This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 1

 

1921 Gertrude Bell wrote US diplomat that England carried King Faisal on its shoulders into power

(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)

(Musings On Iraq review Desert Queen, The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia)

1928 1^st Iraqi students sent to Royal Air Force college in England for training to form first pilots of

Royal Iraqi Air Force

(Musings On Iraq review Wings of Iraq, Volume 1: The Iraqi Air Force, 1931-1970)

1958 Gen Qasim announced Popular Resistance Force as popular militia to support govt Communists took

over organization and went after pan-Arabists

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

1963 Army took Zebar during Barzani revolt

(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)

(Musings On Iraq review Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan)

1979 22 coup plotters sentenced to death 33 others given prison time

1982 Iran made final attack in Basra as part of Op Ramadan Failed

(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)

1982 Dawa bombed Planning Ministry in Baghdad

(Musings On Iraq Interview with Lowy Institution’s Shanahan on history of the Dawa Party)

(Musings On Iraq review The Shi’ite Movement in Iraq)

1990 Iraq walked out on talks with Kuwait held in Saudi Arabia Kuwait offered to cancel Iraq’s oil debts

worth $14-$15 bil and lease Werba Island Kuwait and Saudis offered to pay $10 bil to Iraq for ending dispute Iraq said no and demanded $27 bil

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Outlaw State, Saddam Hussein’s Quest for Power and the Gulf Crisis)

1990 Revolutionary Command Council and Regional Command met to hear about meeting with Kuwait

No progress Invasion order given

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

1990 US intelligence found Iraq moved divisions within 3 miles of Kuwait border

1990 Chief DIA analyst for Middle East believed Iraq would invade Kuwait CIA thought invasion

imminent

1990 Pentagon meeting included Sec Def Cheney and Joint Chiefs head Gen Powell Agreed Iraq would

not invade Kuwait Powell said since Iraq totalitarian govt and US didn’t have any good intel inside regime couldn’t tell Saddam’s intentions Thought deploying troops was posturing by Baghdad and not for an invasion Cheney said couldn’t tell whether Iraq meant to pressure Kuwait or use military force

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

1990 US Central Command cmdr Gen Schwarzkopf told Def Sec Cheney and Joint Chiefs staff Iraq was

            going to invade Kuwait

1990 NSC Deputies Committee decided Iraq was going to invade Kuwait after artillery units detected

Committee said Bush should send Saddam warning not to invade Kuwait

1990 NSC’s Haas convinced Natl Sec Adv Scowcroft to talk to Bush about warning Saddam not to

invade Kuwait

1990 NSC’s Haas and NatlSecAdv Scowcroft convinced Bush to call Saddam to warn him about invading

Kuwait Then got news of invasion

1990 Egyptian intelligence said Iraqi invasion of Kuwait imminent

2001 NSC meeting Sec Def Rumsfeld presented plan for US to back Iraqi opposition and possible

military action Included backing INC’s revolt plan

2002 Senate Foreign Relations Committee began hearings on possible postwar Iraq scenarios Senator

Biden warned that unless US gained international support it could spend $70-$80 bil rebuilding Iraq

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

Tragedy)

2002 Iraq invited Chief UN Inspector Blix to Baghdad for talks about new inspection regime

(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)

2002 CIA made 1^st paper explaining assessment of aluminum tubes Said they were for nuclear program

Said high specifications showed they were for centrifuges Were for rockets

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

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

2002 Clinton’s National Security Adviser Sandy Berger OpEd in Washington Post said just because US

could overthrow Iraq didn't mean it should do it Berger said power did not mean legitimacy

2003 CIA Iraq station chief showed Bremer document from Saddam’s secret police calling for

sabotage looting ambushes Suggested Saddam planned insurgency Later proven false Was for guerrilla tactics against invasion

(Musings On Iraq Did Saddam Plan The Insurgency In Iraq?)

2003 New US training program to rebuild Iraq’s army began

2003 After trip to Iraq DepDefSec Wolfowitz said most Iraqis glad US liberated them from Saddam

Said US commanders rejected more troops to help secure Iraq Said Iraq could pay for its own reconstruction using oil and frozen assets Said invading Iraq was crucial to fight international terrorism Said invasion of Iraq and creating democracy could be start of transforming entire Middle East

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)

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

2004 Al Qaeda in Iraq bombed 6 churches in Baghdad and Mosul 12 killed 71 wounded

2005 Battle of Haditha began

2005 Oil Minister Uloom announced gas cooking gas and kerosene rationing to ease to help with

shortages

2005 Constitution commission said it was deadlocked because didn’t have authority to make major

decisions

(Musings On Iraq interview with constitutional scholar Zaid al-Ali on Iraq’s constitution)

2005 Ex-CIA officer claimed spring 01 received intelligence that Iraq had ended its uranium enrichment

program years ago

2007 Iraqi Accordance Front withdrew 6 ministers from cabinet claiming PM Maliki was excluding them

from govt that PM was sectarian and no reconciliation

(Musings On Iraq Sunni Accordance Front Returns To Maliki’s Government Amidst Recriminations and Challenges)

2007 US intel report Iraq polarized State and ISF weak Increased extremism US needed to increase ISF

loyal to govt Sectarian politics likely to continue Iraqi elite unlikely to agree upon reconciliation Shiites insecure about holding power Leads to mistrust and lack of reconciliation Many Sunnis don’t accept minority status Sunnis think Shiites Iranian tools ISF short on equipment and couldn’t handle security

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

2007 US Govt Accountability Office found Pentagon couldn’t account for $19.2 bil worth of equipment it

gave to ISF Pentagon also said it only delivered 1/3 of equipment meant for Iraqi army and less than half of equipment for police

2008 PM Maliki issued one month ultimatum for squatters to vacate houses Part of govt plan to get

displaced to return by kicking out people living in their homes

2008 Kurdish parties in Kirkuk asked for KRG to annex province as symbolic protest of provincial election

law that included power sharing in Kirkuk

(Musings On Iraq Kurds Come Out Swinging)

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

2008 PM Maliki offered Musawiya tribe limited autonomy in return for joining Tribal Support Councils

2012 Russia’s Gazprom signed deal for 2 oil blocks in KRG

2012 KRG said it would restart oil exports for Baghdad to try to get a new revenue deal with the central

govt

2015 Protests in Basra and Karbala over lack of electricity and services

2018 Protests in Dhi Qar Basra Muthanna Najaf 4^th day of sit in protest in Muthanna

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Jul 31

 

1918 UK oil expert Adm Slade wrote 1^st Lord of the Admiralty Sir Geddes that UK should seize as much oil

as possible which included fields in Iraq

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

1924 MP Chalabi rejected quotas in new parliament for minorities claiming everyone would be

represented

1928 Red Line Agreement allowed British Dutch French US Turkish oil companies to jointly control

Turkish Petroleum Company Would lead to Iraq Petroleum Company

1982 Iraq claimed it crushed Iranian Op Ramadan to seize Basra Retook most lost territory

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

1983 Iraqi army took 8,000 men from Barzani clan and executed them Retaliation for KDP taking part in

recent Iranian offensive in Kurdistan

1986 Iraqi air force launched most devastating attack upon Kharg Island Iran’s major oil port Knocked

out its ability to load tankers Let Iranians off the hook by not attacking again

(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 Iraqi Mirages, The Dassault Mirage Family In Service With The Iraqi Air Force, 1981-1988)

(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 King Fahd and Pres Mubarak tried to mediate between Iraq and Kuwait Saddam told

Saudis nothing serious would happen with Kuwait

1990 Kuwait emir told his representative to not give into any Iraqi demands at meeting in Saudi Arabia

between 2 nations

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

1990 Saddam’s deputy Izzat al-Duri said that Kuwait was driving Iraq to kill it after rejected all of Iraq’s

demands

(Musings On Iraq review The Outlaw State, Saddam Hussein’s Quest for Power and the Gulf Crisis)

1990 AsstSecState Kelly told House US had no defense treaty with Gulf States and didn’t take position on

border disputes or OPEC Said US would be concerned if Iraq invaded Kuwait but had no treaties with it

1990 Pentagon said it was committed to individual and collective defense of its allies in the Gulf

1990 Iraqi commanders told of Kuwait invasion plan

(Musings On Iraq review Desert Storm, Volume 1)

1990 US Central Command cmdr Gen Schwarzkopf warned White House Iraq was going to invade Kuwait

1990 US told Saudis and Kuwaitis that Iraq had issued ammunition to troops along Kuwait

border

2002 Iraq Foreign Minister Sabri said Baghdad rejected return of UN inspectors Said they would just collect

intel for US strikes

(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)

2002 Bush said US goal was regime change but denied any war plans were on his desk Part of strategy to

work on war plans while publicly denying it

(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 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)

(Musings On Iraq review Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account Of The Decision To Invade Iraq)

2002 Senate Foreign Relations Comm began hearing on Iraq invasion

2002 Sec Def Rumsfeld told Senate Comm time helped Saddam erode sanctions and spread terrorism

2002 NSA had drill on Iraq Found it had little signals intel on country

2002 Report Iraq working on nuclear program quoted fmr UN inspector Kay and INC defectors Hamza and

Haideri May 02 Haideri labeled fabricator by DIA

2002 INC defector ex-nuke scientist Hamza testified to Senate Foreign Relations Comm claiming Iraq only

lacked uranium to build nuke bomb in 1994

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

2002 Iraq conspiracy theorist Mylroie interviewed on CNN Said Bush was going to invade Iraq because of

WMD and its ties to terrorism including 9/11 Accused CIA of covering up Iraq’s involvement in 9/11

(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 Losing Iraq, Inside The Post War Reconstruction Fiasco)

2003 Sadr announced 10,000 man Islamic army being formed in Najaf

(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)

2003 Report several Iraqi scientists interviewed by US said Saddam had not restarted its nuclear or WMD

programs

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

2003 National Sec Adv Rice said international intel agencies all agreed with US that Iraq had WMD US

would prove right that Saddam was threat to world

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

(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)

(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)

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

2003 US forces found Iraqi jets buried at Taqadum airbase west of Baghdad Helped explain why Iraqi air

force didn't fight during invasion

(Musings On Iraq Why Didn’t The Iraqi Air Force Fight During The 2003 Invasion?)

2003 Report White House official said wasn’t strong evidence that Iraq involved in 9/11

2004 US arrested Sadrist Sheikh Hasnawi in Karbala Mahdi Army kidnapped police in Najaf in response

2006 Displacement Min said 182,154 had been displaced since Askari shrine bombing in Feb 2006

2006 Police in 15 SUVs kidnapped 25 people from Iraqi American Chamber of Commerce and Rawi

telephone company in central Baghdad Never seen again

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

2006 Iraqi Health Min and Baghdad Morgue reported avg 110 Iraqis killed per day in July Mostly at hands

of militias and death squads rather than insurgents

2007 VP Cheney said that he was wrong when he said insurgency in its last throes in 2005 Said that

benchmarks didn’t reduce violence and insurgency stronger than he thought

2007 2/3 of US casualties in Iraq were caused by militias in July

2008 US and Iraq missed deadline to sign Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq

(SOFA) US wanted residual military force to stay in Iraq after official withdrawal

(Musings On Iraq Missed Deadlines)

2008 Kirkuk council threatened to annex province to Kurdistan

2008 Police shut down Sahwa group in Kut Wasit Had formed political party to run in 2009 elections PM

Maliki opposed US creating Sahwa in Shiite areas seeing them as threat to his base

(Musings On Iraq Recent Government And Sons of Iraq Relations)

2012 France’s Total signed contracts for two oil blocks in KRG

2015 Protest in Baghdad Basra Najaf over lack of electricity Called for Electricity Min to step down

2018 Human Rights Watch report No due process in Iraqi legal system Judges ignored torture allegations in

cases even after asked for report and told signs of torture present Torture banned in constitution

2018 PM Abadi said he would meet demands of protesters Said govt would publish names of officials sent

to Integrity Comm for corruption

2018 Sit-in protest in Muthanna and Burjisiya oil field in Basra for 3^rd day Sit in protests outside West

Qurna 1 oil field and Basra council building broken up by ISF Protests in Baghdad Dhi Qar Qadisiyah

2018 Iraq Human Rights Commission said protesters beaten and tortured after arrest and reporters attacked

for covering demonstrations 1 shot

2019 Report Israeli defense official said Iranian presence in Iraq was a threat Said Iran

moving missiles into Iraq that could reach Israel

(Musings on Iraq Pro-Iran Hashd Brigades And Now Israeli Strikes Making A Joke Of PM Abdul Mahdi’s Claims Iraq Neutral In Regional Conflicts)

2020 Protests in Wasit Dhi Qar over electricity shortages Govt building in Karbala burned

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Security In Iraq Jul 22-28, 2021

Violence in Iraq dropped for a third straight week. There were just 10 total security incidents reported in the country from July 22-28. That was down from 20 the week before, 25 the second week of July and 38 the first week. Both the Islamic State and pro-Iran groups have been winding down at the end of July. This is the normal ebb and flow of attacks in the country. From April to May there was a similar spike.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jul 30

1920 War Min Churchill approved sending division to Mesopotamia from India to put down 1920

Revolt

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

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

1933 Report French disarmed many Assyrians who had tried to get into Syria from Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)

1963 Arif govt re-opened talks with Barzani after military campaign stalled

(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)

(Musings On Iraq review Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan)

1968 Pres Bakr accused Def Min Daud and PM Naif of attempting to take over govt PM Naif arrested and

became Ambassador to Morocco Daud sent to Jordan Baath then purged govt of opponents

1968 Pres Bakr became prime minister and commander and chief of armed forces consolidating his power

Appointed Saddam deputy secretary general of Baath Party

(Musings On Iraq review Saddam His Rise and Fall)

1982 Iraq launched major counterattack against Iran’s Op Ramadan in Basra Halted by Iranians

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

1983 Iran ended Op Wa al-Fajr 2 in Kurdistan Retook 195 sq km of Iranian territory Seized 220 sq

km of Iraqi land Cut KDPI supply lines and forced it to withdraw west KDP given control of Haj Omran pass

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

1983 Iran started Op Wa al-Fajr 3 to free Mehran Iran and then invade Wasit and cut Baghdad-Basra

highway Iraq discovered plan and launched pre-emptive strike Iran launched night attack infiltrating behind Iraqi lines

1983 Iraqi army began raids through villages and displaced camps in Irbil Arrested all Kurdish males

1988 Iran and Iraq started talks at UN for ceasefire

(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 Saddam offered to withdraw his troops from Iran and settle Shatt al-Arab differences to prepare for

Kuwait invasion

1990 DIA analyst told DIA Dir Soyster Iraq could overrun Kuwait and northern Saudi Arabia and US would

have no warning Said that Saddam was going to use force vs Kuwait and Kuwait would make no concessions to Iraq

1990 DIA Dir Soyster disagreed with analyst about Iraq’s intentions to invade Kuwait but passed

assessment to Sec Def Cheney and Gen Powell

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

1990 Report Iraq had 100,000 troops on Kuwait border State Dept officials said it was a bluff

(Musings On Iraq review The Outlaw State, Saddam Hussein’s Quest for Power and the Gulf Crisis)

1990 Jordan’s King Hussein called Emir of Kuwait 2^nd time Told him Iraq would not invade

1991 Iraq admitted to have four times as many chemical munitions as it claimed before to UN 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 review The Saddam Tapes)

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

1992 Iraqi forces surrounded Shiite rebels in southern marshes and bombed them

1996 CIA report head of Iraq intel met bin Laden in Sudan and provided bomb making know how False

report bin Laden left Sudan May 96 and no reports he returned afterward

2002 PM Blair’s foreign policy adv Manning told Bush UK with US against Iraq but had to go through UN

2002 UK attorney general Goldsmith told PM Blair without UN resolution war against Iraq illegal

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Volume 2 Sec 3.3 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options April to July 2002)

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 3.4 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options, Late July to 14 September 2002)

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

2002 French Pres Chirac said that Germany and France would only support an invasion of Iraq if backed by

a UN resolution

2002 Fmr head UN inspector Ekeus said US manipulated 90s inspections to spy on Iraqi security services

and find location of Saddam Said US wanted to create crises to justify attacks on Iraq

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

2003 Bush admitted Iraq-Africa uranium story should not have been included in his State of Union speech

(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)

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

2003 Natl Sec Adv Rice said Saddam was a threat and he had WMD Said Iraq was buying all kinds of

            equipment for centrifuges including aluminum tubes Were for rockets

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

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

(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)

(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)

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

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

2004 Sec State Powell in Iraq said US worried about Iran’s influence in southern Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2007 Oxfam found Maliki govt spent 22% of its development budget and 99% of its salary allocation in

2006

2007 Report Interior Ministry split between Dawa Badr Kurds Badr and Kurds fighting for control of intel

service Kurdish dep minister faced death threats from Badr dep minister Almost all Sunnis purged from ministry Interior Min trying to purge militias from ministry

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

2007 Fmr Amb to Iraq Khalilzad said that Saudis were undermining US effort in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq The Saudi Role In The Iraqi Insurgency)

2008 U.S. forces officially withdrew troops from Iraqi cities

2008 Sadr said he was leading a nationalist movement against the US and needed to restrain abuses and

violence of Mahdi Army Said militia would not operate in cities or target civilians or govt only US military

2008 Report PM Maliki replaced head of South Oil Company and fired heads of gas tanker and refinery

companies in Basra Replaced them with loyalists to control resources before 2009 election

2008 Report 103,000 Sahwa Baghdad promised to take over program Only 15% integrated into ISF US

created vocational school because govt not following through with promises of integrating Sahwa but few wanted training

2009 Report that Salahaddin Army Islamic Army of Iraq Baathists and ex-military met Agreed to

work together

2009 US released 2 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq cmdrs Part of deal with UK and Iraq to free 10

cmdrs in return for 5 Brits kidnapped by group 4 were already dead killed by Asaib Ahl Al-Haq

(Musings On Iraq Iranians Planned Kidnapping And Held British Captives Taken In Iraq)

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

2009 Report 17,000 sahwa given jobs 13,000 in ISF None hired since Apr 09 Number given jobs in

other ministries drastically declined 41 leaders arrested Nov 08-July 09

2015 Protests in Arbat and Darabandikhan, KRG and Nasiriya and Amara over lack of services and

electricity

2018 Protest in Samawa and 2^nd day of sit ins outside of West Qurna 1 and Burjisiya oil fields in Basra

2020 Kazemi govt announced that 560 killed in protests over last year and each family would

receive 10 mil dinars in compensation

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

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume I, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil War, 2003-2006

Rayburn, Colonel Joel, Sobchak, Colonel Frank Editors, with Godfroy, Lieutenant Colonel Jeanne, Morton, Colonel Matthew, Powell, Colonel James, Zais, Lieutenant Colonel Matthew, The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume I, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil War, 2003-2006, United States Government, US Army, 2019

 

The U.S. Army’s official history of the Iraq War was delayed for years. When it was released the military tried to bury it claiming that fighting irregular conflicts like Iraq was not what the army’s doctrine was about. It wanted to focus upon taking on a major power instead. This is the exact same thing that happened after the Vietnam War and a reason why America was so unprepared for Iraq. The first volume of the history deals with the period from 2003-2006. It provides five major reasons why the U.S. strategy failed during the start of the occupation of Iraq.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jul 29

 

1933 Assyrian leader Mar Shimun wrote letter to Interior Minister Said he was being detained He

would help settle Assyrians If govt did nothing he would go to League of Nations and advocate for Assyrians to leave Iraq Letter sent to ambassadors in Iraq embarrassing govt

(Musings On Iraq review The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)

1968 Baath had Def Min Daud visit Jordan so that party could take control of military while he was gone

Daud arrested when he arrived in Jordan Sent into exile as ambassador to Saudi Arabia

1988 Mujahedeen e-Khalq forced to withdraw from 2 Iranian towns ending hopes of Iraq backed revolt

against Khomeini

(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 agreed to raise prices 20% that year under pressure from Iraq that wanted to boost revenues to

rebuild after Iran-Iraq War

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

1990 Mukhabarat placed 30 agents at Kuwait oil fields and Kuwait city to help with invasion

1990 Egyptian intelligence sent 2^nd report to Pres Mubarak with more details about Iraq’s invasion plans

1991 Talabani said that without another major international relief effort Kurds would face another disaster

1992 Sec State Baker and Natl Sec Adv Scowcroft met with Ahmed Chalabi Talked about Iraqi

campaign against rebels in southern marshes and pushed for southern on fly zone Baker said US would stand with Iraqi opposition Bush wanted to increase pressure on Iraq during presidential campaign

(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)

2002 PM Blair’s foreign policy adv Manning told Rice UK with US against Iraq but had to go through UN

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Volume 2 Sec 3.3 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options April to July 2002)

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 3.4 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options, Late July to 14 September 2002)

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

2002 NYTimes article on Iraq war plans Mentioned Gen Franks ideas for dealing with defense of Baghdad

(Musings On Iraq How Arguments Over Iraq Invasion Plan Were Fought Through Press Leaks)

2003 US intel report Hezbollah attempted to reach out to Sadr and his Mahdi Army

(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah’s Role In Iraq)

2003 Report US held Iraqi detainees incommunicado and without access to lawyers

2003 Saddam recording said his sons Uday and Qusay died as martyrs for Iraq and US would be defeated

2007 Report PM Maliki said he couldn’t work with Gen Petraeus Said that if US kept using sahwa he

would arm militias Maliki ally Askari said Petraeus biased against Shiites

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

2008 Op Omens of Prosperity in Diyala began Most insurgents fled beforehand because announced days

before ISF targeted Sahwa in Baquba instead

(Musings On Iraq Diyala Offensive Begins)

(Musings On Iraq Recent Government And Sons of Iraq Relations)

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

2008 Report after anti-Sadr op in Maysan Maliki govt promised to purge provincial ISF of Mahdi

Army Pro-ISCI tribes told to sign up for ISF

2008 Report PM Maliki and Dawa officials handed out cash to people in Baghdad to build patronage

            network

2008 Report govt arresting Sadrist officials as well as Mahdi Army members Sadr’s rivals taking advantage

of situation to assassinate leaders in Sadr movement

2009 Results of KRG election Barzani re-elected president with 69% of vote KDP-PUK list won 57% of

parliamentary vote Change 23%

(Musings On Iraq Kurdish Election Results And Implications)

(Musings On Iraq Full Kurdish Election Results)

(Musings On Iraq Ruling Kurdish Parties Try To Co-Opt And Intimidate Opposition)

2009 Report US cmdr in Iraq Gen Odierno said when US withdraw in 2011 Iraq wouldn’t be able

            to defend its airspace

2013 ISI started new car bomb wave as part of Soldiers’ Harvest campaign

2018 PM Abadi dismissed Electricity Minister Fahadawi until investigation into poor services finished

Was in response to protests

2018 Protests in West Qurna 1 and Burjisiya oil fields in Basra Basra City Samawa Baghdad Nasiriya

2018 Member of European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations said 14,000 civilians were

wounded during Battle of Mosul 32% were children 4,000 still needed care

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Iraq-Lebanon Sign Trade Deal That Doesn’t Make Any Sense

(Shuttershock)

On July 24 Iraq and Lebanon finally signed their much talked about trade agreement. Iraq will send one million tons of oil to Lebanon in exchange for services. The problems are many. First, Lebanon can’t use Iraqi oil for its power plants. Instead, it will buy petroleum from other providers and pay them in Iraqi crude. Second, Lebanon has no services to offer Baghdad. At first, Beirut was to provide medical services but most of its doctors are in the private sector and the government doesn’t have authority over them. Then it was said that other good would be provided like fruits and vegetables, but again, it didn’t have much to offer. Then it was said that Lebanese dollars would be used but those can only be spent inside the country. That means Iraq will be exporting oil to Lebanon for free.