This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 15 Ayatollah Khomeini called on Iraqis to rise up and overthrow Saddam

(Wikipedia)

1915 Viceroy of India wrote UK interests were protecting Persian oil concession which meant Basra

vilayet should be controlled by UK while Baghdad vilayet should be ceded by Turkey and given native administration under UK influence

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

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

1917 British took Bhopal Hill from Turks Consolidated position in Baghdad vilayet British suffered 518

casualties Turks 800-1,000

1921 During Cairo conference Colonial Sec Churchill set up committee of Sir Percy Cox Gertrude Bell TE

Lawrence Hubert Young and Lt Cmdr Noel to discuss future of Kurds in Iraq

1959 Nasser gave 5^th speech against Iraqi Communists Said party was anti-religious

(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)

1963 Differences within Baath over socialism led it to issue announcement of a transitional program to

focus on Arab unity and development of Iraq and then move towards socialism

1969 Bakr govt sent army brigade to Syria to protect against Israel

1980 Ayatollah Khomeini called on Iraqis to rise up against Saddam

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

1981 Saddam said unless Iran agreed to ceasefire he would aid Iranian opposition groups

1985 Iraq carried out air raid on Tehran Iran fired SCUDs at Baghdad in War of Cities

(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Mirages, The Dassault Mirage Family In Service With The Iraqi Air Force, 1981-1988)

1985 Iraq launched counterattack against Iran Op Badr Pushed Iranians back across Tigris

1988 Iran seized areas south of Mawat Kurdistan

(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)

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)

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

1988 First detention center for Kurds displaced during Anfal campaign set up

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Anfal Campaign And The Destruction Of The Kurdish Opposition)

1990 Iraq executed UK journalist Bazoft for reporting on missile program Condemned in West Saddam

believed West plotting against Iraq and Bazoft’s execution would be sign to them to stop Saddam said Bazoft’s death was punishment for PM Thatcher plotting against Iraq

1991 Rebels in Diwanaiya attempted and failed to take Hillah

1991 Saddam declared southern revolt over

1991 Iraqi govt forces began operation to retake Tuz Kharmato from Peshmerga

1991 US met with Iraqis Told them they could not fly planes Objected to Iraqis using

helicopters to put down Shiite uprising Iraq said rebellion led by Iran

1991 US shot down Iraqi fighter after warned it no flights allowed during uprisings

(Musings On Iraq interview with National Univ of Singapore’s Fanar Haddad on the Impact of the 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq Remembering The 1991 Uprising In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Saddam’s View of Iraq’s 1991 Uprising)

(Musings On Iraq When The US Helped Start A Rebellion In Iraq That It Didn’t Want)

2003 Saddam finally realized war inevitable Divided up Iraq into 4 districts with loyalists in control of each

2003 Iraqi state TV said country was on a war footing Baghdad had been divided into four military

districts

2003 Special Republican Guard withdrew $1 bil from Central Bank of Iraq under Uday Hussein to pay

off sheikhs to put down expected rebellions

2003 Iraqi security forces tried to stamp out signs of Kurdish opposition in Kirkuk City

2003 VP Cheney told NBC that UN weapons inspectors had missed Iraq’s nuke program in 1990s and

they weren’t going to do better this time Said Iraq could have a nuclear bomb soon Said Iraqis defying inspections again

(Musings On Iraq Interview With VP Dick Cheney On Weapons Inspections March 2003)

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Created An Iraqi Nuclear Threat In 2002)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Days Of Fire, Bush and Cheney in the White House)

2003 ORHA head Garner told Sec Def Rumsfeld plan was only to dismiss top two officials from each

Iraqi ministry and not carry out any deBaathification policy Rumsfeld okayed plan

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

Tragedy)

2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld complained Garner picked non-Pentagon people to run some Iraqi ministries

Wanted them all from Defense

(Musings On Iraq on Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 3 The Department of Defense Takes Charge)

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

2003 CIA gave explosives to Kurdish team which blew up Mosul-Baghdad railway starting covert action

campaign before invasion

2003 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found 51% of Americans believed Saddam involved in 9/11

2004 Bush told Blair Chalabi up to no good using deBaathification committee for his own ends

2005 Mahdi Army attacked co-ed Basra Univ engineering student picnic Beat female student and stripped

her She later committed suicide 2 male students shot Led to protests vs Sadrists

2005 Report leaked that Halliburton overcharged US for fuel imports to Iraq by more than $108 mil

2005 Italy announced it would withdraw its approximate 3,000 troops from Iraq

2005 Ukraine withdrew 130 of its soldiers from Iraq

2006 Iraq Study Group began creating alternative Iraq strategy for Bush admin

2006 US Iraq cmdr Gen Casey created task force to look into sectarian violence and come up with

            targets to bring it down

2007 Report White House said Surge would lead to political benchmarks by Mar 07 Was none Cabinet

approved draft oil law US officials said they were backing off pushing Maliki govt on changing deBaathification law in fear of backlash

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

2009 Report Iraq didn’t have good investment rules Had to get okays from every ministry involved in

investment and they didn’t have same rules Used paper system which meant everything went slowly Investments often got stuck in bureaucracy

2009 Report Kurdish newspaper fined 10 mil dinars for story that Pres Talabani worth $400 mil Editor

fined 3 mil dinars for saying PUK got $30 mil/yr from KRG budget Examples of how politicians used defamation laws to silence critics

2009 King Abdullah told US he didn’t trust PM Maliki because he was an Iranian agent

(Musings On Iraq review A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, The Saudi Struggle For Iraq)

2010 Report election monitoring groups found ISF telling who to vote for at polling stations People voting

for absent or dead family members Families and tribes selling votes

2010 Report Iraqi borders guards charging $1,500 per truck to enter with produce Some trucks

held at border for days until they paid

(Musings On Iraq New Examples Of Corruption In Iraq)

2011 Kirkuk governor and provincial councilman resigned due to protests

(Musings On Iraq A Possible Power Sharing Deal Between Kurds And Turkmen Could Upset The Status Quo In Iraq’s Tamim Province)

2012 One of VP Hashemi’s guards who accused him of terrorism died in custody Authorities

claimed kidney failure but pictures showed torture

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

(Musings On Iraq Charges Against Iraq’s Vice President, And Why They Matter)

2012 Report oil companies in Kurdistan cut back production because owed money by KRG Baghdad

stopped monthly budget payments to KRG over oil dispute

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Kurds Push For More Oil Production, While Bickering With Baghdad Over Exports)

2012 Report US asked Iraq to stop flights from Iran to Syria using air space Used to send weapons to

support Assad Maliki govt refused

2013 Police stopped protesters in Baghdad praying at Abu Hanifa mosque Report ISI flags seen at Fallujah

protest site

(Musings On Iraq Understanding Iraq’s Protest Movements, An Interview With Kirk Sowell, Editor of Inside Iraqi Politics)

2014 Report insurgents skimmed salaries from ISF in Mosul and Tikrit Charged taxes on imports to

cities Got protection money from businesses and generator operators Kidnapped for ransom Believed to earn $8 mil/month from extortion in Ninewa 

(Musings On Iraq Insurgent Financing In Iraq’s Ninewa Province)

(Musings On Iraq Analyzing The Finances Of Al Qaeda In Iraq Interview With RAND’s Patrick Johnson)

2015 Report 800 Hezbollah advisors sent to Iraq to help plan ops against IS

(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah’s Role In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Divisions Over Iraq War Exposed In Victory In Tikrit)

2015 Head of Samarra Ops Command asked Defense Min to request Coalition air strikes to help

with Tikrit op Came after attack on city slowed due to Hashd casualties Hashd claimed Tikrit would fall in 3 days Didn’t happen

(Musings On Iraq U.S.-Iranian Rivalry Behind Iraq’s Tikrit Operation)

2018 Report KRG hadn’t paid govt workers since 2016 due to falling oil prices and budget dispute with Baghdad

2018 Def Sec Mattis accused Iran of sending money to Iraq to sway May elections

2020 Kataib Hezbollah threatened ISF political parties and companies to stop working

with US by this date or else Said it was fighting US occupation of Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Instrument Of Iran’s Power In Iraq And Syria Kataib Hezbollah)

2021 Report Split within protest movement over whether to take part in elections or boycott

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