This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 17

1940 Regent called cabinet meeting telling them they lacked unity to run govt PM Gaylani

rejected Regent’s criticism and blamed problems on For Min Said Later in day Regent asked Gaylani to resign He refused Pro-Said MPs criticized Gaylani PM asked Regent to dismiss parliament

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

1962 Student union members at secondary school in Baghdad that started strike attacked by Pan-

Arab students leading to riot

1981 Iraqi counterattack failed in Shush across from Maysan

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Anthony Tucker-Jones 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)

1992 Iraqi army moved north into Kurdish autonomous region claiming it was a military exercise

1997 Iraq banned UN weapons inspectors from presidential and sovereign sites

1999 UN Res 1284 created UNMOVIC as new Iraq WMD inspection regime Got rid of export oil

quotas and eased import restrictions under Oil for Food Program

2001 Sec of State Powell said sanctions on Iraq should continue because it still had WMD

2001 Iraqi defector Haideri provided by INC told CIA Iraq had secret WMD labs He later failed lie

detector test story proved false Labeled fabricator by DIA May 2002 but story continued to be used

2001 Czech Intel said story of 9/11 hijacker Atta meeting with Iraqi intel in Prague didn't happen

2001 Cheney told NBC story that 9/11 hijacker Atta met with Iraqi intel was unconfirmed

2001 White House said anthrax attacks in U.S. came from domestic sources not Iraq

2002 Sec State Powell hinted that US would reject Iraq’s weapons declaration to UN inspectors

2002 CIA said that Iraq did not include trying to buy uranium from Niger and aluminum tubes in its

declaration to UN inspectors

(Musings On Iraq article on the aluminum tubes story)

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

2002 US inspected warehouse in Benin where uranium headed for Iraq allegedly stored but found

nothing

2003 Report Sunday Telegraph story that 9/11 hijacker Atta travelled to Baghdad in 01 was probably

false

2004 Bush briefed by DIA that insurgency was robust and strong and could lead to civil war without

reconciliation

2007 Report Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was a fake played by actor and Masri real leader of ISI Story was

false

2011 Baghdad Ops Command announced arrest warrant for VP Hashemi on terrorism charges

(Musings On Iraq article on charges against VP Hashemi)

2011 Maliki asked for no confidence vote against Dep PM Mutlaq

(Musings On Iraq article on Maliki’s moves against Mutlaq and Iraqiya)

2011 18 Diyala councilmen along with governor fled Baquba for Kurdish controlled Khanaqin dist

due to militias sent by PM over making province a federal region

(Musings On Iraq article on militia moves in Diyala)

2014 Peshmerga began offensive to break IS siege of Mount Sinjar

2017 Head of Al Abbas Combat Division Zaidi criticized Hashd that were going to run in 2018

elections for violating Sistani’s wishes

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Musings On Iraq In The News

Musings On Iraq was cited in "Iraq: Security and humanitarian situation" by the UK Home Office

Full Musings On Iraq citations

This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 16

1922 UK Lord of the Admiralty told Iraq commission Iraq oil would be important in case of

war in Far East

1925 League of Nations set Turkey-Iraq border with Mosul province going to Iraq

(Musings On Iraq article on how Mosul province became part of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Creation of Iraq 1914-1921)

1962 43 day long student strike started in secondary schools that spread to colleges demanding

political rights

1981 Iranian Op Matla al-Fajar reached outside Hamid in center and stopped

1985 Saddam visited Moscow Gorbachev said USSR couldn’t sell to Iraq on credit anymore because

of financial problems Also Moscow would not give Saddam full backing now that he had relations with US Said USSR would still sell weapons and promised 54 Su-25 planes and 300 SCUD missiles

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Anthony Tucker-Jones 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 KDP announced plans for elections for Kurdish parliament Iraq agreed Kurdish MPs not to

swear allegiance to Baath

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

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

1995 King Hussein offered to sponsor talks amongst Iraqi opposition parties

1998 UN inspectors left Iraq again over non-cooperation

(Musings On Iraq article on UN weapons inspections)

1998 US and UK started Operation Desert Fox after Iraq broke off cooperation with UN weapons

inspectors Considered failure at time Hit empty buildings Actually ended Iraq’s plans to revive WMD programs

(Musings On Iraq article on Op Desert Fox)

1998 Assessment by International Atomic Energy Agency Iraq had not produced a nuclear bomb

before Gulf War Iraq only produced a few grams of weapons grade nuclear material before Gulf War Iraq didn’t have capability to produce nuclear material because of inspections

(Musings On Iraq article on UN weapons inspections)

2003 Blair said it would take time to find Iraq’s WMD

2003 France and Germany agreed to US request to forgive part of $120 bil debt Iraq owed them

2004 Major Shiite parties agreed to United Iraqi Alliance for 2005 elections

2004 US Iraq cmdr Gen Casey US needed to train Iraqi forces and create effective Iraqi intelligence

services

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

2007 Iraq took control of Basra province from British

2011 Iraqiya meeting at VP Hashemi’s residence Declared list would boycott parliament until PM

Maliki included them in decision making shared power stopped arbitrary arrests

(Musings On Iraq article on Iraqiya’s boycott)

2013 Maliki appointed Parliamentary Affairs Minister Safi from State of Law as acting Finance

Minister

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This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 15

1932 League of Nations Mandate Comm rejected Assyrian petition for autonomy Said Iraqi

govt would settle Assyrians within country or outside of it

1940 Foreign Minister Said wrote memo to PM Gaylani and Regent that Iraq had to back England

during WW2

(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)

1957 Abdul-Wahab Mirjan became premier of Iraq Cabinet included 3 Kurdish ministers

1981 Iraq said it was ready to end war if Iran recognized borders Iran rejected offer

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Anthony Tucker-Jones 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 Saddam told officials that US started war against Iraq in 1986 when it sold weapons to Iran in

Iran-Contra Affair

1998 US told chief UN inspector Butler to remove his team from Iraq before imminent US strike

1998 UN inspector chief report to Security Council said Iraq not cooperating again Was released to

press before UN members got their copies

(Musings On Iraq article on UN weapons inspections)

2003 Report Al Qaeda was going to divert fighters and funds from Afghanistan to Iraq

2005 Iraq held elections for a permanent parliament Some insurgent groups provided security to

make sure Sunnis could vote

2005 Secular candidate in Basra said afraid Shiite religious parties would use their militias and police

to carry out fraud during election

2005 Police in Najaf drove through city calling on people to vote for the United Iraqi Alliance

2006 Bush told Maliki to accept Surge as way to bring down violence Maliki said he would

announce it next day Didn't

2006 US intel said Maliki against Surge Said he didn't like US forces and didn’t want more of them

in Iraq

2011 U.S. announced withdrawal of its forces from Iraq

2011 ISF deployed outside homes of VP Hashemi, Fin Min Rafi Issawi and Dep PM Mutlaq in Green

Zone on orders of PM Maliki

(Musings On Iraq article on PM Maliki targeting Fin Min Issawi)

2011 PM Maliki suggested Dep PM Mutlaq be barred from entering parliament at meeting of

National Alliance Idea rejected by list

(Musings On Iraq article on Maliki’s moves against Mutlaq and Iraqiya)

2011 Militiamen sent by PM Maliki stormed Diyala council building and set up roadblocks

throughout province to intimidate local govt over move to make province federal region Head of Diyala council had his house set on fire and one of his bodyguards killed

(Musings On Iraq article on militia moves in Diyala) 

View the Iraq History Timelines

This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 14

1927 Agreement made over new Anglo-Iraq Treaty Wasn’t signed due to Iraqi complaints

1983 State Dept memo said that major setback for Iraq would be strategic defeat for West

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Anthony Tucker-Jones 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)

1998 WashPost report US went over multiple drafts with head UN inspector Butler before he

submitted report to Security Council

(Musings On Iraq article on UN weapons inspections)

2001 Sheikh on Iraqi state TV read poem to Saddam praising 9/11 attack

2001 DIA report Iraq had 100 tons of WMD agents and munitions Could produce WMD Didn’t

know if happening but could be on small scale

2002 Iraqi opposition meeting in London Came up with 65 member committee but marked by

general disunity

2002 Pentagon report on postwar Iraq warned that US could win the war and lose the peace Warned

there would be no Iraqi govt after invasion so there would be chaos in country Said that US was only planning for war and not postwar Iraq Said Iraq’s economy was a wreck, and that US should not dismiss military or carry out extensive deBaathification because could fracture Iraq

2003 Bremer announced US had captured Saddam

2004 Bush gave fmr CIA Dir Tenet fmr CPA head Bremer and fmr CENTCOM cmdr Gen Franks

Presidential Medal of Freedom

2005 Bush admitted that US used faulty intelligence on Iraq but said war still justified to remove

Saddam

2005 Kurdistan Islamic Union candidate said KDP was attacking party for withdrawing from

Kurdish list

2006 Iraq think tank public opinion poll 95% believed security in Iraq worse than 2003 66% said

violence would decline if US forces left 38% were not confident in PM Maliki to improve Iraq Almost 90% said govt did poor job in fulfilling promises

2008 Bush and Maliki signed Status of Forces Agreement 

2008 During signing ceremony for SOFA in Baghdad reporter threw his shoes at Bush and Maliki

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph

Review Hooton, E.R, Cooper, Tom, and Nadimi, Farzin, The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph, West Midlands: Helion & Company Limited, 2018

The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3 again focuses upon Basra province like the previous volume. From 1986-88 there were four major Iranian offensives and three Iraqi ones in southern Iraq. For Tehran the goal of all their operations was to take the city of Basra which it hoped would deal a death blow to Saddam Hussein’s regime. Iraq on the other hand, wanted to recapture the territory it lost in Basra in the middle of the 1980s. The authors give a very detailed run down of each of these campaigns covering the planning, the implementation down to the battalion level and the effects. The book blames the Iranian leadership for failing to see the realities of the war in the second half of the decade, while Saddam finally gave way to more competent commanders to turn the tide of the conflict.

This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 13

1916 New British offensive launched up Tigris River to retake Kut from Ottomans

1920 Churchill argued at cabinet meeting that British should withdraw to Basra

            province to save money in Mesopotamia

(Musings On Iraq article on Churchill’s views on Mesopotamia/Iraq)

1994 KDP and PUK went back to war ending shortlived ceasefire over argument over tax collection

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

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

1998 Head UN inspector Butler went over draft of his report to UN to White House so that it could

be revised Clinton wanted report harsher on Iraq

(Musings On Iraq article on UN weapons inspections)

1998 Clinton went over strike plans for Operation Desert Fox with Natl Sec Adv Berger

(Musings On Iraq article on Op Desert Fox)

2002 UK intel report said U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq could help motivate Islamists for

next 5 years

2002 Bush said military would have small pox vaccinations Was actually protection against possible

Iraq WMD attack during invasion

2003 U.S. forces captured Saddam outside Tikrit in Adwar

2003 Fmr Iraqi intelligence officer denied he met 9/11 hijacker Atta in Vienna in 2001

2003 RPGs fired at US forces during protest in Fallujah US fired into crowd 3 Iraqis killed

2004 PM Allawi blamed CPA disbanding military for rise in violence in Iraq

2004 Allawi govt claimed 9/11 hijacker Atta was trained by Abu Nidal in Baghdad in

            2001 Proved false

2005 NSC drafted 10 guidelines for putting together new permanent Iraqi govt Included competent

ministers not connected to Iran or Syria

2005 Border police seized Iranian tanker truck full of fake ballots for Dec election Driver claimed

other trucks had come across from Iran with ballots

2005 US negotiated ceasefire started with insurgents before Dec 15 parliamentary elections

2006 Bush met with Joint Chiefs Said Iraq War not going well Join Chiefs objected to surge idea

saying troops needed for other threats like NKorea Bush told Joint Chiefs he was going to have a troop surge despite their objections

2006 Report Saudi King Abdullah told VP Cheney at end of Nov 06 that Saudis would back Sunnis

            vs Shiites if US withdrew

2006 Speaker Mashadani responded to PM Maliki’s plan to have Iraqi forces take over security of

Baghdad Said it would only give militias control of city

View the Iraq History Timelines