This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 8

1985 Saudis announced attempt to end the Iran-Iraq War through dialogue with Tehran

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Anthony Tucker-Jones on Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War)

2002 Iraq admitted that it was close to building a nuclear bomb but was abandoned a long time ago

2002 Gen Thurman and McKiernan went to Gen Franks and asked for more troops for Iraq invasion

2004 In Kuwait after being questioned about lack of up to date equipment for US troops in Iraq

Rumsfeld said “You go to war with the army you have”

2005 Bin Laden’s Pakistani biographer quoted in Osama bin Laden I Know book said bin Laden

hated Saddam

2006 NSC meeting SecState Rice pushed for not getting involved in civil war and pushing Iraqis to

do more Joint Chiefs head Gen Pace said US forces could not stand by during Iraq civil war Bush told NSC that US couldn’t wait for Iraqis to do more US had to act to reduce violence

2006 Report Iraq Study Group found that Saudis were financing insurgency Much of it came

through religious donations Some money went to Sunni politicians and figures who then distributed it to militants Other money went directly to insurgency Saudis denied any money was going to Iraq but then set up monitoring group under US pressure to crackdown on religious donations

2009 ISI set off 5 car bombs hit Finance, Justice and Foreign Ministries in Baghdad killing 127 448

wounded 3^rd mass bombing in Baghdad over short span

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Displaced Returns Turning Into A Trickle In Iraq

(IOM)

The International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) latest report on the displaced (IDPs) showed that the number of returns has declined again. That follows continued polls of IDPs that have found fewer and fewer people have any interest in going back to their home areas.

This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 7

1915 Ottomans attacked British forces in Kut

1980 Saddam announced that Iraq was going on the defensive in the Iran-Iraq War Saddam thought

he could seize Khuzistan province leading to revolt against Khomeini govt but didn’t happen Thought Iran would negotiate new border agreement Failure to take Dezful or Abadan meant Iranian supply lines intact and could regroup

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Anthony Tucker-Jones on Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War)

2002 TV speech Saddam apologized to people of Kuwait for 1990 invasion

2002 Iraq gave its WMD and nuclear weapons declaration to UN as part of new inspections claiming

it had no WMD

2002 Iraqi general claimed weapons declaration proved Iraq had no WMD

2002 US and UK condemned Iraq’s weapons declaration as being incomplete and for denying it had

WMD

2002 Cheney told NSC Iraq’s weapons declaration was a material breach and Bush should move

towards war Cheney said Powell and UN wanted to use inspections to avoid war with Iraq Rumsfeld and Rice didn’t think Iraq’s weapons declaration was a material breach

2003 Gingrich went on offensive against CPA saying US should’ve given over sovereignty to Iraq

early on like in Afghanistan

2003 Report US forces using collective punishment Blowing up homes of suspected insurgents

Putting barbed wire around towns

2004 Number of US troops killed in combat in Iraq reached 1000 after soldier shot in Baghdad

2004 Report Nov 04 CIA said security deteriorating Iraqi govt had to assert authority and rebuild

economy

2005 KDP backers attacked PUK offices in Dohuk Zakho Amedia Shaklaca Kadash Sedarash Akre 3

killed including a KDP candidate KDP followers set PUK office in Dohuk on fire wounding 21

2007 Qadisiyah Gov told Marines to shut down Sahwa in province on orders of Maliki Sahwa were

meant to counter militias

(Musings On Iraq article on Maliki govt cancelling US forming Sahwa in southern Iraq)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Permanently Displaced In Iraq’s Babil Province

(Google Maps)

A recent report highlighted the fact that Babil province is facing a permanent displacement problem. Since January 2016 the number of displaced hardly dropped in the province, and actually increased at the start of 2018. The cause of this issue was the Hashd clearing out Jurf al-Sakhr and Musayib of their residents and the provincial government banning anyone from returning because the two districts were along the main route for people to travel from Baghdad and points north to the shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf.

This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 6

1914 British forces attacked Qurna 2^nd time and forced Turks to surrender Took 1,000

prisoners

1981 Iran freed Bostan strategic transportation center for southern Iran and forced an Iraqi retreat

Iraq lost 1500 dead 400 captured Iran lost 2500 dead 5000 wounded

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Anthony Tucker-Jones on Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War, The Lion of Babylon, 1980-1988)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Iran-Iraq War)

1990 Iraq began issuing passports for Iranians to visit Shiites shrines in Iraq

1990 Iraq announced it would release foreign nationals it held since Kuwait invasion

2001 Letter to Wash Post by Senators McCain Lieberman and others said that Iraq had to be

eliminated

2002 White House accused Iraq of hiding WMDs from UN inspectors

2002 Official US troop buildup for Iraq invasion began Wasn’t made public until Feb 03

2003 Bremer’s convoy attacked on Route Irish to Baghdad airport

2003 Rumsfeld told Bremer Rice was trying to take over political file on Iraq Didn’t agree but was

ceding role to her

2005 KDP followers attacked four offices of Kurdistan Islamic Union in Dohuk province Killed 2

wounded dozens for party withdrawing from Kurdish list KDP Dohuk govenror claimed Islamic Union’s ideology led to attacks and he couldn’t stop them Beforehand Islamic Union called KDP admin in Dohuk corrupt and said election       would be struggle between Muslims and nonbelievers Beforehand KDP attacked Islamic Union for helping Arabs against Kurds

2006 Iraq Study Group report issued Said Iraqis needed to eventually take over security Needed to

increases quantity and quality of Iraqi units Said US needed to increase its aid to Iraqi forces and move away from combat Called for all US combat brigades to be out of Iraq by start of 2008 Said US special forces should focus upon taking down Al Qaeda in Iraq Said US couldn’t have open ended commitment to Iraq Baghdad needed to set reconciliation goals and if not met US would cut aid

2006 Iraq Study Group found U.S. military underreporting violence Standards were used to keep

incidents down Example IEDs not against U.S. were not counted One day in July 05 U.S. officially reported 93 incidents Iraq Study Group found there were actually 1,100 incidents that day

2006 Report Neoconservatives launched media campaign to discredit Iraq Study Group and

            support troop surge instead

2012 US mediated withdrawal of federal and Kurdish forces from Tuz Kharmato and creation of

local security forces along disputed areas US-Baghdad-Irbil agreement on security forces in disputed areas only partially implemented

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Iraq’s Oil Exports and Prices Drop In November 2018

(Iraq Oil Report)

Iraq’s oil industry was hit by two bad trends in November 2018. First, bad weather meant its exports dipped. At the same time petroleum prices took a large fall. That offset the good news that Baghdad and Irbil came to a new agreement to allow the Oil Ministry to use the latter’s pipeline to Turkey.

This Day In Iraqi History - Dec 5

1940 US Amb to Iraq sent note to PM Gaylani saying he was worried about direction of Iraq-

English relations because of Gaylani’s overtures to the Axis

(Musings On Iraq book review of Persian Gulf Command, A History of the Second World War In Iran and Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review of Rashid Ali al-Gailani, The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)

1985 Lebanon’s Al Safr paper published petition saying 500 Iraqi writer and intellectuals had been

interrogated and tortured to conform to govt

2000 UN Res 1330 renewed Oil for Food Program

2002 White House spokesman said Bush and Rumsfeld wouldn't claim Iraq had WMD if it wasn't

true

2002 Rumsfeld aid Herbits said he was taking over postwar Iraq planning because it was a mess

UnderSecDef Feith’s office was supposed to do postwar Iraq planning Herbits said he was screwing up

2002 Report Tuwaitha nuclear facility showed no signs of involvement in weapons program

2003 Pentagon banned France Germany Russia and other countries that opposed war from bidding

on reconstruction projects in Iraq

2003 US Air Force intel report Iran greatest threat to long term US influence in Iraq

2004 Suicide car bomb hit police station at main gate to Green Zone killed 7 wounded 50

2005 Report US forces trying new Clear Hold Build in Husaiba Anbar Iraqis seemed disorganized

leaving US to do most things

2006 PM Maliki said he was sending envoys to regional countries to discuss conference on Iraq

            US Abdul Hakim and Pres Talabani all rejected idea Nothing came of it

View the Iraq History Timelines