How US Intelligence Failed, The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story

Within the U.S. intelligence community that story that Iraq tried to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger was never very important. It was a considered a secondary claim to other reports that Iraq had restarted its nuclear program. It would later become a huge controversy when it was included in the president’s 2003 State of the Union address, and then Vice President Dick Cheney tried to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson who disputed the story. That embarrassing episode was only the public face of a larger example of the intelligence failure America suffered from in the lead up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

This Day In Iraqi History – Jan 20

1948 March by railway workers and students against Anglo-Iraq treaty fired

            upon by police killing some

1970 failed military coup against Pres Bakr led by ex-Gen Rawi and Col Samarraie

            backed by Iran

1970 Iran expelled Iraq’s ambassador military attache and four embassy staff over

            failed coup

1970 Shah of Iran opposed to Baathism’s Pan-Arabism and socialism Moved troops

            to border after coup leading to war scare

2003 Military Industrialization Commission ordered its director generals to come

            forward with any info on WMD

2003 White House gave report to Congress on Iraq’s noncompliance with UN inspectors

            included Iraq not mentioning trying to buy uranium

2003 National Sec Presidential Dir 24 gave Pentagon control of postwar Iraq

2003 Pentagon would dismiss previous NSC planning for postwar Iraq and kick out

            State Dept officials

2003 Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) created to

            run post-war Iraq 2 months before invasion

2003 UK announced it deployed ground forces for Iraq War

2003 France’s For Min deVillepin said there was no justification for war against Iraq

2003 Powell furious at French statement because took threat of war off table at UN

            and strengthened Saddam

2004 Bush’s State of the Union said US was committed to spreading democracy to

            Iraq

2004 Bush’s State of the Union said Iraq Survey Group found Iraq’s WMD programs and

            if US hadn’t invaded Iraq would still have them

2006 Dec 05 election results announced United Iraqi Alliance 128 seats Kurds 53

            Accordance Front 44 Iraqiya 25 National Dialogue Front 11

2006 Al Qaeda in Iraq said Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi had become emir of new

            Mujahedeen Shura Council

2006 Amb Khalizad met with Iyad Allawi and Fadhila head Jabiri Jabiri promised PM

            spot if he broke with United Iraqi Alliance and backed Allawi Sunnis and Kurds

2006 Iyad Allawi told his followers he would get Fadhila head Jabiri to back him as PM

            after he broke with United Iraqi Alliance

2007 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq in an Iranian Revolutionary Guard planned op attacked

            Karbala Center and kidnap and kill 5 US soldiers

View the Iraq History Timelines

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 19

1948 Kurds from Iraq and Iran met in Baku, Soviet Union Mustafa Barzani

            led plans for Kurdish movement

1987 Iranian attack on Basra city caused population to start fleeing

1991 Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim said that Supreme Council was against U.S.

            aggression vs Iraq over its Kuwait invasion

1991 US 5^th Special Forces Group entered Iraq to carry out covert ops behind Iraqi

            lines during Gulf War

1991 Iraqi terrorist tried to bomb US Information Service HQ in Philippines in retaliation for Gulf 

            War

1992 Report Saudis pushed US to help foment military coup in Iraq to topple

            Saddam

2003 US offered Saddam immunity if he departed Iraq to avert war

2003 Pentagon officials leaked info on US invasion plans of Iraq to Time to push back

            against Rumsfeld’s small invasion force

2003 Fmr UN inspector David Kay OpEd in Wash Post said UN weapons inspectors would never 

            find any hard evidence against Iraq

2004 Iraqi Governing Council went to UN to ask it for help with transition to

            sovereignty against wishes of CPA

2004 100,000 marched in Baghdad calling for early elections

2004 US Cmdr in Iraq Gen Sanchez ordered secret investigation into Abu Ghraib

            prison abuse

2007 US arrested Abdul al-Daraji and Ali Smaisin for running death squads for

Sadr

2014 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told his fighters to march towards Baghdad

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq

A recent article outlined how England’s War and later Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill’s main focus after World War I was to save money. England had expended a huge amount to fight the war, and then faced continued obligations and conflicts in Ireland, Palestine, Russia, Turkey, and Mesopotamia/Iraq. In the latter, the British had seized the Ottoman provinces of Basra and Baghdad as part of a strategy to attack the Turks from the east. After the war, it took Mosul as well. The question was then what to do with them.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jan 18

1981 Saddam accused Iran of getting US spare parts despite US embargo

1981 UN Envoy Palme warned that superpowers may get involved in Iran-Iraq War

1987 Iran ended Op Karbla 6 seized western bank of Shatt al-Arab Iran-Iraq War

1991 Iraq launched missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia at start of Gulf War

1991 Iraqi terrorist tried to blow up US ambassador’s house in Indonesia in retaliation for Gulf War

1993 US UK and France carried out air and missile strikes on Iraq for not cooperating

            with UN inspectors

1996 Iraq agreed to talk about UN Resolution 986 that would create Oil For Food

            program

2003 UN inspectors said sites named by US as WMD facilities had been looked at

            and nothing found

2003 Report Saudis attempted to get Saddam to go into exile to avert war

2004 Truck bomb hit US headquarters at Republican Palace Baghdad Killed 20

            wounded more than 100

2008 Fighting broke out between Soldiers of Heaven and Iraqi forces in Nasiriya and Basra  

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Security In Iraq, Jan 8-14, 2018

The number of security incidents remained low for the second week of January 2018. There were very few attacks and casualties. The week did see the return of mass casualty bombings by the Islamic State.

This Day In Iraqi History – Jan 17

1974 Bakr govt held talks with Mustafa Barzani and KDP

1987 Iraq conducted missile and air strikes on Tehran and other major cities 3^rd War of

the Cities Iran-Iraq War

1988 Mahdi Hakim killed in Sudan by Iraqi intelligence

1989 US report said Iraq was working on typhoid cholera anthrax for its chemical

            weapons program

1990 Iraq ended foreign travel ban for citizens

1990 Bush admin signed directive for normalized relations with Iraq

1991 Operation Desert Storm-Gulf War started to expel Iraq from Kuwait Coalition

            began air campaign against Iraq

1993 US UK and France carried out air and missile strikes on Iraq for not cooperating

            with UN inspectors

2002 Gen Franks briefed his commanders at CENTCOM on initial Iraq war plans for 1^st

            time

2003 CIA report said Iraq had rebuilt its nuclear program Said were reports Iraq tried to

            buy uranium from Africa

2003 CIA told Joint Chiefs of Staff that it had some reports that Iraq tried to buy

            uranium from Africa

2003 Blair agreed to 1 UK division and 3 combat brigades for Iraq War to be deployed

            in south

2003 UN inspectors after 4 inspections said Fallujah II chlorine plant inoperative US

            claimed it was producing WMD

2008 Hawija Dist Head said Sahwa would be formed there Didn’t need Peshmerga

2010 Chemical Ali sentenced to death for Halabja attack

2011 Parliament passed VP law taking away their power

View the Iraq History Timelines