This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 9

 

1915 UK fought skirmishes with Sehikh Ajaimi’s men from Montafiq Confederation in

Basra

1917 British attacked Dahra bend outside Kut Gained some trenches

1922 UK cabinet adopted Colonial Sec Churchill’s proposal to put Royal Air Force in charge of

security in Iraq replacing army

(Musings On Iraq Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Wings of Iraq, Volume 1: The Iraqi Air Force, 1931-1970)

1928 Curfew in Baghdad to stop student protests over British Zionist’s planned visit Protest leaders arrested

1963 Gen Qasim asked for safe passage out of Iraq Was refused by coup leaders Qasim captured shot

and body shown on TV

1963 Baathist Gen Ahmed al-Bakr became premier Col Abd Salam Arif president

(Musings On Iraq review Socialist Iraq, A Study in Iraqi Politics Since 1968)

1963 Fighting stopped in Baghdad neighborhoods against Qasim supporters

1073 Army shelled Yazidi village of Osfan in Sinjar

1981 Iran and Iraq agreed to visits by Islamic leaders who wanted to try to negotiate a ceasefire in Iran-

Iraq War

1982 Iraqi offensive to seize Bostan Khuzistan ended due to rainy conditions

1983 Iranian Op Fajr al-Nasr Attacked again Iraqi counterattack surrounded Iranians and destroyed

division

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

1986 Iran Op Wa al-Fajr 8 Largest so far 50% of army 2/3 of Revolutionary Guard attacked Faw

Peninsula Basra Started with diversionary attack north of Basra At night Iranians crossed Shatt al-Arab in two places Landed south end of Faw

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

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

(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 2: Iran Strikes back, June 1982-December 1986)

(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 US 1^st Cavalry Division made reconnaissance mission into Iraq to make sure mechanized units

could operate in Kuwaiti and Iraqi desert

2003 France and Germany proposed tripling number of UN inspectors in Iraq US attacked plan

(Musings On Iraq Section 3.7 Development of UK Strategy and Options, 1 February to 7 March 2003)

2003 Pentagon memo said there would be security vacuum after invasion leading to disorder Said

civilians at Pentagon expected military to come up with troops to preserve order but military wanted troops for other tasks Memo was rejected by CENTCOM that said war plan was to get to Baghdad and couldn’t leave troops behind to maintain order

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

Tragedy)

2003 Report UK intel didn’t think there was an Iraq-al Qaeda connection

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

(Musings On Iraq Section 3.7 Development of UK Strategy and Options, 1 February to 7 March 2003)

2003 Observer article disputed Iraqi defector Mohammed Shahab used in March 02 New Yorker article

who claimed Iraq connected to Al Qaeda via Ansar al-Islam

2004 US released Zarqawi letter to Al Qaeda Said goal to start sectarian war by attacking Shiites to rally

Sunnis to its cause

(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 11 The Gathering Storm)

(Musings On Iraq interview with former CIA analyst Nada Bakos that tracked Zarqawi)

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

(Musings On Iraq review The ISIS Reader, Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement)

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

2004 Report White House 03 paper on Iraq WMD dropped qualifications and doubts from 02 Natl Intel

Est on Iraq

2007 Report Mahdi Army cleansing Sadiya Baghdad of Sunnis and Shiites moving in PM Maliki

protecting Sadr’s forces

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

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

2007 1920 Revolution Brigades offered negotiation terms to US Included cancelling constitution and

govt Releasing prisoners Recognition of resistance Direct talks with US Disbanding militias Bringing back Saddam’s army

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

2007 Pentagon Inspector Gen found DepDefSec Feith’s Office of Special Plans made its own intelligence

assessment that was inappropriate differed from intelligence community and wasn’t fully supported by intelligence Promoted story that 9/11 hijacker Atta met with Iraqi intelligence in April 2001 Story false Told White House intelligence community was wrong about Iraq-Al Qaeda ties

2008 Anbar Salvation Council gave Islamic Party 30 days to leave provincial council or be forced out

Two also competing over reconstruction contracts

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

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

2009 Report 30,000 displaced returning home per month Main problem occupied houses Govt had

no process to deal with issue Courts couldn’t handle it

2010 PM Maliki told meeting in Sadr City that he would stop Baathists from returning to power 

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

2010 Aide to Ahmed Chalabi said US trying to bring Baathists back to power

2010 Protest in Qadisiya against Baathists

(Musings On Iraq Campaigning Officially Begins IN Iraq As Hunt For Baathists Spreads To The Local Level)

2010 Parliament’s legal comm called on parliament to ban VP Hashemi in 2010 election for being a

Baathist sympathizer

(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Politicians Stepping Up Attacks On Each Other As Elections Near)

2010 Army officer put in charge of Salahaddin govt by PM Maliki stopped provincial council from

entering offices Led to protest in Tikrit

(Musings On Iraq Struggle Over Control of Salahaddin Province)

2016 PM Abadi called for technocratic and non-partisan cabinet

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

2016 Ramadi finally freed from IS by Iraqi forces

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Vote On Iraq’s Next President Delayed

(Al Mirbad)

Monday February 7 Iraq’s parliament was supposed to vote for a new president. The leading candidate, the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) Hoshyar Zebari was ruled ineligible by a court however so the session was postponed by Moqtada al-Sadr. He continues to control the process over forming the new government and once a new figure is chosen for the position parliament will likely meet and elect him.

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

1928 Protest by law students in Baghdad against British Zionist planned visit Broken up by police Al-Ahali

leaders arrested

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Democratic Moment)

1962 Ibrahim Ahmed of KDP met with Kurdish Major Karani Passed message from General Yahyia

asking KDP to join with army to overthrow Gen Qasim

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

at Abu Ghraib seized

(Musings On Iraq review Socialist Iraq, A Study in Iraqi Politics Since 1968)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship)

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

streets and fought army in Baghdad Communists asked Qasim to arm the public but he refused

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

1963 Radio Baghdad called for people to kill Communists who were trying to protect God’s

enemy Gen Qasim Over next 2 days estimated 5,000 Communists were executed by Baathist militia

(Musings On Iraq 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)

1963 New Baath-military govt asked Barzani to end his revolt Kurds said they would back

new govt if given democracy and autonomy Barzani announced ceasefire

(Musings On Iraq review 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)

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq & the Kurdish Question, 1958-70)

1963 Kurdish delegation went to Baghdad to congratulate coup plotters KDP declared its

support for overthrow of Qasim

1963 New regime called for end of Kurdish revolt Govt included 2 Kurdish ministers

1963 Fighting broke out between Baathists army against Qasim supporters in Baghdad’s Karkh Karrada

Kadhimiya

1974 15 Kurdish villages in Kirkuk were emptied of people by Bakr govt

1976 Govt decree reduced Kirkuk province from 6 to 2 districts Renamed it Tamim Gave Tuz

Kharmato dist to new province of Salahaddin

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

and to unite against Iran

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

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

substantial Iraq said it unilaterally destroyed its VX after Gulf War

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

nothing

(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)

(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)

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

and Saddam was still dangerous

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

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

2006 Assoc of Muslim Scholars said organized campaign by govt to follow Persian strategy to

have militias occupy Baghdad and force out Sunnis 

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

2007 US-Iraqi raid arrested Dep Health Min Zamili Accused of hiring Mahdi Army members into Health

Min Embezzled money from ministry Used ministry for kidnappings and murders Used ambulances to ferry weapons and militiamen across Baghdad

2007 Report US soldiers unsure of ISF units they worked with in Baghdad during Surge Iraqi officers

sold their soldiers uniforms ISF beat suspects at checkpoints Took bribes from suspects to be released Executed suspects

2007 Report CPA financial adv Adm Oliver said he didn’t know if the $8.8 bil given to Iraqi ministries in

03-04 was spent or not Said he didn’t care Said it was Iraqi money

2008 Sahwa in Diyala went on strike demanding provincial police chief be replaced accused of running

death squads and torturing prisoners arresting Sahwa

(Musings On Iraq Diyala Province Backgrounder)

2008 US military said number of attacks on Sahwa doubled since Oct 07

2008 Report ISI trying to win back popular support by changing tactics Being more selective in targeting

and not trying to kill civilians

2008 Constitutional Committee asked for another extension to amend the constitution Never finished

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

2008 State Dept official in charge of Iraq said pro-Iran groups increasing attacks in 2008

2008 Oil Min Shahristani asked international oil companies to invest in Iraq for first time

(Musings On Iraq Oil Minister Under Attack On Eve Of Awarding New Contracts)

2009 Sheikh Abu Risha said he formed ruling coalition in Anbar to keep Islamic Party out of power

Had talk with Mutlaq of Iraqi National Project who was also against Islamic Party

2009 Report KRG PM Barzani accused PM Maliki of trying to move troops into Kirkuk to take it

over Complained about deployment of army’s 12^th Div Asked U.S. to intervene

2010 Judicial Council ruled that Cassation Panel only had jurisdiction over individual appeals of

banned candidates and couldn’t unban 511 candidates en masse 

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

2010 Speaker Samarrai said parliament endorsed Cassation Panel so couldn’t have confidence

withdrawn as some threatened Said Panel was going through appeals of banned candidates

2010 Cassation Panel went back to reviewing banned candidates Found half of 511 banned

candidates had been replaced by their parties and cases could no longer be dealt with Only had 177 cases that could be appealed Only 37 of those had filed right papers rest were disqualified for technical reasons

(Musings On Iraq Only 37 Banned Candidates Can Appeal Their Cases)

2010 Protest in Dhi Qar against Cassation Panel for unbanning candidates for Baathist ties

(Musings On Iraq Campaigning Officially Begins IN Iraq As Hunt For Baathists Spreads To The Local Level)

2010 PM Maliki called for parliament to meet over Cassation Panel going back to reviewing banned

candidates

2011 Parliament human rights comm opened investigation of Camp Honor secret prison in Baghdad run

by PM Maliki Nothing came of it

(Musings On Iraq New Complaints About Iraqi Prison Abuse)

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

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

2015 Peshmerga destroyed villages in 5 districts in southern Kirkuk

2020 Sadr reversed course again Said he would withdraw his people from protests Announced 18 point

charter for demonstrations Included ending school boycotts not blocking roads Not getting involved in politics

View the Iraq History Timelines

IS Attacks On 5 Month Decline In Iraq

Violence went in different directions in Iraq in January 2022. Attacks by the Islamic State continued their half year decline. Pro-Iran groups however started the month off with a bang before tapering off towards the end.

This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 7

 

1916 British withdrew from Butaniya and attacked by tribesmen British suffered 373 casualties Arabs 1,000

1920 War Min Churchill wrote there were far too many British troops in Iraq than could be sustained

and therefore a new Iraq policy should be created

(Musings On Iraq Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)

(Musings On Iraq review Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied)

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

1921 Gertrude Bell wrote that Shiites were mad that they were not in govt and govt wanted to remain all

Sunni

(Musings On Iraq review Gertrude Bell And Iraq)

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

(Musings On Iraq movie review Letters from Baghdad)

(Musings On Iraq review Desert Queen, The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia)

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

Iraq

1939 PM Said headed Iraqi delegation to London Conference on Palestine Believed Iraq could end

Palestinian issue Won support from pan-Arab officers

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

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq 1941, The Battles for Basra, Habbaniya, Fallujah and Baghdad)

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

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

returned to Iraq

1968 General de Gaulle met President Arif in Paris and signed arms agreement

1983 Iranian Op Fajr al-Nasr Launched main attack upon Fakkeh with 30,000 troops in central front Got

to outskirts of Fakkeh but forced to withdraw

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

1987 Iraqi counterattacks vs Iran Op Karbala 5 recaptured 20sqkm 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 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 Sec State Baker told Senate US would not help with any rebuilding in Iraq as long as

Saddam in power

1992 Report presidential campaign renewed Bush’s wish to overthrow Saddam CIA Dir Gates went to

Egypt and Saudi Arabia to discuss plans

1998 Fmr Bush Nat Sec Adv Scowcroft said he wished the 91 uprising never happened because he

wanted a military coup to remove Saddam

1998 Clinton said any military strike on Iraq would not be to depose him but to degrade his

            missile and WMD programs

2001 CIA report to Congress no evidence Iraq reconstituted WMD program since 1990s

(Musings On Iraq Origins Of Iraq’s WMD Programs)

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

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

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

Tragedy)

(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq Vol 1 – Chapter 2 Regime Change)

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 Sec State Powell’s UN speech Told Wash Post Zarqawi connected

to Al Qaeda but not part of group

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

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

2003 State Dept memo warned of serious problems in postwar Iraq and possible security vacuum after

war Were told military couldn't spare troops to ensure security

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

Tragedy)

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 Niger story fake

(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)

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

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

2004 Bush and VP Cheney said Iraq war justified because Saddam could have made WMD Gave up

argument he had them

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

(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)

(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

2005 Insurgents complained to Newsweek that Zarqawi was trying to hijack insurgency and opposed his

attacks upon Iraqi civilians

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni Insurgency)

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

2007 Report Jan 07 Sec State Rice said her dept was ready for civilian surge in Iraq Feb told Sec Def

Gates would need 6 months to find personnel and train them Asked military to fill 1/3 of 350 civilian spots on Provincial Recon Teams Infuriated Pentagon

2008 UN reported surge in refugees returning to Syria over Said most returned to Iraq not because Iraq

safer but because couldn’t afford to live in Syria Now more Iraqis leaving Iraq then returning Intl Org for Migration said only 20-30% of returnees able to return to homes 50% unemployed and no govt aid Some become displaced

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

(Musings On Iraq Refugees International Report On Iraq’s Refugees and Displaced)

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

2008 Report Mahdi Army had systematic strategy for taking over Sunni areas of Baghdad Started with

assassination of businessmen and community leaders Tried to co-opt Shiite residents before launching full attack upon area

2008 Islamic Party head Samarrai said the Anbar Salvation Council had no support and backed

insurgency in 2007 Part of dispute for control of Anbar govt between Islamic Party and Awakening

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

2009 Report Iraq offering jobs to former Saddam era soldiers Meetings began in Jordan

2010 Election Comm said campaign in 2010 election delayed until Feb 12 so that deBaathification

crisis could be resolved

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

2010 Election Comm 1^st agreed with unbanning 511 candidates and that they should be able to run

in 2010 vote Then agreed with Accountability and Justice Comm that candidates still banned

2010 PM Maliki said Baathist crimes wouldn’t go unpunished Focus of his 2010 re-election campaign

2010 State of Law governor of Baghdad announced deBaathification drive Head of Baghdad council

said they would create deBaathification comm State of Law organized protests in Basra and Baghdad against Baathists and US

(Musings On Iraq Appeals Court To Go Through Banning Cases Before Iraq’s March Election)

2010 Basra and Najaf govts said they would expel Baathists from govts Dhi Qar and Babil fired ISF

for Baathist ties Muthanna began arresting govt workers for Baathist ties Part of drive by Shiite parties to make Baathists main issue of 2010 vote

(Musings On Iraq Campaigning Officially Begins IN Iraq As Hunt For Baathists Spreads To The Local Level)

2010 ISF arrested Diyala provincial council member as part of PM Maliki crackdown vs Iraqiya

before 2010 election Claimed he was connected to terrorism Released for lack of evidence

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 6

 

1919 Gertrude Bell met with Naqib of Baghdad who said he wanted British rule in Iraq under Sir Percy Cox

Warned that Shiites should not be trusted Said didn’t want any of the Sharifan family to rule because were not from Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review of Gertrude Bell And Iraq)

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

(Musings On Iraq movie review Letters from Baghdad)

(Musings On Iraq review Desert Queen, The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia)

1977 Bakr govt put down Shiite protests led by Dawa killing 16 and arresting around 2000 Ayatollah

Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and others arrested

(Musings On Iraq Interview with Lowy Institution’s Shanahan on history of the Dawa Party)

(Musings On Iraq review The Shi’ite Movement in Iraq)

1983 Iranian Op Fajr al-Nasr began Attacked Fakkeh area heading for Maysan in central front

(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 4: The Forgotten Fronts)

(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 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 False story

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

system Iraq trying to install

2002 Sec State Powell told Congress White House considering all options on Iraq but that regime change

had been US policy and would be good for region

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)

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

Tragedy)

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 False Story

2003 Bush said there was an Iraq-Al Qaeda relationship going to back to 1990s Said Iraq gave bomb

making forgery and WMD training to Al Qaeda Came from tortured Al Qaeda operative who later recanted story

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

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

go to war with Iraq

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

2003 Pentagon memo on postwar Iraq justice system said US needed to deploy 4,000 police or 3,000

international police to assure law and order Said military had no plans for that Asked if US was going to train a new Iraqi police force Estimated that would cost $700 mil the first year Asked if that money was available

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

Tragedy)

(Musings On Iraq interview w/fmr police adv Jerry Burke on failure to plan for security postwar Iraq)

2003 Press revealed most of UK intel dossier on Iraq trying to hide WMD was plagiarized from a journal

article

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

them of Iraq threat

2003 US envoy Khalizad met with Turkmen Front Kurds Turks to try to make deal between Ankara and

Kurds to facilitate using Turkey for invasion

(Musings On Iraq review Losing Iraq, Inside The Post War Reconstruction Fiasco)

2003 Turkish parliament voted to allow US military to upgrade ports and facilities for troop deployment

2004 New UN Rep Brahimi arrived in Iraq Immediately began consultations with Iraqis to see whether

elections possible that year

(Musings On Iraq US Army History Of Iraq War Vol 1- Chapter 11 The Gathering Storm)

2004 Bush announced Silberman-Robb commission to look into U.S. pre-war intel on Iraq’s WMD after

none found

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

2004 Report DIA said CURVEBALL intel on Iraq mobile WMD labs was questionable in 02 Never

passed to rest of intel community 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)

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

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 PM Maliki told Al Hayat that ISF penetrated and needed to be purged Claimed ISI was weak due to

divisions and govt had penetrated group and found out its organization and leadership

2007 PM Maliki said govt had not started new security plan in Baghdad well and was hurting standing

with public ISF commanders said some units slow to deploy to Baghdad Getting army and police to cooperate a problem

2007 Iranian diplomat detained by Iraqi police commandos and accused CIA of torturing him after his

release

2007 Bremer testified to Congress 1^st time Questioned about missing $8.8 bil Bremer said money given

to Iraqi ministries but didn’t follow what happened afterward Disputed claims CPA staffed by young inexperienced Republicans Said pre-war planning bad

2008 Head of reconciliation for U.S. military in Iraq asked whether Shiite govt really wanted to reconcile

with Sunnis

2008 Report Maliki govt only spent between 4-24% of its 2006 capital budget of $2.6 bil for investment

(Musings On Iraq GAO August 2008 report On Iraq’s Budget And Spending)

(Musings On Iraq NY Times Finds Iraq Spends Even Less Of Its Budget)

2009 Report ISCI won 55% of vote in 05 provincial elections Only got 5% in 09

2010 High Judicial Council said would review unbanning of 511 candidates and legality of

Accountability and Justice Comm PM Maliki pressured court to come to decision before Feb 9 special session of parliament that was to discuss issue

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

2010 Parliament said it wanted to withdraw support for Cassation Panel after it unbanned 511

candidates for Baathist ties

2010 Iraqi National Alliance said some parties working with Baathists to return them to power

Claimed US behind unbanning 511 candidates for Baathist ties

2010 Sadrists head of parliament’s legal comm said VP Hashemi should be banned from 2010 vote

for promoting Baathism

(Musings On Iraq Iraqi Politicians Stepping Up Attacks On Each Other As Elections Near)

2010 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq released video of US contractor Salomi they kidnapped in Baghdad in Jan

2010 Group demanded govt release its men from prison
2017 Trump had first briefing on war vs IS Asked if US should’ve taken Iraq’s oil to pay for US

occupation

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 5

 

1914 Lord Hardinge visited Basra Assured locals that British would protect their interests

Met by anti-UK protests in Qurna and Shaiba

1950 Tawfiq Suwaidi became PM 4^th time 5 of his 11 ministers were Shiites

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

1952 PM Said negotiated new deal with Iraq Petroleum Company Created equal profit sharing 12% share of

production to Iraq Employment of Iraqis in high level jobs Scholarship to send 50 Iraqi students to England

1963 Qasim arrested Baathists Salih Mahdi Ammash and Ali Salih al-Sadi Wasn’t able to stop coup

1970 Idris and Massoud Barzani went to Baghdad to sign deal with govt but it presented new terms

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution To Dictatorship)

1977 Dawa party turned pilgrimage to Karbala and Najaf into anti-Baath protests Army called out Pres Bakr

blamed Syria

(Musings On Iraq Interview with Lowy Institution’s Shanahan on history of the Dawa Party)

(Musings On Iraq review The Shi’ite Movement in Iraq)

1981 UK rejected requests by both Iraq and Iran for military equipment

(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 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 got first intelligence that US was moving forces west in Saudi Arabia Didn't realize was

going to be main attack in Gulf War

2001 Natl Sec Adv Rice chaired NSC to go over Iraq Agreed Saddam had won PR war convincing most

that sanctions hurting Iraqi public Meeting also agreed sanctions were not forcing Saddam from power Sec State Powell argued for smart sanctions that would just focus upon military imports to Iraq Discussed returning UN inspectors to Iraq and how to deal with Iraqi opposition Rice wanted review of No Fly Zone Led to less flights to try to avoid plane getting shot down Rice told US agencies to increase intelligence gathering on WMD

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

2002 CIA report on Iraq-Niger uranium deal Said it received text of deal from foreign intel service CIA

and DIA thought text important State Dept skeptical Story fake

(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)

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

2002 CIA report said Iraq had 7 mobile WMD labs Didn’t exist

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

2003 Before Sec State Powell’s UN speech Bush met with 20 Congressional leaders to lobby them on

Iraq

2003 Natl Sec Adv Rice told Congressional leaders US tried everything with Iraq and now war only

option Said WMD would be found afterward

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

Tragedy)

2003 Sec State Powell and UK ForSec Straw met before UN speech Both skeptical about Iraq intel

Powell thought most was circumstantial 

2003 Sec State Powell gave UN speech laying out US case against Iraq’s WMD and ties to Al Qaeda

using Zarqawi Claimed Iraq hiding its WMD from inspectors Said Qusay Hussein ordered removal of banned material from sites Claimed WMD missiles had been distributed to unit in western Iraq Said human sources claimed Iraq had mobile WMD labs Said some disputes within US intel but most agreed Iraq tried to buy aluminum tubes for centrifuges Claimed Iraq had UAVs that could be used to deliver WMD Claimed Iraq gave safehaven to Zarqawi in Kurdistan Said Iraq-Al Qaeda had 8 meetings since 1990s Claimed Iraq gave Al Qaeda training in WMD

(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)

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

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

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

(Musings On Iraq How A Contested Aluminum Tubes Story Became The Basis For War With Iraq)

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

2003 Chief UN inspector Blix told press never found any evidence of Iraq having mobile WMD labs

(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 3^rd meeting of US UK Australia on postwar Iraq planning US rejected any role for UN

2003 Natl Sec Adv Rice on Larry King said there was an Iraq-Al Qaeda connection Said Saddam could

give WMD to terrorists

2003 WashPost editorial said Iraq violating UN resolutions and supported war

2004 Ayatollah Sistani survived assassination attempt in Najaf

2004 CIA Dir Tenet gave speech at Georgetown refuting Iraq Survey Group’s Kay claim everyone was

wrong about Iraq’s WMD Said CIA might’ve over estimated nuke program Were differences over mobile WMD labs They didn’t exist Natl Intel Est never said Iraq imminent threat Said Saddam dictator intent to build WMD Referenced Iraq Foreign Min Sabri who told CIA Iraq had nuke program stockpile of chemical weapons small biological weapons program Said US still needed time to find out about Iraq’s WMD Said in the end CIA would be proven not entirely right or wrong on pre-war Iraq intel

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

(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)

(Musings On Iraq How The Administration Reversed Itself On Finding Iraq’s WMD)

(Musings On Iraq review Hoodwinked, The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War)

(Musings On Iraq review The WMD Mirage, Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War)

2005 Dep Natl Sec Adv Hadley said White House had B- for developing Iraq policy D- for executing it

2006 Report MP Mishan Jabouri charged with stealing millions of dollars for contract to protect Iraqi

pipeline from Baiji refinery and Kirkuk Fled to Syria

2006 Al Qaeda in Iraq defeated 1920 Rev Brigade in Ramadi Forced Brigade leader Latif who’d tried to join

Anbar politics to go into hiding

(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 19 The Iraqi Civil War Comes Into The Open, January-June 2006)

(Musings On Iraq US Army History of Iraq War Vol 1 – Chapter 21 Hope In Ramadi)

2007 Baghdad Operations Command created

2007 Report police regularly sold their equipment to arms dealers for money ISF would also sell seized

weapons in raids to black market 2006 US reports said US weapons given to ISF were ending up with militants

2007 VP Cheney’s press officer Martin said Cheney and Libby told press that fmr Amb Wilson went

to investigate Iraq-Niger uranium story because of his wife who worked at CIA Cheney angry Wilson claimed VP sent him to Niger After Wilson’s NYTimes OpEd July 03 Libby White House spokesman Fleischer and Karl Rove told 5 reporters Wilson’s wife sent him to Niger Dep Sec State Armitage was one that leaked Wilson’s wife name to Robert Novak Niger story fake

(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)

2008 Report Police carrying out kidnappings murder blackmail for money Many part of militias

2009 Sen Kerry went to Syria to try to improve relations as part of Obama’s new Iraq

policy of including neighbors in strategy

2010 PM Maliki govt spokesman said Cassation Panel’s decision to unban 511 candidates was illegal

Sadr also criticized decision VP Hashemi supported the panel

(Musings On Iraq Timeline of Iraq’s De-Baathification Campaign)

2010 Ninewa Gov Nujafi went to events in Tilkaif were Kurdish protesters threw things at him

Kurdish parties said they would not allow any provincial official to enter a disputed area without its permission

(Musings On Iraq Political Disputes Continue in Ninewa)

2010 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq ended talks with Maliki govt Claimed govt had not released all its followers

from prison as promised Maliki was hoping to use group against Sadr in 2010 election

(Musings On Iraq League Of The Righteous Break Off Talks With Baghdad Again)

(Musings On Iraq More Information On League Of The Righteous Kidnapping Of American Contractor)

(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)

2011 PM Maliki spokesperson said he would not run for a 3^rd term in 2014 but he did

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

2014 ISIS attacked Mukhisa Diyala forced out families Afterward ISF and miltias killed civilians and

burned homes

2020 Suspected Hashd gunmen fired at Najaf protest site killing 7 Wounded 100

(Musings On Iraq United Nations Faults Iraq For Failing To Protect Protesters)

View the Iraq History Timelines