This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 18

 

1534 Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I conquered Baghdad from Safavids

1914 British launched second attack on Ottoman forces in Fort Zain, Basra

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

1915 UK learned 11-12,000 Ottomans dug into Salman Pak Actually had 21,000 men vs 12,000 for UK

1922 Sheikh Barzinji declared independent Kurdish kingdom in Sulaymaniya

1929 Naji al-Suwaidi became PM Were 14 govts under Mandate

1963 Pres Arif removed Baathists from govt including PM Bakr Baath National Guard militia rose up in

Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk Head of Baath National Guard Wandawi bombed Presidential Palace Escaped to Syria afterward

(Musings On Iraq review Socialist Iraq, A Study in Iraqi Politics Since 1968)

1968 Barzani called on UN to intervene in Iraq during Kurdish revolt Claimed Bakr govt

committing genocide

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

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

1973 Communists said they would stop anti-KDP propaganda campaign attacking it as feudal party

and capitalist tool

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

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

1979 Naji Suwaidi became premier of Iraq

1980 UN Special Rep to Iran and Iraq Olof Palme began mediation mission to try to stop war

1987 Iraq bombed 2 abandoned nuclear reactors in south Iran 2^nd time

(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 Russian President Boris Yeltsin met with Iraqis trying to convince them to cooperate with

weapons inspectors

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

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

1998 UN inspections began again in Iraq with goal of causing a confrontation to justify US bombing

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

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

2001 Def Policy Board’s Richard Perle was one of the first to say Iraq was a threat because of

WMD and ties to Al Qaeda during interview on ABC

2002 New UN inspectors arrived in Baghdad

2003 CENTCOM cmdr Gen Abizaid’s advisers said Iraqi police lacked resources training program

ineffective US couldn’t provide it logistics Said police effort could fail

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

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

(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 8 – Muddling Through August-October 2003)

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

War, 2003-2006)

2005 House Republicans attacked Democrats for trying to cut and run in Iraq by backing withdrawal

US policy was withdrawal

2005 Al Qaeda in Iraq bombed Shiite mosque in Khanaqin Diyala 74 dead

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

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

2005 Study 90-96% of insurgency were Iraqis only 4-10% foreign fighters

2006 Pentagon and Joint Chiefs papers on Iraq said US should follow Gen Casey plan to withdraw turn

things over to Iraqis Joint Chiefs paper said Iraq falling into civil war US strategy not working

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Mansoor on the Surge)

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

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

War, 2003-2006)

2006 US intel report on Iraq said US had no good options in Iraq

2006 VP Cheney’s office memo on Iraq said US should back Shiites and Kurds and forget about Sunnis

2008 US signed Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq that set 12/31/11 withdrawal date for US forces

2008 Report PM Maliki fired or replaced 17 anti-corruption officials Some were inspector generals at

Water Culture Trade Youth Mins and perhaps Foreign Affairs Min Central Bank of Iraq Sunni and Christian Endowments Some replaced by Dawa officials to strengthen Maliki’s hold over ministries

(Musings On Iraq Lack Of Commitment To Fight Corruption In Iraqi Government)

2008 US forces arrested another Iranian Rev Guard Quds Force member This time at Baghdad airport

12^th Iranian arrested since Oct US accused him of smuggling weapons into Iraq

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

2008 Presidential Council sent letter to PM Maliki that govt money being spent on his Tribal Support

Councils should be spent upon ISF instead Councils were created as patronage networks for Maliki before 2009 elections

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

(Musings On Iraq Disputes Over Tribal Support Councils)

2009 VP Hashemi vetoed parliamentary election law saying it would reduce Sunni seats Kurdish

Alliance State of Law ISCI amended law to cut possible seats for Sunnis

(Musings On Iraq VP Hashemi Shoots Himself In The Foot With Veto Of Iraqi Election Law)

2009 ISF arrested 73 IS suspects for Oct 25 Baghdad bombings Maliki govt claimed it was

Baathists

2018 Sheikh Gharawi one of the leaders of the Basra protest movement assassinated

2019 PM Abdul Mahdi’s office said it would issue warrants for teachers behind school

strikes

2019 Some major roads in Basra blocked for strike including some to Rumaila oil field

Road to Karbala airport and refinery blocked

2019 Report on 100s of leaked Iranian documents on its Iraq ties Included head of Mil Intel under PM

Maliki who said that he would do whatever he could to help Iran Intel head helped Iran assassinate Iraqi pilots from Iran-Iraq War and ISF officers

2020 Report Fmr Leighton Holdings official arrested in Australia on bribery charges Allegedly

involved in $77.6 mil in bribes to South Oil Company and Oil Min officials including fmr Oil Ministers Shahristani and Luaibi

(Musings On Iraq Australian Arrested In Iraqi Corruption Case)

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