Wednesday, June 30, 2021

US Strikes Pro-Iran Hashd Factions In Iraq, Unlikely To Change Anything


Funeral in Baghdad held for killed Kataib Hezbollah fighters (Sinan Mahmoud)

June 27 the Biden administration launched strikes upon three pro-Iran Hashd targets in Anbar province and eastern Syria. This was retaliation for a new wave of drone and rocket attacks upon the American presence in Iraq. It is unlikely to change the dynamics between the two sides.

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)

1920 British arrested sheikh leading revolt in Rumaitha His tribe attacked British and freed him

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

(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)

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 PM of Iraq 3rd time 1922-58 were 59 cabinets

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review Unholy Babylon, The Secret History of Saddam’s War)

1963 Barzani said 167 villages had been destroyed and 643 civilians killed by Iraqi air force

(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)

1963 Report that Syrian Air Force flying bombing missions with Iraqi Air Force against

Kurds

1965 Arif govt claimed plot by Communists and Kurds in Mosul had been discovered

1966 Planes bombed Baghdad in support of ex-Gen Razzaq’s coup Razzaq’s group took

control of Baghdad Radio Pres Arif called on Mosul Command for aid that sent commando brigade that took control of Baghdad Razzaq sent into exile in England

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

Interior Minister Ghaydan Failed to assassinate Bakr and Saddam

1973 Coup plotter 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 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)

1991 1st WMD inspection team arrived in Iraq

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 Iraq’s Judiciary Under Attack)

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 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq said 2 UK hostages it kidnapped and turned over died from natural causes

Autopsy showed they were shot

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

(Musings On Iraq Iranians Planned Kidnapping And Held British Captives Taken 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 

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

U.S. Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 5 – We’re Here, Now What?


Chapter 5 of the
U.S. Army’s history of the Iraq War has a fitting title, “We’re Here, Now What?” That was the exact situation the Americans found themselves after a lightning quick war against Iraq. Neither the military nor the Defense Department that had responsibility for postwar Iraq cared about the day after Saddam fell. The Bush administration also believed in a set of false assumptions that Iraq would be peaceful and stable. There were absolutely no plans for what the U.S. was about to face.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 29

 

1921 Faisal arrived in Baghdad 1st time in preparation to be crowned king

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 The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)

1947 Baghdad hung four of Barzanis lieutenants and arrested Shekh Ahmed Barzani

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

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

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

1966 Ex-Gen Razzaq attempted coup Seized air base and had 4th Division march on

Baghdad

1966 PM Bazzaz announced new deal with Kurds with decentralization instead of

autonomy Recognized Kurdish rights Made against wishes of military

(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)

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)

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

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

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 1st 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 1st 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)

(Musings On Iraq Motivations Behind Female Suicide Bombers)

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

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

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 1st Oil Bidding Round Flops In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Continued Attempts To Develop its Oil Industry)

2009 Report ISF kidnapping Sahwa members and holding them for ransom Sahwa leader from

Baghdad taken by ISF and held in secret jail and told he had to pay $50,000 to be released Another Sahwa leader in Baghdad told by Def Min he would be arrested unless paid $15,000

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

at crowd 4 dead 20 wounded

2020 Kataib Hezbollah members arrested for rocket attacks in Baghdad by Counter Terror

Service released by Hashd Security Directorate for lack of evidence

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s PM Gives Warning to Kataib Hezbollah To Stop Rocket Attacks In Baghdad)

View the Iraq History Timelines

Monday, June 28, 2021

U.S. Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 4 The Invasion of Iraq


In March 2003 the United States invaded Iraq. It only lasted three weeks, much quicker than was expected. While the U.S. was assured of a victory everything did not go as planned which is the topic of the third chapter of the U.S. Army history of the Iraq War.

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 Reclaiming Iraq, The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State)

(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)

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 Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)

(Musings On Iraq review 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

(Musings On Iraq review Unholy Babylon, The Secret History of Saddam’s War)

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 The Kurds, A Modern History)

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

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

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 1st civilian town attacked by WMD 133 killed

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

wounded 4,000 captured Defeat at Faw 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 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 from 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)

2008 Female suicide bomber in Baquba killed 13 wounded 30

(Musings On Iraq The Rise of Female Suicide Bombers)

(Musings On Iraq Motivations Behind Female Suicide Bombers)

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

2014 Political financier Khamis Khanjar praised IS taking Mosul on Al-Arabiya TV

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Sunday, June 27, 2021

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 27

 

1923 Govt arrested Sheikh Khalisi supreme marja in Iraq and others Blamed 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  

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Under General Nuri, My Recollections of Nuri al-Said, 1954-1958)

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)

(Musings On Iraq review Unholy Babylon, The Secret History of Saddam’s War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Outlaw State, Saddam Hussein’s Quest for Power and the Gulf Crisis)

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 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)

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

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Saturday, June 26, 2021

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 26

 

1925 Abdul Sadoun became PM of Iraq for 2nd time Were 14 govts under Mandate

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

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 Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)

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

1948 Muzahim al-Pachachi became PM 1922-58 were 59 cabinets

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

1966 Arif govt announced amnesty for Kurds involved in revolt

(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)

1988 Iraq recaptured Majnoon Islands in Basra 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 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 8 killed

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 Iraq In The Eye of the Storm)

1997 ABC news ran feature on Chalabi and INC Chalabi talked about his revolt plot in 1995 and

claimed CIA sabotaged it

(Musings On Iraq review The Man Who Pushed America To War, The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi)

(Musings On Iraq review Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi and the Selling of the Iraq War)

1997 Jim Hoagland OpEd in Wash Post wrote about how Chalabi’s revolt in 1995 was betrayed by

CIA Hoagland was Chalabi ally

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 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 Didn’t exist

(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

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

2016 Fallujah finally freed of insurgents 

2020 Detained Kataib Hezbollah members turned over to Hashd Security Directorate after

political negotiations

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s PM Gives Warning to Kataib Hezbollah To Stop Rocket Attacks In Baghdad)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Friday, June 25, 2021

U.S. Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 3 Maneuvering Into Position


The third chapter of the
U.S. Army history of the Iraq War was about the final American plans for the invasion, the continued neglect of the postwar situation, and how Saddam Hussein finally took the American threat seriously. The U.S. military was still focused upon overthrowing the Iraqi regime with the strategy for the aftermath an afterthought. By the end of 2002 Iraq finally began preparations for the coming war, but Saddam’s incompetence made them ineffective at best. That meant the war would be over quicker than the U.S. expected and they would have nothing for the next day.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 25

 

1915 British troops took Nasiriya Ottomans had 200 casualties British 500

1920 Tribe in Rumaitha called for revolt against British

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

(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)

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

Shimun

(Musings On Iraq review 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 Qaism

(Musings On Iraq review Unholy Babylon, The Secret History of Saddam’s War)

1961 Qasim ordered military to come up with Kuwait invasion plan Was going to stage coup in

            Kuwait that would call in Iraqi forces

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

1968 2 Kurdish ministers resigned over PM Yahya’s Kurdish policy

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

Basra

(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)

1993 White House announced FBI investigation found Iraq tried to assassinate fmr Pres

            Bush in Kuwait

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 CIA 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 Didn’t exist

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

Germans was unstable and story not verified Didn’t exist

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 Didn’t exist

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

speech Told Tenet not to use mobile labs claim They didn’t exist

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

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

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

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

2014 Ishaqi Salahaddin declared freed from insurgents for 3rd time in just a few days

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

2020 Counter Terror Service raided Kataib Hezbollah HQ in Baghdad and arrested members

on charges they were responsible for rocket attacks in Baghdad Dep head of Hashd Comm Abu Fadak organized protest into Green Zone to demand their release

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s PM Gives Warning to Kataib Hezbollah To Stop Rocket Attacks In Baghdad)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Thursday, June 24, 2021

U.S. Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 2 Regime Change


Chapter 2 of the
U.S. Army history of the Iraq War focused upon American planning for the invasion or the lack thereof. The Central Command (CENTCOM) which oversaw the war spent far more time coming up with an invasion strategy because of the micromanagement of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It constantly had to revise its plan as a result. That was one of the main reasons why the U.S. had little to nothing on what would happen afterward. There were also several faulty assumptions by the Pentagon and military about postwar Iraq. Ironically Saddam didn’t even believe war was coming in 2002. This would affect the war in two important ways. First the U.S. was heading into a long occupation of a foreign country and was completely unprepared. Second Iraq wasn’t going to put up much of a fight because Saddam didn’t think one would happen.

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 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 9th 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 Maysan 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

2009 KRG passed draft constitution Said disputed areas of Kirkuk Ninewa and Diyala were part

of Kurdistan and peshmerga had right to operate in districts UN US and Iraqi parliament all objected to constitution

2014 Operation to try to free Tal Afar of insurgents 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 

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Security In Iraq Jun 15-21, 2021


The Islamic State was busy during the third week of June carrying out 20 attacks in Iraq. Its main target was infrastructure with a series of bombings of power towers. Pro-Iran groups were responsible for four incidents as well in their continued campaign against American targets.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 23

 

1921 Faisal arrived in Basra and then went to Najaf and Karbala as gesture towards Shiite clergy as

preparation to be crowned king Clerics opposed him

1965 Monarchist coup plot announced foiled by Arif govt

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

1991 2nd International Atomic Energy Agency inspection team arrived in Iraq

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

Iraq

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

1998 Jim Hoagland OpEd in Wash Post said that Iraq was lying about its WMD to UN inspectors

Was based upon inspector report by Scott Ritter that he gave to Ahmed Chalabi who gave it to Hoagland Hoagland was a Chalabi ally Ritter’s report later proved false Convinced Iraq US would make up stories about WMD to maintain sanctions and therefore Iraq should stop cooperating with inspections

(Musings On Iraq review The Man Who Pushed America To War, The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi)

(Musings On Iraq review Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi and the Selling of the Iraq War)

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

2003 Sadr returned from Iran where he met Ayatollah Haeri and commemorated death of Ayatollah

Khomeini Sadr went to Baghdad for 1st time since his father’s death Met by 1000s of followers

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

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

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 

This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 7 Saddam said Iraq going on defensive in Iran-Iraq War 3 months into war

  1914 UK made 2 nd attack on Qurna, Basra forcing Ottomans to retreat Lost around 200 killed 130 taken prisoner UK los...