Kurdish Oil Exports Through Turkey Resume At End Of Sep

 

September 27 Kurdish oil reached Turkey for the first time since 2023. This was the fulfillment of months of negotiations between Baghdad, Irbil and oil companies operating in Kurdistan. The agreement also includes a budget deal between the central and regional governments and will help both with their revenues.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 30 Qasim passed Agrarian Reform Law Broke up power of landlords who had ruled Iraq since Mandate

 

1922 PM Naqib Gaylani named new cabinet Was to pass new Anglo-Iraq Treaty before

            parliament formed so it wouldn’t be debated Ensured British control over Iraq

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 29 Def Sec Rumsfeld ordered review of all Iraq war plans

 

1914 Royal Naval dispatched ships to patrol Shatt al-Arab to protect Persian oil concessions

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In World War I, From Ottoman Rule to British Conquest)

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

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 28 After invasion plan failed Saddam asked for ceasefire one week into Iran-Iraq War

 

1915 British attacked Ottomans at Es Sinn with frontal attack Ottomans held and then retreated at

night

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 27 US published letter from Al Qaeda to Zarqawi Warned him about vanity Said he had to consult with Al Qaeda more and cooperate with other insurgent groups

 

1919 TE Lawrence wrote Foreign Sec Lord Curzon that Sir Percy Cox should be high

commissioner of Iraq to relieve tension there

Review Heskell Haddad as told to Phyllis Rosenteur, Flight from Babylon: Iraq, Iran, Israel, America, McGraw-Hill, 1986

Haddad, Heskell, as told to Rosenteur, Phyllis, Flight from Babylon: Iraq, Iran, Israel, America, McGraw-Hill, 1986

 

Flight From Babylon: Iraq, Iran, Israel, America is the biography of Jewish Iraqi doctor Heskell Haddad. The book covers his transformation from an Iraqi nationalist growing up in Baghdad to being a committed Zionist who immigrated to Israel. Most of the book is engaging personal stories of Haddad’s family and career but he also comments on Iraqi and Israeli society and especially on how Jews and Iraqis were treated.

This Day In Iraqi History – Sep 26 Bush told Def Sec Rumsfeld to secretly start Iraq war plans

 

1914 Gen Barrow at India Office said UK had to stop Turkish-Arab alliance and declaration

of jihad which could spread to Afghanistan and threaten India UK should make show of force in Shatt al-Arab to deter Arabs from backing Ottomans and if war started should seize Basra vilayet

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In World War I, From Ottoman Rule to British Conquest)

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

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 25 KRG held independence referendum Iraqi forces would attack Kurds and seize disputed areas afterward

 

1913 US consul in Baghdad reported Basra Reform Society issued constitution Demanded autonomy

no foreign concessions recognition of Arabic language

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 24 UN inspectors found over 50,000 docs on Iraq’s nuclear program when it denied it had such a program

 

1915 Battle of Es Sinn began 1^st move by British to take Kut Started with diversionary

attack Turks left at night

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

US Won’t Allow Iraq To Import Natural Gas From Turkmenistan Because Goes Through Iran

Reuters reported that the Trump administration is blocking a deal for Iraq to import natural gas from Turkmenistan because it goes through Iran. This complicates Baghdad’s attempt to diversify its sources of gas to produce electricity.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 23 Natl Sec Adv Rice said Iraq would be next stage in war on terror

 

1948 Shafiq Ades Jewish merchant in Basra hanged on accusation he smuggled weapons to

Palestine He sold scrap metal to Italy that re-sold it to Israel to make weapons Part of anti-Jewish feelings that spread after creation of Israel

(Musings On Iraq review Last Days in Babylon, The Exile of Iraq’s Jews, the Story of My Family)

Report Of Another Deal To Re-Start Kurdish Oil Exports In Iraq

Over the last several months there have been repeated announcements that Kurdish oil exports are about to restart. Nothing happens however because there has been no resolution to the debts owed to oil companies in Kurdistan. In September that issue may finally have been resolved but official statements need to be taken with a large grain of salt because so many false claims have been made in the past.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 22 Iraq invaded Iran starting Iran-Iraq War

 

1961 After Barzani’s 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)

(Musings On Iraq Explaining Kurdish Nationalism Interview With Teen Tech Univ Prof Michael Gunter)

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 21 Coup plot by PM Razzaq vs Pres Arif discovered Led to Baathist purge from govt

 

1941 PM Midfai resigned over argument with Finance Min Kamal

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 20 Bush talked with Blair about seizing Iraq’s southern oil fields

1917 Sir Percy Cox made civil commissioner in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review Desert Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia)

Review Georges Sada with Jim Nelson Black, Saddam’s Secrets, How An Iraqi General Defied And Survived Saddam Hussein, Thomas Nelson, 2006

Sada, Georges with Black, Jim Nelson, Saddam’s Secrets, How An Iraqi General Defied And Survived Saddam Hussein, Thomas Nelson, 2006

 

Georges Sada was an Assyrian Christian who rose to the top echelons of the Iraqi Air Force under Saddam Hussein. After the 2003 invasion he became an advisor to the Iraqi government. He co-wrote Saddam’s Secrets, How An Iraqi General Defied And Survived Saddam Hussein to tell his story. Unfortunately he tried to include two sensational stories to sell books in the West and one about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is pure fiction.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 19 Bush again asked for report on Iraq-Al Qaeda ties after already told none existed

1914 UK sent 3 gunboats to Shatt al-Arab to protect Persian oil fields

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

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 18 PM Said threatened to expel Jews from Iraq over Israel

 

1916 British leaders told troops to continue advance in Mesopotamia vs Ottomans after huge loss

at Kut One of biggest British defeats in WWI

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 17 Saddam renounced 1975 Algiers Treaty with Iran Claimed sole control of Shatt al-Arab Prelude to Iran-Iraq War

 

1920 UK announced Sir Cox was returning to Iraq to create an Arab govt

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 16 Iraq’s 1st PM Gaylani resigned over protests against Anglo-Iraq Treaty

 

1922 PM Gaylani resigned over protests over Anglo-Iraq Treaty

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 15 Bush said he thought Iraq involved in 9/11 and would be dealt with later

 

1934 PM Ayubi Jawadat called for new elections Hoped to pack parliament with his followers

who were loyal to King Ghazi by fixing vote Parliament criticized for being overly Sunni

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Democratic Moment)

(Musings On Iraq review Independent Iraq 1932-1958, A Study in Iraqi Politics)

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 14 Iraq helped found OPEC

 

1920 Intel officer at India Office blamed 1920 Revolt on intl conspiracy involving Germany Italy

France Bolsheviks and Faisal

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 13 Iraq told inspectors in July 91 it secretly destroyed all its WMD

 

1929 Jews attended meeting of Arab nationalists in Baghdad against UK and Zionists in Palestine

Accused the Iraqi government of being under British influence

Review Terry Anderson, Bush’s Wars, Oxford University Press, 2011

Anderson, Terry, Bush’s Wars, Oxford University Press, 2011

 

Bush’s Wars is an attempt to show what went wrong with President Bush’s War on Terror. Author Terry Anderson argues that the U.S. should’ve never invaded Iraq and that detracted from fighting Al Qaeda and the war in Afghanistan. He tries to put together issues that have been discussed before into one narrative but there are major problems with his history that undermines the work.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 12 Pres Bush asked govt to look into whether Iraq involved in 9/11

 

1915 British forces launched campaign to capture Baghdad starting in present day Wasit

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

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

Princeton Researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov Released By Kataib Hezbollah After 2 Yrs Of Captivity REVISED

Image of Elizabeth Tsurkov at the cafe where she would be kidnapped by Kataib Hezbollah in March 2023

Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov was released by Kataib Hezbollah after being held in captivity for over 29 months in Iraq. There are various reports that the U.S. and Iraqi governments gave concessions to obtain her freedom.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 11 Bush and others immediately suspected Iraq involved in 9/11 terrorist attacks

 

1916 Retreating British attacked and broke up tribesmen harassing them in Sahilan, Dhi Qar

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 10 1st Iraqi cabinet formed under new King Faisal govt

 

1921 1^st Iraqi cabinet formed under newly coronated King Faisal Abd al-Rahman al-Gaylani became

Iraq’s 1^st PM

(Musings On Iraq review The Role of the Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 1941)

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

Islamic State Makes A Rare Appearance In Iraq In August

 

The Islamic State has largely disappeared from Iraq. In August it made a rare appearance.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 9 Sheikh Abu Risha announced the Anbar Salvation Council to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq in Ramadi

 

871 Zanj slave rebellion returned to Basra city Offered amnesty to residents and then

massacred them Survivors hid in city for weeks and turned to cannibalism for food

Musings On Iraq review The Revolt Of African Slaves In Iraq in the 3^rd/9^th Century

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 8 King Faisal died of a heart attack in Switzerland

 

1922 Gertrude Bell wrote that while King Faisal was beloved he was also weak because he was

Oriental Was in relation to Faisal’s demand for Iraqi independence which Bell believed was due to Faisal’s nationalist advisers that she saw as troublemakers

(Musings On Iraq review Gertrude Bell And Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Gertrude Bell, Explorer of the Middle East)

(Musings On Iraq movie review Letters from Baghdad)

(Musings On Iraq review Desert Queen, The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia)

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

1933 King Faisal I died of heart attack in Switzerland King Ghazi sworn in as new king

1934 Reformist Al-Ahali group distributed flyers in Baghdad criticizing govt for not relieving the

poor conditions in Iraq because King Ghazi not involved in country’s affairs

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Democratic Moment)

1969 Bakr govt executed opponents in central Baghdad Meant to rally support for regime

1980 Iraq demanded Iran surrender border towns that Iraq claimed Iran occupied 5 Iraqi

border stations Driven off Iranian F-14 shot down by Iraqi MiG-25 2 other F-14s shot down by an Iraqi MiG-21 and an Su-22 inside Iran

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

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

1982 Saddam speech about Iraq and Yemen uniting Said they should remain separate countries Said

uniting all Arab states was a dream

1985 Iranians took Rayat Advanced towards Rawanduz Irbil KDP seized large amount of land

(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 Lionof 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 Sec State Shultz met with Iraq’s Foreign Min Hammadi Beforehand State Dept held

press conference saying Iraq had used WMD on Kurds Said it was unjustified and abhorrent Shultz said relations with US were hurt as a result

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

1994 UK intel report said that it didn’t think Iraq had declared all of its chemical weapons programs

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000)

1996 KDP objected to Turkey’s plan to create security zone in northern Kurdistan against PKK

1998 KDP and PUK announced new power sharing agreement

2001 German intel terminated CURVEBALL as a source Continued to be used by US intel as source

for Iraq having mobile WMD labs Didn’t exist

(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)

(Musings On Iraq Look Who The LA Times Dug Up – CURVEBALL)

(Musings On Iraq The Story Of CURVEBALL And Iraq’s Mobile Biological Weapons Labs)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Curveball, Spies, Lies, And The Con Man Who Caused A War)

2002 Day 1 of White House PR campaign about Iraq WMD and nuclear threat

(Musings On Iraq How The Bush White House Used Leaked Intelligence To Launch A Media

Campaign Against Iraq In September 2002)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy

Tragedy)

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

2002 White House told NYTimes Iraq tried to secretly buy materials like aluminum tubes for its

nuke program Times quoted Iraqi defector saying Iraq renewed WMD program Had large stockpiles 2^nd Iraqi defector said Saddam wanted to restart nuke program Quoted White House official who said sign of Iraq’s nuclear program may be a mushroom cloud Inspectors destroyed Iraq’s nuke program in 1992

(Musings On Iraq How A Contested Aluminum Tubes Story Became The Basis For War With Iraq)

2002 Natl Sec Adv Rice and VP Cheney went on TV repeating claim Iraq rebuilding nuke program

Used aluminum tubes as proof Cheney quoted NY Times article on topic Tubes were for rockets

2002 Sec Def Rumsfeld Sec State Powell Joint Chiefs head Gen Myers all appeared on talk shows

promoting Iraq as a threat due to WMD and nuke program

2002 1^st time admin officials said proof of Iraq’s nuke program “may be a mushroom cloud” that

would be repeated by others later on Came from Bush speech writer Gerson at White House Iraq Group meeting

2002 VP Cheney told Meet The Press 9/11 hijacker met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague in 2001

Story false

(Musings On Iraq review The One Percent Doctrine, Deep Inside America’s Pursuit Of Its Enemies Since 9/11)

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

2002 Ex-Pres Clinton OpEd in Observer said Iraq was a threat but didn’t know if it required an

invasion

2002 Former UN inspector Ritter addressed Iraq’s parliament Said US about to launch historically

mistaken war on Iraq without presenting hard evidence of its claims Ritter said only way for Iraq to avoid war was to allow uninhibited UN inspections

2003 Iraq constitutional commission endorsed general elections for new constitution

2003 Bremer OpEd in Wash Post Iraq had to go through 7 steps taking 2-3 yrs for Iraq to regain

sovereignty Bremer had not consulted with White House or Iraqis about his plan

(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 8 – Muddling Through August-October 2003)

2003 UK Def Min Hoon said Britain would send 1000 more troops to Iraq to help with security

2005 Sec State Powell said some US analysts pre-03 knew intelligence on Iraq was bad but didn’t

say anything Said he never saw any evidence linking Iraq to 9/11 Said US made mistake of not imposing its will upon Iraq right after invasion

2006 Report US military said sectarian deaths in Baghdad down 52% from July to August Did not

count victims of car bombs and mortars

2006 Health Min said it was going to build 2 branch morgues in Baghdad to deal with bodies from

civil war Morgue reported 1,536 bodies received in August 2006 Many dead not taken to morgue so only partial count

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

2006 US military said IEDs four times higher in summer 2006 vs January 2004

2007 Iraqi National Dialogue Front ended boycott of parliament Had 11 MPs Said PM Maliki agreed

to work on oil law security and give money to displaced

2007 PM Maliki govt reported violence cut in half by Surge Deaths went from around 4000

civilians killed in Dec 06 to around 2000 in Aug 07 Govt was releasing false figures to claim security improved

(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)

(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)

2008 PM Maliki said govt would take responsibility for Baghdad Sahwa and integrate them into

govt Claimed US figures on Sahwa were too high and wanted audit to confirm their identities before they would be paid Maliki never accepted Sahwa

(Musings On Iraq What’s In The Future For The Sons of Iraq?)

(Musings On Iraq Will Baghdad Pay For The Sons Of Iraq?)

(Musings On Iraq Sons of Iraq Integration Update)

2008 Speaker KRG parliament asked US to promise weapons sold to Iraq wouldn’t be used against

KRG Claimed Baathism making comeback Said PM Maliki had no right to send ISF into disputed Khanaqin dist Diyala

(Musings On Iraq Kurds Come Out Swinging)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)

2008 Iraq cabinet approved natural gas contract with Shell in Basra Deal wouldn’t move forward

for years

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Signs Natural Gas Deal As Half Of Oil Plan Is Dropped)

2009 Report Executive from Talisman Energy said companies exporting oil from KRG wouldn’t

be paid until after 2010 elections Might take years to work out payments DNO Genel Energy Addax exporting oil without being paid

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

2009 Report ISF had no medical support Soldiers and police had to pay out of pocket for health

care

2009 Report 3 companies brought in illegal Asian workers Started in KRG but now brought in

workers to rest of Iraq

2012 Report ISI rebuilding in Diyala and Anbar Charged shops and traders taxes and protection

money

2014 Haidar al-Abadi of Dawa became new Iraq premier

(Musings On Iraq Premier Haider Abadi’s New Iraq Government)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Premier Abadi’s Cabinet Sworn In Amongst Political Disputes)

2015 Turkey launched cross border raid into KRG against PKK 1^st time in 2 yrs since PKK ceasefire

PKK attacked Turkish forces leading to operation

2015 Pro-Iran Hashd came out against PM Abadi’s National Guard idea Helped kill bill in

parliament

(Musings On Iraq Can PM Abadi Appeal to Iraq’s Sunnis?)

2016 Report Intl Center for Development Studies est $120 bil disappeared during Maliki govt

2016 PUK leader Hero Ibrahim wrote PM Abadi asking him to end new KRG-Baghdad oil deal

where Baghdad would use KRG’s Turkish pipeline and KRG would export oil for Baghdad Benefited KDP more than PUK

2016 MP from KRG natural resource comm said 30,000 bar/oil smuggled by PUK out of Kirkuk to

Iran

2016 Harakat al-Nujaba got into gun battle with police in Baghdad Claimed police were working

with IS Claimed it was trying to stop an IS terrorist attack Police said they freed man kidnapped by Nujaba and arrested 9 Nujaba members Led to gun battle

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Sheikh Akram Al-Kaabi and Hezbollah al-Nujaba)

2017 Iran hit KDPI camp with missiles in KRG after KDPI killed some Iranian border guards

2017 Civil Defense forces said 2100 bodies pulled from west Mosul Est 400-500 bodies still in

rubble

2018 Sadr and Fatah called for PM Abadi to resign due to Basra protests

2018 Protests at WQurna 2 field Shorash fmr MPs house burned in Zubayr Basra Pro-Iranian Hashd

groups threatened to send forces to put down protests in Basra Interior Min sent large forces to province to restore law and order in province

2018 Pro-Iran Hashd fired missiles at Basra airport in retaliation for Iranian consulate burning in Basra

2019 Report Prominent women assassinated in Baghdad Sep Tara Faris influencer killed leaving her

house Aug Rafif al-Yasiri beauty expert found dead in home and Yasiri Rasha al-Hassan who ran beauty salon killed Hashd suspected in deaths

(Musings On Iraq Review What Kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq)

2020 Activist in Dhi Qar survived assassination attempt Dawa office bombed afterward

2021 Report Dec 2020 US approved financing for Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas to develop

Khor Mor gas field Before US had been opposed to KRG’s independent energy deals Trump admin approved to try to wean Iraq from Iranian natural gas

2025 Report Iraqi Observatory for Human Right said that Tigris and Euphrates spreading

diseases like cholera and typhoid Rivers full of agriculture industrial and human waste

View the Iraq History Timelines