Review Arbella Bet-Shlimon, City of Black Gold, Oil, Ethnicity, and the making of Modern Kirkuk, Stanford University Press, 2019

  

Arbella Bet-Shlimon can be considered one of the new Iraq researchers who attempted to break free of the conventional wisdom that shaped much of the discourse about the country after 2003. Her City of Black Gold, Oil, Ethnicity, and the making of Modern Kirkuk takes a look at the political and economic development of the city from Ottoman times to the present. Rather than seeing the city as always being divided by competing ethnicities the book creates a history where Kirkuk was shaped by Turkey, England, Iraq, oil and where ethnicity changed over time.

Review Edmund Ghareeb, The Kurdish Question In Iraq, Syracuse University Press, 1981

  

Edmund Ghareeb’s The Kurdish Question In Iraq is a bit of an oddity. On the one hand it takes much of what the Baath government said about Arab nationalism and the Kurdish issue in the 1960s and 70s at face value. On the other hand it gives a very good criticism of Mulla Mustafa Barzani and his struggle against the Iraqi government. His thesis is that Barzani’s miscalculations and autocracy led to his downfall.

Review Oles Smolansky with Bettie Smolansky, The USSR And Iraq, The Soviet Quest For Influence, Duke University Press, 1991

  

Until the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 Moscow was Iraq’s biggest supporter. Those ties were developed under the Bakr government and the Soviet Union in the late-1960s. Oles and Bettie Smolanky’s The USSR And Iraq, The Soviet Quest For Influence studies this relationship from the 1950s to the end of the Iran-Iraq War. They refute the common Cold War belief that the Soviets created clientist states like Iraq. Instead the two had common interests that created an alliance between them. The Smolankys argue that Baghdad was able to follow its own national interests without threatening that relationship.

Iran And Its Iraqi Allies Continue Attacks During Ceasefire

  

On April 8 the ceasefire went into effect between the U.S. and Iran. Hostilities were supposed to stop in Iraq as well as the Resistance announced a two week halt to operations but they have not. Iranian Kurdish groups have been attacked again and again and most recently a Kuwait border post was hit by an Iraqi drone.

KDP Frustrated With Defeat Over Iraq’s Presidency

     

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) finds itself on the defensive after the election of Iraq’s president. The party believed it was on the ascendency due to the disarray of its partner the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) but that trend has been reversed recently.

Iraq’s Kurdistan Continues To Be Hit By Iranian Drones

  

Iraq’s Kurds were one of the biggest victims of the Iran War and Kurdistan continues to be targeted by Tehran.

PUK Maintains Iraq’s Presidency Setting Off New Dispute With KDP

  

On April 11 Iraq’s parliament finally elected a president six months after elections. That was Nizar Amedi from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). This happened despite a boycott by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Nuri al-Maliki’s State of Law.

Iran War Day 40: Ceasefire In Iraq But No Economic Relief With Strait Of Hormuz Still Closed

  

The ceasefire between the United States and Iran brought back a sense of peace to Iraq. The Resistance following its Persian sponsors announced a two week halt to operations.

Iran War Day 39: Explosions Across Baghdad

  

The news of the day was a series of strikes by the U.S. and Israel across Baghdad. The Federal Police’s 2^nd Division was hit in Sabi al-Bour in the north. This was likely a mistake as a nearby Hashd base was also struck. Five police were wounded. A rocket landed on a house in Amiriya killing two civilians while an airstrike blew up a home on Palestine Street. The latter was used to store weapons for the Resistance. Jets also targeted locations in Jamila and Maghreb Street in the east. Five Hashd were wounded at a camp in Taji outside of the city in the north.

Iran War Day 37: Paradox Of Iraqi Oil Passing Through Strait Of Hormuz While Oil Sites Attacked

  

The weekend marked a paradox in Iranian strategy towards Iraq. On the one hand there were a series of attacks upon the Iraqi oil industry and on the other a tanker with Iraqi petroleum passed through the Strait of Hormuz after Tehran said Baghdad would be exempt from its blockade.

Iran War Day 36 Iraq's Oil Industry Continues To Be Threatened Financial Crisis By May

The U.S. or Israel bombed the Shalamcheh border crossing between Basra and Iran on the Iranian side. An Iraqi civilian was killed as a result along with five others being wounded.

Iran And Its Iraqi Allies Have A Strategy For The War Where Is America and Israel's?

   

As the Iran War enters its second month Iran and its allies’ strategy has become apparent. They are focusing upon Iraq’s oil industry, the Kurds, the Baghdad Airport and neighboring countries. The Americans and Israel on the other hand don’t appear to have any plan.

Iraq’s Kurds Blame Iranian Revolutionary Guard For Dozens Of Attacks As Drone Sets Off Major Fire In Irbil

  

Overnight a drone was intercepted targeting the U.S. consulate in Irbil City. Another drone was shot down over an American military base in the city. On March 29 the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad faced an attack so it appears diplomatic facilities are fair game again by the pro-Iran Resistance.

Iraq’s Resistance Claims Multiple Attacks Upon Jordanian Bases

  

Plenty happened in Iraq over the past three days due to the Iran War. That included multiple attacks upon Jordanian airbases by the pro-Iran Resistance to the U.S. or Israel hitting members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) again.

Iraq Outraged By Airstrike On Military Base In Anbar

  

A military base in Habaniya Anbar was attacked by jets setting off a new controversy. The planes hit a Hashd al-Shaabi intelligence department within the facility. Most news reports said that 7 soldiers were killed and 13 others wounded but Shafaq News said that 15 Hashd were killed and 14 wounded. The Iraqi government condemned the incident saying it was a direct attack upon its forces. This was not the first time a mixed Iraqi forces and Hashd target was hit but the high casualties made it unacceptable to Baghdad. The Sudani government is trying to walk a fine line between criticizing the Resistance which is part of the government and security forces for attacking international troops and businesses while also being upset when the pro-Iran factions suffer casualties.

Pro-Iran Resistance Picks Up Attacks In Iraq

  

On March 19 it was reported that the government got the pro-Iran Resistance to agree to a ceasefire. Violence went markedly down for two days but then on March 22 things were back to normal.

2 Breakthroughs To Allow Iraq To Export Oil Again During Iran War?

  

There was some fast breaking news on the oil front in Iraq. The Oil Ministry announced it was in talks with Iran to allow some tankers full of Iraqi petroleum to sail through the Strait of Hormuz which has been closed during the war. By the middle of the day Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani said that an agreement had been made on the issue. It would be quite an irony if Iraq and other countries are successful in these operations because it would make Tehran more powerful in the Persian Gulf as Trump keeps announcing that the U.S. is winning.

Spokesman For Kataib Hezbollah Killed As Iran War Continues To Escalate In Iraq

  

In another escalation of the Iran War’s impact upon Iraq the spokesman for Kataib Hezbollah Abu Ali Al-Askari was killed. This comes after his father Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi the secretary general of the group was either killed or injured on March 13. The U.S. and Israel has mostly hit units of the pro-Iran Resistance and their allies but has begun taking out leadership members now. Kataib Hezbollah is one of the most militant members of the Resistance and is also a political party with parliamentarians. If both father and son were taken out this would be a dramatic loss for the organization.

Political Dispute Blocks Iraq Exporting Oil Through Turkey During Iran War

  

Iraq’s oil exports have been cut off due to the Iran War. It is in discussions with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to use its pipeline to Turkey but the two can’t agree on the details.

Drone, Missile and Airstrikes In Iraq As Iran War Continues

 

Iraq remains a secondary front in the Iran War. Everyday, the U.S., Israel and Iran attack something in the country.