This Day In Iraqi History - Mar 21 Shock and Awe bombing campaign started during 2003 invasion of Iraq

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1920 Iraq political officer Wilson wrote India Secretary Montague Said no connection

between Iraq and Syria and would reject rule by Faisal who’d been declared king of both before overthrown by France Said Iraq should have its own govt

1921 Colonial Sec Churchill wrote PM George lobbying for Faisal to be approved as new ruler of

Mesopotamia

(Musings On Iraq Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Empires of the Sand, The Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East 1789-1923)

1925 King Faisal signed new election law and Organic Law/constitution King confirmed all laws Could call

elections Dissolve parliament Pick PM and members of Senate

1935 UK report Baghdad afraid to deploy Iraqi army because didn’t trust it especially because much of the

rank and file were Shiites

1941 Regent told UK Amb that he would dismiss PM Hashemi govt if it didn’t deal with Golden Square

officers

(Musings On Iraq review Persian Gulf Command, A History of the Second World War In Iran and Iraq)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq 1941, The Battles for Basra, Habbaniya, Fallujah and Baghdad)

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

1961 Jalal Talabani gave Kurdish nationalist speech Khabat paper published it leading it to be closed by

govt

1963 Army burned Kurdish village in Kirkuk district and National Guard attacked another

during talks between govt and Barzani

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

(Musings On Iraq review Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan)

1980 Ayatollah Khomeini’s son Ahmad said that Iran had to use all means necessary to spread its

revolution to other countries

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

1982 Iran attacked Fakkeh Shush and Naderi Took Ein Kosh in central front 1^st phase of Op

Fath 1^st time Basij used with Revolutionary Guard in human wave attacks Largest Iranian op so far Destroyed 2 Iraqi divisions Largest defeat for Iraq so far

(Musings On Iraq review Armies of the Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s History In Iraq, Interview With Naval Postgraduate School’s Afshon Ostovar)  

(Musings On Iraq review Vanguard of the Imam, Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard)

1985 State Dept spokesman claimed US thought Iraq had defeated Iran and said Tehran should accept

negotiated settlement

(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)

1991 Govt offensive to retake Kirkuk from Peshmerga began day after Kurds took it

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

1991 Govt announced state of emergency in Baghdad due to uprising

(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)

1991 UN diplomat Martti Ahtussari issued report that sanctions had hurt ability of Iraq to

feed its people Said conditions in Iraq were “near apocalyptic” Said Coalition bombing had taken Iraq back to “pre-industrial age”

(Musings On Iraq review Invisible War, The United States And The Iraq Sanctions)

2002 VP Cheney told NSC Arab leaders not interested in Iraq because of Intifada in Palestine

2002 Gen Franks met with US commanders in Germany to go over war plans Said war was going to

happen and they needed to be ready Air Force general said needed up to 2 wks to destroy Iraq’s air defense Marine general advocated for invasion force to quickly advance to catch Iraq by surprise Franks said main priority getting to Baghdad as quickly as possible

(Musings On Iraq review Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Role of Military Intelligence Assessment)

2003 Shock and Awe bombing campaign started Only lasted 9 hours

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

2003 US commanders reported that Iraqi soldiers were abandoning their units

(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter The Invasion of Iraq)

2003 Parts of Um Qasr port seized by US forces Sec Def Rumsfeld declared Um Qasr taken It wasn’t

2003 British and US forces began seizing oil fields in Basra 15 oil fields set on fire by Iraqis

(Musings On Iraq review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine Commandos In

Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Special Operations Forces in Iraq)

2003 British reached Basra and started fighting Fedayeen

2003 MI6 was trying to incite a popular uprising in Basra against Saddam

2003 Op Viking Hammer launched to destroy Ansar al-Islam camps in Halabja Started with cruise missile attack Kurdistan Islamic Group also hit with missiles

(Musings On Iraq Why Didn’t Bush Strike Zarqawi And Ansar al-Islam In 2002?)

2003 1^st Coalition casualties of Iraq war 8 UK 4 US soldiers died in Kuwait helicopter accident 1 US

Marine killed in fighting in Um Qasr

2003 Natl Sec Adv Rice briefed Bush and NSC All agreed on war goals democracy and put Iraqi face

on occupation

(Musings On Iraq review Overreach, Delusions of Regime Change In Iraq)

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

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

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

Tragedy)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)

(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review The Assassins’ Gate, America In Iraq)

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

(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction’s “Hard Lessons” – Part I: Planning for Postwar Iraq September 2001 to May 2003)

2003 UK Gen suggested revising postwar plans for Iraq Needed to improve lives of Iraqis Balance

withdrawal with forces necessary for stability

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 8: The Invasion)

2003 White House press secretary said no question Iraq’s WMD would be found

(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)

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

2003 INC’s Chalabi told NBC that Iraqis would welcome US as liberators

(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)

2004 11 U.S. soldiers suspended for prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib

2005 State Dept’s Jeffrey told Bush Allawi trying to drag out govt formation process and he should stop

because was not going to retain premiership

2006 PM Blair said that Iraq war was part of the struggle between spreading democracy vs violence in

world

2006 Bush said there was sectarian fighting in Iraq but it was not a civil war after Allawi said it was

2006 Insurgents took police station and courthouse in Baghdad Killed 17 police Freed 20 prisoners 200

insurgents from different groups took Muqdadiya police station in Diyala Executed 19 police Freed 33 prisoners

2006 Report insurgents infiltrated into Tal Afar after successful counterinsurgency program by 3^rd

Armored Cav Reg ended and unit left

(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 17 Innovation In The Face Of War, Summer-Fall 2005)

2006 CIA report Insurgency undermining political and economic development in Iraq Said even if

Sunnis given larger role in Iraq govt Al Qaeda in Iraq would not stop attacks

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2006 US and Iraqi officials estimated 200 bodies found in Baghdad last 2 wks Triple normal rate

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

2007 Report 2 Mahdi Army cmdrs said Iran had been paying militiamen since 2005 to break away

from Sadr Said Iran trying to get Sadrists to join Asaib Ahl Al-Haq Said Iranian backed groups tried to assassinate Sadr City mayor Said militia receiving training from Hezbollah and Iranian Rev Guard in Iran Many militiamen also went to Iran to escape Surge

(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah’s Role In Iraq)

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

(Musings On Iraq Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s History In Iraq, Interview With Naval Postgraduate School’s Afshon Ostovar)  

(Musings On Iraq review Vanguard of the Imam, Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard)

2008 Basra cmdr Gen Furayji briefed US on security plan for Basra Would be long term strategy starting

in Sep or Oct Natl Sec Adv Rubaie told US PM Maliki wanted to meet about Basra

2008 4 sahwa units quit 38 threatening to go on strike 2 on strike for not being paid by govt

2008 Fighting continued between Mahdi Army and police in Kut Clashes began Mar 11 Sadrists

claimed PM Maliki and ISCI were trying to attack party before provincial elections

2009 Mustafa formerly of PUK said KDP and PUK took $35 mil/yr from KRG’s budget payments

from Baghdad

2009 Report Oct 08 Baghdad began taking over Sahwa Now controlled Sahwa in Diyala Kirkuk

Ninewa Wasit Babil Qadisiya Anbar Education and Health Ministries only ones offering non-ISF jobs to Sahwa

(Musings On Iraq Budget Problems Affecting Integration of Sons of Iraq)

2009 Fmr UK secretary to UN Ross told parliament there was pre-war intel that showed Saddam

not a threat Said told members of Blair’s cabinet no threat

2009 Group of former Sadrists in Baghdad announced Clerics Advisory Opposed to Iran’s

influence over Sadr trend

(Musings On Iraq New Challenges To Sadr’s Leadership)

2010 PM Maliki sent letter to Supreme Court to interpret what largest bloc meant Would lead to him

forming largest bloc after vote and gaining 2^nd term

2011 PM Maliki released 10,000 prisoners who didn’t have enough evidence against them Gesture

towards protest movement who demanded detainees be let go Maliki denied there were secret prisons Iraqi Human Rights Society said political parties and Maliki had their own prisons Justice Min recently shut down secret jail in Green Zone

2011 Head of Sulaymaniya council said Pres Barzani promised to resign if reforms weren’t implemented

in response to protests Barzani said reforms would take 3-4 months Never happened

(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)

(Musings On Iraq How Iraq’s Kurdistan Broke Up Two Months Of Protests)

2012 ISI claimed responsibility for 15 bombings in 10 cities on Mar 20 that killed 50 Said wanted to

disrupt security before Arab League summit in Baghdad

(Musings On Iraq One Reason Why The Security Forces Can’t Stop Bombings In Iraq)

2013 Sadr called cabinet decision to postpone provincial vote in Anbar unconstitutional State of Law MP

said parties were planning on stealing elections in Anbar and Ninewa Said Sadrists ministers voted on postponement

2013 Sadr cleric gave Friday sermon calling on PM Maliki to step down

2014 Insurgents occupied Sari Tapa Diyala 6 hr gun battle with ISF Afterward security forces took out

anger on village raiding houses and arresting people

2014 Report Asaib Ahl Al-Haq retook Buhriz Diyala from ISIS in Mar Afterward 28 villagers killed Houses

and mosques burned

2015 Report Hashd said Jabour tribe fought IS in Alam Salahaddin and were allowed to return to

area Hashd said everyone else around Tikrit were IS supporters Stopped displaced from Dour returning Burned houses in Albu Ajeel

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

2015 Report Kataib Hezbollah and ISF cmdr denied any homes were burned in Dour Salahaddin

Councilman MP and local police accused Kataib Hezbollah of looting burning and blowing up homes in Dour Councilman said 150 houses destroyed

(Musings On Iraq Human Rights Watch Finds Iraq Government Forces Destroyed Tikrit Area After Its Recapture)

2015 US began providing intel and surveillance on Tikrit after request for aid by PM Abadi

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

2016 Sadr said quotas in govt should be ended

(Musings On Iraq interview with Cambridge’s Michael Clark on Sadr, protests and PM Abadi’s reforms)

2016 IS attacked base in Makhmour Ninewa where US providing artillery support for Iraqis US

soldier killed by rocket fire 2 days before US denied there were any combat forces in Iraq

2016 Report Iranian Revolutionary Guard talked with Iraqi govt officials and Hashd about sending

more militiamen to Syria to make up for Russian withdrawal Talked with Asaib Ahl Al-Haq Badr Abu al-Fadhl al-Abbas Hezbollah Harakat Nujaba

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Prime Minister Abadi Continuing Maliki’s Syrian Policy)

(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)

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

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Sheikh Akram Al-Kaabi and Hezbollah al-Nujaba)

(Musings On Iraq Abu Fadhl Al-Abbas Brigade From Fighting In Syria To Iraq)

2016 Report Jan 2016 Interior Min raided Hashd offices in Baghdad accused of attacking Sunnis

Arrested deputy cmdr Hashd surrounded police and got release of cmdr Feb army deployed to force Hashd out of building at military base in Baghdad refused to leave Talks defused confrontation Head of Khorasani Brigade said that the Hashd would be 3^rd power in Iraq like the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Sunni officials accused Hashd in Samarra of killing civilians taking over schools forcing people to sell their property near shrine Deputy head of Samarra council claimed 650 people disappeared in city and likely killed by Hashd

(Musings On Iraq Khorasani Brigade Another Iraq Militia That Returned Home From Syria To Fight The Insurgency)

2017 Report ISF looting Mosul Took several tons of wheat and generators

(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 155-56, March 20-21, 2017)

2018 Report Interview with Mosul official in charge of rebuilding city Said didn’t have enough

money Didn’t have 2018 budget Said city needed $75 mil for basic services Thought could get $10 mil from Municipalities Min Didn’t expect much from Ninewa govt Adv to Municipalities Min said $400 mil allocated in 2017 budget for rebuilding Iraq but only $120 mil sent out

2018 Defense Min sent delegation to Sinjar to negotiate PKK withdrawal from district Didn’t

happen

2018 Iraqi officer said during Hawija clearing op only went through cities and didn’t leave troops

behind to secure area Meant still strong IS presence in district

2018 Turkey’s Pres Erdogan said it would launch operation to clear PKK from Sinjar

(Musings On Iraq Turkey Bluffs Its Way Into Getting PKK To Withdraw From Iraq’s Sinjar)

(Musings On Iraq review Turkey, the US and Iraq)

2020 UN found from Oct 2019-Mar 202 123 activists kidnapped 98 were found Part of

intimidation campaign by pro-Iran groups against protests

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

(Musings On Iraq United Nations Faults Iraq For Failing To Protect Protesters)

2021 Court issued warrants for 2 critics of PM Kazemi govt Charged with insulting govt

institutions

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