Review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq

Review Sayej, Caroleen Marji, Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2019

Caroleen Marji Sayej set out to document the role of the leading Ayatollahs from Najaf. She argued that they played a pivotal role in post-Saddam Iraq. They were not quietist as many believed staying out of politics, but saw themselves s guides for the new Iraq. That didn’t mean they wanted an Iranian style Islamic state where clerics would run the government. Instead they pushed for a democratic Iraq. At the same time, they were challenged by others such as Moqtada al-Sadr who claimed equal standing with the ayatollahs even though he did not have their religious education. There were two major problems with the author’s thesis. The first was that she believed they wanted a non-sectarian Iraq, when they supported a Shiite majority victory in the 2005 elections. The second issue was that she took statements and fatwas from the clerics at face value and didn’t do the research into the overall situation leading to many very questionable assertions.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jul 8

1937 Sadabad Pact between Iraq Iran Turkey Afghanistan agreed to borders non-interference regional

security

1973 Police Chief Kazzar and 20 coup plotters executed

1982 Saddam survived assassination attempt in Dujail Saddam ordered town destroyed 1500 residents

arrested 150 executed

1991 Iraq admitted to UN inspectors it had 3 secret programs to enrich uranium to build a nuclear bomb

Before Iraq denied it had any nuclear weapons program

(Musings On Iraq article UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq article Iraq’s Rejection of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD and 2003 Invasion)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Saddam Tapes)

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000)

1995 Ceasefire in Kurdish civil war ended as PUK and KDP went back to fighting over control of Irbil

(Musings On Iraq book review of The Kurds, A Modern History)

2003 PM Blair told Parliament he believed intelligence that Iraq had WMD

2003 PM Blair said evidence of Iraq-Niger uranium deal was not based upon fake docs but

            separate intel

(Musings On Iraq Book Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

2003 White House spokesman said intelligence on Iraq-Niger uranium deal turned out to be inaccurate

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

2003 Wash Post article quoted admin officials saying Iraq-Africa claim shouldn’t have been used in State of

Uion and story could be wrong

2003 VP Cheney’s chief of staff Libby met NYTimes’ Miller Said Fmr Amb Wilson’s NY Times OpEd part

of CIA campaign to absolve itself of bad intel on Iraq

2003 Libby told NYTimes’ Miller Fmr Amb Wilson’s report on his trip to Niger never made it out of CIA

and found evidence Iraq did try to buy uranium

2003 Libby told NYTimes’ Miller Natl Intel Est had stronger evidence that Iraq tried to buy uranium from

Africa

2003 Libby told NYTimes’ Miller that Wilson’s wife’s name was Valerie Plame and she worked at

            CIA Miller would later denied she got her name from Libby

2003 Columnist Novak asked DepSecState Armitage why fmr Amb Wilson sent to Niger to look into Iraq

uranium deal Armitage said because his wife worked at CIA

2003 Bush Chief of Staff Rove confirmed to columnist Novak that fmr Amb Wilson’s wife sent him to

Niger

2004 Al Qaeda in Iraq beheaded Bulgarian civilians Georgi Lazov and Ivaylo Kepov

2004 US and Iraqi officials said decision to stop 1st Fallujah battle was wrong and city now controlled by

insurgents

2004 US and Iraqi intel reports said Zarqawi using Fallujah as a base

(Musings On Iraq book review The Battle for Fallujah, Occupation, Resistance and Stalemate in the War in Iraq)

2005 Iraq constitutional committee started its work

(Musings On Iraq interview with constitutional scholar Zaid al-Ali on Iraq’s constitution)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Occupation of Iraq, Winning The War, Losing The Peace)

2007 Report Sadr had gone back to Iran after short stay in Iraq in May Sadr fled to Iran in February

believing that US would target him during Surge

2008 Report Al Qaeda sent foreign fighters to Sudan and Somalia rather than Iraq due to downturn in

insurgency

(Musings On Iraq article on decline of insurgency)

2018 2 killed 2 wounded by police firing into protesters demanding jobs, electricity and water in Imam

Sadiq in Basra Security forces claimed armed men fired on them first to excuse them shooting at crowd Were also protests in Basra City Maysan Dhi Qar Muthanna and Wasit over electricity jobs services

(Musings On Iraq article on summer protests)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Musings On Iraq In The News

I was quoted in "IRAQ: Hrw: "Detenuti in condizioni degradanti"" in the Near East News Agency. That article was reprinted in Ristretti Orizzonti.

Link to all of Musings On Iraq's original work, appearances and citations.

This Day in Iraqi History - Jul 7

1921 American consul in Baghdad wrote that Faisal would become King of Iraq even though he was

unpopular in the country

1921 Gertrude Bell noted that Iraqi notables couldn’t wait for election to appoint Feisal King because would

take 2 months and that was too long

(Musings On Iraq book review of Gertrude Bell And Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review Gertrude Bell, Explorer of the Middle East)

1973 Police Chief Kazzar and 20 other coup plotters found guilty and given death sentence

1973 Baath Regional Congress expanded membership to accommodate Saddam supporters

1984 Iraqi govt uncovered plot to assassinate Saddam Executed some 50 army officers as a result

1987 UN Resolution 598 called for ceasefire in Iran-Iraq War

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Tom Cooper 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)

1991 Iraq Foreign Min Hussein told UN that it would make a declaration of its nuclear program Said Iraq

had not violated Non-Proliferation Treaty or IAEA safeguards

(Musings On Iraq article UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq article Iraq’s Rejection of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD and 2003 Invasion)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Saddam Tapes)

1991 Iraq’s concealment committee met Decided to reveal details about nuke program after inspectors

found site Decided to secretly destroy WMD programs and materials to hide them from inspectors Would prove long term problem because Iraq could never fully prove what it destroyed and what it was hiding to inspectors

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000)

1997 Turkey withdrew its forces from Kurdistan after killing over 2,000 PKK fighters

(Musings On Iraq book review of The Kurds, A Modern History)

2003 CPA suspended Iraq’s old banking laws as part of reform program

2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld told Senate US didn't go to war with Iraq because it had dramatic new

            evidence of its WMD programs

2003 White House admitted Bush’s State of Union claim Iraq tried to buy uranium

            from Africa Shouldn't have been used

2003 VP Cheney’s chief of staff Libby told White House spokesman Fleischer fmr Amb Wilson’s wife sent

him to Niger to investigate Iraq-Niger uranium deal Was attempt to discredit Wilson

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

2003 SCIRI dropped objection to joining Iraqi Governing Council after lobbying by UN

2003 UK parliament’s Foreign Affairs comm report on UK dossier on Iraq’s WMD said was not sexed up by

Blair govt

2003 UK Foreign Affairs comm report said Blair govt didn’t mislead parliament but misstated some of the

intel on Iraq’s WMD

2003 UK Foreign Affairs comm report said claim Iraq could use WMD in 45 min should not have been so

prominent in dossier

2003 UK parliament’s Foreign Affairs comm report said UK dossier on Iraq WMD should’ve been more

qualified on story Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa

(Musings On Iraq Book Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

2003 State Dept intel agency sent memo to DepSec State Armitage originally from June that said Iraq-Niger

docs were fakes

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

2004 US Iraq cmdr Gen Casey told Bush 70% of Fallujah Brigade had joined insurgency

2004 Sen Intel Comm found major judgements in Oct 02 Natl Intel Est on Iraq’s WMD and nuke program

were overstated and generally not supported

(Musings On Iraq article Iraq, One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)

(Musings On Iraq article on how poor US intel work led to claim Iraq rebuilt its nuclear weapons program)

2004 Sen Intel Comm found US intel claims Iraq had WMD and programs larger than before Gulf War were

overstated

2004 Sen Intel Comm found US had evidence Iraq buying dual use equipment Uncertain Iraq had destroyed

its WMD stocks after Gulf War

2004 Sen Intel Comm found US intel didn’t have much good info on Iraq’s WMD and nuke programs after

UN inspections ended in 1998

2004 Sen Intel Comm found US intel suffered from group think Assumed Iraq had WMD Assumed

everything it did was to expand those programs

2004 Senate Intel Comm report on pre-war intel found that all of CIA’s claims about Iraq renewed nuke

program were wrong and weak to begin with

2004 Sen Intel Comm found CIA justified to claim Iraq-Al Qaeda might have cooperated based upon pre-

war intel

2005 Iraq and Iran’s Defense Ministries signed military cooperation agreement

(Musings On Iraq article on Iran’s Iraq policy)

2005 Report Human Rights Min said Iraqi forces carried out random arrests not using

            warrants torturing and abusing prisoners

2005 Report Human Rights Min official said Iraqi forces conducting extrajudicial

            killings and govt not doing anything about it

2005 Report $8.8 bil went missing in Iraqi ministries during CPA period 03-05

(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector Gen for Iraq Reconstruction Bowen on corruption in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq interview with fmr anti-graft official Vincent Foulk on corruption in Iraq)

2006 Bush said Americans were wondering if US could win Iraq war Said US was winning

(Musings On Iraq article on pre-Surge US Iraq strategy)

2006 US Iraq cmdr Gen Casey given investigative report on Marines killing Iraqi civilians in Haditha

2006 Integrity Commission head Radi said weak institutions and lack of punishment led

            to uncontrolled corruption

2008 PM Maliki said he wanted a memo of understanding on withdrawal of US forces

            instead of a Status of Forces Agreement which was stalled

(Musings On Iraq article on negotiations over SOFA)

2008 Female suicide bomber hit market in Baquba 23rd female suicide bombing of the year

(Musings On Iraq article on female suicide bombers)

2008 Report 94% decline in attacks by ISI 25 in Nov 07 vs 334 Nov 06

2013 KRG Pres Barzani visited Baghdad to try to resolve problems with PM Maliki

2017 Protesters seized power plant in Babil due to electricity shortages

2018 Protest in Imam Sadiq Basra blocked main road over electricity shortages

(Musings On Iraq article on summer protests)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Jul 6

1920 British defeated by tribal forces in Aridiyat during 1920 Revolt British lost 48 dead and 167

wounded

(Musings On Iraq book review of Reclaiming Iraq, The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State)

1980 Saddam told Baath Party leadership he was going to invade Iran

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War Volume 1: The Battle for Khuzestan, September 1980-May 1982)

1991 Baghdad demanded Peshmerga disband close Kurdish radio stations end contacts with foreign govts

Kurds demanded democracy talks over Kirkuk offered to give up heavy weapons close radio stations end contacts with foreign govts

(Musings On Iraq book review of The Kurds, A Modern History)

(Musings On Iraq book review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)

1992 Iraq refused to allow UN inspectors into Agriculture Min causing a crisis

(Musings On Iraq article UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)

(Musings On Iraq article Iraq’s Rejection of UN Inspectors Led To Mistrust Over WMD and 2003 Invasion)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Saddam Tapes)

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Sec 1.1 UK Iraq Strategy 1990 To 2000)

2003 Fmr Amb Wilson NY Times OpEd said Bush exaggerated about Iraq-Niger uranium story in State of

Union Said CIA sent him to Niger to investigate uranium story and found no evidence

2003 Fmr Amb Wilson said he never saw fake Iraq-Niger docs but VP Cheney’s office should’ve been sent

report on his trip Wilson overestimated impact of his visit to discredit Iraq-Niger uranium story Actually increased questions

2003 Fmr Amb Wilson on Meet The Press said VP Cheney should’ve gotten report on his trip to Niger

2003 VP Cheney questioned Wilson’s OpEd and asked why he was sent to Niger

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

2003 US said it would release Turkish Special Forces it arrested in Sulaymaniya

2004 PM Blair told Parliament that he didn’t know what happened to Iraq’s WMD Said they could have

been hidden or destroyed

(Musings On Iraq Book Review The Report of the Iraq Inquiry, Executive Summary)

2004 Report 2000 CIA started program to contact relatives of Iraqi WMD scientists that lived in west to try

to collect intel Relatives said Iraq had no WMD programs Intel not included in reports or passed to White House

2005 Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed it kidnapped and executed Egypt ambassador to Iraq Ihab al-Sherif

2006 In coordinated attacks across central Iraq insurgents took down every power line to Baghdad Part

of campaign to deprive capital of electricity

2018 Protests in Madina over services Abu Khasib cutting road over electricity Basra City cut roads over

unfinished projects Shatt al-Arab over salinity Dhi Qar for recount in election

(Musings On Iraq article on summer protests)

View the Iraq History Timelines

This Day In Iraqi History - Jul 5

1920 Revolt leaders in Shamiya passed demands to British Wanted full independence End to fighting

Withdrawal of British administrators from Mid-Euphrates Release of leading cleric Shirazi

(Musings On Iraq book review of Reclaiming Iraq, The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State)

1923 UK report Shiites wanted a weak Mandate so they could set up their own theocracy Hoped King

Feisal would be able to win loyalty of people and undermine Shiite clerics Shiites also mistrusted elections and believed all power would go to Sunnis Also didn’t seem to like Feisal

1926 Turkey and Britain signed treaty setting Turkey-Iraq border UK agreed to give Turkey 10% of

Mosul oil revenues in return

(Musings On Iraq article on how Mosul province became part of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Princeton’s Sara Pursley on Sykes-Picot and creation of Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Creation of Iraq 1914-1921)

(Musings On Iraq book review Supremacy And Oil, Iraq, Turkey, and the Anglo-American World Order, 1918-1930)

1940 PM Gaylani made overture to Germany with Justice Min Shawkat meeting German ambassador to

Turkey von Papen Justice Min Shawkat told Ger Amb von Papen Iraq wanted Germany to stop Italian imperialism from spreading in Middle East and to support pan-Arabism instead Papen said Iraq should contribute to war vs England and Shawkat said that would happen

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

(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 Iraq And Syria 1941, The Politics and Strategy of the Second World War)

1959 Communists plotted a coup to overthrow Qasim Abandoned at last minute

1960 Islamic Party issued statement warning against Communist activities in Iraq

(Musings On Iraq book review Red Star Over Iraq, Iraqi Communism Before Saddam)

(Musings On Iraq Interview with Prof Johan Franzen on the history of the Iraqi Communist Party)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Western Kentucky’s Prof Romero on the Qasim govt)

1983 Tariq Aziz returned from trip to Egypt to improve relations and ensure Cairo would continue to

supply Iraq with ammunition for the war

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

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Tom Cooper 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 Talks between Iraq and UN in Vienna brokedown over new weapons inspections

2002 Supporters of Def Sec Rumsfeld leaked CENTCOM doc to NYTimes on invasion plans to use air

strikes Special Forces CIA operatives for covert ops

(Musings On Iraq article on arguments over US Iraq invasion plan)

(Musings On Iraq book review of Shaping the Plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom, The Role of Military Intelligence Assessment)

2003 US police training center in Ramadi bombed 7 police killed 40 wounded

2003 CIA Dir Tenet complained to NSC about Iraq-Africa uranium deal getting into Bush’s State of the

Union speech

2003 NSC said DepNatSecAdv Hadley forgot CIA had pulled Iraq-Africa story from previous Bush speech

Tenet didnt read State of Union

2003 CIA Dir Tenet said he and NSC responsible for Iraq-Africa uranium story getting into Bush’s State of

Union

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

2004 Allawi govt announced amnesty for insurgents

2004 Report Zarqawi’s bombing moved him from margins of insurgency to the center

(Musings On Iraq book review The Caliphate At War, Operational Realities and Innovations of the Islamic State)

2007 Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri released video Called for people to rally around ISI Same time ISI had to find

unity with Iraqis Was acknowledgement insurgent groups were splitting with ISI

2008 Head of Islamic Party in Fallujah escaped assassination attempt in campaign against the party

2018 Hundreds protested at Basra provincial council building demanding jobs

(Musings On Iraq article on summer protests)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Summer Is Here And Iraqi Protests Met With Carrots And Sticks Again

June protest in Muthanna (Al Mirbad)

Summer officially began and protests started in Iraq. June 19 for example there were demonstrations in Basra, Muthanna, and Dhi Qar provinces, and on June 21 people came out in Maysan, Muthanna, Dhi Qar, Diwaniya, and Basra, plus Moqtada al-Sadr called for his followers to meet in Baghdad. The demands of the activists are the same as usual: better services, an end to corruption and good governance. These protests have occurred over the last several years, and have only grown in intensity because nothing has really changed. Last year the security forces quickly used force leading to several shootings and deaths. That led to riots in Basra city and the sacking of political and Hashd offices, and Iran’s consulate. Already there have been some similar events like the storming of the head of the Basra council’s house.