Security In Iraq Jun 22-28, 2020

Violence in Iraq hit a low point during the fourth week of June. Attacks by the Islamic State were at single digits while there was another rocket incident by pro-Iran groups in Baghdad. Part of this is due to a number of security sweeps through IS areas along with the end of the group’s Spring offensive.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 30

1915 UK committee wrote paper advocating for break up of Ottoman Empire and creation of Iraq to

control its oil and agriculture Cabinet didn’t agree

1930 Anglo-Iraq Treaty agreed on independence in Oct 1932 Allowed British to keep military in Iraq and

use Iraqi territory for 25 years

(Musings On Iraq review Supremacy And Oil, Iraq, Turkey, and the Anglo-American World Order, 1918-1930)

1957 Ali Aiyubi became premier 3^rd time

1961 Kuwait asked British for military aid to protect it from Iraq after Qasim claimed Kuwait part of Iraq

1973 Police Chief Kazzar launched failed coup against Bakr Arrested Defense Minister Shihab and Interior

Minister Ghaydan Failed to assassinate Bakr and Saddam

1973 Police Chief Kazzar was captured trying to flee to Iran but not before he killed Def Min Shihab and

seriously wounded Inter Min Ghaydan

1980 Newly elected parliament took office Naim Haddad of Revolutionary Command Council elected

speaker 

1986 Iran started Op Karbala 1 to recapture Mehran, Iran from Iraq central front

1988 Iraq recaptured Mawet, Kurdistan from Iran

(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 review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1991 Saddam created special committee headed by Tariq Aziz to conceal weapons programs from UN

inspectors

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

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

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000)

(Musings On Iraq review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

1993 Barzani and Talabani presented their differences to Kurdish parliament Was mostly about grievances

over taxes collected from trade with Iran and Turkey

2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld said no guerrilla war or organized resistance in Iraq

2003 Report IAEA had US British German experts look at aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy All said they

were for rockets not centrifuges

2003 New Republic article quoted intel officials that Bush admin exaggerated Iraq aluminum tubes story

(Musings On Iraq How A Contested Aluminum Tubes Story Became The Basis For War With Iraq)

2003 UK Under Sec Def Tebbit wrote to Def Min Hoon on his trip to Iraq Said no integrated plan for

rebuilding Iraq Didn’t know whether US would give Bremer authority to manage task Said Bremer wanted UK help with police training

2007 Battle of Donkey Island US destroyed ISI force planning to attack Ramadi Was first major attack upon

city since district secured by Awakening

2008 IEDs targeted 5 judges in Baghdad

(Musings On Iraq article on attacks on judges)

2008 Iraq offered 8 oil fields and 2 gas fields for foreign investment Wanted to sign deals in one month

Pre-approved 41 companies to bid on fields Before said would have no bid contracts Wouldn’t happen until a year later

2008 Report during ISF fighting Mahdi Army in Baghdad in Mar-Apr Sunnis were expelled from 5 east

Baghdad neighborhoods by militias

2008 PM Maliki and VP Hashemi made deal to allow Iraqi Accordance Front to return to govt Accordance

Front got nothing in return Boycotted govt in Aug 07 to protest being excluded by Maliki

2009 US withdrew forces from Iraqi cities

(Musings On Iraq Iraq After The U.S. Withdrawal)

2009 Iraq auctioned eight oil and gas fields to international energy companies Rumaila only field

successfully auctioned Was considered a failure at first further hurting standing of Oil Min Shahristani that parliament was trying to remove

(Musings On Iraq 1^st Oil Bidding Round Flops In Iraq)

2014 ISIS killed Mohammed Khamis head of Ramadi Awakening Council

(Musings On Iraq review The ISIS Reader, Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement)

2017 People in Hilla Babil blocked Baghdad-Babil highway protesting lack of drinking water

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Iraq’s PM Gives Warning To Kataib Hezbollah To Stop Rocket Attacks In Baghdad

In June Iraq opened talks with the United States over a new security agreement. Pro-Iran Hashd units responded with a series of rocket attacks upon targets in Baghdad that housed Americans like the International Airport and the Green Zone. Prime Minister Mustafa Kazemi said that these incidents would not be tolerated. When they continued the Counter Terror Service launched a raid against Kataib Hezbollah sending a warning that the premier would not accept these continued security violations.

This Day In Iraqi History- Jun 29

1923 Mujtahids Isfahani and Nayini arrived in Karbala in protest march against deportation of cleric

Khalisi but only two other mujtahids joined them

1932 Assyrian leader Mar Shimun issued letter telling Assyrian Levies to stop resigning Not all listened

Over 400 still resigned

(Musings On Iraq review of The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)

1947 Baghdad hung four of Barzani’s lieutenants and arrested his brother Shekh Ahmed

1966 Baghdad-Kurdish deal called for recognition of Kurds in constitution and autonomy Never

implemented but stopped war

1966 Some 10,000 killed and 80,000 displaced during fighting between Kurds and govt from 1961-1966

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

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

1982 Iraq claimed it had withdrawn all its troops from Iranian territory Iraq still held border areas between

Qasr e-Shriin and Fakkeh in center across from Diyala

1988 Iraq continued push into Mawat Valley Kurdistan and then towards Iranian border

(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 review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1992 Attempted coup by 4 officers in Republican Guard put down by Saddam 150 Republican Guard

officers executed and dismissed in aftermath

2003 Report Sec State Powell misrepresented recording of Republican Guard in Feb 03 UN speech to make

it seem like they were trying to hide WMD

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

2003 FmrAmb Wilson claimed it unlikely British intel didn’t receive CIA reporting that Iraq-Niger uranium

papers were fake Claimed he saw fake Iraq-Niger docs He didn’t Also had no knowledge of CIA-British intel sharing

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)

(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

2003 1^st UN inspector chief Ekeus OpEd said Iraq’s strategic rational for WMD was Iran not the US or west

2003 Ekeus OpEd said Iraq learned from Iran-Iraq War its chemical weapons quickly deteriorated

2003 Ekeus OpEd Iraq changed its WMD policy after Gulf War to stop producing and focus upon design

and engineering

2003 Ekeus OpEd Iraq started just in time WMD program to work on infrastructure and then produce

chemical weapons right before war

2003 Ekeus OpEd said Iraq’s WMD threat was in its research know how and production facilities

2003 1^st UN weapons inspector Ekeus OpEd said letting Saddam stay in power with WMD know how was a

threat

2004 New PM Allawi announced Saddam and 11 others would face trial for their crimes under Saddam’s

govt

2006 VP Cheney stood by his claim that the insurgency was in its “last throes” in 2005 Said people would

look back at 2005 as a turning point in Iraq Said US underestimated the insurgency and damage Saddam’s rule did to Iraq

2006 US military said most captured foreign fighters in Iraq came from Egypt, Syria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia

in that order

(Musings On Iraq The Saudi Role In The Iraqi Insurgency)

2007 Bush speech on Iraq at Naval War College mentioned Al Qaeda 27 times Said Al Qaed attacked US on

9/11 and was now in Iraq Part of White House media campaign to gain support for Surge US military press releases on Iraq mentioned Al Qaeda 33 times in a week

2007 Iraqi Accordance Front ministers boycotted cabinet Demanded investigation into Culture Min

2008 PM Maliki promised Jabouri tribe limited autonomy in return for their support and joining Tribal

            Support Council

2008 Female suicide bomber hit Sahwa council in Baquba

(Musings On Iraq The Rise of Female Suicide Bombers)

2008 US Army released history of 2003-05 occupation of Iraq Criticized Gen Franks for withdrawing from

Iraq right after invasion and turning over control to Gen Sanchez who didn’t have staff to manage war Army should’ve demanded better postwar planning but didn’t because made best case planning US didn’t have enough troops for occupation

2014 ISIS spokesman Adnani Promise of Allah statement said would form the caliphate under Caliph

Ibrahim Said that all Muslims had to give allegiance to the caliphate

(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)

2017 Nouri Mosque Mosul liberated by Iraqi forces where IS’s Baghdadi declared the caliphate in 2014

2017 1^st protest of summer over services led by Sadrists in Najaf Burned building Led to police shooting at

crowd 4 dead 20 wounded

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 28

1914 Ottomans agreed to oil concessions for British and Germans in Mosul and Baghdad

provinces Never happened because WWI

1920 Was meeting in Mishkhab Najaf to plan for revolt against British

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

1940 Italian Amb told Iraq it wanted an independent Syria Lebanon and Iraq as well Ambassador

didn’t check with foreign office beforehand

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

(Musings On Iraq review of Persian Gulf Command, A History of the Second World War In Iran and Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)

1961 Kuwait brought up Iraq claims to Kuwait with UN Security Council

1961 British intel concluded that Iraq was going to invade Kuwait after Qasim claimed Kuwait part of

Iraq

1969 Baath created Dohuk province as part of 1966 June Declaration on Kurdish rights

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

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

1981 Iraq offered Ramadan ceasefire but rejected by Iran

1982 Saddam dismissed all the members of the Revolutionary Command Council

1985 Iran Op Al Quds 1 north of Majnoon Islands Basra ended with nothing gained

1986 Iraqi planes attacked Sardasht Iran using mustard gas 1^st civilian town attacked by WMD 133 killed

1988 Iraq gained bridgehead in Iranian territory for 2^nd time that year 3,000 Iranians dead 8,000

wounded 4,000 captured Defeat at Fao and Majnoon led to collapse of morale in Iran Revolutionary Guard asked govt to end war

(Musings On Iraq interview with Naval Postgraduate School’s Ostovar on history of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard)

(Musings On Iraq review Vanguard of the Imam, Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard)

(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 review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1987 Iran accused Iraq of killing and wounding 650 Kurdish civilians in mustard gas attack in northwest

Iran

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

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

1991 UN inspectors denied access to Fallujah nuclear site while trucks took equipment out

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

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

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000)

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

1992 Report 2 yrs before Gulf War US intel was warning about Iraq’s WMD nuclear and missile programs

Jan 89 Congress got briefing on Iraq’s weapons procurement programs Spring and summer 89 intel reports warned about Iraq’s networks Nov 89 CIA told Bush White House Iraq using front companies to buy tech for nuke program Had no effect on Bush’s policy to improve relations with Iraq

2004 CPA disbanded Iraqi sovereignty returned to interim govt led by Premier Allawi

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy)

(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from

George W. Bush to Barack Obama)

2004 Bremer said CPA accomplished almost everything it set out to do including a peaceful democratic

and pluralistic society

2004 US created Multi National Security Transition Command Iraq to train Iraqi forces

(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)

(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from

George W. Bush to Barack Obama)

2004 Sistani fatwa said no guarantee US process would create constitutional convention that represented

the Iraqi people

(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)

(Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq)

2005 Bush speech War in Iraq about fighting terrorism creating democracy advancing freedom in Mid

East Rejected timetable for withdrawal Said when Iraqi forces stood up US forces would stand down which was a withdrawal plan

(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy)

(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)

(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from

George W. Bush to Barack Obama)

2008 Accountability and Justice law amended to stop former ISF officers for being fired

            for Baathist past and those that quit could now get jobs with govt

(Musings On Iraq DeBaathification and Elections Update)

2008 PM Maliki met with Ibadah tribe Offered it limited autonomy in return for joining Tribal Support

Council to support him

2008 Baghdad-Irbil formed committee to work out oil law Nothing came of it

2008 Sahwa in Adhamiya Baghdad protested after army arrested their leader on kidnapping charges Part

of PM Maliki intimidation campaign vs Sahwa

(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 27

1915 British forces began campaign to capture Nasiriya from Ottomans

1923 Govt arrested cleric Khalisi and others blaming them for posting fatwa on Khadmiya shrine against

Iraqis defending Mosul against Turks Khalisi would be deported to Persia

1923 Persian mujtahids and businesses in Najaf protested arrest of cleric Khalisi for his opposition activities

1923 2 mujtahids led protest in Karbala trying to get clerics and religious students to leave for Persia to

protest Khalisi’s arrest

1954 Parliament dismissed as part of Nuri al-Said’s demands before he returned as premier  

1983 France agreed to lend Iraq 5 Super Etendard fighter bombers that Baghdad wanted to use to attack

shipping heading towards Iran 

1988 Saddam agreed upon offensive to destroy Iranian army to prevent postwar threat

(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 review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1990 Iraq’s Revolutionary Command Council meeting gave Saddam okay to use force against Kuwait

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

(Musings On Iraq review from storm to Freedom, America’s Long War with Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)

2003 Cheney Chief of Staff Libby told Bob Woodward 2002 Natl Intel Estimate on Iraq included Iraq trying

to buy uranium from Africa Part of plan to counter fmr Amb Wilson who said Iraq-Niger deal didn’t happen

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)

(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

2004 Bremer got OK from Bush to close CPA Jun 28 to try to fool insurgency

2006 Under pressure PM Maliki revised amnesty offer made 2 days before to include just those that had

not killed anyone

2007 UK intel report on ISF Maliki govt working on national security strategy but unlikely to change

situation without reconciliation Maliki govt had multiple committees on security that competed and didn't cooperate and ineffective Army developing slowly Police full of insurgents and militias and probably unreformable Said ISF couldn’t operate without US support

(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how Badr took over Interior Ministry)

2008 Chief Justice Majeed assassinated in east Baghdad during spate of attacks upon judiciary in

            capital

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Judiciary Under Attack)

2008 Suicide bomber attacked meeting of Anbar Awakening killing 20 including several sheikhs

(Musings On Iraq Anbar Dispute Between Sunnis Growing)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War

Mansoor, Peter, Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2013

Peter Mansoor wanted to write an insider’s view of The Surge. He was more than qualified as he was the executive officer to General David Petraeus the commander of the new American strategy. The result was Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War. It gets off to a slow start as there is too much on American personnel, organization, etc. It picks up when the Surge actually starts. Mansoor’s thesis is that the Surge came at the right time and wouldn’t have worked earlier because the conditions were not right.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 26

1925 Abdul Sadoun became PM of Iraq for 2^nd time

1940 PM Gaylani asked Italy to become involved in Syria to block Turkey occupying it Came after

Syria joined Vichy France

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

(Musings On Iraq review of Persian Gulf Command, A History of the Second World War In Iran and Iraq)

1948 Muzahim al-Pachachi became premier

1988 Iraq recaptured Majnoon Islands from Iran

(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 review Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1989 Iraq said it was clearing all civilians from 20 mil border area with Iran and Turkey in Kurdistan

relocated 200,000-5000,000 Kurds

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

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

1993 Pres Clinton ordered cruise missile attack on Iraq’s intel HQ in Baghdad for attempted assassination of

ex-Pres Bush in Kuwait

1996 Iraqi govt rounded up 120 coup plotters and executed most of them in failed plot by CIA and Iraqi

National Accord Iraqi intel had captured satellite phone from Iraqi National Accord agent in Iraq and uncovered CIA-INA plot Iraqi intelligence used captured phone to call CIA and told them to go home

(Musings On Iraq review of Iraq In The Eye of the Storm)

2002 Gen Franks met with commanders in Germany and told them to switch from original war plan to new

Running Start Would begin war before all forces in theater

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

2002 INC memo to Senate Approp Comm said group had led to 108 articles from Oct 01-May 02

and White House officials had received those products

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

Tragedy)

2003 UN terrorism committee draft report found no Iraq-Al Qaeda links

2003 Report quoted State Dept memo that too early to tell whether captured Iraqi trailers were mobile

WMD labs

(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)

2005 Def Sec Rumsfeld said US conducting secret talks to try to split Iraqis from foreign insurgents

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2006 Al Qaeda in Iraq robbed $7 mil from Rafidain bank branch in Ramadi

2007 US general in charge of advisers warned ISF years away from being able to handle security Warned

against early withdrawal of US forces as a result

2008 ISI suicide bomber hit tribal council meeting Killed 26 including Garma mayor and Awakening

sheikhs

2016 Fallujah finally freed of insurgents 

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Baathist Origins Of Iraq’s Agriculture System

(AFP)

Like the rest of the economy agriculture is facing a crisis in Iraq. That’s because the system is dominated by the state, which is not making enough money to pay its bills. This is a legacy of the Baathist system implemented in the 1970s which placed the government at the center of all transactions in the farming business.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 25

1933 Iraqi army sent to Dohuk in show of force against armed followers of Assyrian leader Mar

Shimun

(Musings On Iraq review of The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)

1961 Qasim said Kuwait part of Iraq and he would protect it from imperialists and deploy troops to liberate

it Egypt said it was opposed because Nasser against Qaim

1961 Qasim ordered military to come up with Kuwait invasion plan

1961 London believed that Qasim’s comments about Kuwait being part of Iraq could lead to an invasion

1988 2^nd Op Tawakal ala Allah using chemical weapons Iraq attacked and retook Majnoon Islands

(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 review Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1991 Iraqis fired on UN weapons inspectors at suspected nuke site

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

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

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000)

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

2003 Report Captured Zarqawi operative in Germany said Zarqawi independent terrorist not part of Al

Qaeda

(Musings On Iraq review Insurgent Iraq, Al Zarqawi and the New Generation)

2003 Report State Dept WMD analyst told Congressional hearing he felt pressured to tailor intel to fit

Bush admin agenda on Iraq

2003 UN Sec Gen Annan met with PM Blair Annan said that UN was pushing Bremer to transition

to Iraqi control as quickly as possible Said Bremer good at making fast decisions but that meant he didn’t talk to others Complained deBaathification had gone too far

(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)

2004 INC turned over captured Iraqi doc Iraq intel and bin Laden met in 90s Iraq agreed to air anti-Saudi

tapes but request for joints ops unanswered by Iraq

2006 PM Maliki announced national reconciliation program Included Reconciliation Council National

Dialogue Plan fighting terrorism Reviewing Debaathification Commission Amnesty for prisoners not involved in terrorism Compensation for terrorism and Saddam victims and IDPs Improving services Dealing with militias Fighting poverty and joblessness Nothing came of it

2006 Health Ministry recorded over 50,000 Iraqi deaths since 2003 from terrorism and military clashes

2006 Report CIA officer Drumheller warned Agency before Bush’s Jan 03 State of the Union and Sec

State Powell’s Feb 03 UN speech not to use story Iraq had mobile WMD labs

2006 Report CIA officer warned that source of mobile labs story Iraqi named CURVEBALL held by

Germans was unstable and story not verified

2006 Report Germans warned CIA that CURVEBALL was unreliable and refused to allow CIA access to

him

2006 CIA Dir Tenet told Sec State Powell it had multiple sources confirming Iraq mobile lab story while

preparing Powell’s UN speech CURVEBALL was only real source

2006 Right before Sec State Powell’s speech CIA Dir called CIA officer Drumheller to fact check speech

Told Tenet not to use mobile labs claim

(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claim That Iraq Had WMD)

(Musings On Iraq Look Who The LA Times Dug Up – CURVEBALL)

(Musings On Iraq Story of CURVEBALL And Iraq’s Mobile Biological Weapons Labs)

2007 ISI suicide bomber killed Sheikh Gaood of Albu Nimr tribe Sheikh Rifai al-Fahdawai of Albu Fahad

Sheikh Azziz al-Fahadawi Sheikh al-Assafir head of the Albu Assaf tribe in Baghdad hotel before meeting with US officials Were all Awakening members

(Musings On Iraq Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq How A Change In Perceptions Led To The Anbar Awakening)

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

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

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

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

2007 US cmdr Op Arrowhead Ripper in Baquba said ISF not capable of holding areas cleared by US

General in southern Baghdad said same thing

2008 KRG signed oil deals with 2 Canadian firms to work in disputed areas of Kirkuk

2008 Spokesman for Baghdad security plan said 9,000 Sahwa had joined city’s police and more would be

integrated in future

2014 Al-Nusra commander on Syrian-Iraq border gave allegiance to ISIS

2014 Ishaqi Salahaddin declared freed 3^rd time in just a few days

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Northern Front Stalemate In Salahaddin)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

The Enduring Principles and Strategies Of The Islamic State Interview With Authors Of The ISIS Reader Haroro J Ingram Craig Whiteside and Charlie Winter

(Law & Liberty)

The Islamic State has a core set of principles that have driven the group since its creation by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. At the same time, it has shown the ability to reflect and adapt to its situation, especially its setbacks such as its defeat at the hands of the Awakening/Sahwa and U.S. Surge. To help explain these ideas are the authors of The ISIS Reader: Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement ­­­Haroro J. Ingram (George Washington University’s Program On Extremism), Craig Whiteside (US Naval War College), and Charlie Winter (International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence).

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 24

1933 Interior Minister would not let Assyrian leader Mar Shimun leave Baghdad after being in

capital for nearly a month

(Musings On Iraq review of The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)

1979 After army killed scores and arrested 3,000 protesting house arrest of Ayatollah Sadiq

al-Sadr Iran’s Arabic radio service called Sadr the Khomeini of Iraq and called on Shiites to replace the tyrants in Baghdad

1981 UK signed trade pact with Baghdad that would expand trade to more than $2 bil/yr

1982 9^th Regional Baath Party Congress held in secret Saddam said party infiltrated by enemies and suffered

bad decisions to get rid of dissenters Health Min Hussein who said Saddam might step down was executed Saddam changed party leadership to ensure his control

1984 Iraq air raids resumed on Iranian oil infrastructure with attack on Kharg Island Iran’s main oil

terminal Destroyed docking bay but operating again in 5 days

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1994 SCIRI claimed govt building new canal to drain southern marshes and drive out displaced and rebels

2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld said Iraq had chemical weapons but not nuclear weapons

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Created An Iraqi Nuclear Threat In 2002)

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

2003 UN head inspector Blix said inspectors were not impressed with Sec State Powell’s Feb 03 speech to

UN on Iraq’s WMD

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

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

2003 Weapons search in Maysan’s Majar al-Kabir led to shootout and death of 6 British soldiers

2003 UK intel report believed Iran backed Mujahedeen for Islamic Revolution in Iraq that killed 6 British

soldiers

2003 Fallujah’s mayor’s office hit by RPG for working with US

2004 Al Qaeda in Iraq carried out multiple car bombs and attacks on police in Baghdad Baquba Fallujah

Ramadi and Mosul killing 92 wounding 285 Took over police station and city hall in Baquba and held city center for 6 hours

2004 Sadr announced unilateral ceasefire with US in Sadr City

2008 PM Maliki promised $100 mil for reconstruction in Maysan after Op Promise of Peace went

            after Sadrists there

2008 Interior Min declared Amarah Mahsa free of militias after Op Promise of Peace went after

            Sadrists

2008 Special Groups bombed Sadr City council building killing 2 councilmen 10 wounded because

            meeting with Americans

2014 Operation to try to free Tal Afar launched and failed

2018 Protest in Diyala over electricity cuts Province had not received 35% of its power

2019 Najah al-Shammari approved as Defense Min Yassin Taha al-Yassri as Interior Min

Farouq Amin al-Shawani s Justice Min 9 months after govt formed Still no Education Min

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Finally Has A Defense Interior Justice Ministers)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Security In Iraq Jun 15-21, 2020

Violence in Iraq has returned to a very low level. For the third week in a row incidents were only in the teens. This came after the Islamic State announced a new offensive in April-May where attacks went up to 2018 levels. The government has also been launching an aggressive series of security sweeps which have also kept insurgent operations down.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 23

1991 US Gen said in opening day of bombing during Gulf War US tried to kill Saddam

1996 Iyad Allawi interviewed in WashPost saying Iraqi National Accord supported a military uprising in

Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review of Iraq In The Eye of the Storm)

2003 Ayatollah Sistani issued fatwa saying Iraqis should elect council to draft new constitution vs CPA

plan 

(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)

(Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)

2003 Oil Ministry made first foreign oil sale to Turkish company since invasion

(Musings On Iraq Review Iraq and the Politics of Oil, An Insider’s Perspective)

2003 Official US found more evidence since Iraq invasion to prove Iraq-Al Qaeda ties

2003 US defense official complained to press Iraq-Al Qaeda ties were based on politics before war not based

on intelligence

2003 Bush at NSC meeting asked why US wasn’t pushing elections in Iraq and maybe they should come

before writing constitution

2003 Cheney chief of staff Libby told NYTimes reporter Miller Fmr Amb Wilson’s wife worked at CIA in

retaliation against Wilson Implied Wilson’s wife set up her husband’s trip to Niger

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)

(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

2003 Cheney chief of staff Libby complained that CIA was selectively leaking info to press to lesson its role

in claims about Iraq’s WMD

2004 Pentagon report said only 6% of Iraqi police had finished training Said ISF lacked equipment

(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how US failed to develop the Iraqi police)

2004 Report were two waves of foreign fighters to Iraq one before and one after 2003 invasion

2004 Report cooperation between Baathist and jihadist insurgents in Iraq and international terror

networks including Al Qaeda

2004 DepDefSec Wolfowitz said what was going on in Iraq was not an insurgency Said it was former

regime elements who didn't want to give up

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2004 US delivered $1.4 bil in cash to KRG for administration Went unaccounted for

2005 15 Sunnis and 1 Sabean added to constitutional drafting committee and 10 more Sunnis as advisers

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

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)

2006 US Iraq Cmdr Gen Casey briefed Bush on withdrawal plan Bush approved

(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)

(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)

2008 Report govt came up with new displaced program to force squatters out of homes and make them

return to their original areas Were 2.7 mil displaced and 2.5 mil refugees

(Musings On Iraq Government’s Displaced Plan?)

(Musings On Iraq January 2009 U.N. Report On Iraq Refugee Returns)

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

2008 Report Interior Min complained Haswa Babil police chief was arresting too many Shiites and had to

arrest more Sunnis When he didn’t he was investigated and relieved of duty

2008 Report Iran cut power supply to Basra after Charge of Knights op cutting electricity to only 6 hrs

            a day

2008 Report Amiriya Baghdad Sahwa leader said Maliki govt had arrest warrant out for him Part of

intimidation campaign vs Sahwa

2008 PM Maliki announced 17 Tribal Support Councils would be formed in Maysan after Op Promise of

Peace Councils became part of Maliki’s patronage network to create support for Dawa/State of Law

(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)

(Musings On Iraq Disputes Over Tribal Support Councils)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)

2013 Parliament amended 2008 Provincial Powers Law but not implemented

2014 ISIS held large military parade in Mosul after city fell

2014 Fighting between ISIS and Hawija Brigades in Hawija, Kirkuk for control

2014 Jihad and Reform Front agreed to work with ISIS in summer offensive Said tribal revolutionaries

would sweep over Anbar

2014 Albu Mahal tribe surrendered Qaim Anbar to ISIS

(Musings On Iraq Anbar Before And After The Awakening Pt IX Sheikh Sabah Aziz Of The Albu Mahal)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Western Front Is Anbar Next To Fall?)

View the Iraq History Timelines

More On Islamic State Financing In Iraq

(Indian Express)

In May Iraqi security analyst Husham al-Hashimi published a report for the Center for Global Policy about the state of the Islamic State. He wrote that IS was earning over $3 million a year. That contrasted with an American general and senior official who claimed that the Islamic State was in serious financial trouble.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 22

1922 Standard Oil told State Dept that it and other US companies were interested in exploring in

Iraq

1922 Gertrude Bell wrote that Shiites were all under the pay of leading cleric Sheikh Mahdi al-Khalisi who

she said wasn’t an Arab but a Persian

(Musings On Iraq review of Gertrude Bell And Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Gertrude Bell, Explorer of the Middle East)

(Musings On Iraq movie review Letters from Baghdad)

1963 Govt forces captured Saqsaq and Tobzawa from KDP Peshmerga

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

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

1982 Commander in chief of Iranian army said Iran-Iraq War would continue until Saddam

overthrown

(Musings On Iraq review of Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)

1982 Saddam complained that Iran was defeated in 1980 but didn’t give up

1983 Iraqi govt ordered all Kurds born from 1963-64 to be drafted into army

(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 review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1996 UN and Iraq agreed on terms for allowing UN inspectors into Republican Guard Special Republican

Guard Special Security Organization Mukhabarat sites

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

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

1998 Grand Ayatollah Mirza Ali al-Gharawi assassinated by Saddam who blamed foreign agents

2001 US decided to provide new aid to Iraqi opposition against Saddam

2003 Bush blamed former regime elements for attacks in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2003 Bush claimed other intel services said Iraq had WMD and Iraq never proved it destroyed its WMD

arsenal

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

(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)

(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)

2003 Head weapons inspector Blix thought Iraq only had “debris” of WMD program since none found

since invasion

2003 Blix said pre-war reports by Iraqis that WMD were destroyed might prove true Cited Hussein Kamal

in 94 who said no WMD left

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

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

2003 Report 2002 National Intelligence Estimate questioned Iraq-Al Qaeda ties

2003 2000 Ayatollah Sistani supporters protested outside Green Zone demanding elections and

            new Iraqi govt

(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)

(Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)

2003 British searches in Maja al-Kabir, Maysan led to shooting with locals 8 wounded

2004 Al Qaeda in Iraq beheaded S Korean civilian Kim Sun-il

2004 UN audit on reconstruction in Iraq found spending and contracts full of errors and open to fraud

2004 UN audit found State Organization for Marketing Oil had no records on tenders contracts who won

bids etc

2004 Report White House claims Saddam Fedayeen members were in Al Qaeda based upon confusion of

their names

2005 US Cmdr in Iraq Gen Casey got report of prisoner abuse by ISF Ordered US forces to stop any

abuses they saw

2006 US Cmdr in Iraq General Casey told press that Iran giving weapons and training to militias

(Musings On Iraq interview with Galen Wright of Arkenstone blog on Iranian arms shipments to Iraqi militias) 

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2008 Iraqi offensive against Sadrists in Maysan expanded to Dhi Qar and Wasit

2008 Report IEDs down 90% from 2007

2008 Female suicide bomber in Baquba killed 15 wounded 45

(Musings On Iraq The Rise of Female Suicide Bombers)

2008 Report US reconstruction projects in Hit halted due to corruption of mayor and police chief

2008 Baghdad Ops Command said PM Maliki issued order to integrate all Sahwa in province

2009 US commander in Diyala said govt had not paid 1000 Sahwa in province nor integrated them into

govt

(Musings On Iraq Sons of Iraq Integration Update)

2009 US turned over security in Anbar to Iraqi forces

2010 Protests in Ramadi and Nasiriya over lack of electricity

2010 Army arrested sons of protest organizer in Basra demanding leader turn himself in Basra council

condemned Army’s move

2011 Report Asaib Ahl Al-Haq carried out recruiting program to get people to attack US forces

before they withdrew from Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)

2011 Basra council voted to ban US military from operating in province

2012 Def Sec Panetta asked Iraq to hold Hezbollah operative Daqduq in prison Captured

            by US and turned over to Iraqis

(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah’s Role In Iraq)

2012 Iraq’s national grid ran out of fuel shutting down electricity across entire country for 24 hrs

2012 Sadr criticized Ayatollah Haeri and Iran for trying to interfere with his followers during no

confidence move vs PM Maliki

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)

2013 ISF launched operation in Rawa, Anbar

2013 Anbar governor claimed Iraqi Islamic Party cheated in provincial elections paying off voters

2014 ISF withdrew from Qaim, Anbar ISIS seized Trebil and Walid border crossings

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Western Front Is Anbar Next To Fall?)

2014 ISF withdrew from Tal Afar, Ninewa turning it over to ISIS

2014 Fighting between ISIS and pro-Naqshibandi tribes in Hawija, Kirkuk for control

(Musings On Iraq Precarious Relationship Between The Islamic State of Iraq And The Baathist Naqshibandi)

2014 Human Rights Ministry report 480 Shiite prisoners were executed by ISIS in Badush prison after

Mosul captured

(Musings On Iraq review The ISIS Reader, Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement)

2014 Iraqi forces again claimed Jurf al-Sakhr, Babil freed of insurgents Wasn’t

2014 Report Iraq lost 60 of 243 Army battalions with all of their equipment 5 of Iraq’s 14 Divisions

combat ineffective

2014 Iran objected to US sending military advisers to help Iraq against insurgency Claimed US supporting

Baathists and ISIS

View the Iraq History Timelines