This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 20

1933 Rashid al-Gaylani became premier of Iraq, would hold office 3 times

1971 Ex-Def Min and VP Tikrit assassinated in Kuwait by Bakr govt

1973 Kuwait sent troops to try to expel Iraq building base on its territory leading to gunfight 3 killed US

thought part of Soviet plot in Persian Gulf

1981 Iraqi attack on Susangard failed after 1 day Turning point in war Iraq couldn't capture anymore Iranian

land

1983 Saddam executed 6 members of the Hakim family including 3 brothers of Ayatollah Hakim

1985 Iran made 2^nd attack upon South Majnoon Island Gained little

1986 US condemned Iraq at UN for violating international law by using chemical weapons in Iran-Iraq War

1987 Saddam held march in Baghdad for not being defeated in Iran-Iraq War

(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)

1991 Kirkuk fell to Kurdish rebels

1991 Kurdish leaders said that all of Iraqi Kurdistan had been liberated from Iraqi forces

(Musings On Iraq book review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)

1991 Ayatollah Khoei made to appear with Saddam on TV to denounce Shiite uprising Ayatollah Khoei

then placed under house arrest in Najaf

(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)

1995 Op Steel 35,000 Turkish troops invaded Kurdistan to attack PKK who withdrew forces from border

before op

(Musings On Iraq book review of The Kurds, A Modern History)

1996 UN and Iraq signed agreement to allow for Oil for Food program

2003 US Amb to UN Negroponte letter to Security Council said Iraq failed to comply with weapons

inspectors since end of Gulf War justifying use of force

(Musings On Iraq article on UN weapons inspections)

2003 State Dept legal adviser Taft said Iraq hadn’t complied with UN resolutions since 1990s justifying use

of force

2003 Gen Franks said Special Forces were in control of Anbar desert to prevent SCUD missiles

2003 U.S. forces crossed into Iraq and attacked Um Qasr port in Basra

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

2003 British commandos attacked Fao Peninsula

(Musings On Iraq book review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine Commandos In Iraq)

2003 British received reports Iraqi forces disintegrating in south and might have to intervene in war earlier

than planned

2003 Iraq fired missiles at Camp Commando, Camp Doha and assembly area of 101^st Airborne Division in

Kuwait but none did damage

2003 Saddam speech said war “shameful crime” Said US would give up out of fear of Iraqi soldiers

2003 Iraq halted oil flows due to start of war

2003 China France and Russia criticized the Iraq invasion

2003 Bush signed executive order freezing all Iraq funds in US and allow money to be shipped to Iraq to

pay pensions and salaries of Iraqi public workers

2003 Blair thought Iraq wanted to draw Coalition into cities for street fighting and afraid of WMD attacks

2003 Bush and Blair discussed sudden collapse of Iraqi forces during start of invasion

2003 ORHA staff went to CENTCOM in Qatar and found military had parallel post-war admin set up

isolated from ORHA

2003 UN Sec Gen Annan called on Security Council to change Oil for Food program so he instead of Iraqi

govt could run it

2003 Turkey asked for written guarantee from US it would allow Turkish troops into Iraq US said no

2004 Bombings against Shiite pilgrims in Karbala during Ashura left 165 dead more than 230 wounded

Suicide bombers attacked Shiite pilgrims at Khadmiya shrine Baghdad

2004 Protest in Khadimiya Baghdad against attacks aimed at pilgrims in Baghdad and Karbala

2004 Ayatollah Sistani blamed US occupation for not securing borders for bombings of pilgrims in Baghdad

and Karbala

2004 6 US soldiers charged with prisoner abuse for Abu Ghraib scandal

2005 Rumsfeld blamed Turkey for not letting 4^th Inf Div to invade Iraq from north for violence in Iraq

Claimed if Turkey let US forces in would have captured more Baathists and lessoned insurgency

2005 Rumsfeld said that CENTCOM Cmdr Gen Franks didn’t want more troops in Iraq after invasion

2006 Bush talked about successful counterinsurgency in Tal Afar by US Claimed showed US strategy

working Tal Afar counterinsurgency by US unit stationed there and not part of larger US strategy in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq article on pre-Surge US Iraq strategy)

2006 Report 2002 Iraq’s Foreign Min Sabri agreed to work with US Told US intel Iraq had no biological

weapons Had cache of chemical weapons Sabri said Saddam wanted a nuclear bomb

2007 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq’s leader Qais Khazali along with his brother Laith and Hezbollah commander Ali

Musa Daqduq were captured by British in Basra Documents captured with Khazalis showed that Iran funding Asaib Ahl Al-Haq $750,000-$3 mil per month Showed Iranian Rev Guard Quds Force helped provide intelligence for Jan 07 Karbala raid by Asaib Documents showed that Hezbollah’s Daqduq planned Jan 07 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq raid on Karbala command center 

(Musings On Iraq article background on AAH-Iranian activity in Iraq and arrest of Khazali) 

(Musings On Iraq article on history of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq)

(Musings On Iraq article on Hezbollah presence in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq article on Iran’s Iraq policy)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Naval Postgraduate School’s Ostovar on history of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard)

(Musings On Iraq book review Vanguard of the Imam, Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard)

2012 Pres Barzani gave speech attacking Maliki’s misrule

2013 Sadrists ended boycott of parliament over postponement of provincial voting in Anbar and Ninewa

2014 ISIS held parade in Fallujah

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