This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 13 US forces captured Saddam

 

1916 British made diversionary attack at Sannaiyat and took Hai in offensive to retake Kut from

Ottomans

 

1920 Churchill argued at cabinet meeting that British should withdraw to Basra province to save

money in Mesopotamia

(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)

1950 Sunni politician told UK Amb Mack whenever new govt position created had to be 1 for a

Sunni 1 for a Shiite to maintain Sunni dominance of govt

1952 Army withdrawn from streets to put down protests

1994 KDP and PUK went back to war ending shortlived ceasefire over argument over tax collection

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

1997 Assassination plot against Saddam foiled Was planned by fmr Iraqi intel head in Syria using

Iraqi soldiers

1998 Head UN inspector Butler went over draft of his report to UN with White House so that it

could be revised Clinton wanted report harsher on Iraq

1998 Clinton went over strike plans for Operation Desert Fox with Natl Sec Adv Berger

(Musings On Iraq How Operation Desert Fox Finished Off Iraq’s WMD Programs)

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

Sectarian War of 2006)

2002 UK intel report said US invasion and occupation of Iraq could help motivate Islamists for

next 5 years

2002 Bush said military would have small pox vaccinations Was actually protection against

possible Iraq WMD attack during invasion

2002 UK Special Planning group paper said postwar Iraq would be crucial and had to be dealt with

to win Said if UK wasn’t willing to make a major commitment to rebuild Iraq it shouldn’t join war

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 6.4 Planning and Preparation For A Post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, Mid-2001 to January 2003)

2003 US forces captured Saddam outside Tikrit US believed Saddam leader of insurgency and

this was turning point Was wrong

(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)

2003 Fmr Iraqi intelligence officer denied he met 9/11 hijacker Atta in Vienna in 2001

2003 RPGs fired at US forces during protest in Fallujah US fired into crowd 3 Iraqis killed

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

2004 PM Allawi blamed CPA disbanding military for rise in violence in Iraq

2004 Allawi govt claimed 9/11 hijacker Atta was trained by Abu Nidal in Baghdad in 2001 Story

false

2005 NSC drafted 10 guidelines for putting together new permanent Iraqi govt Included competent

ministers not connected to Iran or Syria

2005 Border police seized Iranian tanker truck full of fake ballots for Dec election Driver claimed

other trucks had come across from Iran with ballots

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2005 US negotiated ceasefire with insurgents before Dec 15 parliamentary elections

2006 Bush met with Joint Chiefs to talk about revising Iraq strategy Joint Chiefs head Gen Pace said

US should shift to advising and training Iraqis Said ISF could handle security Army chief of staff Gen Schoomaker argued against troop surge Said it wouldn’t change violence Warned that surge could break army Bush said breaking army would happen if it lost Iraq Bush told Joint Chiefs he was going to have a troop surge despite their objections Wanted to win Bush okayed arresting Iranians operating in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Inside The Surge An Interview With Prof Peter Mansoor Former Executive Officer To Gen Petraeus)

(Musings On Iraq Reassessing The US Surge, And Recognizing Iraqi Agency In Ending The 2005-2008 Civil War In Iraq An Interview With New America Foundation’s Douglas Ollivant)

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

2006 Army chief of staff Gen Schoomaker testified to Congress that a troop surge in Iraq would

break the army

2006 Bush said that he would push PM Maliki to reach out to Sunnis

2006 VP Hashemi in US said he talked to Bush about new Iraq strategy and backed surge idea Said

US wanted to help create new coalition behind PM Maliki

2006 Speaker Mashadani responded to PM Maliki’s plan to have Iraqi forces take over security of

Baghdad Said it would only give militias control of city

2006 Report Saudi King Abdullah told VP Cheney at end of Nov 06 that Saudis would back Sunnis

            vs Shiites if US withdrew

(Musings On Iraq The Saudi Role In The Iraqi Insurgency)

2007 Report on returning refugees in Baghdad Sunnis complained govt only helped Shiites Many

found homes destroyed Neighborhoods changed with sectarian cleansing

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

2007 ISI’s security emir for northern Iraq and the emir for security in Mosul captured

in the city

2007 3 car bombs in Maysan killed 27 wounded 150 Province had seen fighting between

Mahdi Army and Badr for control

2011 VP Mutlaq gave interview on CNN Said PM Maliki was becoming a dictator

2011 Protests in 3 parts of Diyala against making province an autonomous region

2012 Sadrists protested in Baghdad Babil Diyala Wasit Karbala against PM Maliki because he criticized

Sadr for comments about corrupt Russian arms deal

2013 Sheikh Shorka house hit by two bombs in Jazeera in spate of violence against Anbar notables

(Musings On Iraq Security In Iraq’s Anbar Province December 2013)

2014 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq’s Khazali interview Said Kurds were 2^nd biggest problem in Iraq especially

Pres Barzani Said peaceful solution with KRG unlikely

2014 Report IS published pamphlet in Mosul justifying sex slaves

2017 Report 3 days after PM Abadi declared victory over IS said it might rebuild and return

(Musings On Iraq The Islamic State’s Failed Comeback In Iraq)

2017 Mayor in Diyala said IS moving back and forth between Diyala and Salahaddin and terrorizing people in rural areas

2018 Report People fleeing villages in Diyala’s Khanaqin dist due to IS 1 month IS attacked

villages 143 times Local mayor said ISF only in area during day No night presence when IS active

2019 Sec State Pompeo warned Iran of decisive response if US interests harmed in Iraq

Came after series of rocket attacks by Hashd group Said Iraqi govt had to stop those groups

2019 Mohammed Sudani from Dawa named as candidate for PM Resigned from State of

Law Promoted by State of Law and Fatah He was rejected Would become PM in 2022

View the Iraq History Timelines