This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 31

 

1941 PM Gaylani stepped down fearing civil war due to his reaching out to Axis that had

split govt and angered British 

(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)

1941 UK Foreign Office decided to give money to Regent to help him return to power

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

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

1964 Barzani met with Sulaymaniya governor Govt said it would accept Kurdish rights

release political prisoners Kurds would allow govt officials to return to Kurdsitan

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)

(Musings On Iraq review Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan)

1983 Iran officially rejected ceasefire talks by Iraq Khomeini was open to talks but Rafsanjani and

Khamenei rejected offer

1987 Iran Op Karbala 5 made last attack upon Iraqi defensive lines in Basra and stopped

(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)

1991 US and Saudis pushed Iraqi forces out of Saudi city of Khafji after 2 days of fighting

1993 Iraqi forces attacked Irbil

1999 Soviet paper claimed hundreds of Afghan Arabs were being trained in terrorism in south Iraq to

fight US

2003 PM Blair’s advisers told him had to prioritize pushing Bush on postwar planning for Iraq but Blair

failed to do so

2003 Bush and PM Blair said that invasion would start Mar 10 2003

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

Tragedy)

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Bush Administrations and Saddam Hussein, Deciding on Conflict)

(Musings On Iraq Section 3.7 Development of UK Strategy and Options, 1 February to 7 March 2003)

2003 PM Blair told Bush he needed a 2^nd UN resolution for use of force against Iraq for domestic politics

Bush agreed

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

2003 Bush and PM Blair said a 2^nd UN resolution would be good against Iraq but not necessary to go to

war

2003 Bush said fighting between Iraqi factions would be unlikely after invasion

2003 Bush and PM Blair talked about provoking Iraq to help justify war including getting US spy plane

fired upon

2004 Gen Taguba started investigation of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison

2004 Car Bomb at Mosul police station killed 9 wounded 45

2005 Assyrians in Ninewa’s Bashiqa and Bartella told couldn’t vote after promised they could when

ballots ran out on Jan 30

2005 Assyrians demonstrated in Ninewa Plains over not being allowed to vote Broken up by Kurdish

security forces

2006 US Emb-military report situation in 6 of Iraq’s 18 provinces serious 1 critical Said militias

infiltrating security forces in Basra Lots of gangs smuggling assassinations

2007 PM Maliki told CNN Iraq only needed a few more US troops not Surge Bush called for

2007 Bush in interview said he’d authorized US forces in Iraq to treat Iranian agents as combatants

2007 Fmr Rep Hamilton and Fmr Attn Gen Meese testified to Congress that US hired contractors to

train Iraqi police that weren’t competent and didn’t have personnel for job Said Justice Dept should have led effort and police should have taken over training not military

(Musings On Iraq interview with Col Ted Spain on how US struggled to establish law and order in post-invasion Iraq)  

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

2007 Special Insp Gen for Iraq Recon report said some Iraqi ministries spent as little as 15% of their

budgets because couldn’t find companies to work in dangerous areas lack of skilled contracting officers ant-corruption rules hindered spending Said electricity production in 4^th qtr of 2006 was below pre-war levels State Dept so embarrassed eliminated pre-war power production from a report to try to hide dip in output Said US lost $300 bil due to waste and corruption State Dept contracted DynCorp to build police camp in Baghdad Not used Spent $4.2 mil for VIP trailers and Olympic sized pool ordered by Interior Min and not authorized by US Spent another $36.4 mil on armored vehicles body armor communications that never showed up

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Savage on US reconstruction effort in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Reconstructing Iraq’s Budgetary Institutions)

2008 Report US military blamed Bassima al-Jadiri on National Reconciliation Comm for blocking

integration of Sunnis into ISF Accused her of being sectarian US general in charge of police training said Jadiri should be removed Iraqi general submitted list of army recruits Jadiri rejected all the Sunnis US general sent list of 3,000 Sahwa to be integrated into police Jadiri only accepted Shiites

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

2009 Provincial elections held Saw heavy Sunni turnout Voter participation was still down to 51%

vs 57% in Jan 05 and 76% in Dec 05

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Provincial Elections And Abuses)

(Musings On Iraq Information On Iraq’s Voting System)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s New Provincial Councils – Update)

(Musings On Iraq Governors, Heads of Councils, and Ruling Coalitions In Iraq’s Provinces)

2009 1920 Revolution Brigade established truce with other insurgents in Diyala to conduct vote

Wanted representation

2009 1000s couldn’t vote in provincial election Names weren’t on voter lists Some couldn’t find

their voting centers Kurds in Diyala and displaced complained

2009 Election monitoring group said violations in Baghdad Ninewa Diyala Soldiers in Mosul

2009 Higher Educ Min said 2,000 fake degrees held by govt officials and faculty 2,000 held by

individuals claiming to be college graduates

2020 Sadr called for his followers to return to protests after abandoning them reportedly for

Iran’s backing

(Musings On Iraq Sadr Returns To Iraq’s Protests After Betraying Them For Iran)

View the Iraq History Timelines

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 30

 

1927 1^st student protest in Iraq held over firing of teachers Organized by Communists

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)

(Musings On Iraq Interview with Prof Johan Franzen on the history of the Iraqi Communist Party)

1928 Sheikh Dhari who led revolt against British in Upper Euphrates/Anbar sentenced to death Was

commuted to life in prison

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

1941 Regent of Iraq fled Baghdad for Diwaniya fearing retaliation by PM Gaylani

1941 British were hoping to use Regent fleeing to spread unrest in Iraq to remove PM Gaylani from

power

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

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

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

1984 State Dept memo said that US considered discouraging military exports to Iraq

1985 Iraq attacked Said Saad

(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)

1991 Saddam ordered Op Samarra hit and run air attacks on Coalition air force

1991 400 US Special Forces were sent into western Iraq to try to find SCUD missiles

2001 1^st NSC meeting of Bush admin talked about how Iraq destabilizing Middle East CIA Dir Tenet

provided intel Iraq working on WMD at factory Treasury Sec O’Neil asked about WMD intel Tenet admitted no confirmation that Iraq producing WMD Sec State Powell argued for smart sanctions

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 1.2 UK Iraq strategy September 2000 To September 2001)

(Musings On Iraq review The Price of Loyalty)

2001 Sec of Def Rumsfeld wrote memo noting Iraq and others trying to buy advanced military

technology

2002 Natl Sec Adv Rice said Axis of Evil countries had to be dealt with diplomatically but at same time

said they couldn’t be negotiated with

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)

2002 CIA unclassified report to Congress Said Iraq trying to rebuild its nuclear program

(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 Bush told Italian Premier Berlusconi that Iraq would be disarmed and Saddam removed

2003 UN Amb Negroponte told Senate aluminum tubes Iraq bought were not right for rockets in

response to IAEA findings Same hearing Dep Sec of State Armitage said there were differences in US about the tubes Were for rockets

2003 White House spokesman said Bush stood by claim that aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were

for nuke program Were for rockets

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

2003 UK Att Gen Goldsmith wrote PM Blair telling him UN Res 1441 didn’t authorize use of force

against Iraq

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

2003 Aid group warned that breakdown of law and order likely right after Iraq invasion unless US

immediately established control

2003 Sec State Powell’s chief of staff Wilkerson began going through intel on Iraq with CIA for Powell’s           Feb 03 UN speech

2004 CIA and Congressional inquiries no evidence White House pressured US intel on Iraq’s WMD

and ties with Al Qaeda

2004 Congressional committee found CIA relied too much on circumstantial outdated and satellite

and intercept intel on Iraq WMD

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

2005 Elections held for parliament to draft new Iraqi constitution Sunnis boycotted vote Also voted

for provincial councils

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

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

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

George W. Bush to Barack Obama)

2005 KRG parliamentary elections held KDP and PUK ran unified list Won 104 of 111 seats

2005 Informal Kurdish independence referendum held in KRG Kirkuk Mosul Khanaqin 98% voted for

            independence

2007 Bush said that if Iran escalated actions in Iraq against US forces US would respond

2007 Gen Odierno said Iran supplying RGP-29s Katyusha rockes EFPs to Iraqi 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)

2007 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Recon report US struggling to increase capacity of Iraqi ministries US

turned over projects and Iraqis couldn’t maintain them One problem 3 Iraqi govts in short period of time New govt purged previous bureaucrats from ministries Parties hired people based upon nepotism and patronage rather than competence US didn’t have single group in charge of capacity building Meant no unified effort

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Savage on US reconstruction effort in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Reconstructing Iraq’s Budgetary Institutions)

2009 Report Sunnis boycotted 05 election giving Shiites control of Diyala govt Islamic Party tried

to co-opt Sahwa because didn’t have base Sahwa also important for party because used by US to distribute aid in Diyala Islamic Party took credit for US aid PM Maliki attempted to cut power of Islamic Party Created Diyala Support Council that only gave aid to Maliki allies Was given control of recruiting people into ISF US complained Council was undermining stability 08 Maliki created Tribal Support Council to take members away from Sahwa and divide and conquer Sunnis before 09 elections Maliki ordered raid on Diyala govt and arrested Islamic Party member then denied he was responsible Jun 08 Maliki launched offensive in Diyala that ended up going after Sahwa Arrested hundreds Next Maliki moved against Kurds in Khanaqin Dist demanding they leave

(Musings On Iraq Diyala Offensive Begins)

(Musings On Iraq Recent Government And Sons of Iraq Relations)

(Musings On Iraq Kurdish-Baghdad Tensions Over Diyala)

(Musings On Iraq Cold War Between Baghdad and Kurds Turns Hot)

(Musings On Iraq Maliki Ups the Ante on Kahanqin District of Diyala)

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

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

2010 Sheikh Abu Risha of Anbar Awakening threatened boycott of 2010 election over 70

candidates from his party and Interior Min Bolani’s Unity of Iraq Alliance being banned for Baathist ties

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

2012 PM Maliki warned Salahaddin governor that he would be removed if he pushed provincial

autonomy

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

2014 8 gunmen stormed Human Rights Min office in Baghdad and took hostages Were killed

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 29

 

1917 British captured Ottoman fort at Khadairi Bend in campaign to recapture Kut

1948 PM Jabr forced to resign over protests over Anglo-Iraq treaty organized by Communists

Regent also against Jabr 1922-58 were 59 cabinets

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)

(Musings On Iraq Interview with Prof Johan Franzen on the history of the Iraqi Communist Party)

1948 Sayid Mohammed al-Sadr replaced Jabr as PM 1922-58 were 59 cabinets

(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)

1953 Jamil al-Midfai became PM for 5^th time

(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)

1982 King Hussein said Jordanian troops would be sent to Iraq to help in Iran-Iraq War

1987 Iran Op Karbala 5 crossed Jassim Canal in Basra with 3 days of human wave attacks

(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 Iraq launched probing attack upon Saudi city of Khafji occupying it

1991 Report more than 100 German and western companies were providing nuclear know how to Iraq

right up to Jan 91 1980s German company built WMD plants Swedish Austrian Italian French companies helpd with missile program Iraq worked with Argentina on long range missile with help from German companies

(Musings On Iraq Origins Of Iraq’s WMD Programs)

2002 Bush State of Union called Iraq part of Axis of Evil Said it still had WMD programs Iran and

North Korea added to Axis of Evil speech because Bush admin didn’t want to be seen as focusing upon Iraq

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

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)

(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)

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

Tragedy)

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Bush Administrations and Saddam Hussein, Deciding on Conflict)

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

2003 UN Amb Negroponte said Iraq bought aluminum tubes for nuke program

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

2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld said Iraq had a nuke weapons program and tried to buy uranium from Africa

(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)

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

2003 Sec State Powell Chief of Staff Wilkerson went over info to be used in Powell speech to UN at CIA

HQ

2003 State’s Wilkerson rejected using Cheney Chief of Staff’s briefing as basis for Sec Sate Powell’s UN

speech CIA Dir Tenet said NIE on Iraq should be used instead

2003 Aid groups warned that if Pentagon ran postwar Iraq many international donors would be

reluctant to give relief

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

2004 NatlSecAdv Rice said what US predicted about Iraq WMD before war not what found

afterward Rice said Saddam deceived US and world about his WMD

(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)

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

2004 State Dept said failure to find out about Iraq’s WMD was not US failure but international

one

2004 Ex-Iraq Survey Group head Kay told Bush Saddam wanted Iraqis to believe country had

WMD when it didn't Kay said he thought Saddam destroyed his WMD stocks because too easy to find Bush asked Kay why Saddam didn’t admit he had  no WMD Kay said Saddam wanted fear to stop revolts by Shiites and Kurds

2005 RAND Corp Iraq became center for jihadist cause and cause of terrorism in rest of world

2005 Human Rights Watch US Abu Ghraib prison scandal became recruitment tool for terrorists

2006 Al Qaeda sent 2^nd letter to Ansar al-Sunnah saying it sent representative to Iraq to work out

issues with Al Qaeda in Iraq

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

2006 Sharia Committee for the Army of the Followers of the Sunnah and the Collective joined

Mujahedeen Shura Council Emir of group was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s group

2006 Report after US made deal with sheikhs in Ramadi against Al Qaeda in Iraq in mid-Jan 3

sheikhs assassinated leading tribes to retaliate against AQI

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

(Musings On Iraq review 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)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2006 Report 3 Islamist insurgent groups once aligned with Al Qaeda in Iraq in Ramadi broke with it

2006 National Security Adviser Rubaie said Al Qaeda in Iraq feuding with Islamic Army and

Mujahedeen Army

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

2007 Report US officials skeptical whether PM Maliki would back Surge and go after Sadr US didn't tell

Maliki about raids on Sadrists because he would try to stop them Maliki got US to release arrested Sadrists US intelligence tapped Maliki’s conversation and confirmed he was telling his advisers he would back Surge

2008 PM Maliki refused to have officials close to him be investigated for corruption

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with anti-graft US official Vincent Foulk)

2008 Suspicious fires at Central Bank of Iraq and Labor Ministry Some MPs claimed this was to destroy

documents implicating officials in corruption

2008 Iraqi Red Crescent reported 46,000 refugees returned to Iraq Driving up housing prices in Baghdad

Many couldn’t return to their homes because demographics changed during civil war and militia control

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

(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)

2009 Report parties offering money for votes in Dhi Qar Independent candidates asked to take

bribes and give votes to bigger parties

2010 PM Blair testified to Chilcot Inquiry that Saddam was a threat to the world that had to be dealt

with That if Iraq wasn’t invaded in 2003 world would have to deal with Saddam later and could have been more difficult Said 9/11 changed perceptions of Iraq in both US and England

(Musings On Iraq Was Iraq An Imminent Threat To The West?)

2010 Southern Clans Council who supported Iraqiya threatened to boycott 2010

vote to protest banning 511 candidates for Baathist ties

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

2010 Ninewa Gov Nujafi started no confidence vote against KDP mayor of Sinjar who then sued

Nujafi

(Musings On Iraq Political Disputes Continue in Ninewa)

2018 Parliament voted to end sanctions on banks doing business in Kurdistan and sent $210 mil in

salaries for KRG’s Health and Education Ministry workers

(Musings On Iraq Baby Steps Towards Reconciliatoin Between Iraq’s Central And Regional Govts)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review Iraq at the Crossroads: State and Society in the Shadow of Regime Change

Dodge, Toby and Simon, Steven, Edited by, Iraq at the Crossroads: State and Society in the Shadow of Regime Change, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2003

 

Iraq at the Crossroads: State and Society in the Shadow of Regime Change came out of a conference held in October 2002 at the International Institute for Strategic Studies to discuss Iraqi society and politics and how the country might react to the impending U.S. invasion. The book is an anthology of the papers presented by Judith Yaphe, David Ochmanek, Toby Dodge, Isam al-Khafaji, Amatzia Baram, faleh Jabar, Gareth Stansfield and Michiel Leezenberg. It’s interesting to see what the authors predicted and what actually happened after the overthrow of Saddam. More importantly the later part of the book has interesting chapters on Iraq under Saddam.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 28

 

1920 Turkish National Pact said Turkey gave up rights to all Ottoman provinces with Arab

majorities including Basra and Baghdad Did not include Mosul province which Turkey claimed had Turkish majority Kurds called Turks

1920 British claimed Mosul province which it occupied after armistice with Ottomans in 1918

(Musings On Iraq How The Ottoman Province Of Mosul Became Part Of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Princeton’s Sara Pursley on Sykes-Picot and creation of Iraq)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied)

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

1941 Regent appointed 2 new ministers to try to unseat PM Gaylani leading Gaylani to plot

against Regent

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

1954 PM Jamali ended martial law imposed Nov 1952

(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Statesman, A portrait of Mohammed Fadhel Jamali)

1979 Saddam visited Syria for Higher Political Committee meeting to unify 2 countries Agreed to

meet in Baghdad to discuss constitutional changes to allow merger

1985 Iran attacked Qasr e-Shirin central Iran across from Diyala attempting to take mountains

outside Sumer

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

1985 Iraq attack took back most of South Majnoon Island Basra from Iranians

1987 Iraq air strike on Larak Island for 2^nd time Was new Iranian loading port for tankers farther

south Thought to be out of range of Iraqi jets

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

1987 Iraqi counterattack pushed Iranians out of beachhead west of Fish Lake defensive line in

Basra during Iran Op Karbala 5

(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 Saddam told CNN Iraq would be admired for its fighting spirit Iraq could use WMD but

hoped it wouldn’t go that far Said Iraq would win war

1998 UK discussed using force against Iraq to ensure continued UN weapons inspections

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

1999 Clinton’s Natl Sec Adv Berger OpEd in Wash Post said sanctions and Oil for Food program

positives because made Iraq spend money on its people

2003 Bush’s State of Union said Iraq wasn’t disarming and hiding its programs from UN inspections

Bush said Iraq had 25,000 liters of anthrax enough to make 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin Making sarin and VX gas Had mobile WMD labs Bush asked what 9/11 hijackers could’ve done if given WMD by Iraq Said British learned Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa Said Iraq tried to buy aluminum tubes for its nuke program Said Saddam was harboring Al Qaeda members

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

(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)

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

Tragedy)

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

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

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

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

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

(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 UK For Sec Straw told For Office legal adv Wood that he didn’t think 2^nd UN resolution was

necessary for action vs Iraq

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

2003 ORHA head Garner met with NSC’s Zalimay who said goal of postwar Iraq should be getting

Iraqis to govern as soon as possible

(Musings On Iraq on Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 3 The Department of Defense Takes Charge)

(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)

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

George W. Bush to Barack Obama)

(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)

2003 Report VP Cheney chief of staff Libby gave copy of his briefing on Iraq WMD and ties to Al Qaeda to

Sec State Powell to be used as basis for his UN speech

2004 Ex-IraqSurveyGroup’s Kay told Congress everyone wrong about Iraq having stocks of WMD

but did have programs Kay told Congress an investigation was needed on intel failure over Iraq’s WMD

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

2004 White House said that Iraq Survey Group needed more time to make conclusions about

whether Iraq had WMD or not

2004 Hutton Inquiry said Sep 02 dossier on Iraq’s WMD had not been influenced by political

pressure from Blair govt

2004 UN Sec Gen Annan said UN delegation would go to Iraq to look into elections
2004 CPA Order 55 created Integrity Commission to investigate corruption

(Musings On Iraq Undermining Of The Integrity Commission Part II Of Washington And Baghdad’s Failed Attempt To Fight Corruption)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen on Iraq’s fight with corruption) 

(Musings On Iraq interview with former anti-corruption official Vincent Foulk)

2006 Aglus Sunnah wal Jammah joined Mujahadeen Shura Council

2007 Soldiers of Heaven started revolt in Najaf leaving 263 killed 210 wounded US air and ground

forces had to be called in to help Iraqi forces defeat group

2007 Baquba mayor fired for charges of working with insurgents 1500 police fired by new provincial

police chief for deserting posts in Nov 2006

2007 Iran’s Amb to Iraq offered counter to Surge Said Iran would open banks fund major

reconstruction projects provide electricity and fuel train equip advise Iraqi forces

2007 Sec State Rice sent letter to Senate Armed Service Comm saying White House told Maliki

govt US backing was not open ended and expected Baghdad to pass certain laws Sametime said Maliki govt had not passed provincial election, oil or deBaathification law

2008 Electricity Min said no improvement in power supply in 2007 Said would have to wait until 2011

for progress

2008 12 political parties signed agreement to resolve Kirkuk after Article 140 not implemented in 2007

Was never done

2008 Report Iran backed Special Groups were attacking Sahwa units in parts of Baghdad

2009 Early voting in provincial elections

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Provincial Elections And Abuses)

(Musings On Iraq Information On Iraq’s Voting System)

2009 Report 2005 Christians accused Kurds of preventing them from voting in Ninewa Qaraqosh

had no ballot boxes Neighboring town Kurds fixed the vote 

2009 Finance Min asked international banks to open branches in Iraq and invest Said would clear

bureaucratic obstacles to doing business in Iraq Part of 2 day conference with banks from US England Turkey Iran Lebanon Jordan Bahrain No reforms ever made to Iraqi economy

2011 Protest in Mosul demanded govt release of prisoners

2016 PM Abadi met with Pres Masum Speaker Jabouri to talk about technocratic govt and reforms

(Musings On Iraq interview with Reidar Visser on PM Abadi’s reform program)

2018 Report General Dynamics pulled out most of its maintenance crews for Iraqi army’s Abrams

tanks because some were in Hashd hands

(Musings On Iraq Pentagon Finally Realized Tanks It Sold To Iraq Ended Up With Pro-Iran Hashd Groups)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Qi Card Allegedly Involved In Ghost Hashd Fighter Scheme

(Innovatrics)

On January 24 Bana Abdul Hussein the head of Qi Card was found guilty of abusing public funds and given four years in prison. The Qi Card was responsible for distributing government salaries and pensions and was widely praised for modernizing the system. Hussein has been accused of helping pro-Iran Hashd groups to skim off the salaries of thousands of fake Hashd fighters. 

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 27

 

1925 League of Nations Commission on Mosul arrived in province to protests Was to

determine who would get Mosul Iraq or Turkey Commission interviewed hundreds of locals and mapped economy land trade routes ethnicities

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq How The Ottoman Province Of Mosul Became Part Of Iraq)

1948 Communists called for more protests against Anglo-Iraq Treaty to topple govt

(Musings On Iraq review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)

(Musings On Iraq Interview with Prof Johan Franzen on the history of the Iraqi Communist Party)

1948 Mass demonstration against Anglo-Iraq treaty led to clashes with police in Baghdad Up to 300-400

killed More wounded

1969 14 hung in Baghdad after show trial over alleged Israeli spy ring uncovered by Saddam 9 were Jews

Bakr govt declared execution day a national holiday and bused in people from around the country to watch After executions Bakr and other Baath leaders gave speeches to crowd against Zionist threat

1981 In response to demands from Iraq that it had lost air superiority to Iran at start of Iran-Iraq War

France started shipping first Mirage fighters secretly using plane painted in Jordanian colors

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

1983 Saddam rejected offer by Iran to discuss 7 disputed areas but said was ready to talk about

ceasefire in war

1985 Iraq launched 1^st large offensive in 2 yrs to try to take back Majnoon Islands Basra Deployed 2

corps Iraq gained bridgehead on island but Iranian reinforcements defeated operation

(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)

1998 Head UN inspector Butler quoted in NYTimes saying Iraq had enough biological weapons

and missiles to “blow away” Tel Aviv

1998 UN chief Annan demanded head UN inspector Butler apologize for NYTimes interview

which he did

2002 Gen Franks briefed Sec Def Rumsfeld on latest war plan Said Iraqi military degraded by sanctions

Wanted info campaign vs Iraq to start Franks claimed the more the US got involved against Saddam the less Iraqi people would support regime Franks had cut war plan to 150 days down from 7 months and 245,000 troops Franks wanted to cut timeline for war down to even less time

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

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

Tragedy)

2003 Head UN inspector Blix told Security Council that Iraq cooperating with inspections but had

not accepted disarmament Blix asked what undeclared WMD items did Iraq have Asked did it illegally produce anything after 98 Blix said Iraq’s Dec WMD declaration had provided no new info and not answered questions Said were questions about Iraq’s production of anthrax VX gas and WMD bombs from Iran-Iraq War

(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 IAEA head El Baradei told Security Council IAEA had found no evidence of an active nuclear

program in Iraq Said aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were probably for rockets not nukes

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

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

2003 Sec State Powell said Iraq was hiding its WMD

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

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

2003 US intelligence said Blix would back off next declaration to UN on inspections because didn't

want to start war

2003 Some in White House believed Blix lying about inspections and could not be trusted

2003 Bush believed US stuck in inspection process and pushed him towards war

2003 CIA report said Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger in 1999 Said was uranium in warehouse

in Benin but was going to France not Iraq

2003 CIA Dir Tenet given copy of Bush’s State of the Union address that included claim that Iraq

tried to buy uranium from Niger Tenet didn’t read speech

(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 CIA Berlin chief said that Iraqi defector CURVEBALL was considered a problem by Germans

and they hadn’t confirmed any of his stories of mobile WMD labs

(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)

2003 ORHA began contracting for supplies and personnel for post-war Iraq 2 months before invasion

(Musings On Iraq on Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 3 The Department of Defense Takes Charge)

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

Tragedy)

2003 William Safire in NYTimes said Zarqawi went to Baghdad Then to Kurdistan to Ansar al-

Islam proving Iraq-Al Qaeda link

(Musings On Iraq Why Didn’t Bush Strike Zarqawi And Ansar al-Islam In 2002?)

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Master Plan, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and the Jihadi Strategy For Final Victory)

2004 Ex-IraqSurveyGroup head Kay Iraq told UN in 1995 it had destroyed WMD and nuke

program but no one believed them

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

2006 Report shifting US reconstruction money to security meant 60% of water and 125 electricity

projects would not be finished

2007 Report more than 800 had volunteered for Anbar police due to Awakening in Dec 2006 Fmr

Anbar Gov Gaood MP Salah al-Mutlaq both said they opposed Awakening

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review 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)

2008 Of roughly 100,000 Sahwa 9,000 were signed and screened to join the ISF Was far below what govt

promised

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

2010 US CENTCOM cmdr Gen Petraeus said Accountability and Justice Comm was working for

Iranian Rev Guards Quds Force Commission accused Petraeus of working with Baathists

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Shiite Parties Turn To Blaming America Before The March Elections)

2010 UN reported 167,740 displaced and 37,090 refugees had returned to home areas in 2009 Was

down from 2008 figures 2009 Maliki govt tried to end displacement/refugee crisis but failed due to lack of policy

(Musings On Iraq 2009 Numbers On Displaced and Refugee Returns To Iraq)

2012 Bombing of Shiite funeral left over 90 casualties

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

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Iraq Delays Early Elections Due To Technical And Political Issues

(EPA)

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazemi came into office with one man mandate to hold early elections which were demanded by the protest movement. He initially announced they would occur in June 2021. That has now been pushed back to October. The official reason is the Election Commission asked for more time to register parties and voters, but unofficially it’s because the ruling parties want to hold onto power and therefore do not want the vote anytime soon.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 26

 

1948 PM Said said that Anglo-Iraq Treaty was still on the table after Regent cancelled it

Led to new protests

1948 PM Said ordered suppression of protests against Anglo-Iraq Treaty

1965 Pres Arif announced he was ending special powers given to him in May 1963

1982 Iran and Iraq agreed to family visits for prisoners of war

1987 Islamic Conference Organization invited Iran and Iraq to summit in Kuwait Iran said no

1987 UN Sec Gen de Cuella addressed Islamic Conf Org saying aggressor in Iran-Iraq War needed

to be determined

(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)

1997 Iraqi National Accord operative gave interview saying CIA behind bombing campaign in Iraq

from 1994-95

1998 Project for New American Century sent letter to Clinton demanding US overthrow Saddam

11 of 18 signatories would join Bush admin

(Musings On Iraq review The Road to Iraq, The Making of a Neoconservative War)

(Musings On Iraq review The United States And Iraq Since 1990: A Brief History with Documents)

(Musings On Iraq Was Iraq An Imminent Threat To The West?)

2003 Sec State Powell speech asked why Iraq tried to buy uranium Reference to Iraq-Niger uranium deal

(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 PM Blair said Iraq non-cooperation with UN inspectors was material breach of UN Resolution

(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)

2004 Japanese troops deployed to Iraq as part of Coalition of Willing

2004 Report CPA officials were questioning influence of Ayatollah Sistani and whether all major

CPA decisions would have to get his approval

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

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

2004 Report Pentagon signed new $96 mil contract with Harris Co to set up Iraqi news outlet to

broadcast US messaging to Iraqis Previous company contracted by Pentagon for Iraqi news outlet couldn’t find equipment Didn’t pay Iraqi workers Made poorly produced news

2005 Insurgent umbrella group announced campaign to disrupt that year’s elections

2005 US Cmdr in Iraq Gen Casey said US and Iraqi forces killing more insurgents and taking fight

to Sunni areas Said Iraqi forces could not secure country but could secure voting stations during elections

(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)

2006 Al Qaeda sent letter to Ansar al-Sunnah suggested it merge with Al Qaeda in Iraq

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

2007 US arrested Sheikh Daraji Sadr’s media director in Baghdad

2007 Report Bush authorized killing and capturing Iranians in Iraq Fall 06 US arrested dozens of Iranians

but released them White House believed hitting Iran hard in Iraq would make it step back from its nuke program Summer 06 US decided to confront Iran more directly in Iraq Said Iran had to pay a price for interfering in Iraq and threatening US forces CIA Dir Hayden warned that new policy could just lead to Iranian retaliation Sec State Rice worried about policy escalating to direct confrontation with Iran Some wanted US to go after Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Iraq as much as Islamic State of Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

(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)

2007 Fmr Cheney media aide Martin said VP dictated talking points to his Chief of Staff Libby to use

with reporters to discredit fmr Amb Wilson on Iraq-Niger uranium story Talked about leaking info to reporters Cheney also ordered Martin to track news stories about Wilson Martin contradicted Libby’s claim that he found out Wilson’s wife’s name from journalist Wilson claimed he found no evidence of Iraq-Niger uranium deal Claimed Cheney knew about his findings and continued to lie about it Cheney didn’t hear about Wilson’s account

(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)

2007 UK report Security in Basra deteriorated Basrawis lived in fear due to Mahdi Army and other

militias British and ISF not seen as reliable by public

2008 FBI agent that interviewed Saddam after capture said he never expected a US invasion Thought

Bush would only bomb Iraq Saddam considered Iran real threat

2009 Yazidi MP from Ninewa accused KDP of attacking his family after he accused Kurds in 3^rd

Army division putting up posters for Kurdish parties

2009 Report 16 Tribal Support Councils set up in Qadisiya Run by Dawa member Each member of

council able to hire up to 20 and give them govt jobs Part of patronage system for PM Maliki before 09 elections

2009 Report Late 07 and Dec 08 2 attempts at no confidence vote against PM Maliki Couldn’t agree

on who should replace him US also opposed

2009 Iran’s Foreign Min confirmed that it’s new ambassador to Iraq was a member of the Iranian

Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force

(Musings On Iraq New Iranian Ambassador To Iraq Confirmed As Revolutionary Guards Member)

2010 Parliament passed Iraq’s 2010 budget for $72.4 bil up from $58.6 bil in 2009 Largest budget since

03 70% of spending was for govt salaries pensions food ration system services Cut salaries of top officials by 10-20% Was so large because politicians wanted to use in 2010 election

(Musings On Iraq 2010 Iraq Budget Passed)

2010 Accountability and Justice Comm claimed Election Comm asked them to review 600

candidates to see if they had Baathists connections which led to banning 511 candidates

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

2010 Human Rights Comm said on going abuses at Iraq’s jails/prisons due to justice system

relying upon confessions often obtained via torture Also overcrowding corruption lack of trials

(Musings On Iraq Report Of Continuing Abuse In Iraqi Prisons)

2011 Insurgents caught crossing from Syria to Anbar Said they got aid from Syrian govt

(Musings On Iraq More On Syria’s Support For Iraq’s Insurgency 2011-2012)

2015 After battle with IS in Barwanah Diyala Hashd killed 70 civilians

2017 All of east Mosul freed by Iraqi forces after PM Abadi declared it cleared already

(Musings On Iraq Review They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate)

(Musings On Iraq Review Shatter the Nations, ISIS and the War for the Caliphate)

2020 Govt crackdown on protests continued with attacks on sites in Baghdad Basra Nasiriya

with 12 killed

(Musings On Iraq New Govt Crackdown On Iraq Protests)

(Musings On Iraq UN Report On Violence Against Iraqi Protesters)

View the Iraq History Timelines