UNIVERSAL INTERNATIONAL NEWS VIDEO: Iraqi Revolt

PATHE VIDEO: Revolt In Iraq 1963

How A Contested Aluminum Tubes Story Became The Basis For War With Iraq

The Bush administration’s first public relations campaign to lobby for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was centered around the claim that Iraq had restarted its nuclear program. This was based upon Baghdad trying to buy 60,000 aluminum tubes in 2001. The October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq used the tubes to claim that Iraq had renewed its atomic program. The problem was this story was always contested, especially by the Energy Department and nuclear specialists, while just one CIA analyst was able to get this claim propagated by the White House.

This Day In Iraqi History – Feb 8

1922 UK Sec of War Evans wrote cabinet Iraqi army weak British military presence

            small Iraq vulnerable to Turkey tribal unrest so UK should withdraw from Mosul

1963 Baath-military coup against Gen Qasim Started with assassination of Air Force

            chief Radio station at Abu Ghraib seized

1963 Defense Ministry where Qasim was bombed during coup Communists took to

            streets and fought army in Baghdad

1963 National Council of the Revolutionary Command created to run new govt

1963 CIA allegedly supported 1963 coup because Qasim’s Communist support Gave

            Baath lists of Communists to eliminate

1980 Saddam proposed pan-Arab charter of non-aligned Arab states to oppose

            superpowers in region

1992 Report Bush authorized $30 mil CIA program to overthrow Saddam

2003 Bush said Iraq tried to buy equipment for WMD Saddam authorized his

            commanders to use chemical weapons

2003 Iraq turned over new documents about its WMD programs to UN inspectors

            that was called substantial

2003 UN inspectors went to site CURVEBALL defector claimed was secret WMD facility

            and found nothing

2004 After Iraq Survey Group said it found no stockpiles of WMD Bush said they

            could still be found and Saddam was still dangerous

2004 Report British intel spied on UN Security Council in 2003 during deliberations

            on 2^nd resolution to authorize force vs Iraq

2004 Japanese troops arrived in Iraq for first overseas deployment since WWII

2006 Senate Foreign Relations Comm told oil electricity water sewage all below

            pre-war levels in Iraq

2007 ISI told new Baiji refinery director general that only Sunnis were to be hired at

            the facility

2011 Parliament human rights comm opened investigation of Camp Honor secret

            prison in Baghdad run by Maliki Nothing came of it

2014 IS joined Fallujah Military Council and agreed to cooperate with other militant

            factions

2015 Peshmerga destroyed villages in 5 districts in southern Kirkuk

View the Iraq History Timeline

This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 7

1920 War Min Churchill wrote there were far too many British troops in

            Mesopotamia that could be sustained

(Musings On Iraq article on Churchill’s ideas on Mesopotamia/Iraq)

1924 UK Colonial Sec Thomas wrote British air power was effective way to control

            Rebellions tribes in Iraq

1941 Germany told Italy it was thinking of arming Iraq and was going to give money to

            Mufti of Jerusalem who was living in Baghdad

1959 Former Dep PM Arif sentenced to death after being sent away as Amb to Germany

            and secretly returned to Iraq

1983 Iran launched Op Fajr al-Fajar attacking Basra-Baghdad highway in Maysan

            with 6 divisions Iran-Iraq War

1983 Iranians regained 100 sq mi of Iranian territory but turned back in Maysan

1984 Iranian offensives led Iraq to counter with 1^st War of Cities

2001 CIA report to Congress no evidence Iraq reconstituted WMD program since

            1990s

2002 Gen Franks presented revised Iraq invasion plans to Bush at White House

2003 Pres Chirac called Bush saying there were alternatives to war with Iraq Said if war

            happened France would help with reconstruction

2003 US officials pushed back against Powell’s UN speech Told Wash Post Zarqawi

            connected to Al Qaeda but not part of group

2003 UK admitted paper on Iraq deception campaign over its WMD was plagiarized

            from US college student paper

2003 Pres Mubarak’s son Gamal visited Bush saying Saddam might want to go into exile

            in Egypt

2003 State Dept gave translated copies of Iraq-Niger uranium deal to CIA Were not

considered important to case Iraq restarted nuke program so docs not analyzed

(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq-Niger uranium story)

2004 Rumsfeld said Iraq war Saddam’s fault for his deception and defiance

2004 Bush and Cheney said Iraq war justified because Saddam could have made

            WMD Gave up argument he had them

2005 Insurgents complained to Newsweek that Zarqawi was trying to hijack insurgency

            and opposed his attacks upon Iraqi civilians 

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Why Did Saddam Threaten Israel Before The 1990 Invasion of Kuwait?

In the lead-up to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 Saddam Hussein gave a series of speeches threatening to attack Israel. The conventional wisdom was that Saddam made these statements to rally the street and assert his leadership in the Arab world. Alex Roberto Hybel and Justin Matthew Kaufman in their book The Bush Administration and Saddam Hussein, Deciding on Conflict took another view that Saddam was actually trying to decipher Israel’s intentions to make sure his western flank was secure before he went to war with Kuwait.

This Day In Iraqi History – Feb 6

1977 Bakr govt put down Shiite protests killing 16 and arresting around 2000

            Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and others arrested

1991 Jordan’s King Hussein condemned Saudis for letting Arab land be used to attack

            Iraq during Gulf War

1999 Guardian reported that Dec 98 Iraqis met with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan Claimed

            Iraq offered bin Laden asylum

2001 US and UK launched largest air strikes on Iraq in 2 yrs to destroy fiber optic

            communications system Iraq trying to install

2002 CIA officials told NY Times Iraq not taken part in any anti-U.S. terrorism since

            1993 attempt on ex-Pres Bush

2002 US intel officials told NY Times 9/11 hijacker Atta met with Iraqi intel in Prague

2003 UK Foreign Sec Straw wrote Attny Gen Lord Goldsmith challenging need for 2^nd UN

            resolution to go to war with Iraq

2003 Press revealed most of UK intel dossier on Iraq trying to hide WMD was

            plagiarized from a US college student’s paper

2003 NYTimes Washington Post USA Today editorials all said Powell’s UN speech

            convinced them of Iraq threat

2003 Khalizad met with Turkmen Front Kurds Turks to try to make deal between

            Ankara and Kurds to facilitate using Turkey for invasion

2004 Bush announced Silberman-Robb commission to look into U.S. pre-war intel

            on Iraq’s WMD after none found

2004 Report DIA said CURVEBALL intel on Iraq mobile WMD labs was questionable

            in 02 Never passed to rest of intel community

2006 US Iraq Amb Khalizad said US talking to Iraqi insurgents in Anbar Syria Jordan

            Anbar Sheikh Fahadawi assassinated for taking part in talks

2007 Iranian diplomat detained by Iraqi police commandos and accused CIA of

torturing him after his release

View the Iraq History Timelines