Tuesday, April 2, 2024

This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 2 Iraq closed border with Iran declared Kurdish revolt over Barzani and 150,000 people fled to Iran


 

1941 Regent of Iraq arrived at UK airbase at Habaniya Anbar after Golden Square officers tried to

arrest him after coup Regent tried and failed to organize resistance to coup in Basra Then fled to Jordan

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s First Battle Of Fallujah 1941)

(Musings On Iraq interview World War II In Iraq and Syria Interview With Case Western’s Prof Broich)

(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 Between the Two World Wars, The Militarist Origins of Tyranny)

 

1946 National Democratic Party Independence Party Liberal Party National Unity Party People’s

Party licensed Became major opposition parties during monarchy Called for independence from UK End Anglo-Iraq Treaty Arab unity Democracy Individual liberties Some socialist and Marxist

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Democratic Moment)

1975 Iraq army sealed border with Iran and declared Kurdish revolt over Mustafa Barzani and

150,000 Kurds fled to Iran 1972-75 some 17,000 killed and 280,000 displaced during Kurdish rebellion

(Musings On Iraq review Killing Hope, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II)

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

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq & the Kurdish Question, 1958-70)

(Musings On Iraq When The Shah and Nixon Manipulated The Kurds)

1980 Saddam said those killed in attack on Mustansiriya Univ Baghdad bombing would not be

forgotten

1982 Dep Cmdr of Iran’s armed forces claimed end of Iran-Iraq War was near

1986 Khomeini called for all able bodied men to join armed forces to overthrow Saddam

(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)

1990 Report Iraq wanted to double oil exports by end of yr to pay debts and rebuild after Iran-Iraq

war Analysts doubted capacity Lacked foreign exchange Spent most of it on war Paid little of its debt Inflation at 40% Imported most of its food Still spent large sums on military and nuclear bomb program

1990 Report personal typewriters were no longer illegal in Iraq but had to be registered with the govt

1990 Saddam speech Justified executing UK journalist Bazoft as spy Threatened to burn half of

Israel with WMD if Iraq attacked

(Musings On Iraq Why Did Saddam Threaten Israel Before The 1990 Invasion of Kuwait?)

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

(Musings On Iraq review the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq in Wartime, Soldiering, Martyrdom, and Remembrance)

(Musings On Iraq review Saddam’s War, An Iraqi Military Perspective of the Iran-Iraq War)

1991 State Dept U.S. never said that it was for removing Saddam It did

(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)

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

1991 Turkey said that 30,000 Kurds had entered country and 220,00 more coming as Saddam put

down Kurdish revolt Closed its border as a result

1991 Iran and Turkey went to UN about Iraq’s suppression of Kurd and Shiite revolts and refugee

crisis it was creating

1991 Kurds began fleeing Sulaymaniya in face of govt offensive to retake it from Peshmerga

1991 UN Resolution 687 said Iraq had to agree to border with Kuwait peacekeeping force along that

border Coalition forces would exit SIraq Iraq had to destroy its WMD and long range missiles Iraq had to make a declaration on its WMD and nuclear programs by 4/17/91 UN Sec Gen would create a weapons inspection commission by 5/17/19 Said Iraq had to return stolen property and pay reparations to Kuwait Until all of those were met sanctions would remain

(Musings On Iraq review Hide And Seek, The Search For Truth In Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

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

2002 UK Amb Meyer and PM Blair foreign policy advisor Manning met with Natl Sec Adv Rice

Reported Bush hadn’t worked out any details on Iraq yet and smarting from European rejecting pivot towards Iraq

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 3.2 Development of UK Iraq Strategy and Options, January to April 2002 – “Axis of Evil” to Crawford)

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

2002 Ansar al-Islam attempted to assassinate Barham Salah of PUK in Kurdistan

2003 US forces took Karbala US 1st Marine Div crossed Tigris after destroying Baghdad Republican Guard Div Moved on Nida Republican Guard Div Iraqi 16th Infantry Div in Mosul told to move south to support Republican Guard around Baghdad

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

2003 Emergency meeting of Republican Guard in Baghdad with Qusay Hussein He said

Saddam ordered Republican Guard Al Nida Div to move west to block coming US invasion from Jordan Saddam got Russian intel that’s where real invasion coming from Republican Guard Corps cmdr Gen Hamdani objected Said he needed forces to block US forces in Karbala heading for Baghdad 1st time Iraqi leadership heard how far US had advanced Defense Min Chiefs of staff of Republican Guard and regular army dismissed Hamdani Def Min said Saddam made order and no changing it Qusay also had all Republican Guard divisions retreat towards Baghdad Opened way to capital During meeting heard US attacked Jurf al-Sakhr in Babil confirming US advance Hamdani said it was like Hitler in the bunker at the end of WWII

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

(Musings On Iraq review Iraqi Perspectives Project, A View of Operation Iraqi Freedom from Saddam’s Senior Leadership)

2003 Russian Amb to Iraq told Iraq Foreign Min US was going to cut off Baghdad from south north east with biggest force in Karbala US was concentrating bombing on Baghdad Final attack wouldn’t happen until around Apr 15 when 4th Inf Div would arrive in Iraq

2003 Republican Guard II Corps cmdr Gen Hamdani tried to set up new defensive line in Yusifiya but Republican Guard Chief of Staff ordered him to launch counterattack Hamdani ordered Republican Guard Medina Div to carry out attack While moving into north Babil was attacked by US air strikes

2003 US raid freed US POW Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital

2003 Talabani said Peshmerga would not attack Kirkuk city to stave off criticism from US and Turkey

Kurds ended up taking city

(Musings On Iraq How Did Kirkuk Become Such A Divisive Issue? A Portrait of The City In

2003)

2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld sent memo to military to cooperate with ORHA because wasn’t helping it

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq and Back, Inside The War To Win The Peace)

2003 State Dept leaked complaints to LA Times about Pentagon’s postwar plans to exclude UN and

support Chalabi and INC

2003 Pentagon-CIA meeting Def Sec Rumsfeld said he wanted to move forward with Iraqi

Interim Authority CIA Dir Tenet warned against including Chalabi and exiles in authority Dep CENCTOM head Gen Abizaid said conference should be held inside liberated south to decide on authority even though Sunnis would largely be excluded Dep Def Sec Wolfowitz said could start with 6 members of exile leadership council and grow from there Tenet agreed

2004 Marines ordered to go into Fallujah and arrest culprits behind killing Blackwater contractors

Became Op Vigilant Resolve

(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 12 Things Fall Apart Apr 2004)

(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review No True Glory, A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah)

2004 Sadr gave angry speech against US occupation after CPA closed his newspaper

(Musings On Iraq review The Triumph of the Martyrs, A Reporter’s Journey into Occupied Iraq)

2004 Sadrists protested outside Green Zone demanding movement paper be re-opened

2004 Mahdi Army began marching in Sadr City as tensions with US grew

2004 Some Friday prayers in Fallujah condemned attack on Blackwater contractors in city

2004 Sec State Powell criticized US intel for giving him faulty claims about Iraq’s WMD for his Feb

03 UN speech

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

2004 Natl Sec Adv Rice told Bremer that Chalabi was working against US interests by siding with

Shiite bloc in Iraqi Governing Council Rice wanted him out

(Musings On Iraq review The Man Who Pushed America To War, The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi)

2005 Al Qaeda in Iraq launched suicide attack on Abu Ghraib prison starting battle for town

(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)

2006 Sec State Rice UK Foreign Sec Straw told PM Jaafari he didnt have support and should step

down Jaafari said no

2006 US military reported 1313 Iraqi civilians killed in sectarian murders in March 2006 173 killed in

suicide bombings as civil war took off after Feb Samarra bombing

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

2006 US Amb Khalilzad said militias should be disarmed Iraqi officials said that would create more

violence

2006 PM Jaafari said he would integrate militias into security forces to control them

2006 Fmr CENTCOM cmdr Gen Zinni on Meet the Press said Iraq failure of strategic planning by US

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

(Musings On Iraq review Losing Iraq, Inside The Post War Reconstruction Fiasco)

(Musings On Iraq review Plan of Attack: The Definitive Account Of The Decision To Invade Iraq)

2007 Ayatollah Sistani said he opposed US plan to reform deBaathification and allow former

Baathists back into govt Came after Sistani met with deBaathification Comm head Chalabi

2007 Report Islamic Army joined al-Rashideen Army Omar Brigades and Black Banners to fight ISI

2008 Retired Gen McCaffrey said ISI’s urban insurgency was defeated but that the war was

unsustainable for US

2008 Council on Foreign Relations’ Biddle told Senate US would have to stay in Iraq for a very long

time to maintain stability

2008 Revenue Watch’s Said told Senate Iraq wasn’t using improved security to carry out any political

reforms Said ruling parties consolidating power and incapable of providing for public

2008 Center for a New American Security’s Flournoy told Senate couldn’t have any more security

gains without political reforms Surge made Iraqis believe in US not Baghdad Iraqi govt unwilling to make any changes US didn’t have strategy to get Baghdad to change

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

2009 Arab Jabour Baghdad Sahwa leader arrested for killing ISI fighters as part of PM Maliki’s

crackdown on Sahwa

(Musings On Iraq Problems With Integrating Sons of Iraq Continue)

2009 Report PM Maliki and Sadr agreed to shut out ISCI from most provincial govts after Jan vote

Agreed to joint rule in Babil Dhi Qar Muthanna Najaf Wasit

2010 PM Maliki said he was going to form alliance with Kurds and backed Talabani to remain as

president to form new govt

2010 Sadrists began referendum amongst followers to see who they wanted to be new premier

(Musings On Iraq The Sadrists Try To Have Their Say On Iraq’s Next Prime Minister)

2010 PM Maliki’s talks with National Alliance failed as ISCI’s Hakim opposed Maliki’s 2nd term

2011 56 wounded in clashes between police and protesters in Sulaymaniya

(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 Over 300 followers of Mahmoud Sarkhi arrested in Nasiriya

2012 Dep PM Shahristani accused KRG of smuggling oil to Iran and Turkey Said KRG had earned

$3.5 bil from smuggling in 2011 Said KRG not meeting its oil export quota under 2012 budget Said KRG owed Baghdad $5.6 bil

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

2012 Oil Min Luaibi claimed Exxon was halting work in KRG so that it could continue

            working with Baghdad KRG Natural Resource Min Hawrami denied that

(Musings On Iraq Exxon Mobile Trying To Have It Both Ways In Iraq, Developing Oil Fields in The South And North)

(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)

2012 Report KRG stopped oil exports for Baghdad 2011 made budget deal for KRG to export oil

for Baghdad in return for monthly budget payments KRG said hadn’t gotten money since May 2011 KRG was exporting 50,000 bar/day for Baghdad below its quota March 2012 Finance Min Issawi said Baghdad would be paying KRG $560 mil but had to be audited first Dep PM Shahristnai accused Kurds of smuggling oil to Iran and Turkey

(Musings On Iraq Kurds May Be Fighting Losing Battle With Iraq’s Central Government Over Oil Exports)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Government Increases Pressure Upon Kurdistan For Its Oil Policy By Threatening To Cut Its Share Of The Budget)

2012 Central Bank of Iraq tried to tighten rules on dollar auctions to stop money laundering Used by

Iran and Syria to get around sanctions Poor enforcement meant didn’t work

(Musings On Iraq Are Iran And Syria Buying Up American Dollars In Iraq To Get Around Sanctions?)

2013 Gunmen in army uniforms attacked 4 independent newspaper offices in Baghdad Mahmoud

Sarkhi blamed

2013 Election Commission said provincial vote in Anbar and Ninewa would be delayed until May

2013 Sadrists said they would end cabinet boycott Started over elections in Anbar and Ninewa being

postponed

2015 PM Abadi arrived in Tikrit after its liberation to make victory tour in city

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

2015 Sadr said brazen militias should be removed from Tikrit by ISF after stories of looting and

burning homes Were also his political rivals

2015 Hashd leader Muhandis said that any looting and abuses in Tikrit were done by locals not

Hashd

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

2015 Guard in Tikrit said he counted more than 200 homes in Qadisiyah district destroyed after

city’s liberation

2015 Report Jalawla in Diyala empty of people even though freed from IS in Nov 2014 Some

displaced allowed to return but coudn’t stay Asayesh said 2 areas that supported IS would be destroyed and rebuilt

2016 Kurdish Alliance said it would not vote on Abadi’s new cabinet unless it got its quota of

ministers

(Musings On Iraq A Review Of Iraq Premier Abadi’s Reform Program Interview With Reidar Visser)

(Musings On Iraq Complaints About Iraq PM Abadi Undermine His Cabinet Reshuffle)

2016 Report US counterterrorism official said IS facing financial crisis Reports of clashes between

IS cmdrs over corruption Reports of pay cuts for fighters IS oil production down 1/3 due to Coalition air strikes Revenue from oil down 50% due to drop in prices and drop in capacity IS Finance Min killed in US air strike Loss of territory meant less tax money

2016 PM Abadi announced investigation into Unaoil after report that it bribed Iraqi officials to get oil

contracts Nothing came of it

2016 Babil council said no one could return to Jurf al-Sakhr until IEDs removed Real reason was

along route used by Shiite pilgrims Civilians never allowed back

(Musings On Iraq Babil Government Still Not Allowing Citizens Of Iraq’s Jurf al-Sakhr Return Home)

2017 PUK and KDP held meeting over independence referendum Agreed to create a committee and

hold vote soon

(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 Kirkuk Gov Karim said he would not follow parliamentary vote to remove KRG flag from

            govt buildings

2017 Kurdish councilman moved to have Kirkuk joined to KRG

2017 Kataib Hezbollah said US trying to stay in Iraq and resistance factions were ready to fight it

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

2018 Anbar councilman said not enough money to do reconstruction Blamed corrupt officials Said only getting money from aid groups and wasn’t enough 160 bridges 66 water purification plants 240 schools damaged in province during war

2018 300 PKK withdrew from Sinjar Ninewa to Syria Still controlled Sinjar area

2018 Pres Erdogan said Turkey would fight PKK without asking Baghdad Said if Baghdad didn’t deal with PKK Turkey would move into Iraq

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

2018 Report Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed wanted to improve relations with Iraq to counter Iran 2017 Saudi Foreign Minister visited Iraq 1st Saudi official to visit since 1990 Sadr went to Saudi Arabia Feb 2018 Saudi football team played in Basra

2018 Report Salahaddin councilman accused Hashd of smuggling oil from Tuz Kharmato to Iran Hashd denied story

2018 Accountability and Justice Commission banned 374 candidates for Baathist ties

2020 Iraq suspended Reuters’ license to operate in Iraq for 3 months and fined $21,000 for

article saying more COVID cases then govt reported Suspension was lifted in 3 wks

2020 Kataib Hezbollah said there would be no more attacks on US as long as it continued to

            withdraw from Iraq Attacks continued

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  1920 UK military force set out from Hillah to relieve garrison at Kufa Burned houses of Fatla tribe along the way duri...