This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 31

1982 Iran launched Muharram al-Haram attacking Diyala and Maysan Took

            Back 120 sq mi of Iranian territory 330 sq mi of Iraqi land

1982 Iranian Op Muharram al-Haram made Iraq call up its reserves

1995 INC HQ in Salahaddin, Irbil bombed by Iraqi National Accord killing 28

1998 Iraq suspended all cooperation with UN weapons inspectors 

1998 Pres Clinton signed Iraq Liberation Act opening up $97 mil for opposition parties

2001 ABC withdrew story that Iraq might be behind anthrax letters sent to Wash DC

2002 Blair agreed to offer a division to US for invasion of Iraq

2002 UK energy companies met with govt official complaining business deals

            being made for postwar Iraq and they were being left out

2004 US Gen Sattler Unless US and Iraqi forces stopped insurgent intimidation campaign against 

            Iraqi civilians they couldn’t win

2004 Report US intel est 8,000-12,000 insurgents in Iraq and financing Far more than

            previously believed

2004 Report US army overrode objections of contracting officers who complained

            about cost overruns and non-competitive bids given to Halliburton in Iraq

2005 US report Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Iraqi militias and police carrying out

            assassinations in Basra

2005 IRGC gave assassination orders to Sayid al-Shuhada, Iraq Hezbollah, Thar Allah,

            Fadhilah, Badr and others

2006 ISI’s Furquan Institute for Media Production made its first release

2006 State Dep memo to Rice said ISF not capable of controlling violence Meant

            Clear Hold Build impossible

2006 State Dept memo to Rice Maliki talked about being national leader but was

            proving sectarian

2010 ISI attacked Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad taking 100 hostages Goal

            was publicity and gain donations

2015 Albu Faraj noth of Ramadi attacked by ISF after it was declared freed 3 times

2016 Iraqi forces attacked Gogjali eastern suburb of Mosul 

View the Iraq History Timeline

Barzani’s Followers Respond With Violence To News He Will Step Down

President Masoud Barzani delivered a letter to the Kurdistan parliament and then appeared on TV for the first time since the September 2017 referendum to announce that he would step down from office. His followers immediately took to the streets and assaulted members of the press and political parties, burning down offices, as well as storming the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) parliament building.

This Day In Iraqi History – Oct 30

1918 British forces took Shirqat from Ottomans

1918 Armistice of Mudros signed between British and Ottomans 6^th Army

            surrendered to British Ended WWI in Mesopotamia

1918 British officials in Baghdad told London to create central council of chiefs of

            Southern Kurdistan

1936 PM Yasin al-Hashimi became 1^st Iraqi premier overthrown in a coup King Ghazi

            supported his removal

1936 Hikmat Sulaiman became premier of Iraq leading to 1^st govt with pan-Arabists

            out of power

1936 Sulaiman govt banished former PM Hashimi, Rashid al-Gaylani and Nuri al-Said

1980 Saddam predicted Iran-Iraq War would only last 6-12 months

1990 NatlSecAdv Scowcroft said US policy at fork in road Could continue defense or

            go on offense against Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait

1990 Joint Chiefs head Gen Powell said Gen Schwarzkopf asked for troops for

            offensive operations against Iraq in Kuwait

1990 Def Sec Cheney said offensive action against Iraq should be on the table

1990 Bush decided to double number of US troops in Saudi Arabia

1997 Tariq Aziz claimed surveillance planes used by inspectors were working for US

            intelligence Threatened to shoot them down

2002 Cheney told head UN Inspector Blix that inspections couldn't last forever and US

            was ready to discredit them anyway to disarm Iraq

2003 Cheney said Iraq had WMD

2003 Dep Sec of Def Wolfowitz said because US had missed so much of Iraq’s WMD

            program in 1991 it might have exaggerated them in 2003

2003 Report White House pushing Pentagon to speed up training of Iraqi forces

2005 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Recon report said US had no policy for staffing

            reconstruction of Iraq

2005 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Recon said lack of planning by US plagued reconstruction

2005 Report Italian press believed SISMI intel agency forged docs claiming Iraq-Niger

            uranium deal and shared them with US and UK

2005 Report PUK building dozens of houses in Kirkuk City and moving Kurds in Said

            to reverse Saddam’s Arbization program

2006 Militias kill 17 Sunni police near British run training center in Basra

2006 SecState Rice aide told her little chance for US success in Iraq Another said

            Iraq heading towards genocidal violence

2006 SecState Rice talked about giving up reconciliation in Iraq with aides and

            just worrying about stability

2015 PM Abadi went to Dawa meeting to answer critics of his reforms

View the Iraq History Timeline

Musings On Iraq In The News

I was interviewed by Iraq In Context, "Musings On Baghdad and Erbil: An Interview with Joel Wing." I was quoted in this article in Caixin "US Secretary of State called on Middle East allies to block the Iranian move against Iraqi politics." I was also cited in The Struggle for Iraq: A View From The Bottom Up by Thomas Renahan.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 29

1936 Planes dropped flyers over Baghdad demanding PM Yasin Hashemi’s

resignation as troops marched on capital in coup

1936 PM Hashemi asked for King Ghazi’s support When didn't get it offered his

            resignation

1936 Parliament building bombed in coup

1936 Def Min Askari was assassinated by Gen Bakr Sidqi coup plotters

1990 UN Security Council said overtures to Iraq had failed and talked about

            alternatives but came up with nothing

1990 Bush said US wouldn’t rule out use of force against Iraq for Kuwait invasion

1997 Tariq Aziz said no Americans would be allowed as inspectors accusing them of being

            spies

1997 IAEA suspended all its work in Iraq

2003 Bush said he supported Bremer’s plan for Iraq but that it could be speeded up

2004 CIA report said that Iraqi elections would likely lead to opposition from Sunni

Arab govts

2004 1^st Lancet report on Iraqi casualties claims 100,000 Iraqi civilians died since

            invasion mostly due to Coalition

2004 1^st Lancet gained huge publicity but is mostly discredited by experts

2004 Al Qaeda in Iraq beheaded Japanese civilian Shosei Koda

2004 Report US forces reached Al Qaqaa nuclear site during 03 invasion then left and

            site looted of high grade explosives

2015 VP Maliki said PM Abadi removing Vice Presidents was illegal 

View the Iraq History Timeline 

Baghdad Ups Ante Attempting To Seize Control Of Kurds’ Oil Pipeline

The fighting between the Iraqi government and the Peshmerga took another turn. Initially, Baghdad was demanding that the Kurds return all the areas that they occupied in 2014 when the Islamic State swept through Iraq. After that was largely achieved Prime Minister Haidar Abadi took another step and had federal units move on a border crossing where the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) pipeline crosses into Turkey. This was a decided escalation since the area is within the KRG, but the central government is claiming that it should have authority over all Iraqi territory and borders.

This Day In Iraqi History – Oct 28

2003 Bush speech said Iraq frontline of war on terror and would take time to win

2003 Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Gen Pace said US had to return

            sovereignty as soon as possible and get Iraqis to run things

2003 Powell said security number one priority in postwar Iraq otherwise nothing else

            would matter

2005 Cheney chief of staff Libby indicted obstruction perjury false statements for

            retaliating vs FmrAmb Wilson over Iraq-Niger deal

2006 ISI launched first chlorine bomb

2016 KRG PM Barzani replaced 4 Gorran ministers with 4 KDP politicians in

            dispute over Pres Barzani’s term

View the Iraq History Timeline

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 27

1984 Iraq restored diplomatic relations with US which had ended in Oct 1967

1992 Report before Gulf War Bush admin approved sale of computers and software to Iraq that were

used on missile and supergun programs

1992 Opposition meeting in Salahaddin, Kurdistan called for democratic and federal Iraq Made

            INC umbrella org with ethnosectarian quotas

2001 Czech Inter Min said 9/11 hijacker Atta met with Iraqi intel in Prague

2002 US intel complained to press Pentagon using own intel on Iraq and relying

            upon INC too much

2003 Bremer returned to DC to discuss his long term plan for Iraq which White House

            had turned against

2003 Rumsfeld told Bremer of plan to return Iraq sovereignty by Apr 04 Bremer said

            needed new Iraqi govt & constitution 1^st

2003 Bush at NSC meeting said US had to stay the course in Iraq

2003 Gen Abizaid at NSC meeting said US had to bring back ex-Iraqi soldiers to

            rebuild army Bremer said too risky

2003 Natl Sec Adv Rice Iraq insurgency desperate and not going to succeed

2003 Zarqawi bombed Red Cross HQ and 4 police stations in Baghdad Sixth attack

            foiled 35 dead and 244 injured at start of Ramadan

2003 Saddam called on insurgents to attack Iraqi security forces rather than U.S. led

            coalition

2003 U.S. military blamed foreign fighters for spate of Baghdad bombings Day before

            denied foreign fighters important in capital

2003 US military Insurgents were paying 10 times as much for people to carry out

            attacks against US forces

2003 UnderSecDef Feith provided evidence of Iraq-Al Qaeda ties his office had

            collected to Senate Intel Comm

2003 Feith told Senate Intel Comm Iraqi govt knew Zarqawi entered Iraq in 2002

2004 Report number of IEDs being planted in Iraq went from 500 per months in May &

            June 04 to 1,000 by Oct 04

2005 Baghdad insurgent leader told Guardian he supported voting on Constitution and

            opposed Al Qaeda in Iraq

2011 Salahaddin council voted to start process to become a federal region Maliki

            blocked move

2015 60 members of State of Law sent letter to Abadi demanding answers about his

            reforms organized by Maliki 

View the Iraq History Timeline 

2006 Clear Hold Build: An Iraq Strategy That Wasn’t A Strategy

President Bush constantly talked about winning in Iraq. In November 2006, the White House released its “National Strategy for Victory in Iraq.” The problem was at that time, the United States had no plan on how to achieve victory, and the strategy paper wasn’t even approved by the Pentagon or military.

This Day In Iraqi History – Oct 26

1952 Students led by Communists went on strike at Baghdad’s College of

            Pharmacy against govt

1978 Pres Assad visited Iraq to sign National Charter of Joint Action to counter

            Israel-Egypt peace treaty

1980 Iraq fired missiles at Dezful, Iran for 2^nd day

1980 Most of the Iranian forces driven out of Khorramshahr, Iran by Iraqi army

1980 Soviet news agency accused Iraq of aligning with US in Iran-Iraq War

1980 Iran objected to Iraq abrogating 1975 Algiers Agreement in letter to U.N. Said

            Iran still following it Iraq broke it

1984 Tariq Aziz told Sec of State Shultz Iraq ready to resume full diplomatic relations

            with US after 17 yr break

1989 Sec of State Baker memo said that ties with Iraq important to shape Middle

            East politics

2001 After anthrax letters sent to Wash DC ABC reported anthrax trademark of Iraq’s

            WMD program

2001 Czech Interior Ministry told press 9/11 hijacker Atta met Iraqi intel officer

            in Prague

2003 Baghdad’s Rashid Hotel hit by rocket while Dep Sec of Def Wolfowitz staying

            there 1 US soldier killed 18 wounded

2003 US military said were not many foreign fighters in Baghdad

2004 PM Allawi blamed US for deaths of 49 army recruits killed in Diyala by Zarqawi

2005 Report CIA review said Zarqawi visited Baghdad May 02 but probably didn’t

            have protection of Iraqi govt

2005 CIA review of Zarqawi’s 02 trip to Baghdad based upon interviews with Saddam

            era Iraqi officials

2005 Bush admin originally claimed Zarqawi was given safe haven by Saddam and

            said sign of Iraq-Al Qaeda cooperation

2008 US Special Forces raided ISI camp in Syria used to ferry foreign fighters into Iraq

            captured huge amount of documents

View the Iraq History Timeline

In Face Of Referendum Fallout Kurdish Ruling Parties Decide To Hold Onto Power

After the September 2017 Independence Referendum, the two main Kurdish ruling parties found themselves in a quandary. President Masoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was humiliated by the fiasco that followed the election where the Kurds gave up not only Kirkuk but almost all the disputed areas they had sought to annex following the fall of Saddam Hussein. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on the other hand was not only accused of selling out to Baghdad by ordering its Peshmerga to fall back in the face of the federal forces, but was deeply divided internally between two main factions. Faced with these issues the two parties decided to delay elections so that they could stay in power.

This Day In Iraqi History – Oct 25

1922 Gertrude Bell wrote that King Faisal was trying to create his own party

            but was being played by politicians

1980 Iraq fired missiles at Dezful, Iran

1983 Iran claimed Iraqi troops destroyed Kurdish town of Penjwin

1984 Iranian troops recaptured Mehran, Iran ending Op Dawn 7

2000 Congress authorized increase in support for Iraqi opposition groups to $25 mil

            in 2001 $18 mil would got to INC

2002 VP Cheney met with Russian For Min Told him countries that sided

            with US in war would get preferential treatment in contracts afterward

2003 Iraqi prisoners were stripped, handcuffed and piled in pyramid on top of

            each other by US jailers in Abu Ghraib

2004 Report top contracting official at US Army Corps of Engineers questioned

            Halliburton’s no-bid Iraq contracts

2004 Report 380 tons of high grade explosives looted from Al Qaqaa nuclear site

2005 Results of Constitutional referendum announced 79% voted for constitution Anbar

            and Salahaddin overwhelmingly voted no

2005 Death toll for Americans in Iraq reached 2,000 since 03 invasion

2005 Iraq Body Count est 26,690-30,051 Iraqi civilians & police died since 03 invasion

2006 Bush speech Iraq challenge of our time Knew people weren’t happy with Iraq

            war and neither was he

2006 Bush speech said US winning in Iraq Didn't say he thought strategy failing and

            working on new one

2009 ISI bombed Justice & Municipalities Ministries in Baghdad 155 dead 721 wounded Maliki

            blamed Baathists but was ISI

View the Iraq History Timeline

Security In Iraq Oct 15-21, 2017

For the twelfth time in the last thirteen full weeks Iraq witnessed less than 100 security incidents. Casualties were extremely high however because of clashes between the Peshmerga and Iraqi forces.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 24

1978 Pres Assad visited Baghdad to talk about unifying Iraq and Syria Issued

            unification declaration

1980 Iraq crossed Shatt al-Arab and took city center in Khorramshahr
1984 US Info Service reopened office in Baghdad Closed since 1958 in first step to

            reestablish formal relations between US & Iraq

2002 Pentagon's Policy Counterterrorism Group briefed Rumsfeld on Iraq-Al Qaeda ties

2002 Rumsfeld told press Policy Counterterrorism Group was not an intel unit

2002 Intel officials complained to press that Pentagon politicizing intel on Iraq

2003 US secured $13 bil in aid and loans from allies for Iraq at Madrid conference

2005 Palestine Hotel and Sheraton Ishtar Hotel in Baghdad hit by truck bombs

2014 Babil’s Jurf al-Sakhr finally cleared after a dozen attempts All civilians forced

            out of city and have not been allowed to return since

View the Iraq History Timeline

Seven Expert Opinions On The Kirkuk Crisis

In the after math of the September 2017 Kurdish independence referedum, Prime Minister Haidar Abadi demanded that the Kurds relinquish control of the areas it occupied in Kirkuk during the summer of 2014. This could have led to a war with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) across northern Iraq. Instead, divisions within the two main Kurdish parties the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led to the Peshmerga not only giving up the territory the premier demanded, but Kirkuk city and disputed areas they took in Diyala and Ninewa. There were some armed clashes as well. To try to give perspective to this shocking series of events are several experts giving their personal views.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 23

1918 Battle of Shirqat started as British forces moved north from Baghdad to

            confront Ottomans

1973 Baghdad ordered its units home in 1973 Arab-Israeli War

1977 Ayatollah Khomeini’s son Mustafa died in exile in Najaf Iranian secret police

            believed to be behind it

1980 US said Iran’s national integrity was threatened by Iraq Pres Carter was trying

            to get US hostages released by Iran

1996 PUK and KDP signed ceasefire brokered by US, UK and Turkey

1997 UN Resolution 1134 said that Iraq had to fully comply with weapons inspectors

            and condemned non-cooperation

1997 Were splits within UN security council over continued weapons inspections

2002 US and UK submitted draft resolution for new inspections in Iraq

2003 Madrid Conf began with 76 countries to garner international aid for Iraq

            Germany Russia France offered nothing having opposed war

2004 Al Qaeda in Iraq dressed as police took 49 Iraqi soldiers off bus and executed

            them in Diyala 

View the Iraq History Timeline 

Musings On Iraq In The News

I was quoted in "Iraqi Kurdistan in disarray after the loss of Kirkuk" by Paul Iddon in The New Arab.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 22

1965 Gen Nasser said he supported Iraqi govt against Mustafa Barzani’s Kurdish

            rebellion

1980 Iraqi forces surrounded and began siege of Abadan, Iran

1981 UN backed Islamic Conference Organization’s attempt to end Iran-Iraq War

2004 Sistani aide Safi in Friday sermon said voting in 2005 elections was a

            religious duty

2010 Wikileaks released thousands of classified US reports on Iraq 

View the Iraq History Timeline

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 21

1980 Iraqi forces reached city center in Khorramshahr, Iran

1991 Iraq told UN weapons inspectors it had program to build a nuclear bomb

1996 PUK backed by Iran recaptured most of territory it lost to KDP except Irbil

2002 Report Czech Pres Havel told White House 9/11 terrorist Atta did not meet

            with Iraq intelligence in Prague

2004 US soldier found guilty of abuse in Abu Ghraib prison scandal given 8 yrs in

            prison

2007 Maliki complained to US about Oct 20 US raid into Sadr City and wanted

            investigation into US abuses in Iraq

2011 US announced it would withdraw its forces from Iraq on Dec 31

2011 Obama told Maliki not getting stay behind US forces in Iraq was ok because US

            would still have influence

2014 New operation to try to clear Babil’s Jurf al-Sakhr started after Sep attempt failed

 View the Iraq History Timeline

Security In Iraq Oct 8-14, 2017

Iraq had another week of very low violence. There have been less than one hundred security incidents reported for the last eleven weeks. Casualties were high however as the government made a rare announcement of casualties from the Hawija operation.

This Day In Iraqi History – Oct 20

1980 US said Iraq invasion of Iran threatened security in Gulf and land should

            not be seized by force

1983 Iran launched Wa al-Fajr 4 in Kurdistan taking 25 mi of Iraqi land

1991 Report Saddam was arming PKK to fight Turkey

2000 British Foreign Office said wanted to offer end of sanctions to return inspectors

            but didn’t think US would agree

2002 Czech Intel told US no evidence 9/11 hijacker Atta met with Iraq intelligence

            in Prague

2004 Report Jan 03 Natl Intel Council warned building democracy in Iraq would be

            long difficult and turbulent

2004 Report Jan 03 Natl Intel Council warned that overthrowing Saddam could lead to

            ethnosectarian rivalries and power grabs in Iraq

2004 Transparency International ranked Iraq one of most corrupt countries in world

2005 One of Saddam’s lawyers kidnapped and killed

2007 US Special Forces raid into Sadr City hunting Special Groups led to huge

            firefight

2015 Baiji town finally cleared

View the Iraq History Timeline

Inside Iraq’s Oil Sector Interview With Gary Vogler

Gary Vogler worked extensively in Iraq’s oil sector starting in 2002 when he was recruited by the Pentagon to plan for postwar situations. That group was then folded into the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) and then the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Vogler would later work as a contractor and consultant in Iraq until 2015, and was involved in several major projects. He recently published a book about his experiences Iraq and the Politics of Oil, An Insider’s Perspective.

This Day In Iraqi History – Oct 19

1948 All Jewish Iraqi govt workers fired after creation of Israel

1958 Gen Bakr forced to retire after Col Arif lost power struggle with Gen Qasim

            within govt

1980 Saddam speech said Iraq couldn’t win war because outnumbered by Iran

2003 Powell said US had found evidence of Iraq’s WMD programs & that

            Saddam always wanted nuclear weapons

2004 Head of aid group Care was kidnapped in Baghdad Later killed by insurgents

2004 Iraq conspiracy theorist Mylroie wrote OpEd in NY Sun that Iraq was training

            foreigners to carry out terrorist attacks and working with Islamic groups

2005 Saddam’s trial started and pled his innocence

2005 Rice told about Senate Clear Hold Build counterinsurgency plan for Iraq Was not

            discussed with US military beforehand

2005 US Iraq Cmdr Gen Casey US Iraq Amb Khalizad later asked Rice

            what Clear Hold Build was & why not consulted

2005 Rumsfeld complained to Rice that he did not back Clear Hold Build and he

            was not consulted about it

2006 IED killed Amara police chief from Badr Police arrested brother of suspected

bomber from Mahdi Army 2 days of fighting started

2006 Mahdi Army stormed 3 police stations manned by Badr in Amara

2006 US general said Op Together Forward II failed to reduce violence in Baghdad

2006 US Iraq Cmdr Gen Casey US Amb Khalzad gave press conference saying

            Op Together Forward II in Baghdad working

- 2013 IS held parade in southern Fallujah

View the Iraq History Timeline

Kurds Fall Back To 2014 Borders

For the second day, the Peshmerga continued to withdraw from territory they occupied during 2014. All did not go peacefully however as there was a short gun battle at Mosul Dam.

This Day In Iraqi History – Oct 18

1980 Pres Carter called on Iraq to withdraw from Iran Carter was trying to get

            US hostages held by Tehran released

1984 Iran launched Op Dawn 7 to recapture the city of Mehran Won back some

            Iranian territory

2001 CIA report on story that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger Said Iraq

didn’t have facilities to process uranium

2001 WSJ OpEd by ex-CIA Dir Woolsey said Iraq behind 9/11

2002 Sec of Def Rumsfeld told Under Sec of Def Feith to create postwar planning

            office for Iraq Cancelled few days later

2002 Cancellation came from White House that didn’t want postwar planning

            because could derail invasion

View the Iraq History Timeline

Kirkuk Aftermath: PM Abadi And PUK Winners, KDP Losers, KRG Done For?

Golden Division sitting in Governor Karim’s seat in Kirkuk City (Rudaw)

Prime Minister Haidar Abadi’s move in Kirkuk went from a possible disaster to an unmitigated success. After fighting broke out in the morning of October 16 the Kurds withdrew and the Iraqi forces took all the positions they wanted plus Kirkuk city and areas of northeast Diyala. This was the result of a deal with the major wing of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which has left the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and President Massoud Barzani hanging high and dry, and threatens the future of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

This Day In Iraqi History – Oct 17

1973 Saddam said govt and KDP were far apart on autonomy talks for Kurds

1980 UN Security Council discussed Iran-Iraq War Addressed by Iran PM and Iraq

            Foreign Minister

1980 Iran For Min told UN Iraq was aggressor Saddam wanted to overthrow Iranian

            govt Iraq backed by superpowers & Arab countries

1980 Iraq For Min said Iran violated treaties attacked border towns never replied to

            letters calling for negotiations

1980 UN Security Council backed Secretary General’s attempts to negotiate a ceasefire

            in Iran-Iraq War

1987 Iraq held national census

1994 Iraqi defector Saadi claimed he went to Jordan with Mukhabarat to buy nuke

            material from Russians for a bomb

2001 NY Times article reported Iraqi defector saw Iraq training terrorists at Salman

            Pak to take airliners

2001 NY Times reported INC said that Iraq diplomat met bin Laden in 98 and offered

            him safe haven

2001 NY Times article Czech Inter Min said 9/11 hijacker Atta met with Iraqi intel

            officer in Prague

2003 Iraqi prisoner photographed stripped and handcuffed to cell door by US jailers

            at Abu Ghraib

2003 Gunfight outside Sadr office in Karbala killed 3 US soldiers and 7 Iraqis

2004 Zarqawi pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda Tawhid wal Jihad

            became Al Qaeda in Iraq

2004 Heavy fighting in east and south Fallujah between US forces and insurgents

2006 NSC started review of Iraq strategy to come up with new one

2016 Mosul campaign started with joint operations between Iraqi forces and Peshmerga

View the Iraq History Timeline

Fighting Breaks Out Between Federal Forces And Peshmerga In Salahaddin And Kirkuk

The game of brinkmanship blew up in the faces of Baghdad and Irbil on October 16 as talks gave way to fighting in south Kirkuk and Tuz Kharmato in Salahaddin.

This Day In Iraqi History – Oct 16

1973 Iraqi, Syrian and Jordanian forces attacked Israeli positions but were turned back

2001 CIA Dir Tenet met with UK officials and agreed no Iraq-9/11 connection

2002 Iraq held elections where Saddam voted president for another 7 years

2002 Iraq renewed offer for new UN inspections after US rejected deal

2002 French Pres Chirac said no Iraq Al Qaeda ties & attacking Iraq could

            lead to new terrorist attacks

2003 UN Resolution 1511 set 12/15/03 as date for Iraqi Governing Council to

            submit plan for interim govt & constitution

2012 Maliki removed Shababi after he refused to stop dinar re-valuation Appointed ally

            Turki as new bank head

2017 As Iraqi forces moved towards military base and oil fields in south Kirkuk fighting

            broke out with Peshmerga

2017 Were also clashes in Tuz Kharmato between Hashd and Peshmerga

View the Iraq History Timeline

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 15

1927 1^st successful oil well started at Baba Gargur field in Kirkuk

1960 Islamic Party complained to Gen Qasim that his govt neglected religion while

            accepted Communists

1960 Islamic Party asked Qasim to ban Communists and their media while releasing

            any cleric arrested since 1958 coup

1973 Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi offensive in southern Syria failed to achieve results

1980 Iraq Foreign Minister Hamadi presented Iraq’s case to UN claiming it acted in

            self-defense in Iran-Iraq War

1994 Iraq withdrew troops from Kuwait border after Russian diplomacy and UN

            Resolution 949 that demanded withdrawal

1994 UN Res 949 demanded Iraq’s full cooperation with UN inspectors

1995 Saddam won referendum with 99.9% of vote for him to be president for 7 more

years

1997 Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr gave sermon saying No! Yes is just for

            God mocking Yes to Saddam slogan

1997 Turkey’s Op Dawn ended against PKK in Kurdistan

2001 CIA report from Rome said that Italian intel said Iraq tried to buy uranium from

            Niger but didn’t see much merit in it

2001 Under Sec of Def Feith briefed NSC on plan for governing postwar Iraq with

             3-star general in charge of military and civilian administrator

2001 White House spokesman said no connection between Iraq and anthrax letters

            sent to Wash DC

2002 Rumsfeld wrote list of 29 things that could go wrong with Iraq War One was

            finding no WMD

2002 Rumsfeld's list was to point out possible problems so war could be successful 

2003 Powell said that his claims about Iraq’s WMD program had been proven

2003 Rice said CPA’s schedule for Iraq wouldn’t work and new one had to be created

2003 Sadr followers failed to take over Karbala shrine

2004 US put Zarqawi on its terrorist list

2004 Cheney said Iraq could have given WMD to terrorists

2005 Referendum on new Iraqi constitution held

2006 Mujahedeen Shura Council again announced ISI and Islamic State in Baghdad

            Anbar Diyala Kirkuk Salahaddin Ninewa Babil

2006 Islamic State in Iraq said its goal was to govern

2015 Immediately after Baiji refinery liberated Hashd began looting facility and selling

            off equipment to Iraqi and Iranian businesses

View the Iraq History Timeline