This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 26

 

1918 Battle of Khan Baghdadi between Ottomans and British started

1969 Pres Assad called for Iraq-Syria-Egypt union

1975 Iranian premier visited Baghdad and laid out steps to implement Algiers Agreement

1979 Iraq hosted anti-Sadat meeting to oppose new Egypt-Israel peace treaty

1982 2 Iraqi divisions ordered to retreat to escape encirclement during Iranian Op Fath push on Maysan

Large tank battle in Chananeh End of day Iraqi 1^st Mech Div destroyed

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

1984 US Special Envoy Rumsfeld arrived in Iraq for 2^nd time Rumsfeld presented secret proposal for

Israeli aid against Iran Iraq rejected offer Also offered $2 bil in loan guarantees Agreed to restore diplomatic relations

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

1985 Iraq threatened to spread war to all sections of Iran if it didn’t agree to a peace settlement

(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)

1988 Iraq dropped chemical bombs on Karadagh Kurdistan

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)

1991 Fierce fighting between Iraqi forces and Peshmerga on Khanaqin-Jalawla road Diyala

(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)

1991 Talabani returned to Iraq after 3 years Gave speech talking about freeing all of Iraq working with

Iraqi opposition to create a provisional govt 

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

1991 White House meeting on Iraq uprising Decided not to get involved

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

(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)

1991 Bush told press Iraqi rebels had not asked U.S. for help during uprising

1991 Bush administration said they would not stop Iraq from using helicopters to put down uprisings

1991 Bush Natl Sec Adv Scowcorft secretly met Saudi King Fahd who told US to stay out of 1991

uprising

1996 Jordanian govt held party celebrating opening of Iraqi National Accord new HQ in Amman

1996 PUK backed peace deal with KDP although talks had not worked out

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

1997 Sec State Albright said Iraq not cooperating with inspections and US would not remove sanctions

(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 United States And Iraq Since 1990: A Brief History with Documents)

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

1998 UN inspectors went to presidential palace and found nothing

2003 US forces began move on Kut, Wasit Surrounded Najaf

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

2003 US 173^rd Airborne Brigade landed in northern Iraq to cooperate with Peshmerga move into Kirkuk

(Musings On Iraq interview with Petit of 173^rd Airborne Bgd on operations in Kirkuk)

2003 Iraq claimed US missile hit market in Baghdad US Air strikes failed to take Iraq state TV off the air

2003 Bush and Blair met at Camp David to discuss Iraq invasion

2003 ORHA sent list of 16 sites that needed to be protected in Baghdad to US military HQ in Kuwait but

was ignored

2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld told ORHA’s Garner he had some replacements for Americans going to run Iraq

ministries Wanted them all from Pentagon

(Musings On Iraq on Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 3 The Department of Defense Takes Charge)

(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)

2003 British intel report Hope that Iraqi govt would quickly fall within days of invasion fading

2007 PM Maliki and Pres Talabani announced Accountability and Justice bill would change

deBaathification process Wouldn’t pass until 2008 due to opposition

2007 Report Amb Khalilzad held talks with 1920 Revolution Brigades and Islamic Army in 2006 No

breakthroughs Insurgents made unreasonable demands like dismissing govt and suspending constitution US also had talks with insurgents in 2005 Maliki govt upset with talks claiming Khalilzad sectarian and trying to undermine Shiite majority rule

2008 ISF got into shootout with Mahdi Army in Diwaniya

2008 Fighting between ISF and Mahdi Army in Basra 5 neighborhoods in Baghdad plus Kut Diwaniya

Hilla Karbala Mortars fired on Green Zone Mahdi Army attacked US checkpoints in east Baghdad Clashes between Mahdi Army and Badr and Dawa office burned in Sadr City

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

2008 PM Maliki gave gunmen 72 hours to turn in weapons in Basra

2008 US and Iraqi forces began moving into Sadr City as fight against Mahdi Army

            moved from Basra to Baghdad

(Musings On Iraq review Death of the Mehdi Army, The Rise, Fall, and Revival of Iraq’s Most Powerful Militia)

2008 Sadrists walked out of parliament over govt crackdown on movement Called for no confidence

vote against PM Maliki

2008 Mass grave with 52 bodies of people executed by ISI found in Diyala River Valley

(Musings On Iraq Diyala Province Backgrounder)

2009 US and UN sanctioned Muthanna Harith Dhari for financing ISI 1920 Revolution

Brigade and Islamic Army of Iraq

2009 Report May 08 PM Maliki launched security op in Mosul Allocated $100 mil for rebuilding

Clashed with Ninewa govt over contracts Governor said unnecessary people hired Mosul govt said money wasted and nothing completed Governor tried to stop contracts

2009 Report PM Maliki transferred 4^th Div out of Kirkuk which was led by Kurds Replaced by 12^th

Div accused of harassing Kurds Demanded peshmerga and Kurdish intel leave Kirkuk Moved into disputed town and almost got into shootout with residence before US intervened

2010 Election results announced Iraqiya 91 seats State of Law 89 National Alliance 70 Kurdish Alliance

43

(Musings On Iraq review The Unraveling, High Hopes And Missed Opportunity In Iraq)

2010 Pres Talabani and VP Mahdi went to Tehran to talk about national elections

2010 State of Law met with Sadr in Qom to try to win his support for 2^nd Maliki administration

2010 State of Law protest in Amara called for recount in national elections

2010 Human Rights Min said it found 84 mass graves in Baghdad and Diyala all from post-03 violence

2011 PM Maliki warned of sectarian conflict in Gulf after Saudi Arabia and UAE sent troops to Bahrain

2011 Peshmerga announced withdrawal from parts of Kirkuk after political protests

2012 KRG said it would stop oil exports if it didn’t get paid for what it had already shipped Claimed

owed $1.5 bil by Baghdad

2012 Pres Talabani announced national conference to solve political differences over Maliki govt on

Apr 5 Barzani and Allawi said they wouldn’t attend

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

2013 Cabinet said that it agreed to meet major demands of protesters dealing with arrests amnesty etc

Never did

2014 Sadr condemned militias in Diyala after several reports of them killing civilians and destroying

property

2014 Mutahidun said militias had killed civilians in Buhriz Diyala and destroyed houses and mosques

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 25

 

1917 British forces defeated by Ottomans at Battle of Mount Hamrin, Diyala

1920 PM Lloyd George argued in parliament that Basra Baghdad Mosul should be part of British

Mandate Said withdrawing form Mosul would forfeit oil there

(Musings On Iraq book review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)

1982 Iranian Op Fath broke through Iraqi lines in push towards Maysan Iraqi counterattack failed

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

1982 Iraq asked US to stop Israel from sending weapons to Iran US Said it had no say in matter

1982 Reagan admin officials warned that if Iran beat Iraq in Iran-Iraq War would endanger western         interests

1985 US intel reports Iraq used chemical weapons in fighting in southern Iraq

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

(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)

1995 Iraq told UN inspectors it had produced 550lbs of VX but denied weaponizing it to try to

end US complaints and end sanctions Backfired as Security Council decided to continue them

1998 UN Res 1158 extended Oil For Food Program for another 90 days

2002 UK Foreign Sec Jack Straw told Blair no Iraq-Al Qaeda link and Iraq not more of a threat now than

before 9/11 Straw argued for following legal path against Iraq via U.N. resolutions

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

2002 CIA report said foreign govt told it Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger

(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 New Yorker article said Iraq supported Al Qaeda via Kurdish Ansar al-Islam based upon prisoner

held by PUK Kurds told New Yorker Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri met Saddam in 1992 Also that Iraq was sending WMD to Al Qaeda

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

2003 Information Minister Sahaf began giving press conferences claiming that U.S. was losing war

2003 Russian Amb to Iraq provided U.S. invasion plans to Baghdad including invasion routes

(Musings On Iraq Russia Provided Iraq With Details Of US Plans Right Before Invasion)

2003 UK and ISCI reported locals in Basra rose up against Saddam Fedayeen

2003 UK forces reported Iraqi army was firing mortars on civilians in Basra to put down anti-govt revolt

2003 British bombed Basra city

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

2003 British forces secured Um Qasr town in Basra

(Musings On Iraq review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine Commandos In Iraq)

2003 British government confirmed its first two combat deaths in Iraq invasion in Basra

2003 Heavy fighting between US forces and Fedayeen in Najaf

2003 US bombed Republican Guard positions south of Baghdad

2003 Retired generals in TV interviews began saying invasion wasn’t going well because didn’t have

enough troops

2003 Report that Saddam was thinking of using chemical weapons when US forces attacked Baghdad

2003 NY Times reported facility found outside Najaf was not a chemical weapons site

2003 U.S. forces found chemical weapons gear in Nasiriya

2003 UK General recommended govt plan for its forces to stay in Iraq until March 2004 for postwar

operations

2004 UN proposed investigation into abuses of Oil for Food program

2005 State Dept told Congress wanted to reorganize rebuilding funds with more money for services and

maintenance Didn’t think Iraq could sustain projects

2006 US Amb Khalizad told ISCI’s Hakim US opposed to Jaafari remaining as premier Kurdish and

Sunni parties were threatening boycott of govt if Jaafari remained in office

2006 Report on captured Iraqi docs said Iraq kept the story it had WMD because helped Iraq’s image in

Arab world and deterred Israel Saddam told his top advisers there were no more WMD

2006 Report on captured Iraqi docs Saddam thought France and Russia would stop war in UN If US did

attack Iraq’s “warrior spirit” would be victorious

2006 Report on captured Iraqi docs Saddam thought internal revolt main threat to his regime not US

invasion

2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Russian Amb gave Iraq detailed intel on US troops movements and

invasion plans

(Musings On Iraq Russia Provided Iraq With Details Of US Plans Right Before Invasion)

2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Saddam thought Iraq winning when war almost over and wanted

unconditional surrender by US led Coalition

2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Tape Sec State Powell played during Feb 03 UN speech was

Republican Guard making sure area met UN inspections not hiding WMD

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

2007 Report Attacks in Ramadi cut in half 4,500 tribal members asked to join Ramadi police Result of

Awakening 2,500 fighters in Emergency response Units organized by Awakening paid by Interior Min

(Musings On Iraq Demise, But Not Death of Al Qaeda In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq How A Change In Perceptions Led To The Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Carter Malkasian on Anbar Awakening)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Confronting Al Qaeda, The Sunni Awakening and American Strategy In Al Anbar)

(Musings On Iraq review The Marines Take Anbar, The Four-Year Fight Against Al Qaeda)

(Musings On Iraq review The Sheriff of Ramadi, Navy SEALS and the Winning of Anbar)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2008 U.S. Seal team arrived in Basra to liaison with Iraqi forces during Charge of

            Knights op against Mahdi Army

2008 Curfew and vehicle ban imposed on Basra as part of Charge of Knights PM Maliki said militias

criminals and the local govt responsible for Basra’s problems

2008 Mahdi Army seized 5 of 18 districts in Kut Sadrists marched in Samawa against Charge of Knights

Curfew imposed on those two cities 

2008 Fighting between ISF and Mahdi Army in Nasiriyah and Hilla

2008 Mahdi Army kidnapped policemen belonging to Badr in Baghdad Fought ISF and Badr in 6

neighborhoods Fired rockets at Green Zone Sadr offices called for civil disobedience in city Attacked 2 Dawa and Sistani offices in Sadr City Overran half of the checkpoints around Sadr City 230 police deserted in Shula neighborhood of Baghdad

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

2008 US general in charge of Anbar said US hoped rebuilding would begin when security improved but

didn’t happen

2009 Iraqi embassy in Jordan announced program to register former soldiers who wanted

            to return to Iraq

2009 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Reconstruction Bowen testified to Congress Iraq largest rebuilding

effort in history and largely failed Said US didn’t plan for postwar Iraq Rebuilding was largely ad hoc Responded to situation rather than following a plan Massive waste like large rebuilding projects in Basra and Fallujah without security 1 success rebuilding ISF

(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General Testifies To Congress)

(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)

2009 Pentagon crated program to revive Iraq’s state owned enterprises Worked with 30 factories

None making a profit

2009 Report US military acknowledged militias won battle of Baghdad and carried out sectarian

cleansing with many Sunnis forced out Only 50,000 of 300,000 displaced families 16% returned

(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)

2009 Speaker of Iranian parliament Larijani came to Iraq Pushed Shiite parties to reform United

            Alliance for 2010 elections

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2010 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq released US contractor it kidnapped Issa Salomi

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

2010 State of Law threatened lawsuit unless Election Commission made a recount of national vote

2010 State of Law members protested in Basra, Najaf, Karbala, Kut calling for voting recount

2011 ISF blocked all entrances to Tahrir Sq to try to block protests but happened anyway Were protests

in Baghdad, Najaf, Diwaniya, Kut and Hillah against corruption and lack of services

2011 Was 2^nd protest in Tahrir Sq against reconciliation with former Baathists probably organized by

Dawa

2011 Prisoners in Rusafa Prison set up protest camp against poor conditions and sectarian warden

2012 VP Hashemi claimed ISF tortured one of his bodyguards to death during questioning

2012 Pres Barzani said that PM Maliki was abusing his powers and not following Irbil agreement made

after 2010 elections

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

2012 Pres Talabani called for reconciliation between Kurdish Alliance and PM Maliki

2012 Displacement Ministry said Europe was deporting Iraqi refugees and wanted that to stop

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

2012 Electricity Ministry said it would stop importing power in summer 2013 as domestic production

increased Didn’t happen

2013 Committee created to come up with laws to meet demands of protesters Never happened

2013 Turkey signed trade deal with KRG

2014 Militias held parade in Balad, Salahaddin which local officials tried to deny

2014 ISIS took over Nibai for one day and then left

2014 ISIS made call for declaring the caliphate as a trial balloon

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

2014 Transportation Ministry set up special flights to take ISF members from Mosul to homes in

Baghdad to avoid attacks along highway

2014 Dozens of Sunni families fled Buhriz, Diyala after being attacked by militias

2015 Officials accused Diyala governor of stealing millions in aid meant for displaced

2015 Gorran presented 3 plans for renewing Pres Barzani’s term

2015 Fight in KRG parliament when KDP members attacked Gorran MPs over Pres Barzani

2015 Member of Salahaddin council accused Hashd of kidnapping 125 civilians from Dour

2015 US began air strikes on Tikrit Pro-Iran Hashd said they would not take part in op to re-take city

because of US involvement

2015 Hashd accused of blowing up houses and executing 4 civilians in Diyala

2015 2^nd Diyala governor adviser killed blamed on Hashd

2018 Public workers protested in Sulaymaniya Dohuk Irbil over being paid only half of wages Baghdad

paid half and KRG didn’t pay its half

(Musings On Iraq Baghdad Paid Half Of KRG’s Salaries, Kurdistan Didn’t Contribute Leading To

Protests)

2018 Turkey made false claim it was launching military operation in Sinjar to force PKK to leave which it

agreed to do

(Musings On Iraq Turkey Bluffs Its Way Into Getting PKK To Withdraw From Iraq’s Sinjar)

View the Iraq History Timelines

Review The Reckoning, Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein

Mackey, Sandra, The Reckoning, Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein, New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002

 

The Reckoning, Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein by Sandra Mackey is a history of the country from ancient times to right before the U.S. invasion. Mackey’s thesis is that Iraq has always sought a national identity but failed to create one. That has left it constantly divided along ethnic (Arab and Kurd) and sectarian (Sunni and Shiite) lines. The problem with her thesis was that she took the ethnosectarianism of the 1990s and 2000s and projected that back into the past.

This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 24

 

1955 PM Said renegotiated deal with Iraq Petroleum Company increasing revenues for govt and

expanding pipelines and pumping facilities to increase exports

1959 Gen Qasim withdrew Iraq from anti-Communist Baghdad Pact

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

1967 Pres Arif ordered some units of the Iraqi military to be put on alert as tensions grew between Israel

            and Egypt

1973 Saddam visited Moscow to push for stronger Iraq-Soviet cooperation

(Musings On Iraq review Saddam His Rise and Fall)

1982 Saddam took control of central front to try to stop Iranian Op Fath attack upon Maysan

1984 Iraq deployed French Super Entendard jets first time on raid on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear

power plant US provided satellite intelligence on facility before and after to assess raid Didn’t hit main target Was 1^st of 6 attacks on facility lasting until 1988 Plant was unfinished and Iran was not working on it so wasted attack

1986 UN condemned Iraq’s use of chemical weapons in 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)

1988 KDP base hit with poison gas in 2^nd Anfal campaign Civilians rounded up and men executed by

govt forces

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)

1991 Turkish Pres Ozal met Bush in US and told him an independent Kurdistan in Iraq would lead to

greater Kurdistan affecting Turkey Syrian Iran

1992 Iraqi army began shelling Kifri as sporadic fighting with Peshmerga continued

1998 French Pres Chirac told PM Blair that sanctions were killing kids in Iraq

2002 VP Cheney on CNN’s Late Edition called Saddam an evil man that U.S. would deal with

(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)

2003 US forces reached outside Karbala

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

2003 Expected sandstorm hit leading to pause in invasion Gen Franks didn’t want pause and pushed for his forces to continue attack

2003 US B-52 bombers began attacks on Republican Guard positions south of Baghdad

2003 British forces took Basra airport Heavy fighting with Fedayeen led British forces to withdraw from

Basra City

(Musings On Iraq review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine Commandos In Iraq)

2003 British military told govt local Iraqi militias putting up tough fight in Basra

2003 British received reports of uprising within Basra city put down by Fedayeen and Baath militia

2003 Red Cross warned of humanitarian emergency in Basra city as water running out

2003 Dow Jones reported no WMD found at suspected facility in Najaf

2003 Iran decided to send in operatives and Badr Brigade to carry out ops against US in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Overview of Iran’s Influence In Iraq)

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

(Musings On Iraq Early Reports On Iran’s Activities In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2003 Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei and Pres Khatami recorded talking about sending forces to 5 Iraq cities

to incite anti-US violence

2003 Arab League voted 21-1 demanding U.S. and UK forces withdraw from Iraq

2003 Putin called Bush and said there would be great suffering during war Bush said everything would

be under control

2003 Tariq Aziz gave presser saying US was after Iraq’s oil

2003 Al Qaeda spokesman called on Muslims to join the jihad against the US in Iraq

2004 Ex-White House counterterrorism chief Clarke told 9/11 Commission Iraq not behind 1993 World

Trade Center bombing Accusation came from Laurie Mylroie’s 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)

2006 Review of captured Iraqi documents and interviews with Baathist leadership showed reason

Saddam wanted WMD and was unwilling to admit that he’d destroyed them after Gulf War Was because he thought they deterred Iran which he saw as existential threat Saddam also believed US wouldn’t invade in 2003

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

2007 Report DynCorp contracted by US govt to provide sandbags police and training camps regularly

overpriced work Iraqi contractors repeatedly failed to do job DynCorp contracted to fill sandbags at Najaf police dept Paid $67k then contracted Iraqi company for $23k to do job Sandbags were useless and job had to be redone Built police camps in Baquba Basra Ramadi Fallujah Najaf all considered bad mostly due to subcontractors Built camp in Mosul for $2.1 bil that should have cost $600k Camp got bad review Air conditioners didn't work Used cheap furniture Foam instead of real mattresses Another police camp cancelled after spent $43.8 mil on it

2008 PM Maliki launched Charge of Knights against Mahdi Army in Basra Claimed op was against

militias and criminals Didn’t go after Badr or Fadhila only Sadrists who were biggest rival to Maliki’s plans for provincial and national elections Iraqi army brigade broke Half quit other half retreated

(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)

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

2008 Mahdi Army attacked joint US-Iraqi security station on edge of Sadr City

2008 Oil Min asked foreign companies to submit plans to develop Iraq’s oil and natural gas fields for

first time since 03

2008 Gen Petraeus blamed Iran for recent spate of rocket attacks upon Green Zone

2008 Report Bush was never a fan of INC’s Chalabi before 03 invasion

2008 Report Neither Sec State Powell nor Natl Sec Adv Rice objected to Pentagon taking control of

postwar Iraq Powell thought State would eventually take charge Rice thought US would only be in Iraq for a few months

2008 Report From 03-08 demand for electricity increased 125% Supply increased during that period

but couldn’t keep up with demand

2008 Report Sadrists complained about ceasefire Said they came under attack from PM Maliki and US

Claimed 2,000-2,500 of their followers arrested since start of ceasefire Blamed ISCI for attacks upon them in south Said they received new weapons and cash from Iran

2009 Sahwa commander in Salahaddin said that Ansar al-Sunna and ISI had

            created new alliance after mediation by Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri

2009 Sahwa leader in west Baghdad arrested and put in secret Interior Min jail Accused of being

            an ISI leader Judge dismissed charges against him Released under US pressure

2009 Report Sahwa group in Baghdad said not paid nor gotten promised govt jobs Only 5000

sahwa got jobs in ISF US general claimed 94,000 sahwa would have jobs by end of year Said Health Min agreed to hire 3000 Education Min 10000 Oil Min 500

2009 Report Head of Al Hadbaa said it rejected Peshmerga in Ninewa 200 Kurdish soldiers and

commander in Ninewa deserted summer 08 during conflict between Baghdad-Irbil US said PM Maliki replacing Kurdish officers and sending them to other provinces

2009 Report Iraqi schools deteriorating Shiite religious parties hiring staff adding religious

holidays that reduce schooling Lack enough schools and teachers Political parties threaten teachers

2009 Pres Talabani said after international Kurdish conference PKK would give up fighting

Turkey PKK said not true and Talabani doesn’t control them

2010 PM Maliki announced new anti-corruption campaign

(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 Riot at Rusafa prison over overcrowding

2012 Baghdad and Irbil agreed to increased joint patrols in Diyala

2013 Naqshibandi sent group to Ramadi protest site to try to push it towards violence against govt

2014 After Burhiz, Kirkuk retaken from IS Militias killed at least 2 civilians and burned homes

2016 Most ruling parties refused to send candidates for technocratic cabinet to Abadi

2016 Supreme Council suspended its ministers in govt

2016 Head of IS Military Council Anbari killed

View the Iraq History Timelines

Security In Iraq Mar 15-21, 2021

There was a slight jump in attacks in Iraq the third week of March. The total number of incidents by the Islamic State was still in the teens which has been the norm since November 2020 however. Whether this bump was the insurgents returning to the field or just a temporary event cannot be discerned right now. On the other hand pro-Iran groups have kept up a steady stream of attacks upon U.S. targets.

This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 23

 

1918 UK forces surrounded Najaf to contain revolt there

1921 UK Foreign Sec told French Amb to UK that London had run into problems and large

expenses in Mesopotamia and that had led to decision to give the Arabs their own govt

(Musings On Iraq review Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied)

1923 UK Iraq commission final report said British would not withdraw from Iraq Would lead to collapse

of King Faisal and humiliation for British

1930 Nuri al-Said became PM for 1^st time Would hold office 8 times Went after opposition

silenced press controlled parliament Was picked by King Faisal to assure passage of Anglo-Iraq Treaty Were 14 govts under Mandate

(Musings On Iraq interview with Historian Phebe Marr comparing PM Said with PM Maliki)

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)

1970 Communist leader in Baghdad Khadri found shot in street Baathists suspected Communists were

rounded and executed afterward

(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)

1974 Soviet Defense Minister Grechko arrived in Iraq to try to find compromise with Kurds Iran and US

told Barzani not to make any deals

1975 Mustafa Barzani and around 100,000 KDP members left Iraq for Iran ending Kurdish revolt

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)

(Musings On Iraq When The Shah and Nixon Manipulated The Kurds)

1981 Iran said it would not accept ceasefire with Iraq as long as Saddam was in power

1982 Iran launched main attack in Op Fath to push towards Maysan Flanked 2 Iraqi divisions Was

largest military operation up to that time in war 100,000 Iranian and 70,000 Iraqi troops involved

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

1985 Iran ended Op Badr failed attempt to attack Basra city Iraq lost 20,000 casualties Iran 14,000

killed

(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 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)

(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)

1988 PUK base in Sulaymaniya attacked in 2^nd Anfal Campaign

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)

1991 Sadoun Hammadi, a Shiite became premier as Saddam tried to appease Shiites while putting down

uprising after Gulf War

(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)

1997 Memo told Iraqi officials to hide material, documents, equipment from U.N. weapons inspectors

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

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

2002 Joint Chiefs did paper drill running through Iraq invasion plan

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

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

Tragedy)

2003 British commandos took control of Um Qasr port while heaving fighting broke out in the town

(Musings On Iraq review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine Commandos In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Special Operations Forces in Iraq)

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

2003 US attacked Nasiriya Heavy fighting with Fedayeen left 29 marines dead

2003 US B-52 bombers carried out raids on Baghdad Iraqi govt claimed 106 civilians killed

2003 British Tornado jet is accidentally shot down by US patriot missile killing 2 crewmen

2003 US soldier Jessica Lynch taken prisoner by Iraqi forces during invasion when her supply convoy

attacked

2003 32 Apache helicopters sent on raid to destroy Republican Guard units in Karbala Turned back by

Iraqi fire

2003 US forces reached outside Najaf Claimed they found WMD facility Story proved false

2003 CENTCOM commander Gen Franks said no doubt Iraq had WMD

2003 White House said no question Iraq had WMD and that they would be found

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

2003 US intel officials leaked to press they felt pressured by White House to come up with intel to

justify Iraq war

2004 Fmr Def Sec Cohen said head of Al Qaeda Sudan chemical plant met with Iraq chemical weapons

scientist in 90s

2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Russian amb gave detailed info to Iraq on US invasion force and

plans

(Musings On Iraq Russia Provided Iraq With Details Of US Plans Right Before Invasion)

2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Confirmed Iraq and bin Laden met in Feb 1995 to talk about

cooperation Iraq agreed to air bin Laden’s anti-Saudi tapes

2007 US House of Reps voted to set deadline for US withdrawal by 8/31/08

2007 Iran captured 15 UK Marines in Basra and offered to trade them for release of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq

leader Qais Khazali

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

2007 Dep PM Zubaie wounded in ISI assassination attempt with a car bomb and suicide bomber that was

one of his own bodyguards

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

2007 Sadrist website accused Dawa and SCIRI of selling it out to U.S. during Surge

2007 Former Najaf police chief said he was forced to hire 400 officers by Shiite parties Said none of

them were trained One officer fired for smuggling weapons used to attack UK Was returned to work and given promotion on orders from Baghdad Said torture was routine and police went after political rivals Dhi Qar police chief said he couldn’t get rid of rogue officers because they were protected by political parties

2007 Report Mahdi Army back on streets of Ghaziliya and Shula Baghdad Fired mortars at Mansour and

Yarmouk

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

(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)

2007 Insurgents out on streets of Haditha Demanded residents take down satellite TV dishes claiming

they spread vice and immorality

2007 Report PM Maliki offered $200 to returnees to Baghdad and said he would evict squatters as part

of Baghdad security plan Baghdad Migration Ministry bureau director said he refused to tell families to return because of on going violence

(Musings On Iraq January 2009 U.N. Report On Iraq Refugee Returns)

2008 PM Maliki flew to Basra to personally lead Charge of Knights op

2008 Mahdi Army in Sadr City started firing rockets into Green Zone

2008 Report US asked UK to send troops back into Basra but London refused because set on

withdrawal

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

2009 Pres Talabani said PKK should stop fighting Turkey or leave Iraq

2009 Turkish Pres Gul met KRG PM Barzani in Baghdad Pushed improved relations and fighting

PKK

2011 National Reconciliation Commission claimed 5 insurgent groups agreed to put down arms and join

political process

2012 ISI broke 19 of its men out of Kirkuk prison

2015 Hashd looted and destroyed 8 houses in Sadiya, Diyala Adviser to Diyala governor killed blamed

on Hashd

2018 PKK said it would withdraw from Sinjar after Turkey threatened military operation there

View the Iraq History Timelines

This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 22

 

1921 UK Cabinet approved Colonial Sec Churchill’s choice of Faisal as new ruler in

Mesopotamia

(Musings On Iraq Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied)

(Musings On Iraq review Imagining The Nation, Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)

1933 UK Amb to Iraq said that parliament full of politicians who never meant what they said Institution

was a sham

1945 Arab League formed Iraq was one of the architects

1961 Qasim govt closed KDP newspaper Last Kurdish paper still publishing

1973 Kuwait demanded Iraq withdraw its troops from its territory after gunfight on Mar 20 Iraq refused

1974 CIA memo said neither US nor Iran wanted a Kurdish govt but didn't want its conflict with Iraq

resolved

1975 Iran ended military aid to KDP

(Musings On Iraq review Killing Hope, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)

(Musings On Iraq When The Shah and Nixon Manipulated The Kurds)

1977 Baath Regional Command kicked out members who wanted leniency after anti-govt riots during

Karbala pilgrimage

1981 Iraq fired missiles at Dezful and Ahvaz Iran in shift in war as Iraq stopped major land attacks

1983 Helicopter crash revealed Italy providing advanced electronic equipment to Iraq

1984 Soviet Union agreed to build a new nuclear power plant in Iraq to replace Osirak facility destroyed

by Israel in 1981

1985 Iraqi counter attack forced Iranians back into Maysan-Basra marshes 

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)

1985 Tehran Tabriz Shiraz and Isfahan bombed by Iraqi air force War of Cities

(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)

1988 Start of 2^nd Anfal Campaign to destroy PUK and KDP bases in Sulaymaniya and Kirkuk

1988 Qara Dagh, Sulaymaniya hit with chemical artillery shells as start of 2^nd Anfal Campaign

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)

1990 Canadian Gerald Bull working on supergun for Iraq found dead in Brussels Mossad believed to be

responsible

1991 US shot down another Iraqi fighter after warned it no flights during uprisings

(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)

1991 Turkey held second meeting with KDP and PUK Talabani said this marked a new page in Kurdish-

Turkish relations

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

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

2002 UK Foreign Office Pol Dir Ricketts memo to Foreign Sec Straw said US scrambling to find Iraq-Al

Qaeda links and argument unconvincing

2002 UK Foreign Office Pol Dir Ricketts memo to Foreign Sec Straw said no signs Iraq working on its

WMD or nuke programs

2002 MI6 Dir Gieve letter to Home Office secretary said no evidence Iraq involved in 9/11 Said Iraq not

involved in anti-west terrorism since 93 attempt on ex-Pres Bush

2002 UK Def Min Hoon warned Blair if UK helped overthrow Saddam it would have to stay in Iraq for

years

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

2002 Bush said that Iraq had not allowed verification of its destruction of its WMD

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

2003 British forces seized Rumaila oil field in Basra

(Musings On Iraq review Special Operations Forces in Iraq)

2003 US Marines thought no more resistance within Um Qasr in Basra and moved towards port

2003 US forces reached Nasiriya and secured bridges across the Euphrates

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

2003 US intel saw trucks full of Fedayeen moving through Karbala Gap 1^st real reports on this force which US knew little about forces

2003 US forces in Samawa attacked for first time by Fedayeen

2003 Saddam received report large U.S. force attacking west Iraq Led him to believe invasion coming

from Jordan not Kuwait

2003 CIA officials told Wash Post they were always skeptical of Iraq-Niger uranium story that was used

in Bush State of Union

(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 Sec Def Rumsfeld demanded that all Americans to run Iraqi ministries be from Pentagon ORHA

head Garner said no time for replacements

(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 4 Staging in Kuwait)

(Musings On Iraq on Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 3 The Department of Defense Takes Charge)

(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)

2003 International protests in several major cities against Iraq war

2004 Unemployed protest in Basra turned violent Stones and Molotov cocktails thrown at British forces

2004 Natl Sec Adv Rice Wash Post OpEd said would have been irresponsible not to look for link

between Iraq and 9/11

2007 Mahdi Army and insurgents fought in 5 Baghdad neighborhoods Came amidst many western

reports that Mahdi Army had withdrawn from streets

(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)

2007 Lord Butler told UK parliament UK and US didn't have conclusive intel on Iraq’s WMD UK intel

said in Aug 02 that it knew little about Iraq’s WMD since 1988 yet Blair told govt intel was extensive and authoritative

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

2007 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Recon issued review of US reconstruction Said Pentagon had no strategy

before and after invasion No unity of effort Little oversight and coordination between US agencies

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

(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)

(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)

2007 Sadrists attacked Electricity Dist Dept and burned Fadhila HQ in Basra Came after former director

of Electricity Dist Dept who was a Sadrist was arrested by British Sadrists claimed Fadhila behind arrest Former director accused of corruption and fraud Tribes and Sadrists accused Basra governor from Fadhila of corruption nepotism running oil smuggling rings

2007 SCIRI HQ in Kut Wasit hit by mortars as SCIRI-Sadr rivalry increased in city

2007 GAO Report Hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of tons of munitions were left unguarded by

US after 2003 invasion Much of it looted by insurgents US expected friendly environment after invasion which was why left depots unguarded

2008 Basra Ops Command presented security plan to U.S. and PM Maliki Premier said pre-emptive

had to be taken immediately and didn’t want to wait for plan Said he was going to Basra next day Blamed UK for problems in Basra

2008 Gen Petraeus met with PM Maliki to go over proposed Basra op Maliki said he had his own plan

that would start within days Petraeus promised US support

2009 Report US released 100s of prisoners from Camp Bucca under SOFA ISF afraid releasees will

revive militias and insurgency Senior intel officer said some ex-detainees regrouping as special groups in Basra and Baghdad while others joining ISI cells in Baghdad and Anbar

2010 9 provinces from central and southern Iraq demanded recount in election

2010 Iran got Shiite parties to agree to keep Talabani as president

2011 Gorran told Pres Barzani had to make good on his promises of reform after protests in Sulaymaniya

2011 When police tried to break up protest in Halabja violence broke out with one policeman killed

(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)

2013 ISI took over Buhriz, Kirkuk

2013 Anbar councilman filed lawsuit over provincial vote being postponed in Anbar

2015 Badr head Amiri called Iraqi army weaklings for asking for Coalition air strikes

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

2016 Sadr said he had come up with 90 nominations for Abadi’s new cabinet

(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms)

View the Iraq History Timelines