This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 18

1918 British officer in charge of Najaf Captain Marshall assassinated leading to eventual uprising

in city

1933 British official warned King Faisal was attempting to make himself dictator of Iraq

1948 Railway strike against Anglo-Iraq Treaty

1981 US senator told press Iraq was trying to build a nuclear bomb

(Musings On Iraq article on the origins of Iraq’s WMD programs)

1985 Iran attacked South Majnoon Island in Basra but gained nothing

1985 Iraq bombed Tehran in retaliation for Iran bombing Baghdad War of Cities

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

1985 Pres Mubarak visited Baghdad to show support Asked Gulf States to donate more money to Iraq

during Iran-Iraq War

(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 The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1987 Revolutionary Command Council made Ali Hassan al-Majid head of Baath Northern Bureau

covering Kurdistan

1988 PUK retreated from Jafati Valley Kurdistan during Anfal campaign

(Musings On Iraq article on Anfal campaign)

1991 Sec of State Baker after tour of Middle East and Soviet Union said most leaders thought Saddam

would be gone by end of year

(Musings On Iraq Review The United States And Iraq Since 1990, A Brief History With Documents)

1991 Kurdish leader Rahman called for international help with food and medicine during uprising

None came

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq article on 1^st hand accounts of 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq article on Saddam’s view of 1991 Uprising)

(Ahulbayt Video on 1991 Uprising)

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

2002 UK Amb Meyer met with Dep Sec of Def Wolfowitz who said he was against going to UN against

Iraq

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

2003 Saddam refuted Bush’s ultimatum to step down and leave Iraq

2003 UN weapons inspectors ended work in Iraq Did 731 inspections at 411 sites and found no WMD or

nuclear programs

(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)

(Musings On Iraq article on how poor US intel work led to claim Iraq rebuilt its nuclear weapons program)

2003 UN suspended Oil for Food program for Iraq due to impending war

2003 US reconnaissance found 6-7 oil wells in Basra set afire by Iraqis Led Gen Franks to move up

invasion plan by a few days to try to stop further fields being set on fire

2003 US military official told CNN Iraqi troops had VX and mustard gas munitions

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

2003 UK military given official order to prepare for Iraq invasion

2003 Joint Chief of Staff met to discuss withdrawal plans for post-invasion Iraq

(Musings On Iraq book review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy

Tragedy)

2003 UK Gen Cross warned PM Blair that there wasn’t enough post-war planning for Iraq

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

2003 2 British ministers and legal adv to Foreign Office resigned in protest against the war

2003 British parliament voted 412 to 149 to endorse Iraq invasion

2003 US named 30 countries willing to join Iraq war Became known as Coalition of the Willing

2003 CIA source claimed he saw Saddam and his family at Dora farm south of Baghdad CIA Dir Tenet

told Bush

2003 US rep Khalizad went to Turkey offering to allow Turkish troops to enter Kurdistan buffer zone

disarming Peshmerga ops vs PKK if US could use Turkey for invasion 

(Musings On Iraq review Losing Iraq, Inside The Post War Reconstruction Fiasco)

2004 Fmr OHRA head Garner said he was replaced in Iraq because wanted early elections to return

power to Iraqis

2006 NSC report Iraqi army largely rebuilt but attacks not decreasing War stalemated PM Jaafari

incompetent

2006 Gen Casey and Marine Expeditionary Force I Cmdr Gen Zilmer agreed Ramadi would be main

focus of Anbar campaign

(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)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Sheriff of Ramadi, Nvy SEALS and the Winning of Anbar)

2008 Report UK Chief of Def Staff Lord Boyce First Sea Lord Adm West and head of army General

Jackson were all unsure of legality of Iraq invasion

2008 IOM reported 2.7 mil displaced Only 1% of refugees returned Most couldn’t go back to homes

because occupied or destroyed

(Musings On Iraq book review Children of War, Voices Of Iraqi Refugees)

2009 Sadr issued statement calling on his followers to give up on violence

2011 KRG said that it would form committee to deal with protests in Sulaymaniya

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

2013 Kurdish MPs met with Pres Barzani and agreed on boycotting Iraqi parliament over disputes with

PM Maliki

2016 Sadr started protests in Baghdad demanding cabinet reforms

(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms)

2018 PM Abadi ended flight ban into KRG airports and agreed to pay all Kurdish public employees and

Peshmerga

(Musings On Iraq article Baghdad lifting some sanctions on KRG)

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