This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 31 Badr and Asaib Ahl Al-Haq blamed for retaliatory attacks in Diyala after bombing Killed civilians destroyed Sunni mosques and shops Told Sunnis they had to leave

 

1937 Jewish Agency sent 2 emissaries to Iraq Met with leading officials who criticized pan-Arabism

Review Candy Cooper, Reporting From Iraq, On the Ground in Fallujah, Scholastic, 2020

  

Reporting From Iraq, On The Ground in Fallujah is a young adult book about Ann Garrels and her time reporting on Iraq from 2003-2004. Despite being a very short read it actually covers some major points about journalism in Iraq during this period.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 30 Iraq held elections for parliament to write new post-Saddam constitution

 

 1927 1^st student strike in Iraq over Lebanese teacher writing book which attacked Shiites

Teacher fired and book banned Students called for freedom of speech and teacher be reinstated Broken up by fire dept and police Al-Ahali leaders arrested

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Democratic Moment)

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

(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)

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 29 Ex-Iraq Survey Group head Kay told Bush Saddam wanted Iraqis to believe Iraq still had WMD to prevent revolts by Kurds and Shiites

 

1917 British captured Ottoman fort at Khadairi Bend in campaign to recapture Kut

Iran Has Stopped Supplying Electricity and Natural Gas To Iraq

  

On January 27 it was announced that Iran had stopped electricity exports to Iraq. It claimed this was due to international pressure and regional politics. This comes on top of a halt in natural gas exports by Iran severely cutting power supply in Iraq.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 28 UK claimed Mosul province which it took after WWI ended

 

1918 Cpt Marshall made UK governor of Najaf Cut off all stipends to city to punish it for attacks on UK

            troops Fired entire police force Demanded weapons be turned in

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 27 300-400 killed by police protesting against Anglo-Iraq Treaty

 

1925 League of Nations Commission on Mosul arrived in province to protests Was to determine who

would get Mosul Iraq or Turkey Commission interviewed hundreds of locals and mapped economy land trade routes ethnicities

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq How The Ottoman Province Of Mosul Became Part Of Iraq)

Is Maliki Going To Be Iraq’s PM Again?

On January 24 the ruling Coordination Framework formally announced Nouri al-Maliki as its candidate for prime minister. If Maliki were to successfully become PM again this would be a surprising turn of events for a politicians who used the government to go after his opponents, was thoroughly corrupt, and was responsible for the fall of Mosul to the Islamic State. It once again shows how Iraq’s ruling class is completely bankrupt and only cares about its self-preservation.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 26 Saddam ordered most of Iraqi Air Force to fly to Iran to save it from Gulf War Never got planes back

 

1941 Cabinet decided to force PM Gaylani to resign due to outreach to Axis He refused PM asked Golden

            Square officers to resolve dispute Regent said he would pick PM Told military to stay out of politics

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 25 Sadrists began attacks on protesters after Sadr withdrew his support for them

 

866 Battle of Baghdad ended Mutazz announced as new Abbasid caliph Rival Mustain exiled to Hijaz but

later executed

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 24 Report Iraq bought fake bomb detectors for around $40,000 each Govt investigation claimed they worked when they didn’t

 

 

1969 Former MP Bajari during spy trial claimed opposition leaders were trying to overthrow Pres Bakr’s

govt

Review Edited by Mike Hoyt, John Palatella, and the staff of the Columbia Journalism Review, Reporting Iraq, An Oral History Of The War By The Journalists Who Covered It, Melville Publishing House, 2007

  

In 2006 the Columbia Journalism Review got three reporters to interview journalists who’d been in Iraq about their experiences. A total of 46 people were included which led to this book Columbia Journalism Review, Reporting Iraq, An Oral History Of The War By The Journalists Who Covered It. The book covers 2003-2006 and has short excerpts from the interviews.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 23 Iraq Survey Group head Kay resigned Said didn’t think Iraq had any WMD

 

1920 British cabinet decided Iraqi oil would be developed by a public company Foreign Secretary Curzon

overturned decision

(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 22 Iraq set fire to 700 Kuwaiti oil wells during Gulf War

 

1921 Gertrude Bell wrote that British officers in Mosul province thought they could convince Kurds to

vote for Faisal as king in referendum They didn’t

(Musings On Iraq review Gertrude Bell And Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Gertrude Bell, Explorer of the Middle East)

(Musings On Iraq movie review Letters from Baghdad)

(Musings On Iraq review Desert Queen, The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia)

(Musings On Iraq review A Quest in the Middle East, Gertrude Bell and the Making of Modern Iraq)

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 21 Trump said if US had taken Iraq’s oil IS might not have been created Said US still had chance to take Iraq’s oil

 

1916 Battle of Hanna Defile British attacked Ottomans but failed 2,741 British casualties

Was defeat in British effort to relieve siege at Kut

Musings On Iraq In The News

  

Musings On Iraq is cited in Death, Dominance, and State-Building, The US in Iraq and the Future of American Military Intervention by MIT Professor Roger Petersen. It was published by Oxford University Press in 2024. 

 

View all of Musings On Iraq's Citations here  

Death Sentences Reversed In Activist Sajjad Al-Iraqi’s Case

  

In 2020 Sajjad al-Iraqi a young protester in Nasiriya was kidnapped. In 2023 two people were sentenced to death in absentia for his murder. Just recently those charges were dropped likely in a political move.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 20 Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance created to run Iraq 2 months before war

 

1915 UK troops and ships attacked Turks and Arabs in Ruta Creek, Basra Turned back Did wound Ottoman

commander in Basra who was sent to Baghdad

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

Iraq Resistance Factions Helped Put Down Iranian Protests

  

It appears that protests in Iran have once again been suppressed by the government. Members of the Iraqi Resistance helped sending several hundred men to assist Tehran.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 19 Mulla Mustafa Barzani met with Iraqi and Iranian Kurds in USSR to discuss pan-Kurdish movement

 

1915 Ottoman governor of Baghdad wrote US consulate that British were distributing money to clerics in

Najaf and Karbala

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 18 UN inspectors said no WMD found at sites listed by US

 

1915 US consulate report UK forces in Basra under constant harassment by tribes

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 17 Saddam ordered missile strikes on Israel during Gulf War

 

1913 US consul in Baghdad wrote if British took Mesopotamia there would be little resistance because

public so apathetic

Review Judith Miller and Laurie Mylroie, Saddam Hussein And The Crisis In The Gulf, Times Books, 1990

  

Today Judith Miller and Laurie Mylroie are infamous. Miller cozied up to the Bush administration and Ahmed Chalabi before the 2003 invasion of Iraq and helped spread their propaganda about weapons of mass destruction to justify the war. Mylroie supported Iraq and then felt betrayed by the invasion of Kuwait and turned into a conspiracy theorist blaming the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 on Baghdad. Saddam Hussein And The Crisis in The Gulf was written before all that and is surprisingly good. It stands as a decent background to Saddam and the Gulf War. Not only that but it was very cynical about the cause of the conflict.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 16 Op Desert Storm to expel Iraq from Kuwait started

 

1943 Iraq declared war on Axis

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

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 15 1948 Anglo-Iraq Treaty signed Led to major protests in Iraq

  

1915 Sir Percy Cox reported some Arab sheikhs had given up ties with UK and joined Turks following

calls for jihad

Iran Cuts Natural Gas Exports To Iraq Again

  

In late December 2024 Iran once again cut off its natural gas exports to Iraq. Baghdad is dependent upon this supply which is delivered completely at the whim of its neighbor.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 14 Election Comm approved banning 511 candidates from 2010 election for Baathist ties Accountability & Justice Comm said more candidates and lists should be banned

 

1928 Abdul Sadoun became PM for 3^rd of 4 times Replaced Askari who was forced to resign over

opposition to his conscription plan for army Sadoun compromise between King and England to try to get Anglo-Iraq Treaty passed

(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)

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

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 13 Sec State Powell told Bush if he invaded Iraq would have to run the country

 

1843 Baghdad Gov Najib attacked Karbala to take it from gangs that ran town aligned with merchants and

clerics Slaughtered large number of inhabitants

Iraq’s Oil Revenues Continue To Drop Posing Major Problems For Budget

 

For the second month Iraq’s oil exports and revenues dipped posing more problems for the country’s bloated budget.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 12 Churchill said Faisal might be best man to be king of Iraq

 

866 Papers of Abbasid Caliph Mutasin’s resignation signed

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 11 Mongol siege of Baghdad began Would kill entire population of city

 

1258 Mongols began siege of Baghdad Would eventually kill the entire population of the city

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 10 3 Iraqi exiles told Bush US forces would be greeted with sweets and flowers if they invaded Iraq

 

1917 British failed at 2^nd attack upon Ottomans at Khadairi Bend outside Kut

Review Sara Daniel, Voyage To A Stricken Land, Four Years on the Ground Reporting from Iraq: A Woman’s Inside Story, Arcade Publishing, 2006

 

Sara Daniel was a French reporter who went to Iraq at the start of the war. Each chapter in her book Voyage To A Stricken Land, Four Years on the Ground reporting from Iraq: A Woman’s Inside Story covers a specific time period and topic from the invasion to the insurgency to the Iraqi and American troops. She came away from her experience extremely cynical believing that Iraq was falling into a civil war due to the U.S. mishandling the occupation.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 9 Qasim refused to legalize Communist Party even though it was his biggest supporter

 

1916 British took Shaikh Saad after Ottomans retreated but not before inflicting heavy

British casualties

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 8 Churchill said Arab govt should be formed in Iraq because too expensive for UK to maintain control of Mesopotamia

866 Abbasid Caliph Mutasin deposed by his adviser Ibn Tahir

Pro-Iran Resistance Factions In Iraq Beginning Debate On Disarming

 

There is an ongoing debate within Iraq about whether the Pro-Iran Resistance factions should give into U.S. demands and disarm or not. While several groups have come out for and against the idea the real discussion is about what disarmament means and how it could be implemented.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 7 Iran fired missiles at Anbar and Irbil in retaliation for deaths of Gen Suleimani and Abu Muhandis

 

866 Ibn Tahir negotiated deal to split revenues of Baghdad with Samarra and depose Abbasid Caliph

Mutasin in return

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 6 Accountability and Justice Comm banned 511 candidates from election for Baathist ties Part of Shiite parties effort to make election about Baathists

 

1909 Riots in Mosul killed Sheikh Said Sufi leader in Sulaymaniya Led his followers to

revolt cutting off trade in northern Mosul province

Iraq Takes 1st Steps In Forming New Govt

 

Iraq is taking its first steps towards forming a new government. The ruling parties however are still deadlocked over who will be the next president and prime minister.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 5 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq’s Khazali released from prison in US-UK-Iraq deal to get release of British worker AAH kidnapped

 

1909 Riot in Mosul after Kirkuk soldier insulted a woman Organized by elites opposed to

Ottoman reforms 60 killed

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 4 Gen Qasim gave up claims to Kuwait

 

1916 British attacked Shaikh Saad in campaign to relieve troops trapped at Kut Turned back

by Ottomans 600 British casualties

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 3 US killed Hashd leader Abu Muhandis and Iran’s Quds Force cmdr Gen Suleimani in Baghdad for rocket attacks on US personnel in Iraq

 

1916 Sykes and Picot drafted deal on dividing Ottoman Empire Baghdad and Basra vilayets

would go to UK Mosul to France Would also include independent Arab state for Sharif Hussein

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

(Musings On Iraq review U.S. Policy In Post-Saddam Iraq)