Iraq witnessed a new low in violence the third week of November. There were only two incidents reported in the press, both by the Islamic State. The previous low was 3 incidents a week which happened twice in 2022.
(BBC) |
1914 Gen Barrett and Sir Percy Cox asked that UK occupation of Basra be announced as
permanent believing it would sway Arabs to UK side Request turned down
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
(Radio Free Europe) |
(Hush-Kit) |
1914 London told Gen Barrett wasn’t time to seize Baghdad vilayet but that Qurna, Basra
should be taken
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
Ritter, Scott, Endgame, Solving The Iraq Crisis, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002
Endgame, Solving The Iraq Crisis was Scott Ritter venting his frustration with the United Nations weapons inspections in Iraq in the 1990s. Ritter was one of the chief inspectors and believed that the United States gave up on the process and allowed Iraq to hide its weapons of mass destruction. A few years later however he completely flipped around his perspective questioning the Bush administration’s argument to remove Saddam Hussein in 2003.
(Wikipedia) |
1914 Sir Percy Cox issued statement in Arabic that British had occupied Basra and UK was
at war with Ottomans and had no ill will towards locals
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
(Wladimir Van Wilgenburg) |
(Wikimedia Commons) |
1914 UK troops entered Basra after Ottomans abandoned city
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
(Cricistan) |
1914 British troops took Fort Zain, Basra Ottomans retreated to Basra city
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
Baker, Peter, Days Of Fire, Bush and Cheney in the White House, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Auckland: Doubleday, 2013
Peter Baker wrote Days Of Fire, Bush and Cheney in the White House to refute the idea that Vice President Dick Cheney was the driving force behind President George Bush. Baker argues that the two largely agreed about issues during the first administration but then drifted apart in the second. The Iraq War was an example of their relationship since both individuals wanted to overthrow Saddam Hussein. The author also pointed out how badly the war was handled by the White House.
(Wikipedia) |
1914 British attacked Sahil, Basra backed by 4 gunships and won Ottomans lost 1,500-2,000
casualties British 489
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
(Wikipedia) |
1914 British forces attacked Ottomans in Fort Zain, Basra
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
1914 Sheikh of Islam called for jihad against British and French during WWI Call was repeated in
all Sunni mosques in Mosul, Baghdad and Basra vilayets
(Wikipedia) |
1914 British forces in Faw launched reconnaissance in force near Saihan, Basra
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
Panetta, Leon with Newton, Jim, Worthy Fights, New York: Penguin Press, 2014
Worthy Fights is an autobiography of Leon Panetta written by the Los Angeles Times’ Jim Newton. Panetta went from a Congressman specializing in the budget to heading budget matters with the Clinton administration to President Clinton’s chief of staff to the CIA director and Defense Secretary under President Obama.
(Al Mada)
NOTE: Early reporting that Ashab al-Kahf was involved in this murder now appears to be wrong.
On Monday November 7, an American English teacher Stephen Troell was killed in Baghdad. Gunmen in a car with no license plates drove up next to him and shot him. The vehicle went through several checkpoints without any incident pointing to some group connected with the government being involved. There are reports that the attackers originally wanted to kidnap him, but something obviously went wrong.
(Getty Images) |
1958 Iraqi Communist Party issued plan for Kurdistan saying it supported Kurdish self-govt within
Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)
(Musings On Iraq A History Of The Iraqi Communist Party Interview With Univ of East Anglia’s Johan Franzen)
(ShiaWaves) |
1914 British troops after landing at Faw Peninsula Basra captured Ottoman Faw Fort
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
(VFW) |
1914 British troops started march from the port of Faw to the city of Basra
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
(Washington Institute) |
1914 British troops landed at Faw, Basra starting war against Ottomans in Mesopotamia
(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)
(Britannica) |
1914 England and France declared war on Ottoman Empire Would lead Mesopotamia into WWI
(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)
Freedman, Lawrence and Karsh, Efraim, The Gulf Conflict 1990-1991, Diplomacy and War in the New World Order, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993
The Gulf Conflict 1990-1991, Diplomacy and War in the New World Order by Lawrence Freedman and Efraim Karsh is one of the most comprehensive books about the Gulf War. Most others on the topic follow the same script. They go over Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the U.S. led response, Iraq’s intransigence and then the Gulf War. Freedman and Karsh have that plus the international response from countries like England, France, the Soviet Union and Japan along with all the diplomatic negotiations that led up to the war. If you want to get a complete story of the crisis then The Gulf Conflict should be at the top of your list.
(National Army Museum) |
1914 UK troops arrived at mouth of Shatt al-Arab while warship bombarded Ottoman fort on Faw
Peninsula before Ottomans joined WWI
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
September’s security news was dominated by attacks by the Iraqi Islamic Resistance. The Islamic State was also active during the month but s...