Friday, February 16, 2018

This Day In Iraqi History – Feb 16


1917 British defeated Ottoman forces at Dahra Bend
1979 Saddam said unifying Iraq and Syria was part of the Arab revolution
1979 Saddam said Iraq would respect choice of the Iranian people with their revolution
1984 Iran cut Basra-Baghdad highway between Maysan and Wasit
1989 Iraq formed Arab Cooperation Council with Egypt Jordan Yemen to counter
            Gulf Cooperation Council
1991 US troops destroyed Iraqi radar facility while Apache helicopters conducted raid
            in depth behind Iraqi lines in Iraq
1992 Defense Secretary Cheney said that if U.S. had overthrown Saddam would have to
decide what kind of govt to establish Would have been hard to capture Saddam
1992 Def Sec Cheney said if US had overthrown Saddam would have to decide how many
casualties willing to take How many troops would have to stay in Iraq to keep govt going
2001 Bush told speechwriter David Frum that he was going to get rid of Saddam  
2001 UK Attorney Gen Lord Williams approved air attacks out of no fly zones
            in Iraq for self defense
2001 US and UK planes bombed 20 radar and command and control centers in Iraq 
2002 Bush signed secret NSC directive calling for covert action against Iraq by CIA
            Had budget of $189 mil for 2 years
2002 CIA plan included supporting Iraqi opposition Sabotage missions inside Iraq
            Working with other countries Information campaign vs Iraq
2002 CIA plan included attacking Iraqi revenue sources and disrupting its smuggling
            operations
2003 Rice claimed Iraq was deceiving UN weapons inspectors
2004 Report Iraqi and US sources said Iraqi forces would not be able to provide
            security after sovereignty transferred to Iraq
2004 CIA said it still believed Iraqi defector CURVEBALL was credible source for
            intel that Iraq had mobile WMD labs Turned out to be false source
2006 Sec State Rice told Senate oil production and electricity below postwar levels in
            Iraq
2006 Sec State Rice told Senate initial problems with rebuilding Iraqi security forces
            fixed and as Iraqi forces stood up US forces would do less
2006 Sec Def Rumsfeld told House US was not in Iraq to do nation building that was up
            to Iraqis to do that
2010 ISI set off 4 suicide car bombs targeting hotels in Baghdad where foreign press
            stayed
2011 Maliki visited Kuwait after Kuwait premier visited Iraq in 1st high level meet
            between 2 countries since 1990
2016 Allawi said no reason to remove cabinet until Abadi presented a strategic plan


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This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 21 Saddam paid Carlos the Jackal and PFLP to kill Saudi and Iranian oil ministers at OPEC meeting for supporting Kurdish revolt Ministers were taken prisoners but then released

  1956 Communist uprising in Al-Hay put down and leaders executed ( Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq )...