This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 24

1916 British attempt to re-supply besieged garrison at Kut failed

1920 UK gave France 25% of Turkish Petroleum Company in return for agreeing to British mandate in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq book review The Creation of Iraq 1914-1921)

1941 PM Gaylani and Mufti of Jerusalem met with Italian amb Told him they were angry Axis had

done nothing to help Iraq vs British

(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)

1970 Mar Eshai Shimun religious leader of Assyrians invited back to Baghdad by Bakr Given back

citizenship Bakr promised cultural rights to Assyrians but talks failed Bakr tried to create buffer with Kurds using Assyrians and move them away from KDP

1974 Iraqi planes bombed Qala Diza during Kurdish rebellion killing 130

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

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

1991 Kurdish leaders announced tentative deal with Saddam over autonomy and returning refugees who

fled during revolt

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

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

1999 Were clashes between Iraqi forces and Iraqi opposition in south

2002 Gen Franks me with commanders in Qatar Said they needed to start war preparations

(Musings On Iraq book review of Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Role of Military Intelligence Assessment)

2003 Bush said Iraq might have destroyed its WMD before invasion but US would find them

2003 NY Times article Iraqi scientists said Saddam expanded WMD programs and secret facilities but

destroyed stocks Wasn’t true

2003 US seized warehouse in Baghdad thought to contain WMD agents Proved false 

2003 Trailer found near Mosul was suspected of being mobile WMD labs Turned out not to be

(Musings On Iraq article on mobile labs story)

2003 Dep PM Tariq Aziz surrendered to US Said Iraq had no WMD

2003 INC’s Zubeidi declared himself mayor of Baghdad

2003 ORHA head Garner met with 60 Iraqis in Kut to talk about security and how city should pick city

council

2003 ORHA head Garner said INC’s Chalabi was not US’s choice to run Iraq and Iraqis could pick their

own leaders

2003 Gen McKiernan ground commander in Iraq told ORHA’s Garner security #1 priority for postwar Iraq

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

2003 Rumsfeld called Powell to propose Paul Bremer as new presidential envoy to Iraq

2003 Rumsfeld called Garner and told him he would be replaced by Bremer Garner said he would quit

Rumsfeld asked him to stay

2003 Rumsfeld said that Iraqis could form any govt they wanted as long as it wasn’t a theocracy like Iran’s

2003 UN Res 1476 extended Oil For Food Program past US invasion

2003 Was anti-American march in Kut Wasit 2 drive by shootings on US base in Kut ORHA head Garner

blamed Iran for demonstration

2003 UK cabinet agreed to expand control from Basra and Maysan to Dhi Qar and Muthanna despite

warnings might not have capabilities to deal with them

(Musings On Iraq Book Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

2003 UN SecGen Annan said US Coalition had to follow intl law as occupying power in Iraq US rejected

occupier title

2004 US reported that 40% of Iraqi police deserted during Sadrist uprising in Najaf and Kut

2004 Insurgents launched boat attack upon Basra oil terminal killing 2 US sailors

2006 Sunni politicians accused ISCI of taking over Interior Min and staffing it with Badr militiamen

and killing civilians

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke former Interior Min adviser on how militias took over Iraqi police)

2006 Zarqawi released video portraying himself as military commander in Iraq

2006 Fmr CIA officer Drumheller said Iraq war was a policy failure by White House not intel agencies Said

Bush  committed to war no matter what the intel Part of White House and CIA blaming each other for war

2006 Iraqiya MP said new Maliki govt wasn't national unity one but just Shiite Kurdish and Sunni parties

dividing up ministries

2007 Report Anbar Salvation Front expanding from Ramadi to Amiriya Fallujah with alliance with Albu

Issa tribe

(Musings On Iraq article on Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq article on change in perceptions that led to Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Carter Malkasian on Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq book review of Confronting Al Qaeda, The Sunni Awakening and American Strategy In Al Anbar)

(Musings On Iraq book review of The Marines Take Anbar, The Four-Year Fight Against Al Qaeda)

(Musings On Iraq book review Illusions of Victory, The Anbar Awakening And The Rise Of The Islamic State)

2008 ISF gained full control of central Basra Phase 4 of Charge of Knights began with sweeps through

            5 Mile Market

2008 Captured ISI letters showed complaints about War Min Masri not consulting with others and didn't

take criticism Said ISI was passing off old Zarqawi videos as new operations

2009 2 suicide bombers targeted Baghdad’s Khadmiya shrine

2011 Ayatollah Haeri in Iran issued fatwa against extending US troop presence in Iraq past 2011

2011 Sadrists said they opposed any troops extension for US past end of year

2011 Kurd opposition parties said KRG could either negotiate with protesters or suppress them

2011 Press freedom group said 226 violations by KRG against media trying to cover Sulaymaniya protests

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

2011 Bomb at Sacred Heart church in Baghdad

2011 6,000 protested in Mosul demanding reform and releasing prisoners

2012 Sound bomb at offices of Ayatollah Najafi in wave of attacks upon leading ayatollahs

2012 Pres Barzani said that Exxon would follow through with its contracts to work with KRG despite

threats from Baghdad

2013 PM Maliki called for dialogue with Sunni protests after raided and killed protesters in Hawija Also

called for law and order

2013 Mutahidun complained PM Maliki allowing militias to operate in Iraq

2013 Insurgents took control of Suleiman Beq Salahaddin after ISF attacked Hawija protest site

2013 Hawija protest group announced that it was joining Naqshibandi after ISF attacked protest site

2014 Was fighting between ISIS and Military Council in Fallujah

2015 Report that ISF were charging displaced Anbaris money to get into Baghdad

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