This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 19 Bush ordered attack on farm in Baghdad hoping to kill Saddam as opening blow in Iraq invasion

 

1914 Ottomans agreed to merger of Turkish Petroleum Company that was to get oil concession in Mosul

vilayet with Anglo-Persian Oil Company

 

1917 British forces captured Fallujah from Ottomans

1917 UK Cmdr Gen Maude sent message to Iraqis saying British had not come as conquerors but

liberators and promised eventually Arab state free of foreign rule Said British would not impose their institutions and called on Arabs to help rule

(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)

(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)

(Musings On Iraq review A Short History of Iraq)

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

(Musings On Iraq review U.S. Policy In Post-Saddam Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)

1917 Secretary of State for India Austen Chamberlain argued India had won Mesopotamia

and therefore it should go to India

1918 UK political officer killed in Najaf by two groups that ran city Zuqurt and Shumurt

Started revolt British blockaded city and cut off water

1919 Political Officer Cpt Marshall killed in Najaf British besieged city in retaliation

1921 UK Cairo Conference decided that independent Mesopotamia govt would pay part of British

expenses especially for troops Decided that Sir Percy Cox would offer amnesty for those involved in 1920 Revolt Then Faisal would offer his services to Mesopotamia as a way into power Decided an Anglo-Mesopotamia treaty would be necessary to ensure relations between two countries

(Musings On Iraq How England Chose Feisal As 1^st King Of Iraq)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied)

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

(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)

(Musings On Iraq review Empires of the Sand, The Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East 1789-1923)

1930 PM Suwadi’s cabinet resigned over lack of progress in gaining powers and concessions from UK

1951 Grenade hit US information office in Baghdad Might’ve been done by underground Zionist group sent

by Israel

(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Jews, A History of Mass Exodus)

1963 Iraq sent delegation to Syria to talk about uniting two countries

1981 Iraq attacked Susangard in south after ceasefire offer rejected by Khomeini

1982 Iraq launched pre-emptive attack in Rikabiya to try to stop Iranian offensive to break

Dezful siege in Khuzistan Failed Iraqis lost 10,000 dead 15,000 wounded 15,450 captured Iran lost 4,000 dead 8,000 wounded 6,000 captured Iran recaptured 940 sq mi of Iranian territory

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

1982 Saddam sent envoy to Islamic mediation mission with cease-fire proposal and offer to withdraw

from Iranian territory

(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)

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)

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

1988 End of 1^st Anfal campaign that destroyed PUK’s bases in Sergalou and Bergalou, Sulaymaniya

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)

1991 Saddam’s troops recaptured Karbala from Shiite rebels Went district to district taking young men

and executing them

(Musings On Iraq The 1991 Shiite Uprising In Southern Iraq)

1991 Govt forces arrested Ayatollah Khoei 105 relatives staff students and clerics in Najaf after uprising

put down there

1991 Bush admin officials accused Iran of trying to overthrow Saddam and place friendly Shiites in

power in Baghdad

(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)

1992 Iraq issued 2^nd weapons declaration Admitted that 1^st declaration was incomplete Admitted that it

hadn’t declared 89 SCUD missiles and 8 launchers

1998 Ahmed Chalabi and King Hussein sent letter to Clinton saying Saddam should be overthrown

(Musings On Iraq review The Man Who Pushed America To War, The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi)

(Musings On Iraq review Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi and the Selling of the Iraq War)

2002 CIA Dir Tenet told Senate no Iraq Al Qaeda connection but Iraq couldn’t be ruled out from

involvement in 9/11 Said no doubt Iraq-Al Qaeda links

2002 CIA Dir Tenet said Iraq developing nuclear weapons

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

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

2002 DIA Dir Adm Wilson briefed Senate Armed Services Comm on threats to US Didn’t include Iraq

Said Iraq contained only residual WMD programs

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

2003 German French and Russian Foreign Ministries condemn impending Iraq invasion saying it had no

UN approval

2003 CIA told Pentagon Saddam Uday Qusay might be at Dora farms in south Baghdad Sec Def

Rumsfeld brought intel to White House

(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter The Invasion of Iraq)

2003 Sec State Powell Sec Def Rumsfeld VP Cheney Natl Sec Adv Rice Dep Natl Sec Adv Hadley all

advocated hitting Dora farm to try to take out Saddam Uday and Qusay

2003 US Stealth bombers hit Dora farm hoping to kill Saddam and family Saddam appeared on state TV

later that day US would speculate for weeks that he was dead

2003 US Polish Australian Special Forces entered southern Iraq seizing oil and port infrastructure US Special Forces destroyed dozens of observation outposts along Iraq-Kuwait border

(Musings On Iraq review Special Operations Forces in Iraq)

2003 US Special Forces seized airbase in eastern Anbar to be used for operations in rest of province

Other Special Forces entered west Anbar from Jordan to look for SCUD missiles

2003 U.S. Special Forces seized key road crossings and bridges around Nasiriya and Samawa to allow

invasion force could move north

2003 Army Chief Gen Shinseki told Congress he couldn’t say how much rebuilding Iraq would cost

2003 UN inspector said WMD decontamination trucks US pointed out were water or fire trucks

(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 Turkish parliament approved US overflights for Iraq invasion

2004 Justice Dept drafted opinion that Iraqis and foreigners in Iraq could be taken out of the country by

CIA Legal experts said violated Geneva Conventions

2004 UN responded to reports that UN officials involved in fraud with Oil for Food program

2004 US team arrived in Baghdad to try to come up with interagency plan for rebuilding Iraq Was 1 yr since

start of Iraq War

2004 BBC poll of Iraqis 56% said better than year ago 23% about the same 18% worse 48% right for

U.S. to invade Iraq 39% wrong

2006 Iyad Allawi said Iraq was in civil war no matter what others said

2006 NY Times OpEd Gen Eaton who commanded US training effort for Iraqi forces until 2004 said

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld failed to build Coalition in Iraq and ignored advice of military

(Musings On Iraq review Overreach, Delusions of Regime Change In Iraq)

2007 ISI surrounded two police stations in Dhuluiya Salahaddin Told policemen to repent and give

loyalty to ISI then blew up stations 3 other stations destroyed in town in last 2 weeks

2007 BBC Poll 50% of Iraqis said things worse in Iraq then before 2003 US invasion 53% said Maliki

govt was doing bad job 53% said security bad

2008 Report US gave $20 mil contract to repair bridge Only cost $1 mil rest disappeared

(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)

2008 Sadrists withdrew from reconciliation conference hosted by Maliki govt saying it was all

            for show

2009 PM Maliki met with US Cmdr in Iraq Gen Austin Maliki worried US withdrawing too fast

and ISI would make a comeback US wanted police to take control of cities Maliki said he didn’t trust police Wanted army in the cities Was trying to control army by putting loyalists into command positions

2009 Last UK cmdr in Basra city said Iran and Hezbollah involved in mortar attacks upon British

in city Said IEDs constant threat

(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah’s Role In Iraq)

2009 Pres Talabani said he expected PKK to end fighting Turkey after intl meeting in Irbil of

Kurdish leaders Didn’t happen

2011 PM Maliki said no secret prisons in Iraq after Camp Honor secret prison found in Baghdad

2011 Day of the Prisoners protests sites Relatives of prisoners complained about conditions in

prisons and release of detainees

2012 Sadrists held Day of the Oppressed protests in Basra for better services fighting corruption and US

withdrawal

2013 Cabinet announced postponing provincial elections in Anbar and Ninewa for 6 months because of

security Sadr withdrew ministers from cabinet in protest

(Musings On Iraq Elections In Iraq’s Anbar and Ninewa Provinces Postponed)

(Musings On Iraq Sadrists End Boycott Of Iraq’s Cabinet In Another Pre-Election Ploy)

2013 UN report said oil revenues halting diversification of Iraq’s economy Said strengthening dinar

making exports less competitive and imports more affordable Limited job creation Oil industry set for expansion making situation worse

2015 Report KRG supposed to export 550,000 bar/day of oil for monthly budget payments from

Baghdad Baghdad said KRG only exporting 135,000 bar/day KRG said it was exporting 400,000 bar/day KRG Natural Resource Min said KRG should not have to follow daily export quota but it should get monthly payments

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Reaches Another New High In Oil Exports As Budget Deal With Kurds Breaks Down)

(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Kurdistan’s Failed Independent Oil Strategy)

2016 Ruling parties said they would not support Abadi’s new technocratic cabinet unless quotas

maintained

(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)

2016 PM Abadi Pres Masum Speaker Jabouri and political leaders agreed to form 3 committees to deal

with reforms and new cabinet Most reforms actually budget cuts

2017 Report Iraqi using more air strikes and artillery to free west Mosul from IS resulting in more

civilian casualties Hospitals reported 1,600 dead and wounded in east Mosul fighting Media said more than 750 civilians killed in west Mosul

(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 154, March 19, 2017)

2017 Iraq Observatory for Human Rights said heavy civilian casualties clearing west Mosul Said

ISF ignoring civilians trapped in city while shelling residential areas

2018 Turkish Pres Erdogan said Turkey would launch operation in Sinjar to clear out PKK

(Musings On Iraq Turkey Bluffs Its Way Into Getting PKK To Withdraw From Iraq’s Sinjar)

(Musings On Iraq review Turkey, the US and Iraq)

2019 Army tried to expel PKK’s Sinjar Resistance Unit from Sinjar Led to 2^nd armed clash

2020 Report Trump vetoed air strikes on pro-Iran Hashd for recent attack on Camp Taji that

killed 2 US soldiers and wounded a US contractor Feared public reaction while dealing with COVID-19

2020 Baghdad protest leaders said suspending demonstrations due to COVID-19

2020 Meeting of Shiite parties at Ammar Hakim’s house Rejected Adnan al-Zurfi as PM

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