This Day In Iraqi History - Aug 30

1919 War Min Churchill wrote that half the British forces in Mesopotamia should be sent home

(Musings On Iraq article on Churchill’s views on Mesopotamia)

(Musings On Iraq book review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)

1920 War Min Churchill denied Middle East commander Gen Haldane additional reinforcements to

put down 1920 Revolt

(Musings On Iraq book review of Reclaiming Iraq, The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State)

1962 KDP bombed Iraq Petroleum Company pipeline

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

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

1968 Pres Bakr shut down Iraqi offices of Arab Socialist Union and ended Iraq-Egypt union plans

1987 Iraq air raid on Kharg Island Iraq’s main oil terminal Iraq also restarted attacks on Gulf shipping

after 7 week break

(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)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraqi Mirages, The Dassault Mirage Family In Service With The Iraqi Air Force, 1981-1988)

1992 Reports that govt arrested Shiites in south and moved them into camps

1996 State Dept attempted to mediate ceasefire between KDP-PUK KDP denied that it had any deal with

Baghdad

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

2000 US and Soviets agreed not to send UN inspectors back to Iraq

2002 PM Blair decided UK strategy would be to get UN to issue resolution that would give ultimatum to

Iraq on inspectors or else

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 3.4 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options, Late July to 14 September 2002)

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

(Musings On Iraq article UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq article Iraq’s Rejection of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD and 2003 Invasion)

2003 Iraqi Governing Council announced 17 candidates for first-post Saddam cabinet

2005 US Amb Khalizad said final draft of constitution with edits had not been submitted yet Never was

(Musings On Iraq interview with constitutional scholar Zaid al-Ali on Iraq’s constitution)

2006 Bush said if US left Iraq before job done would become terrorist state and undermine US leadership

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

2006 Report Mahdi Army seized Sunnis in Baghdad hospitals and executed them Health Min run by

Sadrsits Inspector General said investigation into matter found nothing IG was from Dawa who cooperaed with Sadrsits

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

2007 Report draft review of Maliki govt by US embassy said corruption and abuses the norm and govt not

trying to stop them Said Interior and Defense Mins the worst Interior Min kidnapped and executed people Took bribes Acted like a mafia Oct 06 Interior Min officials killed brother of VP Hashemi Integrity Comm afraid to investigate Interior because afraid would be assassinated US advisors at Defense have protected officials from investigations $850 mil missing from Defense budget and no effort to investigate Sadrists stealing from Trade Min and blocking investigations Different parties stealing from Transporatation Min One party stole vehicles another party stole grain being shipped by ministry Oil Min couldn’t keep track of oil production or stop gangs militias insurgents from smuggling oil Integrity Comm officials needed armed guards to enter some ministries PM Maliki against investigations Cut funding and interfered in cases involving Shiites Maliki tried to gain control of inspector generals in ministries and filled staffs with Dawa Maliki brought back old law that said corruption cases couldn’t proceed without permission of ministries Maliki forbid any investigation of top officials without his permission Maliki ordered hacking of Integrity Comm website Integrity Comm staff under siege Head of commission lived in hiding US Embasy not helping fight vs corruption

(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector Gen for Iraq Reconstruction Bowen on corruption in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq interview with fmr anti-graft official Vincent Foulk on corruption in Iraq)

2007 Draft US GAO report on Surge leaked Said Iraq only passed 3 of 18 benchmarks Passed protecting

minority parties autonomous region agreed to spend $10 bil on reconstruction even though hadn’t spent much US agencies differed on whether sectarian violence down Attacks against Iraqis changed little PM Maliki govt not passed any major laws ISF not ready and infiltrated by militias Politicians interfered in military operations

2008 Integrity Comm head said no govt official had filled required financial disclosure form Said Jan 08

Amnesty Law threatened up to 700 corruption cases in Baghdad alone

2018 Protest northern Basra over water crisis

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