1915 Retreating UK forces reached Kut after loss at Battle of Ctesiphon/Salman Pak UK
suffered 5,187 casualties over last 10 days Started Turkish siege of Kut
1915 British official in India Office wrote 3rd letter voicing concerns about medical
situation in Mesopotamia Commander In Chief in Indian said he didn’t listen to complaints
1961 Qasim said unless UK stopped meddling in Kuwait there would be a war in the Persian Gulf
(Musings On Iraq review Unholy Babylon, The Secret History of Saddam’s War)
1967 Arif govt issued new press law restricting freedom of the media to try to control opposition to
govt Shut down all private newspapers and replaced them with 5 govt ones
1996 Iran admitted to Iraq smuggling oil through its territory violating UN sanctions and promised
action against it
(Musings On Iraq review Invisible War, The United States And The Iraq Sanctions)
1999 UN Res 1280 extended Oil for Food program
2001 PM Blair told Bush he was not opposed to removing Saddam
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 3.1 Development of UK Strategy and Options on Iraq, 9/11 to Early January 2002)
(Musings On Iraq review A War Of Choice, The British In Iraq 2003-9)
2001 MI6 briefing note to PM Blair’s foreign policy adv Manning Said no intel linking Iraq to jihadists
Said removing Saddam important to secure oil supplies Would lead to a secular state that would help against extremists Said Saddam could be removed in a coup
2002 Iraq officials cooperated with UN inspectors at surprise search of one of Saddam’s Baghdad
palaces
(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)
2002 Dep Def Sec Wolfowitz went to Turkey to outline Iraq plans which included 60,000 US troops
deployed to Turkey
2004 3 members of Ansar al-Islam arrested for planning to assassinate PM Allawi
2004 Bush called speech writer Gerson saying he wanted to change US foreign policy to promoting
democracy in Iraq at forefront
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)
(Musings On Iraq review Overreach, Delusions of Regime Change In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
(Musings On Iraq Overview of America’s Policy Towards Iraq: From The Clinton Years To The
Sectarian War of 2006)
2006 Bush said withdrawing from Iraq not realistic Natl Sec Adv Hadley on NBC said withdrawing
was same as cutting and running and Bush rejected it US strategy at the time was to withdraw Showed disconnect between strategy and how Bush envisioned war
(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)
(Musings On Iraq review The Gamble, General David Petraeus And The American Military Adventure In Iraq, 2006-2008)
(Musings On Iraq review The Strongest Tribe, War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)
2006 Report Def Sec Rumsfeld memo said US strategy in Iraq not working and needed new one Said
administration had to lower public expectations of what US could do in Iraq Was frustrated with Iraqis Said Iraq needed to do more Laid out plans for either withdrawing troops or redeploying them within Iraq Said US should think of setting benchmarks for Iraq Went against public statements of US govt against withdrawals and benchmarks
2006 Report doctor at Baghdad hospital said staff had been infiltrated by Mahdi Army Patients were
mysteriously dying and then records lost or changed Thought they were being murdered and orders were coming from Sadr controlled Health Min
(Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)
2006 Report Sadrists paid doctors and nurses money to identify Sunnis in hospitals so that they could be
killed Also used porters and janitors to collect info on Sunni patients Changed medical records to cover up killings Shiites soldiers also kidnapped Sunnis from hospitals
2007 ISI’s Abu Omar al-Baghdadi issued tape announcing campaign against Sahwa Said
Al Siddiq Corps created to target them
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
(Musings On Iraq review Illusions of Victory, The Anbar Awakening And The Rise Of The Islamic State)
2007 US and ISF started Op Iron Reaper to hinder ISI movement in north Iraq
2008 Presidential Council passed Status of Forces Agreement with US setting withdrawal date for
US forces 12/31/11
2008 Baghdad-Irbil oil talks broke down KRG refused to cancel its oil contracts and demanded share
of oil revenues Oil Min Shahristani refused
(Musings On Iraq Baghdad-Kurdish Oil Export Deal Collapses)
2008 Report Maliki govt stopped officially releasing casualty figures in January 07 because made it
look bad January 07 UN reported 34,452 Iraqis killed in 06 Govt said only 12,357 deaths
2009 Adm Boyce chief of defense staff 2001-03 testified to Chilcot Inquiry Said Def Sec Rumsfeld
told him all the talk at the UN was just talk US and UK would go to war with Iraq Told by Def Sec Hoon military couldn’t make any preparations other than planning for Iraq war until Nov 02 because afraid of public reaction Meant many British units not ready for Iraq invasion Said US and UK failed to plan for postwar Iraq Said US didn’t want to do peacekeeping Rumsfeld wanted withdrawal after invasion Dep of Intl Development sent officials to Iraq but were ordered by Min Short to do nothing
2010 Report State Dept cables published 1 said that mayor in Baghdad province who
was banned under deBaathification told ban would end if he agreed not to run in next election Another candidate said his banning would end if paid $100,000 bribe
2010 Report Maliki gained 2nd term as PM Obama admin said this was success but wasn’t Allawi was
supposed to head National Strategic Council that would play role in all major decisions Maliki’s State of Law said it was only advisory group Maliki promised Kurds that disputed territories and oil would be resolved Thought US never wanted Allawi to be PM and undermined his Iraqiya
2010 Reports State Dept cables said PM Maliki fired 376 intel officers in 2010 under deBaathification
Replaced them with Dawa members with little experience Fired mostly Sunnis Said was going to harm intel agency Also fired ISF officers Many were exiles from Iran and worried about Iranian influence
2011 Rioters attacked Kurdistan Islamic Union offices in Dohuk and Irbil Was retaliation for Islamist
cleric associated with KIU inciting riot against Christian and Yazidi businesses selling alcohol Asayesh arrested 6 KIU members
2011 Report Lack of services arrests discrimination leading some provinces to call for autonomous regions
Majority of Iraqis opposed autonomy fearing break up of Iraq 2008 Basra asked to be region Has most of Iraq’s oil Lacked investment and services Didn’t get much support from public 2008 Provincial Powers law that was supposed to decentralize power to governorates didn’t do that Still dependent on Baghdad 2010 Basra called for referendum on region Didn’t happen 2011 Anbar and Salahaddin asked to become regions after staff dismissed at Tikrit Univ for Baathist ties Salahaddin skipped steps necessary to become region Maliki govt ignored calls and offered jobs and money to appease them Then said it would block regions Even if had vote on regions unsure how they would turn out
2014 2 mass graves with 200 bodies of people killed by IS found in Jalawla Diyala Another mass
grave with 40 bodies found in south Ninewa
2015 Basra councilman said wave of assassinations in province due to Hashd and political parties
Said corrupt ISF allowed assassination teams to operate
2015 In deal with KRG Pres Barzani Turkey set up new military base in Bashiqa Ninewa Not approved by
Abadi govt
2016 Joint Ops Command said UN exaggerated casualty figures UN used open source news reports
Led UN to stop reporting casualties for a period Was attempt by Abadi govt to stop bad news about war vs IS
2016 Report Kurdish forces destroyed at least 100 Arab homes in Kirkuk city neighborhood after IS
attack Displaced 300 families Kirkuk governor denied story
2017 Report CIA Dir Pompeo wrote letter to Quds Force cmdr Gen Suleimani warning him about
attacks on US interests in Iraq
2019 50 out of 70 families fled town in Khanaqin dist Diyala because of IS 6 villages in area
completely empty
(Musings On Iraq The Islamic State’s Failed Comeback In Iraq)
2019 Activists in Anbar fled to avoid arrests Activist said govt was threatening them to stop
joining protest movement
2019 Protests in Dhi Qar and Kirkuk Clashes with ISF in Karbala and Basra Iranian consulate
in Najaf burned for 3rd time Ex-General and MPs house burned in Diwaniya
2020 Activist assassinated in Maysan
2020 Protests started again in Sulaymaniya over govt not paying public workers Security forces
used tear gas rubber bullets and water cannons
(Musings On Iraq Protests In Iraq’s Kurdistan Over Economic Conditions And Mismanagement)
2020 Iran cut its natural gas exports to Iraq by 75% Reduced electricity supply in Iraq
2021 Report Govt investigation of Fatah protests outside Green Zone over election results released
Nov tried to storm Green Zone Fired at police and killed 2 of them 21 other police wounded by gunfire by Fatah
2023 Pro-Iran groups fired rockets from western Ninewa at US military base in eastern Syria
View the Iraq History Timelines
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