This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 29

1979 US placed Iraq on list of State Sponsors of Terrorism for backing Palestinian terrorist

Abu Nidal and others

1981 Syria said it would start talks with Iran to try to end Iran-Iraq War

1988 Iran-Iraq agreed to joint commission to implement ceasefire to end 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 book review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War)

1990 Joint Chief head Gen Powell told CENTCOM Cmdr Gen Schwarzkopf to be ready to start Gulf

War by 1/17/91

1996 Dawa announced campaign to assassinate top Iraqi officials

2002 US Senate authorized war against Iraq

2003 Iraqi Governing Council voted to replace family laws with sharia

2005 Zarqawi took responsibility for rocket attack on Israel Said he was fulfilling promise to bin Laden

2005 US military found 3 more secret prisons run by Badr within Interior Ministry where torture used

(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how Badr took over Interior Ministry)

2006 Military Times did poll of its military subscribers Found 50% thought success possible in Iraq

Down from 83% in 2004 42% said they disapproved of Bush’s handling of the war versus 35% who approved 41% said US should have gone to war with Iraq in the first place Down from 65% in 2003 13% said US should have no troops in Iraq

2007 bin Laden video said that insurgency had to rally around ISI Criticized Awakening and those

undermining the jihad

2013 Head of Anbar council called for end of Ramadi protests in exchange for govt releasing MP

Alwani

(Musings On Iraq article on PM Maliki crackdown on Anbar protests)

2016 2^nd phase of Battle of Mosul officially began attacking east side of city Attack actually began

Dec 24

(Musings On Iraq article on 2^nd phase of Battle of Mosul)

(Musings On Iraq Review They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate)

(Musings On Iraq Review Shatter the Nations, ISIS and the War for the Caliphate)

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This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 28

1929 Fmr Iraq High Comm Dobbs said if Iraq moved forward in its own dysfunctional way

and was better off than it was under Ottomans England would have succeeded

1998 US began attacks upon Iraqi air defense system in north as part of no fly zones

1998 Italian paper claimed Saddam and bin Laden made pact to act against US and Iraq offered

Saddam safe haven False story

2001 Gen Franks presented Bush with latest version of Iraq war plan Included 7 lines of operation

that could be used independently or in conjunction and 9 parts of Iraq that could be targeted Franks wanted to start building up US forces in Gulf and information campaign immediately Franks said that US would be ready for war with Iraq by April to June 2002 Franks also wanted US to start working with Iraqi opposition inside Iraq

(Musings On Iraq book review of Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Role of Military Intelligence Assessment)

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

Tragedy)

2001 CIA Dir Tenet said Iraqi opposition wouldn't work with US without seeing strong commitment

from Washington

2001 Bush asked Gen Franks if plan good enough to win Franks said yes with some work

2001 Bush told Gen Franks he wanted Saddam removed as soon as possible and suggested 2002 for

            war

(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Bush Administrations and Saddam Hussein, Deciding on Conflict)

2001 Bush ordered State and Defense Depts to start building up support amongst regional countries

for Iraq invasion

2001 Def Sec Rumsfeld told Bush Iraq war would be over fast and quick US would quickly turn over power

to Iraqis and withdraw

(Musings On Iraq article on Part I Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Planning for Postwar Iraq September 2001 to May 2003)

2001 Pentagon’s Def Policy Board’s Richard Perle OpEd in NY Times said US had to attack Iraq

(Musings On Iraq book review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)

2002 Report NSC Sr Dir Near East Abrams drafted plan for US to seize control of Iraq’s southern oil

fields

2003 Iraqi Governing Council wrote letter to UN about CPA’s plans to hold caucuses instead of

elections for new Iraq parliament

2004 Bin Laden online statement praised Zarqawi giving him allegiance

(Musings On Iraq interview with former CIA analyst Nada Bakos who tracked Zarqawi)

2005 UN endorsed December elections for a permanent Iraqi parliament

2006 Report Mahdi Army moving block by block across Ghaziliya Baghdad forcing out Sunnis Many

displaced Sunnis moved to center of district where sheikh set up militia to protect them from Mahdi Army

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

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

2006 NSC agreed that Gen Petraeus would be new Iraq commander for Surge

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Mansoor on the Surge)

(Musings On Iraq interview with New America Foundation’s Ollivant On Reassessing the Surge)

2010 PM Maliki said no changes would be made to the SOFA agreement with the US and all its

troops would leave Iraq

2010 Sadrist Dway became governor of Maysan in return for Sadr’s support for Maliki’s 2^nd term

(Musings On Iraq article on Sadr-Maliki quid pro quo Maysan governorship for 2^nd term for Maliki)

2012 Protests spread from Fallujah to Diyala Ninewa and Salahaddin in response to PM Maliki issuing

warrant for Fin Min Issawi

(Musings On Iraq article on PM Maliki’s moves against Fin Min Issawi)

2013 PM Maliki ordered arrest of MP Alwani for taking part in protests Gun battle ensued killing

Alwani’s brother and some of his bodyguards

(Musings On Iraq article on PM Maliki crackdown on Anbar protests)

2013 Speaker Nujafi said arrest of MP Alwani illegal due to parliamentary immunity Called for

investigation

2013 Speaker Nujafi’s parliamentary investigative group into arrest of MP Alwani blocked from

entering Anbar by ISF

2013 PM Maliki ordered arrest of Sheikh Sulaiman for his role in Anbar protests Sulaiman fled to Irbil

(Musings on Iraq article on warrant for Sheikh Sulaiman)

2013 Curfew imposed in Ramadi

2014 Iran announced Iranian Rev Guard Gen Taqavi died in Salahaddin fighting IS 5^th IRGC

member killed in Iraq during war

(Musings On Iraq article on death of IRGC general)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Naval Postgraduate School’s Ostovar on history of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard)

(Musings On Iraq book review Vanguard of the Imam, Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard)

2015 Iraqi forces freed Ramadi

2016 Last bridge crossing Tigris in Mosul destroyed by Coalition airstrike to prevent IS retreating

from eastern to western section of city

2017 KRG PM Barzani said that PM Abadi was punishing the Kurds and unwilling to compromise

while Maliki was offering reconciliation Came afer Maliki gave interview to Rudaw saying that Baghdad-Irbil relations needed to be improved

(Musings On Iraq article on Maliki-KDP reconciliation) 

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Iraq’s President Threatens To Resign Over Unpopular Nominations For Premier

Protest in southern Iraq against nomination of Basra Gov Eidani for PM (Al Mirbad)

The pro-Iran Bina bloc headed by the Badr Organization’s Hadi Amiri has proposed one unpopular candidate for premier after another. President Barham Salah has rejected both fearing that they would only inflame the street more. In protest he offered his resignation claiming that he’s gotten contradictory information about which coalition represents the largest bloc in parliament, and thus has the right to name the next prime minister.

This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 27

1945 Regent of Iraq gave speech promising political reform improved social security fighting

employment redistribution of wealth

(Musings On Iraq book review of ‘Independent Iraq’ The Monarchy & British Influence, 1941-1958 on Said govt)

1986 Iraq counterattack recaptured Um al-Rassas island in Basra Ended Iran Op Karbala 4

            Iran lost 800 dead 200 prisoners Iraq lost 800 dead 2000 wounded

(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 book review Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War)

1990 100 congressmen asked Bush to give Iraq sanctions chance to work

1993 State Dept accused Iraq of indiscriminate shelling/bombing burning villages and executions in

southern marshes

2001 Gen Franks briefed Rumsfeld on war planning

(Musings On Iraq book review of Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Role of Military Intelligence Assessment)

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

Tragedy)

2003 Attacks on govt buildings and foreign troop bases in Karbala killed 19 wounded 120

2004 Al Jazeera aired bin Laden tape calling Zarqawi the prince of Al Qaeda in Iraq Bin Laden said

focus of the Islamic world was war against US in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq interview with former CIA analyst Nada Bakos that tracked Zarqawi)

2004 Iraqi Islamic Party withdrew from January 2005 election saying violence made vote impossible

2005 Al Qaeda in Iraq fired 2 rockets from south Lebanon into Israel

2005 Kurdish Col in army’s 2^nd Div in Ninewa said unit would not allow Def Min to add Arab

soldiers to division

2006 Frederick Kagan and Ret Gen Jack Keane wrote OpEd in Wash Post arguing for troop Surge in

Iraq that they conceived

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Mansoor on the Surge)

2007 Report Islamists running many US prisons Camp Bucca indoctrinating prisoners into Islamism ISI

members went after Anbar tribal members in prison blaming them for Awakening

2008 3,000 marched in Basra city demanding province be turned into a federal region

(Musings On Iraq article on move to make Basra a federal region)

2009 Barzani held meeting to create Peshmerga Ministry in attempt to unify KDP and PUK’s forces

2009 Dep US Cmdr in Iraq said govt integration of Sahwa would have to wait until after 2010

elections Maliki govt originally agreed to integrate them by end of 2009

(Musings On Iraq article on problems in integrating Sahwa)

2011 Salahaddin council voted to turn province into a federal region Blocked by PM Maliki

2012 Protest in Mosul called for Iraqi forces to withdraw from city after arbitrary arrests

2012 Tribal delegation from Basra joined Ramadi protest

2013 PM Maliki said would be last time Friday prayers held at Ramadi protest site Demanded tribes end

protest

2013 Iraqi forces tightened security around Ramadi protest site searching people coming and going

2013 Army vehicle attacked near Ramadi protest site Blamed on ISI

2013 Pro-Maliki Sheikh Hayes said Ramadi base for Al Qaeda Called on PM Maliki to burn down the

Anbar protest camps Hayes met with delegations from Albu Diab Albu Jaber Albu Ali al-Jassim Albu Fahd Albu Shaban Albu Hamza tribes who all pledged support for govt

(Musings On Iraq article on splits within Anbar tribes over protests)

2013 Several sheikhs warned govt about closing down Ramadi protest site

(Musings On Iraq article on PM Maliki crackdown on Anbar protests)

2013 Commander Anbar Rapid Reaction Force hit by IED Army base east of Ramadi hit by mortars

(Musings On Iraq article on insurgent offensive in Anbar)

2013 Ansar al Sunna claimed ISI killed 40 of its members in inter-insurgent fighting

2015 IS head Baghdadi released message US afraid to fight IS and Islam destined to rule world until

judgment day

View the Iraq History Timelines 

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Review Culture, History & Ideology in the Formation of Ba’thist Iraq, 1968-89

Review Baram, Amatzia, Culture, History & Ideology in the Formation of Ba’thist Iraq, 1968-89, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991

Culture, History & Ideology in the Formation of Ba’thist Iraq is a very short and concise history of the Baath Party’s move away from pan-Arabism to a new form of Iraqi nationalism that occurred after it took power for the second time. The Baath originally pushed a radical and revolutionary ideology of overthrowing Arab regimes and championed the Palestinians against Israel. A series of internal and external events however, changed it to focus upon securing its position within Iraq after the 1968 coup. University of Haifa’s Dr. Amatzia Baram provides a convincing argument for why this occurred and how it played out.

This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 26

1961 Iraq announced it would reconsider diplomatic relations with any country that recognized

Kuwait as independent country Withdrew diplomats from US Jordan Tunisia Lebanon and others as a result

1980 Saddam said frontline in war would be new border with Iran and demanded Tehran give self-

rule to Arabs in southwestern Iran

(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 book review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War)

1991 Syria invited Iraqi opposition parties to Damascus

2006 Appeals court upheld Saddam’s death sentence

2007 Car bomb hit Sahwa-army checkpoint in Baiji killing 25 Suicide bomber hit funeral of Sahwa

fighter in Baquba Part of ISI campaign against Sahwa

2007 Kurds agreed to delay implementing Article 140 on referendum on Kirkuk for 6 months

Constitutional review committee would miss Dec 31 deadline to amend constitution 4^th time missed deadline

(Musings On Iraq interview with constitutional scholar Zaid al-Ali on Iraq’s constitution)

2009 Pilgrims to Karbala launched protest against PM Maliki over corruption and Iranians stealing oil

(Musings On Iraq Anti-Government Protests In Both Southern and Northern Iraq)

2012 Fin Min Issawi addressed Ramadi protest camp condemning actions of PM Maliki

(Musings On Iraq article on Maliki’s moves against Fin Min Issawi)

2013 2 Suicide bombers attacked 1^st Rapid Reaction Brigade HQ in Garma Anbar Ops Command HQ

mortared in new insurgent offensive in Anbar

(Musings On Iraq article on insurgent offensive in Anbar)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 25

1920 Gertrude Bell wrote that Feisal was the only solution to Iraq and its first choice to be king

(Musings On Iraq book review of Gertrude Bell And Iraq)

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

1943 PM Nuri al-Said formed his 3^rd cabinet Made Mullah Mustafa Barzani Minister of Kurdish

Affairs in failed attempt to co-opt him and end his revolt

(Musings On Iraq book review of ‘Independent Iraq’ The Monarchy & British Influence, 1941-1958 on Said govt)

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

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

1986 Iraqi counterattack pushed Iranians back into Shatt al-Arab Ended Iran’s Op Karbala 4 Iran lost

9,000-12,000 casualties vs 3,000 Iraqi casualties

(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 book review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War)

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

2005 Report US mismanaged developing Iraq’s electricity network Installed 26 natural gas turbines

at 7 plants when Iraq didn’t have gas or infrastructure to support them

2012 Iraqiya boycotted cabinet 2^nd time over arrest warrant for Fin Min Issawi

(Musings On Iraq article on Maliki’s moves against Fin Min Issawi)

2013 Acting Def Min Dulaimi said govt would not shut down Ramadi protest site

(Musings On Iraq article on PM Maliki crackdown on Anbar protests)

View the Iraq History Timelines