This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 23

 

1918 UK forces surrounded Najaf to contain revolt there

1921 UK Foreign Sec told French Amb to UK that London had run into problems and large

expenses in Mesopotamia and that had led to decision to give the Arabs their own govt

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

1923 UK Iraq commission final report said British would not withdraw from Iraq Would lead to collapse

of King Faisal and humiliation for British

1930 Nuri al-Said became PM for 1^st time Would hold office 8 times Went after opposition

silenced press controlled parliament Was picked by King Faisal to assure passage of Anglo-Iraq Treaty Were 14 govts under Mandate

(Musings On Iraq interview with Historian Phebe Marr comparing PM Said with PM Maliki)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Western Kentucky’s Prof Romero on the Qasim govt)

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

1970 Communist leader in Baghdad Khadri found shot in street Baathists suspected Communists were

rounded and executed afterward

(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)

1974 Soviet Defense Minister Grechko arrived in Iraq to try to find compromise with Kurds Iran and US

told Barzani not to make any deals

1975 Mustafa Barzani and around 100,000 KDP members left Iraq for Iran ending Kurdish revolt

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)

(Musings On Iraq When The Shah and Nixon Manipulated The Kurds)

1981 Iran said it would not accept ceasefire with Iraq as long as Saddam was in power

1982 Iran launched main attack in Op Fath to push towards Maysan Flanked 2 Iraqi divisions Was

largest military operation up to that time in war 100,000 Iranian and 70,000 Iraqi troops involved

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

1985 Iran ended Op Badr failed attempt to attack Basra city Iraq lost 20,000 casualties Iran 14,000

killed

(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 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)

(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)

1988 PUK base in Sulaymaniya attacked in 2^nd Anfal Campaign

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)

1991 Sadoun Hammadi, a Shiite became premier as Saddam tried to appease Shiites while putting down

uprising after Gulf War

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

(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)

1997 Memo told Iraqi officials to hide material, documents, equipment from U.N. weapons 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 Charles Duelfer’s Account Of The End Of The 1990s U.N. Inspections)

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

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

2002 Joint Chiefs did paper drill running through Iraq invasion plan

(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 British commandos took control of Um Qasr port while heaving fighting broke out in the town

(Musings On Iraq review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine Commandos In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Special Operations Forces in Iraq)

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

2003 US attacked Nasiriya Heavy fighting with Fedayeen left 29 marines dead

2003 US B-52 bombers carried out raids on Baghdad Iraqi govt claimed 106 civilians killed

2003 British Tornado jet is accidentally shot down by US patriot missile killing 2 crewmen

2003 US soldier Jessica Lynch taken prisoner by Iraqi forces during invasion when her supply convoy

attacked

2003 32 Apache helicopters sent on raid to destroy Republican Guard units in Karbala Turned back by

Iraqi fire

2003 US forces reached outside Najaf Claimed they found WMD facility Story proved false

2003 CENTCOM commander Gen Franks said no doubt Iraq had WMD

2003 White House said no question Iraq had WMD and that they would be found

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

2003 US intel officials leaked to press they felt pressured by White House to come up with intel to

justify Iraq war

2004 Fmr Def Sec Cohen said head of Al Qaeda Sudan chemical plant met with Iraq chemical weapons

scientist in 90s

2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Russian amb gave detailed info to Iraq on US invasion force and

plans

(Musings On Iraq Russia Provided Iraq With Details Of US Plans Right Before Invasion)

2006 Report on captured Iraq docs Confirmed Iraq and bin Laden met in Feb 1995 to talk about

cooperation Iraq agreed to air bin Laden’s anti-Saudi tapes

2007 US House of Reps voted to set deadline for US withdrawal by 8/31/08

2007 Iran captured 15 UK Marines in Basra and offered to trade them for release of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq

leader Qais Khazali

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

2007 Dep PM Zubaie wounded in ISI assassination attempt with a car bomb and suicide bomber that was

one of his own bodyguards

(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)

2007 Sadrist website accused Dawa and SCIRI of selling it out to U.S. during Surge

2007 Former Najaf police chief said he was forced to hire 400 officers by Shiite parties Said none of

them were trained One officer fired for smuggling weapons used to attack UK Was returned to work and given promotion on orders from Baghdad Said torture was routine and police went after political rivals Dhi Qar police chief said he couldn’t get rid of rogue officers because they were protected by political parties

2007 Report Mahdi Army back on streets of Ghaziliya and Shula Baghdad Fired mortars at Mansour and

Yarmouk

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

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

2007 Insurgents out on streets of Haditha Demanded residents take down satellite TV dishes claiming

they spread vice and immorality

2007 Report PM Maliki offered $200 to returnees to Baghdad and said he would evict squatters as part

of Baghdad security plan Baghdad Migration Ministry bureau director said he refused to tell families to return because of on going violence

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

2008 PM Maliki flew to Basra to personally lead Charge of Knights op

2008 Mahdi Army in Sadr City started firing rockets into Green Zone

2008 Report US asked UK to send troops back into Basra but London refused because set on

withdrawal

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

2009 Pres Talabani said PKK should stop fighting Turkey or leave Iraq

2009 Turkish Pres Gul met KRG PM Barzani in Baghdad Pushed improved relations and fighting

PKK

2011 National Reconciliation Commission claimed 5 insurgent groups agreed to put down arms and join

political process

2012 ISI broke 19 of its men out of Kirkuk prison

2015 Hashd looted and destroyed 8 houses in Sadiya, Diyala Adviser to Diyala governor killed blamed

on Hashd

2018 PKK said it would withdraw from Sinjar after Turkey threatened military operation there

View the Iraq History Timelines