This Day In Iraqi History – Mar 5 Sec Def Cheney said US would not be able to hold Gulf War coalition together if it marched on Baghdad and overthrew Saddam

 

1917 British forces started march on Baghdad from Kut

(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)

 

1939 British called in aide to King Ghazi and told him to stop attacks upon UK in his radio addresses

1963 Barzani threatened to go to war with Baath govt if demands for autonomy not met

(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)

(Musings On Iraq review People Without A Country, The Kurds and Kurdistan)

1964 Provisional constitution issued Declared Iraq socialist democratic country

1968 Barzani and Talabani forces fought in Raniya area

1981 Iraq offered peace deal to Iran including withdrawal Khomeini said no seeing offer as weakness by

Saddam

1981 Khomeini’s rejection of Iraq’s peace offer led Saddam to push ahead with new attacks in Iran

1981 Report that Iraq wanted to buy military equipment from US but turned down

1983 Soviet Foreign Min Gromyko met with Iraqi and Iranian delegations to try to mediate end to Iran-Iraq

War

1984 US condemned Iraq’s use of WMD for 1^st time in Iran-Iraq War Iraq denied it used any

(Musings On Iraq Origins Of Iraq’s WMD Programs)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Use Of Chemical Weapons In Iran-Iraq War And Their Western Origin)

1985 Iraq bombed Ahvaz in Khuzistan province Started new war of cities that lasted until June 1985

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

1985 Iraqi military intelligence warned 3^rd and 4^th Corps of impending Iranian offensive Attack

would come further south

1987 Saddam had meeting on war Decided to expand Republican Guard Expand tanker war Use

WMD more

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Use Of Chemical Weapons In Iran-Iraq War And Their Western Origin)

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

1988 Iran told UN that it was ready to accept ceasefire

(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 Police tried to arrest army deserters in Raniya but Kurdish rebels seized city Began

            executing Baathists and security personnel by throwing them off roof of a building

1991 Karbala joined 1991 Revolt

(Musings On Iraq The 1991 Shiite Uprising In Southern Iraq)

1991 Ayatollah Khoei issued fatwa for people in Najaf to follow Islamic Law Protect property during

uprising

1991 US Gen Brandtner said US would not let weapons go to Shiite rebels in southern Iraq

(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 Sec Def Cheney said US would not be able to hold coalition together if it moved on Saddam

1991 Iraq officially renounced annexation of Kuwait agreed to pay reparations and return stolen

property to Kuwait

1991 Report Saudia Arabia worked with Syria to create Iraq Salvation Movement made up of Dawa

Communists KDP PUK pro-Syrian Baath Party ISCI

1991 Saudi King Fahd said that he thought Saddam wanted to swallow Kuwait and parts of

Saudi Arabia

1995 INC claimed fighting between opposition and Iraqi forces in Qurna as part of its uprising

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

1998 UN weapons inspectors returned to Iraq and carried out successful searches Wanted to breakdown

Iraq’s deception campaign

(Musings On Iraq review The Greatest Threat, Iraq, Weapons of Mass Destruction, And The Growing Crisis Of Global Security)

1998 UN inspector Ritter installed device that allowed NSA to monitor Iraq’s military and

            security communications to uncover WMD concealment program

(Musings On Iraq review Endgame, Solving The Iraq Crisis)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Confidential, The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein)

1998 Report Al Qaeda operative arrived in Baghdad for talks False story

1998 Jim Hoagland OpEd in Wash Post said many Republicans would support Ahmed Chalabi

            and INC simply to attack Clinton

2002 CIA debriefed Fmr Amb Wilson on his trip to Niger to investigate Iraq buying uranium Wilson said

he found no proof of Iraq-Niger uranium deal but in 1999 Iraq asked Niger about better trade CIA believed 1999 overture about better Iraq-Niger trade might have been supporting proof of uranium deal Niger story fake

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

2002 Fmr Amb Wilson left CIA debriefing believing he disproved Iraq-Niger uranium deal CIA felt they

might have proof it happened Story fake

(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)

2002 UK Foreign Sec Straw had article in Times of London that there was increasing evidence

Iraq’s WMD program were growing Said if Iraq refused UN inspectors there would be consequences

2002 UK Joint Intel Comm head Scarlett briefed PM Blair on Iraq’s WMD Afterward Blair thought Iraq

only had battlefield WMD capability

2002 UK Home Secretary Blunkett at cabinet meeting asked whether legal basis for action vs Iraq

2002 UK intel report predicted successor to Saddam would be a Sunni military man

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 6.4 Planning and Preparation For A Post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, Mid-2001 to January 2003)

2003 UK Embassy in Washington said Bush admin set on war with Iraq

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

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 3.8 Development of UK Strategy and Options, 8 to 20 March 2003)

2003 France Russia Germany said they would not vote for a UN resolution authorizing force against Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 3.7 Development of UK Strategy and Options, 1 February to 7 March 2003)

2003 PM Blair told Bush if they got 9 votes on Sec Council for 2^nd resolution and it was vetoed they

would still have legal authority for action

2003 UK Attny Gen told PM Blair if 2^nd resolution vetoed in UN would be no legal basis for Iraq war

2003 Sec State Powell told Congress 2^nd UN resolution against Iraq would pass while his staff told him

wasn’t likely

2003 Sec State Powell said that Iraq weapons declaration to UN farce because it said it had no WMD and

claimed it was hiding them from inspectors

(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 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 National Intelligence Committee memo said that docs on Iraq-Niger uranium deal were forgeries

2003 Sir Tebbet Sec of UK Def Min asked cabinet for legal authorization for war with Iraq

2003 Russian Amb provided Iraq with numbers of US troops, equipment and their locations to Iraq

before invasion

(Musings On Iraq Russia Provided Iraq With Details Of US Plans Right Before Invasion)

2003 ORHA head Garner got ok from Natl Sec Adv Rice to use frozen Iraqi assets to pay for postwar plans

Garner told Rice he didn’t think there would be enough US troops in Iraq to maintain security after invasion Garner asked Rice what were plans to put together post-Saddam Iraqi govt Got no answer

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

Tragedy)

2003 CENTCOM commander Gen Franks briefed Bush on war preparations Were 208,000

forces in Middle East with 50,000 more arriving in 2 weeks Bush asked about postwar plans Franks said mayors would be appointed to run liberated areas Franks made that up on the spot

2003 Bush met Vatican envoy who argued against war because of casualties and gulf between Christians

and Muslims

2003 UN inspectors interviewed Gen Saadi who was Saddam’s chief scientific adviser Said there were no

mobile WMD labs

(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claim That Iraq Had WMD)

(Musings On Iraq Look Who The LA Times Dug Up – CURVEBALL)

(Musings On Iraq Story of CURVEBALL And Iraq’s Mobile Biological Weapons Labs)

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

2004 CENTCOM cmdr Gen Abizaid said ISF put together too quickly and lacked training equipment

command and control

(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 12 Reconstructing Iraqi Security Forces)

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

(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 11 The Gathering Storm)

(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil

War, 2003-2006)

2004 Fmr head weapons inspector Blix said Iraq war was not authorized by existing UN resolutions

2004 Shiite members of Iraqi Governing Council refused to sign Transitional Administrative Law due to

Sistani objections

(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)

2004 Badr head in Najaf Hassan attempted to assassinate CPA provincial coordinator for trying to stop

him from bribing Najaf council to control it

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

(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 11 The Gathering Storm)

2006 Gen Pace Joint Chiefs head said Iraq was not heading towards civil war

2006 After head of Nuaim tribe and sheikh from Jabour tribe killed Hawija sheikhs decided to fight Al

Qaeda in Iraq

2007 Report Interior Min fired and reassigned 10,000 workers for torture taking bribes ties to militias

2008 Gen Petraeus and Amb Crocker said Iran failed to follow through with promise to PM Maliki to cut

support for militias Gen Odierno and CENTCOM cmdr Adm Fallon said that Iran biggest long term threat to Iraq Sill trained and directed militias

(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)

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

2008 Cabinet approved Oil Ministry to sign technical support agreements with foreign oil companies for

            first time

2008 Emergency security plan in Basra announced to hunt down militias after Nasiriya police inspector

            general assassinated there week before

2009 Iraq passed 2009 budget Govt facing economic crisis with declining oil prices Only cut 7%

from budget Was for $58.6 bil

(Musings On Iraq Baghdad Failing To Invest In Its Future)

2010 Report PM Maliki used state to help in election Hired temp workers as full time workers in

projects run by his office Tried to add 115,00 new workers in 2010 budget but was blocked Announced govt would re-hire 20,000 ex-soldiers Set up generators in Baghdad with his State of Law logo on them

2010 Report All the major parties claimed voter fraud National Alliance said 800,000 false names

were added to voter roles Iraqiya said 7 mil extra ballots had been printed and could be used for cheating Parties distributed gifts for votes PM Maliki’s State of Law handed out pistols saying it was for people who helped with security Some accused Maliki of using state funds to finance his campaign

2011 Sulaymaniya protesters started general strike Called for general public to join

2012 Wearing ISF uniforms ISI attacked 5 checkpoints Took 27 police prisoner Executed them Then

released video of attacks

2014 PM Maliki accused Speaker Nujafi of violating constitution Blamed Nujafi for budget not passing

Part of election campaign

2015 ISF tribes and Hashd started campaign to free Garma in east Anbar of IS

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Goes On The Offensive In Salahaddin, Kirkuk and Anbar)

2016 Report Coalition’s Op Tidal Wave II targeting IS’s oil infrastructure appeared to be working

Est cut oil revenues by 30% Op started Oct 2015 Coalition also bombed 2 IS banks in Mosul Feb hit 4 more cash deposits including Central Bank in Mosul Baghdad stopped paying govt workers in IS areas IS could still tax and charge fees in its territory

2016 Report KRG oil sector ran into problems Mar Genel Energy downgraded reserves and production

estimates leading to sell off of stocks Operated KRG’s main oil field Taq Taq Company almost cut in half KRG’s estimated oil reserves from 683 mil/bar to 356 mil/bar Problems with water management also lowered future production at Taq Taq Production at Taq Taq was estimated to decline in future KRG pipeline to Turkey regularly bombed Production at other major field Tawke declined because DNO wouldn’t invest because KRG wasn’t paying it regularly Oil companies owed $3 bil Some companies in heavy debt KAR owed around $1.1 bil by KRG KRG believed to be $26 bil in debt twice as big as economy KRG made deals with oil traders to be pre-paid for exports Debt to oil traders likely to increase Jan KRG exported $400 mil in oil but owed oil traders $250 mil

(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Kurdistan’s Failed Independent Oil Strategy)

2017 Report Spokesman for KRG Pres Barzani said all the forces in Sinjar were PKK Said PKK

should be under authority of KRG but wasn’t Said Yazidis didn’t accept the PKK Peshmerga cmdr called on PKK to leave Sinjar Came after Sinjar Protection units fought KDP backed force

2018 Report Foreign views of sectarianism in Iraq usually stuck in 2005-07 period Led many to see

Hashd as being like Mahdi Army that attacked Sunnis Led to statements like Sec State Tillerson calling on Iranian militias to go home Hashd widely popular in Iraq Seen as volunteers fighting IS Crossed many different groups and religions Myth of Hashd was that they were Iraqi youth who answered Ayatollah Sistani’s call to defend Iraq Hashd connected to state Hashd became another way for ruling parties to dish out patronage and distribute resources Abuses by Hashd part of wider history of abuses in Iraq Some groups Iranian proxies Hashd not going away Wouldn’t be integrated into ISF because wanted to maintain their interests Didn’t think Hashd would become like Hezbollah or Iranian Rev Guard

2020 Pro-Iran groups fired rockets at Baghdad’s Green Zone 5^th such incident in 2020

(Musings On Iraq Tit For Tat Between U.S. and Pro-Iran Hashd Continues)

2021 Pope visited Iraq

2021 Report Majority of KRG Security Council objected to statement that said 5 journalists/activists

arrested were connected to PKK Claimed statement was political move by KDP

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