hadn’t found any Iraq WMD in searches
Said intel about Iraq having ready to use WMD was wrong
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld announced new Iraq Survey Group would be formed to take over search for
Iraq’s WMD
2003 Coalition forces looking for Iraq WMD increased to 1300 personnel
2003 Final report of UN inspectors found no evidence of WMD programs
2003 UN inspectors said soil samples helped back Iraq story that they destroyed anthrax
(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)
2003 PM Blair said he was sure evidence of Iraq’s WMD would be found
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld said war was not based upon lies because both US and England said Iraq had
WMD
(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)
2003 Bush said US found WMD because 2 alleged mobile WMD labs were found Inspection found not
labs
(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)
2003 UnderSecDef for Intel Cambone said only 70 of roughly 600 suspected WMD sites in Iraq had been
inspected
2003 CIA Dir Tenet said that its Iraq intelligence was not politicized by Bush admin
2003 US report on Iraqi police Said they were corrupt and needed reform Called for 6,000 advisers
which US didn’t have
(Musings On Iraq interview with Col Ted Spain on how US struggled to establish law and order in post-invasion Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how US failed to develop the Iraqi police)
2004 US Op Smackdown to probe Mahdi Army defenses of Kufa mosque began
2004 7 US soldiers disciplined for not stopping Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal
2004 Leaked parts of Ryder report on Abu Ghraib found 100s of Iraqi prisoners were held despite lack
of evidence
2005 VP Cheney said Iraq in “last throes” of an insurgency
2006 Pentagon report to Congress said violence increased since 2004 from avg 400 attacks/wk spring 04
to 550 attacks/wk Aug 05-Feb 06 to 600 attacks/wk Feb-May 06
2007 US turned over security for Kurdistan to Peshmerga
2007 Op Alljah started to clear Fallujah
(Musings On Iraq interview with author Green on Fallujah during the Surge)
(Musings On Iraq review Fallujah Redux The Anbar Awakening and the Struggle With Al Qaeda)
2007 Graffiti appeared in Baghdad’s Amiriya saying down with ISI It attacked a mosque associated
with Islamic Army in retaliation killing its local commander Islamic Army then attacked an ISI mosque leading to 4 hr gun battle
(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)
(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 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq arms supplier Abu Abdullah captured by U.S. forces
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2008 ISF raided Iraqi National Gathering HQ in Basra
2008 CIA Chief Hayden said ISI near strategic defeat in Iraq
2008 Ayatollah Sistani aide said he was opposed to Status of Forces Agreement with U.S.
2008 Fmr White House spokesman McClellan said Bush White House so caught up in pushing war
ignored intel that didn’t fit argument
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
2009 Ex-Trade Min Sudani tried to leave Iraq but plane turned around and arrested at Baghdad
airport on corruption charges Sudani accused of stealing $400 mil for Maliki’s State of Law
(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen on Iraq’s fight with corruption)
(Musings On Iraq interview with former anti-corruption official Vincent Foulk)
2009 Ex-Trade Min Sudani’s brother arrested trying to leave Iraq by land Tried to bribe border police
Also charged with corruption
2010 Diyala police chief complained his forces were infiltrated by insurgents
2010 PM Maliki met with Pres Barzani in Irbil to lobby for 2nd term
2011 Ninewa Gov Nujafi escaped bombing on his motorcade in Mosul
2011 Maysan council voted to keep US forces out of province as objection to a US raid
2011 VP Mahdi resigned saying position no longer held power and Najaf objected to way VPs elected
2012 PM Maliki said he was reinstating Saddam era army officers as concession to Sunni parties to stop
no confidence vote against him
2012 Pres Talabani met Pres Barzani Allawi Speaker Nujafi Dep PM Mutlaq in Sulaymaniya and refused
to back no confidence vote vs PM Maliki
2012 Sadr said if Iraqiya and Kurdish Coalition backed no confidence vote against PM Maliki he would
support it Sadrists said replacing PM Maliki only solution to political crisis in Iraq
2012 Badr and Fadhila wrote letter to PM Maliki saying they supported him during no confidence move
against him
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
2012 Iraq Oil Ministry held 4th auction for 12 oil and gas fields Only 1 winning bid
2013 3 Reports militias killing civilians kidnapping people manning checkpoints with ISF in Baghdad
2013 Anbar governor escaped car bombing in Ramadi
2014 Ramadi protest leader said Sunni autonomy was way to go and rejected armed struggle
2014 Protest in Qadisiyah over lack of services and development
2014 Report Iran funding Asaib Ahl Al-Haq operations in Fallujah and Jurf al-Sakhr
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2015 IS held ceremony where Ramadi sheikhs gave it allegiance after city fell
(Musings On Iraq interview with Ahmed Ali on fall of Ramadi)
2016 Hashd and Federal Police stopped displaced fleeing Sjar Anbar Executed 12 men
View the Iraq History Timelines
1920 UK judicial secretary Carter wrote Sir Wilson head political officer warning Sunni-Shiite
unity would threaten British rule in Iraq
1920 Grand Ayatollah Shirazi issued statement that Baghdad Khadimiya Najaf Karbala and other
areas agreed on protests for Iraqi independence
1941 Italian planes got into dogfight with British planes over Baghdad 1 Italian and 2 British
planes shot down
(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Boich World War II In Iraq and Syria)
1941 British defeated Iraqi forces at Abu Ghraib Turned back at Abu Ghraib canal in push on Baghdad
2nd time
1941 British forces defeated by Iraqi army at Kadhimiya, Baghdad
1941 PM Gaylani told military leadership had fled to Persia leading to his own escape there along with
Mufti of Jerusalem
1941 German ambassador to Iraq fled Baghdad for Kirkuk fearing British advance
1941 Governor of Baghdad captured by British on trip to Samarra
(Musings On Iraq review 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 Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)
(Musings On Iraq review Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against A Fascist State In Iraq and the Levant, 1941)
1948 Battle of Jenin between Jewish and Iraqi forces started 1st Arab Israeli War
1981 Iran attacked Penjwin Kurdistan but stopped
(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1983 Tariq Aziz tried to open talks with Iran to stop bombing civilians area via UN Iran rejected offer
1984 US backed UN resolution condemning Iranian attacks on Persian Gulf shipping Didn’t mention
Iraq’s attacks
1987 US Asst Dep Sec of Def Armitage said U.S. couldn’t see Iraq defeated in Iran-Iraq War
1988 Reagan-Gorbachev Summit Gorbachev said he would pressure Iran to end Iran-Iraq War if US
helped with Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
(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)
1996 PUK and KDP agreed to extend Kurdish parliament for another year hoping that assembly would
help end civil war
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurds, A Modern History)
2002 UK Def Min official Kelly said Blair govt had spun WMD dossier on Iraq
2003 Bush said US found WMD because 2 alleged mobile WMD labs were found They weren’t
(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)
2003 Retired CIA and State Dept officials sent memo to Bush saying they questioned intel cited by White
House for Iraq war
2003 BBC report Blair’s office had sexed up UK dossier on Iraq’s WMD
2003 Elections led to Abdul Rahman Mustafa a Kurd being elected mayor of Kirkuk
(Musings On Iraq How Did Kirkuk Become Such A Divisive Issue? A Portrait of The City In
2003)
2003 White House spokesman Fleischer said everything administration said about Iraq-Niger uranium
deal was accurate
2003 Cheney chief of staff Libby asked Undersecretary of State Grossman about a former ambassador
going to Niger mentioned in Wash Post column Grossman told him it was Joseph Wilson
(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)
2004 Report incoming interim PM Allawi had links to CIA and MI6 since 1980s as opponent to Saddam
2005 Op Lightning largest joint US-Iraq op so far Aimed at clearing Baghdad of insurgents
2005 Report May 2002 US and UK increased air strikes on Iraq using No Fly Zones in attempt to
provoke Saddam to justify invasion
2007 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq kidnapped 5 Brits from Finance Min in Baghdad 4 would be killed
Ransomed 5th Op planned by Iranian Revolutionary Guards
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Policy Towards Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Naval Postgraduate School’s Ostovar on history of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard)
(Musings On Iraq review Vanguard of the Imam, Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard)
2007 Insurgents in Amiriya Baghdad told US they were going to attack ISI and needed help Gen
Petraeus said he would support them Became Sahwa
(Musings On Iraq Demise, But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)
2008 US Amb to Iraq Crocker said ISI near defeat
2008 Interior Min fired 7500 police for corruption ghost officers negligence
2009 Video emerged of Trade Min Sudani and brothers drinking with prostitutes talking about PM
Maliki Sudani from Dawa
2010 Sadrists said they would not allow dictatorship or autocracy to return to Iraq referring to PM Maliki
(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Inside Iraqi Politics’ Sowell on whether Maliki became a dictator)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Historian Phebe Marr comparing PM Maliki with MP Said)
2011 Iraqiya nominee for Def Min Obeidi escaped sticky bomb attempt on his life in Mosul
2012 Basra council called for province to become federal region
2012 PM Maliki held cabinet meeting in Mosul to try to undermine no confidence vote against him
Kurds boycotted meeting
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
2012 Iraqi court found Hezbollah operative Daquq innocent of terrorism charges Was liaison between
Iran Hezbollah and militias
(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah’s Role In Iraq)
2012 Oil Min Shahristani denied that he ordered stop of fuel deliveries to KRG even though he did in
dispute over oil deals
2014 Mutahidun Arabiya and Nationalists formed Union of National Forces list
2016 After he was dismissed by parliament Ninewa Gov Nujafi refused to leave office
View the Iraq History Timelines
1933 Interior Ministry had Assyrian leader Mar Shimun come to Baghdad to discuss
differences with govt over settling community in north Interior said it was willing to acknowledge Mar Shimun as spiritual leader but would not give him any political power Said British officer arriving to help settle community Mar Shimun said he would help with settlement Pledged loyalty to King Faisal
(Musings On Iraq review The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)
1941 British forces captured Khan Nuqta fort on march from Fallujah to Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Boich World War II In Iraq and Syria)
1941 British troops moved from Basra to Baghdad take Ur
1941 British forces attacked Abu Ghraib canal but turned back by Iraqis
1941 British intel spread rumor to Iraqi military that 100 tanks heading to Baghdad Led PM Gaylani to
flee
1941 3rd shipment of German military supplies arrived in Mosul Never used
1941 Iraq Chiefs of Staff decided to withdraw to Kirkuk to avoid British attack on Baghdad PM Gayalni
joined them
(Musings On Iraq review 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 Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)
(Musings On Iraq review Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against A Fascist State In Iraq and the Levant, 1941)
1968 Communist uprising began in southern Marshes
(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)
1981 Dawa blew up an ammo and fuel dump at Baghdad Airport
(Musings On Iraq Interview with Lowy Institution’s Shanahan on history of the Dawa Party)
(Musings On Iraq review The Shi’ite Movement in Iraq)
1981 Saddam gave speech saying Iraqi army could take any area in Iran Led to attack upon Dehloran
in central front Only held it for 12 hours and had to retreat
1982 Iran launched attacks on Qasr e-Shring and Sumer in center across from Diyala but failed
(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 4: The Forgotten Fronts)
(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)
1990 Arab summit in Baghdad Saddam spoke about freeing the Palestinians
(Musings On Iraq Why Did Saddam Threaten Israel Before The 1990 Invasion of Kuwait?)
1990 Arab summit Saddam accused Kuwait of breaking OPEC quotas driving down oil prices costing
Iraq $14 bil called Kuwait’s oil policy an act of war against Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review from storm to Freedom, America’s Long War with Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)
(Musings On Iraq review Unholy Babylon, The Secret History of Saddam’s War)
1990 At Arab summit Saddam personally warned Sheikh Sabah he was being manipulated in US
conspiracy against Iraq Demanded $27 bil in compensation from Kuwait
1990 Arab summit backed Iraq’s right to protect itself from any Israeli attack
1990 PLO chief Arafat said Saddam was bringing new leadership to pan-Arab cause
2003 PM Blair said he still believed Iraq had WMD
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2003 DepDef Sec Wolfowitz said threat of Iraq came from its WMD and links to terrorists Said no one
expected finding Iraq’s WMD would be easy because so good at hiding them
(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 CIA-DIA report said that 2 trailers found during invasion were mobile WMD labs Denied Iraqi
claims trailers were for weather balloons They were
2003 CIA held conference call with reporters to brief them on WMD mobile labs report Didn’t exist
2003 DIA inspection team in Iraq sent memo to Washington 2 trailers not mobile WMD labs
(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)
2004 Iraqi Governing Council agreed upon Iyad Allawi as head of interim govt
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
2007 US and Iran held meeting US demanded Tehran stop supporting militias Nothing came of talks
(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)
2008 Sadr called for weekly protests against security agreement with US
2008 Fmr White House press sec McClellan’s book said White House shaped war
debate so force only option vs Iraq Said that Iraq war was not necessary Said Bush never admitted to any mistakes and was isolated
2008 Intl Org for Migration reported only 1% of refugees had returned Iraq largest refugee crisis in world
2009 Protest in Tal Afar to make it independent of Ninewa Complained about Gov Nujafi and neglect
Part of Kurd-Al Hadbaa dispute
(Musings On Iraq Tit For Tat In Ninewa)
(Musings On Iraq Arab-Kurdish Divide Over New Ninewa Provincial Council)
(Musings On Iraq Troubles Continue In Ninewa Over Results Of Provincial Elections)
2009 Report Asaib Ahl Al-Haq demanded release of its members from jail and to run in elections in
return for releasing 5 Brits it kidnapped
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2009 PM Maliki said he gave up with outreach to Saudis Said futile and made Iraq look weak
2009 Last British troops withdrew from Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2011 Protests and clashes in Ramadi after raid killed police chief ISF said he was linked to ISI Residents
complained about army raids
2011 ISF raided protest organization HQ in Baghdad arresting 11 activists
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)
2011 Report PM Maliki turned to Asaib Ahl Al-Haq to counter Sadrists in Baghdad and southern Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2012 KRG PM Barzani compared PM Maliki to Saddam Claimed Kurds were being expelled from Diyala
and Kirkuk
2012 Meeting in Irbil with Speaker Nujafi Allawi Sadr spokesman and Kurds over no confidence vote
against PM Maliki
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
2013 Security ops against ISIS in Anbar Ninewa Diyala Salahaddin Babil Baghdad
2014 ISIS killed 8 Naqshibandi fighters in Baiji
(Musings On Iraq Clashes Between the Islamic State and the Baathist Naqshibandi As Both Try To Expand)
(Musings On Iraq Precarious Relationship Between The Islamic State of Iraq And The Baathist Naqshibandi)
2014 Peshmerga Min punished Peshmerga who protested not getting paid in Sulaymaniya
2014 Iraqi intelligence received report on neighborhoods in Mosul ISIS would attack in June
2015 New U.N. resolution to try to crackdown on IS smuggling of antiquities from Iraq and Syria
(Musings On Iraq Review Shatter the Nations, ISIS and the War for the Caliphate)
2015 Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander killed near Ramadi
(Musings On Iraq interview with Naval Postgraduate School’s Ostovar on history of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard)
(Musings On Iraq review Vanguard of the Imam, Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard)
2015 Reinforcements arrived to try to take back Ramadi Wouldn’t happen until Feb 2016
2015 Parliament removed Ninewa Gov Nujafi from office upon recommendation of PM Abadi
2016 PM Abadi approved parliament’s dismissal of Ninewa Gov Nujafi
2017 Attack on final section of Mosul under IS control began
View the Iraq History Timelines
Al-Jezairy, Zuhair, The Devil You Don’t Know, Going Back to Iraq, Beirut: SAQI, 2009
The Devil You Don’t Know, Going Back to Iraq contains the musings of Iraqi author and journalist Zuhair al-Jezairy on his country after he returned from exile in 2003. Zuhair left in 1969 because of the Baath Party. He went to Jordan but left there in 1970 due to the government’s crackdown upon the Palestine Liberation Organization on Black Sunday. He ended up in Lebanon that then exploded in civil war. During the Iran-Iraq War he returned to Iraq fighting with the Kurds against Saddam Hussein. He eventually settled in London until he decided to go back to Iraq after the U.S. invasion. He went on to help found two newspapers Al-Mada and Aswat al-Iraq. His book is full of insights into the dramatic changes that occurred in his homeland.
1917 UK Col Clayton worried Sykes-Picot would create opposition by Sharif of Mecca against
UK taking Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq review The Creation of Iraq 1914-1921)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Princeton’s Sara Pursley on Sykes-Picot and creation of Iraq)
1941 Operation Regulta began British forces marched north from Basra to Kut and onto Baghdad
Captured Ur
(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Boich World War II In Iraq and Syria)
1941 British forces moved from Fallujah to cut Baghdad-Mosul road and railway Forced Iraqis out of
Taji north of Baghdad
1941 PM Gaylani told Italians he was disappointed with Axis assistance
1941 UK Foreign Min Eden said that Regent Ilah lacked a strong character but he was loyal to England
1941 Germans began withdrawing from Iraq
1941 12 Italian fighters landed in Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review 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 Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)
(Musings On Iraq review Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against A Fascist State In Iraq and the Levant, 1941)
1947 Mullah Mustafa Barzani decided to leave Iraq to USSR via Turkey and Iran after many of
his followers were arrested after returning from Iran and his brother Sheikh Ahmed Barzani surrendered to govt
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurds, A Modern History)
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)
1982 Iranian Supreme Defense Council went to Ayatollah Khomeini and recommended Iran go on
the offensive and invade Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)
1988 Iraq recaptured Shalamcheh Basra
(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 Kurdish parties threatened to go back to fighting if deal not reached with Baghdad over autonomy
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurds, A Modern History)
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
1992 Report US covert campaign vs Iraq included sending in counterfeit dinars and dollars into country
to undermine economy
1993 UN Resolution 833 set Iraq-Kuwait border
1995 PUK and KDP met to maintain Kurdish parliament during civil war
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurds, A Modern History)
2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld said Iraq might have destroyed its WMD right before war but they would be
found
(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)
2003 Preliminary report sent to Washington said 2 captured trailers were not mobile WMD labs as first
thought
(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)
2003 Cleric at Fallujah mosque praised 1st serious attack on US troops 2 soldiers killed 9 injured at
checkpoint
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
2003 Outgoing ORHA head Garner told Bush and Sec Def Rumsfeld Iraq making progress and US would
be out of country in weeks
2003 New UN Rep to Iraq deMello said that the sooner Iraqis had power the better
2003 UK Rep to Iraq Sawers reported that CPA needed to create an interim Iraqi administration as
soon as possible and work with UN on transferring power to Iraq Said Bremer opposed an Iraqi body drafting new constitution
(Musings On Iraq Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
2004 Sadr agreed to deal to end fighting US forces in Najaf and other southern cities
(Musings On Iraq review Battle For The City Of The Dead)
(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)
2005 Badr militiamen in Wolf commando brigade blamed for sectarian attacks on Sunnis
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how Badr took over Interior Ministry)
(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation, War And Resistance In Iraq)
2005 Sheikh Janabi of National Dialogue Council said violence had changed to killing based upon
identity Sunnis getting killed for being Sunni
2006 US forces said it would hand over security of Baghdad to Iraqis by end of year Didn't happen
(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)
(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)
2008 PM Maliki issued arrest warrant for Sahwa leaders in Diyala 2 days after they declared a political
party to run in 09 elections and 1 day before candidates could start organizing Warrants disqualified them from election
2008 Fmr Under Sec of Def Feith criticized Bush for switching goal of Iraq war from threat of Saddam to
spreading democracy
2009 US Army Chief of Staff Gen Casey said US could be fighting in Iraq for next 10 yrs
2009 Iraq signed 2 year deal with IMF for $7 bil to help with budget deficit due to decline in oil
prices
2009 Kurds began independent oil exports
(Musings On Iraq Talk of Renewed Kurdish Oil Exports)
(Musings On Iraq Companies Exporting Oil From Kurdistan Without Getting Paid)
2011 Anbar council rejected protest calls to make province federal region Move was to protest Maliki
govt
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
2011 Protest in Baghdad over lack of services demanded release of prisoners
2012 Pres Barzani said KDP and PUK peshmerga would be united by end of year Still hasn't happened
2012 Kurdish Coalition said hadn’t decided on no confidence vote against PM Maliki
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
2013 13 ISIS car bombs in Baghdad killed 36 wounded 147
2013 Sadr gave PM Maliki 24 hrs to have ISF clear Asaib Ahl Al-Haq from streets of Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2014 New operation to clear Jurf al-Sakhr Babil four days after declared freed
2014 Protest in Nasiriya over lack of electricity and services
2014 Report Iran pushing PUK to support 3rd term for PM Maliki
2015 Iranian Foreign Min denied Iranian troops fighting in Baiji said only advisers
2015 Fmr MP Othman said 2,822 Peshmerga killed fighting IS since June 2014
2015 Report Army and Hashd ordered to shut bridge to displaced trying to flee Anbar into Baghdad
2016 Sadrists protest in Baghdad Police fired tear gas to break them up Demos in Babil Karbala
Basra Dhi Qar Muthanna too
(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms)
2016 Kataib Hezbollah stopped large group of displaced fleeing Sjar Anbar abducted 73 men not seen
afterward
(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)
(Musings On Iraq Missing 600 From Anbar’s Saqlawiya Finally Found Dead?)
2017 Iranian Revolutionary Guard general killed advising Hashd around Baaj western Ninewa
(Musings On Iraq interview with Naval Postgraduate School’s Ostovar on history of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard)
(Musings On Iraq review Vanguard of the Imam, Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard)
2017 Toronto Star printed story by Der Spiegel author providing more information on abuses by Rapid
Reaction unit during Mosul battle
(Musings On Iraq on Der Spiegel article on abuses by Rapid Reaction Division during Mosul battle)
(Musings On Iraq Human Rights Watch called for investigation into Der Spiegel article)
(Musings On Iraq ABC News had follow up to Der Spiegel article on abuses by Rapid Reaction Division during Mosul battle)
(Musings On Iraq Toronto Star added more to story about abuses by Rapid Reaction Division during Mosul battle)
(Musings On Iraq reactions to Der Spiegel article on abuses by Rapid Reaction Division during Mosul battle)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq Joint Operations Command attacked Der Spiegel article on abuses by Rapid Reaction Division during Mosul battle)
View the Iraq History Timelines
1920 Nationalist Haras al-Istiqlal held Sunni-Shiite protest against British in Baghdad
1920 UK intel in Mosul got report 1,000 Arabs under fmr Ottoman officer and nationalist al-Ahd
member Jamil al-Midfai was west of Tal Afar waiting to attack
1921 Govt passed law allowing for enlistment to new Iraqi army
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Between the Two World Wars, The Militarist Origins of Tyranny)
1941 2nd trainload of German military aid arrived from Syria Stored in Mosul but never used
(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Boich World War II In Iraq and Syria)
1941 12 Italian planes landed in Kirkuk from Syria to operate under Germans Immediately attacked
British forces in Anbar
1941 Mussolini met with German military attache and expressed concern about Iraq Asked whether
Berlin would give substantive or symbolic support to Iraq
1941 Mussolini told German military attache Iraq could turn tide in Mediterranean Attache said Berlin
serious about Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review 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 Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)
(Musings On Iraq review Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against A Fascist State In Iraq and the Levant, 1941)
1964 Pres Arif established Joint Presidency Council with Egypt in failed attempt to unite 2 countries
under pan-Arabism
1981 Iraqis forced to withdraw from around Susangard Khuzistan in south due to Iran Op Imam Ali
1983 French Pres Mitterand agreed to rent 6 Super Etendard jets to Iraq for 2 years Iraqi pilots went to
France for training
1986 Iran launched 2nd counterattack in Faw Peninsula Basra
1988 Iraq Op Tawakalna ala Allah reached Iranian border in Basra Also forced Iranians out of southern
marshes north of Basra city 6,000 Iranian casualties 3,000 Iraqi casualties
1988 Saddam had meeting with military staff Decided next offensive would be to recapture Majnoon
Islands in Basra
(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 3: Iraq’s Triumph)
(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)
2002 During trip to France Bush said he had no Iraq war plans Part of strategy to work on war plans
while publicly denying it
(Musings On Iraq review Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Role of Military Intelligence Assessment)
(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 Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account Of The Decision To Invade Iraq)
2003 Ex-Iraqi general addressed protesters outside Green Zone saying Iraqi govt needed to be formed
security established salaries paid to soldiers or would be resistance to US occupation
2004 NYTimes said some of its reporting on Iraq before war was questionable and not sufficiently vetted
2004 Bremer met with UN election expert Pirelli and UN rep Brahimi Decided on one national voting
constituency for Jan 05 election because no voter roles voting districts etc
2005 PM Jaafari said govt would crackdown on those taking law into their own hands in response to
reports of Shiite death squads
2006 Pentagon report to Congress on Iraq said insurgency had not started civil war Said violence only in
4 provinces Said insurgency would decline in early 2007
2006 Sec State Rice said 48 US govt workers signed up to work in Iraq Gen Casey said not enough Rice
told him he was out of line
2006 Report PM Maliki wanted to increase number of Iraqi forces from 250,000 to 325,000 by end of
year Was trying to purge militias from Iraqi forces
2006 Report PM Maliki wanted Iraqi forces to control all of Iraq’s provinces except Baghdad and Anbar
by end of 2006
2008 US military reported attacks in Iraq at lowest level since May 2004
2008 ISI elements that that fled Mosul during govt crackdown began attacking Yazidis
in Sinjar Ninewa
2008 Pentagon report Couldn’t account for $15 bil spent in Iraq Of $8.2 bil in contracts reviewed $7.7
bil didn’t follow accounting rules Distributed $1.8 bil in Iraqi money with no accounting
2009 Head of parliament’s integrity comm attacked PM Maliki for allowing Trade Min Sudani to
resign Said it helped him escape questioning for corruption Sudani accused of stealing $400 mil for Maliki’s State of Law
(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen on Iraq’s fight with corruption)
(Musings On Iraq interview with former anti-corruption official Vincent Foulk)
2011 Interior Min Explosive head Gen Jabri released after arrested for involvement in buying fake bomb
detectors
2011 ISI killed Accountability and Justice Comm head Ali al-Lami in east Mosul
2011 Sadr told BBC that his militia was attacking US forces as they were withdrawing from Iraq
2011 Sadrists held rally in Baghdad against US occupation
2014 Jihadist intellectual Maqdisi said talks to heal ISIS-Al Qaeda rift had failed Said Abu Bakr al-
Bahgdad and his followers were deviants and called on ISIS members to join Jabhat Al-Nusra
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
2015 IS executed Iraqi soldier from Sadr City in Fallujah Hung him from bridge Hashd used it to justify
attacking city in July
2015 Report over 400 buildings in Dour district in Tikrit destroyed by Hashd after city freed
2016 PM Abadi called on reform protests to stop due to Fallujah operation
View the Iraq History Timelines
1914 Arab tribes told British forces Ottomans had abandoned Basra British forces set out to take city
