1956 Communist uprising in Al-Hay put down and leaders executed
(Musings On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)
(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)
1969 Barzani said Bakr govt hadn’t offered any real concessions and talks were off
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)
(Musings On Iraq review The Kurds, A Modern History)
1975 Iraq funded attack on OPEC ministers by Carlos the Jackal and the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine in Vienna Austria Saddam wanted the Saudi and Iranian oil ministers killed because they supported Kurdish revolt They were kidnapped but released
1981 Kuwait and UAE agreed to loan Iraq $2 bil to help during Iran-Iraq War
1998 Russia France Germany called for ending sanctions on Iraq
1998 Report Iraq intel officer Hijazi met with bin Laden in Afghanistan and offered him asylum False story
2001 UK Def Min Hoon asked ministry for plans for military action against Iraq
2001 Vanity Fair article claimed Iraq involved in 9/11 based upon INC defector Abu Zainab Qairy
story that Iraq trained terrorists at Salman Pak Baghdad Abu Zainab had been dismissed by CIA
2001 Vanity Fair author appeared on CNN and NBC repeating his story that INC defector Abu
Zainab Qairy claimed Iraq involved in 9/11 Story false
2002 Dep CIA Dir McLaughlin briefed Bush on intel on Iraq WMD Said Iraq had precursors and biological
components Showed rocket engine test site that passed prescribed ranges Showed satellite photo of suspected clean up of chemical weapons spill Showed UAV flown 500km past UN limit of 150km CIA went over reports of Iraq having mobile WMD labs Played recording of 2 Republican Guard officers talking about removing nerve agents Said Saddam met with nuclear scientists talking about resuming their work
(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 review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy
Tragedy)
2002 Bush Natl Sec Adv Rice and Chief of Staff Card unimpressed by CIA presentation on WMD CIA Dir
Tenet said case was a “slam dunk” Administration had been making assertions about threat of Iraq’s WMD and when presented with facts Bush didn’t believe the case
2003 Massoud Barzani article said Kurds would take regional autonomy and nothing else in new
Iraqi constitution
2004 Insurgents attacked US camp in Ninewa killing 24 including 19 US soldiers Wounded 60
Deadliest attack on US so far
2004 Insurgents released 2 French reporters they kidnapped 4 months ago
2004 Center for Strategic and Intl Studies report Iraqi forces wouldn’t be ready to operate
independently until late 2006 at best
2005 Iraq Election Comm reported 10.9 mil of 15.6 mil voters participated in Dec 15 elections
Anbar vote went from 1% in Jan to 32% in Oct to 55% in Dec
2005 NSC presented 10 goals for new Iraqi govt to Bush Including competent ministers fighting
corruption
2005 Commando from 1st Commando brigade based in Samarra said most of the unit was from
Mahdi Army and didn’t respect their commander only Sadr
2006 US arrested Gen Mohsen Chirazai commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force’s
Dept 600 and 5 other IRGC members at home of Badr head Amiri Chirazai and 1 other released next day under pressure from PM Maliki and Pres Talabani Other 4 turned over to Iraqis Dec 28 and released the next day
(Musings On Iraq Iranians Planned Kidnapping And Held British Captives Taken In Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
2006 8 Marines charged with executing Iraqi civilians in Haditha None were convicted
2010 PM Maliki finally put together new govt 9 months after elections Cabinet approved by parliament
2011 PM Maliki ordered Dep PM Mutlaq removed from office in response to Mutlaq calling for
Maliki to be replaced
(Musings On Iraq Premier Maliki Lashes Out At His Political Rivals In The Iraqi National Movement)
2012 Protests started in Fallujah in response to PM Maliki issuing arrest warrant for Finance Min Issawi
2013 7th Div commander and leadership of division all killed by IS booby trapped house in Anbar
(Musings On Iraq Iraq’s PM Maliki Goes From Offensive Against Al Qaeda To Crackdown On Anbar Protestors)
2013 Insurgents attacked al-Assad air base in Anbar
2015 Peshmerga and YPG captured Sinjar from IS
2017 2 killed 300 wounded in protests against the KRG
View the Iraq History Timelines
1974 Govt secretly tried 25 Shiite leaders and executed 5 of them after religious pilgrimage
turned into protest against Bakr govt
1983 Reagan envoy to Middle East Rumsfeld met with Saddam as part of new US policy to
back Iraq in Iran-Iraq War
(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)
2001 NYTimes article with INC defector Haideri Claimed he went to 20 WMD sites Haideri’s
claims used in CIA DIA and White House reports Labeled fabricator by DIA May 2002 but his story continued to be used Haideri never saw WMD Later said he made up story because INC told him to
2002 IAEA inspectors said Tuwaitha facility involved in civilian nuclear research not involved in
weapons program
(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 Inquiry Section 3.6 Development of UK Strategy and Options, November 2002 to January 2003)
2002 CIA blocked UN Amb to UN Negroponte mentioning Iraq-Niger uranium deal in speech to
Security Council
(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)
2004 Bush said he expected violence to increase before Jan 05 elections
2006 US military turned over Najaf 3rd province to Iraqi forces
2006 Report Ayatollah Sistani backed creation of new ruling coalition behind PM Maliki that would
exclude Sadr Orchestrated by US Maliki opposed idea afraid that new coalition would oust him
2006 Bush said that US not winning but not losing in Iraq November he said US was absolutely
winning New line came from his military advisers
(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)
2007 Report Govt bus program to return refugees from Syria only lasted 2 trips Sunni refugees/displaced
afraid to sign up with govt for aid out of fear of retribution No process to handle property disputes after forced displacement
(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)
2009 Iran said it withdrew its troops from Well No 4 in Fauqi oil field in Maysan it occupied 2 days later
but Iraqis said they were still on Iraqi territory
(Musings On Iraq More Questions Than Answers On Iran-Iraq Oil Field Dispute)
(Musings On Iraq Disputed Oil Field Leads To Flare Up Between Iraq And Iran)
2011 VP Hashemi gave TV speech from Irbil denying terrorism charges against him
(Musings On Iraq Charges Against Iraq’s Vice President, And Why They Matter)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
2011 3 car bombs hit checkpoints in Karbala during pilgrimage Killed 52 Wounded 203
2013 Sheikh Fahadawi’s house hit by mortars in Ramadi in spate of violence against Anbar notables
(Musings On Iraq Security In Iraq’s Anbar Province December 2013)
View the Iraq History Timelines
1983 Reagan Special Envoy to Middle East Rumsfeld arrived in Baghdad to try to improve
US-Iraq relations
(Musings On Iraq review The Saddam Tapes)
1998 Op Desert Fox by Pres Clinton to punish Iraq for ending cooperation with UN weapons
inspectors ended Iraq gave up rebuilding its WMD programs as a result
(Musings On Iraq How Operation Desert Fox Finished Off Iraq’s WMD Programs)
2001 Gen Franks made 3rd presentation to Rumsfeld of revised Iraq war plan
(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)
2002 Blix and El Baradei told Security Council about initial weapons inspections Blix said Iraq had not
provided much new info Said 1 main problem was declared amounts of WMD produced vs what Iraq could’ve produced and 2 secret destruction of stocks Iraq’s claims and potential WMD production didn't match and had no proof of its secret destruction of stocks
(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 Inquiry Section 3.6 Development of UK Strategy and Options, November 2002 to January 2003)
2002 Sec State Powell and US Amb to UN Negroponte said Iraq in “material breach” of disarmament
obligations with its weapons declaration to UN
2002 Sec State Powell said Iraq bought aluminum tubes for centrifuges
(Musings On Iraq How A Contested Aluminum Tubes Story Became The Basis For War With Iraq)
2002 State Dept paper accused Iraq of active WMD programs rebuilding nuke program Not disclosing them
to UN Said Iraq weapons declaration to UN did not include it trying to buy uranium from 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)
(Musings On Iraq Iraq One Of The Worst Intelligence Failures In US History)
(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Created An Iraqi Nuclear Threat In 2002)
2002 UK cabinet told Blair govt would declare Iraq in material breach of UN Resolution 1441 in Jan
because of its arms declaration
2002 France said it was up to inspectors not US to determine whether Iraq was hiding WMD
2002 Russia criticized US for not providing evidence to Security Council and inspectors of Iraqi
violations during inspections
2002 CNN/Time poll 63% of US respondents believed US war with Iraq was inevitable
2002 Gen Franks briefed Bush again on war plans Went over what could go wrong and lessons from
war game
2002 CIA had meeting on Curveball informant that claimed Iraq had mobile WMD labs German
office chief said Curveball seemed unreliable Analyst said Curveball claim of Iraq mobile WMD labs corroborated by another source Was an INC defector Deputy CIA Dir’s executive assistant said Curveball was credible
(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)
(Musings On Iraq Look Who The LA Times Dug Up – CURVEBALL)
(Musings On Iraq The Story Of CURVEBALL And Iraq’s Mobile Biological Weapons Labs)
2004 Suicide bomber in Karbala killed 14 and wounded 30 and car bomb in Najaf killed 48 wounded
90
(Musings On Iraq review Suicide Bombers In Iraq, The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom)
2004 30 insurgents attacked members of Election Commission on Haifa St Baghdad Dragged them
from car and shot them in street
2005 Adnan al-Dulaimi of Iraqi Accordance Front called for revote at polling stations where
violations were registered
2005 Salah al-Mutlaq of National Dialogue Front claimed there was voter fraud
2005 Amb Khalizad said couldn’t have sectarian Badr member run Interior Ministry
(Musings On Iraq Badr Organization A View Into Iraq’s Violent Past And Present)
(Musings On Iraq interview with Jerry Burke police and Interior Min adviser on how Badr took over Interior Ministry)
(Musings On Iraq review The Occupation, War And Resistance In Iraq)
2006 NSC meeting Bush told PM Maliki agreed to new Baghdad security plan
2006 PM Maliki proposed Baghdad security plan to US Said he would support troop surge if US only went
after insurgents and not militias Said he would make a political deal with Sadr that would reduce Mahdi Army violence
2006 Report Lawyer that investigated Diyala said that torture widespread in police Police full of militias
Death squads operated with help of police Sunni and Shiite religious leaders tried to get local sheikhs to sign pledge to stop violence Baquba mayor said Shiites had mostly been expelled from city by Sunnis ISF did not protect Sunnis in province Deputy police commander in Diyala said politicians were constantly interfering in his work
2006 Report insurgents and gangs taking down power towers to Baghdad Insurgents launching
campaign to deprive capital of electricity Gangs stripping towers of aluminum that they sell Electricity Min said Baghdad in crisis Mar 06 1-2 power lines to Baghdad down at one time Summer 06 6-7 lines down Fall 06 up to 12 power lines down July insurgents took down every power line to Baghdad in coordinated attacks across central Iraq
2007 West Point study of captured ISI docs Largest group of foreign fighters were Saudis 41% Most were
24-25 yrs old 43% students Strength of ISI was able to constantly draw upon young recruits
(Musings On Iraq The Saudi Role In The Iraqi Insurgency)
2008 Talabani proposed reforms to PUK at politburo meeting to address factionalism
2008 US arrested Iranian Quds Force member in Diyala 13th Iranian arrested or killed in Iraq
since October
(Musings On Iraq Iranians And Special Groups Forces Returning To Iraq)
2008 Report U.S. official said no deterrence in Iraq against corruption Many inspector generals were
banned from their own ministries intimidated and attacked Last head of Integrity Commission fled in 2007 due to threats Ministries could stop investigations
(Musings On Iraq interview with Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen on Iraq’s fight with corruption)
(Musings On Iraq interview with former anti-corruption official Vincent Foulk)
2011 Arrest warrant for VP Hashemi issued forcing him into exile
(Musings On Iraq Charges Against Iraq’s Vice President, And Why They Matter)
2011 3 of Hashemi’s guards appeared on TV saying they were involved in terrorist attacks
2011 Report one of VP Hashemi’s guards had been arrested start of Dec on charges of building a car
bomb Guard confessed leading to 3 more guards and manager of Hashemi’s office to be arrested
(Musings On Iraq Premier Maliki Lashes Out At His Political Rivals In The Iraqi National Movement)
2011 PM Maliki ordered Dep PM Mutlaq barred from entering parliament
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
2012 PM Maliki ordered arrest of Fin Min Issawi on terrorism charges Detained 10 of his bodyguards
1 yr after having warrant issued for VP Hashemi for terrorism
2012 Pres Obama called Fin Min Issawi US Amb Beecroft visited Issawi US Embassy issued protest
to Iraq’s Foreign Min over warrant for Issawi
2012 Protests started in Anbar Salahaddin Adhamiya in Baghdad over warrant for Fin Min Issawi
(Musings On Iraq Prime Minister Maliki Targets Another Member Of The Iraqi National Movement In An Act Of Political Intimidation)
2013 Sheikh Mohammed al-Hayes’ house in Ramadi bombed in spate of violence against Anbar
notables
(Musings On Iraq Security In Iraq’s Anbar Province December 2013)
2019 Report Hezbollah’s Kawtharani helping Iran Rev Guards Quds Force’s Gen Suleimani lobby Iraqi
leaders over new premier
(Musings On Iraq Hezbollah Helping Iran Negotiate New Premier For Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Commander General Suleimani And His Role In Iraq, An Interview With The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins)
View the Iraq History Timelines
Rich, Paul, Editor, Arab War Lords and Iraqi Star Gazers, Second Edition, Gertrude Bell’s The Arab of Mesopotamia, San Jose, New York, Lincoln, Shanghai: Authors Choice Press, 2001
Arab War Lords and Iraqi Star Gazers is a collection of two pamphlets Gertrude Bell wrote for British troops entering Iraq during World War I. The first was printed in 1916 called The Arab of Mesopotamia and the second came out the next year Asiatic Turkey. The writings were part information guides to the lands and people of the Ottoman Empire and part propaganda justifying why London invaded.
1959 Gen Qasim called Ahwaz and Mohammareh in Iran Arab Started supporting Arabs in Khuzistan
province
1980 Iraq advanced 50km into Zagros Mountains in Iranian Kurdistan
(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)
1998 Pres Clinton changed US Iraq policy from containment to regime change Didn’t take
action to implement policy
(Musings On Iraq review Neighbors, Not Friends, Iraq And Iran After The Gulf Wars)
2002 NSC meeting on UN inspections Bush said Iraq not cooperating Bush told Sec State Powell that if
Iraq was in material breach that would mean war
(Musings On Iraq review Wanting War: Why the Bush Administration Invaded Iraq)
(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 Inquiry Section 3.6 Development of UK Strategy and Options, November 2002 to January 2003)
2002 Bush met with Spanish Pres Anzar Said Iraq’s weapons declaration was a joke and US would
eventually have to remove Saddam
2002 Sec Def Rumsfeld ordered start of civil administration to run postwar Iraq 3 months before
invasion
(Musings On Iraq Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction’s “Hard Lessons” – Part I: Planning for Postwar Iraq September 2001 to May 2003)
(Musings On Iraq on Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Hard Lessons Chapter 3 The Department of Defense Takes Charge)
(Musings On Iraq review Leap of Faith, Hubris Negligence, and America’s Greatest Foreign Policy
Tragedy)
(Musings On Iraq review Hard Lessons, The Iraq Reconstruction Experience)
2002 Saddam scrapped all of Iraq’s defense plans for US invasion and replaced them with one he made
himself War plans consisted of concentric circles around Baghdad and defending main cities
2002 CIA Dir Tenet asked Germans if Iraqi defector CURVEBALL could be interviewed about his
claims Iraq had mobile WMD labs Germany said no
(Musings On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims That Iraq Had WMD)
(Musings On Iraq Look Who The LA Times Dug Up – CURVEBALL)
(Musings On Iraq The Story Of CURVEBALL And Iraq’s Mobile Biological Weapons Labs)
2002 UK Foreign Sec Straw said Iraq in material breach of UN resolutions with its weapons declaration
that denied it had WMD
2002 IAEA head in Reuters No evidence that Iraq had worked on any nuclear facilities since 1998
(Musings On Iraq UN Inspectors Were Right Iraq Was Not A Threat)
(Musings On Iraq How US Intelligence Created An Iraqi Nuclear Threat In 2002)
2002 UK Defense Ministry admitted that ships were taking troops and tanks to Persian Gulf
2002 CIA briefed Bush and NSC on difficulties recruiting and maintaining sources in Iraq Said
talking about war while going to UN made Iraqis not willing to come forward because unsure US was going to remove Saddam
2002 State Dept posted listing of omissions in Iraq’s UN weapons declaration
2003 UK cabinet meeting said that capturing Saddam wouldn’t likely affect security PM Blair disagreed
saying it would open the door to progress in Iraq
2005 Bush national speech said Iraqi elections were a turning point for democracy in Middle East
and US withdrawal would show US lack of resolve
(Musings On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Future The aftermath of regime change)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq’s Dysfunctional Democracy)
(Musings On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)
(Musings On Iraq review What Happened, Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception)
2005 Allawi’s Iraqiya filed more than 60 complaints of voting violations including members of
security forces supporting United Iraqi Alliance
2006 Sadr endorsed insurgent attacks on US forces claiming it was resistance to the west
2007 Sec State Rice met with Pres Talabani and VP Abdul Mahdi Bosh said Maliki was a problem Rice
told them US sticking with Maliki
2007 Sec State Rice told PM Maliki his govt was failing Said he had to follow Aug agreement to share
decision making with Presidency Council Maliki said others in govt were obstructionists
2007 White House report Attacks in Baghdad down 80% since Nov 06 Murders down 90% Car bombs
down 70% Dec avg just below 600 attacks per wk down from 1,600 per wk in Jun
2007 Turkey bombed PKK positions in Kurdistan Then 300 troops moved 3km into Iraq US provided
intel and targeting to Turkey In return Turkey agreed to recognize KRG
2007 Report by US Military Academy ISI defeated on tactical and operations level in Baghdad and Anbar
Trying to rebuild in north and along Syrian border Iraqis turned on ISI Foreign fighters dropped ISF more competent Police retrained but still had issues Army much better Corruption in ISF endemic ISF still lacking in counterinsurgency logistics maintenance medical units artillery armor No air force Iraqi govt dysfunctional Economy slowly recovering US military acting as de facto Iraqi state on the ground Many Sunnis now working with US against ISI No Sunni leadership Mahdi Army consolidating control of Baghdad areas conquered Political parties act like mafias US had to continue to develop ISF US couldn’t continue to act as Iraqi govt
2008 Congressman Waxman released memo saying Natl Sec Adv Rice and Attny Gen Gonzalez misled
Congress about Bush claiming Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa in his 02 State of the Union Rice claimed she didn’t know CIA objected to the story when her staff was warned 4 times not to use it Gonzalez lied to Senate saying CIA approved Bush using story twice when it didn’t
(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 Ninewa council voted to postpone 09 provincial elections Council controlled by Kurds who were
afraid they would lose power
2008 PM Maliki had Counter Terror Unit raid Interior Min and arrested 23 workers he claimed
were involved in Baathist plot Charges later dropped Many believed it was a warning to Interior Min Bolani who formed his own party to run in 09 elections
2009 Asaib Ahl Al-Haq issued fatwa on Syria War saying it wasn’t about defending Sayid Zeinab
shrine but fighting infidels and defending Islam
(Musings On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of Iraq)
2009 Iranian soldiers occupied Well No 4 in Fauqi oil field in Maysan PM Maliki said nothing Interior
Min said was not important Foreign Min said Iran and Iraq would talk about border soon
(Musings On Iraq Disputed Oil Field Leads To Flare Up Between Iraq And Iran)
(Musings On Iraq More Questions Than Answers On Iran-Iraq Oil Field Dispute)
2011 VP Hashemi stopped at Baghdad airport some of his bodyguards arrested and then allowed to
fly to Sulaymaniya
(Musings On Iraq Charges Against Iraq’s Vice President, And Why They Matter)
2011 Fin Min Issawi and Dep PM Mutlaq temporarily detained at Baghdad airport while trying to
take flight to Irbil to meet with Pres Barzani
(Musings On Iraq Is Iraq’s Finance Minister Next On Maliki’s Hit List?)
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New Authoritarianism)
2012 Pres Talabani had a stroke effectively ending his political career although he would remain in
office
2017 Protests broke out in Sulaymaniya Kalar Rania Taq Taq Chamchamal and five other towns
against the Kurdish establishment
(Musings On Iraq New Wave Of Kurdistna Protests Harken Back To 2011)
View the Iraq History Timelines
1831 Ottoman governor of Aleppo entered Baghdad under orders of Sultan Mahmoud Brought province under direct control o...
