This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 17 Zarqawi pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and his group became Al Qaeda in Iraq

1909 Mosul representatives to new Ottoman Assembly left for Istanbul Was part of Young Turks’

reforms

Review Dunya Mikhail, The Beekeeper of Sinjar, Serpent’s Tail, 2018

  

The Beekeeper of Sinjar is full of heartbreaking stories of mostly Yazidis who were victims of the Islamic State takeover of northern Iraq in 2014. Author Dunya Mikhail befriended a Yazidi man named Abdullah who was helping women escape from the militants. He told her of some of the people he assisted. Many of the tales are similar but they need to be told as the community faced genocide during the war.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 16 Govt forces took south Kirkuk and Kirkuk city after fighting Peshmerga Aftermath of KRG independence referendum

1914 UK convoy with 16^th Indian Bgd on way to Egypt told it was being sent to Persian Gulf to

            secure Persian oil fields and occupy Basra

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In World War I, From Ottoman Rule to British Conquest)

(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)

Musings On Iraq In The News

  

I was quoted by Paul Iddon in this article “Could the US exit from Iraq fuel an Islamic State resurgence?” in The New Aab.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 15 UN inspectors found Iraq worked on hydrogen bomb

1905 British Amb to Turkey O’Connor sent memo written by Sir Sykes to Foreign Office detailing oil

deposits in Mosul vilayet

Iraq Devalues Dinar Again To Maintain Bloated Govt Budget

  

Iraq devalued the dinar for the second time since 2020. Both times the government claimed this was a necessary reform but failed to bring about any positive results. Rather this is simply a way to maintain the budget.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 14 Oil discovered in Kirkuk

1920 UK military took Kifl railway station Major transportation hub in mid-Euphrates during

            1920 Revolt