This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 26

 

1925 Abdul Sadoun became PM of Iraq for 2^nd time Were 14 govts under Mandate

(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)

1940 PM Gaylani asked Italy to become involved in Syria to block Turkey occupying it Came after

Syria joined Vichy France

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

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

1948 Muzahim al-Pachachi became PM 1922-58 were 59 cabinets

(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)

1966 Arif govt announced amnesty for Kurds involved in revolt

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)

(Musings On Iraq review Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan)

1988 Iraq recaptured Majnoon Islands in Basra from Iran

(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 review Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1989 Iraq said it was clearing all civilians from 20 mil border area with Iran and Turkey in Kurdistan

relocated 200,000-5000,000 Kurds

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

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

1993 Pres Clinton ordered cruise missile attack on Iraq’s intel HQ in Baghdad for attempted

assassination of ex-Pres Bush in Kuwait 8 killed

1996 Iraqi govt rounded up 120 coup plotters and executed most of them in failed plot by CIA and Iraqi

National Accord Iraqi intel had captured satellite phone from Iraqi National Accord agent in Iraq and uncovered CIA-INA plot Iraqi intelligence used captured phone to call CIA and told them to go home

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In The Eye of the Storm)

1997 ABC news ran feature on Chalabi and INC Chalabi talked about his revolt plot in 1995 and

claimed CIA sabotaged it

(Musings On Iraq review The Man Who Pushed America To War, The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi)

(Musings On Iraq review Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi and the Selling of the Iraq War)

1997 Jim Hoagland OpEd in Wash Post wrote about how Chalabi’s revolt in 1995 was betrayed by

CIA Hoagland was Chalabi ally

2002 Gen Franks met with commanders in Germany and told them to switch from original war plan to

new Running Start Would begin war before all forces in theater

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

2002 INC memo to Senate Approp Comm said group had led to 108 articles from Oct 01-May 02

and White House officials had received those products

(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy

Tragedy)

2003 UN terrorism committee draft report found no Iraq-Al Qaeda links

2003 Report quoted State Dept memo that too early to tell whether captured Iraqi trailers were mobile

WMD labs Didn’t exist

(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)

2005 Def Sec Rumsfeld said US conducting secret talks to try to split Iraqis from foreign insurgents

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2006 Al Qaeda in Iraq robbed $7 mil from Rafidain bank branch in Ramadi

2007 US general in charge of advisers warned ISF years away from being able to handle security Warned

against early withdrawal of US forces as a result

2008 ISI suicide bomber hit tribal council meeting Killed 26 including Garma mayor and Awakening

sheikhs

(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)

2016 Fallujah finally freed of insurgents 

2020 Detained Kataib Hezbollah members turned over to Hashd Security Directorate after

political negotiations

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s PM Gives Warning to Kataib Hezbollah To Stop Rocket Attacks In Baghdad)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

U.S. Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 3 Maneuvering Into Position

The third chapter of the U.S. Army history of the Iraq War was about the final American plans for the invasion, the continued neglect of the postwar situation, and how Saddam Hussein finally took the American threat seriously. The U.S. military was still focused upon overthrowing the Iraqi regime with the strategy for the aftermath an afterthought. By the end of 2002 Iraq finally began preparations for the coming war, but Saddam’s incompetence made them ineffective at best. That meant the war would be over quicker than the U.S. expected and they would have nothing for the next day.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 25

 

1915 British troops took Nasiriya Ottomans had 200 casualties British 500

1920 Tribe in Rumaitha called for revolt against British

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

(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)

1933 Iraqi army sent to Dohuk in show of force against armed followers of Assyrian leader Mar

Shimun

(Musings On Iraq review The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)

1961 Qasim said Kuwait part of Iraq and he would protect it from imperialists and deploy troops to

liberate it Egypt said it was opposed because Nasser against Qaism

(Musings On Iraq review Unholy Babylon, The Secret History of Saddam’s War)

1961 Qasim ordered military to come up with Kuwait invasion plan Was going to stage coup in

            Kuwait that would call in Iraqi forces

1961 London believed that Qasim’s comments about Kuwait being part of Iraq could lead to an invasion

1968 2 Kurdish ministers resigned over PM Yahya’s Kurdish policy

1988 2^nd Op Tawakal ala Allah using chemical weapons Iraq attacked and retook Majnoon Islands in

Basra

(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 review Iran-Iraq War Volume 3: Iraq’s Triumph)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1991 Iraqis fired on UN weapons inspectors at suspected nuke site

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

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)

1993 White House announced FBI investigation found Iraq tried to assassinate fmr Pres

            Bush in Kuwait

2003 Report Captured Zarqawi operative in Germany said Zarqawi independent terrorist not part of Al

Qaeda

(Musings On Iraq review Insurgent Iraq, Al Zarqawi and the New Generation)

2003 Report State Dept WMD analyst told Congressional hearing he felt pressured to tailor intel to fit

Bush admin agenda on Iraq

2003 UN Sec Gen Annan met with PM Blair Annan said that UN was pushing Bremer to transition

to Iraqi control as quickly as possible Said Bremer good at making fast decisions but that meant he didn’t talk to others Complained deBaathification had gone too far

(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)

2004 INC turned over captured Iraqi doc Iraq intel and bin Laden met in 90s Iraq agreed to air anti-Saudi

tapes but request for joints ops unanswered by Iraq

2006 PM Maliki announced national reconciliation program Included Reconciliation Council National

Dialogue Plan fighting terrorism Reviewing Debaathification Commission Amnesty for prisoners not involved in terrorism Compensation for terrorism and Saddam victims and IDPs Improving services Dealing with militias Fighting poverty and joblessness Nothing came of it

2006 Health Ministry recorded over 50,000 Iraqi deaths since 2003 from terrorism and military clashes

2006 Report CIA officer Drumheller warned CIA before Bush’s Jan 03 State of the Union and Sec

State Powell’s Feb 03 UN speech not to use story Iraq had mobile WMD labs Didn’t exist

2006 Report CIA officer warned that source of mobile labs story Iraqi named CURVEBALL held by

Germans was unstable and story not verified Didn’t exist

2006 Report Germans warned CIA that CURVEBALL was unreliable and refused to allow CIA access to

him

2006 CIA Dir Tenet told Sec State Powell it had multiple sources confirming Iraq mobile lab story while

preparing Powell’s UN speech CURVEBALL was only real source Didn’t exist

2006 Right before Sec State Powell’s UN speech CIA Dir called CIA officer Drumheller to fact check

speech Told Tenet not to use mobile labs claim They didn’t exist

(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claim That Iraq Had WMD)

(Musings On Iraq Look Who The LA Times Dug Up – CURVEBALL)

(Musings On Iraq Story of CURVEBALL And Iraq’s Mobile Biological Weapons Labs)

2007 ISI suicide bomber killed Sheikh Gaood of Albu Nimr tribe Sheikh Rifai al-Fahdawai of Albu

Fahad Sheikh Azziz al-Fahadawi Sheikh al-Assafir head of the Albu Assaf tribe in Baghdad hotel before meeting with US officials Were all Awakening members

(Musings On Iraq Demise But Not Death of Al Qaeda in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq How A Change In Perceptions Led To The Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq interview with author Carter Malkasian on Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq review Confronting Al Qaeda, The Sunni Awakening and American Strategy In Al Anbar)

(Musings On Iraq review The Marines Take Anbar, The Four-Year Fight Against Al Qaeda)

(Musings On Iraq review Illusions of Victory, The Anbar Awakening And The Rise Of The Islamic State)

(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)

2007 US cmdr Op Arrowhead Ripper in Baquba said ISF not capable of holding areas cleared by US

General in southern Baghdad said same thing

2008 KRG signed oil deals with 2 Canadian firms to work in disputed areas of Kirkuk

2008 Spokesman for Baghdad security plan said 9,000 Sahwa had joined city’s police and more would

be integrated in future

(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)

2014 Al-Nusra commander on Syrian-Iraq border gave allegiance to ISIS

2014 Ishaqi Salahaddin declared freed from insurgents for 3^rd time in just a few days

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Northern Front Stalemate In Salahaddin)

2020 Counter Terror Service raided Kataib Hezbollah HQ in Baghdad and arrested members

on charges they were responsible for rocket attacks in Baghdad Dep head of Hashd Comm Abu Fadak organized protest into Green Zone to demand their release

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s PM Gives Warning to Kataib Hezbollah To Stop Rocket Attacks In Baghdad)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

U.S. Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 2 Regime Change

Chapter 2 of the U.S. Army history of the Iraq War focused upon American planning for the invasion or the lack thereof. The Central Command (CENTCOM) which oversaw the war spent far more time coming up with an invasion strategy because of the micromanagement of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It constantly had to revise its plan as a result. That was one of the main reasons why the U.S. had little to nothing on what would happen afterward. There were also several faulty assumptions by the Pentagon and military about postwar Iraq. Ironically Saddam didn’t even believe war was coming in 2002. This would affect the war in two important ways. First the U.S. was heading into a long occupation of a foreign country and was completely unprepared. Second Iraq wasn’t going to put up much of a fight because Saddam didn’t think one would happen.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 24

 

1933 Interior Minister would not let Assyrian leader Mar Shimun leave Baghdad after being in

capital for nearly a month

(Musings On Iraq review The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)

1979 After army killed scores and arrested 3,000 protesting house arrest of Ayatollah Sadiq

al-Sadr Iran’s Arabic radio service called Sadr the Khomeini of Iraq and called on Shiites to replace the tyrants in Baghdad

1981 UK signed trade pact with Baghdad that would expand trade to more than $2 bil/yr

1982 9^th Regional Baath Party Congress held in secret Saddam said party infiltrated by enemies and

suffered bad decisions to get rid of dissenters Health Min Hussein who said Saddam might step down was executed Saddam changed party leadership to ensure his control

1984 Iraq air raids resumed on Iranian oil infrastructure with attack on Kharg Island Iran’s main oil

terminal Destroyed docking bay but operating again in 5 days

(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 review Iraqi Mirages, The Dassault Mirage Family In Service With The Iraqi Air Force, 1981-1988)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review The Iran-Iraq War)

(Musings On Iraq review The Longest War, The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict)

1994 SCIRI claimed govt building new canal to drain southern marshes and drive out displaced and

rebels

2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld said Iraq had chemical weapons but not nuclear weapons

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Created An Iraqi Nuclear Threat In 2002)

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

2003 UN head inspector Blix said inspectors were not impressed with Sec State Powell’s Feb 03 speech

to UN on Iraq’s WMD

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

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

2003 Weapons search in Maysan’s Majar al-Kabir led to shootout and death of 6 British soldiers

2003 UK intel report believed Iran backed Mujahedeen for Islamic Revolution in Iraq that killed 6

British soldiers

2003 Fallujah’s mayor’s office hit by RPG for working with US

2004 Al Qaeda in Iraq carried out multiple car bombs and attacks on police in Baghdad Baquba Fallujah

Ramadi and Mosul killing 92 wounding 285 Took over police station and city hall in Baquba and held city center for 6 hours

2004 Sadr announced unilateral ceasefire with US in Sadr City

2008 PM Maliki promised $100 mil for reconstruction in Maysan after Op Promise of Peace went

            after Sadrists there

2008 Interior Min declared Amarah Maysan free of militias after Op Promise of Peace went after

            Sadrists

2008 Special Groups bombed Sadr City council building killing 2 councilmen 10 wounded because

            meeting with Americans

2009 KRG passed draft constitution Said disputed areas of Kirkuk Ninewa and Diyala were part

of Kurdistan and peshmerga had right to operate in districts UN US and Iraqi parliament all objected to constitution

2014 Operation to try to free Tal Afar of insurgents launched and failed

2018 Protest in Diyala over electricity cuts Province had not received 35% of its power

2019 Najah al-Shammari approved as Defense Min Yassin Taha al-Yassri as Interior Min

Farouq Amin al-Shawani s Justice Min 9 months after govt formed Still no Education Min

(Musings On Iraq Iraq Finally Has A Defense Interior Justice Ministers)

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Security In Iraq Jun 15-21, 2021

The Islamic State was busy during the third week of June carrying out 20 attacks in Iraq. Its main target was infrastructure with a series of bombings of power towers. Pro-Iran groups were responsible for four incidents as well in their continued campaign against American targets.

This Day In Iraqi History - Jun 23

 

1921 Faisal arrived in Basra and then went to Najaf and Karbala as gesture towards Shiite clergy as

preparation to be crowned king Clerics opposed him

1965 Monarchist coup plot announced foiled by Arif govt

1991 US Gen said in opening day of bombing during Gulf War US tried to kill Saddam

1991 2^nd International Atomic Energy Agency inspection team arrived in Iraq

1996 Iyad Allawi interviewed in WashPost saying Iraqi National Accord supported a military uprising in

Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In The Eye of the Storm)

1998 Jim Hoagland OpEd in Wash Post said that Iraq was lying about its WMD to UN inspectors

Was based upon inspector report by Scott Ritter that he gave to Ahmed Chalabi who gave it to Hoagland Hoagland was a Chalabi ally Ritter’s report later proved false Convinced Iraq US would make up stories about WMD to maintain sanctions and therefore Iraq should stop cooperating with inspections

(Musings On Iraq review The Man Who Pushed America To War, The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi)

(Musings On Iraq review Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi and the Selling of the Iraq War)

2003 Ayatollah Sistani issued fatwa saying Iraqis should elect council to draft new constitution vs CPA

plan 

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

(Musings On Iraq review Patriotic Ayatollahs, Nationalism In Post-Saddam Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Squandered Victory, The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq)

2003 Oil Ministry made first foreign oil sale to Turkish company since invasion

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

2003 Official US found more evidence since Iraq invasion to prove Iraq-Al Qaeda ties

2003 US defense official complained to press Iraq-Al Qaeda ties were based on politics before war not

based on intelligence

2003 Bush at NSC meeting asked why US wasn’t pushing elections in Iraq and maybe they should come

before writing constitution

2003 Cheney chief of staff Libby told NYTimes reporter Miller Fmr Amb Wilson’s wife worked at CIA

in retaliation against Wilson Implied Wilson’s wife set up her husband’s trip to Niger

(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Failed The Iraq-Niger Uranium Story)

(Musings On Iraq Review Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, And The Selling Of The Iraq War)

2003 Cheney chief of staff Libby complained that CIA was selectively leaking info to press to lesson its

role in claims about Iraq’s WMD

2003 Sadr returned from Iran where he met Ayatollah Haeri and commemorated death of Ayatollah

Khomeini Sadr went to Baghdad for 1^st time since his father’s death Met by 1000s of followers

2004 Pentagon report said only 6% of Iraqi police had finished training Said ISF lacked equipment

(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how US failed to develop the Iraqi police)

2004 Report were two waves of foreign fighters to Iraq one before and one after 2003 invasion

2004 Report cooperation between Baathist and jihadist insurgents in Iraq and international terror

networks including Al Qaeda

2004 DepDefSec Wolfowitz said what was going on in Iraq was not an insurgency Said it was former

regime elements who didn't want to give up

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2004 US delivered $1.4 bil in cash to KRG for administration Went unaccounted for

2005 15 Sunnis and 1 Sabean added to constitutional drafting committee and 10 more Sunnis as advisers

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

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

2006 US Iraq Cmdr Gen Casey briefed Bush on withdrawal plan Bush approved

(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)

(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)

2008 Report govt came up with new displaced program to force squatters out of homes and make them

return to their original areas Were 2.7 mil displaced and 2.5 mil refugees

(Musings On Iraq Government’s Displaced Plan?)

(Musings On Iraq January 2009 U.N. Report On Iraq Refugee Returns)

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

2008 Report Interior Min complained Haswa Babil police chief was arresting too many Shiites and had to

arrest more Sunnis When he didn’t he was investigated and relieved of duty

2008 Report Iran cut power supply to Basra after Charge of Knights op cutting electricity to only 6 hrs

            a day

2008 Report Amiriya Baghdad Sahwa leader said Maliki govt had arrest warrant out for him Part of

intimidation campaign vs Sahwa

(Musings On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War)

2008 PM Maliki announced 17 Tribal Support Councils would be formed in Maysan after Op Promise of

Peace Councils became part of Maliki’s patronage network to create support for Dawa/State of Law

(Musings On Iraq Argument For Maliki Being Iraq’s Next Strongman)

(Musings On Iraq Disputes Over Tribal Support Councils)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq After America, Strongmen, Sectarians, Resistance)

2013 Parliament amended 2008 Provincial Powers Law but not implemented

2014 ISIS held large military parade in Mosul after city fell

2014 Fighting between ISIS and Hawija Brigades in Hawija, Kirkuk for control

2014 Jihad and Reform Front agreed to work with ISIS in summer offensive Said tribal revolutionaries

would sweep over Anbar

2014 Albu Mahal tribe surrendered Qaim Anbar to ISIS

(Musings On Iraq Anbar Before And After The Awakening Pt IX Sheikh Sabah Aziz Of The Albu Mahal)

(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s Western Front Is Anbar Next To Fall?)

View the Iraq History Timelines