This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 13

 

1959 Communists said they stood for Arab unity but not in a quick and simple manner Was

taking shot at pan-Arabists and Nasser who called for immediate unity

(Musings On Iraq review The Making of Iraq 1900-1963, Capital, Power and Ideology)

(Musings On Iraq 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)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Western Kentucky’s Prof Romero on the Qasim govt)

1967 Pres Arif speech declared Freedom Socialism and Unity belonged to no Party co-opting

Baathist slogans

1979 Iraq sent memo to new Iranian govt after revolution asking for friendly relations

1982 Saddam ordered new attack upon Bostan Khuzistan in south Still raining and failed again

1985 Saddam offered amnesty to Kurds that fought against govt Rejected by KDP and PUK

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

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

1986 Iran in full control of Faw Peninsula in Basra Lost 600 dead 2000 wounded Iraq 5000 dead and

wounded 1500 captured

1986 Report around 2,000 Iranian troops suffered mustard gas burns in Faw Peninsula in Basra from

Iraqi attacks

(Musings On Iraq Origins Of Iraq’s WMD Programs)

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

(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)

1991 Amiriya shelter in Baghdad bombed by U.S. during Gulf War 408 killed

1998 UN chief Annan said he had a personal initiative to end inspector crisis with Iraq Began consulting

with Security Council members to win approval

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

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

1998 Saudis refused to allow its territory to be used by US for air strikes vs Iraq as tensions raised over

inspectors

1999 AP reported that Saddam offered bin Laden shelter after being kicked out of Afghanistan False

story

2002 Bush at press conference said he had a number of options for dealing with Iraq

2002 Bush admin officials told several media outlets they had decided to move against Iraq

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account Of The Decision To Invade Iraq)

2003 UN announced it had humanitarian plan for Iraq working with 6 regional countries and had $30.6

mil and would ask for another $88.8 mil

2003 CENTCOM Cmdr Gen Franks told Bush he had Iraqi mayors for each city to run things after

invasion He didn’t

(Musings On Iraq on Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 3 The Department of Defense Takes Charge)

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

Tragedy)

2003 IAEA interviewed Iraq’s ex-amb to Vatican Zahawie second time over Iraq-Niger uranium deal

Denied story Never happened

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)

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

2004 After talks with Sistani UN endorsed Ayatollah’s call for early elections but said they couldn’t

happen as soon as Sistani wanted

(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)

(Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq)

2004 Report CIA review showed it relied upon too many unreliable exile sources for intel on Iraq’s

WMD Included INC defector Haideri May 02 labeled fabricator by DIA but story continued to be used

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

2005 Early election results showed that Shiite United Iraqi Alliance got 140 of 275 seats in parliament

missing majority it wanted

2005 Provisional election results released UIA 48% Kurds 26% Iraqiya List 14% 58% voter turnout

2006 Saddam returned to court on order of judge and chanted “Down with Bush!”

2007 Baghdad Security Plan under Surge began Would place US and Iraqi forces in neighborhoods set up

combat outposts and focus upon protecting population

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

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

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

2007 Report Austrian sniper rifles Iran ordered showed up in Iraq

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

2007 Al Qaeda head Zawahiri released audiotape saying Bush gambled on Iraq and lost

2008 Parliament passed Provincial Powers Act to devolve authority to governorates Never really

implemented

2008 Awakening leader Sheikh Abu Risha announced political party Iraq’s Awakening to run in 2009

provincial elections

(Musings On Iraq Anbar’s Forgotten Sheikh)

2008 Report Anbar Awakening splitting over politics Sheikh Abu Risha made deal with VP Hashemi

and Islamic Party Sheikh Suleiman accused Hashemi of attempting to take over Awakening Accused Islamic Party of working with ISI

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

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

2008 Report Only 10% of Sahwa started training to join ISF Govt promised 25% would join

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

2009 Asst sec gen of PUK who was also VP of KRG quit over disagreement on how to deal with

corruption within party

2010 Iraqiya suspended campaign for 2010 election after candidates rebanned for Baathist ties

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

2016 Sadr said economic reforms needed and better govt Gave Abadi 45 day deadline and supported

his technocratic govt idea

(Musings On Iraq interview with Reidar Visser on PM Abadi’s reform program)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 12

1945 Mullah Mustafa Barzani founded Freedom Party Included Kurdish govt officials and army

officers Said goal was to create cooperation amongst tribes

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)

1960 Cleric Muhsin al-Hakim issued fatwa against joining the Communist Party

1963 Communists in Basra gave up to Baath led military forces after fighting against coup that

overthrow Gen Qasim

(Musings On Iraq 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)

(Musings On Iraq review Socialist Iraq, A Study in Iraqi Politics Since 1968)

1963 Swiss based Committee for the Defense of the Kurdish People’s Rights issued

statement saying Kurds wanted autonomy Govt troops withdrawn from north Share of oil money

1964 Kurdish minister in Arif govt announced ceasefire with Barzani had begun

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)

(Musings On Iraq review Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan)

1974 Iran-Iraq border dispute discussed at UN after firefight killed more than 50 UN got Iran and Iraq to

agree to talks to resolve border dispute

1979 Iraq recognized the new revolutionary government in Iran

1984 1^st War of Cities began Iraq fired SCUD missiles at Dezful killing 40 wounding 200 Iran retaliated

by bombing Basra Faw Qurna Mandali Kahanqin in Basra and Diyala

1984 Iranian Op Tahrir al-Quds began Was deception campaign before main attack into Wasit Gained 9

miles in Halabja and 3 main passes into Kurdistan Backed by KDP

1985 Iraq attacked Mehran Iran central front Entered 4 miles into Iran but operation failed

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

1986 Iraq counter attacked to retake Faw from Iranians Retook Um al-Rassas island Failed at recapturing

Faw

1986 Saudi King Fahd called Saddam about Iran taking Faw Peninsula in Basra

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

1987 Iran started Op Fatah 4 attacking Kurdistan

(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 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)

1991 Russian diplomat Primakov went to Baghdad to try to arrange withdrawal from Kuwait Saddam

demanded end of sanctions in return

1995 Iraqi army brigade attacked and suffered heavy losses at hands of Badr Brigade in Qurna

(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)

2001 Sec Def Rumsfeld said Iraq was probably not a nuclear threat at this time

2002 Sec State Powell told Senate that regime change in Iraq was US policy since Clinton Said no plans

for invasion though

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

Tragedy)

2002 DIA report Iraq tried to buy 500 tons of yellowcake uranium from Niger Story fake

2003 IAEA interviewed Iraq’s ex-amb to Vatican Zahawie who was named in Iraq-Niger uranium deal

docs Denied story Never happend

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

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)

2003 UN inspectors announce Iraq’s Samoud 2 missiles violated range limits set by UN

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

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

2003 CIA Dir Tenet told Senate Iraq had larger WMD program then before Gulf War Said Iraq would get

a nuclear weapon sooner or later and would have missiles to deliver it

(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)

2003 CIA Dir Tenet told Senate US had briefed UN on all suspected WMD sites Didn’t give info on 21

of 105 sites Said there were Iraq-Al Qaeda contacts but no command and control

2004 CENTCOM commander Gen Abizaid’s convoy attacked in Fallujah

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

2004 UN rep to Iraq Brahimi met with Ayatollah Sistani about why early elections not possible Brahimi

said Iraq had to go through process to organize vote

(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)

(Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq)

2005 Report Makhmour mayor in Irbil said that district used to be 80% Arab but they were forced out

and was now 80% Kurd Said Kurds were going to reclaim more territory

2006 PM Jaafari won re-nomination of United Iraqi Alliance for premiership with support of Sadr

2006 Pres Talabani said Kurdish list refused demands to exclude Allawi’s Iraqiya from govt coming from

Sadr

2007 Gen Petraeus went to Anbar and endorsed Awakening and said model should be copied in rest

of Iraq

(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq How A Change In Perceptions Led To The Anbar Awakening)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2007 Iranian Revolutionary Guard media source suggested militia attack on Karbala operations

command revenge for arrest of Iranians in Irbil in Jan 07

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

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

2008 Report Sahwa in north Baghdad’s Tarmiya wanted to be integrated into police but Inter Min

refused Police arrested head of Sahwa on no charges

2008 ISI commander from north Iraq interviewed Said group had been forced out of many cities and was

in difficult situation Said killing of civilians had cost group its reputation

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

(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)

2009 25 lists in Maysan said they would protest results claiming cheating

2009 Iraq-Iran signed new trade deal Iran wanted trade to go from $4 bil currently to $5 bil Almost

all Iranian goods going to Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2009 Report Syria said 300,000 Iraqi refugees left to go back to Iraq Observers said almost same

number left Iraq

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

(Musings On Iraq Refugees International Report On Iraq’s Refugees and Displaced)

(Musings On Iraq January 2009 U.N. Report On Iraq Refugee Returns)

2009 Nawal Smarraiea Women’s Affairs Minister resigned Said she was given no real power Said

ministry was created to give more posts to Sunnis Had no staff and small budget Said women had no real role in govt

(Iraqi Women Before And After The 2003 Invasion, Interview With Prof Nadje Al-Ali Univ of London)

2009 Displacement Min said it would no longer register displaced Meant couldn’t get govt aid Said

would focus upon returns

2010 Election Comm banned 458 candidates for Baathist ties after Cassation Panel had unbanned

them Election Comm under pressure from PM Maliki to reban them

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

2010 Spokesman for Accountability and Justice Comm claimed anti-Baathist campaign would

motivate people to vote in 2010 vote Spokesman and head of commission were both running in election 

(Musings On Iraq Will Baathism Bring Out The Votes In The March Election?)

2019 Report PM Maliki might have received kickbacks for contract to service Balad Air Base in

Salahaddin

 View the Iraq History Timelines

Security In Iraq Feb 1-7, 2021

For the last two months violence has been at a low level in Iraq and that continued during the start of February. There were just 19 incidents in the first week of February with two of those by pro-Iran groups.

This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 11

 

1932 Executive Committee of the Shias in Iraq issued Manifesto saying monarchy discriminated

against Shiites Called on England to remove monarchy and empower Shiites

1958 Jordan began talks with Iraq for a federation in response to Egypt and Syria’s United Arab Republic

1966 Iraqi pilot died in Germany Likely killed by Mossad after refusing to defect to Israel

with a MiG-21 3^rd Iraqi pilot killed

1979 Ayatollah Baqir al-Sadr declared 3 day holiday for Najaf hawza after Iranian Revolution

1981 Iraq offered Iran a ceasefire at Non-Aligned Movement conference Iran rejected offer

1983 Iranian Op Fajr al-Nasr officially ended Regained 100 sq mi of Iranian territory Iran 5000 dead

12000 wounded 1000 captured Iraq lost 2000 dead

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

1986 Iraq counterattack vs Iran’s Op Wa al-Fajr 8 in Faw Peninsula in Basra pushed Iranians back

1986 Iraq authorized use of chemical weapons to repel Iran’s Op Wa al-Fajr 8

1986 Iraq blamed US for not providing intel on Iranian offensive

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

1987 Ayatollah Khomeinei called war a holy crusade that had to end in victory Pres Khamenei said

that aim of war was to punish Iraq and overthrow Saddam

(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 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)

1990 Bush sent Undersecretary of State Kelly to Baghdad to discuss improving Iraq-US relations

(Musings On Iraq review The United States And Iraq Since 1990: A Brief History with Documents)

1990 Saddam told Undersecretary of State Kelly that US could dominate Middle East with decline of

Soviet Union Saddam said that he wanted to work with US but wanted to be sure Bush was not just going to follow Israel

1991 Saddam speech said that Iraqis would be victorious in war and Bush humiliated himself by

attacking

1991 Report Iraq bought $2 bil in weapons after end of Iran-Iraq War US encouraged allies to sell

weapons to Iraq German company sent technicians to help Iraq’s nuke program Germany also provided 90% of chemical weapons capabilities

(Musings On Iraq Origins Of Iraq’s WMD Programs)

2000 Iraq announced UN weapons inspectors would not be allowed back into country

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

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

2002 UK Amb to US Meyer said Bush’s Axis of Evil speech made more in US think about war vs Iraq

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

2002 Fmr CIA Dir Woolsey told Pentagon about Iraqi defector with intel on Iraq’s WMD provided by

INC

2003 Sec State Powell claimed bin Laden complaining about effect of sanctions on Iraqi people showed

Baghdad aligned with Al Qaeda and terrorism

2003 UK Amb to US said that Bush admin was ready for war by March with or without UN approval

2003 CIA Dir Tenet told Senate Iraq had WMD and was hiding them from UN inspectors

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

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

2003 CIA Dir Tenet told Senate Intel Comm Iraq tried to buy aluminum tubes for its nuke program and

had mobile WMD labs Tubes were for rockets Mobile labs didn’t exist

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

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

2003 CIA Dir Tenet told Senate Iraq harboring Zarqawi an Al Qaeda associate Iraq trained Al Qaeda

operatives

(Musings On Iraq review Insurgent Iraq, Al Zarqawi and the New Generation)

2003 CIA senior Africa analyst said that Iraq-Niger uranium docs looked like fakes They were

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)

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

2003 Bin Laden released tape saying Iraqi people had to resist U.S. invasion and called Baath infidels

2003 Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Feith and Under Secertary of State

Grossman testified to Senate Foreign Relations Committee on postwar Iraq plans Didn’t give any details Grossman said US would only stay in Iraq as long as necessary Would go through 4 phases to postwar Iraq 1^st stability 2^nd handing authority to Iraqis 3^rd New constitution 4^th electing new Iraqi govt Told Senate US would not create a govt in exile before invasion Committees would be formed to create new Iraq Iraqi institutions would still be running to help govern country Claimed White House authorized Future of Iraq Project as roadmap for Iraq Had been discarded by Pentagon Feith said Iraqi oil would pay for all reconstruction and running govt Said US would not impose any leaders or govt on Iraq

(Musings On Iraq on Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 3 The Department of Defense Takes Charge)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Oil Would Pay For Reconstruction)

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

Tragedy)

(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)

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

2003 Former CENTCOM commander Gen Zinni testified to Senate Foreign Relations Committee on

postwar Iraq Said U.S. had to maintain law and order peacekeeping civil unrest had to be stopped and prevent revenge develop local police

2004 Suicide bombing on army recruitment center in Baghdad killed 36

(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)

2006 Former head of US training mission for Iraqi army Gen Eaton said effort set back by initial poor

planning that didn't prioritize creating new Iraqi forces

(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)

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

2006 Sadr threatened to withdraw from United Iraqi Alliance if list didn’t support Jaafari as premier

2007 US military report said Iranian Rev Guard Quds Force providing EFPs money training weapons to

Iraqi militias Used Mehran and Mandali border crossings to deliver equipment Claimed 170 US dead and 620 wounded by Iranian supplied EFPs

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Overview of Iran’s Influence In Iraq)

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

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

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

2008 Sadr renewed freeze on Mahdi Army for another 6 months

2008 Report US Army buried 2005 RAND study of Iraq war planning because criticized White House

Report faulted Bush for never resolving rivalries between State and Def Depts over war planning Pentagon given control of postwar Iraq even though lacked planning and execution capabilities State’s Future of Iraq Project was not an action plan for Iraq Gen Franks had complete misunderstanding of postwar situation US believed Iraqi police and govt would be working day after war Believed Iraq could be rebuilt cheaply Lack of troops made situation worse Lack of planning and sealing borders increased insurgency Said more realistic discussion of cost of war couldn’t undermined support for invasion

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

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

Tragedy)

(Musings On Iraq review Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq)

2008 Baquba Sahwa held another protest demanding Diyala police chief be fired for attacking Sunnis

(Musings On Iraq Diyala Province Backgrounder)

2009 Iran’s Foreign Minister came to Baghdad to mediate between Dawa and ISCI after provincial

            elections

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2009 Report PM Maliki claimed reconciliation almost over Said US could no longer pressure Iraq

Said his govt had fixed all the problems US created since 03

2010 Iraqi Special Forces with US advisers raided Kataib Hezbollah in Maysan killing 8 Iraqi politicians

condemned raid After raid PM Maliki ordered all raids be authorized by him personally Led several ISF commands to suspend ops with US

(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)

2010 Head of Accountability and Justice Comm said Cassation Panel had gone through all appeals

of candidates banned for Baathist ties

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

2010 Karbala and Qadisiya announced they created own Accountability and Justice committees to

weed out Baathists in local govts Part of Shiite drive to make Baathists main issue of 2010 vote

(Musings On Iraq Campaigning Officially Begins IN Iraq As Hunt For Baathists Spreads To The Local Level)

2010 Protests in Diyala against Baathists running in 2010 vote Claimed US interfering in Iraqi

politics

2020 Sadr announced that he was disbanding the blue hats which were his people that had

joined the protests

View the Iraq History Timelines

Review The Kurds In Iraq, The Past, Present and Future

Yildiz, Kerim, The Kurds In Iraq, The Past, Present and Future, London, Ann Arbor: Pluto Press, 2007

 

The Kurds In Iraq focuses upon the injustices the Kurdish population faced at the hands of the Iraqi government. There are plenty of examples from the broken promises of autonomy to the military operations such as the Anfal campaign that killed thousands and involved chemical weapons. The problem with the book is twofold. First, it glosses over Kurdish actions that caused problems for the community. Second, the later part of the book focuses upon the U.S. occupation of Iraq and goes into so much minutia it sometimes loses focus of its topic.

This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 10

 

1258 Abbasid Caliph Mustasim surrendered Baghdad to Mongols beginning sacking of city and massacre of

population

1949 Communist Party Chairman Fahad and 2 politburo members convicted and sentenced

to death for leading party

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq 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)

1964 Pres Arif agreed to ceasefire with Mulla Mustafa Barzani and that Kurdish rights

would be recognized in provisional constitution

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)

(Musings On Iraq review Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan)

1972 Saddam visited Moscow to push for strategic agreement with Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review Saddam His Rise and Fall)

1974 Border dispute between Iran-Iraq led Iraq to attack Iranian border town of Mehran killing

23 Iraqis 30 Iranians Tehran responded by flying F-4 jets deep into Iraqi air space in show of force

1988 Iraq restarted attacks on Iranian shipping Iran retaliated in kind

(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 Iraqi Mirages, The Dassault Mirage Family In Service With The Iraqi Air Force, 1981-1988)

(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)

1998 Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultant said Saudis would not allow air strikes against Iraq as US

Def Sec Cohen was about to visit

2002 VP Cheney speech said Iraq harbored terrorists and US wouldn’t allow terrorist states to threaten

US with WMD

2002 CIA presented covert action plan against Iraq

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

Tragedy)

2003 Australian Premier Howard met Bush Bush Said Saddam would leave power or US would remove

him

2003 France Germany Russia statement called for more time for inspections Doused US hopes France

would back 2^nd UN Res on Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Section 3.7 Development of UK Strategy and Options, 1 February to 7 March 2003)

2003 UK intel report said attack on Iraq would increase threat of terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda

2003 New Yorker article reported UnderSecDef Feith’s office claim that Iraq connected to Al Qaeda and

supporting Zarqawi

(Musings On Iraq review Insurgent Iraq, Al Zarqawi and the New Generation)

2003 German officials investigating Zarqawi said found no evidence he was linked to Iraqi govt

2003 US defense attache report that he looked at Benin warehouse and found no uranium headed for

Iraq Inspection done in Dec 2002

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)

2004 CPA Order 57 created Inspector Generals in each Iraqi ministry to fight corruption

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with fmr anti-graft official Vincent Foulk on corruption in Iraq)

2004 Car bomb hit Iskandiriya Babil police station killed 50

2004 Report almost all of Sec State Powell’s 03 UN speech on Iraq WMD and ties to terrorism proved

wrong

2005 NSC staffer Zelikow told Sec State Rice Iraq failed state stuck in violence

2006 Report 1920 Revolution Brigades Amman Brigades Mujahadeen Army working to expel Al Qaeda

in Iraq from Ramadi after it killed head of Albu Fahad tribe

(Musings On Iraq The Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

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

2006 Fmr CIA Natl Intel officer for Near East Pillar said intel on Iraq was cherry picked by White House

to justify war

2007 Gen Petraeus replaced Gen Casey as US commander in Iraq

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

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

2007 Report US intel said Iran and Hezbollah providing weapons and training to Iraqi militias Mehran

border crossing major conduit US trying to crackdown on Iranian cells operating in Iraq

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

(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah’s Role In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Overview of Iran’s Influence In Iraq)

2008 US and ISF started operation in Mosul Found nothing Insurgents likely tipped off beforehand

2008 ISI set off 2 female suicide bombers in Baghdad markets 99 dead 2 car bombs hit tribal meeting of

Sahwa leaders 22 dead 42 wounded

(Musings On Iraq The Rise of Female Suicide Bombers)

(Musings On Iraq Motivations Behind Female Suicide Bombers)

(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)

2009 Sen Kerry went to Syria to try to improve relations as part of Obama’s new Iraq policy of including

neighbors in strategy

2009 Report ISCI and Kurds biggest loser in 09 provincial elections ISCI lost in Baghdad and south

ISCI blamed for mismanagement and corruption Kurdish vote in Ninewa went from 75% in 05 when Sunnis boycotted to 25% in 09 Only got 17% in Diyala Maliki’s State of Law won in south but didn’t get a majority

2009 Report Parties that ran on security and services did best over sectarian ones

2009 World Bank Report Iraq’s economic performance better with improved security Cut inflation

Spending more of investment budget Govt slowly rebuilding Unemployment still high Services some of worst in Mideast

2010 Protests in Karbala against Baathists Claimed there were Baathists throughout the provincial

govt and ISF Part of drive by Shiite parties to make Baathists main issue of 2010 vote

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

(Musings On Iraq Campaigning Officially Begins IN Iraq As Hunt For Baathists Spreads To The Local Level)

2011 Arrest warrant issued for Interior Min Gen Jabiri head of counter explosive dept for buying fake bomb

detectors

2016 PM Abadi said he wanted technocrats to replace existing ministers

(Musings On Iraq interview with Reidar Visser on PM Abadi’s reform program)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Displaced Returns In 2020 Nearly Half The Rate Of The Year Before

(Kurdistan 24)

Despite thousands of people being forced out of displacement camps by Prime Minister Kazemi the rate of return in 2020 was nearly half that of 2019.

In 2020 235,116 people displaced (IDPs) went back to their home areas. That was down from 431,130 in 2019 and 944,958 in 2018. The idea that with the end of the war with the Islamic State there would be a dramatic increase in people going back to the original areas has not happened.

In fact, the number of people going home in 2020 would have been even lower if the Kazemi government hadn’t started shutting down IDP camps at the end of the year. That’s shown by the returns by month. From May to June before the premier started his policy 12,948 people went to their home areas. Then after the camp closings began returns went to 25,920 from July to August, then 38,364 from September to October and finished with 49,152 from November to December. Kazemi is hoping for an easy political victory by shutting down the IDP camps. As various groups and IDPs have noted they are not getting any support from the authorities. That’s one of the main reasons why 58,363 were displaced for a second time in 2020.

As the International Organization for Migration noted in its latest survey the main reasons why people do not want to return are the lack of housing, jobs, services, social cohesion and security. 71% of respondents said their homes had been damaged or destroyed, and 62% stated that there was a lack of jobs. That meant the vast majority of IDPs said they were going to stay where they were for the next six months. There were some exceptions with 83% of IDPs in camps in Diyala and a majority of those outside of camps in Diyala and Salahaddin saying they wanted to return. Still the negatives to going home were dominant.

Total Number of Displaced Returns 2018-2020
2018 944,958
2019 431,130
2020 235,116

Avg 78,746 returns per month 2018
Avg 35,927 returns per month 2019
Avg 19,593 returns per month 2020