1920 US Consul in Baghdad said England hadn’t taken any serious steps to create an independent
Iraqi govt
1920 US Consul in Baghdad said England hadn’t taken any serious steps to create an independent
Iraqi govt
1915 Retreating British force attacked by pursuing Ottomans at Um at Tubul after loss at Battle of
Ctesiphon/Salman Pak
Bashkin, Orit, New Babylonians, A History Of Jews In Modern Iraq, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012
New Babylonians, A History Of Jews In Modern Iraq by Orit Bashkin is an outstanding book about how Jews attempted to become citizens of Iraq and then how the state turned against them. She argues that Jews adopted Arab language, culture and the politics of the day. Things changed after World War II as the government and Arab nationalist groups began equating Jews with Zionism and persecuted the community leading to the majority to leave for Israel. Bashkin did a huge amount of research into Iraqi papers, journals and writers of the time which gives his book a great deal of depth as she covers territory that has not been discussed by others.
1915 Ottomans attacked retreating UK forces from Ctesiphon/Salman Pak at Um at Tubul
Forced UK to retreat further south UK suffered 37 dead 218 missing 218 wounded 520 taken prisoner along with 2 ships Turks had 748 casualties
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)
![]() |
Farmer in Baaj, Ninewa looking at what used to be farmland (Norwegian Refugee Council) |
1623 Safavids took Baghdad after son of governor betrayed him Tortured and killed Sunnis and
destroyed Sunni mosques and shrines
![]() |
(Getty Images) |
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)
1914 Gen Barrow in India was against further advances by British in Mesopotamia Did want to
seize Qurna, Basra
Mallat, Chibli, Iraq, Guide To Law And Policy, Austin, Boston, Chicago, New York, The Netherlands: Wolters Kluwer, 2009
Iraq, Guide To Law And Policy by Chibli Mallat is not your usual release. It follows the format of an American law book. It has primary sources like the Iraqi constitution and the Transitional Administrative law, short articles and U.S. government and international reports covering topics from Iraqi law to its economy to the security situation under the U.S. occupation. Those are followed by notes and questions by the author and other legal scholars. It’s probably best used as a reference source to give background to research into Iraq.
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)
![]() |
(US Air Force) |
![]() |
(Wikipedia) |
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)
1914 Arab tribes told British forces Ottomans had abandoned Basra British forces set out to
take city
![]() |
(GeoCurrents) |
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)
I was quoted in this article "Will Israel-Hamas war in Gaza drag Iraq back into quagmire of Conflict?" in the Arab News and in "Future of US troops in Iraq at risk amid Israel-Hamas war?" in The New Region.
View all of Musing On Iraq's appearances
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)
Ballard, John, Fighting for Fallujah, A New Dawn for Iraq, Westport, London: Praeger Security International, 2006
Fighting for Fallujah, a New Dawn for Iraq is a military history of the two battles for the Iraqi city by John Ballard. It covers how Fallujah became a center of resistance to the U.S. occupation, then the American attempt to pacify it and concludes with the rebuilding effort. It is heavy on details about the U.S. military units involved. The author veers off course sometimes but it is still a good blow by blow account of the struggle for Fallujah.
(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)
![]() |
(AFP) |
On November 13 Moqtada al-Sadr called on his followers to boycott the December provincial elections. The idea is that if his sizeable movement does not participate it will delegitimize the vote. That might lead to a delay in the balloting.
1914 Ottomans attacked British at Saihan, Basra Forced to retreat British lost 62 casualties Turks
126
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)
1958 Iraqi Communist Party issued plan for Kurdistan saying it supported Kurdish self-govt within
Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review A People’s History Of Iraq, The Iraqi Communist Party, Workers’ Movements, and the Left 1924-2004)
(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)
Tucker, Mike Faddis, Charles, Operation Hotel California, The Clandestine War Inside Iraq, Guilford: The Lyons Press, 2009
Operation Hotel California, The Clandestine War Inside Iraq is based upon the recollections of a CIA officer who was sent into Iraqi Kurdistan in 2002 to prepare for the U.S. invasion. There are short parts by the two authors Mike Tucker and Charles Faddis but the vast majority of the book are long transcripts of the agent recollecting his experiences. The CIA agent loved working with the Kurds and felt like they accomplished a lot but he was very critical of Turkey, the CIA leadership and the Bush administration who he blames for all kinds of problems with the invasion and the postwar chaos.
city
![]() |
(Wikishia) |
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)
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)
October was marked by two major trends. First, the Islamic State continued to fade from Iraq. Second, pro-Iran groups restarted attacks upon U.S. targets due to the war in Gaza.
![]() |
(Wilson Center) |
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)
1913 Constantinople Protocol set new border between Ottomans and Persia Ottomans kept
Shatt al-Arab waterway
![]() |
(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)
Fernea, Robert & Louis, Wm. Roger, The Iraqi Revolution Of 1958, The Old Social Classes Revisited, London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 1991
Hanna Batatu’s The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq is one of the most famous and thorough books on Iraqi History. It covers the emergence of the Iraqi state and society from British colonialism to the 1960s. This release The Iraqi Revolution Of 1958, The Old Social Classes Revisited came out of a conference in 1991 where papers were submitted to discuss what led to the 1958 coup in Iraq and its aftermath using Batatu’s work as the basis for their analysis. It is remarkable because every chapter is interesting something that is usually challenging to find in an anthology. The authors cover a variety of issues from British, American and Soviet policy towards the monarchy before its overthrow to the coup’s connections to other political movements in the Middle East to tribes and the development of Iraqi politics and culture. Some are straight forward histories while others are more theoretical. Each provides a very interesting look at how Iraq was transformed during this important period.
1915 Ottoman police in Baghdad city began arresting notable Jews and Christians Believed they
were pro-British
![]() |
(The Cradle) |
1920 US Consul in Baghdad said England hadn’t taken any serious steps to create an independent Iraqi govt