This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 22

 

1961 After Barzanis forces overran army and police outposts and pushed back pro-govt Kurdish

tribes Qasim ordered counterattack Iraqi air force bombed 500 villages destroying 270 of them

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)

(Musings On Iraq review Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan)

1980 Iraq attacked Iran’s air force starting Iran-Iraq War Attacked 10 air bases but did little

damage and only destroyed 4 planes and lost 5 of its own Were not trained for low level bombings Didn’t have munitions to penetrated bunkers and missed most runways

(Musings On Iraq Inauspicious Start To Iran-Iraq War)

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

1980 Invasion plan was to seize Kermansha Dezful Ahwaz Abadan along border in less than 10 days

Deployed 2^nd Corps in Diyala to protect route to Baghdad 3^rd Corps would invade Khuzistan province to take Dezful Ahwaz Khorramshahr

1980 Iraqi invasion of Iran began with divisions leaving Diyala towards Qasr e-Shirin in center to protect

route to Baghdad Also attacked Panjwin to protect Sulaymaniya and Kirkuk in north

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

1980 Iraq Attacked Iranian naval base at Khosrowabad at mouth of Shatt al-Arab

1980 Iraq declared Khuzistan a new Iraqi province

1980 UK Defense Committee discussed how to start selling weapons to Iraq during war

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

1981 Iran began Operation Samen ol Aemeh to break siege of Abadan Iran’s 2^nd largest city

1987 Iranian speech at UN rejected UN ceasefire talks

1987 From Nebuchadnezzar to Saddam Hussein music festival Linked ancient Iraqi and Arab history along

with Saddam cult of personality Govt argued Iran-Iraq War culture war between Arabs and Persians

1988 Pres Khomeini addressed UN condemning it for not doing anything about Iraq’s aggression during

war

(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)

1990 Iraq said if sanctions started to hurt it would attack Saudi Arabia and Israel

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

1991 UN inspectors went to Nuclear Design Center in Baghdad Found docs that detailed secret

nuclear weapons program and secret facility in Baghdad

1992 Report In 1989 Bush admin told Iraq harboring Palestinian terrorist Abu Abbas and Abu Nidal

Didn’t change policy to improve relations with Saddam

2001 Telegraph story claiming Iraq was funding Al Qaeda Quoted CIA and Israeli sources

2001 Columnist Charles Krauthammer told Fox attacking Iraq would cost US lots of allies but he

didn’t care

2002 Natl SecAdv Rice said UN sanctions were failing and Iraq using illegal revenues to develop WMD

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

2003 Zarqawi bombed Canal Hotel Baghdad 2 dead 19 wounded

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

2003 Bombing of UN compound led to unanimous decision to evacuate UN staff from Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review The Terrorists of Iraq, Inside the Strategy and Tactics of the Iraqi Insurgency 2003-2014)

2003 Bremer testified to Congress asked for approval of $87 bil in aid for Iraq

2003 Bremer met with Dep Def Sec Wolfowitz Bremer said Iraqi Governing Council couldn’t organize a

parade let alone run a country Wolfowitz suggested council be expanded to 100-200 members Bremer thought waste of time because Council had already been asked to do that and failed

(Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope)

2003 Dep Sec Def Wolfowitz pushed for faster training of ISF and turning over security to them as

quickly as possible so US could withdraw from Iraq

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

(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil

War, 2003-2006)

2003 Report Iraqi Governing Council members were going to tell Congress US reconstruction money

being wasted

2004 US civilian Jack Hensley beheaded by Zarqawi Body dumped in Baghdad 

2004 2 suicide car bombs in Baghdad killed 21 wounded 150

(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)

2004 Gun battle in Samarra led US forces to seal off city

2005 Bush said with upcoming elections for parliament and constitution Iraq would face more violence

Said if US withdrew from Iraq it could become a terrorist safe haven

(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)

2005 Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Iraq could be breaking up

2005 Report Shiite cleansing of Baghdad by insurgents increased especially in Dora Amiriyah Ghaziliya

Sadiya

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

(Musings On Iraq review The ISIS Reader, Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement)

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

2005 UK official said Sadr wanted to talk about southern Iraq UK said it wouldn’t negotiate because

Mahdi Army working with Iran and Hezbollah to attack British troops in Basra Sadr said still interested London recommended talks

(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah’s Role In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2006 Ret Gen Keane told Joint Chiefs head Gen Pace he was failing and his only priority should be

winning in Iraq Gen Pace agreed to set up staff to go over Iraq strategy afterward Keane suggested Gen Petraeus should be new US Iraq Cmdr to Gen Pace

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

2006 US military said militias in Baghdad earning up to $1 mil/day via kidnapping extortion black market

blackmail running Petrol stations

2006 3000 demonstrated in Tikrit calling for Saddam to return to power

2008 Wasit council headed by ISCI refused to set up Tribal Support Councils because seen as tool 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 Iraqi-American who was advisor to Def and State Dept testified to Senate that corruption taking

over Iraq Justice system didn’t work US didn’t really care Said ministers judges politicians got money from foreign countries Some ministers ran kidnapping rings for money Amnesty Law used to end corruption investigations and release corrupt officials Electricity Min Samarraie was convicted of taking kickbacks A private security company broke him out of prison and flew him to US

2008 Adhoob chief inspector at Integrity Comm 04-07 testified to Senate Fled Iraq to US Said $18 bil lost

via corruption and waste in Iraq $4 bil alone lost by Defense Min 31 members of Integrity Comm killed Worked with Bureau of Supreme Audit that said it couldn’t find $13 bil in US reconstruction funds Bureau found fake projects projects govt didn’t want payment for work never done $24.4 mil spent on Ninewa electricity project that didn’t exist Relatives for PM Allawi’s Def Min set up two fake companies to get contracts from ministry and steal money 04 Def Min spent $1.7 bil to create 2 special forces divisions Given to companies run by relatives $850 mil supposed to buy 64 Mi-18 helicopters Only 4 bought and were 25 yrs old Iraqi army rejected them Rest of deal for supplies most of which never delivered Brother in law of Allawi’s Def Min diverted some money from ministry to Al Qaeda in Iraq Many projects by Planning Ministry never existed Said PM Maliki not interested in corruption and stopped many investigations

2008 Prof Mehdi who worked in Iraq in 06-07 for USAID in PM’s office cabinet Ministry of Planning and

Investment Comm testified to Senate Found corruption endemic in Iraqi govt Iraqi institutions weak and couldn’t confront problem Integrity Comm didn’t have power to crackdown on corruption High officials never went on trial Amnesty Law stopped 700 corruption investigations in Baghdad alone

(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)

2008 Report Lawyers believed about 50% of 6500 at Rusafa prison held for 3 yrs 5,000 of them applied for

amnesty 1400 released Justice Min didn’t release prisoners after cases dropped or found innocent Justice Min often looked for new charges to stop prisoner releases

2008 Human Rights Watch interviewed Iraqi refugees returning from Syria 90% said came back because

of new Syrian restrictions May 08 UN found slightly more Iraqis leaving for Syria then returning

(Musings On Iraq review Children of War, Voices Of Iraqi Refugees)

2009 PM Maliki told US Amb Hill Iran giving heavy weapons to Sadr Syria still supporting

Baathists and terrorism in Iraq

2016 Parliament dismissed Finance Minister Zebari on corruption charges led by Maliki and Reform Front

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