Iraqi Forces Kidnapping Protesters In Intimidation Campaign

Mary Mohammed who was disappeared by the security forces in Baghdad and released a week later (Twitter)

On November 19, Iraq’s Human Rights Commission called on Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi as commander and chief to order the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) to stop the abduction and disappearance of activists and journalists. Since the start of November every week there is a story of someone involved in the protest movement disappearing. Of course, those are the ones lucky enough to get in the media. There are plenty more that don’t get any press and whose fate is unknown. This is part of Baghdad’s attempt to intimidate the demonstrators in the hopes that they will eventually stop.

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 20

1914 Arab tribes told British forces Ottomans had abandoned Basra British forces set out to

take city

1920 US complained 3^rd time to UK about San Remo agreement that divided up Iraqi oil between

France and England

1920 British worked out ceasefire with Hachcham tribe last one fighting in 1920 Revolt

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

1922 Abd Sadoun became Iraq’s 2^nd PM His orders were to organize elections for an assembly to

write constitution

1922 Lausanne conference convened to end WWI with Ottomans and decide whether British to

Turks got Mosul vilyat

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

1963 Tahir Yahya became premier Held office 2 times

1973 KDP and Communists agreed to end hostilities between the two KDP had been attacking

Communists for its alliance with Bakr govt

(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)

1982 Tariq Aziz accused US and Soviet Union of allowing weapons to be sent to Iran during Iran-

Iraq War

1997 Russia brokered deal to allow US members of UN inspectors back into Iraq In return

inspections would be completed quickly and UN would begin talks over ending sanctions

(Musings On Iraq article Charles Duelfer’s Account Of The End Of The 1990s U.N. Inspections)

1998 UN inspectors asked for 12 documents were told some documents never existed and would

only turn over edited version of others

(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)

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Saddam Tapes)

2001 US Embassy in Niger reported that Niger official said no way it could produce enough uranium

reports claimed Iraq bought from it

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

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

2001 Wall St Journal OpEd by Eliot Cohen said Iraq helped Al Qaeda and had WMD so should be

attacked

2003 Suicide truck bomb hit PUK office in Kirkuk killing 5

2003 US army team with dogs arrived at Abu Ghraib prison which were used to abuse prisoners

2005 Report on how US relied upon Iraqi defector CURVEBALL for intel on Iraq’s WMD when

they were warned he was unreliable

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

(Musings On Iraq Look Who The LA Times Dug Up – CURVEBALL)

(Musings On Iraq The Story Of CURVEBALL And Iraq’s Mobile Biological Weapons Labs)

2006 Joint Chiefs told to prepare plan for surge in troops in Iraq

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

2006 Pentagon claimed US carried out Marshall Plan in Iraq and accomplished minor miracle

rebuilding country

2006 Report Sec Def Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs were resistant to acknowledge insurgency in Iraq

            when it started

2007 Captured ISI financier from Mosul said he had $6 mil budget and 500 men in his unit Got money

from extortion kidnapping and from Syria Said ISI had connections to most businesses in Mosul

2007 Report 46,000 refugees returned to Iraq in Oct 07 Displaced Min said 10,000 went to Baghdad US

commander in Baghdad said displacement in city mostly ended Nov 07 UN said not yet time for Iraqis to return Stil 2.3 mil displaced Govt was inflating return numbers

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

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

2009 ISCI head Hakim said Baathists should be able to take part in Iraqi politics if didn’t have blood on

their hands Was counter to PM Maliki increasingly talking about Baathist threat before 2010 elections

(Musings On Iraq Maliki Returns to Sectarian Politics)

2009 Fadhil Baghdad Sahwa head Mashhadani sentenced to death for murder during civil war Part of PM

Maliki’s crackdown on Sahwa

(Musings On Iraq Fadhil Sons of Iraq Leader Sentenced To Death)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Iraq’s Defense Minister Tried To Deny Security Forces Behind Deaths Of Protesters

(Twitter)

Iraq’s Defense Minister Najah al-Shammari recently gave an interview with France 24. That made headlines because he said that the tear gas canisters used against the protests in Iraq were not bought by the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). That missed his main comment however, which was the police and army were not behind the shooting of demonstrators. This was the latest attempt by the government to deny responsibility for the 300 plus people that have been killed since the start of October when social unrest returned to the country.

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 19

1914 British troops took Ottoman fort at Sahil in the city of Basra

1973 KDP and Communists began talks to end hostilities between two KDP had been attacking

Communists for its alliance with Bakr govt

(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)

1991 UN report said Iraqi forces used torture and mass killings to put down Shiite uprising after Gulf

War

1997 KDP recaptured lost territory from PUK

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

1997 UN told that dramatic increase in Iraqi oil smuggling through Iran violating UN sanctions

1997 Wash Post OpEd by Wolfowitz and Khalilzad called for US to overthrow Saddam

(Musings On Iraq book review The Road to Iraq, The Making of a Neoconservative War)

1998 Iraqis refused to hand over documents to UN inspectors

(Musings On Iraq book review The Saddam Tapes)

(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)

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000)

1999 UN Res 1275 extended Oil for Food program for Iraq

2002 UK Def Min official warned Blair’s office that without proper postwar planning Iraq war could

fail

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

2003 Car bomb at Sheikh Suleiman’s home after he made deal with US for police to take over security in

Ramadi

2004 Assoc of Muslim Scholars announced Sunni boycott of Jan 05 elections claiming results would

be fake and non-representative

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

2004 Gen Smith dep cmdr CENTCOM said insurgents were carrying out effective intimidation

campaign before Jan 05 elections

2005 Marines killed 24 civilians in revenge for Marine being killed by IED in Haditha

2006 Dep Health Min Saffar kidnapped by policeman run by Mahdi Army Killed him under orders of Dep

Health Min Zamili

2006 Suicide car bomb hit day laborers in Hillah killing 22 wounding 40 3 car bombs hit bus station

            east Baghdad killing 10 injuring 45

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

2006 Syrian Foreign Minister visited Baghdad 1^st high ranking Syrian official to visit since 2003 Said

Assad backed Maliki govt and wanted foreign troops to withdraw

2006 Iraqi Islamic Party said warrant for Dhari head of Muslim Scholars Assoc ended Maliki’s

reconciliation program Iraqi Accordance Front demanded warrant be withdrawn 1,000 protested in Adhamiya against warrant

2006 AP reported more Iraqis died in first three weeks of Nov than all of Oct Nov 1-19 1,319 dead vs

1,216 in Oct

2007 US-Iraqi raids on Sadrists in Diwaniya and Najaf Dozens of Mahdi Army members arrested 70

police in Diwaniya dismissed for connections to militia Was part of Op Lion’s Leap vs Mahdi Army Came after fighting between Mahdi Army and Badr

2007 Report Maliki govt denied services to Baghdad’s Ghaziliya Neighborhood split between Sahwa

Ghaziliya guardians and police connected to sectarian killings

2008 PUK politburo created committees to discuss its internal divisions

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Oil Exports And Revenues Decline For Iraq After OPEC Criticism

(Reuters)

Iraq’s oil exports dropped in October 2019 after it was criticized by OPEC for violating its production quota. In response the Oil Minister said he would reduce output, which in turn cut foreign sales.

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 18

1914 British launched second attack on Ottoman forces in Zain, Basra

1963 Pres Arif and brother Gen Arif and army put down Baath National Guard militia in Baghdad

Mosul and Kirkuk

1963 Pres Arif removed Baathists from positions in govt including PM Bakr

1968 KDP called on UN to intervene in Iraq during Kurdish revolt

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

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

1973 Communists said they would stop anti-KDP propaganda campaign attacking it as feudal party

and capitalist tool

(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)

1979 Naji Suwaidi became premier of Iraq

1980 UN Special Rep to Iran and Iraq Olof Palme began mediation mission to try to stop war

1987 Iraq bombed 2 abandoned nuclear reactors in south Iran 2^nd time

(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)

1997 Russian President Boris Yeltsin met with Iraqis trying to convince them to cooperate with

weapons inspectors

(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)

(Musings On Iraq article Charles Duelfer’s Account Of The End Of The 1990s U.N. Inspections)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Saddam Tapes)

1998 UN inspections began again in Iraq with goal of causing a confrontation to justify US bombing

(Musings On Iraq book review of Iraq In The Eye of the Storm)

2002 New UN inspectors arrived in Baghdad

(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)

2005 House Republicans attacked Democrats for trying to cut and run in Iraq by backing withdrawal

US policy was withdrawal

2005 Al Qaeda in Iraq bombed Shiite mosque in Khanaqin Diyala 74 dead

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

2005 Study 90-96% of insurgency were Iraqis only 4-10% foreign fighters

2006 Pentagon and Joint Chiefs papers on Iraq said US should follow Gen Casey plan to withdraw turn

things over to Iraqis Joint Chiefs paper said Iraq falling into civil war US strategy not working

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

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

2006 US intel report on Iraq said US had no good options in Iraq

2006 VP Cheney’s office memo on Iraq said US should back Shiites and Kurds and forget about Sunnis

2008 US signed Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq that set 12/31/11 withdrawal date for US forces

2008 Report PM Maliki fired or replaced 17 anti-corruption officials Some were inspector generals at

Water Culture Trade Youth Ministries and perhaps Foreign Affairs Ministry Central Bank of Iraq Sunni and Christian Endowments

(Musings On Iraq article on PM Maliki removing inspector generals)

2009 VP Hashemi vetoed parliamentary election law saying it would reduce Sunni seats Kurdish Alliance

State of Law ISCI amended law to cut possible seats for Sunnis

(Musings On Iraq VP Hashemi Shoots Himself In The Foot With Veto Of Iraqi Election Law)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review Shatter the Nations, ISIS and the War for the Caliphate

Review Giglio, Mike, Shatter the Nations, ISIS and the War for the Caliphate, New York: Public Affairs, 2019

Mike Giglio worked for Newsweek and the Daily Beast covering the Arab Spring in Egypt, the Syrian civil war, and finally the Battle for Mosul. He put that experience into Shatter the Nations, ISIS and the War for the Caliphate. It reads like short vignettes of Giglio’s time in Egypt, Turkey, Syria and Iraq. That’s its major problem however as these individual stories, while enjoyable to read, don’t add up to a unified story.