Sunday, October 31, 2021

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 31

 

1914 India ordered 6th Div to seize Faw and clear Turks out of Shatt al-Arab before WWI

started

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In World War I, From Ottoman Rule to British Conquest)

(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)

1918 UK-Ottoman armistice in WWI went into effect Turkish cmdr in Mosul asked UK

forces to retreat back to Qayara but they refused

1979 Saddam demanded end of Algiers Treaty Iran give up two border towns and give autonomy

to Iran’s Kurds and Arabs

(Musings On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)

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

1980 Iranian navy made 2nd raid on Faw oil facilities in Basra

1982 Iran launched Muharram al-Haram attacking Diyala and Maysan Took back 120 sq mi of

Iranian territory 330 sq mi of Iraqi land Led Iraq to call up its reserves

(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)

1995 INC HQ in Salahaddin, Irbil bombed by Iraqi National Accord killing 28 At time Kurds blamed

Baghdad for bombing

1998 Iraq suspended all cooperation with UN weapons inspectors Demanded full review of its

disarmament and timetable for ending sanctions Led Clinton to order military build up in Gulf

(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 Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

(Musings On Iraq review Neighbors, Not Friends, Iraq And Iran After The Gulf Wars)

(Musings On Iraq review The Greatest Threat, Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, And The Growing Crisis Of Global Security)

1998 Pres Clinton signed Iraq Liberation Act opening up $97 mil for opposition parties

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

1999 INC held meeting in New York paid for by US Elected 7 member executive committee with

Chalabi and one member each from Iraqi National Accord KDP PUK and Monarchy Movement

(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)

2001 ABC withdrew story that Iraq might be behind anthrax letters sent to Wash DC

2002 Blair agreed to offer a division to US for invasion of Iraq

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

2002 UK energy companies met with govt official complaining business deals being made for

postwar Iraq and they were being left out

2002 Iraqi opposition met in Salahddin Kurdistan Said they were united to remove Saddam Wanted

to end sectarianism and create federal democratic state

2003 Attack on Fallujah govt center lasting for hours Destroyed complex Mayor Taha fled

2004 US Gen Sattler Unless US and Iraqi forces stopped insurgent intimidation campaign against

Iraqi civilians they couldn’t win

2004 Report US intel est 8,000-12,000 insurgents in Iraq and well financed Was far more than

previously believed

2004 Report US army overrode objections of contracting officers who complained about cost

overruns and non-competitive bids given to Halliburton in Iraq

2005 US report Iranian Revolutionary Guard Iraqi militias and police carrying out assassinations in

Basra IRGC gave assassination orders to Sayid al-Shuhada Iraq Hezbollah Thar Allah Fadhilah Badr and others

(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)

(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 Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how Badr took over Interior Ministry)

2006 Iraq’s Health Min reported 3,590 civilians killed Jul 3,009 in Aug 3,345 in Sep 3,709 in Oct 06

2006 PM Maliki ordered US to remove checkpoints around Sadr City set up few days before after US

            soldier kidnapped

2006 Sadr ordered start of strike in Sadr City against U.S. checkpoints Mahdi Army members

enforced strike

2006 ISI’s Furquan Institute for Media Production made its first release

2006 State Dep memo to Sec State Rice said ISF not capable of controlling violence Meant Clear

Hold Build impossible Said PM Maliki talked about being national leader but was proving sectarian

(Musings On Iraq 2006 Clear Hold Build: An Iraq Strategy That Wasn’t A Strategy)

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

2006 Iraq spokesman at donor-UN conference in Kuwait said Iraq needed $10 bil for rebuilding over

4-5 yrs Said oil production not high enough to pay for reconstruction

2006 Report US soldier killed in Iraqi police ambush in Shula Baghdad in Oct Head of US military

training team said 70% of police infiltrated by militias Jr Iraqi police officers talked about militia control of police force in Baghdad neighborhoods

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

2008 600 Sahwa arrived at Al Furat Iraq Police Training Center in Baghdad to receive basic training Was

supposed to be 1,300

(Musings On Iraq Will Baghdad Pay For The Sons Of Iraq Update)

2010 ISI attacked Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad Took 100 hostages Goal was publicity

and gain donations 68 killed

(Musings On Iraq review Christianity in Iraq)

2015 Albu Faraj north of Ramadi attacked by ISF after it was declared freed 3 times

2016 Iraqi forces attacked Gogjali eastern suburb of Mosul

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

2018 Basra Human Rights Commission said that activists were going to restart protests in

province

(Musings On Iraq Protests Return To Iraq’s Basra After Having Failed To Achieve Goals During Summer)

2019 Pres Salah said that PM Abdul Mahdi was ready to step down Replacement needed to

be found New election law passed by parliament

(Musings On Iraq PM Abdul Mahdi Ready To Step Down Will It Satisfy The Protests?)

2019 1 protester died in Baghdad from wounds Sit ins continued in Baghdad Babil Basra

Dhi Qar Maysan Muthanna Wasit Um Qasr port continued to be blocked Also protests in Qurna in Basra Rifai and Shatrah in Dhi Qar Karbala and Qadisiya

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

2019 Solidarity protests in Baquba and Jalawla in Diyala Another in Ninewa broken up by

30th Brigade of the Hashd

2020 Basra governor ordered closing down of sit-in square there

(Musings On Iraq Swan Song Of Iraq’s Protest Movement?)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Saturday, October 30, 2021

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 30

 

1918 Armistice of Mudros signed between British and Ottomans 6th Army in Mesopotamia surrendered to

UK Ended WWI in Iraq UK wasn’t able to seize Mosul province and its oil before end of war

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

1918 British officials in Baghdad told London to create central council of chiefs of Southern Kurdistan

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

1936 Hikmat Sulaiman became PM leading to 1st govt without pan-Arabists Sulaiman was hoping that

new govt would lead to liberal reforms but Gen Sidqi wanted to maintain status quo Gen won and most of Sulaiman’s followers left govt 1922-58 were 59 cabinets

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

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

1936 Sulaiman govt banished former PM Hashimi, Rashid al-Gaylani and Nuri al-Said

(Musings On Iraq review The Role of the Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 1941)

1980 Saddam predicted Iran-Iraq War would only last 6-12 months

(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 Meeting of Bush advisers on Kuwait Natl Sec Adv Scowcroft said US policy at

fork in road Could continue defense or go on offense against Iraq Joint Chiefs head Gen Powell said Gen Schwarzkopf asked for troops for offensive operations against Iraq Defense Secretary Cheney said offensive action against Iraq should be on the table

1990 Bush decided to double number of US troops in Saudi Arabia Secretly approved air

war against Iraq to start Jan 90 followed by ground invasion Feb 90

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

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

1992 Kurds allowed PKK to retreat further into Kurdistan on condition they stopped military

operations against Turks

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

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

1992 Report CIA and maybe DIA knew Iraq using front companies to buy goods and tech from US for

            weapons programs and didn't tell anyone in govt

1997 Tariq Aziz claimed surveillance planes used by inspectors were working for US intelligence

Threatened to shoot them down CIA was using planes to spy on Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review Neighbors, Not Friends, Iraq And Iran After The Gulf Wars)

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors and CIA Spying On Iraq In The 90s)

(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)

1997 Iraq asked 10 American inspectors to leave country

2002 VP Cheney told head UN Inspector Blix that inspections couldn't last forever and US was ready to

discredit them anyway to disarm Iraq

2003 VP Cheney said Iraq had 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)

2003 Dep Sec of Def Wolfowitz said because US had missed so much of Iraq’s WMD program in

1991 it might have exaggerated them in 2003

2003 Report White House pushed Pentagon to speed up training of Iraqi forces

(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil

War, 2003-2006)

2003 US Natl Intel Est on Iraq said Iraqis not foreigners behind most of insurgency and local

grievances including US occupation were fueling violence

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

(Musings On Iraq review Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency In Iraq)

2005 US military issued new campaign plan Based upon Aug 04 plan Focused upon withdrawing

US troops to prevent Iraqi dependency Reconcile with Sunnis Turn over security to ISF

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

(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 18 – Defeated By Democracy, Winter 2005-2006)

(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil

War, 2003-2006)

2005 Natl Sec Adv Rubaie wrote US Iraq cmdr Gen Casey and Amb Khalizad Said Iraq should

participate in writing campaign strategy Criticized plan saying it was just holding off insurgency to allow US withdrawal Said US should focus on protecting Iraqi population and create secure areas with ISF

2005 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Recon report said US had no policy for staffing reconstruction of Iraq

Said lack of planning by US plagued rebuilding

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

2005 Report Italian press believed SISMI intel agency forged docs claiming Iraq-Niger uranium deal

and shared them with US and UK

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

2005 Report PUK built dozens of houses in Kirkuk City and moved Kurds in Said to reverse Saddam’s

Arbization program

2006 Militias killed 17 Sunni police near British run training center in Basra

2006 VP Hashemi Anbar Gov Alwani tried to convince US Iraq cmdr Gen Casey that Ramadi sheikhs

should join an Islamic Party tribal council under Alwani to counter Anbar’s People Comm formed by 1920 Rev Brigade Ramadi cmdr and a dozen sheikhs and notables Casey rejected idea and told them they should take advantage of Ramadi sheikhs

2006 SecState Rice aide told her little chance for US success in Iraq Another said Iraq heading

towards genocidal violence Rice talked about giving up reconciliation in Iraq and just worrying about stability

(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 Iraq didn’t have full metering of oil production Incomplete records of assets and contracts

Didn’t keep track of bartered oil deals worth $426 mil and State Oil Marketing Company bank account with $779 mil Said Iraq couldn’t account for its oil revenue adequately

2009 Iraq said Syria and Baathists behind Oct 25 bombings of Justice Min and provincial council in

Baghdad Was done by ISI

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Returns To Blame Game Over Baghdad Bombings)

2012 Election Commission called for provincial elections on 4/20/13 that excluded Kirkuk and KRG

2015 PM Abadi went to Dawa meeting to answer critics of his reforms

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

2019 2 protesters killed in Baghdad UN rep to Iraq showed up at Tahrir Sq condemning

violence against protests Sit ins continued in Babil Basra Dhi Qar Karbala Muthanna Qadisiya Protests in 2 areas of Basra Um Qasr port blocked Riot in Shatra Dhi Qar

(Musings On Iraq 98 Dead in 6 Days Of Renewed Protests in Iraq)

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

2019 Solidarity actions in Kirkuk

2019 Report security forces warning and intimidating people in northern Iraq not to protest

Activists arrested in Anbar

2019 Sadr said that if PM Abdul Mahdi didn’t step down Iraq cold be next Yemen or Syria

2019 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Pres Rouhanis chief of staff claimed Iraq protests

controlled by US Israel Saudi Arabia

2019 Iran Rev Guard Quds Force Cmdr Gen Suleimani arrived in Baghdad and told ruling

parties Iran stood behind PM Abdul Mahdi

(Musings On Iraq Najaf and Tehran Pick Sides In Protests)

(Musings On Iraq Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Commander General Suleimani And His Role In Iraq, An Interview With The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Friday, October 29, 2021

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 29

 

867 Riot by Turkish soldiers in Abbasid capital Samarra against two top advisers Wasif and Bugha over

salaries Wasif beheaded

(Musings On Iraq review when baghdad ruled the muslim world, the rise and fall of islam’s greatest dynasty)

1936 Planes dropped flyers over Baghdad demanding PM Hashemi’s resignation as troops marched on

capital in coup led by Sulaiman who had been shut out of govt and Gen Sidqi PM who thought he wouldn’t be promoted When Hashemi didn’t resign Parliament building bombed in coup Def Min Askari was assassinated by Gen Bakr Sidqi coup plotters Nuri al-Said Yasin Hashemi Rashid Ali al-Gaylani all fled Iraq fearing assassination after coup 1st coup in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review The Role of the Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 1941)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against A Fascist State In Iraq and the Levant, 1941)

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Between the Two World Wars, The Militarist Origins of Tyranny)

1980 2 Iraqi Tu-22 bombers shot down ending Baghdad’s bombing campaign of Iranian cities

1983 Iraq abandoned Penjwin Kurdistan but prevented Iranians from taking it during Op Wa al-Farj 4

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

1986 Iran Op Fath 2 Iranian commandos and KDP attacked air defense radar in Irbil

(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)

1990 UN Security Council said overtures to Iraq over Kuwait invasion had failed and talked about          alternatives but came up with nothing

1990 Bush said US wouldn’t rule out use of force against Iraq for Kuwait invasion

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

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

1997 Tariq Aziz sent letter to UN saying Iraq was ready to cooperate with inspectors but no Americans

would be allowed accusing them of being spies and trying to overthrow Saddam

(Musings On Iraq review The Greatest Threat, Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, And The Growing Crisis Of Global Security)

1997 Iraq sent letter to UN objecting to inspectors using U-2 planes for surveillance because it was flown

by Americans

1997 IAEA suspended all its work in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

(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 Charles Duelfer’s Account Of The End Of The 1990s U.N. Inspections)

2002 Gen Franks briefed Bush on Iraq war plans again

(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 Bush said he supported Bremer’s plan for Iraq but that it could be sped up

(Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope)

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

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

George W. Bush to Barack Obama)

2004 CIA report said that Iraqi elections would likely lead to opposition from Sunni Arab govts

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

2004 1st Lancet report on Iraqi casualties claimed 100,000 civilians died since invasion mostly due to

Coalition 1st Lancet gained huge publicity but was mostly discredited by experts but not in media

(Musings On Iraq Major Flaws With The Lancet Reports On Iraqi Deaths Part I)

(Musings On Iraq Major Flaws With The Lancet Reports On Iraqi Deaths Part II)

(Musings On Iraq New Survey On Estimated Deaths In Iraq Refutes Lancet Reports)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Mark Van Der Laan on Lancet Reports)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Michael Spagat on Lancet reports)

2004 Al Qaeda in Iraq beheaded Japanese civilian Shosei Koda

2004 Report US forces reached Al Qaqaa site during 03 invasion then left and site looted of high

grade explosives

2004 US cmdr in Mosul briefed US cmdr in Iraq Gen Casey Said city was near collapse

2005 Def Sec Rumsfeld disagreed with Rice’s Clear Hold Build strategy Said Iraqis were ones that needed

to stand and fight and not rely on US troops

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

(Musings On Iraq 2006 Clear Hold Build: An Iraq Strategy That Wasn’t A Strategy)

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

2006 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Recon report US didn’t track hundreds of thousands of weapons it

bought for ISF and didn’t provide spare parts maintenance personnel training manuals 14,331 assault rifles sub machine guns and pistols went missing

(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil

War, 2003-2006)

2008 US turned over Wasit to Iraqi control 13th of 18th province to do so

(Musings On Iraq Wasit Province Turned Over To Iraqi Control)

2015 VP Maliki said PM Abadi removing Vice Presidents was illegal

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

2017 Pres Barzani said he would step down and defended independence referendum KDP followers

attacked press and opposition politicians and burned their offices Stormed KRG parliament building

(Musings On Iraq Barzani’s Followers Respond With Violence To News He Will Step Down)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Quicksilver War, Syria, Iraq and the Spiral of Conflict)

2019 Abdul Mahdi’s office and Karbala governor denied any died in Karbala the night

before when 35 were killed Karbala governor reportedly behind attack upon protest site

(Musings On Iraq Massacre Of Karbala Protesters As Talk Begins Of PM Abdul Mahdi Resigning)

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

2019 3 universities Teachers’ Union & Bar Assoc on strike and went to Tahrir Sq in Baghdad 2

killed trying to cross into Green Zone 2 protests in Babil and farm workers went on strike Protests in Um Qasr Basra Zubayr Shatt al-Arab and Qurn in Basra Basra Oil Company workers joined strike Um Qasr port entrance blocked Most schools in Dhi Qar went on strike Sit in at Nasiriya Najaf Samawa Diwaniya Protest at Gharraf oil field in Dhi Qar and Karbala

2019 Protests in Baquba for second day and Muqtadiya and Mosul in support of Baghdad

and south

2019 Comm to Protect Journalists said reporters being arrested and attacked at protest sites

Govt also shut down Al Dijlah Al Arabiya and Al Hadath TV stations

2019 PM Abdul Mahd rejected Sadr’s call for early elections Said if Sadr wanted a new govt

he should talk to Amiri since they created the govt Amiri said he would not ask Abdul Mahdi to step down

2019 Pres Salah called emergency meeting of ruling parties to discuss alternative to

            Abdul Mahdi

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Review No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah

West, Bing, No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah, New York: Bantam Books, 2005


 

No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah by Bing West is a harrowing tale of the Marines and soldiers that fought in the two Battles of Fallujah in 2004. It takes you into the squads and companies that went house to house along with all the political machinations that surrounded the operation. While it’s a great history of the campaign to retake Fallujah it is in no way representative of what the Iraq War was like.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 28

 

1913 Secret Al-Ahd Association of Ottoman officers formed Included many Iraqis that would become leaders

and prime ministers under monarchy such as Nuri al-Said Yasin Hashemi Jamil Midfai and others Called for Arab autonomy

1914 Gen Delamain cmdr UK 6th Div in India made plans to seize Faw in Basra

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In World War I, From Ottoman Rule to British Conquest)

(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)

1918 British defeated Turks at Shirqat

1980 Major fighting ended in Khorrmshahr with Iraqis in control Iraq lost 2,000 dead 6,000 wounded

Iran lost 1,500 dead Heavy losses meant Iraq gave up assault on Abadan to secure eastern shore of Shatt al-Arab and decided to surround city instead City was supposed to taken in 1st wk of war Took 1 month

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

1980 Iranian navy made raids on Faw oil facilities in Basra

1987 Soviet diplomat Vorontsov made another trip to Iran and Iraq to try to negotiate end to war

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Anthony Tucker-Jones on Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Tom Cooper on Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq 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 Iraq National Assembly said inspections should be stopped until deadline given to end

sanctions Saddam said Iraq would cooperate with inspections if they respected Iraqi sovereignty

(Musings On Iraq review The Greatest Threat, Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, And The Growing Crisis Of Global Security)

2001 Columnist George Will told ABC that Saddam vowed revenge against US Had anthrax Loved

WMD Had terrorist training camps including practicing taking over airplanes Last claim came from INC defectors and false Said 9/11 hijacker Atta met with Iraqi diplomat Never happened

2003 Bush speech said Iraq frontline of war on terror and would take time to win

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

2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Gen Pace said US had to return sovereignty as

soon as possible and get Iraqis to run things

2003 Sec State Powell said security number one priority in postwar Iraq otherwise nothing else would

matter

2003 Bremer met with NSC Bremer wanted constitution and elections by end of 05 Pentagon wanted

quick transfer of sovereignty Bremer later admitted his timeline was too long for White House

(Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope)

2003 CENTCOM head Gen Abizaid briefed Joint Chiefs Said insurgency made up of 4000 former regime

members 2000 from Ansar al-Islam Unknown number of foreign fighters Intel officer in Iraq thought those numbers undercount

(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)

(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil

War, 2003-2006)

2005 Bush speech said Iraq central front in war on terror against Al Qaeda and US would have

complete victory US strategy was for withdrawal not winning

(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)

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

2005 VP Cheney chief of staff Libby indicted on obstruction perjury false statements for retaliating vs

FmrAmb Wilson over Iraq-Niger 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)

2006 PM Maliki-Bush talked 50 min to overcome rift after Maliki objected to Amb Khalilzad’s

benchmarks for Maliki govt Agreed to create committee to speed up training of ISF and turning over security to Iraqis

(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil

War, 2003-2006)

2006 ISI launched first chlorine bomb

2006 Spec Insp Gen for Iraq Recon report US hadn’t trained enough Def and Interior Min personnel

to handle logistics Didn’t think ISF would be ready to handle own logistics by Jan 08 deadline it set

2006 UK launched Op Sinbad to try to push militias out of Basra city Iraqi 10th Division only contributed

two dozen soldiers PM Maliki opposed operation

2007 Report Interior Min refused to train senior officers at Habaniya Police Center aimed at incorporating

Awakening into ISF US pushed govt to hire 6,000 Diyala Sahwa into ISF but Interior Min refused Interior Min did hire 548 that were mostly Shiites Interior Min sent 663 Shiite police to Tal Afar Ninewa police chief said that disrupted effort to have more balanced provincial police force Anbar proposed 9,000 Awakening be hired into police Interior Min okayed 5,000

(Musings On Iraq Diyala Province Backgrounder)

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

2007 US commander northern Iraq Gen Mixon complained PM Maliki agreed to hire 6,000 Diyala Sahwa

into police in April 07 but never happened

2008 Report PM Maliki tried to set up Tribal Support Council in Khanaqin Diyala Maliki tried to assert

federal control over district run by Kurds for months Maliki also just said he was closing all councils

(Musings On Iraq Maliki Still Pushing The Kurds On Khanaqin District)

(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)

2008 Last Polish troops withdrew from Iraq Were stationed in Diwaniya 1st deployed troops during

            2003 invasion

2008 US general in charge of Mosul said Maliki govt’s reconstruction plan after Op Mother of Two

Springs was a failure

2008 Report Iraq’s bureaucracy lacked skilled workers Didn’t have procurement budgeting contracting

expertise Many skilled workers left due to war Baghdad counted money allocated but not spent as spent in budget

2008 US Cmdr in Iraq Gen Odierno said Iran might have bribed Iraqi parliamentarians to

vote against US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement

2015 Report Up to $500 bil ½ of Iraq’s revenue from 2006-14 went missing under PM Maliki Fmr Def

Min Shalan Fmr Trade Min Sudani Fmr Electricity Min Samarrie all charged with corruption

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with fmr anti-graft official Vincent Foulk on corruption in Iraq)

2016 KRG PM Barzani replaced 4 Gorran ministers with 4 KDP politicians in dispute over Pres

Barzani’s term

2019 Parliament voted to dissolve provincial district and local councils and allow governors

to run governorates Not enforced

2019 5 protesters killed in Baghdad by ISF Curfew in Baghdad ignored Basra city Zubayr

West Qurna protests in Basra MPs house in Dhi Qar attacked Protests in Nasiriya Shatra Gharraf in Dhi Qar Protest in Maysan Sit ins continued in Samawa and Rumaitha in Muthanna Sit in started in Najaf March in Diwaniya

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Protests Get Huge Boost As Students And Professional Groups Join In)

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

2019 Solidarity protests in Kirkuk Tikrit Baquba

2019 Karbala sit in site attacked by security forces Arrested people took down tents shot

into crowd killing 35 wounding around 800

(Musings On Iraq Massacre Of Karbala Protesters As Talk Begins Of PM Abdul Mahdi Resigning)

2019 Bar Ass Engineers Assoc Teachers Union secondary and university students in Babil

Basra Dhi Qar Karbala Maysan Muthanna Qadisiya Wasit joined protests

2019 Councilmen in Najaf Dhi Qar Diyala resigned to support protests

2019 Sadr called for early elections to replace PM Abdul Mahdi

2019 Parliament said it would create committee to amend constitution in 4 months to

appeal to protests Didn’t happen

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Marches Commemorate Anniversary Of Iraq’s Protest Movement

(Al Mirbad)
October 25 saw marches in four provinces to mark the two-year anniversary of the protest movement in Iraq. In Wasit and Maysan people demanded that the killers of activists be brought to justice. In Basra demonstrators called for the murderers of two journalists be found and prosecuted. Finally, in Dhi Qar there was a commemoration ceremony.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 27

 

1982 Saddam ordered increased attacks upon Iranian cities 3 SCUD missiles fired at Dezful

(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)

1984 Iraq restored diplomatic relations with US which ended in Oct 1967

1992 Report before Gulf War Bush admin approved sale of computers and software to Iraq that were

used on missile and supergun programs

1992 UK approved illegal sales of equipment to Iraq before Kuwait invasion that were used for weapons

programs Deals were made to collect intel on Iraq

1992 Opposition meeting in Salahaddin Kurdistan called for democratic and federal Iraq Made INC

umbrella organization with ethnosectarian quotas

(Musings On Iraq Origins Of Iraq’s Ethnosectarian Quota System)

(Musings On Iraq review Sectarianism In Iraq)

1992 PUK KDP PKK signed ceasefire after PUK and KDP helped Turks attack PKK

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

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

2002 US intel complained to press Pentagon using own intel on Iraq and relying upon INC too

much

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

Tragedy)

2003 Bremer returned to DC to discuss his long term plan for Iraq which White House had turned against

(Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope)

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

(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 Def Sec Rumsfeld told Bremer of plan to give power to Iraqi Governing Council and return Iraq

sovereignty by Apr 04 Bremer said needed new Iraqi govt and constitution 1st

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy)

2003 Bush at NSC meeting said US had to stay the course in Iraq Gen Abizaid said US had to bring

back ex-Iraqi soldiers to rebuild army Bremer said too risky Natl Sec Adv Rice said insurgency desperate and not going to succeed

2003 Zarqawi bombed Red Cross HQ and 4 police stations in Baghdad Sixth attack foiled 35 dead

and 244 injured Part of Ramadan offensive

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

(Musings On Iraq review Black Flags, The Rise Of ISIS)

2003 Saddam called on insurgents to attack Iraqi security forces rather than US led coalition

2003 U.S. military blamed foreign fighters for spate of Baghdad bombings Day before denied foreign

fighters important in capital Said insurgents were paying 10 times as much for people to carry out attacks against US forces

2003 UnderSecDef Feith provided evidence of Iraq-Al Qaeda ties his office had collected to Senate

Intel Comm Feith told comm Iraqi govt knew Zarqawi entered Iraq in 2002

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

Tragedy)

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

2003 Bush told press that violence in Iraq desperate act and sign that US was making progress

2004 Report number of IEDs being planted in Iraq went from 500 per months in May and June 04 to

1,000 by Oct 04

2005 Baghdad insurgent leader told Guardian he supported voting on Constitution and opposed Al

Qaeda in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2007 Gen Petraeus said ISI no longer had any strongholds in central Baghdad Said ops in Baghdad Belt

responsible Said harder to root out militias

2007 Report Winter 06 Sadiya Baghdad was being cleansed of Sunnis by Mahdi Army and Interior Min’s

Wolf Brigade Half population fled US troops arrived during Surge Were attacked by police US hired Sunnis into police PM Maliki govt objected

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

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

2008 Iranian agent arrested attempting to infiltrate into eastern Basra 4th such incident in Oct

(Musings On Iraq Overview of Iran’s Influence In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Iranians And Special Groups Forces Returning To Iraq)

2009 Iyad Allawi announced he was joining with Salah al-Mutlaq and VP Hashemi to create Iraqi

National Movement for 2010 election

2011 Salahaddin council voted to start process to become a federal region PM Maliki blocked move Was

            to protest Maliki govt

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

2015 60 members of State of Law sent letter to PM Abadi demanding answers about his reforms Organized

by VP Maliki

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

2017 Ceasefire announced between federal and Kurdish forces to allow for talks after independence

            referendum

(Musings On Iraq Baghdad Ups Ante Attempting To Seize Control Of Kurds’ Oil Pipeline)

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

2019 Students went on strike in Baghdad Marched to Tahrir Sq PM Abdul Mahdi

condemned student action Badr and 2 MPs offices burned in Babil ISF broke up protest in Basra Were protests in 2 other districts in Basra 1 protester died of wounds in Basra ISF started arrest campaign against activists and journalists in Dhi Qar Sit in continued in Karbala and tried to storm govt building at night Marches in Rumaitha and Samawa in Muthanna Protest in Diwaniya Protesters shut down govt offices in 3 districts of Wasit Solidarity protest in Ninewa

(Musings On Iraq More Confrontations Between Protesters And Govt 3rd Day Of Renewed Demonstrations)

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

(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)

2019 Govt shut down Al Arabiya and Al Hadath TV stations for covering protests

2019 6 MPs from Sairoon and Nasr resigned to support protests

2019 Dep head of Hashd Comm Abu Muhandis said he was watching protests Hoped govt

would meet people’s demands and called on people to support PM Abdul Mahdi

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Security In Iraq Oct 15-21 2021


Violence declined in Iraq during the third week of October. Islamic State attacks were down to single digits. On the other hand pro-Iran groups are active once again.

This Day In Iraqi History - Oct 26

 

1920 UK High Commissioner Sir Cox formed Iraqi provisional govt after 1920 Revolt led British to give up

direct rule Abd Naqib of Baghdad was premier Had 21 ministers 12 with no portfolios Naqib opposed giving any ministries to Shiites

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

(Musings On Iraq review Dictatorship, Imperialism & Chaos, Iraq since 1989)

(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)

1920 UK High Commissioner Sir Cox said Basra province showed no support for Mandate Merchants in

province just wanted to maintain status quo Mid-Euphrates sheikhs and landlords the same Baghdad and Mosul provinces wanted to have role in govt Intellectuals were nationalists

1952 Baghdad Pharmacy College strike over exams Turned into riot that spread to other cities 

1967 Arif visited Kurdistan Met with Barzani Said would implement Jun 29 agreement

Govt would disband Fursan anti-Kurdish fighters

(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)

1970 Plebiscite on whether Kirkuk would become part of Kurdish region delayed Never

happened

(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)

1978 Pres Assad signed National Charter of Joint Action to counter Israel-Egypt peace treaty while

visiting Baghdad

1980 Iraq fired missiles at Dezful, Iran for 2nd day

1980 Most of the Iranian forces driven out of Khorrmshahr Gave Iraq control of Shatt al-Arab Iraq lost

4,000-12,000 casualties

1980 Soviet news agency accused Iraq of aligning with US in Iran-Iraq War

1980 Iran objected to Iraq abrogating 1975 Algiers Agreement in letter to U.N. Said Iran still

following it Iraq broke it

1984 Tariq Aziz told Sec of State Shultz Iraq ready to resume full diplomatic relations with US after

17 yr break

(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)

1989 Sec of State Baker memo said that ties with Iraq important to shape Middle East politics

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

1992 Report Aug 89 FBI raided Atlanta bank that made $5 bil in fraudulent loans to Iraq Baghdad used

some of that money to buy weapons and tech for weapons or bought US farm products and traded those for weapons fro other countries programs Bush admin tried to block investigation into bank

2001 After anthrax letters sent to Wash DC ABC reported anthrax trademark of Iraq’s WMD

program

2001 Czech Interior Ministry told press 9/11 hijacker Atta met Iraqi intel officer in Prague False story

2003 DepDefSec Wolfowitz arrived in Baghdad and met with Chalabi who warned him insurgents

knew he was in the country

2003 Baghdad’s Rashid Hotel hit by rocket while Wolfwitz staying there 16 killed 18 wounded Part of

Ramadan offensive

2003 US military said were not many foreign fighters in Baghdad

2003 Iraq Survey Group found aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were not for centrifuges Pentagon

replied group had not finished its analysis Were for rockets

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

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

2003 Report CIA interviewed head of Iraq’s centrifuge program who said Iraq ended centrifuge work

after Gulf War and tubes had nothing to do with it CIA claimed head of Iraq’s centrifuge program was not telling truth about aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy Were for rockets

2004 PM Allawi blamed US for deaths of 49 army recruits killed in Diyala by Zarqawi

2005 Report CIA review said Zarqawi visited Baghdad May 02 but probably didn’t have protection of

Iraqi govt Review based upon interviews with Iraqi officials Bush admin originally claimed Zarqawi was given safe haven by Saddam and sign of Iraq-Al Qaeda ties

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

2006 PM Maliki interview refuted US timetable for Iraq Said ISF could take over security in 6 months

not 12-18 US set out Said he didn’t agree to timetable Said he met with Sadr and they agreed greatest threat to Iraq was Al Qaeda in Iraq and Baathists not militias

2006 Def Sec Rumsfeld said US had not gotten PM Maliki to agree to crackdown on militias Said Maliki

would work towards US benchmarks but would be no deadlines or penalties if he didn’t

2007 Islamic Army fought ISI outside Samarra Salahaddin

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

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

2007 Report US and ISF targeting insurgent finance networks in Mosul Found kickbacks overbilling illegal

sales real estate deals black market gas and propane sales earned $40-$60 mil for insurgents over last few years

2008 US Special Forces raided ISI camp in Syria used to ferry foreign fighters into Iraq captured

huge amount of documents

2008 US threatened to cut all services to Iraq if Status of Forces Agreement not passed

2017 Iraqi forces renewed west Anbar op This time aimed at liberating Qaim along Syrian border from IS

2017 More clashes between Iraqi forces and Peshmerga in Fishkhabur Dohuk and Altun Kupri Ninewa after

            independence referendum

(Musings On Iraq Baghdad Ups Ante Attempting To Seize Control Of Kurds’ Oil Pipeline)

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

2019 Protesters killed rose from 42 to 70 in 2 days People tried to enter Green Zone in

Baghdad ISF tried and failed to clear Tahrir Sq Basra ISF broke up protest outside govt building and carried out mass arrests Also protest in Shatt al-Arab Dhi Qar governor and deputy governor had homes burned Overnight sit-in in Karbala Protest outside Iranian consulate in Karbala Protests in Maysan Muthanna Najaf Qadisiya

(Musings On Iraq Death Toll Rises As Govt Tries To Break Up Iraq Protests)

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

2019 Sadr announced his Sairoon bloc was joining the opposition and started sit in protest

in parliament building

(Musings On Iraq More Confrontations Between Protesters And Govt 3rd Day Of Renewed Demonstrations)

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...