Security In Iraq Jan 15-21, 2021

The third week of January was marked by a mass casualty bombing in the heart of Baghdad in a popular square with markets that left over 140 people dead and wounded. The last such attack took place in September 2019 when a car bomb hit Karbala but that only left 17 casualties. Baghdad hadn’t seen such an incident since July 2019 when two suicide bombers caused the deaths of five people and wounded another 20. The last truly horrific event in the capital was in January 2018 when two suicide bombers hit the exact same square with 143 casualties.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 25

 

1917 British attacked Ottoman positions along Hai River

1938 Nuri al-Said became PM for 2^nd time 1922-58 were 59 cabinets

1959 Gen Qasim legalized trade unions

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

1967 Pres Johnson met 5 Iraqi generals and Iraqi Amb Hani at White House and said that they

would build closer ties

1981 Islamic Conference Organization created group to try to mediate end to Iran-Iraq War

1987 3^rd War of the Cities ended

(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 OPEC said Kuwait and UAE agreed to limit oil exports to try to settle dispute with Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review Unholy Babylon, The Secret History of Saddam’s War)

1995 Saddam discussed how Iraq had created a deterrent to protect every Arab capital from Israel

with WMD

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

1996 Member of Iraqi National Accord made recording of his operation in Iraq setting off bombs

Complained he didn’t have enough money and explosives Ops were funded by CIA 

1998 Report US was preparing strike against Iraq called Operation Desert Thunder for non

cooperation with UN inspectors US was hoping to cause a confrontation with inspectors to attack Iraq

(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors and CIA Spying On Iraq In The 90s)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)

(Musings On Iraq review Neighbors, Not Friends, Iraq And Iran After The Gulf Wars)

2003 Military Industrialization Commission officials had Republican Guard commanders sign docs

that they had no WMD in units

(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 Charles Duelfer’s Account Of The End Of The 1990s U.N. Inspections)

2003 Cheney chief of staff Libby briefed White House on case vs Iraq’s WMD and ties to Al Qaeda

Said Iraq hiding its WMD and cleaning sites before UN inspections Said Iraq-Al Qaeda ties strong Libby played recording of 2 Al Qaeda operatives talking about poisons that Libby said they got from Iraq Libby claimed 9/11 hijacker Atta met with Iraq intelligence in Prague up to 4 times

2004 Ex-Iraq Survey Group Head Kay US intel was wrong about state of Iraq’s WMD programs US

intel agencies had to explain why they failed on Iraq intel on WMD Kay said Iraq tried to restart nuke program in 2000-01 but didn’t get far Kay said Iraq had active biological weapons program 1998 US bombing had stopped Iraq’s chemical weapons program

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

2005 Bush admin said it would ask Congress for another $80 bil for Iraq and Afghanistan wars

2005 Human Rights Watch reported arbitrary arrests torture abuse threats corruption in Iraqi

justice system

2006 Report US wanted to make Iraqi army light infantry force to fight insurgency and not

threaten neighbors Meant given no artillery or heavy weapons besides 77 T-72 tanks

2009 Report PM Maliki tried to remove Kurdish officers from 2 army divisions in Ninewa Ninewa

Ops Command twice said it would remove KDP Dep Governor of Ninewa form office

2010 3 international hotels bombed

2010 Accountability and Justice Comm reinstated 59 banned candidates saying there were errors in

paperwork

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

2013 ISF killed 9 protesters at Fallujah protest camp for throwing stones

2015 Yazidi militias and YPG forced Arabs out of Om Danabuk, Sinjar Killed 10 and looted village

2015 Badr’s Amiri claimed all of Diyala cleared of IS

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

2020 Protest sites attacked in Baghdad Basra Najaf Nasiriya after Sadr withdrew support

            1 killed in Baghdad 3 in Nasiriya

(Musings On Iraq New Govt Crackdown On Iraq Protests)

(Musings On Iraq UN Report On Violence Against Iraqi Protesters)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 24

 

1969 Former MP Bajari during spy trial claimed opposition leaders were trying to

overthrow Pres Bakr’s govt

1970 42 more sentenced to death for coup plot against Pres Bakr

1970 Bakr govt said it supported Arif govt’s 12 point program for Kurds Said willing to

grant Kurdish rebels amnesty

(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)

1991 Iraq tried to bomb Saudi oil refinery but planes shot down by Saudis

1999 US leaked story to Sunday Times that it would back small groups of Iraqis to infiltrate into

Iraq and carry out sabotage in the hopes of starting a revolt

2003 Gen Franks presented final war plan to Sec Def Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs head Gen Myers

(Musings On Iraq review Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Role of Military

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

Tragedy)

2003 PM Blair sent note to Bush suggesting delaying Iraq invasion for a month to allow more time for

postwar planning

2003 UK Foreign Office legal adv Sir Wood told Foreign Sec Straw that Britain could not go to

war with Iraq without a 2^nd UN resolution

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

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

2003 IAEA told Wash Post aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were wrong for nuke program

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

2003 Archaeologists and scholars briefed Pentagon about historical sites in Iraq that should be

spared from bombing

2003 DIA report repeated CIA reporting on Iraq-Niger uranium deal and Navy reported uranium

was in a warehouse in Benin Said Iraq could have gotten uranium

(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 2^nd NYTimes article on Iraqi defector Haideri provided by INC Said that he’d led to dozens of

DIA reports on Iraq’s WMD DIA labeled him a fabricator May 02 story continued to be used

2003 Defense Policy Board’s Richard Perle accused CIA of being biased against INC so it wouldn’t

interview people like Iraqi defector Haideri on WMD

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

2004 Iraq Survey Group took INC provided defector Haideri to sites he claimed were WMD and

found nothing May 02 labeled fabricator by DIA but story continued to be used

2004 7,000 Kurds marched for a new federal Iraq

2006 Report Inspector Gen for Iraq Reconstruction found disputes lack of staff and set rules caused

huge delays completing projects

2007 Amb Khalizad asked British to stop troop withdrawal plans UK Foreign Sec Beckett said

drawdown would continue

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

2007 UK intel report Mahdi Army and Badr behind most attacks upon Sunnis Were powerful groups

with positions in govt and influence in security forces PM Maliki wanted Sadr to rein in Mahdi Army so US didn’t go after militia Maliki opposed any major US ops vs Mahdi Army in Baghdad Maliki wanted to maintain his Shiite base which meant keeping ties to Sadr Maliki govt seen as linked to militias which hindered reconciliation with Sunnis

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

2008 Report 200 Sahwa killed and 500 wounded Jun-Dec 2007 by ISI 100 were killed just in Jan in

Baghdad and Diyala Increased after Dec 29 message by bin Laden against Awakening/Sahwa

2008 Report 4 yrs after 2 battles of Fallujah city still largely destroyed Only 4 hrs of power Little

running water Sewage system didn’t work 70% unemployment Lack of fuel Tight security hindered trade and development US reconstruction projects small and local and couldn’t address large problems with services Fallujah blamed Baghdad neglect

2009 Basra Ops Cmd began crackdown in province before Jan provincial elections Continued

until Apr

(Musings On Iraq Massive Security Raids In Basra)

2009 Yazidi MP accused 3^rd Army Division of putting up posters for Kurdish parties in Ninewa

2009 Report Integrity Comm found Basra oil workers stealing up to 500K bar/day in oil in early 08

Head of Integrity Comm said corruption deterred foreign investment in Iraq PM Maliki declared 08 anti-corruption year then pardoned 1,023 govt officials who were investigated for corruption Included Interior Min officials who were collecting salaries of 50,000 fake workers and Defense Min official who skimmed money from arms deals

(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen on Iraq’s fight with corruption) 

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

2011 2 bombs hit Shiite pilgrims during Arbayeen

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

2011 Deputy Justice Min denied report prison at Camp Honor Baghdad was under Maliki’s control

Said run by Justice Min Said Red Cross and Human Rights Min had visited facility and found no torture or abuses Said families and lawyers could visit prisoners Red Cross said they were denied access

(Musings On Iraq New Complaints About Iraqi Prison Abuse)

2014 As fighting and insurgency took off in Anbar when PM Maliki shut down protest sites mass

displacement started UN said 140,000 displaced from Anbar up from 65,000 week before

(Musings On Iraq Major Displacement In Iraq’s Anbar Due To On Going Fighting)

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

2015 Kurdistan Security Council announced 23 IS leaders killed in fighting Peshmerga Included

Abu Muslim al-Turkmani member of IS Shura Council highest body in group Said to be one of Baghdadi’s top deputies

(Musings On Iraq The Islamic State’s Leadership Losses In Iraq And Syria)

2017 East Mosul officially declared liberated by PM Abadi

(Musings On Iraq Review They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate)

(Musings On Iraq Review Shatter the Nations, ISIS and the War for the Caliphate)

2020 Sadr and pro-Iran Hashd held anti-US march in Baghdad

(Musings On Iraq Sadr Holds Anti-U.S. Rally, Tilts Towards Iran, Then Crackdown On Protests)

2020 Sadr withdrew support for protests and his followers began leaving sit-in sites

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 23

 

1920 British cabinet decided Iraqi oil would be developed by a public company Foreign

Secretary Curzon overturned decision

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

1920 UK Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon decided Turkish Petroleum Company would keep its oil

rights signed with Ottomans

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

1948 More protests against Anglo-Iraq Treaty leading to fights between Communist and

Independence 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)

1970 33 conspirators in coup against Pres Bakr executed

1987 Ali Khamenei said Iran would not negotiate with Iraq as long was Saddam in power

(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 Iraq dumped 400 mil gallons of oil into Persian Gulf to try to prevent US retaking Kuwait

1999 NSC counterterrorism dir Clarke said US was right to bomb factory in Sudan because

connected to Al Qaeda and Iraq WMD experts

2003 Iraq Defense Ministry ordered that if Baghdad were to fall all govt buildings were to be looted

and burned

2003 Mukhabarat document called for looting and destruction of property if Saddam were

overthrown

2003 Natl Sec Adv Rice wrote NY Times OpEd Iraq hiding its WMD programs from UN inspectors and

tried to buy uranium for its nuke program Reference to Iraq-Niger deal

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

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Created An Iraqi Nuclear Threat In 2002)

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

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld said that Iraq had WMD and ties to terrorism were one threat

2003 Under Sec of Def Wolfowitz said Iraq had tons of WMD and time running out for it Said Iraq

didn’t make truthful weapons declaration to UN Said Iraqi defectors told about Iraq having mobile WMD labs Said Iraqi govt threatening scientists not to talk to UN inspectors

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

2003 White House released document saying Iraq hiding its WMD and tried to buy uranium for its

nuke program Reference to Iraq-Niger deal

(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)

2004 Iraq Survey Group head Kay resigned saying didn’t think Iraq had any WMD stocks or large

programs since 1980s Said Iraq destroyed its WMD after Gulf War due to inspections and unilateral actions Kay resigned because group was going to be diverted from finding WMD to fighting insurgency

2004 In response to Iraq Survey Group head Kay resigning and saying there were no WMD White

House said it believed Iraq had WMD and it would be found

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

2006 Report Iraqis going to Jordan jumped from 200-250/day from 2004-05 to 1,100/day in Jan 06

as people were fleeing violence

2006 Al Qaeda in Iraq bombed Sheikh Kharbite’s house in Ramadi of Albu Khalifa tribe and

member of Anbar security council

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

2007 Bush State of Union outlined the Surge

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

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

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

2008 ISF Ninewa campaign began to secure Mosul

2008 20,000 pound bomb went off in Mosul Killed 15 wounded 132

2010 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq kidnapped US contractor Issa Salomi which it swapped for 4 of its

members held in prison

(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)

2010 Report Diyala Sahwa told to abandon posts by commanders due to Maliki govt crackdown

Sahwa sheikh claimed 425 Sahwa and 25 senior leaders had been arrested by govt on charges they belonged to ISI

(Musings On Iraq More Sons of Iraq Integrated While Others Walk Off The Job In Diyala)

2011 Report found prison at Camp Honor Baghdad Prisoners held incommunicado No lawyers

Torture Facility was under direct command of PM Maliki

(Musings On Iraq New Complaints About Iraqi Prison Abuse)

2015 Hashd destroyed four mosques in Muqtadiya Diyala after operation there

2020 Iraq ranked 17^th most corrupt country in Transparency International’s annual

Corruption Perceptions Index Year before was ranked 18^th most corrupt

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Continues To Rank In Bottom Of International Corruption Index)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 22

 

1921 Gertrude Bell wrote that British officers in Mosul province thought they could

convince Kurds to vote for Faisal as king in referendum They didn’t

(Musings On Iraq review Gertrude Bell And Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Gertrude Bell, Explorer of the Middle East)

(Musings On Iraq movie review Letters from Baghdad)

1970 3 coup plotters executed by Pres Bakr govt

1970 Iraq expelled Iranian ambassador accusing Tehran of backing 1970 failed coup

1991 Iraqi SCUD missile and 2 U.S. Patriot missiles landed on Israeli city of Ramat Gan

1991 Iraqi forces set fire to 700 Kuwaiti oil wells

2002 Dep Def Sec Wolfowitz memo to Undersec Def Feith that Pentagon was not finding intel on Iraq-

Al Qaeda links and said Sec Def Rumsfeld should get some analysis on issue

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

Tragedy)

2003 2^nd meeting of US UK Australia on postwar Iraq Little came of meeting

2003 CIA sent its report on Iraq WMD to White House to help make case for war

2003 CIA analyst told IAEA aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were for centrifuges IAEA said they

were for rockets IAEA proved right

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

2004 VP Cheney said Iraq had mobile labs and WMD programs Inspections found no mobile labs

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

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

2004 VP Cheney said overwhelming evidence Saddam linked to Al Qaeda Said Iraq behind 1993 World

Trade Center bombing Based upon Laurie Mylroie conspiracy theories

(Musings On Iraq Laurie Mylroie’s Convoluted Iraq-Terrorism Conspiracy Theory)

(Musings On Iraq Laurie Mylroie’s Iraq Conspiracy Theory Was Debunked By Captured Baath Documents)

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

2005 Report $300 mil for arms deal for Iraqi army went missing after put on plane for Lebanon

(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)

2005 INC’s Chalabi accused Defense Min Shaalan of stealing the $300 mil Shaalan threatened to

arrest Chalabi for the charge

2006 Report 34,131 attacks in 2005 up from 26,496 in 2004 Car bombs went from 420 in 2004 to

873 in 2005 IEDs went from 5,607 in 2004 to 10,953 in 2005

2007 PM Maliki announced he would no longer protect the Mahdi Army from US raids Didn’t happen

(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)

2007 Mayor of Sadr City Daraji had 2^nd of 2 meetings with UK Gen Lamb on working out

understanding with militias to prevent confrontations in district Militias were afraid of major US operation in Sadr City as part of Surge Sadrists backed Daraji’s effort

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

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

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

2008 Mahdi Army tried to kidnap PM Maliki’s national security adviser Mowafaq Rubaie in Baghdad

2008 Oil Min blacklisted companies that signed oil deals with Kurdistan

2009 El Salvador withdrew its troops from Iraq Were in Kut Wasit since 2003

2009 Report govt workers in Basra said Fadhila intimidated them into signing Basra autonomy

petition

2009 NGOs said many returning displaced lacked housing and services Received no govt aid

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

2011 Kirkuk made deal with Electricity Min that province would get larger power quota Would

still not meet demand Governor had cut off power line to Baghdad and kept electricity for province

(Musings On Iraq Tamim Cuts Deal With Baghdad Over Electricity Supply)

(Musings On Iraq Electricity Protests Spread To Northern Iraq)

2012 Iraq voted in Arab League for a transition of power in Syria away from Assad

2015 Coalition air strike killed Abu Ans Samarraie IS’s governor for Anbar He was responsible for

            executing hundreds of members of the Albu Nimr tribe

(Musings On Iraq The Islamic State’s Leadership Losses In Iraq And Syria)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan

Schmidt, Dana Adams, Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan, New York: Grove Press, 2018

 

Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan was written by New York Times reporter Dana Adams Schmidt. It was based upon the author’s three month trip into Iraqi Kurdistan in 1962 with follow up visits in 1963. While there Schmidt got to interview the Kurdish leader Mullah Mustafa Barzani several times and was impressed by his determination while also noting some of his faults. Schmidt was taken in by his Kurdish guests and gushed about their hospitality and culture. That led him to exaggerate their fighting prowess sometimes, but again remarked on how the struggle with the Iraqi government was stalemated although the author hoped that Barzani would eventually prevail.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 21

 

1916 Ottomans retreated up Tigris after defeat at Battle of Wadi only to lose again to

British at Battle of Hanna

1948 Communist led demonstrators against Anglo-Iraq Treaty fired upon again Led Regent to repudiate

treaty

(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)

1970 Pres Bakr announced failed coup by army officers and a special tribunal would

            try the plotters 44 later executed Accused Iran of supporting coup

1970 Imam Khomeini started lectures in Najaf outlining his concept of vilayat al-faqih

1987 Saddam sent letter to Iran Said he didn’t claim any Iranian territory and wanted peace deal

Asked Iranians to challenge Khomeini’s right to rule

1987 Iran captured Duaija east of Basra city Iraq launched 2 counterattacks but repulsed 1500 Iraqi

casualties

1987 Iraq suffered 10,000 casualties in Basra during Iran Op Karbala 5 leading Saddam to call for

volunteers

(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 3: Iraq’s Triumph)

(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)

1993 Iraq declared ceasefire with Coalition over not allowing UN weapons inspectors into country

Demanded US review no fly zones

(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)

(Musings On Iraq review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)

1995 CIA set up base in Kurdistan to collect intel on Iraq Ahmed Chalabi presented fmr Gen

Samarriea who’d been in charge of military intel and his plan for a coup Chalabi added his revolt idea to it

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Man Who Pushed America To War, The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi)

(Musings On Iraq review Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi and the Selling of the Iraq War)

1999 SCIRI rejected any US aid

2002 Weekly Standard OpEd by Robert Kagan and William Kristol called for Iraq to be attacked as

next step in war on terror

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review America at the Crossroads, Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy)

2003 Bush said that Saddam was not interested in disarming and that time was running out on Iraq

(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)

2003 PM Blair said 2^nd UN resolution not necessary for use of force against Iraq

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

2003 DeptSecState Armitage spoke at US Inst of Peace saying US tried to avoid war but Iraq not

accounted for its WMD

2004 VP Cheney said there was overwhelming evidence Iraq and Al Qaeda connected

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

2005 Knight Ridder analysis Violence in Iraq increased after every US benchmark such as capture

of Saddam handing over sovereignty etc

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

2006 KDP and PUK made new power sharing agreement splitting up posts in KRG

2007 2 officials claimed that US had convinced PM Maliki to stop protecting Sadr and Mahdi

Army Wasn’t true

2008 Fighting continued in Basra Nasiriya Diwniya for 3^rd day between ISF and Soldiers of Heaven 200

casualties in Basra alone

2009 1^st NSC meeting in Obama admin President said he wanted to withdraw from Iraq but

preserve successes Wanted 3 options for Iraq policy

2009 Samira al-Jassim called Mother of Believers arrested Accused of running ISI suicide bomber

cell Accused of training 80 women to carry out attacks 28 did so

(Musings On Iraq The Rise of Female Suicide Bombers0

(Musings On Iraq Motivations Behind Female Suicide Bombers)

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

2009 New poll of Iraqis 23% said would vote for PM Maliki’s State of Law 12.6% Iraqiya 11.4%

ISCI Asked who would be best premier PM Maliki 23% Allawi 17% Jaafari 10%

2010 Report Iraq reconciliation committee holding talks with insurgents and Baathists in Jordan

UAE Syria Before PM Maliki had criticized US for similar talks

(Musings On Iraq Is The U.S. Negotiating With Baathists?)

2011 3 bombs hit Shiite pilgrims during Arbayeen

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

2014 NGO warned that 5,000 had been forced from their homes in Baghdad Diyala Ninewa Basra

Reports gunmen threatened and forced Shammar tribe to flee Baquba Diyala ISIS forced 300 families out of province Shabaks in Ninewa targeted in Mosul Sunnis threatened and attacked in Basra in retaliation for terrorist attacks in rest of Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Forced Displacement Returns To Iraq Part II)

2018 Federal Court ruled election date could not be changed Would happen 5/12/18

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Parliamentary Elections Set For May 12, 2018)

(Musings On Iraq interview with IRIS-Chatham House’s Mansour on 2018 elections)

View the Iraq History Timelines