US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Ch 2 “The Eve Of The Surge, December 2006-February 2007”

Chapter 2 of the U.S. Army’s second volume on the Iraq War covers the period after President Bush decided to surge troops into Iraq but before it was actually implemented. It showed more dysfunction within the U.S. government, while inside Iraq the warring factions were preparing for a final confrontation.

Coordination Framework Takes Over Maysan Govt From Sadr

Maysan in the south was one of the major contested provinces after December’s election. That was because it had been run by Sadr’s followers for years and the Coordination Framework wanted to put that to an end. The list was finally successful.

1/3 Of Iraqi Voters Excluded From 2023 Elections Largely Due To Sectarian Cleansing

(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Al Mada reported that up to one-third of registered voters won’t be able to take part in Iraq’s December 2023 elections. That’s because the Election Commission refused to update its voter data. Since the Commission is controlled by the ruling parties this was likely done to reduce the number of ballots cast in the hopes that would ensure their victory.

Review A Stranger in Your Own City, Travels in the Middle East’s Long War

Abdul-Ahad, Ghaith, A Stranger in Your Own City, Travels in the Middle East’s Long War, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2023

 

A Stranger in Your Own City, Travels in the Middle East’s Long War by journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad is an engaging story about him growing up in Baghdad and then experiencing the aftermath of the U.S. invasion. It’s a tale of a nation beset by problems from the 1990s sanctions that impoverished most to the exiles that created a new ethnosectarian political system that was then used it to justify violence. The new elite ended up killing its youth in the street for protesting against corruption. It’s an important addition to the cannon because it not only includes his own recollections of this period but also many Iraqi civilians, soldiers and officials when most books are by and about Westerners.

1 Yr After Elections Iraq Finally Has A New Govt

(Al Monitor)

One year after voting Iraq finally selected a new government. On October 13 parliament elected former Water Minister Abdul Latif Rashid of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) president. This had been one of the main roadblocks because originally the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) wanted to take the position which has been held by the PUK since 2005. They finally made a deal where the PUK would put forward a new candidate Rashid and the KDP would back him.

Review From Dictatorship to Democracy: An Insider’s Account of the Iraqi Opposition to Saddam

Al-Bayati, Hamid, From Dictatorship to Democracy: An Insider’s Account of the Iraqi Opposition to Saddam, Philadelphia Oxford: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011

 

Hamid al-Bayati was the London representative of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). His From Dictatorship to Democracy: An Insider’s Account of the Iraqi Opposition to Saddam is about what SCIRI did from the 1990s to the start of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The book is one of omission because what he doesn’t say is sometimes more important than what he does. His main concern was to portray SCIRI in a good light as an organization that pushed for a democratic Iraq while he never mentions important facts like it was created and funded by Iran. On the other hand he does cover what the Iraqi opposition was doing during the 1990s and 2000s which is a story rarely told.

Review Volatile Landscape, Iraq and Its Insurgent Movements

Mardini, Ramzy, Editor, Volatile Landscape, Iraq and Its Insurgent Movements, Washington D.C.: Jamestown Foundation, 2010

 

Full disclosure, I wrote a chapter for this book

 

Volatile Landscape, Iraq and Its Insurgent Movements is a collection of reports from the Jamestown Foundation’s Terrorism Monitor written by various authors. Like any anthology it is very inconsistent. The first half is about the Iraqi insurgency and has the most problems. The second part is much better about Iraqi politics.

2021 Election Reshuffles Iraq’s Political Deck

(AP)

Iraq’s 2021 election had some predictable winners mixed in with unexpected results. The main take away was that Sadr’s movement is the strongest political force in the country right now. Others did better than expected while some long standing parties faced crushing defeats. Two new parties won seats in parliament as well and will likely form the country’s first opposition.

Sadrists And Fatah Expected To Do Well In Iraq’s Oct Election

(AP)

Sunday October 10 Iraqis will go to the polls once again to select a new parliament. Moqtada al-Sadr’s Sairoon and the Fatah list led by Badr’s Haid Amiri are likely to do the best. That’s the result of two factors. First, the new election districts favor parties that can bring out voters and have the money to run multiple candidates across the country, and turnout is expected to be low.

U.S. Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 - Chapter 20 Baghdad Burns, Summer-Fall 2006

By the summer of 2006 the civil war was raging in Baghdad. The Shiites held the upper hand as they were backed by the Maliki government and the security forces. U.S. commander General George Casey knew what was going on but was still committed to an American withdrawal claiming that the Iraqis would have to solve their problems themselves. The situation was so bad that President Bush who was not involved in day to day activities in Iraq even decided that a change was needed. That would take six months however because of the president’s inattention. Iraq would burn as a consequence because no one was trying to make it better.

U.S. Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 - Chapter 18 – Defeated By Democracy, Winter 2005-2006

The end of 2005 brought continued failure for the U.S. effort in Iraq which the American military was ironically completely unaware of. The commanding General George Casey actually thought his strategy was working and the U.S. could start withdrawing its troops soon. He couldn’t have been more wrong. The country was moving towards civil war as shown by not only violence, but the elections and constitutional drafting process. The U.S. was also ignoring Iran’s interference and England’s failure in Basra. It would take another year for the Americans to realize that things had gone tragically wrong in Iraq.

U.S. Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 - Chapter 16 – Going West, April-August 2005

Starting in the spring of 2005 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi launched his campaign to start a civil war between Iraq’s Sunnis and Shiites. That actually angered Al Qaeda who believed Zarqawi should be targeting the Americans instead. The new Jaafari government responded in kind by recruiting militiamen into the security forces and attacking Sunnis. The U.S. on the other hand completely missed what was going on as usual even though it had Zarqawi’s plan. Its new counterinsurgency approach was also failing because of the lack of troops. This period was the prequel to Iraq completely coming apart.

U.S. Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 11 The Gathering Storm

The eleventh chapter of the U.S. Army history of the Iraq War covers the events at the start of 2004. The American military thought the insurgency was waning and that it could withdraw as soon as the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) were rebuilt, while the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was forced to bring in the United Nations to settle its dispute with Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani over elections. The U.S. was operating in a vacuum as it missed the maturation of the insurgency and was ignoring Iran’s growing influence in Iraq.

US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 7 Muqawama Wa Intiqaam (Resistance And Reprisals), May-August 2003

As soon as the U.S. invasion ended in April 2003 a struggle for power broke out amongst Iraq’s political parties and armed groups. The U.S. military failed to see the bigger picture of what was going on in the country after the fall of Saddam Hussein. This is the topic of the seventh chapter in the U.S. Army’s history of the Iraq War.

U.S. Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 5 – We’re Here, Now What?

Chapter 5 of the U.S. Army’s history of the Iraq War has a fitting title, “We’re Here, Now What?” That was the exact situation the Americans found themselves after a lightning quick war against Iraq. Neither the military nor the Defense Department that had responsibility for postwar Iraq cared about the day after Saddam fell. The Bush administration also believed in a set of false assumptions that Iraq would be peaceful and stable. There were absolutely no plans for what the U.S. was about to face.

Iraq’s Parties Prepare For 2021 Elections

(Brookings)

Iraq’s political parties are gearing up for the October 2021 elections. That’s seen by a slew of announcements of new coalitions recently.

Review The Occupation, War And Resistance In Iraq

Cockburn, Patrick, The Occupation, War And Resistance In Iraq, London, New York: Verso, 2007

 

The Occupation, War And Resistance In Iraq by journalist Patrick Cockburn is a short overview of the mistakes the U.S. made during its time in Iraq from its lack of knowledge of the country before it invaded to the constant political blunders it made afterward. The book starts in the 1990s to give some background to what Iraq was like before the war started, and then mostly focuses upon the period the Coalition Provisional Authority ruled the nation. It ends in 2006. Cockburn argues that America’s hubris before and after the invasion undermined the new Iraq it was trying to create.

Rumors Of Abdul Mahdi Staying On As Iraq’s PM

(Al Jazeera)

At the very end of November 2019 Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi resigned from office. That led to political deadlock as the Binna bloc led by Badr’s Hadi Amiri proposed several candidates backed by Iran only to have President Barham Salah reject them fearing that they would increase popular protests against the government. Iraq’s ruling parties usually take months to agree upon a new government, so this process was only in its infancy. Iran and Abdul Mahdi had plans of their own.

Pro-Iran Groups Take Next Step To Expel US Forces From Iraq

Pro-Iran groups attacking the outside of the US Embassy in Baghdad (EPA)

On December 31 several pro-Iran Hashd groups marched on the U.S. Embassy within Baghdad’s Green Zone in response to American missile strikes upon Kataib Hezbollah bases after the group killed a U.S. contractor. They assaulted the embassy and threatened a sit in camp outside, but that was ended the next day. This appeared to be part of a political strategy by Iran to provoke Washington, distract from the ongoing protests, and push parliament to expel U.S. forces from Iraq.

Iraq’s President Threatens To Resign Over Unpopular Nominations For Premier

Protest in southern Iraq against nomination of Basra Gov Eidani for PM (Al Mirbad)

The pro-Iran Bina bloc headed by the Badr Organization’s Hadi Amiri has proposed one unpopular candidate for premier after another. President Barham Salah has rejected both fearing that they would only inflame the street more. In protest he offered his resignation claiming that he’s gotten contradictory information about which coalition represents the largest bloc in parliament, and thus has the right to name the next prime minister.