This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 24

1916 British attempt to re-supply besieged garrison at Kut failed

1920 UK gave France 25% of Turkish Petroleum Company in return for agreeing to British mandate in

Iraq

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

1941 PM Gaylani and Mufti of Jerusalem met with Italian amb Told him they were angry Axis had

done nothing to help Iraq vs British

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

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

(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)

1970 Mar Eshai Shimun religious leader of Assyrians invited back to Baghdad by Bakr Given back

citizenship Bakr promised cultural rights to Assyrians but talks failed Bakr tried to create buffer with Kurds using Assyrians and move them away from KDP

1974 Iraqi planes bombed Qala Diza during Kurdish rebellion killing 130

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

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

1991 Kurdish leaders announced tentative deal with Saddam over autonomy and returning refugees who

fled during revolt

1999 Were clashes between Iraqi forces and Iraqi opposition in south

2002 Gen Franks me with commanders in Qatar Said they needed to start war preparations

(Musings On Iraq review of 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)

2003 Bush said Iraq might have destroyed its WMD before invasion but US would find them

(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)

2003 NY Times article Iraqi scientists said Saddam expanded WMD programs and secret facilities but

destroyed stocks Wasn’t true

2003 US seized warehouse in Baghdad thought to contain WMD agents Proved false 

2003 Trailer found near Mosul was suspected of being mobile WMD labs Turned out not to be

(Musings On Iraq article on mobile labs story)

2003 Dep PM Tariq Aziz surrendered to US Said Iraq had no WMD

2003 INC’s Zubeidi declared himself mayor of Baghdad

2003 ORHA head Garner met with 60 Iraqis in Kut to talk about security and how city should pick city

council

2003 ORHA head Garner said INC’s Chalabi was not US’s choice to run Iraq and Iraqis could pick their

own leaders

2003 Gen McKiernan ground commander in Iraq told ORHA’s Garner security #1 priority for postwar

Iraq

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq and Back, Inside The War To Win The Peace)

2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld called Sec State Powell to propose Paul Bremer as new presidential envoy to Iraq

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

Tragedy)

(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 6 Charting A New Course)

2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld called Garner and told him he would be replaced by Bremer Garner said he

would quit Rumsfeld asked him to stay

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy)

2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld said that Iraqis could form any govt they wanted as long as it wasn’t a theocracy

like Iran’s

2003 UN Res 1476 extended Oil For Food Program past US invasion

2003 Was anti-American march in Kut Wasit 2 drive by shootings on US base in Kut ORHA head

Garner blamed Iran for demonstration

2003 UK cabinet agreed to expand control from Basra and Maysan to Dhi Qar and Muthanna despite

warnings might not have capabilities to deal with them

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

2003 UN SecGen Annan said US Coalition had to follow intl law as occupying power in Iraq US rejected

occupier title

2004 US reported that 40% of Iraqi police deserted during Sadrist uprising in Najaf and Kut

2004 Insurgents launched boat attack upon Basra oil terminal killing 2 US sailors

2006 Sunni politicians accused ISCI of taking over Interior Min and staffing it with Badr militiamen

and killing civilians

(Musings On Iraq article on the history of Badr Organization)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how Badr took over Interior Ministry)

2006 Zarqawi released video portraying himself as military commander in Iraq

2006 Fmr CIA officer Drumheller said Iraq war was a policy failure by White House not intel agencies Said

Bush committed to war no matter what the intel Part of White House and CIA blaming each other for war

2006 Iraqiya MP said new Maliki govt wasn't national unity one but just Shiite Kurdish and Sunni parties

dividing up ministries

2007 Report Anbar Salvation Front expanding from Ramadi to Amiriya Fallujah with alliance with Albu

Issa tribe

(Musings On Iraq article on Anbar Awakening)

(Musings On Iraq article on change in perceptions that led to Awakening)

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

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

(Musings On Iraq review of 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)

2008 ISF gained full control of central Basra Phase 4 of Charge of Knights began with sweeps through

            5 Mile Market

2008 Captured ISI letters showed complaints about War Min Masri not consulting with others and didn't

take criticism Said ISI was passing off old Zarqawi videos as new operations

2009 2 suicide bombers targeted Baghdad’s Khadmiya shrine

2011 Ayatollah Haeri in Iran issued fatwa against extending US troop presence in Iraq past 2011

2011 Sadrists said they opposed any troops extension for US past end of year

2011 Kurd opposition parties said KRG could either negotiate with protesters or suppress them

2011 Press freedom group said 226 violations by KRG against media trying to cover Sulaymaniya protests

(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)

2011 Bomb at Sacred Heart church in Baghdad

2011 6,000 protested in Mosul demanding reform and releasing prisoners

2012 Sound bomb at offices of Ayatollah Najafi in wave of attacks upon leading ayatollahs

2012 Pres Barzani said that Exxon would follow through with its contracts to work with KRG despite

threats from Baghdad

2013 PM Maliki called for dialogue with Sunni protests after raided and killed protesters in Hawija Also

called for law and order

2013 Mutahidun complained PM Maliki allowing militias to operate in Iraq

2013 Insurgents took control of Suleiman Beq Salahaddin after ISF attacked Hawija protest site

2013 Hawija protest group announced that it was joining Naqshibandi after ISF attacked protest site

2014 Was fighting between ISIS and Military Council in Fallujah

2015 Report that ISF were charging displaced Anbaris money to get into Baghdad

View the Iraq History Timelines 

This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 23

1917 British Samarra Offensive ended in victory over Ottomans British suffered 18,000

casualties

1920 Ataturk gave speech demanding Turkey’s southern territories include Mosul and Sulaymaniya

(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 review The Creation of Iraq 1914-1921)

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

1941 PM Gaylani asked for German military intervention in case of war with England

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

1941 London decided to land an entire division from India in Basra

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

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

(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)

1948 Kirkuk oil workers protested against Anglo-Iraq Treaty

1981 Iran began attack to retake Qasr e-Shirin central front

1986 Iran Op Al Fajr 9 in Kurdistan Overran Rawanduz Included KDP

(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)

1989 Ali Hassan al-Majid’s special powers over northern Iraq for Anfal ended

(Musings On Iraq article on Anfal campaign)

1990 Report Iraq increased arms spending after Iran-Iraq War Largest arms importer in world since 1985

Accounted for 9% of world’s arms purchases

1991 Barzani said that guarantees would be needed for any deal with Baghdad

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

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

2002 Pentagon memo said UN would hold a postwar conference to pick Iraqi leaders like what happened

in Afghanistan Said Iraqi exiles would be put in charge of POW camps for former regime members and would take over Iraqi military Said provisional govt would be set up as quickly as possible so US could withdraw

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

Tragedy)

2003 Iraq oil started flowing for fist time since US invasion Iraq shut down oil flow Mar 20

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

2003 USAID official told Nightline rebuilding Iraq could cost US $1.7 bil and Iraqi oil and donors would

pay for rest

(Musings On Iraq article Special Inspector General For Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 4 Staging in Kuwait)

2003 ORHA head Garner came up with list of 9 objectives to accomplish for postwar Iraq including paying

salaries return police and ministries etc

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq and Back, Inside The War To Win The Peace)

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

2003 White House said confident Iraq’s WMD would be found

2003 NY Times article Iraqi scientists told US Iraq destroyed all its WMD equipment before invasion US

now looking for programs rather than WMD stocks Said US would be getting info on Iraq’s WMD from Chalabi and INC Was false

2003 Up to 3 mil participated in Arbaeen ceremony that had been banned under Saddam

2003 Protest in Kut Wasit blocked US convoy for 4 hours

2003 Report thousands of Arabs were being evicted from Kirkuk by Kurds and forming militias to protect

themselves

(Musings On Iraq interview with Petit of 173^rd Airborne Bgd on operations in Kirkuk)

(Musings On Iraq How Did Kirkuk Become Such A Divisive Issue? A Portrait of The City In

2003)

2003 1^st US troops arrived in Fallujah 2 weeks after end of invasion

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

2004 Bremer TV speech said CPA had made mistakes Welcomed back ex-soldiers into army Said

complaints about deBaathification were legitimate US streamlining how it dealt with prisoners

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

2004 PM Blair and foreign policy adv Manning told Bush and Natl Sec Adv Rice to delay another attack

upon Fallujah

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

2004 US Cmdr in Iraq Gen Sanchez ordered investigation into military intel practices due to Abu Ghraib

prison scandal

2005 UN Sec Gen Annan blamed US and UK for Iraq smuggling under Oil For Food program in 90s rather

than UN

2007 Report KRG starting nationwide ad campaign in US to promote Kurdistan as the “Other Iraq”

2008 Female suicide bomber attacked police station in Diyala killing 18

(Musings On Iraq article on female suicide bombers)

2009 KRG Premier Barzani criticized Hadbaa party for monopolizing all the seats on Ninewa council

(Musings On Iraq Tit For Tat In Ninewa)

(Musings On Iraq Arab-Kurdish Divide Over New Ninewa Provincial Council)

(Musings On Iraq Ninewa Struggles Between Arabs and Kurds Continue)

(Musings On Iraq Troubles Continue In Ninewa Over Results Of Provincial Elections)

2009 Iraq claimed it captured IS leader Abu Omar Baghdadi Didn’t happen Coincided with new wave of

bombings in Baghdad Might have been PM Maliki’s attempt to claim his govt was doing something about new violence

(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq’s claim to have arrested Baghdadi)

(Musings On Iraq on false story of arresting Baghdadi)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Naval War College’s Prof Whiteside on ISI leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi)

2009 AP est that 110,600 Iraqis died since 2003 invasion Said actual numbers might be 10-20% higher

59,957 were killed during 2006-07 civil war

(Musings On Iraq article on AP Iraqi death estimate)

2010 5 car bombs hit Shiite mosques in Baghdad 72 dead

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

2011 Karbala governor said province should think about becoming a federal region

2011 5,000 protested in Mosul demanding release of prisoners

2011 Sadrists marched in Baghdad against US occupation

2012 Iran tried to work out deal between PM Maliki and Sadr but failed Sadr moved into growing critic of

Maliki’s rule

2012 Iraq’s Foreign Ministry called in Turkey’s ambassador complaining about Ankara’s interference in

Iraqi politics

2013 PM Maliki ordered raid on Hawija protest camp run by Naqshibandi leading to over 40 dead and 70

wounded Violence spiked in Iraq after Hawija raid and helped mark return of insurgency

2013 Mohammed Abu Risha called for protesters to arm themselves after ISF attack upon Hawija protest

site

2013 Clash between protesters and ISF in Ramadi 6 soldiers killed

2013 Fighting broke out between ISF and insurgents in Suleiman Beq Salahaddin

2013 British court found maker of fake bomb detectors guilty of 3 counts of fraud Iraq govt continued to

use devices

2014 PM Maliki ordered Office of Commander in Chief to raise a popular army using militias to help with

security

2016 Fighting broke out again between Hashd, Turkmen vs Peshmerga Kurds in Tuz Kharmato Salahaddin

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review Under The Black Flag, At The Frontier Of The New Jihad

Moubayed, Sami, Under The Black Flag, At TheFrontier Of The New Jihad, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2015

The rise of the Islamic State (IS) in 2014 led to a cottage industry of books on the topic. Under The Black Flag, At The Frontier Of The New Jihad was one of them. Author Sami Moubayed wrote that the purpose of Under The Black Flag was to explore the ideological history of IS. He was a Syrian historian, which shaped his work. That’s seen with the first half of the book being about the Islamic empires, the caliphate and the Islamist movement in Syria even though he admits that the Islamic State had little to do with that country until 2011. When IS is finally discussed in the second half it is full of inaccuracies. The lack of focus and the problems it has with its topic makes Under The Black Flag a book to avoid.

This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 22

1915 Lord Curzon asked why British should promise Basra and Baghdad vilyats to Arabs if they were

fighting on Ottoman side

1916 British attacked Sannaiyat but Ottomans turned them back British suffered 1,200 casualties

1923 British troops occupied Rowanduz in military campaign to subdue Kurds opposed to being included

in new Iraq Mandate

1969 After Shah ended 1937 border treaty with Iraq Iran sailed ship down Shatt al Arab waterway in

violation of treaty

1969 Iraq retaliated by expelling 10,000 Iranians for Shah ending 1937 border treaty over Shatt al-Arab

waterway

1980 Khomeini revealed that Ayatollah Baqir al-Sadr had been executed and called for overthrow of

Saddam

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

1991 Report that Iranian intel and Revolutionary Guard working in Iraq to help revolts

(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)

1991 Report Bush decided on maintaining sanctions hoping they would lead to overthrow of

            Saddam

1991 Report Saudis were holding Iraqi POWs form Gulf War to try to create opposition group out of them

1998 Tariq Aziz letter to UN Said inspectors ignored last 7 yrs of progress Said intrusive inspections work

of US to create justification for US military strike

(Musings On Iraq 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)

2003 ORHA head Garner went to KRG to talk with Barzani and Talabani about interim Iraqi govt

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

2003 Barzani and Talabani suggested group of Iraqi advisers to help Garner rather than interim Iraqi govt

2003 UnderSecDef Feith wrote that idea of creating a transitional Iraqi authority was not going well

2003 Sadrists held second day of protests after its cleric Fartusi was arrested by US

2003 Only 10% of Baghdad’s electricity restored since city fell to US forces

2003 US sent 1000 more experts to look for Iraq’s WMD

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

2003 Chief UN inspector Blix told BBC US tried to discredit inspections at the Security Council

(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 UK general warned that British military not trained for postwar operations called for in Iraq

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

2003 NYTimes’ Miller told PBS NewsHour US found info on Iraq’s WMD Had destroyed stocks right

before invasion Fooled UN inspectors False story

2004 Bremer said some Baathist officials would be able to return to their jobs

2004 After no real weapons turned over by insurgents in Fallujah Gen Conway said militants had days to

do so or city would be attacked again

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

2006 Pres Talabani Asked Maliki to form new govt

(Musings On Iraq interview with Reuters’ Parker on Maliki’s biography)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Inside Iraqi Politics’ Sowell on whether Maliki became a dictator)

(Musings On Iraq interview with Historian Phebe Marr comparing PM Maliki with MP Said)

2007 ISI stopped bus and took 23 Yazidis off and executed them in Bashiqa, Ninewa

2008 PM Maliki promised $150 mil to rebuild Sadr City after fighting Mahdi Army was over Money was

mostly stolen by Dawa members or given out in patronage networks to win support for Maliki

2008 Female suicide bomber attacked Baquba police station

(Musings On Iraq article on female suicide bombers)

2009 16 Kurdish towns in Ninewa threatened to not cooperate with new Hadbaa run Ninewa council

calling it Baathist

(Musings On Iraq article on Kurd-Al Hadbaa dispute in Ninewa)

(Musings On Iraq article on Al-Hadbaa taking over Ninewa council)

2010 Parliamentary election results were supposed to be certified but political disputes delayed that

2011 Protests in Baghdad, Mosul and other cities calling for release of prisoners better services fighting

corruption

2011 Sadr announced new social organizing project Munasiroon in Basra

2012 Attack on Najaf offices of Ayatollah Fayadh in wave of attacks against Iraq’s top clerics

2012 Turkey’s Erdogan compared PM Maliki to Saddam

2013 Tigris Ops Command stopped parliamentary delegation from visiting Hawija protest site after

checkpoint attacked

2014 Pres Barzani threatened independence of Kurdistan if oil dispute with Baghdad continued

2015 Day after IS attacked Sahl al-Malih, Ninewa Peshmerga expelled Arab residents, looted and burned

village

View the Iraq History Timelines 

Review The Modern History of Iraq

Marr, Phebe, The Modern History of Iraq, Boulder, Oxford: Westview Press, 2004

Phebe Marr is considered one of the great Iraqi historians, and her book The Modern History of Iraq is one of the basic books to read to get an introduction to the country. It is laid out in chronological order going through the major time periods from the Ottomans up to the U.S. invasion. Marr outlines the strengths and weaknesses of each era. Her thesis is that Iraq has always been a challenge to rule due to its diversity. When governance is done well Iraq has created great things, but when done badly it has led to chaos. Unfortunately, the nation has had more of the latter since its creation.

This Day In Iraqi History - Apr 21

1802 Wahabi army from Arabia sacked Karbala 2,000-5,000 killed

1917 Battle of Istabulat in Diyala started between British and Ottomans with the Turks being defeated

1926 Turks told British they no longer wanted Mosul just a stake in the province’s oil

(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 review The Creation of Iraq 1914-1921)

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

1941 PM Gaylani asked UK Amb that no more British troops land in Iraq and they all had to leave

Iraq

1941 Hitler told military aid to Iraq could only be delivered by air and that would require stop in

Syria which would need approval of Vichy France Hitler got intel of large British forces in Iraq and more arriving so was skeptical of providing aid to Gaylani govt

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

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

(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)

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

1981 Kuwait gave Iraq $2 bil interest free loan to help pay for Iran-Iraq War

1985 Saddam offered another ceasefire in war Iran continued to demand Saddam step down and

repatriation of Shiites back to Iraq

(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)

1987 Iraqi 5^th Corps began 1^st phase of collectivizing in Kurdistan Destroyed towns and forced people

into govt run villages 661 villages affected 200,000 displaced

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq in Wartime, Soldiering, Martyrdom, and Remembrance)

1991 Iraqi govt forces began attack on southern marshes in Maysan Basra and Dhi Qar to root out rebels

2002 Telegraph reported Iraq supported Ansar al-Islam Al Qaeda affiliate in Kurdistan Story spread by PUK

(Musings On Iraq Why Didn’t Bush Strike Zarqawi And Ansar al-Islam In 2002?)

2003 CPA created to take over running Iraq for US replacing ORHA

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

2003 ORHA staff and head Garner entered Baghdad Gen Franks had kept them out He didn’t want civilians

to get in way of military

(Musings On Iraq review Iraq and Back, Inside The War To Win The Peace)

(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Ch 5 ORHA In Baghdad)

2003 Sec Def Rumsfeld took advice of Gen Franks and cancelled sending 50,000 additional troops to Iraq

from 1^st Cavalry Div

(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Ch 5 ORHA In Baghdad)

2003 5,000 Sadrists protested arrest of its cleric Fartusi by U.S.

2003 Report US officials said US would be out of Iraq soon and that an Iraqi govt would be in place in

            months

2003 NY Times article claimed Iraq had destroyed WMD right before war and moved rest to Syria

Said Iraqi scientist told US Iraq had been working on WMD for years and led US soldiers to banned precursors Story proved false

2003 UK Foreign Sec Straw told PM Blair he was skeptical evidence of Iraq’s WMD wound be found

Thought it might be destroyed

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

2003 2 US congressmen went to Syria and got Assad’s promise not to harbor any Baathists and expel those

that tried to flee there

2004 5 car bombs in Basra and Abu al-Khasib 68 killed

2004 CIA analyst told Congress no working relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda

2004 Report Mar 04 CPA memo said Iraqi Governing Council a failure because corruption and nepotism

Called for removal of 4 corrupt ministers Criticized Bremer for trying to centralize power in his hands Said progress was made by Iraqis despite the CPA not because of it

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

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

2006 United Iraqi Alliance nominated Dawa’s Nouri al-Maliki as new PM Mahmoud Mashadani of

Accordance Front would become Speaker of Parliament

2008 Oil Minister objected to Kurds’ independent oil deals

2008 US general said if Sadr didn’t hold back Mahdi Army US would fight them

2009 Sahwa in Adhamiya put “X”s on houses of displaced Shiites and told them not to come back

2010 State of Law said Sadr reason no new govt after elections because Sadr opposed to PM Maliki 2^nd term

2011 Human Rights Watch report Govt arrested and tortured protesters in Baghdad and held some in secret

prison at Muthanna Airport

2011 Drive by shooting on opposition radio station that supported protests in Sulaymaniya

2011 2 offices of Kurdistan Islamic Group attacked in Sulaymaniya

(Musings On Iraq interview with journalist Wladimir Van Wilgenburg on 2011 KRG protests)

2011 Lawyers protested in Fallujah demanding US withdrawal and release of prisoners

2011 Clash in Mosul as army tried to stop demonstration

2011 PM Maliki told US joint chiefs head Adm Mullen ISF could handle security after US withdrawal

2011 5,000 Sadrists held march in Basra to commemorate formation of Mahdi Army

2013 PM Maliki blamed anti-govt protests for increase in violence in country

2013 Protest leader in Hawija said army arrested 114 demonstrators after checkpoint was attacked and 1

soldier killed

2015 Pres Barzani and other KRG politicians complained about PKK being in Sinjar Claimed trying to

take over district

View the Iraq History Timelines 

IMF Predicts Depressed Oil Market For Nearly A Decade With Huge Impact On Iraq

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recent World Economic Outlook report painted a bleak picture of the world economy. It warned that the world is facing the greatest economic crisis since the Green Depression due to the coronavirus. The situation surpasses the 2008 recession which was previously considered the worse breakdown since 1929. The fact that no one knows how things will work out makes the future unpredictable as well. This has serious repercussions for Iraq which is dependent upon international markets to sell its petroleum to.