This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 19

1917 British forces captured Fallujah from Ottomans

1917 UK Cmdr Gen Maude sent message to Iraqis saying British had not come as conquerors but liberators

and promised eventually Arab state free of foreign rule Said British would not impose their institutions and called on Arabs to help rule

(Musings On Iraq book review Supremacy And Oil, Iraq, Turkey, and the Anglo-American World Order, 1918-1930)

1921 UK Cairo Conference decided that independent Mesopotamia govt would pay part of British expenses

especially for troops

1921 UK Cairo Conference decided Sir Cox would offer amnesty for those involved in 1920 Revolt Feisal

would offer his services in Mesopotamia as a way into power

1921 UK Cair Conference decided an Anglo-Mesopotamia treaty would be necessary to ensure relations

between two countries

(Musings On Iraq article on the Cairo conference and the selection of Feisal to be first king of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq article on Churchill’s views on Mesopotamia)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq book review Supremacy And Oil, Iraq, Turkey, and the Anglo-American World Order, 1918-1930)

1951 Grenade hit US information office in Baghdad

1963 Iraq sent delegation to Syria to talk about uniting two countries

1981 Iraq attacked Susangard, Iran after ceasefire offer rejected by Khomeini

1982 Iran broke Dezful siege Iraqis lost 10000 dead 15000 wounded 15450 captured Iran lost 4000 dead

8000 wounded 6000 captured Recaptured 940 sq mi of Iranian territory from Iraqis

1982 Saddam sent envoy to Islamic mediation mission with cease-fire proposal and offer to withdraw from

Iranian territory

(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 book review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War)

1988 End of 1^st Anfal campaign that destroyed PUK’s bases in Sergalou and Bergalou, Sulaymaniya

(Musings On Iraq article on Anfal campaign)

1991 Saddam’s troops recaptured Karbala from Shiite rebels Went district to district taking young men and

executing them

1991 Govt forces arrested Ayatollah Khoei following Shiite uprising 105 relatives staff students and clerics

arrested in Najaf by govt forces

1991 Bush admin officials accused Iran of trying to overthrow Saddam and place friendly Shiites in power

in Baghdad

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

(Musings On Iraq article on 1^st hand accounts of 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq article on Saddam’s view of 1991 Uprising)

(Ahulbayt Video on 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq article on how US encouraged 1991 uprising)

1998 Chalabi and King Hussein sent letter to Clinton saying Saddam should be overthrown

2002 CIA Dir Tenet told Senate no Iraq Al Qaeda connection but Iraq couldn’t be ruled out from

involvement in 9/11

2002 CIA Dir Tenet said no doubt Iraq-Al Qaeda links and Iraq developing nuclear weapons

(Musings On Iraq article on how poor US intel work led to claim Iraq rebuilt its nuclear weapons program)

2002 DIA Dir Adm Wilson briefed Senate Armed Services Comm on threats to US Didn’t include Iraq Said

Iraq contained only residual WMD programs

2003 German French and Russian Foreign Ministries condemn impending Iraq invasion saying it had no

UN approval

2003 CIA told Pentagon Saddam Uday Qusay might be at Dora farms in south Baghdad Rumsfeld brought

intel to White House

2003 Powell Rumsfeld Cheney Rice Hadley all advocated hitting Dora farm to try to take out Saddam Uday

and Qusay

2003 US Stealth bombers hit Dora farm hoping to kill Saddam and family Saddam appeared on state TV

later that day US would speculate for weeks that he was dead

2003 Bush ordered start of war US Polish Australian Special Forces entered southern Iraq seizing oil and

port infrastructure

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

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

2003 US Special Forces seized airbase in eastern Anbar to be used for operations in rest of province Other

Special Forces entered west Anbar from Jordan to look for SCUD missiles

2003 U.S. Special Forces seized key road crossings and bridges around Nasiriya and Samawa to allow

invasion force could move north

2003 Bush called Coalition members to tell them war starting

2003 Bush went on TV to announce war

2003 White House spokesman Fleischer told press disarmament of Iraq had begun

2003 Iraq fired 17 missiles at Coalition bases in Kuwait but all missed or were destroyed

2003 Army Chief Gen Shinseki told Congress he couldn’t say how much rebuilding Iraq would cost

2003 UN inspector said WMD decontamination trucks US pointed out were water or fire trucks

2003 Turkish parliament approved US overflights for invasion

2004 Justice Dept drafted opinion that Iraqis and foreigners in Iraq could be taken out of the country by

CIA Legal experts said violated Geneva Conventions

2004 UN responded to reports that UN officials involved in fraud with Oil for Food program

2004 Team arrived in Baghdad to try to come up with interagency plan for rebuilding Iraq 1^st time happened

since invasion

2004 BBC poll of Iraqis 56% said better than year ago 23% About the same 18% worse 48% right for U.S.

to invade Iraq 39% wrong

2006 Iyad Allawi said Iraq was in civil war no matter what others said

2006 Gen Easton who commanded US training effort for Iraqi forces until 2004 said Rumsfeld failed to

build Coalition in Iraq and ignored advice of military

2007 ISI surrounded two police stations in Dhuluiya Salahaddin Told policemen to repent and give loyalty

to ISI then blew up stations 3 other stations destroyed in town in last 2 weeks

2011 Maliki said no secret prisons in Iraq after Camp Honor secret prison found in Baghdad

2012 Sadrists held Day of the Oppressed protests in Basra for better services

2013 Cabinet announced postponing provincial elections in Anbar and Ninewa for 6 months because of

security

2013 After criticizing Maliki Sadr withdrew his ministers from cabinet

2016 Ruling parties said they would not support Abadi’s new cabinet unless quotas maintained

2016 PM Abadi Pres Masum Speaker Jabouri and political leaders agreed to form 3 committees to deal with

reforms and new cabinet

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