Security In Iraq Sep 15-21, 2020

Violence in Iraq stayed at about the same level between the second and third weeks of September. Attacks have gone up in September overall in a possible fall offensive by the insurgents. Pro-Iran groups have also picked up their operations. September looks like it will have the most incidents by those groups in 2020.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 24

 

1920 British took Fallujah during 1920 Revolt

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

1978 In Iran-Iraq deal Iraqi troops surrounded Imam Khomeini’s house in Najaf Told he could only stay

in Iraq if abandoned politics

1979 Iraq warned Iran to not to interfere in Bahrain after Ayatollah Rohani called on Shiites to rise up

against their Sunni rulers

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1980 Iraq headed towards Zagros Mountains in slow advance destroying timeline for invasion which was

supposed to be a blitzkrieg Took Mehran in central front

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

1980 Iranian planes attacked 6 Iraqi bases to try to destroy Iraqi air force in the air Iraq didn’t respond

relying upon air defenses 4 Iranian planes shot down 2 others lost Destroyed 3 Iraqi planes on the ground Also bombed 2 refineries in Baghdad and Basra Damaged Iraq-Turkey pipeline

1980 Iraq bombed Iran’s Bandar Khomeini petrochemical complex and Ahwaz fuel depot

1980 Iranian Navy attacked Basra and Faw Peninsula Basra Destroyed 2 oil terminals limited Iraq’s exports

1980 Iran started naval blockade of Shatt al-Arab, Basra

(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 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)

(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 Kurd Shiite and Communist opposition parties claimed united front against Saddam

(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)

1990 Joint Chiefs head Gen Powell briefed Bush arguing for sanctions over war with Iraq Bush said he had

to take action

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

1991 UN Inspectors found over 53,000 documents on Iraq’s nuclear program at Atheer facility but were

held for 4 days by Iraqis until they could leave During standoff US IAEA member Galluci sent important info about seized documents to State Dept

(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)

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

1991 Talabani accused Iraqi army of stopping 300,000 displaced Kurds from returning to their homes

1992 Report Sec State Baker told before Gulf War Iraq importing tech for its arms programs Officials were

trying to get Baker to put export restrictions on Iraq 1985-90 Reagan and Bush admins okayed $1.5 bil in dual use equipment to Iraq Baker did nothing and didn’t change policy of improving relations with Saddam

2001 William Safire OpEd said clear link between Iraq-Al Qaeda via Ansar al-Islam

(Musings On Iraq Why Didn’t Bush Strike Zarqawi And Ansar al-Islam In 2002?)

2002 UK dossier on Iraq WMD released PM Blair told parliament that Iraq had WMD and it was producing

them Dossier said that Iraq could use WMD in 45 minutes That Iraq could build a nuclear bomb in 2 years Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa Said no definitive intelligence that aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were for nuke program

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

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

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

2002 UK ForSec Cook was surprised dossier on Iraq was mostly old WMD material

2002 CIA Dir Tenet briefed Senate Foreign Relations Committee on intel on Iraq’s WMD Told comm Iraq

rebuilding its nuclear program Proof bought aluminum tubes Mentioned Niger uranium deal Sen Biden asked CIA Dir Tenet what technical evidence did CIA have of Iraqi WMD Tenet said none but had good human source

(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)

(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)

2002 State and Energy Dept intel analysts testified to Senate Foreign Relations Comm that they did not

believe aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were for centrifuges

2003 Bremer met Bush said he was optimistic about Iraq but concerned about growing attacks Bremer

complained about Congress number of US troops quality of intel training new Iraqi forces Bush told Bremer he was too controlling and doing too much Bremer said he would work on it

(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)

2003 CPA Governor of Anbar Mines warned that attacks and public anger at US growing

2004 Bush and PM Blair talked about staying course in Iraq and PM Allawi needing a professional staff

2004 Report Defense Science Board review found US didn’t have enough troops to stabilize Iraq

2004 US forces claimed Tal Afar cleared of insurgents

2006 Report National Intel Estimate said that Iraq war led to new generation of Islamic radicalism Said Iraq

war made terrorism worse

2008 Provincial Election Law passed allowing vote on Jan 31, 2009 by not including

            Kirkuk and KRG

(Musings On Iraq Election Law Passed, Now To Get People To Vote)

2008 Natl Command Center said 2000 Diyala Sahwa had been hired into police since July

and looking to recruit 4000 more Def Min said 3000 Diyala Sahwa joined army Came after arrest of Sahwa leaders in May who wanted to run in elections and raids upon Islamic Party aligned with Sahwa Part of Maliki’s attempt to divide and conquer Sahwa in Diyala

(Musings On Iraq Carrot and the Stick With Diyala’s Sons of Iraq, Or Just The Sticks?)

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

2008 Report more than half of Sahwa in Smarra unpaid by govt Out of 3000 only 730 had gotten jobs in

ISF

2008 Wasit council refused to allow PM Maliki to create Tribal Support Councils there which were part of

his patronage network

(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)

(Musings On Iraq Disputes Over Tribal Support Councils)

2019 Iraq Human Rights Comm reported 3 mil Iraqis living in slums Baghdad had most slum areas of

any province with 3,000 followed by 700 slum ares in Basra

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review Against All Enemies, Inside America’s War on Terror

Clarke, Richard, Against All Enemies, Inside America’s War on Terror, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney: Free Press, 2004

 

Richard Clarke’s Against All Enemies, Inside America’s War on Terror was an early criticism of the Bush White House and its invasion of Iraq. Clarke worked for four administrations dealing with terrorism under Clinton and the second Bush. Clarke’s argument was that after 9/11 rather than focusing upon Al Qaeda President Bush decided to go after Saddam Hussein making the situation worse. The problem is that half the book is about Clarke’s entire time in government covering many topics that have nothing to do with his point.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 23

1955 Iran joined Iraq, England Turkey security agreement Would become anti-Communist Baghdad

Pact

1961 KDP banned by Gen Qasim and several leaders arrested due to Mustafa Barzani’s Kurdish revolt

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

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

1980 All Iranian air bases bombed Sep 22 were repaired and launched attacks on 8 Iraqi airfields and the

Dora refinery in Baghdad Lost 7 planes Destroyed 3 Iraqi ones

(Musings On Iraq Inauspicious Start To Iran-Iraq War)

1980 Iraq retaliated with airstrikes on 2 airbases with no real results Lost 4 planes 3 by friendly fire

1980 Iran came up with Operation Kama to attack Iraqi planes in flight because couldn’t destroy them on

the ground

1980 Iraq took Qasr e-Shirin across from Diyala to protect road to Baghdad

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

1980 Iran bombed Faw port Basra sinking 6 Iraqi navy ships

1980 King Hussein of Jordan said he backed Iraq in war Didn’t want to lose an ally and face Israel Syria

Saudis and Iran alone Became major route for trade and weapons to Iraq

1986 Iran ended Op Karbala 3 in Faw Peninsula and Majnoon Island Basra

1986 Soviet For Min Shevardnadze told UN that USSR was attempting to negotiate end to Iran-Iraq War

(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)

1989 Kuwait Emir given medal by Saddam in Baghdad for help during Iran-Iraq War

2001 Nat Sec Adv Rice told CNN Iraq would be stage two of war on terror

(Musings On Iraq Iraq, 9/11 And The Bush Administration)

(Musings On Iraq From 9/11 To The Invasion of Iraq: Analysis of Bush Administration Decision Making)

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

(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 The Next Attack, The Failure of the War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting it Right)

2001 Guardian article claimed Iraq knew about 9/11 attacks beforehand Said Iraq gave money and support

to Al Qaeda Claimed Iraqi intel met with Al Qaeda in Pakistan 4 months before 9/11 Sent money to Al Qaeda Quoted Israeli intel officer who said 9/11 probably funded by Iraqi intelligence Quoted INC defector ex-nuke scientist Hamza who said Iraq probably behind 9/11 False story

2001 Telegraph quoted INC defector ex-nuke scientist Hamza that Iraq probably behind 9/11 Claimed

trained pilots for suicide attacks False story

2002 PM Blair told cabinet Iraq dossier would show Iraq expanding WMD capabilities and erosion of

sanctions one cause Educ Sec Morris asked Blair what had changed about Iraq to go to war other than Bush being elected

2002 Former UN inspector Albright for Inst for Science and Intl Security issued report aluminum tubes Iraq

tried to buy were not for centrifuges Probably rockets

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

2003 Bush speech at UN said Iraq was frontline in war on terror

2003 Fr Pres Chirac and UN Sec Gen Annan speeches at UN criticized Iraq war saying US undermined

international system 

2003 Gallup pol majority of Iraqis thought life would be better in 5 years 2/3 of Baghdadis said removing

Saddam was worth hardships

2003 Iraqi Governing Council member Aqila Hashemi died after being shot 3 days before outside her home

2004 PM Allawi visited White House asking for more reconstruction money and bringing back old army

units

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

2006 Army chief of staff called Gen Petraeus to review Iraq policy

2006 DefPolicyBoard member Adelman told Rumsfeld he was a failure as SecDef and never took

responsibility for Iraq

2006 Report only 1000 of promised 4000 Iraqi soldiers deployed to Baghdad for Op Together Forward II

Iraqi troops refused to leave their home provinces

2007 ISI accused Hamas of Iraq and 1920 Revolution Brigades of killing its members

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2008 Transparency International ranked Iraq 2^nd most corrupt country in world tied with Myanmar

(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)

2016 Sunni tribal Hashd began destroying 220 homes in Aithah Salahaddin belonging to IS sympathizers

 

View the Iraq History Timelines

Iraq’s Failed Attempt At Electricity Reform

(Iraqi Forum for Intellectuals & Academics)

Harry Istepanian wrote a report about electricity reform in Iraq for the Al-Bayan Center. He noted that demand has continued to outpace supply and that efforts to curb the latter have failed because the government has not followed through with its own plans.

This Day In Iraqi History - Sep 22

 

1980 Iraq attacked Iran’s air force starting Iran-Iraq War Attacked 10 air bases but did little

damage and only destroyed 4 planes and lost 5 of its own Were not trained for low level bombings Didn’t have munitions to penetrated bunkers and missed most runways

(Musings On Iraq Inauspicious Start To Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1980 Invasion plan was to seize Kermansha Dezful Ahwaz Abadan along border in less than 10 days

Deployed 2^nd Corps in Diyala to protect route to Baghdad 3^rd Corps would invade Khuzistan province to take Dezful Ahwaz Khorramshahr

1980 Iraqi invasion of Iran began with divisions leaving Diyala towards Qasr e-Shirin in center to protect

route to Baghdad Also attacked Panjwin to protect Sulaymaniya and Kirkuk in north

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

1980 Iraq Attacked Iranian naval base at Khosrowabad at mouth of Shatt al-Arab

1980 Iraq declared Khuzistan a new Iraqi province

1980 UK Defense Committee discussed how to start selling weapons to Iraq during war

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)

1981 Iran began Operation Samen ol Aemeh to break siege of Abadan Iran’s 2^nd largest city

1987 Iranian speech at UN rejected UN ceasefire talks

1988 Pres Khomeini addressed UN condemning it for not doing anything about Iraq’s aggression during

war

(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 Iraq said if sanctions started to hurt it would attack Saudi Arabia and Israel

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq in Wartime, Soldiering, Martyrdom, and Remembrance)

1992 Report In 1989 Bush admin told Iraq harboring Palestinian terrorist Abu Abbas and Abu Nidal

Didn’t change policy to improve relations with Saddam

2001 Telegraph story claiming Iraq was funding Al Qaeda Quoted CIA and Israeli sources

2002 Natl SecAdv Rice said UN sanctions were failing and Iraq using illegal revenues to develop WMD

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

2003 Zarqawi bombed Canal Hotel Baghdad 2 dead 19 wounded

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

2003 Bombing of UN compound led to unanimous decision to evacuate UN staff from Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review The Terrorists of Iraq, Inside the Strategy and Tactics of the Iraqi Insurgency 2003-2014)

2003 Bremer testified to Congress asked for approval of $87 bil in aid for Iraq

2003 Report Iraqi Governing Council members were going to tell Congress US reconstruction money

being wasted

2004 US civilian Jack Hensley beheaded by Zarqawi Body dumped in Baghdad 

2004 2 suicide car bombs in Baghdad killed 21 wounded 150

2004 Gun battle in Samarra led US forces to seal off city

2005 Bush said with upcoming elections for parliament and constitution Iraq would face more violence

Said if US withdrew from Iraq it could become a terrorist safe haven

(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)

2005 Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Iraq could be breaking up

2005 Report Shiite cleansing of Baghdad by insurgents increased especially in Dora Amiriyah Ghaziliya

Sadiya

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

(Musings On Iraq review The ISIS Reader, Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement)

2005 UK official said Sadr wanted to talk about southern Iraq UK said it wouldn’t negotiate because

Mahdi Army working with Iran and Hezbollah to attack British troops in Basra Sadr said still interested London recommended talks

(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah’s Role In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2006 Ret Gen Keane told Joint Chiefs head Gen Pace he was failing and his only priority should be

winning in Iraq Gen Pace agreed to set up staff to go over Iraq strategy afterward Keane suggested Gen Petraeus should be new US Iraq Cmdr to Gen Pace

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

2006 US military said militias in Baghdad earning up to $1 mil/day via kidnapping extortion black market

blackmail running Petrol stations

2006 3000 demonstrated in Tikrit calling for Saddam to return to power

2008 Wasit council headed by SIIC refused to set up Tribal Support Councils because seen as tool of PM

Maliki

(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)

(Musings On Iraq Disputes Over Tribal Support Councils)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)

2008 Iraqi-American who was advisor to Def and State Dept’s testified to Senate that corruption taking

over Iraq Justice system didn’t work US didn’t really care Said ministers judges and politicians got money from foreign countries Some ministers ran kidnapping rings for money Amnesty Law used to end corruption investigations and release corrupt officials Electricity Min Samarraie was convicted of taking kickbacks A private security company broke him out of prison and flew him to US

2008 Adhoob chief inspector at Integrity Comm 04-07 testified to Senate Fled Iraq to US Said $18 bil lost

via corruption and waste in Iraq $4 bil alone lost by Defense Min 31 members of Integrity Comm killed Worked with Bureau of Supreme Audit that said it couldn’t find $13 bil in US reconstruction funds Bureau found fake projects projects govt didn’t want payment for work never done $24.4 mil spent on Ninewa electricity project that didn’t exist Relatives for PM Allawi’s Def Min set up two fake companies to get contracts from ministry and steal money 04 Def Min spent $1.7 bil to create 2 special forces divisions Given to companies run by relatives $850 mil supposed to buy 64 Mi-18 helicopters Only 4 bought and were 25 yrs old Iraqi army rejected them Rest of deal for supplies most of which never delivered Brother in law of Allawi’s Def Min diverted some money from ministry to Al Qaeda in Iraq Many projects by Planning Ministry never existed Said PM Maliki not interested in corruption and stopped many investigations

2008 Prof Mehdi who worked in Iraq in 06-07 for USAID in PM’s office cabinet Ministry of Planning and

Investment Comm testified to Senate Found corruption endemic in Iraqi govt Iraqi institutions weak and couldn’t confront problem Integrity Comm didn’t have power to crackdown on corruption High officials never went on trial Amnesty Law stopped 700 corruption investigations in Baghdad alone

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with Stuart Bowen Special Inspetor General for Iraq Reconstruction)

2008 Report Lawyers believed about 50% of 6500 at Rusafa prison held for 3 yrs 5,000 of them applied for

amnesty 1400 released Justice Min didn’t release prisoners after cases dropped or found innocent Justice Min often looked for new charges to stop prisoner releases

2008 Human Rights Watch interviewed Iraqi refugees returning from Syria 90% said came back because

of Syrian new Syrian restrictions May 08 UN found slightly more Iraqis leaving for Syria then returning

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

2016 Parliament dismissed Finance Minister Zebari on corruption charges led by Maliki and Reform Front

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Iraqi Govt Promises Pensions For Killed And Wounded Protesters It Can’t Cover

 

(Anadolu Agency)

Before he became prime minister of Iraq Mustafa al-Kazemi supported the protests calling for reform. When he took office he ordered all the demonstrators that were arrested to be released, and that the killers of protesters would be brought to justice. In September the premier announced that his government would be giving 1.2 million dinars, $1,000, to each family that suffered a death during the demonstrations and a monthly pension after that. People who were wounded would be getting a monthly payment as well.