This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 2

1941 Regent of Iraq arrived at UK airbase at Habaniya Anbar after Golden Square officers tried to

arrest him after coup Regent tried and failed to organize resistance to Golden Square coup in Basra Then fled to Jordan

(Musings On Iraq article on 1941 coup)

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

(Musings On Iraq book review The Role of the Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 1941)

1946 National Democratic Party and Istiqlal/Independence Party licensed Became major opposition parties

during monarchy

1975 Iraq army sealed border with Iran and declared Kurdish revolt over Mustafa Barzani and 150,000

Kurds fled to Iran 1972-75 some 17,000 killed and 280,000 displaced during Kurdish rebellion

(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)

1980 Saddam said those killed in attack on Mustansiriya Univ Baghdad bombing would not be forgotten

1982 Dep Cmdr of Iran’s armed forces claimed end of Iran-Iraq War was near

1986 Khomeini called for all able bodied men to join armed forces to overthrow Saddam

(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)

1990 Saddam threatened to use WMD against Israel if it was attacked 

(Musings On Iraq article on Saddam’s motivation for threatening Israel before the Kuwait invasion)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Saddam Tapes)

1991 State Dept U.S. never said that it was for removing Saddam

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

(Musings On Iraq book review The United States And Iraq Since 1990: A Brief History with Documents)

1991 Turkey said that 30,000 Kurds had entered country and 220,00 more coming as Saddam put down

Kurdish revolt

1991 Iran and Turkey went to UN about Iraq’s suppression of Kurd and Shiite revolts and refugee crisis it

was creating

1991 Kurds began fleeing Sulaymaniya in face of govt offensive to retake it from Peshmerga

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

2003 US forces took Karbala

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

2003 Emergency meeting of Iraqi commanders Gen Hamdani asked to move Nida and Medina Divs south

to protect routes to Baghdad Qusay Hussein and Def Min Gen Hashim told Hamdani Saddam wanted to keep current position protecting Baghdad from main US attack coming from Jordan Saddam got that idea from Russian intel

(Musings On Iraq article on how Russia provided Iraq with intel on US invasion plans before war)

2003 1^st Marine Division crossed Tigris River at Numaniya and destroyed Baghdad Republican Guard Div and moved north to destroy Nida Republican Guard Div

2003 Qusay Hussein told Gen Hamdani that US attack in south was deception and real invasion would

come from north

2003 US raid freed US POW Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital

2003 Talabani said Peshmerga would not attack Kirkuk city to stave off criticism from US and Turkey

Kurds ended up taking city

2003 Rumsfeld sent memo to military to cooperate with ORHA because wasn’t helping it

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq and Back, Inside The War To Win The Peace)

2003 State Dept leaked complaints to LA Times about Pentagon’s postwar plans to exclude UN and support

Chalabi and INC

2004 Sadr gave angry speech against US occupation after CPA closed his newspaper

2004 Sadrists protested outside Green Zone demanding movement paper be re-opened

2004 Mahdi Army began marching in Sadr City as tensions with US grew

2004 Some Friday prayers in Fallujah condemned attack on Blackwater contractors in city

2004 Sec State Powell criticized US intel for giving him faulty claims about Iraq’s WMD for his Feb 03 UN

speech

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

2005 Al Qaeda in Iraq launched suicide attack on Abu Ghraib prison starting battle for town

2006 SecState Rice UK ForSec Straw told PM Jaafari he didnt have support and should step down Jaafari

said no

2006 US military reported 1313 Iraqi civilians killed in sectarian murders in March 2006 173 killed in

suicide bombings

2006 US Amb Khalilzad said militias should be disarmed Iraqi officials said that would create more violence

2006 PM Jaafari said he would integrate militias into security forces to control them

2006 Fmr CENTCOM cmdr Gen  Zinni on Meet the Press said Iraq failure of strategic planning by US

2007 Ayatollah Sistani said he opposed US plan to reform deBaathification and allow former Baathists back

into govt Came after Sistani met with deBaathification Comm head Chalabi

2008 Retired Gen McCaffrey said ISI’s urban insurgency was defeated

2010 Maliki said he was going to form alliance with Kurds and backed Talabani to remain as president to

form new govt

2010 Sadrists began referendum amongst followers to see who they wanted to be new premier

2010 Maliki talk with National Alliance failed as SIIC Hakim’s opposed Maliki’s 2^nd term

2011 56 wounded in clashes between police and protesters in Sulaymaniya

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

2012 Over 300 followers of Mahmoud Sarkhi arrested in Nasiriya

2012 Oil Min Luaibi claimed Exxon was halting work in KRG so that it could continue working with

central govt on oil industry Wasn't true

2012 Dep PM Shahristani accused Kurds of smuggling oil to Iran

2013 Insurgents attacked Akkas gas field in Anbar

2013 Gunmen in army uniforms attacked 4 independent newspaper offices in Baghdad Mahmoud Sarkhi

blamed

2013 Election Commission said provincial vote in Anbar and Ninewa would be delayed until May

2013 Sadrists said they would end cabinet boycott

2015 PM Abadi arrived in Tikrit after its liberation to make victory tour in city

2015 Sadr said brazen militias should be removed from Tikrit by ISF after stories of looting and burning

homes

2015 Hashd leader Muhandis said that any looting and abuses in Tikrit were done by locals not Hashd

2015 Guard in Tikrit said he counted more than 200 homes in Qadisiyah district destroyed after city’s

liberation

2016 Kurdish Alliance said it would not vote on Abadi’s new cabinet unless it got its quota of ministers

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