This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 22

1921 UK Cabinet approved Colonial Sec Churchill’s choice of Feisal as new ruler in 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)

1933 UK Amb to Iraq said that parliament full of politicians who never meant what they said Institution

was a sham

1973 Kuwait demanded Iraq withdraw its troops from its territory after gunfight on Mar 20 Iraq refused

1974 CIA memo said neither US nor Iran wanted a Kurdish govt but didn't want its conflict with Iraq

resolved

1975 Iran ended military aid to KDP

(Musings On Iraq book review Killing Hope, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq book review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)

(Musings On Iraq article on Nixon admin support for Kurdish revolt)

1977 Baath Regional Command kicked out members who wanted leniency after anti-govt riots during

Karbala pilgrimage

1981 Iraq fired missiles at Dezful and Ahvaz Iran in shift in war as Iraq stopped major land attacks

1983 Helicopter crash revealed Italy providing advanced electronic equipment to Iraq

1984 Soviet Union agreed to build a new nuclear power plant in Iraq to replace Osirak facility destroyed by

Israel in 1981

1985 Iraqi counter attack forced Iranians back into Maysan-Basra marshes 

(Musings On Iraq book review of Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)

1985 Tehran Tabriz Shiraz and Isfahan bombed by Iraqi air force War of Cities

(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 Start of 2^nd Anfal Campaign to destroy PUK and DKP bases in Sulaymaniya and Kirkuk

1988 Qara Dagh, Sulaymaniya hit with chemical artillery shells as start of 2^nd Anfal Campaign

(Musings On Iraq article on Anfal campaign)

1990 Canadian Gerald Bull working on supergun for Iraq found dead in Brussels Mossad believed to be

responsible

1991 US shot down another Iraqi fighter after warned it no flights during uprisings

(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)

1991 UN diplomat Martti Ahtussari issued report that sanctions had hurt ability of Iraq to feed its people

1991 Turkey held second meeting with KDP and PUK Talabani said this marked a new page in Kurdish-

Turkish relations

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

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

2002 UK Foreign Office Pol Dir Ricketts memo to Foreign Sec Straw said US scrambling to find Iraq-Al

Qaeda links and argument unconvincing

2002 UK Foreign Office Pol Dir Ricketts memo to Foreign Sec Straw said no signs Iraq working on its

WMD or nuke programs

2002 MI6 Dir Gieve letter to Home Office secretary said no evidence Iraq involved in 9/11 Said Iraq not

involved in anti-west terrorism since 93 attempt on ex-Pres Bush

2002 UK Def Min Hoon warned Blair if UK helped overthrow Saddam it would have to stay in Iraq for

years

2002 Bush said that Iraq had not allowed verification of its destruction of its WMD

2003 British forces seized Rumaila oil field in Basra

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

2003 US Marines thought no more resistance within Um Qasr and moved towards port

2003 US forces reached Nasiriya and secured bridges across the Euphrates

2003 US intel saw trucks full of Fedayeen moving through Karbala Gap 1^st real reports on this force which US knew little about forces

2003 Saddam received report large U.S. force attacking west Iraq Led him to believe invasion coming from

Jordan not Kuwait

2003 CIA officials told Wash Post they were always skeptical of Iraq-Niger uranium story that was used in

Bush State of Union

(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq-Niger uranium story)

2003 Rumsfeld demanded that all Americans to run Iraqi ministries be from Pentagon ORHA head Garner

said no time for replacements

2003 International protests in several major cities against Iraq war

2004 Unemployed protest in Basra turned violent Stones and Molotov cocktails thrown at British forces

2004 Natl Sec Adv Rice Wash Post OpEd said would have been irresponsible not to look for link between

Iraq and 9/11

2007 Mahdi Army and insurgents fought in 5 Baghdad neighborhoods Came amidst many western reports

that Mahdi Army had withdrawn from streets

2007 Lord Butler told UK parliament UK and US didn't have conclusive intel on Iraq’s WMD UK intel said

in Aug 02 that it knew little about Iraq’s WMD since 1988 yet Blair told govt intel was extensive and authoritative

2007 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Recon issued review US reconstruction Said Pentagon had no strategy before

and after invasion No unity of effort Little oversight and coordination between US agencies

2007 Sadrists attacked Electricity Dist Dept and burned Fadhila HQ in Basra Came after former director of

Electricity Dist Dept who was a Sadrist was arrested by British Sadrists claimed Fadhila behind arrest Former director accused of corruption and fraud Tribes and Sadrists accused Basra governor from Fadhila of corruption nepotism running oil smuggling rings

2007 SCIRI HQ in Kut Wasit hit by mortars as SCIRI-Sadr rivalry increased in city

2007 GAO Report Hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of tons of munitions were left unguarded by

US after 2003 invasion Much of it looted by insurgents US expected friendly environment after invasion which was why left depots unguarded

2008 Maliki told Gen Petraeus of his plans to attack Mahdi Army in Basra for 2^nd time

2010 9 provinces from central and southern Iraq demanded recount in election

2010 Iran got Shiite parties to agree to keep Talabani as president

2011 Gorran told Pres Barzani had to make good on his promises of reform after protests in Sulaymaniya

2011 When police tried to break up protest in Halabja violence broke out with one policeman killed

(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)

2013 ISI took over Buhriz, Kirkuk

2013 Anbar councilman filed lawsuit over provincial vote being postponed in Anbar

2015 Badr head Ameri called Iraqi army weaklings for asking for Coalition air strikes

2016 Sadr said he had come up with 90 nominations for Abadi’s new cabinet

(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms) 

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