This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 10

1941 London ordered India to send forces to Shaiba air base in Basra and Basra City

1941 British expeditionary force put together in India to be sent to Iraq to deal with PM  Gaylani

1941 PM Gayalni convened parliament and asked it to pick new Regent Selected Sharif Sharaf

veteran of Arab revolt and relative of Hashemite family

1941 PM Gaylani gave speech at parliament that his govt would honor Anglo-Iraq Treaty of 1930 to

stall British action against him

1941 Hitler decided to give military aid to Iraq

1941 Italian ambassador to Iraq said Golden Square coup sign Iraq believed Axis was winning WW2

and would soon be in Middle East

(Musings On Iraq book review of Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)

(Musings On Iraq book review of Persian Gulf Command, A History of the Second World War In Iran and Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq 1941, The Battles for Basra, Habbaniya, Fallujah and Baghdad)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)

1968 Arif said Iraqi National Oil Company would develop North Rumaila oil field without the Iraqi

Petroleum Company

1969 1^st Spring Festival held in Mosul to highlight ancient Iraqi history as part of Baath campaign to create

unified national identity

(Musings On Iraq book review The Ba’thification of Iraq, Saddam Hussein’s Totalitarianism)

1982 Syria closed Iraqi pipeline to Mediterranean to help Iran in war Cut Iraq oil exports to just 600,000

bar/day

1982 Syria closing pipeline led Iraq to settle border disputes with Jordan Turkey Saudi Arabia to build land

routes for its oil

1983 Iran launched Op Wa al-Fajr 1 Attacked Fakkeh and Ain al-Qaws with goal of cutting Baghdad-Basra

highway in Maysan using human waves Captured 69 sq mi of Iranian territory

1986 Iraq counterattack to retake Fao failed

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

1987 Iran deployed reinforcements in Op Karbala 8 in Basra to expand bridgehead at Fish Lake

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)

1988 Iran started Op Bait al-Moqaddas 5 in Panjwin, Kurdistan Meant to draw Iraqi forces away from south

Didn't work

(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 Iraqi forces took Qadir Karam Kurdistan from PUK during Anfal campaign

(Musings On Iraq article on Anfal campaign)

1990 UK seized parts for Iraq’s supergun

1991 US ordered Iraq to end all military action in northern Iraq above 38^th parallel Northern no fly zone

created

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

2001 1^st CIA report that Iraq tried to buy aluminum tubes for centrifuges and sign Iraq renewed nuclear

program Didn’t provide any analysis for claim

2001 CIA report said aluminum tubes were step backwards from centrifuge designs Iraq working on before

Gulf War  

(Musings On Iraq article on the aluminum tubes story)

2002 Blair told parliament Saddam was threat to his people and region and was working on WMD

2003 CENTCOM told Coalition ground forces to set up local govts in Iraq’s provinces

2003 Saudis called on Saddam to step down to end war

2003 Iraq’s 5^th Corps surrendered to US Special Forces as they entered Mosul Special Forces then moved

to block KDP from taking over city

2003 After Kirkuk fell Kurds Arabs and Turkmen carried out attacks on each other for 2 days 40 killed

Looting also started in city

(Musings On Iraq interview with Petit of 173^rd Airborne Bgd on operations in Kirkuk)

2003 Talabani announced PUK setting up interim govt to run Kirkuk city

2003 Bush administration told Turkey that US forces would take control of Kirkuk city

2003 Sec State Powell told Turkey that US stood for territorial integrity of Iraq meaning wouldn’t support

Kurds separating

2003 PUK told Turkey that it would withdraw its Peshmerga from Kirkuk city

2003 Sadr’s followers killed Sheikh Abdul Majid al-Khoei in Najaf Surrounded Ayatollah Sistani’s house

but driven off by tribesmen

2003 US moved 2,000 Peshmerga backed by US Special Forces to Diyala’s Khanaqin to try to block Badr

Brigade moving in from Iran Badr wanted to threaten MEK camp in province and had hit lists of 1000s of opponents to assassinate in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq article on Iran using Badr in post-Saddam Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq article on the history of Badr Organization)

2003 Rumsfeld said that it was important for US to find Iraq’s WMD

(Musings On Iraq article Iraq, One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)

2003 Powell said he was sure US would find Iraq’s WMD

2003 Def Policy Board’s Adelman OpEd in Washington Post Reminded readers 14 months before he said

war would be a cakewalk

2003 Adelman said Iraqis would start coming forward telling US where Iraq’s WMD were hidden

(Musings On Iraq article Iraq, One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)

2003 Suicide bomber hit Marine checkpoint in Baghdad wounding 4

2003 White House said it wanted to name some of ORHA staff after they’d already arrived in Kuwait ready

to go into Iraq

2003 White House spokesman Fleischer said Iraq’s WMD would be found

2004 Al Qaeda in Iraq kidnapped American Nick Berg and took him to Fallujah Would later be beheaded by

Zarqawi

2004 Fallujah medical officials claimed 450 civilians killed 1,000 wounded 70,000 displaced during 1^st Battle

of Fallujah

(Musings On Iraq book review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)

2006 Report US failed to provide police trainers as called for to rebuild Iraqi police after 03 invasion

CPA pushed number of new police not quality and Interior Ministry lacked capacity to deal with them US officials withdrawn from Interior Ministry which facilitated Badr’s take over of ministry

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

(Musings On Iraq article on the history of Badr Organization)

(Musings On Iraq interview w/fmr police adv Jerry Burke on failure to plan for security postwar Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq interview w/fmr police adv Jerry Burke on how Badr took over Interior Min)

2007 Islamic Army accused ISI of killing 30 of its members and members of Mujahadeen Army and Ansar

al-Sunna

(Musings On Iraq article on splits within insurgency)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2008 Bush said US would only leave Iraq when it became a democracy

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)

2008 Interior Min said it would start confiscating weapons in Basra as amnesty period ended

2008 Sadr said he would disarm Mahdi Army if all the others militias disarmed

2010 Iranian Amb said next Iraqi govt should be national unity one with Sunnis implying that Allawi’s

Iraqiya should be included

2010 Insurgents like 1920 Revolution Brigades held meeting in Istanbul to discuss Iraq after US military

withdrawal

2011 Sadr said that he still had a militia which continued to attack US forces

2012 PM Maliki said that if Assad deposed in Syria would cause greater problems in Middle East

2012 Sadrist MP said no confidence vote against PM Maliki would not be good move Pushed for national

conference instead to work out differences

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)

2013 Gorran Islamic Union Islamic Group all said opposed to Barzani extending his term as president of

KRG

2014 Mutahidun accused militias of attacking civilians throughout central Diyala

2015 IS captured Albu Faraj north of Ramadi Executed 33 people afterward

2017 Around 100 MPs signed petition to have parliament dismiss Kirkuk Governor Karim over raising

Kurdish flag in province

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