This Day In Iraqi History - Jul 23 US envoy to Iraq McGurk told Congress when US warned Maliki govt ISI about to attack Mosul he said things under control

 

1401 Tamerlane and Tartars took Baghdad for 2^nd time Ordered his men to bring him the heads of 2

Baghdadis Were said to be 120 towers of skulls afterwards Ordered city to be flattened Was in revenge for city standing up to him

 

1916 Khalil Pasha St opened Became Rashid St 1^st modern road in Baghdad

1933 Iraq asked France to impose treaty between two to remove Assyrians from Syrian border and

disarm them

(Musings On Iraq review The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)

1982 Iran Op Ramadan made fourth attack into Basra Iraq counterattacked pushed Iranians back

again

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

1986 Meeting of NSC Pentagon State CIA at White House to discuss Iraq policy Talked about

request from US Embassy in Baghdad about moving US weapons from Jordan to Iraq which would be against Arms Export Control Act Request turned down because would be illegal and would require notifying Congress Discussed situation in Iran-Iraq War Felt Iraq was being too conservative in response to Iranian offensive because wanted to save its air force

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

(Musings On Iraq Review The Twilight War, The Secret History Of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict With Iran)

1987 Iraq For Min Aziz wrote UN saying Iraq welcomed ceasefire proposal UN Res 598

(Musings On Iraq Remembering The Iran-Iraq War Interview With Author Anthony Tucker-Jones)

(Musings On Iraq The Iran-Iraq War Interview with Author Tom Cooper)

(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)

1990 British military attache told US Embassy in Baghdad that he’d seen thousands of military

vehicles moving south towards Kuwait US intel thought troops were just for intimidation

1990 US Central Command ran war game on stopping Iraqi invasion of Kuwait US deployed airborne

corps and lost half its troops Led to reworking of plan that would be used in Gulf War

2002 Blair cabinet meeting John Scarlett head of Joint Intel Com said Saddam could only be

removed by invasion Sir Dearlove head of MI6 said Washington decided war was inevitable Bush wanted to justify invasion via terrorism and WMD Said that intelligence and facts were being used to justify invasion Blair’s foreign policy adviser said Iraq was fourth most dangerous country with WMD behind North Korea Iran and Libya Defense Staff head Sir Boyce gave 3 options for British in Iraq 1 Offer bases to US 2 Add air, navy special forces 3 40,000 troops for invasion Blair wanted UN inspectors to return to Iraq and build popular support vs Iraq Said if Iraq refused inspectors then regime change would gain more support from public

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 3.3 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options April to July 2002)

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 3.4 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options, Late July to 14 September 2002)

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Sec 4.2 Iraq WMD Assessments, July to September 2002)

(Musings On Iraq Overview of America’s Policy Towards Iraq: From The Clinton Years To The

Sectarian War of 2006)

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

2003 Bush said deaths of Qusay and Uday Hussein showed that the old regime was gone and would

not return US released photos of Uday and Qusay to prove they were killed in face of Iraqi rumors they were alive

2003 Bremer said only matter of time before Saddam was captured

2004 Ayatollah Sistani spoke against attacks on Christian churches

(Musings On Iraq review Christianity in Iraq)

2008 Kurdish List got Pres Talabani to veto draft provincial election law that included power sharing

in Kirkuk

(Musings On Iraq Conspiracy Theories Abound On Election Law Veto)

2009 Report PUK in trouble Pres Talabani criticized for not being responsible to party members

Factions formed Members quit Talabani refused to hold party congress to discuss issues Feb 09 4 senior officials quit Talabani also sick KDP might eclipse PUK

2009 Report 09 KRG elections counted entire region as one voting district Hurt small parties who

had to win across entire region Meant KDP-PUK controlled election process because picked MPs not voters

2010 ISI’s Justice Minister Finance Minister a judge and another official escaped prison in Baghdad

(Musings On Iraq Four Islamic State Members Escape From Prison)

2010 KRG spokesman refuted Reuters story that KRG smuggling oil to Iran Claimed KRG had

committee that stopped all smuggling KRG was still smuggling and had done so since 90s

(Musings On Iraq Kurds Continue With Their Oil Smuggling To Iran)

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

2012 ISI carried out 37 car bombs and other attacks across 20 cities as part of new Breaking Walls

Campaign 115 killed More than 200 wounded

2012 Fmr director gen national security council got 15 yrs in prison for stealing 500 mil dinars Ordered

6 armored cars and took all the money

(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)

2012 Raid on warehouse in Irbil found large amount of unlicensed medicine Most came from Syria

Most was expired Mostly sold in Ninewa

2012 Govt spokesman Dabbagh said Iraq rejected Arab League resolution calling for Pres Assad to

step down

2012 KRG Pres Barzani told Al Jazeera KRG had trained Syrian Kurds to fight in Syria Barzani

wanted to counter PKK in Syria

(Musings On Iraq Explaining Iraqi Kurdistan’s Policy Towards Syria, Interview With Wladimir van Wilgenburg)

2013 PM Maliki said power problems wouldn’t end in 2013 For most of yr Maliki’s govt said

electricity shortages would be over by end of year

(Musings On Iraq Iraq No Closer To Solving Its Electricity Problems)

(Musings On Iraq More Hollow Promises By Iraq’s Electricity Ministry)

2014 Report IS controlled 4 small oil fields in Salahaddin and Ninewa Sold oil and gas Controlled

fuel sales in area under its control Took crude from Ninewa to refineries in Syria to refine into gas and sold it in Mosul Smuggled oil to Turkey

2014 IS blew up Imam Yahya Abu al-Qassim shrine in Shafa Ninewa and Prophet Daniels’ shrines in

Mosul

2014 KRG parliament said KDP and PUK peshmerga would be unified in 6 months Didn’t happen

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Divided Kurds, Political Divisions Amongst The Peshmerga Interview With Wladimir van Wilgenburg)

2014 Human Rights Watch ISF carrying out indiscriminate air strikes on 5 Iraqi cities since June Used

barrel bombs Bombed residential areas Recorded 75 civilian deaths Used same tactic on Fallujah from Jan-May 2014

2014 US rep to Iraq McGurk told Congress he was in Mosul Jun 7 before city attacked Jun 8 Ninewa

Gov Nujafi said 100s of gun trucks crossed from Syria into Ninewa heading for Mosul US confirmed arrival of IS forces from Syria US told PM Maliki’s chief of staff and Def Min Dulaimi about impending IS attack on Mosul Both said situation under control and 9 army brigades were going to Mosul Asked Maliki to ask for Peshmerga help Maliki wanted guarantee that Peshmerga would withdraw after army arrived Jun 9 during IS attack on Mosul Maliki said situation was secure Govt said it would review Peshmerga moving into Mosul Jun 10 day Mosul fell Maliki asked for Peshmerga to move into Mosul Too late IS used social media to say it was heading for Baghdad Led to further collapse of ISF in Tikrit Iraq lost 5 army and Federal Police divisions out of 18

(Musings On Iraq How Northern Iraq Fell To The Insurgency)

(Musings On Iraq Post Mosul Liberation Day 34 Aug 13 2017)

2015 East Husaiba and Saqlawiya in Anbar both declared freed 2^nd time Hashd claimed 80% of

Baiji refinery freed but wasn’t

(Musings On Iraq Battle To Retake Iraq’s Anbar Province Continues)

2015 Report Kurds preventing Arabs from returning to disputed areas controlled by Peshmerga

Destroyed homes Burned fields

2016 Report Mayor of Sadiya worried about future of town with joblessness corruption lack of

services sectarian rivalries Taken by IS Aug 2014 Freed by Peshmerga Hashd ISF Nov 2014 Never rebuilt More than half of residents not returned Aid agencies done most of rebuilding Kurds built ditch outside town to separate it from Jalawla Amnesty Intl documented Peshmerga forcing Arabs out of areas in 2016 UN recorded 4 Sunni mosques destroyed by Hashd in Sadiya State Dept found Hashd destroyed homes and fields in Sadiya and surrounding area Human Rights Watch found similar destruction by Hashd in rest of Diyala Fear of IS sleeper cells

(Musings On Iraq review A Stranger in Your Own City, Travels in the Middle East’s Long War)

2017 Iran-Iraq signed military cooperation agreement to counter terrorism

2018 Protesters blocked highway in Dhi Qar and march in Qadisiya broken up by ISF before it started

Lawyer defending arrested protesters assassinated in Basra

(Musings On Iraq Silencing Protests In Iraq)

2018 Basra govt asked province to become autonomous region in response to demonstrations

2019 Spokesman for Joint Ops Command denied Wash Post story that IS was moving

into Iraq from Syria Claimed Will of Victory op blocked IS movement IS was infiltrating

2021 Son of Basra activist kidnapped Was found dead two days later

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