1914 Germany and Britain asked Ottomans for oil concessions
in Mosul and Baghdad provinces
1935 UK Ambassador to Iraq said King Ghazi was a playboy who
was completely absorbed by his
hobbies and neglected his country
1937 Pan-Arab military officers withdrew their support for
head of army Gen Bakr Sidqi
(Musings
On Iraq review The Role of the
Military In Politics, A case study of Iraq to 1941)
(Musings
On Iraq review Rashid Ali al-Gailani,
The National Movement in Iraq 1939-1941)
(Musings
On Iraq review Imagining The Nation, Nationalism, Sectarianism and
Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq)
(Musings
On Iraq review The Modern History of Iraq)
1961 Kuwait signed new defense deal with England angering
Qasim
1966 Pres Arif met with Jalal Talabani Promised Kurdish
rights in provisional constitution
Govt thought Talabani represented
Kurds when he didn’t He’d just broken with Barzani
(Musings
On Iraq review of The Kurds, A Modern
History)
(Musings
On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy
and Hope)
(Musings
On Iraq review The Kurdish Revolt 1961-1970)
(Musings
On Iraq review Journey Among Brave Men, Travels in Kurdistan)
1981 UN Resolution 487 condemned Israel’s destruction of
Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor
1985 Iran attacked Qasr e-Shirin central Iran across form
Diyala Diversionary attack before Op Al Quds
2
(Musings
On Iraq review Iran-Iraq War Volume
4: The Forgotten Fronts)
1988 Iraq captured Mehran Iran central front then handed it
over to Mujahedeen e-Khalq’s National
Liberation Army
(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)
1996 UN and Iraq began talks on allowing UN inspectors
access to sensitive sites
1996 Dep PM Aziz told UN inspectors they got most of their
intel from US and UK that were trying to
remove Saddam and that inspectors
were making sensitive visits to provoke a crisis on US-UK’s behalf
(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 review Neighbors, Not Friends, Iraq And Iran After The Gulf Wars)
1996 CIA was hoping to cause a crisis between Iraq and UN
inspectors to justify military action against
Saddam that would start coup CA
working with ex-Gen Shawani and his sons in Republican Guard
(Musings
On Iraq review Iraq In The Eye of the
Storm)
(Musings
On Iraq review The United States And
Iraq Since 1990: A Brief History with Documents)
(Musings
On Iraq review Out Of The Ashes, The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein)
1996 Iraqi intelligence captured an Iraqi operative involved
in CIA coup and rounded up everyone in
plot
(Musings
On Iraq UN Inspectors and CIA Spying On Iraq In The 90s)
1998 UN Res 1175 increased Iraq’s oil export quota to $5.3
bil under Oil For Food program Allowed
importation of equipment to
maintain oil industry
1998 Ayatollah Ali Gharavi and his son and son in law were
gunned down in Najaf likely by govt
agents
2002 US told UK that it was ready for its input on military
planning against Iraq
(Musings
On Iraq review The Report of the Iraq
Inquiry, Executive Summary)
2002 Gen Franks briefed Bush on war plans
(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)
2003 Def Sec Rumsfeld said that US only fighting small
groups of dead enders in Iraq Tried to
compare insurgency in Baghdad to
murder rate in Wash DC to say it wasn’t bad
2003 Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz told Congress
violence in Iraq was “last remains of a dying
cause” and not an insurgency
(Musings
On Iraq review Iraq’s Sunni
Insurgency)
2003 US forces found an old buried centrifuge Claimed proof
that Iraq had a nuclear weapons program
(Musings
On Iraq How US Intelligence Created An Iraqi Nuclear Threat In 2002)
2003 US denied that captured Iraqi trailers were anything
but mobile weapons labs Inspections showed
they weren’t
2003 White House acknowledged that State Dep intel
questioned whether captured trailers were WMD
labs
(Musings
On Iraq How Iraqi Defector CURVEBALL Became Basis For US Claims that Iraq
Had WMD)
2003 Report on Iraq-Niger uranium deal Said VP Cheney got
docs on deal from UK Asked for more info
leading to Fmr Amb Wilson’s trip to
Niger Article used Wilson as unnamed source who said White House knew Niger
story was a lie
(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)
2006 Bodies of 2 US soldiers kidnapped by Mujahedeen Shura Council
in Baghdad found
2007 Op Ripper to clear Baquba in Diyala began 1st
part of Op Phantom Thunder to clear Baghdad belts
of insurgents
2007 Iraq ranked No 2 on failed states list by Fund for
Peace/Foreign Policy due to civil war Was No 4 in
2006
2007 Maj Mowle fmr Iraq cmdr adv said summer 04 military
drew up 1st campaign plan for Iraq Didn’t
include goals of insurgency or how
Iraqis would react Thought Iraqis would do what was best for the US and
everything would go exactly as planned Didn’t expect Iraqis react negative to 1st
Battle of Fallujah
2007 Leon Panetta of Iraq Study Group said found no
coordination within White House and within
military on Iraq Military
commanders said they were getting nothing from Washington
2007 Philip Zelikow adv to Nat Sec Adv/Sec State Rice fmr
Iraq Cmdr Gen Casey’s campaign plan
didn’t have a strategy or
operational instructions for military Washington gave no direction to military
in Iraq When Rice announced Clear Hold Build policy in Oct 05 didn’t have
strategy on how to carry it out Jun 06 State pushed Bush to get hands on
involved in Iraq Didn’t happen Bush didn’t get hands on until winter 06
(Musings
On Iraq 2006 Clear Hold Build: An Iraq Strategy That Wasn’t A Strategy)
(Musings
On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)
2007 Ret Col Krepinevich Adv to Army said US had no strategy
in Iraq until Surge What Washington
said about the war didn’t match
what it was actually doing Didn’t commit resources to win
(Musings
On Iraq review Surge, My Journey with General David Petraeus and the
Remaking of the Iraq War)
2007 Ret Gen Keane architect of the Surge Bush always talked
about winning and victory in Iraq but he
never understood what the actual
strategy was US never had a winning strategy before the Surge The policy was to
hold elections and turn security over to the Iraqis so the US could leave That
had nothing to do with defeating the insurgency
(Musings
On Iraq review The War Within, A Secret White House History 2006-2008)
2007 Fred Kagan architect of Surge US strategy pre-07 was to
withdraw and have Iraqi politics deal with
insurgency Didn’t work because many
Sunnis rejected politics Said Bush wasn’t hands on with Iraq policy until Surge
(Musings
On Iraq Did the US Ever Have A Strategy To Win In Iraq Before the Surge?)
2007 Fred Kagan Surge strategy was to establish security in
Baghdad and surrounding areas Then go to
Shiite parties and ask them to make
compromises with Sunnis
2008 ISF launched Op Promise of Peace against Sadrists in
Maysan
(Musings
On Iraq Operation Promise of Peace in Maysan Province)
(Musings
On Iraq Sadr’s Leadership Or Lack Thereof)
2009 Speaker of KRG parliament said KDP and PUK taking $30
mil of KRG budget for themselves
2009 2 British guards kidnapped and killed by Asaib Ahl
Al-Haq returned to British embassy In return
AAH members released from prison
(Musings
On Iraq Asaib Ahl Al-Haq From A Breakaway Sadr Militia To Defenders Of
Iraq)
(Musings
On Iraq Iranians Planned Kidnapping And Held British Captives Taken In
Iraq)
2009 Report PM Maliki and ISCI met and agreed to revive the
United Iraqi Alliance before 2010
elections Maliki wanted it called
State of Law and he would be its leader Didn’t work out
2010 Protest in Basra over power shortages 1 demonstrator
killed by police
2010 Sahwa leader in Diyala warned that ISI using carrot and
stick against sahwa members in attempted
comeback in province
2011 Def Sec Gates blamed Iran for giving weapons to Special
Groups who were attacking US forces
before withdrawal
(Musings
On Iraq Iran’s Policy Towards Iraq)
2011 1st Iraqi army unit received artillery from
US
2011 PM Maliki govt accused Communist party and civil groups
for protests in Baghdad
(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)
2011 2 killed in electricity protests in Basra
2012 Report Iran trying to stop no confidence vote against PM
Maliki
(Musings
On Iraq review Iraq From War To A New
Authoritarianism)
2012 PM Maliki said Exxon deal with KRG could lead to break
up of Iraq Baghdad asked US for help to
stop deal
2012 PM Maliki’s media adv said Baghdad would stop any
KRG-Exxon oil deal that involved disputed
areas
2013 ISIS’ spokesman Adnani released tape criticizing
Zawahiri admonishing group for declaring itself
ISIS and expanding into Syria
2013 Pres Barzani sent draft constitution back to KRG
parliament for discussion and passage
2013 Iraqi army claimed it was responsible for split between
ISIS and Al Nusra in Syria because it
controlled Iraq-Syria border
2013 Iraqiya Diyala-Sadr list formed new govt in Diyala
shutting out State of Law State of Law held
protests against new govt in Diyala
Militias blocked roads around Baquba
2013 State of Law and local lists alliance formed new govt
in Karbala Sadrists and ISCI shut out
2013 State of Law won head of council in Karbala Sadrists
boycotted session
2013 All 12 provinces that had elections formed new govts
2014 PM Maliki ordered govt to pay salaries and benefits to
Hashd
2014 State Dept’s McGurk denied US was pushing for removal
of PM Maliki
2014 ISIS set up 8 courts in Mosul to run city Was pushing
out other insurgent groups that helped take
city
2014 Sadr offices announced taking volunteers for new Peace
Brigades to fight insurgency
(Musings
On Iraq Moqtada al-Sadr And Iraq’s Militia Mobilization)
2014 Fighting in Saqlawiya Anbar after it was declared freed
Ishaqi Salahaddin declared freed 2nd time
but fighting continued
(Musings
On Iraq Security In Iraq’s Anbar Shows Battle Against Insurgents Will Be
Long And Often Futile)
(Musings
On Iraq Iraq’s Western Front Is Anbar Next To Fall?)
(Musings
On Iraq Iraq’s Northern Front Stalemate In Salahaddin)
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