Attempt at A General Strike In Iraq As Najaf-Tehran Stand Off Continues

Confrontation at Um Qasr Port, Basra (Al Ghad Press)

Iraqi activists continue to try to expand their actions. They were attempting to organize a general strike on Sunday November 3 via social media. Already schools have shut down after teachers and students walked out. Some unions and other professional groups have joined in as well. The Teachers’ Union for example extended their strike for another week. It seems only natural that they would try to build upon this even more.

Review After The Caliphate

Review Clarike, Colin, After The Caliphate, Cambridge, Medford: Polity, 2019

After The Caliphate is part history of the jihadist movement, part prediction of the future of the ideology, and part recommendations for how the west should deal with it. Because jihadism is an ideolog its influence is a far greater threat than just defeating a group like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and likely to survive for the foreseeable future.

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 3

1918 British troops took Mosul city from Ottomans after WW1 armistice

(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)

1920 UK Foreign Office official suggested US Standard Oil be allowed oil rights in Iraq to not allow

Turkish Petroleum Company a monopoly and faster development

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

1920 Gertrude Bell said Shiites were complaining about not being represented in cabinet but

dismissed them as being mostly Persians

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

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

1932 Naj Shawkat became premier of Iraq

1955 Pakistan joined Iraq Turkey England Iran security agreement that became anti-communist

Baghdad Pact Egypt’s Nasser opposed Baghdad Pact Started cold war between Nasser and PM Said

1997 Iraq blocked UN inspection at al-Samoud missile range because included Americans

1997 Iraq asked inspectors to suspend two days of U2 overflights claiming they were supplying intel

for planned US air strikes

(Musings On Iraq book review The Saddam Tapes)

(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 article Charles Duelfer’s Account Of The End Of The 1990s U.N. Inspections)

2002 Observer reported INC’s Chalabi met with oil companies to discuss contracts in post-Saddam

Iraq

(Musings On Iraq book review Iraq and the Politics of Oil, An Insider’s Perspective)

2005 Human Rights Watch report on systematic abuse of prisoners by 82^nd Airborne Div in Anbar

2005 Report Jan 03 Italian intel agency SISMI told US Iraq-Niger docs were fakes

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

2006 Vanity Fair talked with neocon supporters of Iraq who now said war was a failure Perle fmr head of

Def Policy Board said he was shocked by violence in Iraq Said Bush made wrong decisions because opponents of war within admin Said neocons made no bad decisions because had no authority over Iraq Said Bush ultimately responsible for problems in Iraq Bush speechwriter Frum said US failing at protecting Iraqis Adleman also of Def Policy Board said Bush national security team incompetent and dysfunctional

(Musings On Iraq book review The Road to Iraq, The Making of a Neoconservative War)

(Musings On Iraq book review America at the Crossroads, Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy)

2007 Judge said enough evidence to put ex-Deputy Health Min Zamili and ex-Health Min Facilities

Protection (FPS) chief General Shammari on trial for kidnappings and sectarian killings Were awaiting okay from Health Minister to move forward Zamili and Shammari organized 150 man unit within FPS to move weapons in ambulances and carry out killings and kidnappings from 05-07 Sunni patients and relatives at 3 Baghdad hospitals were killed Relatives that went to morgues were killed Mahdi Army tried to force Sunni doctors to quit Told doctors at 1 Baghdad hospital to not treat any Sunni patients Diverted money from Health Min to Sadrists Officials that opposed Sadrists were killed and threatened

2009 Intl Org for Migration report said 1.6 mil displaced since Feb 06 Samarra bombing 1.5 mil

refugees Baghdad Diyala Ninewa saw 90% of the displacement 58,000 returned since Feb 06

(Musings On Iraq Number of Displaced Returning Likely To Increase, Will Iraq Be Ready?)

(Musings On Iraq book review Children of War, Voices Of Iraqi Refugees)

(Musings On Iraq book review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)

2010 KRG issued demonstration law saying protesters had to registers 48 hours before any event

2017 Qaim district in Anbar freed Left only small border region under IS control

2018 Protest in Basra City over jobs water crisis demanded PM Abdul Mahdi include a minister from

province

(Musings On Iraq article on renewed Basra protests)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Najaf and Tehran Pick Sides In Protests

(Al Masalah)

Iraq saw the largest protests since they started as Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said that he stood with the crowds. At the same time, the political negotiations over the future of Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi continue to go back and forth as Tehran sands by him.

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 2

1918 British invaded Ottoman’s Mosul vilayet after WWI armistice

(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)

1978 Arab summit in Baghdad VP Saddam worked to expel Egypt for Camp David Accord with

Israel Backed by Syria

1978 Pres Bakr told Arab summit Iraq and Syria needed to deal with Camp David Accord as a single

country

1982 Iranian Op Holy Muharram attacked Maysan Iraq withdrew from Iran back into Maysan

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

1983 Iraq warned merchant ships to avoid northern end of Persian Gulf due to 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)

2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld said both Clinton and Bush administrations believed Iraq had WMD

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

2003 US Chinook helicopter shot down near Fallujah Killed 13 soldiers Deadliest post-invasion

attack on US up to that point

2003 US Cmdr in Iraq Gen Sanchez said violence in Iraq was strategically insignificant

2004 Association of Muslim Scholars said if Fallujah attacked it would call for national civil

disobedience and boycott of January 2005 elections

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

2006 Joint Chiefs briefing US Iraq strategy not working US running out of time to change things

Said US not winning in Iraq meant US losing

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

2007 Head of Anbar council said Baghdad not providing enough support to province for police and services

and some of that was intentional due to ruling parties

2009 Eni Occidental and KOGAS signed deal to develop Zubayr oil field in Basra

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Moves Ahead With Oil Deals)

2015 Parliament voted to support PM Abadi’s reforms but had to approve his moves

2015 Supreme Court ruled vice presidents could not be dismissed as office was in constitution

overturning Abadi’s move

(Musings On Iraq interview with Reidar Visser on PM Abadi’s reform program)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

PM Abdul Mahdi Ready To Step Down Will It Satisfy The Protests?

Iraq's Pres Salah (right) said that PM Abdul Mahdi (left) is willing to step down (AFP)

President Barham Salah announced that Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi is ready to step down. After two days of meetings with the ruling parties President Salah said that a new premier has to be found and that a new election law needs to be drafted, and that would be submitted next week. Iran and the Kurdish parties are reportedly against this scenario and want Abdul Mahdi to stay in power. One of the prime minister’s main policies has been to restore budget payments to the Kurdistan region (KRG). In return, the KRG was supposed to export oil for the federal government, but has not. Despite dozens of complaints about this from parliamentarians the premier has not punished the Kurds. In return, Irbil is one of the prime minister’s main supporters. Abdul Mahdi has also done nothing about pro-Iran Hashd groups who have carried out attacks on bases in Iraq that contain U.S. soldiers and attacked Saudi Arabia. Tehran has also been intimately involved in the suppression of the protests. Another important matter is whether this will satisfy the demonstrators? They have called for the prime minister to step down, a new election law and balloting so President Salah’s announcement meets all those demands. The process however matters, because if it’s just the ruling parties re-creating the current system, then the street will not be happy. The question has always been whether the political elite can really carry out change or will they just change the façade on the government.

This Day In Iraqi History - Nov 1

1940 Report to UK cabinet said PM Gaylani had to be dealt with because of contacts with

Germany and refusal to sever ties with Italy

1940 UK Chiefs of Staff recommended removing Gaylani via diplomatic moves

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

(Musings On Iraq book review 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)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Prof Boich World War II In Iraq and Syria)

1956 Iraq filed complaint with England over Suez Crisis and imposed martial law to try to stop

protests

1963 Wandawi head of Baathist National Guard dismissed in fallout between nationalist and

Baathist coup members

1978 Iraq hosted anti-Sadat conference to oppose Egypt-Israel peace treaty

1982 Iranian Op Holy Muharram attacked Maysan Iranians changed strategy from human wave

attacks to infiltration Iranian Rev Guard division and extra battalions snuck through Iraqi lines at border

(Musings On Iraq interview with Naval Postgraduate School’s Ostovar on history of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard)

(Musings On Iraq book review Vanguard of the Imam, Religion, Politics, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard)

(Musings On Iraq book review Iran-Iraq War Volume 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

1983 Sec of State Schultz told Iraq using chemical weapons almost every day 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 article on the origins of Iraq’s WMD programs)

(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 Bush authorized offensive planning and preparations for Gulf War

(Musings On Iraq book review from storm to Freedom, America’s Long War with Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq book review The Bush Administrations and Saddam Hussein, Deciding on Conflict)

2000 UK intel report said Saddam had no reason to work with UN because felt US would never end

sanctions as long as he was in power

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

(Musings On Iraq Chilcot Report Section 1.2 UK Iraq strategy September 2000 To September 2001)

2002 UnderSec State Bolton told conference if Iraq got fissile material it could have a nuclear bomb

in a year

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

2002 UN Head inspectors Blix and El Baradei visited Bush and VP Cheney at White House Bush said

inspections had full US backing

(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)

2003 UN withdrew most of its staff after Zarqawi bombing

2003 Asst Cmdr 1^st Armored Div Gen Hertling said that the insurgency was faltering

2003 Zarqawi truck bomb hit Italian Carabinieri HQ in Nasiriya killing 14

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

2003 Bush said former regime members and foreigners behind insurgency but US would not quit

2005 Bush and PM Blair agreed Sunni outreach before Dec election main priority

2007 Report Baghdad’s Rasheed used to be majority Sunni Now 70% Shiite Hurriya home to many Shiites

driven out of Adil by insurgents Sunnis expelled from Hurriya Sunni cleansing of Ghazaliya largely ended due to US presence

(Musings On Iraq book review Voices From Iraq, A People’s History, 2003-2009)

(Musings On Iraq Columbia University Charts Sectarian Cleansing Of Baghdad)

2008 PM Maliki govt took over control of Baghdad Sahwa Said would pay and integrate them Same

time cut paycheck

(Musings On Iraq article on Maliki govt taking over Sahwa)

(Musings On Iraq article on Maliki govt integration of Sahwa)

(Musings On Iraq Sons of Iraq Integration Update)

2008 Intl Org for Migration report Before Feb 06 Samarra bombing 1.2 mil displaced Afterward another 1.5

displaced

(Musings On Iraq article on IOM displacement report)

2013 Iraq said it supported Geneva II meeting to arrange political transition in Syria for Assad to

step down

2016 Mosul entered by Iraqi forces for first time starting with eastern neighborhoods

(Musings On Iraq Review They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate)

2017 Pres Barzani stepped down from office he held since 2005 due to failed independence referendum

(Musings On Iraq book review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)

2017 Iraq Joint Ops Command accused Kurds of walking out on talks over borders and border crossings

2018 Protests restarted in Basra over water crisis jobs and better governance

(Musings On Iraq article on renewed Basra protests)

View the Iraq History Timelines