This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 6

1914 British forces attacked Qurna in Basra 2^nd time and forced Turks to surrender Took 1,000

prisoners

1981 Iran freed Bostan strategic transportation center for southern Iran and forced an Iraqi retreat

Iraq lost 1500 dead 400 captured Iran lost 2500 dead 5000 wounded

(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 Iraq began issuing passports for Iranians to visit Shiites shrines in Iraq

2001 Letter to Wash Post by Senators McCain Lieberman and others said that Iraq had to be

eliminated

2002 White House accused Iraq of hiding WMDs from UN inspectors

(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)

2002 Official US troop buildup for Iraq invasion began Wasn’t made public until Feb 03

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

2003 Bremer’s convoy attacked on Route Irish to Baghdad airport

2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld told Bremer Natl Sec Adv Rice was trying to take over political file on Iraq Didn’t

agree but was ceding role to her

2005 KDP followers attacked four offices of Kurdistan Islamic Union in Dohuk Killed 2 wounded dozens

for party withdrawing from Kurdish list KDP Dohuk governor claimed Islamic Union’s ideology led to attacks and he couldn’t stop them Beforehand Islamic Union called KDP admin in Dohuk corrupt and said election would be struggle between Muslims and nonbelievers Beforehand KDP attacked Islamic Union for helping Arabs against Kurds

2006 Iraq Study Group report issued Said Iraqis needed to eventually take over security Needed to

increases quantity and quality of Iraqi units Said US needed to increase its aid to Iraqi forces and move away from combat Called for all US combat brigades to be out of Iraq by start of 2008 Said US special forces should focus upon taking down Al Qaeda in Iraq Said US couldn’t have open ended commitment to Iraq Baghdad needed to set reconciliation goals and if not met US would cut aid

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Mansoor on the Surge)

2006 Iraq Study Group found U.S. military underreporting violence Standards were used to keep

incidents down Example IEDs not against U.S. were not counted One day in July 05 U.S. officially reported 93 incidents Iraq Study Group found there were actually 1,100 incidents that day

2006 Report Neoconservatives launched media campaign to discredit Iraq Study Group and

            support troop surge instead

2006 UK Intel report Said Sadr controlled majority of Mahdi Army Routinely attacked Coalition and

Sunnis Didn’t always follow Sadr’s orders but didn't mean they were breakaway units No organizational control of militia Acts of other militias usually blamed on Mahdi Army Sadr had to balance his desire for political power and using violence and militia Said other militias mostly responsible for attacks on UK in Basra Some of those militias trained funded supplied by Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Sadr accepted Iranian aid but didn’t trust Tehran Iran thought Sadr frustrating partner Sadrists joined militia for variety of reasons causing divisions Were Mahdi Army members in ISF especially police

(Musings On Iraq article on Iran’s Iraq policy)

(Musings On Iraq article on Hezbollah presence in Iraq)

2007 Basra police chief said he couldn’t secure the province after the British withdrawal at end of year

Said there were hundreds of police that didn’t answer to him and didn’t know who they answered to

2007 Report Surge and Anbar Awakening pushed insurgents out of Anbar and Baghdad into Mosul

including ISI War Min Masri

2007 Report PM Maliki announced 2008 as “Year of services” Promised $15 bil for rebuilding

2012 US mediated withdrawal of federal and Kurdish forces from Tuz Kharmato and creation of local

security forces along disputed areas US-Baghdad-Irbil agreement on security forces in disputed areas only partially implemented

View the Iraq History Timelines