2 New Iraq Opinion Polls Find Sea Change In Views

Two new public opinion polls from the Spring of 2017 found that Iraqis still hold very divergent views. What was a big change was that most Sunnis felt positive about the country and the government, although they were still worried about the Islamic State. Shiites on the other hand, showed high levels of pessimism, while Kurds appeared to be done with the central government.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 16

1961 Govt forces began ground offensive to put down Mustafa Barzani Kurdish

revolt

1980 Saddam said that Iran would not fight Iraq because it was afraid

            Lead up to Iran-Iraq War

1980 Saddam said that Iraq had to regain all the disputed territory it claimed from Iran

1986 Iraq air strike on Iran’s Lavan oil terminal Iran-Iraq War

1990 UN Resolution 667 demanded Iraq release foreign nationals it detained in Kuwait

1991 Mohammed Zubaidi became Iraq’s premier

2001 Bush said unless Iraq connected to 9/11 it would be dealt with diplomatically not

            with force

2001 Cheney asked on NBC was there any evidence linking Iraq to 9/11 He said no

            Said focus was on Al Qaeda

2001 Fmr CIA Dir Woolsey said stories of 9/11 hijacker Atta meeting with Iraqi

            intel showed Iraq needed to be investigated

2002 Iraq told UN it would allow new weapons inspections with no conditions

2002 VP Chief of Staff Libby & DepNatlSecAdv Hadley briefed by Pentagon group

            that Iraq and Al Qaeda had cooperated

2002 New draft of UK dossier on Iraq said it had recently produced WMD but no

            evidence

2003 Rumsfeld said he believed US intelligence that Iraq had WMD

2003 Rumsfeld said no evidence Iraq involved with 9/11

2003 Rice said one reason US invaded Iraq was because he was from Middle East

            where 9/11 attacks came from

2003 Senior Iraqi scientist said WMD programs dismantled by UN inspectors in 90s

2004 UN Sec Gen Annan told BBC that US invasion of Iraq was illegal

2004 July Natl Intel Est on Iraq leaked to press Best case Iraq would remain unstable

            Worse Iraq would break out into civil war

2007 Blackwater guards fired at car in west Baghdad killing 17 civilians

            and wounding 20

2008 Pres Barzani told US Amb Crocker that Maliki was beginning to act like a

            dictator

2009 US closed Camp Bucca prison which had served as recruiting ground for

insurgents

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This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 15

1950 Nuri al-Said became premier 6^th time

1981 Reagan administration discussed covert arms deal with Iraq to get a Russian

            T-72 tank in return Iraq rejected idea

1987 Saddam told UN delegation he would accept ceasefire if UN punished Iran

1989 Iraq arrested UK Observer reporter Baztoft for reporting on missile program

            Led to condemnation in UK media

2001 Bush held meeting at Camp David to determine response to 9/11 Iraq brought

            up several times

2001 Def Dept paper for Camp David meeting said 3 priorities in war on terror:

            Al Qaeda, Taliban, Iraq

2001 Dep Defense Sec Wolfwitz said 10-50% chance Iraq behind 9/11 & US had to

            take on Saddam if serious about war on terror

2001 Sec of State Powell said Wolfowitz had no proof Iraq involved in 9/11 and was

            just using it for his Iraq agenda

2001 Rumsfeld said it might be good to attack Iraq because no good targets in

            Afghanistan

2001 Cheney said Iraq would be dealt with but not right away

2001 Bush admin voted on whether to deal with Iraq after 9/11 and was voted down

2001 Bush said he thought Iraq involved in 9/11 but told Rice it would be dealt with

            later

2004 Around 1000 protested in Najaf demanding that Sadr and his aides leave the city

2004 Gen Chiarelli said that US would clear militias from Sadr City Didn’t happen

2006 Bush speech Said he was listening to his generals who said things were working

            in Iraq

2006 Privately Bush had decided Iraq strategy not working and wanted new one

2007 GAO said Iraq met 3 partially met 4 not met 11 of 18 total benchmarks set by

            Congress for progress during Surge

2015 Iraq cabinet voted on law to cancel Vice Presidents 

View the Iraq History Timeline 

KDP Offers To Bring Back KRG Parliament 2nd Time Before Independence Referendum

For the second time the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has offered to re-instate the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) parliament, which has been closed since October 2015. The KDP first said it would bring back the legislature in August, but it never happened. Now it made a new deal for mid-September, but it has already pushed back the date. This was supposed to be a compromise with the other Kurdish parties before the September 25 independence referendum. The problem is the KDP is looking for concessions from others, not to give them before the vote, which is probably why it hasn’t followed through yet on the parliament.  

This Day In Iraqi History – Sep 14

1980 Iran’s Chief of Staff of military said it no longer abided by 1975 Algiers

            Agreement with Iraq over Shatt al-Arab border

2001 Fmr CIA Dir Woolsey said Saddam could be working with Al Qaeda

2001 Bush told Blair that there might be an Iraq-Al Qaeda connection

2002 Bush said Iraq had scientists infrastructure and buying equipment to enrich

            uranium to build nuclear bomb in a year

2003 Cheney said that Iraq had WMD and relationship with Al Qaeda dating back to

            90s

2003 Cheney said what US found since invasion proved Iraq had WMD capabilities

2003 Cheney said if Iraq had gotten fissile material it could have built a nuclear bomb

            in months to a year

2003 Cheney claimed that 9/11 hijacker Atta met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague in

            2001

2003 Cheney said Iraq involved in 1993 World Trade Center bombing

2003 Cheney said democracy in Iraq would be blow against base of anti-western

            terrorism in the world

2003 Cheney said US didn’t need more troops in Iraq and security improving

2003 Report Iraqi scientists said nuclear program scrapped in 90s during UN

            inspections

2003 Poll 52% of US respondents supported Bush’s Iraq policies down 23% since war

            ended

2004 Al Qaeda in Iraq car bomb hit Baghdad police station Killed 59 wounded almost

            100

2005 Baghdad bombings killed 150 and injured more than 500

2007 SecDef Gates said US could get down to 100,000 troops by end of 08 Petraeus

            complained too fast

2007 ISI claimed responsibility for killing Anbar Salvation Council head Sheikh

            Abu Risha

2012 New Baghdad-Irbil oil export/revenue sharing deal announced

View the Iraq History Timeline

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 13

1961 Gen Qasim ordered airstrikes to put down Mustafa Barzani Kurdish revolt

1980 In 2 days Iraq seized 5 border posts from Iran Precursor to Iran-Iraq War

1980 Iran didn’t retaliate for Iraq seizing border posts making Saddam think reports

            that Iran weak after revolution true

1987 Iran said it would agree to UN ceasefire if Iraq named as aggressor in war

1997 Iraqi soldier attacked a weapons inspector on board a helicopter for trying to take

            pictures of vehicles moving inside a suspected WMD site

2001 Bush asked CIA Dir Tenet whether he was looking into Iraq-Al Qaeda

            connections

2001 Rumsfeld said attacking Iraq would be good deterrent to countries that support

            terrorism

2001 Rumsfeld told army to come up with plans for seizing Iraq’s southern oil fields

2001 DepDefSec Wolfowitz told press US would eliminate states that sponsor

            terrorism

2001 US intelligence and counterterrorism agencies meeting agreed no connection

            between Iraq and al Qaeda Report sent to Bush
2001 Fmr CIA Dir Woolsey said US needed to look into whether Iraq rather than

            Al Qaeda was behind 9/11

2001 L. Mylroie Wall St Journal OpEd said Al Qaeda not capable of 9/11 and was

            probably Iraq

2002 Bush said US might only be certain Iraq had a nuclear device when it used one

2002 US official told Knight Ridder Iraq not close to building a nuclear bomb

2002 NYT article said State and Energy Depts questioned whether aluminum tubes

            Iraq tried to buy were for nuke program

2003 Defense Dept official told press Iraq had worked on mobile WMD labs but

            inspectors never found them

2003 Rumsfeld called Bremer with idea of immediately giving sovereignty to Iraq

2004 Report US forces routinely tortured and abused prisoners in Mosul

2004 Al Qaeda in Iraq beheaded Turkish civilian Durmus Kumdereli

2007 ISI assassinated Sheikh Abu Risha leader in Awakening in bombing in Ramadi

2007 Bush gave televised speech saying Surge was making progress in Iraq

2014 New campaign launched to try to clear Babil’s Jurf al-Sakhr of IS

 View the Iraq History Timeline

Der Spiegel Reporting On Abuse By Iraqi Forces During Mosul Battle Was True

In May 2017, there was a huge controversy in Iraq as photographer Ali Arkady released three articles documenting abuses by the Emergency Response Division (ERD) of Iraq’s Interior Ministry during the Mosul campaign. Arkady was roundly attacked by the ERD, the Iraqi forces, and on social media by the public for his stories. Three months later, it turned out Arkady was right, and the ERD unit he followed did do wrong.