Musings On Iraq review The Assassins’ Gate, America In Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Baghdad at Sunrise, A Brigade Commander’s War in Iraq
Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Black Flags, The Rise Of ISIS
Musings On Iraq review Blood Money, Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Children of War, Voices of Iraqi Refugees
Musings On Iraq review Compulsion In Religion, Saddam Hussein, Islam, and the Roots of Insurgencies In Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Confronting Al Qaeda, The Sunni Awakening the American Strategy In Al Anbar
Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from
George W. Bush to Barack Obama
Musings On Iraq review The Fall of Baghdad
Musings On Iraq review Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq
Musings On Iraq review from storm to Freedom, America’s Long War with Iraq
Musings On Iraq review The Future of Iraq, Dictatorship, Democracy, or Division?
Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience
Musings On Iraq review Imagining The Nation, Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Imperial Life In The Emerald City, Inside Iraq’s Green Zone
Musings On Iraq review Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency In Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Iraq and Back, Inside The War To Win The Peace
Musings On Iraq review Iraq and the Politics of Oil, An Insider’s Perspective
Musings On Iraq review Iraq in Fragments, The Occupation and Its Legacy
Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy
Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future: The aftermath of regime change
Musings On Iraq review The ISIS Reader, Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement
Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy
Tragedy
Musings On Iraq review Losing Iraq, Inside The Post War Reconstruction Fiasco
Musings On Iraq review The Man Who Pushed America To War, The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi
Musings On Iraq review The Marines Take Anbar, The Four-Year Fight Against Al Qaeda
Musings On Iraq review Muqtada, Muqtada Al-Sadr, The Shia Revival, And The Struggle For Iraq
Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope
Musings On Iraq review The Next Attack, The Failure of the War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting it Right
Musings On Iraq review Night Draws Near, Iraq’s People In The Shadow Of America’s War
Musings On Iraq review Nights in the Pink Motel, An American Strategist’s Pursuit of Peace in Iraq
Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace
Musings On Iraq review The Occupation, War And Resistance In Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Overreach, Delusions of Regime Change In Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Reconstructing Iraq’s Budgetary Institutions Coalition State Building after Saddam
Musings On Iraq review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary
Musings On Iraq review Revolt On The Tigris, The Al-Sadr Uprising And The Governing Of Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Salam Pax: The Baghdad Blog
Musings On Iraq review Sectarianism In Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq
Musings On Iraq review A Short History of Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Special Operations Forces in Iraq
Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III
Musings On Iraq review State of War, The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration
Musings On Iraq review The Struggle For Iraq, A View from the Ground Up
Musings On Iraq review The Struggle For Iraq’s Future, How Corruption, Incompetence and Sectarianism Have Undermined Democracy
Musings On Iraq review Target Basra, The High Octane Story of the Royal Marine
Commandos In Iraq
Musings On Iraq review The Triumph of the Martyrs, A Reporter’s Journey into Occupied 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 Understanding Iraq, the Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, from Genghis Khan’s Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to the American Occupation
Musings On Iraq review The Unraveling, High Hopes And Missed Opportunity In Iraq
Musings On Iraq review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009
Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded 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 on Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 3 The Department of Defense Takes Charge
Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 4 Staging in Kuwait
Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 6 Charting A New Course
Musings On Iraq Interview with State Dept’s Mines on being CPA Governor of Anbar
Musings On Iraq interview with Fmr CPA advisor Horne
Musings On Iraq interview with Fmr CPA official Swanson
Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Savage on US reconstruction effort in Iraq
Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 5 We’re Here, Now What?
Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 6 Lost In Transition May-July 2003
Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 7 Muqawama Wa Intiqaam (Resistance And Reprisals), May-August 2003
Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 - Chapter 8 Muddling Through August-October 2003
Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003
Aug 1 CIA Iraq station chief showed Bremer document from Saddam’s secret police calling for sabotage
looting ambushes Suggested Saddam planned insurgency Later proven false Was for guerrilla tactics against invasion
(Musings On Iraq Did Saddam Plan The Insurgency In Iraq?)
Aug 1 New US training program to rebuild Iraq’s army began
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 12 Reconstructing Iraqi Security Forces)
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Aug 1 After trip to Iraq Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz said most Iraqis glad US liberated them
from Saddam US commanders rejected more troops to help secure Iraq Iraq could pay for its own reconstruction using oil and frozen assets Invading Iraq was crucial to fight international terrorism Invasion of Iraq and creating democracy could be start of transforming entire Middle East
(Musings On Iraq review Overreach, Delusions of Regime Change In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)
(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Overview of America’s Policy Towards Iraq: From The Clinton Years To The
Sectarian War of 2006)
Aug 4 US reopened Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
Aug 5 Def Sec Rumsfeld announced US forces had been finding buried
Iraqi fighter jets in desert Explained why Iraqi air force didn't fight during invasion
(Musings On Iraq Why Didn’t The Iraqi Air Force Fight During The 2003 Invasion?)
Aug 5 Def Sec Rumsfeld said “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” about Iraq’s
WMD not being found yet
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
Aug 5 Rumsfeld said death of Uday and Qusay Hussein showed Iraq that Baathists not
returning to power
Aug 6 US Iraq commander Gen Sanchez said he would limit arrests and raids looking for Baathists
Said few returns and angering Iraqis
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Aug 7 National Security Adviser Rice said Saddam was a threat to the US and world
Aug 7 White House said because Bush used Iraq-Africa uranium deal in State of Union rest of govt
started repeating it
(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)
Aug 7 Zarqawi bombed Jordanian embassy in Baghdad killing 17 wounding 40
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
(Musings On Iraq review Black Flags, The Rise Of ISIS)
Aug 8 IAEA Found no Iraqi nuclear weapons program after 1991
(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 How US Intelligence Created An Iraqi Nuclear Threat In 2002)
Aug 8 Bush said goal of reconstruction was to give Iraq best infrastructure in Middle East
Aug 9 3 US army battalions added to 1st Battle of Najaf
Aug 9 CPA head Paul Bremer said Ansar al-Islam escaped to Iran during invasion and
were now returning to Iraq to carry out terrorist attacks
Aug 9 Protests in Basra over lack of electricity Threw rocks at British troops
Aug 9 Mass robberies of oil tankers in Basra Police fled their stations Left Czech and
British troops to try to stop looting Fired on thieves 2 killed 4 wounded
Aug 9 AP story not much of Powell’s Feb 03 speech to UN on Iraq’s WMD was
proving true
Aug 10 Report British govt said it had independent intel to support Iraq-Africa uranium
deal after US said story weak Story was false
(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)
Aug 10 Report CIA denied contradictory stories about aluminum tubes White House used
tubes in its first public relations campaign against Iraq claiming it had renewed nuke program
(Musings On Iraq How A Contested Aluminum Tubes Story Became The Basis For War With Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)
Aug 11 Gas and electricity shortages led to riots in Basra city
Aug 11 Assoc of Muslim Scholars condemned US violations of mosques comparing them to Mongols
(Musings On Iraq Spiritual Leader To Iraq’s Insurgency Harith Dhari Dies In Exile)
(Musings On Iraq review The Triumph of the Martyrs, A Reporter’s Journey into Occupied Iraq)
Aug 11 CIA Dir Tenet issued statement that CIA stood by 2002 National Intel Estimate on Iraq
saying CIA had solid intelligence on Iraq’s WMD and nuclear programs
(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)
Aug 13 US forces pulled down a Shiite banner from a building in Sadr City leading
to protests
Aug 13 Deputy Secretary of State Armitage said Iraq had WMD
Aug 13 US gave up on attempt to get UN peace keeping force for Iraq
Aug 13 CENTCOM cmdr Gen Abizaid memo to Sec Def Rumsfeld and Joint Chief head Gen Myers Said
biggest long term threat was sectarianism and intra-Shiite rivalry between ISCI Dawa and Sadr along with Iran
Aug 14 UN Resolution 1500 created UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Said Iraqi
Governing Council important step to Iraq self-governance
Aug 14 US intelligence officer wrote memo saying that “gloves are coming off” in
Interrogating Iraqi prisoners
Aug 15 White House objected to CPA’s request for $20.3 bil after administration
said it would not ask Congress for any more money for Iraq
Aug 15 Oil pipeline to Turkey bombed in Baiji, Salahaddin shutting down exports for
2nd time in a week
Aug 15 Anti-US protest fired upon by American soldiers in Mosul 15 killed
Aug 16 Insurgent attack on Abu Ghraib prison 6 prisoners killed 59 wounded
Aug 17 CPA told White House if didn’t get additional $20.3 bil it would be disaster for
Bush’s plans for Iraq
Aug 17 Water pipeline in Rusafa Baghdad hit with RGP knocking out water for 2 days
for 300,000 people
Aug 17 US forces killed Reuters’ reporter outside Abu Ghraib prison Said camera
looked like an RPG
Aug 18 Bremer told Rumsfeld gave order not to arrest Sadr to try to avoid further violence
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
Aug 18 General Robert Fry Deputy Chief of Defense Staff said that Iraqis had grown tired of
Coalition Said Shiite leaders warned that people could start turning on Coalition Said rebuilding ISF political development and providing services in southern Iraq was stalled
Aug 18 Sunni-Shiite comm formed in Baghdad Agreed Shiites would return Sunni mosques seized Sunnis
would lead Shiites and Shiites lead Sunnis in prayers Sermons would share same political themes
(Musings On Iraq review The Triumph of the Martyrs, A Reporter’s Journey into Occupied Iraq)
Aug 19 Bremer asked Washington if he could arrest Sadr Rumsfeld said no fearing would provoke
more violence
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
Aug 19 Zarqawi bombed UN headquarters in Baghdad killed 23 including UN Rep de
Mello and injured over 100
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
(Musings On Iraq review The Terrorists of Iraq, Inside the Strategy and Tactics of the Iraqi Insurgency 2003-2014)
(Musings On Iraq review Black Flags, The Rise Of ISIS)
Aug 20 Bush at NSC meeting said US had to re-evaluate enemy in Iraq after Zarqawi
bombed UN in Baghdad
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
Aug 20 UN said bombing of its Baghdad offices wouldn’t stop reconstruction of Iraq
UN would withdraw most of its staff afterward
Aug 20 Bremer told Iraqi Governing Council they had to act quicker to rebuild country and give public
confidence
Aug 20 Report Claim up to 3,000 Saudis had gone to Iraq to fight U.S.
(Musings On Iraq The Saudi Role In The Iraqi Insurgency)
Aug 20 US Iraq cmdr Gen Sanchez email to CENTCOM cmdr Gen Abizaid Went over pros and cons of
going after Sadr Sanchez believed would increase violence and he wasn’t an imminent threat Sanchez dealing with Zarqawi bombing of UN and didn’t want 2nd front vs Mahdi Army
Aug 21 Secretary of State Powell asked UN Security Council to pass resolution encouraging
foreign countries to provide troops for Iraq
Aug 21 Ali Hassan al-Majid “Chemical Ali” captured by US forces
Aug 22 Bush said Iraq war had transformed to one against Baathists and Al Qaeda
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Aug 22 Australian intelligence officer testified to parliament no pre-war evidence of
Iraq-Al Qaeda ties and Iraq’s WMD were contained Claimed US was flooded with disinformation by anti-Saddam Iraqis before the war
Aug 23 CPA created Department of Border Enforcement but gave it little money to
control Iraq’s borders
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 12 Reconstructing Iraqi Security Forces)
Aug 23 Turkmen held parade for rebuilt Shiite shrine in Tuz Kharmato Salahaddin Led to argument
with Kurds who tried to destroy shrine with RPGs Led to Turkmen riot Turkmen were already mad at US for appointing Kurdish mayor and police chief in town
(Musings On Iraq How Did Kirkuk Become Such A Divisive Issue? A Portrait of The City In
2003)
Aug 24 Turkmen protested in Kirkuk City over Turkmen being killed in Tuz Kharmato Turned violent 3
killed 15-20 wounded
(Musings On Iraq How Did Kirkuk Become Such A Divisive Issue? A Portrait of The City In
2003)
Aug 24 Ayatollah Hakim wounded in bombing at his Najaf office Some blamed Sadr for
attack in growing inter-Shiite rivalry
Aug 24 Bremer admitted US not doing a good job securing Iraq’s borders
Aug 25 Funeral in Najaf turned into anti-American demonstration
Aug 25 CPA had no representatives in provinces 1st provincial team for south sent to Muthanna Leader from
State Dept only lasted 3 months
Aug 26 Report US left thousands of munitions dumps all over Iraq which were looted by
insurgents and militias
Aug 26 Bremer Iraq could not pay for its own reconstruction and U.S. would have to
put up several billion dollars to do it
(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
Aug 26 Bremer said CPA could not meet Iraq’s electricity needs until summer of 2004
Aug 26 US launched Op Ivy Needle to hunt down criminals and Baathists in Salahaddin
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Aug 26 Deputy Secretary of State Armitage said US might consider a multinational
force under UN to help with Iraqi security after rejecting UN role
Aug 26 Humanitarian aid groups announced pulling out workers from Iraq after terrorist
attacks by Zarqawi
(Musings On Iraq review The Terrorists of Iraq, Inside the Strategy and Tactics of the Iraqi Insurgency 2003-2014)
(Musings On Iraq review Black Flags, The Rise Of ISIS)
Aug 27 White House considered asking Congress for additional $3 bil for reconstruction
in Iraq on top of previous $2.5 bil
Aug 27 Oxfam started withdrawing from Iraq after terrorist bombings against aid groups
by Zarqawi 4th aid group to do so
Aug 27 ORHA oil team met with 3 Oil Ministry director generals Said US not in Iraq to
take its oil Named most top ministry officials Agreed needed to up production and increase refined products
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq and the Politics of Oil, An Insider’s Perspective)
Aug 27 US gave Custer Battles $9.8 mil contact to deliver new dinars and destroy old ones Was late in
building camps for job Many of the trucks it bought broke down Subcontractors company hired complained about not being paid Custer Battles over billed govt
(Musings On Iraq review Blood Money, Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq)
Aug 29 ISCI head Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim killed in Najaf’s Imam Ali shrine car
bombing by Zarqawi 125 killed 500 wounded Car driven by Yassin Jarrad father of Zarqawi’s second wife
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
(Musings On Iraq review The ISIS Reader, Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement)
(Musings On Iraq review Black Flags, The Rise Of ISIS)
Aug 29 Bremer said Iraq would have 24 hours of power by 2004 Didn’t happen
(Musings On Iraq Rebuilding Iraq’s Electrical Network In A Warzone 2003-2005)
Aug 30 Iraqi Governing Council announced 17 candidates for first-post Saddam cabinet
Aug 30 CIA report Security entering new phase after bombing in Najaf that killed Ayatollah
Hakim Foreign fighters flowing into Iraq to join groups that wanted to undermine U.S. occupation Warned start of insurgency could reverse progress in Iraq and attacks would continue regardless of whether Saddam captured or not Bremer complained report too negative White House ignored it
Aug 31 Commander of Guantanamo Bay prison Gen Miller flew to Iraq to advise on interrogation
techniques Would lead to Abu Ghraib prison abuse
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
Aug 31 Pentagon Defense Policy Board’s Perle said US should have organized Iraqi
opposition to take over govt after invasion
Sep 1 Saddam tape played on 2 TV channels Said he was not responsible for Zarqawi car bomb in
Najaf that killed Ayatollah Hakim
Sep 1 1st post-Saddam cabinet appointed by Iraqi Governing Council
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq in Fragments, The Occupation and Its Legacy)
Sep 2 Zarqawi car bomb hit Baghdad police HQ killing 1 wounding 20
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
Sep 2 Ayatollah Hakim buried in Najaf after killed in Zarqawi car bombing in same city
Sep 2 Abdul Aziz al-Hakim blamed lax US security for death of his brother Ayatollah Hakim
Sep 2 Bush agreed to talk with UN about multi-national force helping with security in Iraq Effort
failed
Sep 3 1st post-Saddam Iraq cabinet sworn in with 17 new ministers
Sep 3 US forces gave southern and central Iraq security to Multi-National Force under
Polish command
Sep 3 CPA Order 28 created Iraqi Civil Defense Corps as separate from police and
army but would be folded into ISF later
(Musings On Iraq Rebuilding Iraq’s Army In A Warzone)
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 12 Reconstructing Iraqi Security Forces)
Sep 3 EU Japan US World Bank agreed to create trust fund for reconstruction funds for
Iraq independent of CPA
Sep 3 UK intel report on security in Iraq Said security would remain poor and could get worse in next
year leading to more spectacular attacks Former regime elements, Islamists main threats Said Islamists now saw Iraq was the main front for Jihad
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 9.2 23 May 2003 To June 2004)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
(Musings On Iraq review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
Sep 4 Former CENCTOM commander Gen Zinni said US had no strategy in Iraq and
danger of failing
(Musings On Iraq review Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq)
Sep 4 Rumsfeld said US speeding up creation of new Iraqi security forces in face of
growing attacks
Sep 4 Rumsfeld talked with Iraq commanders about troop withdrawal Pentagon plan was
to have 25,000-30,000 troops in Iraq by September 2003 but had 130,000 instead because of violence
(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Sep 7 Bush press conference said Iraq central front in the war on terror Said invasion of Iraq
was to spread democracy and transform Middle East Announced $18.4 bil for reconstructing Iraq Admitted that hundreds to thousands of foreign fighters had entered Iraq to carry out attacks
(Musings On Iraq How The U.S. Failed To Recognize The Insurgency In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Overreach, Delusions of Regime Change In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)
(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)
(Musings On Iraq Overview of America’s Policy Towards Iraq: From The Clinton Years To The
Sectarian War of 2006)
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 10 Contracting Billions for Reconstruction)
Sep 8 Iraq constitutional commission endorsed general elections for new constitution
Sep 8 Bremer OpEd in Wash Post Iraq had to go through 7 steps taking 2-3 yrs for Iraq to regain
sovereignty Bremer had not consulted with White House or Iraqis about his plan
(Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 8 – Muddling Through August-October 2003)
Sep 8 UK Def Min Hoon said Britain would send 1000 more troops to Iraq to help with security
Sep 9 Zarqawi hit US intel base in Irbil with suicide car bomb killing 3 wounding 54
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
Sep 9 Under Sec Def Feith said Pentagon prepared for all kinds of
contingencies for postwar Iraq but they never happened
Sep 10 UK Joint Intelligence Committee report on Iran’s Iraq policy Said Iran wanted large
influence over Iraqi govt, backed various Shiite groups, saw itself as competitor to U.S. Coalition
(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Analysis Of Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq Interview With RAND’s Alireza Nader)
Sep 11 Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz said Saddam connected to terrorism and Al
Qaeda and bin Laden now trying to work with ex-Baathists
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Sep 11 Report Pentagon made no detailed plans for postwar Iraq Hoped Chalabi and INC
would take over govt
(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 Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
Sep 12 Iraqi police chasing bandits in Fallujah fired upon by US troops at checkpoint
Jordanian Special Forces nearby opened fire as well 12 Iraqi police killed
Sep 12 Def Sec Rumsfeld sent memo to Bremer that he wanted to count US foreign and Iraqi forces as
troop levels in Iraq and number of ISF needed to be increased Bremer thought this was way for Rumsfeld to inflate numbers so that US could withdraw
(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 review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Sep 13 Defense Dept official told press Iraq had worked on mobile WMD labs but
inspectors never found them
(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)
Sep 13 Defense Secretary Rumsfeld called Bremer with idea of immediately giving sovereignty to Iraq and
giving power to Iraqi Governing Council Bremer objected saying council had no mandate to rule little support and would break up if given power
Sep 14 Cheney on Meet The Press said that Iraq had WMD and relationship with Al Qaeda
dating back to 90s Said what US found since invasion proved Iraq had WMD capabilities Found mobile WMD labs Cheney had been briefed in July by Iraq Survey Group head Kay that no mobile WMD labs had been found Cheney said if Iraq had gotten fissile material it could have built a nuclear bomb in months to a year Said that Iraq’s WMD and nuclear programs would be found Claimed that 9/11 hijacker Atta met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague in 2001 Story had been disproven by CIA and FBI Cheney said Iraq involved in 1993 World Trade Center bombing Story based upon Iraq conspiracy theorist Laurie Mylroie Cheney said democracy in Iraq would be blow against base of anti-western terrorism in the world Cheney said US didn’t need more troops in Iraq and security improving
(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)
(Musings On Iraq Laurie Mylroie’s Convoluted Iraq-Terrorism Conspiracy Theory)
(Musings On Iraq Laurie Mylroie’s Iraq Conspiracy Theory Was Debunked By Captured Baath Documents)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review Overreach, Delusions of Regime Change In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)
(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)
Sep 14 Report Iraqi scientists said nuclear program scrapped in 90s during UN
inspections
Sep 14 Poll 52% of US respondents supported Bush’s Iraq policies down 23% since war
ended
Sep 16 Def Sec Rumsfeld said he believed US intelligence that Iraq had WMD
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
Sep 16 Def Sec Rumsfeld said no evidence Iraq involved with 9/11
Sep 16 Def Sec Rumsfeld ordered US troops in Iraq to be cut from 125,000 to under 100,000 by March
2004
Sep 16 National Security Adviser Rice said one reason US invaded Iraq was because
Saddam was from Middle East where 9/11 attacks came from
Sep 16 Senior Iraqi scientist said WMD programs dismantled by UN inspectors in 90s
Sep 16 Bremer told CENTCOM cmdr Gen Abizaid and Sec Def Rumsfeld would take at least a year to build
up police and not to believe numbers of police as sign of success
(Musings On Iraq interview with Col Ted Spain on how US struggled to establish law and order in post-invasion Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how US failed to develop the Iraqi police)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 8 – Muddling Through August-October 2003)
Sep 17 Bush said no evidence Iraq involved in 9/11 but Iraq had ties to Al Qaeda
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
Sep 17 Saddam audio tape released on Al Arabiya called for US to withdraw from Iraq
and to increase attacks
Sep 18 Head weapons inspector Blix said he believed Iraq destroyed its WMD in 90s
(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)
Sep 18 Report wave of kidnappings for ransom across Baghdad
Sep 19 CPA issued new rules for banking in Iraq to reform finances and to open up
country to foreign investment Was opposed by Iraqi business
Sep 19 Saddam’s Def Min Gen Hashim Ahmad surrendered to US in Kirkuk after
negotiations
Sep 20 Ansar al-Sunnah announced itself on the Internet
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 7 Muqawama Wa Intiqaam (Resistance And Reprisals), May-August 2003)
Sep 20 Governing Council member Aqila Hashemi shot outside her home in Baghdad
Would die 3 days later
Sep 20 Funeral for ISCI head Ayatollah Baqir al-Hakim turned into anti-US occupation
demonstration in Najaf
(Musings On Iraq review The Triumph of the Martyrs, A Reporter’s Journey into Occupied Iraq)
Sep 21 French Pres Chirac called for US to immediately hand over sovereignty to Iraqis
Sep 21 Report mid to low level Baathists being assassinated in Baghdad
Sep 21 Iraqi Governing Council said they were under increasing attack after 1 number
ambushed and shot in Baghdad
Sep 21 Under Sec Def Feith wrote memo calling for early return of sovereignty to Iraq and giving power to
Iraqi Governing Council
Sep 22 Zarqawi bombed Canal Hotel Baghdad 2 dead 19 wounded
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
Sep 22 Bombing of UN compound led to unanimous decision to evacuate UN staff from
Iraq
(Musings On Iraq review The Terrorists of Iraq, Inside the Strategy and Tactics of the Iraqi Insurgency 2003-2014)
Sep 22 CPA head Bremer testified to Congress asking for approval of $87 bil in aid for
Iraq
Sep 22 Bremer met with Dep Def Sec Wolfowitz Bremer said Iraqi Governing Council couldn’t organize a
parade let alone run a country Wolfowitz suggested council be expanded to 100-200 members Bremer thought waste of time because Council had already been asked to do that and failed
(Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope)
Sep 22 Dep Sec Def Wolfowitz pushed for faster training of ISF and turning over security to them as
quickly as possible so US could withdraw from Iraq
(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 review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Sep 22 Report Iraqi Governing Council members were going to tell Congress US
reconstruction money being wasted
Sep 22 Report US knew that Iraq’s oil industry needed to be rebuilt but didn’t know how much Mar
03 Dep Def Sec Wolfowitz told Congress Iraq could earn $50-$100 bil from oil 1st 2-3 yrs after invasion Iraq would hardly make any money in 2003 and est $12 bil in 2004 Could earn $20 bil in 2005
Sep 23 Bush speech at UN said Iraq was frontline in war on terror
Sep 23 Fr Pres Chirac and UN Sec Gen Annan speeches at UN criticized Iraq war saying
US undermined international system
Sep 23 Gallup poll majority of Iraqis thought life would be better in 5 years 2/3 of
Baghdadis said removing Saddam was worth hardships
Sep 23 Iraqi Governing Council member Aqila Hashemi died after being shot 3 days
before outside her home
Sep 24 Bremer met Bush said he was optimistic about Iraq but concerned about growing
attacks Bremer complained about Congress number of US troops quality of intel training new Iraqi forces Bush told Bremer he was too controlling and doing too much Bremer said he would work on it
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Sep 24 CPA Governor of Anbar Mines warned that attacks and public anger at US growing
Sep 25 Bush said 9/11 changed how he viewed Iraq as a threat to US
Sep 25 Secretary of State Powell announced 6 month deadline for Iraqis to draft new
constitution
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy)
(Musings On Iraq review The Struggle For Iraq’s Future, How Corruption, Incompetence and Sectarianism Have Undermined Democracy)
Sep 25 House Intelligence Committee wrote letter to CIA Director Tenet criticizing pre-
war intel on Iraq’s WMD and Iraq-Al Qaeda ties after review
Sep 25 Baghdad hotel used as base for NBC News bombed 1 guard killed
Sep 25 UK Joint Intelligence Comm report Said attacks increasing against Coalition mostly aimed at US
Attacks evolving Getting more sophisticated Iraqis working for Coalition being targeted Militias carrying out illegal arrests and murders Al Qaeda in Iraq forming long term strategy to go after infrastructure
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Inquiry Section 9.2 23 May 2003 To June 2004)
(Musings On Iraq review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
Sep 27 Insurgents fired 3 rockets at Rashid Hotel in Baghdad
Sep 28 Natl Sec Adv Rice and Sec State Powell said that US had lots of new intel on Iraq’s WMD since
1998 when inspectors left in response to criticism
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
Sep 28 Rice said were always questions about Iraq’s nuke program but no question it had
WMD
Sep 28 Natl Sec Adv Rice on NBC said that US didn’t know how bad Iraq’s society was because
Baghdad looked so good Said US didn’t know what it was going to find in Iraq before invasion Admittal that US never looked at studies of Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Rice: We Didn’t Know How Bad Iraq’s Infrastructure Was Because Baghdad Looked So Modern)
Sep 28 Report DIA review found defectors provided by INC invented and exaggerated info
about Iraq’s WMD
Sep 29 Islamic Army of Iraq founded
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 7 Muqawama Wa Intiqaam (Resistance And Reprisals), May-August 2003)
Sep 30 UN Secretary General Anan said that UN would only renew its role in Iraq if
sovereignty passed to an interim govt
Sep 30 Rumsfeld aide ate with Pentagon Defense Policy Board member Gingrich and
Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz to lobby against Bremer Gingrich would later say Bremer was biggest foreign policy disaster in recent times
Sep 30 Bush told Justice Dep investigating possible unauthorized disclosure of
undercover CIA official fmr Amb Wilson’s wife VP Cheney’s office had leaked her name to press to discredit Wilson
(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)
Sep 30 Constitutional preparatory committee came up with 3 ways to name delegates
to constitutional committee Couldn’t agree on which to use
Sep 30 Iraqi Governing Council ordered top 4 levels of Baathists be fired with no exceptions US had been
giving exceptions
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 8 – Muddling Through August-October 2003)
(Musings On Iraq The Baathist Purge In Post-Saddam Iraq, A Short History Of DeBaathification)
(Musings On Iraq Review Lessons Of The Iraqi De-Ba’athfication Program For Iraq’s Future And The Arab Revolutions)
Oct 1 CPA Governor of Anbar Mines told Bremer CPA and military should work
together to create a new Iraqi security force
Oct 2 Iraq Survey Group released 1st report on WMD search Found no evidence of WMD or mobile WMD
labs Said Saddam hadn’t given up on his WMD programs Found dozens of WMD related activities
Oct 2 Iraq Survey Group head Kay briefed Congress on interim report Said Iraq deception meant US always
uncertain about Iraq’s WMD Found no WMD but evidence of programs No nuclear program No mobile WMD labs Said Saddam never gave up ambitions to have WMD Said that Iraq’s WMD stocks looked like they were destroyed in 1990s after Gulf War Said secret WMD programs were hidden in Iraqi intelligence services for assassinations Said Iraq had produced banned missile types
(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000)
Oct 2 CIA Director Tenet and Deputy Director McLaughlin were reluctant to accept
Kay’s findings Argued over WMD stocks being destroyed aluminum tubes and mobile WMD labs
(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)
Oct 2 White House called CIA Asked why finding no WMD could’ve been buried in Kay’s report instead
of being first
Oct 2 Kay testimony led White House to change message from Iraq had WMD stocks to
WMD programs being the threat that justified war
Oct 2 US commander in Iraq Gen Sanchez said insurgency had evolved and gotten more
deadly
Oct 2 National Security Adviser Rice created Iraq Stabilization Group to help run postwar
Iraq without consulting with rest of govt Bush had given Pentagon control of postwar Iraq so NSC’s Iraq Stabilization Group had no authority
(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)
Oct 3 Bush said interim report by Iraq Survey Group justified invasion because found
WMD programs
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
Oct 3 National Security Adviser Rice US went to war with Iraq because most likely place
terrorists could get WMD
Oct 3 CBS/New York Times poll found 53% of respondents in US thought Iraq war
a mistake
Oct 3 Report aluminum tubes were one of the main arguments US had Iraq restarted nuke
program but was always contested Senior White House officials claimed Rice knew about differences over tubes Administration overstated argument for tubes
(Musings On Iraq How A Contested Aluminum Tubes Story Became The Basis For War With Iraq)
Oct 4 Last day CPA paid ex-Iraqi soldiers turned into violent demonstrations in
Baghdad and other cities Were fired upon by US and British forces killing 3 Iraqis
Oct 6 1st battalion of Mahdi Army graduated in Basra
Oct 6 Iraq produced 4,518 megawatts of electricity exceeding CPA target by 118
megawatts
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter
14 Rebuilding the Electricity Sector)
(Musings On Iraq Rebuilding Iraq’s Electrical Network In A Warzone 2003-2005)
Oct 7 Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said he knew nothing of National Security Adviser
Rice creating Iraq Stabilization Group at NSC Rumsfeld was told about NSC group but wanted to personally be in control of all Iraq decisions so opposed Rice’s move
(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)
Oct 7 Australian Senate censured PM Howard for not proving his claims Iraq had
WMD to justify sending troops to Iraq
Oct 7 Turkish parliament okayed PM Erdogan sending Turkish troops to Iraq
Governing Council opposed idea
Oct 7 Major demonstration in Basra city when rumor spread not enough money to pay former
soldiers Protesters burned records to make payments British troops shot and killed a man
Oct 8 Bush US went to war with Iraq to deal with future threats with WMD and ties
to terrorism Said found Iraq’s WMD programs
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
Oct 9 Bush speech said Iraq doing better than most Americans thought and world better
off without Saddam
Oct 9 Bush gave National Security Adviser Rice oversight of reconstruction program Congress then
barred Rice from that duty
(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)
Oct 9 US forces raided Sadr office in Baghdad Got into gunfight with Mahdi Army
Oct 9 Zarqawi hit Sadr City police station with suicide car bomb killing 10
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
(Musings On Iraq review The ISIS Reader, Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement)
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
Oct 9 Spanish diplomat in Iraq assassinated
Oct 10 Sadr announced his own shadow govt
Oct 10 VP Cheney cited Iraq Survey Group report to claim that Iraq in material breach of UN resolutions
and had WMD programs Said Iraq had a relationship with Al Qaeda and trained Al Qaeda in poisons and bomb making Said if Saddam still in power he would be training terrorists and producing WMD
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
Oct 10 Powell said overwhelming evidence that Iraq violated UN resolutions about its WMD program
Oct 10 Iraqi diplomat that went to Niger said his trip was about trade and breaking sanctions not buying
uranium for nuke program
(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)
Oct 11 Sadrist funeral in Sadr City turned into anti-US demonstration of 10,000
(Musings On Iraq A Divided Sadr Trend)
Oct 11 CENTCOM cmdr Gen Abizaid told Dep Def Sec Wolfowitz US could seize Sadr in 3-4 days Was
against idea fearing escalation in violence
Oct 12 Zarqawi hits Baghdad Hotel with suicide car bomb 8 dead 32 wounded
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
Oct 13 Gen Ryder visited Iraq Said problems at detention facilities like Abu Ghraib could lead to human
rights abuses
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
Oct 14 White House told Congress 70,000 new ISF and 13,000 in training
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 12 Reconstructing Iraqi Security Forces)
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Oct 14 Sadrists tried to seize Karbala shrine leading to fighting with Sistani followers
Oct 14 Ansar al-Sunna suicide car bombing of Turkish Embassy in Baghdad 2 dead 13 wounded Part of
Ramadan offensive
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
Oct 15 Powell said that his claims about Iraq’s WMD program had been proven
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
Oct 15 Rice said CPA’s schedule for Iraq wouldn’t work and new one had to be created
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)
Oct 15 Sadr followers failed to take over Karbala shrine
Oct 15 UK Joint Intelligence Comm report Worried that Iraq would become new base for jihadists
Significant number of Islamists had already traveled to Iraq Could become base for recruiting training and attacks and could get worse
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
(Musings On Iraq review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
Oct 15 CPA began distributing new Iraqi dinars
Oct 16 UN Resolution 1511 set 12/15/03 as date for Iraqi Governing Council to submit plan for interim
govt and constitution
(Musings On Iraq review The Struggle For Iraq’s Future, How Corruption, Incompetence and Sectarianism Have Undermined Democracy)
Oct 16 UK Def Sec Hoon said that attacks on Coalition were increasing and Coalition response in Sunni
areas was alienating Iraqis
(Musings On Iraq review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
Oct 17 Iraqi prisoner photographed stripped and handcuffed to cell door by US jailers at Abu Ghraib
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
Oct 17 Gunfight outside Sadr office in Karbala killed 3 US soldiers and 7 Iraqis
Oct 18 US forces expelled Mahdi Army from Sadr City district council building which it had seized
Oct 18 US officials met with Custer Battles over its contract to replace old dinars with new ones Company
accused of buying substandard trucks Company threatened to walk out of deal Left behind spreadsheet that showed company billed US $2.1 mil for work that only cost $913,000 Was 1st sign company bilking govt It created front companies that made false bills at inflated prices to rob govt
(Musings On Iraq review Blood Money, Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq)
Oct 19 Powell said US had found evidence of Iraq’s WMD programs and that Saddam always wanted
nuclear weapons
(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Created An Iraqi Nuclear Threat In 2002)
Oct 19 Bin Laden tape aired on Al Jazeera Congratulated Iraqis for resisting Americans in Iraq Said US
was mired in the swamps of the Tigris and Euphrates
Oct 23 Madrid Conf began with 76 countries to garner international aid for Iraq Germany Russia France
offered nothing having opposed war
(Musings On Iraq Overview of America’s Policy Towards Iraq: From The Clinton Years To The
Sectarian War of 2006)
Oct 23 US guards at Abu Ghraib prison photographed an Iraqi prisoner with a leash on and other abuses
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
Oct 24 US secured $13 bil in aid and loans from allies for Iraq at Madrid conference Allies failed to
follow through with most pledges
(Musings On Iraq Overview of America’s Policy Towards Iraq: From The Clinton Years To The
Sectarian War of 2006)
Oct 24 Maysan police chief assassinated after went to Sadrist mosque Afterward chief’s tribe raided mosque
Kidnapped 2 imams Sadrists called out Mahdi Army into streets Marched on police HQ Led to shooting UK military stopped fighting
Oct 25 Iraqi prisoners were stripped, handcuffed and piled in pyramid on top of each other by US
jailers in Abu Ghraib
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
Oct 25 Report Pipelines attacked Oil equipment old and outdated Looting power shortages attacks
slowed production Analysts said Iraq nowhere near returning to pre-invasion production of 2.8 mil/bar/day Interim Oil Min Ghabban told Geneva conference oil industry would be fixed by early spring 04 Said would open 4 new oil fields in 2004 Didn’t happen
Oct 26 Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz arrived in Baghdad and met with Chalabi who warned him
insurgents knew he was in the country
Oct 26 Baghdad’s Rashid Hotel hit by rocket while Wolfwitz staying there 16 killed 18 wounded Part of
Ramadan offensive
Oct 26 US military said were not many foreign fighters in Baghdad
Oct 26 Iraq Survey Group found aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy were not for centrifuges Pentagon
replied group had not finished its analysis
(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)
Oct 26 Report CIA interviewed head of Iraq’s centrifuge program who said Iraq ended centrifuge work
after Gulf War and tubes had nothing to do with it CIA claimed head of Iraq’s centrifuge program was not telling truth about aluminum tubes Iraq tried to buy
(Musings On Iraq How A Contested Aluminum Tubes Story Became The Basis For War With Iraq)
Oct 27 CPA head Bremer returned to DC to discuss his long term plan for Iraq which White House had
turned against
(Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from
George W. Bush to Barack Obama)
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
Oct 27 Rumsfeld told Bremer of plan to give power to Iraqi Governing Council and return Iraq sovereignty
by Apr 04 Bremer said needed new Iraqi govt and constitution 1st
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy)
Oct 27 Bush at NSC meeting said US had to stay the course in Iraq Gen Abizaid said US had to bring
back ex-Iraqi soldiers to rebuild army Bremer said too risky National Security Adviser Rice said Iraq’s insurgency was desperate and not going to succeed
Oct 27 Zarqawi bombed Red Cross HQ and 4 police stations in Baghdad Sixth attack foiled 35 dead and
244 injured Part of Ramadan offensive
(Musings On Iraq How The U.S. Failed To Recognize The Insurgency In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
(Musings On Iraq review Black Flags, The Rise Of ISIS)
Oct 27 Saddam called on insurgents to attack Iraqi security forces rather than U.S. led coalition
Oct 27 U.S. military blamed foreign fighters for spate of Baghdad bombings Day before denied foreign
fighters important in capital Said insurgents were paying 10 times as much for people to carry out attacks against US forces
Oct 27 Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Feith provided evidence of Iraq-Al Qaeda ties his office had
collected to Senate Intelligence Committee Feith claimed Iraq knew that Zarqawi entered Iraq in 2002
(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy
Tragedy)
(Musings On Iraq review Insurgent Iraq, Al Zarqawi and the New Generation)
Oct 27 Bush told press that violence in Iraq desperate act and sign that US was making progress
Oct 28 Bush speech said Iraq frontline of war on terror and would take time to win
(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)
Oct 28 Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Gen Pace said US
had to return sovereignty as soon as possible and get Iraqis to run things
Oct 28 Secretary of State Powell said security number one priority in postwar Iraq
otherwise nothing else would matter
Oct 28 Bremer met with NSC Bremer wanted constitution and elections by end of 05 Pentagon wanted
quick transfer of sovereignty Bremer later admitted his timeline was too long for White House
(Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope)
Oct 28 CENTCOM head Gen Abizaid briefed Joint Chiefs Said insurgency made up of 4000 former regime
members 2000 from Ansar al-Islam Unknown number of foreign fighters Intel officer in Iraq thought those numbers undercount
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Oct 29 Bush said he supported Bremer’s plan for Iraq but that it could be sped up
(Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from
George W. Bush to Barack Obama)
Oct 29 Maysan police chief Abu Rashid assassinated by rivals
Oct 30 Cheney said Iraq had WMD
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
Oct 30 Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz said because US had missed so much of
Iraq’s WMD program in 1991 it might have exaggerated them in 2003
Oct 30 Report White House pushed Pentagon to speed up training of Iraqi forces
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Oct 30 US National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq said Iraqis not foreigners behind most
of insurgency and local grievances including US occupation were fueling violence
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
(Musings On Iraq review Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency In Iraq)
Oct 31 Attack on Fallujah govt center lasting for hours Destroyed complex Mayor Taha fled
Nov 1 UN withdrew most of its staff after Zarqawi bombing
Nov 1 Asst Cmdr 1st Armored Div Gen Hertling said that the insurgency was faltering
Nov 1 Zarqawi truck bomb hit Italian Carabinieri HQ in Nasiriya killing 14 Part of Ramadan offenisve
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
Nov 1 Bush said former regime members and foreigners behind insurgency but US would not quit
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Nov 1 NSC discussed Nov memo by CIA station chief in Baghdad that insurgency mostly Iraqi because
Sunnis alienated from new Iraq Def Sec Rumsfeld said there was no insurgency Bush ended discussion because angry CIA report leaked to press Bush said he didn’t want any talk of insurgency in media because wanted to win the 04 election
Nov 1 CIA Mideast chief Richer was furious at NSC meeting Admin finally talking about insurgency and
ended up focusing on political spin instead
Nov 2 Bush gave speech Said democracy would succeed in Iraq and spread throughout Middle East
(Musings On Iraq review Overreach, Delusions of Regime Change In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)
(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)
(Musings On Iraq Overview of America’s Policy Towards Iraq: From The Clinton Years To The
Sectarian War of 2006)
Nov 2 Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said both Clinton and Bush administrations believed
Iraq had WMD
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)
(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
Nov 2 US Chinook helicopter shot down near Fallujah Killed 15 soldiers Deadliest post-invasion attack on
US up to that point Was celebrated inside city
Nov 2 US Cmdr in Iraq Gen Sanchez said violence in Iraq was strategically insignificant
Nov 3 CPA paper on security US didn’t have good intel on insurgency and no military strategy to win
(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)
Nov 4 CPA turned over all deBaathification powers to Iraqi Governing Council DeBaathification Comm
under Chalabi would fire 28,000 teachers and 100s of govt workers in Nov
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 8 – Muddling Through August-October 2003)
(Musings On Iraq The Baathist Purge In Post-Saddam Iraq, A Short History Of DeBaathification)
(Musings On Iraq Review Lessons Of The Iraqi De-Ba’athfication Program For Iraq’s Future And The Arab Revolutions)
Nov 4 CPA meeting Said it would last until Mar or Oct 05 depending upon election system chosen Said
state owned enterprises would be privatized food rations and subsidies would end All police chiefs would be replaced by Interior Min appointees All governors had to be re-selected Militias would be integrated into army by May 04 New army recruits would begin training Jun 04 Bremer said plans couldn’t be changed CPA South head Synnott complained Said would lead to large layoffs increase prices anger Iraqi politicians US military said never consulted about any of the plans Said deBaathification and free market reforms were driving Iraqis away from US and increasing insurgency Bremer didn’t tell meeting that he was told to scrap all of these plans by White House
(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 6 Charting A New Course)
(Musings On Iraq How The Failure To Deal With Iraq’s Militias Caused The Breakdown Of The Country)
Nov 4 CPA officials suggested Transitional Admin Law as interim constitution to bridge differences
between Bremer and Ayatollah Sistani Sistani wanted Iraqis to elect body to write constitution Bremer wanted indirect method
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 11 Restoring
Iraq’s Capacity to Govern)
(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)
(Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
Nov 4 Iraqi prisoner was hooded placed on box wires attached to him and told he would be electrocuted
by US jailers Abu Ghraib
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
Nov 4 Report Saddam made various overtures to US before war but ignored by US as fakes or to stall
for time
Nov 4 CENTCOM Cmdr Gen Abizaid told Blair’s foreign policy adv Sir Sheinwald that insurgency was
growing in Sunni areas based around former regime members backed by foreign fighters Said insurgency still at low level and lacked support amongst Sunnis Abizaid said solution was to increase Iraqi security forces reconciliation and passing sovereignty to Iraqis
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Nov 6 Congress authorized $18.4 bil for Iraq reconstruction
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 10 Contracting Billions for Reconstruction)
Nov 6 Bush speech If democracy failed in Iraq would be win for terrorism and bad for Middle East
(Musings On Iraq review Overreach, Delusions of Regime Change In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)
(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)
(Musings On Iraq Overview of America’s Policy Towards Iraq: From The Clinton Years To The
Sectarian War of 2006)
Nov 6 Report Saddam offered to allow US troops to search country for WMD before invasion
Nov 6 UK Foreign Sec Straw told cabinet that CPA’s political plan needed changes and that British
should talk with US about it
(Musings On Iraq review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
Nov 6 Bremer talked with VP Cheney about lack of military strategy in Iraq Bremer said military more
concerned with withdrawing troops then securing Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Nov 6 Bremer said that after meeting with Iraqi Governing Council he realized that his long
term political plan was dead Was actually due to White House
(Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy)
(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from
George W. Bush to Barack Obama)
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
Nov 7 CENTCOM Cmdr Gen Abizaid told Bremer US should bring back ex-Iraq officers into new
army Bremer said no
Nov 8 Red Cross withdrew most of its staff after Zarqawi bombing
Nov 10 Bremer met Bush Said 2 routes for Iraq Elections for new govt or CPA could hold caucuses to pick
govt Bush backed CPA Said interim constitution would accelerate US returning sovereignty to Iraqi Natl Sec Adv Rice told Bremer to come to DC and brief Bush on plans
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
Nov 10 CIA report more Iraqis joining insurgency Said Sunni alienation disbanding military
deBaathification lack of jobs and political progress main factors behind insurgency Said Iraqi leaders not showing ability to run country
(Musings On Iraq How The U.S. Failed To Recognize The Insurgency In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review State of War, The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration)
(Musings On Iraq review Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency In Iraq)
Nov 10 PUK HQ in Kirkuk bombed by insurgents
(Musings On Iraq How Did Kirkuk Become Such A Divisive Issue? A Portrait of The City In
2003)
Nov 11 US Cmdr in Iraq Gen Sanchez said US would be more aggressive fighting insurgency
Nov 11 Bush said Iraq and war on terror were like struggle against Communism
Nov 11 Rumsfeld said that US facing low-intensity war in Iraq
Nov 11 Bremer went to White House to present his plan to transfer sovereignty to Iraq CIA presented on
growing insurgency Def Sec Rumsfeld asked why word insurgency used CIA went over Pentagon’s definition of insurgency and how applied to Iraq Bremer said US facing insurgency Bush said he didn’t want to read in press US facing insurgency because didn’t think there was one Bremer outlined plan for interim constitution Then would transfer sovereignty to Iraq Cheney suggested Iraqi Governing Council pick interim govt Bremer said would be too risky Bush said US had to stay the course and win in Iraq Dep Sec State Armitage thought Bush in denial about Iraq Rumsfeld said Iraqis had to take responsibility for their own country
(Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from
George W. Bush to Barack Obama)
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
(Musings On Iraq review State of War, The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration)
(Musings On Iraq review Night Draws Near, Iraq’s People In The Shadow Of America’s War)
Nov 11 Bremer and aide Meghan O’Sullivan re-worked his sovereignty plan Set 6/30/04 as date to return
sovereignty to an interim Iraqi govt chosen through caucuses
Nov 11 Pentagon refuted Weekly Standard and Under Sec of Def Feith claims of Iraq-Al Qaeda ties
since 90s
Nov 12 Bremer presented his new plan to transfer sovereignty to Iraq in Jun 03 and interim govt picked by
caucus Bush approved
Nov 12 Zarqawi bombed Italian police in Nasiriyah killing 19 Italians 15 civilians and wounding
around 100 Part of Ramadan offensive
(Musings On Iraq review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)
Nov 12 Bush decided US should turn over sovereignty to Iraq early against CPA plan
(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from
George W. Bush to Barack Obama)
(Musings On Iraq review Imperial Life In The Emerald City, Inside Iraq’s Green Zone)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
Nov 12 US launched Op Iron Hammer in Baghdad One of first anti-insurgent ops
Nov 14 Japan decided to hold off deploying troops to Iraq due to rising violence
Nov 14 South Korea ordered its 464 troops in southern Iraq to suspend operations due
to rising violence
Nov 14 Denmark rejected call to send 100 more troops to Iraq due to rising violence
Nov 14 US army intel report said insurgency successfully preventing CPA from providing
safe and secure Iraq Said US failing in Iraq because relying upon conventional military tactics and didn’t understand Iraqi culture Said insurgents targeting tribal structure while US ignoring it
Nov 14 Bremer met with Iraqi Governing Council’s presidency council They backed new plan for interim
constitution by Mar 04 Caucuses summer 04 for interim govt
Nov 15 Bremer announced November agreement after told his original plan for transition to Iraqi self-
rule rejected by White House By 2/28/04 Governing Council would draft transitional law for Iraq By end of March 04 Governing Council would have a formal security agreement with Coalition By end of May 04 elections for transitional parliament selected through caucuses End of June 04 transitional parliament would appoint Iraqi govt By 3/15/05 Iraqi government would hold elections for constitutional convention End of 2005 elections for permanent govt held under new constitution November plan opposed by Sistani
(Musings On Iraq review My Year in Iraq, The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)
(Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy)
(Musings On Iraq review The Endgame, The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from
George W. Bush to Barack Obama)
(Musings On Iraq review Imperial Life In The Emerald City, Inside Iraq’s Green Zone)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 11 Restoring
Iraq’s Capacity to Govern)
Nov 16 Bremer said creating new Iraqi military top priority
Nov 15 Pentagon claimed Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Feith’s intelligence unit on Iraq-Al
Qaeda ties was authorized by intelligence community but it wasn’t
Nov 16 US launched Op Ivy Cyclone II in Tikrit and Balad in Salahaddin Baquba in Diyala and Kirkuk
Showed how insurgency was spreading quickly early in US occupation
Nov 18 CENTCOM cmdr Gen Abizaid’s advisers said Iraqi police lacked resources training program
ineffective US couldn’t provide it logistics Said police effort could fail
(Musings On Iraq interview with Col Ted Spain on how US struggled to establish law and order in post-invasion Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how US failed to develop the Iraqi police)
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 8 – Muddling Through August-October 2003)
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Nov 19 Car bomb at Sheikh Suleiman’s home after he made deal with US for police to take over
security in Ramadi
Nov 20 US army team with dogs arrived at Abu Ghraib prison which were used to abuse
prisoners
Nov 20 Suicide truck bomb hit PUK office in Kirkuk killing 5
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
Nov 21 UN turned over Oil for Food program to CPA
Nov 21 UK intel report Badr Brigade maintained close ties to Iran that armed and funded it
(Musings On Iraq Overview of Iran’s Influence In Iraq)
(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 7 Muqawama Wa Intiqaam (Resistance And Reprisals), May-August 2003)
Nov 22 Wasit police chief said Iranian intel sending agents into Iraq through province
Nov 24 US jailers used dogs to intimidate Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib
Nov 24 Prison riot at Abu Ghraib 9 prisoners killed 9 American guards injured
Nov 24 Weekly Standard published Undersecretary of Defense Feith’s Iraq-Al Qaeda
briefing claiming two had over 50 meetings since 1990s
Nov 24 Pentagon released statement that Feith’s Iraq-Al Qaeda work was based upon
raw intel and not analysis of relationship between them
Nov 24 CIA sent Feith list of problems with his Iraq-Al Qaeda work Said claim Zarqawi
given safehaven by Saddam was disputed
Nov 24 Report Iran brought 90 Hezbollah operatives into Iraq to help it
(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah’s Role In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Analysis Of Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq Interview With RAND’s Alireza Nader)
Nov 24 NSC meeting with Bremer US cmdr in Iraq Sanchez CENTCOM cmdr Gen Abizaid Said 5,000
Baathists were core of insurgency
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)
(Musings On Iraq review The U.S. Army In The Iraq War: Volume 1, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil
War, 2003-2006)
Nov 25 Def Sec Rumsfeld testified to Senate Said former Iraqi army officers could be called back into
service if they were not Baathists
Nov 26 Ayatollah Sistani said he opposed CPA’s plan for caucuses to be formed to draft new Iraq
constitution Wanted Islamic identity to be included in any new Iraqi government
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 11 Restoring
Iraq’s Capacity to Govern)
(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)
(Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
Nov 28 Report North pipeline to Turkey attacked almost every wk Shut down almost all oil exports to
Turkey Oil Min exported 1.14 mil/bar/day in Oct and earned $24 mil
Nov 29 Insurgent attacks killed 7 Spanish intelligence officers and 2 Japanese diplomats in Iraq
Nov 30 US soldiers repelled 3 ambushes on convoy in Samarra Iraqis later claimed US fired
indiscriminately killing civilians
Nov 30 Senior CIA analyst said 2002 Nat Intel Est on Iraq’s WMD lacked specifics on the programs
Dec 1 Iraq physicist book claimed Iraq never rebuilt nuclear program after 90s and US exaggerated
threat Said Iraq never close to building a nuclear bomb
Dec 1 Report Shiites carrying out revenge killings of Baathists and members of Mukhabarat
Dec 2 Dep Sec State Armitage said US should not oppose Ayatollah Sistani who was pushing for
elections for new Iraq parliament
(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)
(Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq)
Dec 2 Bremer sent memo to Ayatollah Sistani Said agreed with his demand that constitution be written by
Iraqis but CPA plan for caucuses to pick interim govt that would then write constitution was best way forward
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 11 Restoring
Iraq’s Capacity to Govern)
Dec 5 Pentagon banned France, Germany, Russia and other countries that opposed war from bidding on
reconstruction projects in Iraq
Dec 5 US Air Force intel report Iran greatest threat to long term US influence in Iraq
(Musings On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)
Dec 5 UN Sec Gen Annan endorsed CPA plan for caucuses to choose interim govt that would then write
constitution
Dec 6 Bremer’s convoy attacked on Route Irish to Baghdad airport
Dec 6 Rumsfeld told Bremer Rice was trying to take over political file on Iraq Didn’t agree but was
ceding role to her
(Musings On Iraq review State of Denial, Bush At War, Part III)
Dec 7 Gingrich went on offensive against CPA saying US should’ve given over sovereignty to Iraq
early on like in Afghanistan
Dec 7 Report US forces using collective punishment Blowing up homes of suspected insurgents
Putting barbed wire around towns
Dec 9 Suicide Car bomb on Mosul camp wounded 41 US troops and 6 Iraqi civilians
Dec 10 CPA presented list of 1,706 priority projects US and Iraq didn’t have money for all of
them
Dec 10 US asked France Germany Russia to forgive some of the debt Iraq owed them
Dec 10 Russia refused US request to forgive its Iraq debt after US banned it from bidding on
reconstruction projects
Dec 11 Pentagon audit announced Kellogg Brown & Root overcharged $61 mil for fuel imports to Iraq
Dec 12 US Special Forces captured Mohammed Musslit who led them to Saddam
Dec 12 CPA adv Diamond told Natl Sec Adv Rice that US should include UN in CPA’s plans to create
new Iraqi govt Could alleviate Sistani’s demands for elections
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction’s Hard Lessons Chapter 11 Restoring
Iraq’s Capacity to Govern)
(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)
(Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)
Dec 12 US guards at Abu Ghraib prison took pictures of themselves abusing Iraqi prisoners
Dec 13 US forces captured Saddam outside Tikrit US believed Saddam leader of insurgency and
this was turning point Was wrong
(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 9 Down The Spider Hole, October-December 2003)
Dec 13 Fmr Iraqi intelligence officer denied he met 9/11 hijacker Atta in Vienna in 2001
Dec 13 RPGs fired at US forces during protest in Fallujah US fired into crowd 3 Iraqis killed
(Musings On Iraq review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)
Dec 14 Bremer announced US had captured Saddam Pro-Saddam march in Adhamiya Baghdad
Dec 15 Report Al Qaeda was going to divert fighters and funds from Afghanistan to Iraq
Dec 16 Blair said it would take time to find Iraq’s WMD
(Musings On Iraq review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)
Dec 16 France and Germany agreed to US request to forgive part of $120 bil debt Iraq owed them
Dec 17 Report Sunday Telegraph story that 9/11 hijacker Atta travelled to Baghdad in 01 was probably
false
Dec 18 UK cabinet meeting said that capturing Saddam wouldn’t likely affect security PM Blair
disagreed saying it would open the door to progress in Iraq
Dec 19 Report Over 250 mass graves have been reported 40 confirmed Est 1 mil Iraqis disappeared under
Saddam Most of the graves related to 5 major massacres by Saddam 1983 killed 8000 members of Barzani tribe 1988 Anfal Campaign where 182,000 removed from Kurdistan and disappeared 1986 and 1988 chemical attacks on Kurdish villages 1991 Revolt
Dec 19 CENTCOM cmdr Gen Abizaid briefed NSC Capture of Saddam wouldn’t end insurgent attacks
Dec 21 Massoud Barzani article said Kurds would take regional autonomy and nothing else in new
Iraqi constitution
Dec 22 Kurds in Kirkuk marched for federalism
Dec 27 Zarqawi attacks on govt buildings and foreign troop bases in Karbala killed 19 wounded 170
Dec 28 Iraqi Governing Council wrote letter to UN about CPA’s plans to hold caucuses instead of
elections for new Iraq parliament
Dec 29 Iraqi Governing Council voted to replace family laws with sharia
Dec 30 White House meeting on what to do about Governing Council going to UN to ask them with
help to transition to sovereignty White House decided they would try to block any UN plans for Iraq because wanted to keep control of process Meeting then turned to security Cheney said he wanted to eliminate Sadr
Dec 31 Protest by Arabs and Turkmen in response to PUK-KDP rallies over capture of Saddam turned
violent as some marched on govt building in Kirkuk and guards fired at them killing 4 and wounding 24
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