Federal Court Ends Extraditions Hurting Anti-Corruption Effort

February 4, 2018, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court ruled that extraditions were unconstitutional. It cited Article 21 of the constitution which states that Iraqis could not be extradited by foreign authorities. This ends efforts by Baghdad to get corrupt officials deported from other countries back to Iraq for their corrupt practices. Recently, former Trade Minister Abdul Falah al-Sudani was extradited by Lebanon. He was found guilty in absentia after he fled Iraq. It also tried to do the same thing to ex-Defense Minister Ziad al-Qattan. Now that effort is over. High ranking Iraqi officials often escape graft charges by leaving Iraq. It appeared that route might finally be closed, but not anymore thanks to the Federal Court. This might hinder Prime Minister Haidar Abadi’s anti-corruption campaign, but that appears to be only focused upon cleaning up the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). With elections coming in May that might be all the premier hoping it will help him in the polls since the KRG is widely unpopular in the rest of the country.

This Day In Iraqi History – Feb 5

1950 Tawfiq Suwaidi became premier 3^rd time

1977 Dawa party turned pilgrimage to Karbala into anti-Baath protests Army called out

            Pres Bakr blamed Syria

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

2001 Rice chaired meeting to go over Iraq policy Agreed Saddam had won PR war

            convincing most that sanctions hurting Iraqi public

2001 NSC meeting also agreed sanctions were not forcing Saddam from power

2001 At NSC meeting Powell argued for smart sanctions that would just focus upon

            military imports to Iraq

2001 NSC meeting discussed returning UN inspectors to Iraq and how to deal with

            Iraqi opposition

2001 Rice wanted review of No Fly Zone Led to less flights to try to avoid plane getting

            shot down

2001 Rice told US agencies to increase intelligence gathering on WMD

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

(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq-Niger uranium story)

2002 CIA report said Iraq had 7 mobile WMD labs

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

            on Iraq

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

            option Said WMD would be found afterward

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

            Powell thought most was circumstantial 

2003 Sec of State Powell gave UN speech laying out US case against Iraq’s WMD

and ties to Al Qaeda using Zarqawi

2003 Powell claimed Iraq hidings its WMD from inspectors Said Qusay Hussein ordered

            removal of banned material from sites

2003 Powell claimed WMD missiles had been distributed to unit in western Iraq

2003 Powell 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

2003 Powell claimed Iraq had UAVs that could be used to deliver WMD

2003 Powell claimed Iraq gave safehaven to Zarqawi in Kurdistan Said Iraq-Al Qaeda

            had 8 meetings since 1990s

2003 Powell claimed Iraq gave Al Qaeda training in WMD

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

            mobile WMD labs

2003 3^rd meeting of US UK Australia on postwar Iraq planning US rejected any role

            for UN

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

2004 CIA Dir Tenet said CIA might’ve over estimated nuke program Were differences

            over mobile WMD labs Natl Intel Est never said Iraq imminent threat

2004 CIA Dir Tenet said Saddam dictator intent to build WMD

2004 CIA Dir Tenet referenced Iraq For Min Sabri who told CIA Iraq had nuke program

            stockpile of chemical weapons small biological weapons program

2004 CIA Dir Tenet said US still needed time to find out about Iraq’s WMD

2004 CIA Dir Tent said in the end CIA would be proven not entirely right or wrong

            on pre-war Iraq intel

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

2007 Baghdad Operations Command created

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

2014 IS attacked Mukhisa, Diyala forcing out families Afterward ISF and miltias

            killed civilians and burned homes

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This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 4

1917 British defeated Ottoman forces at Hai River

1925 League of Nations Mosul commission final report said Mosul should go to

            British Iraq Mandate with Kurds getting concessions

1963 Gen Qasim arrested 1 opponent as Communists warned of an impending coup

1979 Ayatollah Baqir al-Sadr began Islam Guides to Life series that outlined his ideas on

             an Islamic political system

1981 Iraq received around 100 tanks from Eastern Europe

1998 UK intel report said UN inspectors had destroyed majority of Iraq’s WMD programs

1998 Blair govt talked about how dangerous Saddam was due to his WMD capabilities

2003 US gave documents on alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal to IAEA

(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq-Niger uranium story)

2003 UN inspectors looked at two alleged mobile WMD labs and found nothing

2003 CIA analyst emailed Dep Chief Iraq Task Force against using Curveball story

            that Iraq had mobile WMD labs

2003 CIA Dept Chief Iraq Task Force told CIA analyst war coming so didn’t matter

            if there were questions about Curveball and his mobile WMD labs story

2003 CIA Dir Tenet warned by European chief Drumheller that there were problems with

            Curveball’s story that Iraq had mobile WMD labs Tenet said don’t worry

2003 Blair said plan was to get UN to show Iraq not cooperating on WMD and then have

Arab countries make Saddam step down

2003 Powell and Turkey’s Foreign Min Yakis met to talk about US aid in return for

            using Turkey in Iraq invasion

2004 UK intel officer said intel heads ignored warnings that Iraqi WMD could not be

            confirmed before invasion

2004 Future IS leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi arrested by Americans and sent to Camp

            Bucca

2005 Early election results had United Iraqi Alliance 44% Kurds 18% Iraqiya 12% of

            vote

2008 Sadr renewed ceasefire after 6 months

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This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 3

1932 US diplomat said King Faisal would walk streets of Baghdad and locals

            didn’t pay attention nor acknowledge him

1941 Regent asked Gen Taha al-Hashemi to become premier Hoped he could control

            pan-Arab Golden Square officers  

1970 Iraq asked Turkey for help with dispute with Iran Shah put troops on border after

            coup he backed vs Pres Bakr failed

1970 Shah suggested both sides withdraw forces from border as neither wanted war

            ending crisis

1987 Report US analysts said that Iraq would not be able to reverse recent Iranian gains

            in southern Iraq

1998 Report Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri met Iraq’s Vice President in Baghdad to talk about

            setting up camps Another story said Iraq gave Zawahiri $300,000

2003 Powell OpEd in Wall St Journal said Iraq hiding its WMD

2003 CIA asked Italian intel for more info on Iraq-Niger deal but it had none

(Musings On Iraq article on Iraq-Niger uranium story) 
2004 Bush complained he felt like he was the only one standing up for his decision to

            go to war with Iraq

2004 Powell said Bush made right decision to invade Iraq

2004 Rice told Powell he betrayed Bush and had to tell press he stood by decision to

            invade Iraq

2004 Blair agreed to inquiry about pre-war intel on Iraq’s WMD

2007 Truck bomb in Baghdad market killed 135 wounded 305

2010 Iraq appeals court ended ban of candidates for Baath ties before parliamentary

            elections

2010 Sadr said court decision ending candidate bans betrayal of Iraqi people

2010 Maliki said court ending bans on candidates was US interference in Iraqi

            elections

2011 Wasit Governor Tarfa dismissed on corruption charges

2014 Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri renounced ties to ISIS after it killed Jabhat al-Nusra emir in

            Raqqa, Syria  

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Violence Up In Iraq, Jan 2018

Violence increased in Iraq from December 2017 to January 2018. That was due to an uptick in incidents in Baghdad, Diyala and Salahaddin. There were also more suicide bombers and car bombs.

This Day In Iraqi History – Feb 2

1970 Iraq went to UN over Shah placing troops on border after coup he backed vs

            Pres Bakr failed

2002 William Kristol told Senate invading Iraq would transform Middle East

2003 Powell and his deputy Armitage went to CIA to go through Iraq intel to use in his UN speech

2003 Powell decided to use 3 intercepts of Iraqi officers perhaps talking about hiding WMD and

            intel on Zarqawi in Kurdistan

2003 CIA Dir Tenet told Powell no intel Saddam directly involved with Zarqawi Powell

            decided to claim Iraq giving sanctuary to Zarqawi

2004 Powell told WashPost if he knew Iraq had no WMD his decision on Iraq invasion

            would have been different

2004 Rumsfeld claimed Iraq Study Group head Kay’s Senate testimony Iraq had

            no WMD stocks proved White House case

2005 Assyrians in Ninewa Plains accused Kurds of stopping them from voting in Jan

            30 election

2005 Bush said US in Iraq to create a democracy that could defend itself and was not

            a threat to its neighbors

2008 Bombing 2 markets in Baghdad killed 99 wounded 145

2014 Al Qaeda publicly renounced ties with ISI

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This Day In Iraqi History - Feb 1

1928 British sent note to Iraqi govt saying opposed conscription and if govt ran

            into problems over it British wouldn’t help

1958 Egypt and Syria created United Arab Republic PM Said afraid pan-Arabists

            would overthrow his govt so Iraq could join Republic

1981 Iraq received 1^st of 4 shipments of Mirage jets from France despite Paris

claiming neutrality in Iran-Iraq War

1999 NY Post claimed Saddam was making contacts with bin Laden and Abu Nidal to strike US

2001 2^nd Bush NSC meeting again dealt with Iraq policy State Dept said US

            policy should be to stop Iraq from threatening Middle East

2001 Sec of State Powell talked again about smart sanctions

2001 Sec of Def Rumsfeld said removing Saddam and putting in pro-US govt could

            change Middle East and show world what US policy about

2001 Pentagon talked about rebuilding Gulf War coalition against Iraq CIA Dir Tenet

            talked about coup vs Saddam

2001 End of meeting Rumsfeld said US objective was not getting rid of Saddam but his WMD

2002 Gen Franks briefed Rumsfeld on war plans with start time April 2002

2003 US Army War College study said ehtnosectarian differences could lead to civil

            war or fractured state after fall of Saddam

2003 US Army War College said longer US presence in Iraq the more resistance it would face

2003 US Army War College said ethnosectarian parties would probably emerge in Iraq

            and increase divisions

2003 US Army War College warned that there would be terrorism providing services

            would be difficult oil could not pay for reconstruction

2003 US Army War College study suggested 135 tasks US had to take care of

            to ensure stability of postwar Iraq

2003 US Army War College study said US would have to occupy Iraq for a long time

            and building democracy a huge challenge

2003 US Army War College warned US could win the Iraq war and lose the peace

2003 Chief UN inspector Blix refused US claims that Iraq was sending WMD and

            scientists outside country to hide them

2003 Powell went to CIA HQ to go over Iraq-Al Qaeda intel for UN speech Decided to

            focus upon Zarqawi

2003 Cheney Chief of Staff Libby and DepNatSecADv Hadley wanted Powell to use

            9/11 hijacker Atta meeting with Iraqi intel in 2001 Powell said no

2004 2 suicide bombers hit KDP and PUK offices in Irbil killed 117 injured 133

2005 Report US analysts believed Jan 05 elections could erode support for insurgency

2006 Saddam refused to appear in court claiming new judge was biased against him

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