Monday, June 19, 2023

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 19 Trying to play down the security situation in Iraq Sec Def Rumsfeld said the murder rate in Wash DC was worse than violence in Baghdad

(Dept of Defense)

 

1914 Germany and Britain asked Ottomans for oil concessions in Mosul and Baghdad provinces

1935 UK Ambassador to Iraq said King Ghazi was a playboy who was completely absorbed by his

hobbies and neglected his country

1937 Pan-Arab officers withdrew support for head of army Gen Sidqi 4 reformer ministers resigned

Weakened Sulaiman’s govt Only 3 ministers left Sulaiman replaced reformers with Arab nationalist Istiqlal members Sulaiman became completely dependent upon Sidqi to stay in power

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review Imagining The Nation, Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

1961 Kuwait signed new defense deal with England angering Qasim

1966 Pres Arif met with Jalal Talabani Promised Kurdish rights in provisional constitution

Govt thought Talabani represented Kurds when he didn’t He’d just broken with Barzani

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

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

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

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

1981 UN Resolution 487 condemned Israel’s destruction of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor

1985 Iran attacked Qasr e-Shirin central Iran across from Diyala Diversionary attack before Op Al

Quds 2

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

1988 Iraq captured Mehran Iran central front then handed it over to Mujahedeen e-Khalq’s National

Liberation Army

(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)

1996 UN and Iraq began talks on allowing UN inspectors access to sensitive sites

1996 Dep PM Aziz told UN inspectors they got most of their intel from US and UK that were trying

to remove Saddam and that inspectors were making sensitive visits to provoke a crisis on US-UK’s behalf

(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 Neighbors, Not Friends, Iraq And Iran After The Gulf Wars)

1996 CIA was hoping to cause a crisis between Iraq and UN inspectors to justify military action

against Saddam that would start coup CIA working with ex-Gen Shawani and his sons in Republican Guard

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

(Musings On Iraq review The United States And Iraq Since 1990: A Brief History with Documents)

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

1996 Iraqi intelligence captured an Iraqi operative involved in CIA coup and rounded up everyone in

plot

(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors and CIA Spying On Iraq In The 90s)

1998 UN Res 1175 increased Iraq’s oil export quota to $5.3 bil under Oil For Food program Allowed

importation of equipment to maintain oil industry

1998 Ayatollah Ali Gharavi and his son and son in law were gunned down in Najaf by govt Saddam

blamed foreign agents

2002 US told UK that it was ready for its input on military planning against Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 6.1 Development of the Military Options for an Invasion of Iraq)

2002 Gen Franks briefed Bush on war plans

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

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

Tragedy)

2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld said that US only fighting small groups of dead enders in Iraq Tried to

compare insurgency in Baghdad to murder rate in Wash DC to say it wasn’t bad

(Musings On Iraq How The U.S. Failed To Recognize The Insurgency In Iraq)

2003 Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz told Congress violence in Iraq was “last remains of a

dying cause” and not an insurgency

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2003 US forces found an old buried centrifuge Claimed proof that Iraq had a nuclear weapons

program

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

2003 US denied that captured Iraqi trailers were anything but mobile weapons labs Inspections

showed they weren’t

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

2003 White House acknowledged that State Dep intel questioned whether captured trailers were

WMD labs

(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims that Iraq Had WMD)

2003 Report on Iraq-Niger uranium deal Said VP Cheney got docs on deal from UK Asked for more

info leading to Fmr Amb Wilson’s trip to Niger Article used Wilson as unnamed source who said White House knew Niger story was a lie It didn’t

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)

(Musings On Iraq review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

2006 Bodies of 2 US soldiers kidnapped by Mujahedeen Shura Council in Baghdad found

2007 Op Ripper to clear Baquba in Diyala began 1st part of Op Phantom Thunder to clear Baghdad

belts of insurgents

2007 Iraq ranked No 2 on failed states list by Fund for Peace/Foreign Policy due to civil war Was No

4 in 2006

2007 Maj Mowle fmr Iraq cmdr adv said summer 04 military drew up 1st campaign plan for Iraq

Didn’t include goals of insurgency or how Iraqis would react Thought Iraqis would do what was best for the US and everything would go exactly as planned Didn’t expect Iraqis react negative to 1st Battle of Fallujah

2007 Leon Panetta of Iraq Study Group said found no coordination within White House and within

military on Iraq Military commanders said they were getting nothing from Washington

2007 Philip Zelikow adv to Nat Sec Adv/Sec State Rice said fmr Iraq Cmdr Gen Casey’s campaign

plan didn’t have a strategy or operational instructions for military Washington gave no direction to military in Iraq When Rice announced Clear Hold Build policy in Oct 05 didn’t have strategy on how to carry it out Jun 06 State pushed Bush to get hands on involved in Iraq Didn’t happen Bush didn’t get hands on until winter 06

(Musings On Iraq 2006 Clear Hold Build: An Iraq Strategy That Wasn’t A Strategy)

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

2007 Ret Col Krepinevich Adv to Army said US had no strategy in Iraq until Surge What

Washington said about the war didn’t match what it was actually doing Didn’t commit resources to win

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

2007 Ret Gen Keane architect of the Surge Bush always talked about winning and victory in Iraq but

he never understood what the actual strategy was US never had a winning strategy before the Surge The policy was to hold elections and turn security over to the Iraqis so the US could leave That had nothing to do with defeating the insurgency

2007 Fred Kagan architect of Surge US strategy pre-07 was to withdraw and have Iraqi politics deal

with insurgency Didn’t work because many Sunnis rejected politics Said Bush wasn’t hands on with Iraq policy until Surge

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

2007 Fred Kagan Surge strategy was to establish security in Baghdad and surrounding areas Then go

to Shiite parties and ask them to make compromises with Sunnis

2009 Speaker of KRG parliament said KDP and PUK taking $30 mil of KRG budget for themselves

2009 2 British guards kidnapped and killed by Asaib Ahl Al-Haq returned to British embassy In

return AAH members released from prison

(Musings On Iraq 2007 Political Kidnappings In Iraq Involving Asaib Ahl Al-Haq)

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

(Musings On Iraq Iranians Planned Kidnapping And Held British Captives Taken In Iraq) 

2009 Report PM Maliki and ISCI met and agreed to revive the United Iraqi Alliance before 2010

elections Maliki wanted it called State of Law and he would be its leader Didn’t work out

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Role In The Revival Of The United Iraqi Alliance)

(Musings On Iraq United Iraqi Alliance Ready To Be Reconstituted)

(Musings On Iraq Trying To Revive the United Iraqi Alliance)

2009 Weatherford signed $224.4 mil deal with Maysan Oil Company to develop Bazargan field

Involved kickbacks over production

(Musings On Iraq Corruption In Iraq An Interview With Stuart Bowen Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Trouble Fighting Corruption Interview With Vincent Foulk Former US Anti-Graft Official)

2010 Protest in Basra over power shortages Threw rocks and burned things at govt building 2

demonstrators killed by police

(Musings On Iraq Basra Protest Over Lack Of Electricity Reflects Twenty Years Of Problems)

(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Government Banned Electricity Protests)

2010 Report Sahwa leader in Diyala warned that ISI using carrot and stick against sahwa members in

attempted comeback in province

(Musings On Iraq Behind The Revival Of The Islamic State in Iraq, Interview With Naval War College Prof Craig Whiteside)

2010 Report Dir North Oil Company said pipes old and in disrepair Said 500km of Iraq-Turkey

pipeline needed to be fixed urgently Oil Ministry said 1 bil cubic ft of natural gas burned off during oil production because of lack of means to capture and use it Iraq loses $50 every second as a result

2011 Def Sec Gates blamed Iran for giving weapons to Special Groups who were attacking US

forces before withdrawal

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

2011 1st Iraqi army unit received artillery from US

2011 PM Maliki govt accused Communist party and civil groups for protests in Baghdad

(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)

2011 Speaker Nujafi told Al Jazeera that $18.7 bil was missing in Iraqi funds used by US for 

reconstruction

(Musings On Iraq More On Iraq’s Missing Billions In Reconstruction Funds)

2011 Shell and Mitsubishi began preparatory work for capturing natural gas in Basra Deal was signed

in 2008

(Musings On Iraq Iraq-Shell Natural Gas Deal May Finally Become A Reality)

2012 Report Iran tried to stop no confidence vote against PM Maliki

(Musings On Iraq Iran Tries To Mediate Iraq’s Political Crisis, But Can They Overcome The Deep Divisions In The Country?)

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

2012 PM Maliki said Exxon deal with KRG could lead to break up of Iraq Baghdad asked US for

help to stop deal Maliki’s media adv said govt would stop any KRG-Exxon oil deal that involved disputed areas

(Musings On Iraq Exxon Deal With Iraq’s Kurds Gains Powerful New Ally, Ninewa’s Governor, But Will It Backfire On Him?)

(Musings On Iraq How the New Chevron Deal Affects Oil Dispute Between Iraq’s Central Government And Kurdistan)

(Musings On Iraq The State Of The Kurdish Regional Government In Iraq, An Interview With National Defense Univ’s Dr Denise Natali)

2013 ISIS’ spokesman Adnani released tape criticizing Zawahiri admonishing group for declaring

itself ISIS and expanding into Syria

2013 Iraqi army claimed it was responsible for split between ISIS and Al Nusra in Syria because it

controlled Iraq-Syria border

2013 Iraqiya Diyala-Sadr list formed new govt in Diyala shutting out State of Law State of Law held

protests against new govt in Diyala Militias blocked roads around Baquba

2013 Maliki govt said it wanted to reach 4.5 mil/bar/day in oil production by end of 2014 Didn’t

happen

2013 Report France’s Total expanded investment in KRG Bought 80% stake in Bar Bahar field in

Dohuk Already had 35% stake in Harir and Safen fields in Irbil

2013 Report More militias going to fight in Syria More open funerals Abu Zeinab former Mahdi

Army cmdr hosted fighters going to Syria at his home in Baghdad Up to 50 fighters flown to Syria each week Foreign Min Zebari said stories were exaggerated Privately politicians officials and militiamen said Maliki govt explicitly supported fighters going to Syria Mahdi Army Badr Asaib Ahl Al-Haq all fighting in Syria

2014 PM Maliki ordered govt to pay salaries and benefits to Hashd

2014 Report Obama called for more inclusive govt in Iraq in order to receive US aid State Dept’s

McGurk denied US was pushing for removal of Maliki Speaker Nujafi and Kurds hoped statements would help them oust Maliki

(Musings On Iraq Replacing Maliki No Panacea For Iraq)

2014 Joint Chiefs head Gen Dempsey told CENTCOM cmdr Gen Austin Obama thinking of 2

different policies One contain disrupt defeat IS with training and advising ISF Partnering with Iraqis Air Strikes Other limited advisory role to govt to just help Iraq with planning war Provide intel and logistics to ISF Only have air strikes to protect Americans

2014 Joint Chiefs head Gen Dempsey said unified Iraq not only way to protect US interests in

MidEast Said if Iraq broke apart US should move towards KRG

2014 ISIS set up 8 courts in Mosul to run city Was pushing out other insurgent groups that helped

take city

(Musings On Iraq Update On Iraq’s Insurgency Interview With Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi)

(Musings On Iraq The Islamic State of iraq Attempts To Create A State in Syria And Iraq Interview With Aaron Zelin)

(Musings On Iraq review Mosul Under ISIS, Eyewitness Accounts Of Life In The Caliphate)

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

2014 Sadr offices announced taking volunteers for new Peace Brigades to fight insurgency

(Musings On Iraq Moqtada al-Sadr And Iraq’s Militia Mobilization)

2014 Fighting in Saqlawiya Anbar after it was declared freed Ishaqi Salahaddin declared freed 2nd

time but fighting continued

(Musings On Iraq Security In Iraq’s Anbar Shows Battle Against Insurgents Will Be Long And Often Futile)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Western Front Is Anbar Next To Fall?)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Northern Front Stalemate In Salahaddin)

2015 Report returns to Tikrit area largely based upon whether or not backed IS Salaahddin Gov

Jabouri afraid of retaliation against IS families Said 400 homes destroyed in Tikrit after it was freed After Hashd left Tikrit families allowed in Families returning to Alam where tribes fought IS Dour and Abu Ajeel which sided with IS empty

2016 Report Interior Min document in 2014 when PM Maliki acting minister ordered stop to

investigation of official who imported fake bomb detectors

2016 Report Up to 50 prisoners executed by Hashd at Amerli prison

2017 Hashd spokesman again talked about liberating Tal Afar Said intl pressure would not stop it

Turkey warned Iraq not to allow Hashd into city

(Musings On Iraq Mosul Campaign Day 246-47 Jun 19-20 2017)

2017 EU said Kurds had to work with rest of Iraq Said against unilateral actions meaning KRG

independence referendum

2017 KRG Pres Barzani said no turning back on KRG independence referendum

(Musings On Iraq What’s Next For Kurdistan After The Referendum?)

(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)

2017 Mosul council issued ordinance that IS families be sent to camps

2018 PM Abadi said govt would disarm Hashd that were not part of the state

2019 Report PM Abdul Mahdi said armed groups should stop acting independently of the

state including those abroad meaning in Syria Said all foreign forces had to have govt permission to be in country next day rockets fired at Mosul and Basra by pro-Iran groups

2019 Report Ninewa Ops Command working to remove local Hashd from province Aug

2018 and May 2019 PM Abdul Mahdi ordered them to leave but they refused

2019 Protests in Basra Muthanna Dhi Qar over services ending corruption better

governance

(Musings On Iraq Summer Is here And Iraqi Protests Met With Carrots And Sticks Again)

2020 Report Gulf Keystone that operated oil field in KRG laid off 40% of workforce due to falling

oil prices and delayed payments by KRG

2021 Babil Governor Mandil said displaced couldn’t return to Jurf al-Sakhr because of IEDs Real

reason large Kataib Hezbollah base and along pilgrimage route to Karbala and Najaf

2021 Report 7 villages in south Kirkuk empty of people because of IS threats Mayor of Daquq

said more people were leaving

2022 Pro-Iran groups used interview with ex-Sec State Pompeo who said killing of Gen Suleimani

and Abu Muhandis as proof that Iraqi intel took part in op Set off bombs in front of intel agency HQ in Baghdad

(Musings On Iraq Political Violence By Pro-Iran Groups Continues In Iraq)

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This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 21 Saddam paid Carlos the Jackal and PFLP to kill Saudi and Iranian oil ministers at OPEC meeting for supporting Kurdish revolt Ministers were taken prisoners but then released

  1956 Communist uprising in Al-Hay put down and leaders executed ( Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq )...