This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 1

1922 UK intel report said cabinet told Def Min to count time in Arab Revolt in WWI double for

pensions vs officers that joined afterward to privilege ex-Ottoman officers that originally joined King Faisal Favored Iraqi leaders like Jaafar al-Askari and Nuri al-Said

1928 UK sent note to Iraqi govt saying opposed conscription and if govt ran into problems over it

UK wouldn’t help

1958 Egypt and Syria created United Arab Republic PM Said afraid pan-Arabists would overthrow

his govt so Iraq could join UAR Syria suggested union with Egypt out of fear that Iraq was trying to forge coup or overthrow govt and take over country

(Musings On Iraq book review of Ropes Of Sand that includes Iraq plots against Syria)

(Musings On Iraq book review Killing Hope, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II)

1981 Iraq received 1^st of 4 shipments of Mirage jets from France despite Paris claiming neutrality in

Iran-Iraq War

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraqi Mirages, The Dassault Mirage Family In Service With The Iraqi Air Force, 1981-1988)

1984 Iraq said it was going to hit 11 Iranian cities near border Iran threatened to shell Iraqi cities in

response

1984 US Middle East envoy Rumsfeld had second meeting with Saddam to improve US-Iraq ties

(Musings On Iraq book review The Saddam Tapes)

1985 Iranian counterattack pushed Iraqi forces out of mountains overlooking Sumer around Qasr e-

Shirin central Iran across from Diyala

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

1987 Iran Op Karbala 5 broke through Iraq’s Jassim Canal defenses 7 miles away from Basra city

(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)

1999 NY Post claimed Saddam was making contacts with bin Laden and Abu Nidal to strike US

False story

2001 2^nd Bush NSC meeting again dealt with Iraq policy State Dept said US policy should be to stop

Iraq from threatening Middle East Sec State Powell talked again about smart sanctions Sec Def Rumsfeld said removing Saddam and putting in pro-US govt could change Middle East and show world what US policy about Pentagon talked about rebuilding Gulf War coalition against Iraq CIA Dir Tenet talked about coup vs Saddam End of meeting Rumsfeld said US objective was not getting rid of Saddam but his WMD

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 1.2 UK Iraq strategy September 2000 To September 2001)

2002 Gen Franks briefed Sec Def Rumsfeld on war plans with start time April 2002

(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 US Army War College study said ehtnosectarian differences could lead to civil war or fractured

state after fall of Saddam Said longer US presence in Iraq the more resistance it would face Said ethnosectarian parties would probably emerge in Iraq and increase divisions Warned that there would be terrorism providing services would be difficult oil could not pay for reconstruction Suggested 135 tasks US had to take care of to ensure stability of postwar Iraq Said US would have to occupy Iraq for a long time and building democracy a huge challenge Warned US could win the Iraq war and lose the peace

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)

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

2003 Chief UN inspector Blix refused US claims that Iraq was sending WMD and scientists outside

country to hide them

(Musings On Iraq article UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq article Iraq’s Rejection of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD and 2003 Invasion)

2003 Sec State Powell went to CIA HQ to go over Iraq-Al Qaeda intel for UN speech Decided to focus upon

Zarqawi

2003 Cheney Chief of Staff Libby and DepNatSecADv Hadley wanted Sec State Powell to use 9/11

hijacker Atta meeting with Iraqi intel in 2001 Powell said no

2004 2 suicide bombers hit KDP and PUK offices in Irbil killed 117 injured 133

2005 Report US analysts believed Jan 05 elections could erode support for insurgency

(Musings On Iraq article on pre-Surge US Iraq strategy)

2006 Saddam refused to appear in court claiming new judge was biased against him

2007 Report Shiite officials were trying to blame Soldiers of Heaven uprising in Najaf on Sunnis

Claimed that its leader was a Sunni Wahabi from Basra Some claimed he was backed by ISI even though group was Shiite Soldiers of Heaven wanted to kill Shiite clergy in Najaf claiming it would lead to return of missing Mahdi

2007 Report Mahdi Army leaders going to Iran and Syria to avoid Surge Militiamen told to lie low to

avoid confrontations with US forces

2007 Experts said Foreign Affairs and Water Mins were stable and well run Oil and Finance Mins had

been purged and suffered from political infighting Some ministries run by parties that use them to further their political and sectarian goals more than govern like Health Min run by Sadrists

2008 Female suicide bomber hit pet market in Baghdad 45 killed 82 wounded Followed by another

woman bomber hitting another market 27 dead 67 wounded

(Musings On Iraq article on female suicide bombers)

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

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 31

1941 PM Gaylani stepped down fearing civil war due to his reaching out to Axis that had

split govt and angered British 

1941 UK Foreign Office decided to give money to Regent to help him return to power

(Musings On Iraq book review of Persian Gulf Command, A History of the Second World War In Iran and Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review of Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)

1983 Iran officially rejected ceasefire talks by Iraq Khomeini was open to talks but Rafsanjani and

Khamenei rejected offer

1987 Iran Op Karbala 5 made last attack upon Iraqi defensive lines in Basra and stopped

(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 US and Saudis pushed Iraqi forces out of Saudi city of Khafji after 2 days of fighting

1993 Iraqi forces attacked Irbil

1999 Soviet paper claimed hundreds of Afghan Arabs were being trained in terrorism in south Iraq to

fight US

2003 PM Blair’s advisers told him had to prioritize pushing Bush on postwar planning for Iraq but Blair

failed to do so

2003 Bush and PM Blair said that invasion would start Mar 10 2003

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

Tragedy)

(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)

2003 PM Blair told Bush he needed a 2^nd UN resolution for use of force against Iraq for domestic politics

Bush agreed

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

2003 Bush and PM Blair said a 2^nd UN resolution would be good against Iraq but not necessary to go to

war

2003 Bush said fighting between Iraqi factions would be unlikely after invasion

2003 Bush and PM Blair talked about provoking Iraq to help justify war including getting US spy plane

fired upon

2004 Gen Taguba started investigation of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison

2004 Car Bomb at Mosul police station killed 9 wounded 45

2005 Assyrians in Ninewa’s Bashiqa and Bartella told couldn’t vote after promised they could when

ballots ran out on Jan 30

2005 Assyrians demonstrated in Ninewa Plains over not being allowed to vote Broken up by Kurdish

security forces

2006 US Emb-military report situation in 6 of Iraq’s 18 provinces serious 1 critical Said militias

infiltrating security forces in Basra Lots of gangs smuggling assassinations

2007 PM Maliki told CNN Iraq only needed a few more US troops not Surge Bush called for

2007 Bush in interview said he’d authorized US forces in Iraq to treat Iranian agents as combatants

2007 Fmr Rep Hamilton and Fmr Attn Gen Meese testified to Congress that US hired contractors to

train Iraqi police that weren’t competent and didn’t have personnel for job Said Justice Dept should have led effort and police should have taken over training not military

(Musings On Iraq interview with Col Ted Spain on how US struggled to establish law and order in post-invasion Iraq)  

(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how US failed to develop the Iraqi police)

2007 Special Insp Gen for Iraq Recon report said some Iraqi ministries spent as little as 15% of their

budgets because couldn’t find companies to work in dangerous areas lack of skilled contracting officers ant-corruption rules hindered spending Said electricity production in 4^th qtr of 2006 was below pre-war levels State Dept so embarrassed eliminated pre-war power production from a report to try to hide dip in output Said US lost $300 bil due to waste and corruption State Dept contracted DynCorp to build police camp in Baghdad Not used Spent $4.2 mil for VIP trailers and Olympic sized pool ordered by Interior Min and not authorized by US Spent another $36.4 mil on armored vehicles body armor communications that never showed up

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Savage on US reconstruction effort in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review Reconstructing Iraq’s Budgetary Institutions)

2008 Report US military blamed Bassima al-Jadiri on National Reconciliation Comm for blocking

integration of Sunnis into ISF Accused her of being sectarian US general in charge of police training said Jadiri should be removed Iraqi general submitted list of army recruits Jadiri rejected all the Sunnis US general sent list of 3,000 Sahwa to be integrated into police Jadiri only accepted Shiites

2009 Provincial elections held Saw heavy Sunni turnout

(Musings On Iraq article on 2009 provincial elections)

(Musings On Iraq article on details on Iraq’s voting system)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq

Rampton, Sheldon Stauber, John, Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq, New York: Jeremy Tarcher/Penguin, 2003

Weapons of Mass Deception by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber is a disjointed book. It purports to be about the use of propaganda by the Bush administration during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. However their writing style is akin to a stream of consciousness meaning they go from topic to topic, some of which has more to do with 9/11, the war on terror, and a critique of American politics than Iraq. At its best the book has some interesting sections on how the invasion was covered, but the constant weaving on and off topic distracts from the authors’ argument.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 30

1927 1^st student protest in Iraq held over firing of teachers Organized by Communists

(Musings On Iraq book review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)

(Musings On Iraq Interview with Prof Johan Franzen on the history of the Iraqi Communist Party)

1928 Sheikh Dhari who led revolt against British in Upper Euphrates/Anbar sentenced to death Was

commuted to life in prison

(Musings On Iraq book review of Reclaiming Iraq, The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State)

1941 Regent of Iraq fled Baghdad for Diwaniya fearing retaliation by PM Gaylani

1941 British were hoping to use Regent fleeing to spread unrest in Iraq to remove PM Gaylani from

power

(Musings On Iraq book review of Persian Gulf Command, A History of the Second World War In Iran and Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review of Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)

1984 State Dept memo said that US considered discouraging military exports to Iraq

1985 Iraq attacked Said Saad

(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 Saddam ordered Op Samarra hit and run air attacks on Coalition air force

1991 400 US Special Forces were sent into western Iraq to try to find SCUD missiles

2001 1^st NSC meeting of Bush admin talked about how Iraq destabilizing Middle East CIA Dir Tenet

provided intel Iraq working on WMD at factory Treasury Sec O’Neil asked about WMD intel Tenet admitted no confirmation that Iraq producing WMD Sec State Powell argued for smart sanctions

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 1.2 UK Iraq strategy September 2000 To September 2001)

2001 Sec of Def Rumsfeld wrote memo noting Iraq and others trying to buy advanced military

technology

2002 Natl Sec Adv Rice said Axis of Evil countries had to be dealt with diplomatically but at same time

said they couldn’t be negotiated with

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)

2002 CIA unclassified report to Congress Said Iraq trying to rebuild its nuclear program

(Musings On Iraq article on how poor US intel work led to claim Iraq rebuilt its nuclear weapons program)

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

2003 Bush told Italian Premier Berlusconi that Iraq would be disarmed and Saddam removed

2003 UN Amb Negroponte told Senate aluminum tubes Iraq bought were not right for rockets in

response to IAEA findings Same hearing Dep Sec of State Armitage said there were differences in US about the tubes

2003 White House spokesman said Bush stood by claim that aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were

for nuke program

(Musings On Iraq article on the aluminum tubes story)

2003 UK Att Gen Goldsmith wrote PM Blair telling him UN Res 1441 didn’t authorize use of force

against Iraq

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

2003 Aid group warned that breakdown of law and order likely right after Iraq invasion unless US

immediately established control

2003 Sec State Powell’s chief of staff Wilkerson began going through intel on Iraq with CIA for Powell’s           Feb 03 UN speech

2004 CIA and Congressional inquiries no evidence White House pressured US intel on Iraq’s WMD

and ties with Al Qaeda

2004 Congressional committee found CIA relied too much on circumstantial outdated and satellite

and intercept intel on Iraq WMD

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

2005 Elections held for parliament to draft new Iraqi constitution Sunnis boycotted vote Also voted

for provincial councils

(Musings On Iraq article on pre-Surge US Iraq strategy)

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

2005 KRG parliamentary elections held KDP and PUK ran unified list Won 104 of 111 seats

2005 Informal Kurdish independence referendum held in KRG Kirkuk Mosul Khanaqin 98% voted for

            independence

2007 Bush said that if Iran escalated actions in Iraq against US forces US would respond

2007 Gen Odierno said Iran supplying RGP-29s Katyusha rockes EFPs to Iraqi militias

(Musings On Iraq interview with Galen Wright of Arkenstone blog on Iranian arms shipments to Iraqi militias) 

(Musings On Iraq article on Iran’s Iraq policy)

2007 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Recon report US struggling to increase capacity of Iraqi ministries US

turned over projects and Iraqis couldn’t maintain them One problem 3 Iraqi govts in short period of time New govt purged previous bureaucrats from ministries Parties hired people based upon nepotism and patronage rather than competence US didn’t have single group in charge of capacity building Meant no unified effort

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Savage on US reconstruction effort in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review Reconstructing Iraq’s Budgetary Institutions)

2012 PM Maliki warned Salahaddin governor that he would be removed if he pushed provincial

autonomy

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

2014 8 gunmen stormed Human Rights Min office in Baghdad and took hostages Were killed

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Continued Reports Of Dysfunctional Iraqi Justice System

In the United Nations’ Human Rights Commission’s latest report it found that Iraq’s judicial system is not working. It observed almost 800 cases across nine provinces, most of which had to do with terrorism charges, and found a lack of due process. There was a shortage of competent lawyers, torture and abuse were commonly used to obtain confessions, there was a broad application of the anti-terror laws, and liberal handing out of death sentences. These are the same problems that human rights groups have been noting about Iraq for years.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 29

1917 British captured Ottoman fort at Khadairi Bend in campaign to recapture Kut

1948 PM Jabr forced to resign over protests over Anglo-Iraq treaty organized by Communists

Regent also against Jabr

(Musings On Iraq book review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)

(Musings On Iraq Interview with Prof Johan Franzen on the history of the Iraqi Communist Party)

1948 Sayid Mohammed al-Sadr replaced Jabr as PM

1953 Jamil al-Midfai became PM for 5^th time

1982 King Hussein said Jordanian troops would be sent to Iraq to help in Iran-Iraq War

1987 Iran Op Karbala 5 crossed Jassim Canal in Basra with 3 days of human wave attacks

(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)

1991 Iraq launched probing attack upon Saudi city of Khafji occupying it

2002 Bush State of Union called Iraq part of Axis of Evil Said it still had WMD programs Iran and

North Korea added to Axis of Evil speech because Bush admin didn’t want to be seen as focusing upon Iraq

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

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)

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

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

Tragedy)

(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)

2003 UN Amb Negroponte said Iraq bought aluminum tubes for nuke program

(Musings On Iraq article on the aluminum tubes story)

2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld said Iraq had a nuke weapons program and tried to buy uranium from Africa

(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq-Niger uranium story)

2003 Sec State Powell Chief of Staff Wilkerson went over info to be used in Powell speech to UN at CIA

HQ

2003 State’s Wilkerson rejected using Cheney Chief of Staff’s briefing as basis for Sec Sate Powell’s UN

speech CIA Dir Tenet said NIE on Iraq should be used instead

2003 Aid groups warned that if Pentagon ran postwar Iraq many international donors would be

reluctant to give relief

(Musings On Iraq review Losing Iraq, Inside The Post War Reconstruction Fiasco by David Phillips)

2004 NatlSecAdv Rice said what US predicted about Iraq WMD before war not what found

afterward Rice said Saddam deceived US and world about his WMD

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

(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)

(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)

2004 State Dept said failure to find out about Iraq’s WMD was not US failure but international

one

2004 Ex-Iraq Survey Group head Kay told Bush Saddam wanted Iraqis to believe country had

WMD when it didn't Kay said he thought Saddam destroyed his WMD stocks because too easy to find Bush asked Kay why Saddam didn’t admit he had  no WMD Kay said Saddam wanted fear to stop revolts by Shiites and Kurds

2005 RAND Corp Iraq became center for jihadist cause and cause of terrorism in rest of world

2005 Human Rights Watch US Abu Ghraib prison scandal became recruitment tool for terrorists

2006 Al Qaeda sent 2^nd letter to Ansar al-Sunnah saying it sent representative to Iraq to work out

issues with Al Qaeda in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq book review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)

2006 Sharia Committee for the Army of the Followers of the Sunnah and the Collective joined

Mujahedeen Shura Council Emir of group was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s group

2006 Report after US made deal with sheikhs in Ramadi against Al Qaeda in Iraq in mid-Jan 3

sheikhs assassinated leading tribes to retaliate against AQI

(Musings On Iraq article on splits within insurgency)

(Musings On Iraq article on change in perceptions that led to Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Carter Malkasian on Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq book review of Confronting Al Qaeda, The Sunni Awakening and American Strategy In Al Anbar)

(Musings On Iraq book review of The Marines Take Anbar, The Four-Year Fight Against Al Qaeda)

(Musings On Iraq book review Illusions of Victory, The Anbar Awakening And The Rise Of The Islamic State)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Sheriff of Ramadi, Nvy SEALS and the Winning of Anbar)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2006 Report 3 Islamist insurgent groups once aligned with Al Qaeda in Iraq in Ramadi broke with it

2006 National Security Adviser Rubaie said Al Qaeda in Iraq feuding with Islamic Army and

Mujahedeen Army

(Musings On Iraq article on splits within insurgency)

2007 Report US officials skeptical whether PM Maliki would back Surge and go after Sadr US didn't tell

Maliki about raids on Sadrists because he would try to stop them Maliki got US to release arrested Sadrists US intelligence tapped Maliki’s conversation and confirmed he was telling his advisers he would back Surge

2008 PM Maliki refused to have officials close to him be investigated for corruption

(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen on corruption in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq interview with anti-graft US official Vincent Foulk)

2008 Suspicious fires at Central Bank of Iraq and Labor Ministry Some MPs claimed this was to destroy

documents implicating officials in corruption

2008 Iraqi Red Crescent reported 46,000 refugees returned to Iraq Driving up housing prices in Baghdad

Many couldn’t return to their homes because demographics changed during civil war and militia control

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

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

2010 PM Blair testified to Chilcot Inquiry that Saddam was a threat to the world that had to be dealt

with That if Iraq wasn’t invaded in 2003 world would have to deal with Saddam later and could have been more difficult Said 9/11 changed perceptions of Iraq in both US and England

(Musings On Iraq Was Iraq An Imminent Threat To The West?)

2018 Parliament voted to end sanctions on banks doing business in Kurdistan and sent $210 mil in

salaries for KRG’s Health and Education Ministry workers

(Musings On Iraq article on Baghdad-Irbil reconciliation moves)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

New Govt Crackdown On Iraq Protests

Burned protest tents in Nasiriya (Al Mirbad)

Following Moqtada al-Sadr’s withdrawal of support for the anti-government protest movement there has been a concerted effort by the security forces and Hashd to break up some of the major sit-in sites. This has led to several deadly days of confrontations and showed the resilience of the protesters.